The Book of the Dead

by Paul Davis

  ‘Who do you pray to?’ asked Myrine. ‘There are so many gods.’

  ‘To the spirits of the departed, and whichever gods are here,’ answered Kaires. ‘They all have their own particular places.’

  ‘And these -’ Myrine pointed to the line of gods on the left wall, ‘are these the gods of this place? Ra, Osiris, Isis -’

  In a blinding flash Kaires saw what he was meant to see. There, in the open, in front of him all the time.

  ‘And Harpocrates...’ he said. ‘You knew all the time, didn't you? Why didn't you say?’

  ‘I wanted us to find it ourselves, first,’ she said. ‘Imagine, if we really do find something, how happy Gallus will be with you. If you are going to be a suitable match for Iola, I have to make sure you are in the Prefect's good books...’

  Kaires wanted to hug her. ‘I can't believe I didn't realise. Harpocrates, the son of Isis. Cleopatra was Isis. Caesarion her son. Harpocrates would never have been depicted in a tomb of this age. He didn't exist before the Ptolemies invented him. Not “Seek, Caesarion, and find,” but “Seek Caesarion, and find!”It is an image of Caesarion!’

  ‘Have you seen what he is holding? Does it mean anything?’

  ‘A necklace. The hieroglyphic symbol for gold...’

  They were both over to the wall in a moment. The soldiers had left their tools in a corner and Kaires grabbed one of the picks. He carefully swung it against the painted necklace and some of the plaster chipped away, revealing a seam underneath. He continued to chip away until the outline of a small stone block could be seen.

  ‘It's only held in by mud. It's a false wall, plastered and painted over, then dirtied and chipped to make it look older to fit in with the rest of the tomb. Let me see if I can work this block loose.’ Kaires took a knife and worked round the joins, the dried mud easily crumbling away.

  ‘Hang on, here it goes.’ He knocked the loosened stone with the handle of the pick, sending it in to the blackness beyond. ‘Give me a light!’

  Without a word Myrine took one of the lamps and handed to him. He held it to the hole, and strained his eyes to look beyond. From everywhere the flame was returned, reflected from a thousand surfaces of gold.

  ‘Can you see anything?’ asked Myrine.

  ‘Yes, wonderful things...’ replied Kaires.

  Something hard hit him on the back of the neck, smashing his face into the wall. He sank in to blackness, and knew no more.

  -0-

  Kaires woke and opened his eyes, then wished he hadn't. His head felt like it was about to split in two. He had a thumping headache and even the dim light hurt beyond belief. He tried opening one eye a fraction, and when he could tolerate that, opened the other.

  He was confused. He could now see that he was in the tomb in the Western Cemetery, but he had no idea what he was doing there. He tried to move, then realised that his arms and legs were tightly bound. Pain suddenly raged through his body and he stopped trying, struggling to breathe instead. Someone had stuffed a gag in his mouth and his nose seemed partly blocked. Then he remembered he had knocked it against the wall when someone had hit him from behind. He wondered if it was broken.

  He strained his neck to look over to the opposite side of the tomb. A large hole had been opened up in the wall, and as he looked, Myrine came out.

  ‘Ah, so you've woken up. Not feeling too bad, I hope? Sorry we've had to truss you up like that but we can't have you giving the game away.’

  Unable to reply, Kaires just squirmed a bit.

  ‘Now I can take off the gag, but you must promise not to shout. Not that anyone would hear you from here anyway, but no point in taking chances.’

  As Myrine spoke two men emerged from the chamber behind, carrying bags which, by the way they were struggling with them, contained an enormous weight. They nodded to Myrine. ‘One more load,’ said one, and they went out.

  ‘You haven't met my brothers, have you? They run - ran, I mean - the farm in the Delta. Not that there's anything left now - what there was of it was failing fast, and they had to take what they could get for the land, which wasn't much. Oh wait - of course you've already met. They were waiting just by the pyramid with the donkeys as we came up. And you must have seen them in their felucca; it's been following us for ages.’

  Kaires tried to make a noise, and Myrine came over and gently untied the gag. ‘Better leave the rest of you tied up, I'm afraid. Don't worry, someone will find you in the morning.’

  Kaires gasped for air, recovering his breath. When he was able to, he spoke.

  ‘What is this? What do you think you are you doing? You know I must be missed soon. Untie me Myrine, it's not too late -’

  ‘No one will miss you. I've been back and told them you want to spend a night under the stars, to think about your future. So romantic. I waited until everyone was in bed and then came back myself, but by then my brothers had done most of the work. Unfortunately there's only so much we can take on six donkeys, but it’s more than enough to keep the three of us in luxury for the rest of our lives, so we can’t complain. Shame we haven't got the time for another trip. We'll be off in a minute. Give my love to Gallus. He should be pleased; there's plenty left for him, so he needn't be too upset. We’ve hardly made an impression on the amount of stuff there. There's a whole room behind that false wall with a burial shaft full of gold, and chests of all manner of other precious things. Quite a find! At least you were right about something, Kaires.’

  ‘You can't hope to escape. Gallus will be after you as soon as he finds out.’

  ‘He'll be too late. Do you think we haven't thought about that? His men are coming by land, and the Gloria Aegyptae is terribly slow compared to our felucca. Once we're off, which we will be before anyone has even woken up, we can disappear in no time. We won't stay in Egypt, of course.’

  ‘I don't understand... Prokles...’

  ‘Poor Kaires, you haven't been very clever, have you? Yes, Prokles killed Zeno and Mantios. He was my lover. I’m surprised you didn’t realise; we had to spend a lot of time together on the barge to organise things, although we tried not to make it too obvious. But back in Alexandria he had become tiresome, threatening to tell Zeno unless I ran off with him. I wanted rid of him. I almost threw everything away when I pushed him under the horse... But then I found out from Zeno about the possibility of all these riches, and everything changed. I persuaded Prokles that his “accident” had been Zeno’s fault. It made it easier for me to persuade him to kill him. So we exaggerated his injuries. We had to get Zeno out of the way; he was such a fool. We laughed about the thought of him having an affair with Assia Alexia. Of course he wasn't, he was too boring for that. Prokles had managed to steal her cameo from Chaeremon a few days before, and I slipped it in Zeno’s bag to throw suspicion on Chaeremon, and take the heat away from us. Worked a treat. Although you did a great job of finding motives for almost everyone, so we needn’t really have bothered.’

  ‘You’re wrong when you say I never suspected you, Myrine. I just didn’t want to believe what I thought.’

  ‘Because of Iola, of course. I do hope your nose isn’t broken. Sorry about that. I’d hate to have spoiled such a handsome face.’

  ‘What else was I wrong about? You may as well tell me now.’

  ‘Well, it was I who sent my son away, not Zeno. A great mistake, but I wasn't to know that. Zeno blamed me for his death, and couldn’t forgive me. So I had to do something, don't you see? I'm not made to be stuck in a dull, loveless marriage.’

  ‘You didn't have to kill him.’

  ‘Oh, but I did. I had no intention of letting him be part of all this. He could never keep his mouth shut. Even as it was he gave far too much away before he died. No, no regrets there.’

  ‘How were you intending to join the trip? You can’t have known Iola was intending to slip on board.’

  ‘No. Originally I was to stay in Alexandria and try and get hold of Caesarion’s ring. I was so annoyed that Prokles hadn’t tak
en an impression of it before he handed it through to Zeno, but he really wasn’t very clever. I’d have thought of some excuse to see the Prefect and make a copy, some nonsense about Zeno’s historical research, maintaining his legacy and so on. Gallus would have fallen for it; he doesn’t appear entirely immune to my charms. Then I was to meet Prokles here with my brothers. But it didn’t come to that; when I found out Gallus was on the barge, and Iola had run away to join it too, the opportunity was too good to miss. So on I came. Of course it did no harm to keep Gallus sweet...’

  ‘Did you have to kill Mantios? Couldn’t you just have paid him off? It looks like you’ll have more than enough.’

  ‘And never feel safe? Don’t be silly, Kaires. It was a shame about him, though. Who'd have thought he'd be up all through the very first night? Gave Prokles quite a shock. Fortunately I sat next to him at breakfast, and he told me what had happened. So we managed to arrange for Prokles to stay on board while everyone went on land, and I pretended to see him in the market so no one would suspect he was still on the barge. I created a diversion by spilling the water jug, and he slipped downstairs. Once he’d done the business he waited, then went ashore like everyone else, following some crew members down. He knew not to come back until after the body had been discovered. All I had to do was persuade Thestor that he’d seen Prokles on land while Mantios was still upstairs, putting him in the clear. Fortunately there was a man with a stick by one of the stalls, and Thestor’s eyesight was poor, so he fell for it.’

  ‘That’s what I couldn’t understand. You saw whoever it was as well, and you’re not short sighted like Thestor. You must have known it wasn’t Prokles. Yet I let myself believe you were genuinely mistaken. After all, as far as I knew you didn’t know Prokles well.’

  ‘Love is blind, Kaires, and perhaps that extends to prospective mothers-in-law as well. I do hope I haven’t put you off marrying Iola. It’s not her fault, you know.’

  ‘I’d prefer it if you didn’t mention her name.’

  ‘Really? From the way you’ve been behaving I’d have thought you wanted to hear it all the time.’

  ‘Not from your lips.’

  ‘If you insist.’

  The men returned with their empty bags and went back through into the other chamber.

  ‘And so Thestor...’

  ‘Yes, I do feel bad about him. I had to do that myself; we couldn't risk Prokles getting involved again. He had realised that it wasn’t Prokles we saw in the market at Naucratis. Whoever it was looked similar enough from a distance, but limped on his other leg. I didn’t think Thestor would notice. I only realised later myself. He must have become aware of the difference when he followed Prokles back from the swim that day.

  ‘I waited until everyone was out of the way, then just knocked and left the stuff outside his door, flavoured with a bit of mint and honey. Hemlock, as you guessed. Of course that’s what Prokles and I had been buying in the market that day, not threads. We thought it might come in handy, as indeed it did. Best to be prepared for the worst. Thestor did the rest himself. When I called in to see him later he was still just alive, but paralysed, unable to move. I left the note in his hand. It was the one he wrote to me apologising for missing Zeno's funeral. I saw at once how useful it could be - I'm so sorry about Zeno. Please forgive me for missing his funeral... So easy to tear off just the first few words. Dexios was good enough to confirm it was his brother’s writing, even though you later made it out to be a forgery by Prokles. You should have believed Dexios; then with a bit of thought you might have found me out.’

  ‘I can't forgive you for his death.’

  ‘Well, it was him or us.’

  ‘It's a wonder Prokles didn't try to throw the blame on you when I accused him of the murders.’

  ‘Because he loved me, do you think?’ Myrine laughed. ‘He probably would have done, if he'd had time. He almost gave the game away when he attacked Iola. He was going to say “You little fool, don't you see it was all for you” or some stupid thing like that, which would have pointed squarely to me. I had to interrupt to stop him. Thank goodness Dexios was so keen for revenge. It also saved me the bother of getting rid of Prokles myself. He’d served his purpose.’

  ‘You're evil.’

  ‘Now don't say that, Kaires. Why do you think you're still alive? It would be much easier to kill you. I do have a conscience, you see. Not about you - although I do rather like you. But about Iola, if you’ll allow me to mention her once more. She'll need someone to look after her, now. I don't suppose you'll relish having me as your mother-in-law, but I don't think you'll hold it against her. It’s not as if I’ll come visiting. She is innocent, I can assure you of that. And deeply in love with you. So my wedding gift to you is your life.’

  Myrine's brothers clambered out through the painted wall, bags full once more.

  ‘Time to go,’ said Myrine. ‘Give Iola my love, and tell her her uncles say hello. Sorry, I think we'd better put the gag on again.’

  Having done so, Myrine blew out the lamps around the tomb. She took the last one with her, leaving Kaires in the blackest darkness.

  -0-

  ‘Kaires! Kaires!’

  Kaires woke to the sound of his name and a shaking of his shoulders. The gag was wrenched from his mouth and he gasped for breath, grateful to be breathing easily once more. He had tried to stay awake, struggling to free himself, but he had been too tightly tied to work anything loose. At some point he had been overcome by exhaustion, and must have blacked out. It was still dark, but the dim light from a single lamp gave enough light for him to see that it was Iola who had woken him. She was now working to free his arms and legs from their bonds.

  ‘Iola! How did you -’

  ‘Ssh! Let me get you out of this. What's happened? Are you all right?’

  ‘I think so. What time is it? Where's Gallus? I must speak to him -’

  ‘It's the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep. Mother said you had come out here to think things over by yourself, but then she slipped off herself when I was asleep. I woke up a little while ago and saw she had gone. I came looking for you both. This seemed an obvious place. I thought you must’ve arranged to meet her.’

  ‘Iola!’

  ‘Well what was I to think? You were talking to her all last evening, completely ignoring me. She's still young, and very beautiful...’

  ‘Iola, stop this at once. I wasn't ignoring you; you were busy giving all your attention to Gallus. If anyone were to be accused of flirting, it wouldn’t be me. But there's no time to waste. I must speak to him at once. I'm afraid your mother... well I don't know what to say. You could start by looking over there.’ He pointed to the opposite wall of the tomb, still covered in darkness.

  Iola went across to see where he was pointing, and almost dropped the lamp.

  ‘There's no time to lose. They must be stopped!’

  ‘Who?’ asked Iola.

  ‘Your two uncles, and your mother.’

  Iola almost dropped the lamp again. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Help me up. I'll explain on the way back to the barge.’

  Kaires was aching all over and could hardly stand. To start with his cramped muscles would hardly respond, and he had to lean heavily on Iola. As they made progress, the blood slowly returned to his muscles until he was able to manage unaided again. As they walked he told Iola about the events of the evening. He wished he could have spared her, but there was no point in prevaricating. She would know sooner or later, whatever happened. As he spoke, her face set hard, giving nothing away.

  When they reached the barge Kaires ran up the gangplank and went straight to Gallus's suite, pushing aside the guard and banging on the door with all his might.

  The guard remonstrated but Gallus wrenched open the door angrily. ‘What's all this?’ he shouted, but his face immediately changed to a look of concern when he saw Kaires, who almost collapsed into the room, Iola just behind.

  As succinctly as po
ssible Kaires told Gallus about the finding of the gold, and its subsequent theft. For once Gallus listened without interrupting until Kaires had finished. Then he yelled for the guard.

  ‘Get me Captain Nehesi, and every soldier on the barge!’

  The guard wasted no time, and in minutes the Captain appeared, rubbing his eyes, along with a dozen or so soldiers. Gallus immediately sent a consignment of men to guard what gold was left in the tomb, and instructed Nehesi to set off immediately in pursuit of the felucca.

  ‘But it's pitch black outside! We may hit something!’ he warned.

  ‘I don't care if we hit a pyramid, we can't let them get away. There are the stars, and if you stay mid river we'll be fine. You know this river better than anyone else. There's no time to lose, just get going! They're in a felucca, but they won't be expecting us to follow so soon. Still, they'll be pretty nippy. Kaires thinks they'll have headed back to the Delta.’

  ‘They may have good manoeuvrability, but don't let them think they can go faster than the Isis,’ Nehesi said. ‘Going downstream with all our rowers , we can certainly give them a run for their money. They haven't got a chance!’ He disappeared off to oversee his men.

  The rest of the passengers were in the saloon, in a state of bewilderment. Iola had gone down to her cabin, and Kaires decided to give her some time to herself. For the third time that night he found himself relating the events of the evening, to the disbelief of his listeners.

  ‘How will we know which way they've gone?’ asked Haemon. ‘They may have gone south to fool us. Even if they head back to the Delta, they could go on any of the branches of the Nile - how many are there, seven? And how many lesser branches? There must be hundreds. Or they might even hide behind one of the islands.’

  ‘They won't stop to hide. Their only chance is to get as far away as possible. They think they've got all night before there's any chance of pursuit. They won’t go south – there’s no choice but to stick to the main river, and they must know they’d be caught sooner or later. They’ll want to lose themselves in the Delta. I doubt they'll go up the way we came. Their farm was on the Sebennitic branch, so that's the one they'll be most familiar with. It's as good a guess as any.’