Leonie had no option except to slap her hard around the face, it was the quickest way to stop her from speaking. Nearby soldiers had already taken interest. Leonie spoke harshly to Kate, wagging her finger, then raising her hands skywards, as though she were begging the gods for help. She spoke so harshly that Kate, now understanding the danger she had just put them in, said nothing as she stared at the ground.
Leonie turned to the soldiers, and whilst gesticulating wildly in Kate’s direction, let them know, in no uncertain terms, what trouble this handmaiden was. Heavily armed, for ancient Egyptian soldiers, due to the location, they would, more than likely, have understood Cairo better, as soldiers spoke their own language, a language that Cairo could speak. This, however, did not need any translation, as even Kate had a good understanding from the body language and gestures. She particularly did not appreciate the dismissive flick of the hand, not once, but several times.
With still no sign of Alex, and with the soldiers now only keeping half an eye on them, though definitely still paying them too much attention, Leonie had to think fast. After telling the young lads to wait with the donkeys until Alex arrived, she got one to take a long rope from his animal, then tie Kate’s hands together, in front of her. Taking hold of the loose end, Leonie led Kate to a low wide temple, muttering in ancient Egyptian as she did. They entered unchallenged, before walking along a long, covered walkway, with heavily decorated life-sized bas-reliefs either side of them. Pairs of soldiers, one to each side, stood facing each other, swords up against their chests, every few metres.
Upon stepping out of the back of the temple, Kate now knew exactly where they were.
Leonie’s harsh tug on the rope instantly removed the look of surprise from her face. Surreptitiously gesturing for Kate to slow down as well as keep her head down, they had taken no more than twenty paces before Kate was dragged to one side, to make way for a procession of well overfed priests. Having stepped into an alcove, Leonie turned, produced a key, the size of which Kate had only ever seen once before, used it in the heavy wooden door, then locked it behind them.
Gesturing for Kate to remain silent, Leonie untied her hands, before motioning for her to take the steps down.
Kate nodded, to say that she had understood Leonie’s palms down gesture: Once down the stairs, wait there.
Alex had been severely delayed on his southern route, not just by the soldiers crossing his path, but by them commandeering all the ferries across the section of the Nile he needed to cross. Now, having finally met up with the other two boys and their donkeys, he knew by their gestures where Kate and Leonie were, only he did not know how to get there. Alex was tall for his age, thin, and most importantly, had a skin colour only a shade darker than an average Egyptian. Just as long as he did not have to speak to anyone, he could be taken for a local.
Turning back to the boys and their donkeys, he saw them galloping away in the distance. He was in an ancient time, on his own, yet had to think of how he could make his way into a heavily guarded temple without being challenged. Careful not to kick up any dust, he walked over to an area of traders. Far from being poor people selling their own produce, these were extremely wealthy merchants catering to the priests; the finest cloths, religious texts exquisitely drawn on papyrus, gem studded gold in every form of religious paraphernalia, the most expensive incense – frankincense and myrrh, rare even in ancient Egypt – was piled high in containers, buckets, made from solid gold.
The hessian tied just below his knees, used to cover his modern trainers whilst on the donkey, proved impactable when walking. He bobbed down behind a stall, the owner of which was haggling hard with an obese priest. Whilst untying and discarding the hessian, he studied the entrance to the temple. Not everybody was being stopped as they entered. The selection of who was and who was not checked appeared to be extremely random, except for priests, obese priests. There were many priests going in; not one overweight priest was stopped. Not only did the soldiers fail to challenge them, they actually moved out of their way.
Leonie was at her wits end. She knew that if she hung around the temple much longer she would be challenged, yet she had to get Alex to safety. She also had the greatest urge to remove her wig, so that she could have a good scratch. To look like an aristocrat, she had to wear the dead-cat-thing on her head. She was hoping it was nothing more than perspiration that was making her itch, and not an infestation of lice.
A group of about a dozen priests entered the temple. She was really fed up with these overfed, overly superior, greedy, lazy, wealth grabbing, absolutely horrible men; so much so that she felt like telling them what she thought. Didn’t they care that large swathes of Egypt were already suffering from the worst recorded famine in the country’s history, a famine that was about to become an awful lot worse? She was well aware that they knew of the famine; just like she knew that they didn’t care. They really incensed her. As the last of the priests passed by she was ready to explode, that was before he turned to her and said, “Bless, you my child,” before slowing his step to allow Leonie to get ahead of him.
Kate did not have to move into the shadows as she heard the door above be unlocked, opened, closed, then locked again, because where she was there was nothing except shadows. A miniscule amount of light was coming in from somewhere, just enough to make out basic shapes, definitely not enough to make out any details.
Upon hearing a girl’s voice say, “I found him, Kate,” her anger left her. The longer she had waited alone in the dark, the more it had manifested.
“It’s safe to talk down here. Sorry about, you know, everything,” she said as Kate turned on a small round LED light which she placed on the floor. “I’m Leonie, I think I’m the one you are looking for.” She flung her wig to the ground then scratched and scratched before pushing her fingers up through her hair, to lift it from her head so that it could dry out.
Kate was too dumfounded to immediately say anything, though, being Kate, she was not silent for long. “What on earth are you wearing?”
Alex struggled to remove his priest’s robes before untying well stuffed pillows, along with the bag containing his backpack, from around his body. “Anybody have water, I’m boiling up here?”
Leonie passed him water before asking, “I’m curious. How did you know who I was, let alone which one of the girl’s I was?”
Whilst drinking the bottled water, he was trying to think of a reason why they were where they were, also what it was that they were in. Thankfully it was cool, though it was a vast space with tall narrow arches all around which appeared to lead off to more vast areas with more arches. It was too dark to be sure. He sat on a pillow, offering the others to Kate and Leonie who joined him.
“You knew who she was?” Kate had had no idea. “How did you know?” Her abruptness brought forth an answer, as she decided that she needed two pillows to make herself comfortable on the floor.
“Several things really. When I pieced everything together, it was obvious that one of the girls had to be working with Ankhtifi. You are, aren’t you?”
Leonie nodded.
“Yes, I thought so. Your friend …?”
“Celina,” Kate reminded him.
“Your friend Celina would have never gone off without contacting her parents; she had just arrived in a strange country and would have been warned not to go with anyone, under any circumstances.”
“Correct so far.”
“It was you who convinced her to go; you manipulated her to go.”
“I did, guilty as charged,” Leonie said jokingly.
“I knew that if we came to Cairo, that you would make contact.”
“And I did! Though I’m not sure I like being that predictable. It could be dangerous.”
“Well, rest assured, I didn’t expect this; to be here.”
“Neither did I,” Kate added. “How long is it since you ‘saw’?”
“How long do you think?”
“Well, you sound very mature, mu
ch older than your years, so I would think it was a while ago. What do you think, Alex?”
“Well, ‘seeing’ certainly ages people. I sometimes feel that I’m more my father’s age.”
“When you sit in that chair reading The ADD you could easily be your father’s age, possibly much older.”
“Thanks for that, Kate. No, Leonie, seriously; I would have thought three, possibly four years ago, as you are very comfortable around ancients, as well as the time we are in. To be as comfortable as you are, you must have ‘seen’ some while ago. I would have said longer, but you do not look any older than us.”
“Not bad. Almost exactly five years ago, to the day. I’m a little older than the both of you. I don’t like to admit it, I usually don’t, but I’m a little older than I look. You’re both quite famous you know. I read about your exploits in The ADD all the time. Doesn’t that excite you?”
“Not really, it just means that we get more column inches when we die!” Kate said.
“Don’t you think that’s a little cynical?”
“No, Leonie, I don’t. Again, we are putting our lives on the line and I really don’t know what for. And what have you got around your neck?”
“This?” Alex said innocently as he removed, then held out for them to see, a good kilo of gold and gems attached to an equally heavy gold chain.
“Where did you steal this from?” Kate asked as she examined it closely in the LED light.
“For a start, I didn’t steal it, I don’t steal things, I simply amended its ownership. Some priest was trying on new robes, so I borrowed his old ones and found this tucked inside them.”
“Can I have a look at that?” Leonie held out both hands.
“It’s heavy,” Kate said as she passed it over.
“I’m not sure that taking this was your finest moment, Alex.” Leonie looked concerned.
“I didn’t take it, I borrowed it.” Kate and Leonie looked less than convinced. “I just amended its ownership … okay! Anyway, where are we, and why are we here?”
Whilst her look of concern remained, Leonie started to explain: “As you both saw on your way in, we are directly under the great sphinx.”
“I didn’t think that there was anything under that, and I didn’t see any pyramids, though there has to be if the sphinx is here.” Alex almost apologised for interrupting.
“The way that we approached, you do not see the pyramids until you have walked well beyond both the temple and the sphinx. Where we are, in a normal year, we should have drowned by now.” Both Kate and Alex looked around from where they sat. “This is where the drinking water for the royal household is stored, or would be stored if there was any. Typically enough for several thousand people for several years. It has been empty long enough to be, as you can see, bone dry. The light, which stops this place from being pitch black, comes in from where the water of the Nile races in during the summer inundation, only there has been no inundation, no flooding of the fields so that the crops can grow.”
Kate was confused. “Everything appeared very lush, very green on my way here. How about you Alex?”
He thought for a second. “Yes, it was, I didn’t see anything to concern me. Everywhere was green. That family were enjoying a picnic as we arrived and the field where we collected our donkeys was flooded. I can’t see that there is a problem.”
“Well, trust me when I tell you that there is.”
Kate and Alex both confirmed that they did believe her. Only ancients and those who have ‘seen’ can step through windows in time, and those windows only occurred when dramatic events were under way.
Leonie went on to explain that the Faiyum, an area of over one thousand square kilometres of arable land to the south-west of Cairo, which to this day is still known as the food basket of Egypt, was about to turn dry.
“Is that why there are so many soldiers on the move?” Alex asked, then described what he had witnessed.
“Yes and no. Today the country is about to go into mourning for Pharaoh Pepy II. Would you believe that he became pharaoh at the age of five and has ruled for more than ninety years? Well, today he has died, bringing Egypt’s Old Kingdom to an end. Today is also the day the main lake which feeds the Faiyum finally dries up. Just as the sun sets the water will stop flowing.”
Kate and Alex immediately understood the heavy symbolism of these unrelated events in a time of superstition. No wonder the army was moving, and moving quickly. They had to be in place before the people became aware of the pharaoh’s demise. He was seen as a god, he was the bringer of life, of the inundation, which had apparently failed for several years, in line with his failing health over those same years. Now, upon his death, the water shortage, which had affected the rest of Egypt so catastrophically, was about to affect the ancient capital. In the eyes of the people these events had to be linked. The gods were upset with them, for which they had to blame somebody, some group of people, anybody!
“How long have the inundations failed for?”
Leonie looked directly at Alex: “Well, let’s just say that a lake, the lake that feeds the Faiyum, which, when full, is over sixty-five metres deep, is now dry.”
“So, there hasn’t been an inundation for how many years?” Kate was becoming irritated.
“Lake Nasser–”
“What has lake Nasser got to do with this lake in the Faiyum? Just tell us how many years the inundation has failed.”
“Drop the attitude, Kate. I expect that Leonie doesn’t know exactly how long it has failed for.” He gestured for her to continue.
“Alex is right, I don’t know, and as this area of Egypt is only now going to feel the effect of the water shortage, nobody here knows either. That is why I looked up the facts on lake Nasser. The lake here is over is over sixty-five metres deep, Lake Nasser averages twenty-five metres deep, admittedly it covers a much larger area, though it does have all of the Nile flowing into it.”
“What are you saying?” This was taking too long for Kate.
Alex shook his head in despair at her rudeness.
“What I am saying, is that it took over twelve years to fill lake Nasser. AND,” Leonie said forcefully to shut Kate up, “be prepared to see some pretty dreadful sites once we head towards Luxor. If you still want to have an attitude with me by the time we get there, then so be it, but you won’t because of what you–” Leonie was abruptly stopped in mid-flow.
Alex thought she had been magnificent, though, just as they all were, he was staring up into the darkness.
The banging on the door above was beyond somebody wanting to gain normal access, it was a determined effort to smash the door down.
“Quickly, we need to head towards the light,” Leonie said. “Don’t you dare leave that behind,” she shouted at Alex whilst pointing to the priest’s gold thingy. “That is the reason why they are beating the door down.”
“Why on earth is this so important?” Alex asked as he stuck it in the bag containing his backpack. “Have you seen those priests, there’s wall to wall gold up there?”
“There might be, but by stealing that you have just made yourself High Priest of Ra.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s what is going to get you killed, get us all killed!” A calamitous bang came from above, light flooded in and so did soldiers. “Come on, RUN!”
“I told you, I didn’t steal it!” Alex shouted as he ran.
“Tell that to Rahotep when you see him; if he lets you live long enough!”
Chapter 8
-
Lost for Words
The sound of soldiers moving quickly through the vast echo-chamber-rooms was disconcerting enough, the fact that those sounds were becoming ever louder, ever closer, despite Kate, Alex and Leonie running for their lives, raised their concerns, as well as their heart rate, to critical levels.
Leonie was out in front, though virtually neck and neck with Kate. Alex, who could not believe how far they had run, especially when runnin
g was not his thing, was lagging well behind.
“Come on,” Kate shouted back.
Alex wondered just what she thought he was doing: taking a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park? He knew that he could not keep up this pace much longer, and though the light ahead was becoming ever more powerful, he could not see how, once they were outside, where other soldiers were likely to be, he would be able to escape them. He was going to be caught red-handed with the gold thingy of the High Priest of Ra stuffed in his rucksack.
Slamming a foot down as an emergency brake, he dropped down, sliding forward on a fine layer of sand as he did. An ancient soldier went flying straight over him, his momentum such that after sliding along the floor he crumpled against the pillar of an arch, which he hit with great force. Sticking one hand in a pocket whilst raising his other, he spoke the words of Gadeem. Without waiting, Alex stood, turned and ran. This was the one thing about magic that he really did not like: it was never instant. In normal circumstances, the delay between casting a spell, and that spell actually doing what it was supposed to, was not long. When faced with running, screaming, sword waving soldiers, approaching as though they were a steam train filled with murderous intent, any delay was too long.
There was no sign of Leonie or Kate, but at least he could now see the steps that would lead him up and out; the hundred or so steps down which the Nile would have cascaded during the inundation. Climbing these would slow him down dramatically, there were so many, far more than he first thought. These would get him caught. It was then that the sound of bloodthirsty soldiers quadrupled. He felt relieved as he scrambled up the steps on all fours: the magic had worked.
Whatever spell Gadeem gave to Alex had to be simple, as Alex was no magician. This one mirrored whatever it was cast upon, projecting it out to each of the four points of the compass. Alex was hopeful that the soldiers’ immediate thought would be that they had run into a trap, causing them to give up the chase and group together in a defensive formation. By the time they realised that they were shadowboxing, he would, they all would, be long gone. It had obviously worked, as there was no longer the sound of running feet behind him, though plenty of orders were being bellowed, each order coming back a second or two later as four orders. There was the satisfying sound of total confusion, someway behind him, as he flagged on the steps.
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