Eve of the Pharaoh: Historical Adventure and Mystery

by R. M. Schultz

  “The journal couldn’t be written into a history text,” she said, rolling her straight hair into a bun. “But how do we know the ancients didn’t wield a kind of magic, art, or skill lost to the ages?” Hugging me, she kissed my cheek. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought the crocodile might have killed you.”

  Warmth rose and spread throughout my body. Squeezing the armrest, I held back a shout of elation and hugged her back. “I was worried none of us would make it out of—”

  Smacking my shoulder, Aiden said, “I can’t get over how we entered a giant crocodile’s lair and found the clue, bro!” Leaning across the aisle, he squeezed both of us.

  The vehicle screeched to a stop. Heat smacked me in the face with a dusty wind as I stepped into Luxor City. Adjusting my fedora to block the sun’s rays, the calling of goats pinged around the surrounding desert like lost children.

  “Sorry guys,” Jenkins said for the hundredth time, his feet kicking up dust. “I guess I’m not much of a bodyguard when it comes to wild animals. Never had to contend with that before.”

  “It’s okay,” Maddie said, placing a small hand on his back. “I almost died of fright, but that was all. I’d like to say the crocodile was more afraid of us than we were of it, but that would’ve been impossible—”

  “So now we’re looking for the original sun worshipper?” Kaylin asked, leading.

  “Yes,” I said. “Amenhotep III could be credited with worshipping the sun disc as the supreme god—”

  “Akhenaten was the first to bring monotheism,” Maddie said, wrinkling the bridge of her nose. “But you’re probably right. Akhenaten’s temples used to reside near here, but the professor couldn’t have found clues in his courts if they were destroyed millennia ago.”

  Maddie finally agreed with me and didn’t even use sarcasm—

  “What did the last riddle actually say?” Mr. Scalone asked.

  “I wiped the algae off the carvings in the wall of the secret chamber as best I could,” Maddie said, “and took pictures, but someone had tried to scratch the message away. The writing wasn’t hieroglyphic, either. It was hieratic script, which scribes used for letters and records.”

  “They had, like, multiple languages?” Kaylin asked.

  “Multiple ways to write,” I said. “Originally they didn’t use an alphabet, so there were thousands of hieroglyphs, one for every word or sound. This was so slow to read and write, scribes developed another form.”

  “How do we know how to read it then?” Kaylin asked.

  “The Rosetta Stone,” I said. “The same message was engraved in hieroglyphs, script, and Greek.”

  “This path is a test of knowledge,” Maddie whispered.

  “So what did it say?” Mr. Scalone demanded, clapping to grab our attention.

  Irritation sunk in. Perhaps he feared his ignorance would lead to a challenge to his authority.

  “Something like . . .” Maddie’s eyes rolled back and forth as if reading the ancient scrawl. “‘Follow the path downriver, which is north, to the complex of the sun and Pharaoh who speaks to the sun. Where it began or ended—’”

  “Began!” I said. “Amenhotep’s birth room and the benben stone, the origin of the earth as it arose from the primordial waters of the universe, are both here.”

  Turning right onto a statue-lined road toward Luxor Temple, Maddie said, “‘The guardians will guide you with light and shadow.’ Then there was a bizarre reference to the floating eye of Horus and the benben stone …”

  “What’s with all the headless lions?” Aiden asked, jutting a thumb at the hundreds of stone sphinxes lining the roadway. His little fox trotted beside him.

  “The sphinxes guard the avenue,” Maddie said. “The intact faces are of a pharaoh from the last dynasty, but in prior ancient times they supported animal heads.”

  “What do they do?” he asked, running a pale hand across the scorched stone of a beheaded sphinx.

  “They protect the temples and Egypt,” I said. “The most fearsome guardians on earth.”

  A towering obelisk and two statues of Rameses emerged, flanked by soaring pylon walls.

  “You’re not going to, like, run away again, are you Maddie?” Kaylin laughed.

  “That’s the same pharaoh dude as at the Simbel place,” Aiden said, pointing at the seated colossi of Rameses. “What’re we lookin’ for?”

  The sun was descending into the west as Maddie’s chin slumped. “Shadow and light.”

  Slipping between the statues, we passed the soaring pylon walls into Luxor Temple and Amenhotep’s colonnade and sun court. Long shadows and light spiraled around pillars that resembled papyrus stalks. Searching areas still illuminated and others now in darkness, I wove around standing and toppled columns. How many years had passed since the path to the Hall had been laid? And how many people had browsed this temple since they uncovered the structure in the eighteenth century—at the time calling this place “Waset,” when it was in fact ancient Thebes? How could all the archeologists miss a clue to the Hall? I scanned thousands of engravings adorning the walls and colonnades. Only typical god worship with offerings, or displays of Pharaoh’s ultimate power and claim to the monuments.

  “That looks like porn.” Aiden snickered, pointing. “Egyptians drew that in their temples? Maybe I’d go to church if they still did that.”

  Maddie sighed. “It’s the conception of the divine Amenhotep. This is his birth room. There’s his birth.” She motioned to another image of the diminutive pharaoh.

  “Focus, Aiden,” Mr. Scalone said, half-smacking the teen on the back of the head. After glancing at the images, the guide winked at Maddie. She blushed.

  My stomach cramped with jealousy.

  “I was focused,” the teen said, “but you got in my way.”

  “Grow up,” Mr. Scalone said, pushing his dark locks out of his face and knocking the cap off Aiden’s head.

  “Why you gotta bust my balls all the time?” Aiden snatched his hat and sauntered off.

  Kaylin smacked Mr. Scalone’s chest. “Leave him alone.”

  “The boy’s completely awkward,” Mr. Scalone said. “He needs a strong male to shape him up. How can he be related to you? I swear, if it wasn’t for his red hair I’d think he and Gavin were separated at birth.”

  I gritted my teeth in annoyance. Concentrate, the light was fading!

  Walking into a cloak of shade, I entered the inner Opet temple. Twelve pillars stood in a small hall, representing the hours of sunlight. In the center of the temple a mound rested in eternal silence, the supposed inception of the earth. Tracing images of the rise and descent of the sun, my mind grew distant.

  Maddie entered and stared but diverted her gaze. “How long until you’re supposed to be back for your next rotation? So you don’t get kicked out of med school and have to move in with your mom.”

  Anxiety twisted my gut. “If I leave Cairo in four days, I’ll be back in time to make morning rounds the first Monday of my internal medicine rotation.” But everyone would whisper to each other about what I’d done.

  “We’d better get moving, then.”

  “Honestly,” I said, “deep down I thought this whole thing would’ve been a sham and we’d have left by now. I didn’t anticipate traveling to ancient temples on a treasure hunt.”

  Maddie shook her head. “Did you think after all the knowledge they amassed over thousands of years the ancient geniuses would hide the world’s greatest secrets with a single clue? We still can’t duplicate their architectural feats without modern technology. Would you leave a prize so precious for just anyone?”

  Desire for their secrets clouded my mind.

  “What happened back at school, anyway?” Maddie asked. “What was so bad you’d suddenly give up trying to become a doctor to come here and chase what your dad probably thought was a hoax? If he’d believed the professor’s letter, why didn’t he search for the Hall years ago?”

  My stomach cramped with a hollow pai
n, like someone had kicked me. Memories of the gnarled foot flashed through my mind. Varicose veins bulged like roots above crumbling yellow toenails. The dismembered tissue seeped blood across my hands, staining my soul. The lady’s face appeared, a woman old enough to be my grandma. Guilt made me run. That and the chance to explore Egypt with Maddie. And during the incident I’d been fantasizing of doing exactly what I was doing at this moment! Was I like Horemheb? Horemheb faced harsher trials than me and yet still called up the courage to chase his dream, even if he’d suffer for the remainder of his days. He served his most hated enemy so that he could pursue his deepest desires. I hadn’t come close. I ran to school and then from school. Horemheb’s father wanted the best for his son, to live the grand life of a scribe. But they settled for servitude. Should I just follow the fate society chose for me? My stomach churned. I shouldn’t continue to make the same mistakes of the past. Maddie, like Nefertiti, could turn me down for her own ambitions, or worse, pretend to love me like with Akhenaten. Or she might fall for Mr. Scalone. He was more her type.

  “I entered the OR running behind as always, trying to keep up. The anesthesiologist already had the woman under, and the nurse didn’t want to wait, so she had already draped the leg. But I was supposed to do it!” My dark tale released suppressed fear, shame, and remorse. Anger, however, took control, anger directed at life, at my dad for taking his life, at Akhenaten, at Nefertiti, and for Horemheb. “She draped the left foot the woman was complaining about that day. Maybe she sprained it from putting all her weight on it, but it was her other foot that had to go! The nurse didn’t notice the discrepancy. It was my job to double check! I was thinking about you in Egypt and me wanting to be there with you! Then the surgeon burst in and started barking orders. I didn’t want to upset him by asking questions.”

  Maddie’s eyes bulged.

  “My dad would’ve wanted to pursue the letter, but his health deteriorated over the last ten years of his life. Maybe he couldn’t see himself attempting it, in and out of the hospital all the time, not being able to travel. Maybe he didn’t want to give away his secret, or didn’t need the glory. Maybe he wanted me to do it! Yes, he wanted me to find it when I was old enough, but before becoming too crippled by his disease!”

  Journal Translation

  THE WOMAN LYING IN BED was not Nefertiti. It was Beketaten, Akhenaten’s vindictive sister! My toes curled in disgust, nausea rising in my belly.

  Staring, my mouth gaped in shock. “What’re you doing here?”

  Smirking, Beketaten brushed black hair from her face. “I hope you’re screaming for joy. You took me into your bed last night, remember?”

  “This is Nefertiti’s bed!” I said.

  “I heard voices and listened at the door,” she said. “She obviously didn’t want you.”

  Had Beketaten cast magic, or had my mind deceived me into believing what I had wanted? “We slept together last night?”

  “I thought you’d want a woman’s comfort,” she said, her long nose twitching as she talked. “And I despise Nefertiti for always wanting to make me jealous. It brings comfort when Akhenaten shares himself with me, but I wanted to take someone who truly loved her.”

  Crushing pressure squeezed my stomach, too soon after being reignited. I needed to think, to get out of here. “Where’s my cloak?”

  Her forehead furrowed. “You wore only a kilt last night, and not for very long …”

  Tossing aside tables and chairs, the daylight amplified. Without assistance it’d be impossible for me to escape the palace unseen.

  Like a smack in the face, I realized the pelt lay beside the bed. I just hadn’t recognized it. The stars had completely faded, and the black fur had lightened to a typical jaguar yellow. Throwing it on, I donned the mask.

  Laughing, Beketaten pointed at me. Her giggling wasn’t delayed.

  Pain twisted my gut. The magic must’ve been spent, and I looked like a fool—

  The door burst open! Akhenaten glared, a thin snarl creeping across his face. “You have returned, my faithful, loyal servant.” Clearing his throat, his slanted eyes narrowed, making the black above them grow. “Tell me, do you wield magic?”

  My face flushed in horror as my heart let loose. I let the cloak fall to the ground. “I’m just a servant! I don’t hold any power, my lord.”

  Stepping forward, he revealed something from behind his back—a deep-blue feather and an empty sack stained with blood. “This is an ostrich feather of Ma’at. The Feather of Truth. For you to keep for the remainder of your days, and to remember what really happened, as well as your shame. The sack you’ve seen before.” He paused and his chest heaved. “You may not command magic, but with the help of the blasphemers you employ its horrid powers in my own palace! The home I allow you to live your miserable life in!”

  I almost vomited and passed out with fear, but struggled enough to form words. “All I did was try to learn what the old man at the temple wanted me to.”

  “Did you succeed?” After kicking the pelt across the room, he threw the sack at me. A bloodstain ran down my kilt.

  “No, I have more questions now than answers.” I said.

  “This world is so full of lies,” he whispered, circling me like a panther waiting to pounce. “You could have lived a comfortable life, a life anyone would have desired. You had everything . . . well, almost . . .” He made a come-hither motion with a slender finger.

  Nefertiti stepped into the room, her head hanging.

  “My queen informed me of what you offered her.” He chuckled. “You cannot take the world’s most beautiful woman from God!”

  “I-I am in love with her.” My words trembled like my hands, and I was unable to meet his shadowed gaze. “Because you are cousins, I didn’t think you’d be married. I didn’t intend to offend you. I acted only from my feelings for her.”

  “Well, you have insulted me, the queen, Egypt, and the Aten!”

  I wouldn’t be able to appease the devil inside Akhenaten this time, and fighting would mean death. Suty stood outside the doorway, barring any escape. The demon possessing that monstrous body winked, wings and horns almost visible beside the pig’s ear. Standing beside the ogre and eyeing me as if I were the vilest of creatures was Ay. He’d never accept me now.

  Akhenaten lunged, but not toward me. Yanking Beketaten by the hair, he hoisted her into the air. She screeched as he threw her against a wall. Her upper lip struck stone, gashed open, and bled profusely. “Your body is mine, you whore!” he screamed, his face a deep purple. “You have defiled yourself. The women of this palace do not serve other men!”

  Backing into a corner, my mind raced. If Nefertiti wanted Akhenaten to avenge her, why not do it as soon as she left last night? Perhaps part of her still loved me. Or did Akhenaten force her to tell, and then to watch?

  I leapt for the window and caught the sill.

  “Coward!” Akhenaten roared. His fingers wrapped around my scarred ankle, burning like fire. Screaming in pain, I pulled, but he opposed with fiercer strength. I crashed onto the floor.

  Suty’s dark laughter echoed.

  Pressing my back against the far wall, Akhenaten snatched a spear from his soldier and threw it in my direction—butt first. The shaft caught me in the stomach and knocked the wind from my lungs, but I held onto the weapon.

  “Defend yourself!” Akhenaten said, seizing another glistening-edged spear. “Like when we were kids with our sticks.”

  Fumbling with the spear, I pointed it at him. The depths of his dark orbs consumed the light. I was going to die. My life and friends flashed before my eyes. Father, Croc, Mahu, Nefertiti …

  His spear knocked mine out wide, slashing me across the chest. Blood gushed down over my belly. Ay applauded.

  “He wanted to take me for a farmer’s wife!” Nefertiti threw her head back and laughed.

  My tormented heart shriveled as if the soul-drinking blade had plunged into it.

  “Please don’t kill him!” another f
emale cried. Mutnedjmet! “Nefertiti, don’t be so vile. His only crime was loving you!” Tears streamed down her soft face, for me.

  My head grew light and foggy. My friend! What would become of her? Another one of Akhenaten’s girls? Perhaps I could have helped everyone if I hadn’t been so blind. Stiffening my resolve, I squeezed Father’s bracelet, then stabbed with my weapon, utilizing all of my might. I struck for Father, for Croc, for Mutnedjmet, and for myself.

  Akhenaten deflected the spear and rammed the end of his into my face. A geyser of blood erupted from my nose as I collapsed, the world spinning with blinding lights.

  “I will not kill him,” he said, twirling his weapon overhead with a whirling hiss. “He has betrayed and defied me more than I could imagine. Me! The son of the Aten! I no longer trust anyone. And I have bigger plans for him than death. But when he passes, I will be there to devour his tortured soul.” He leaned closer. “Did you believe she would choose you over God?”

  Gathering all of my courage, which I’d suppressed for far too long, I yelled, “I had hoped she would chose love over the wicked god-king, murderer of his own brother!”

  Akhenaten’s visage dropped in surprise before twisting like a gnarled tree and fading to black.

  Present Day

  “SORRY!” MADDIE SAID, stepping away. Surprise or even panic masked the pity on her face. “I didn’t mean to imply anything negative about your dad, and I didn’t know about the surgery … it wasn’t all your fault.”

  Heat intensified in my cheeks. I turned away, ashamed and regretful.

  “Gavin?” she asked in a peep.

  Running footsteps stopped behind me. “What happened?” Jenkin’s soft voice asked.

  Exiting, I wandered back through the sun court, feeling sick for unleashing my frustrations on her. No clues anywhere.

  Wandering out of Luxor Temple, the heat and dust strangled me. Shadows crawled across the heads and chests of the red granite and the black stone Rameses. Their bodies and the diminutive figures of the queen at his feet rejoiced in the wavering battle of luminescence versus shade. Stone hands rested in their laps with flat fingers, none arching into weird positions—