Mystery of the Temple
Page 17
“Keep the goods below, just remove the bodies. The less they see, the less trouble they will be.”
Isha nodded. “I will arrange it as soon as I’ve shown you around.”
They entered another narrow passage that descended for several royal cubits.
“I’m developing an aversion for narrow passages,” Neti said. “At least this one is well lit.”
Shabaka said nothing, although from his bearing she could see that he was bone-tired.
The passage opened up into a larger chamber, with the smell of death overwhelming.
“I do not blame your man for being ill,” Neti said as she moved.
She had hardly given three steps when she came to a complete standstill, saying just above a whisper, “I’ve seen this before.”
Isha turned towards her disbelievingly questioning, “How could you have?”
“Sometimes it is easier to simply accept things with Neti,” Shabaka said.
The man looked at Shabaka, obviously confused.
“That way you are spared the confusion,” Shabaka said, turning to look at Neti. “What else?”
“There should be a number of gold shabaties here.”
“How does she do that?” Isha asked, looking towards Shabaka.
“Just answer the question.”
“Yes, there are.”
“They should be covered with grain sacks before being picked up and placed into wooden crates.”
“They carry the curse.” Isha stated, rather than asked.
Neti nodded.
“It would explain why no one was willing to pick them up.”
“They must be returned to Khufu’s Pyramid.”
Neti looked about the chamber for several moments before stating, “There is nothing more here for us to do.”
Isha misunderstanding her, flatly stated, “There is a great deal more to be done still.”
Neti nodded. “That there is, but there is nothing more to investigate. These men are all victims of their own greed, and the wrath of the gods.”
“You are very certain of it,” Isha said.
Neti simply nodded.
Shabaka followed her out. Once they were some distance from the others, he asked, “How can you know?”
“Because that chamber with the shabaties was the last image I saw at the Pyramid. I think that somehow the gods spoke to me, to tell me that they have attended to this.” Neti shook her head. “There is no way of knowing how many people were struck down, or how many more could be, but the people responsible for this have long since died. We are not going to find the person responsible alive.”
Shabaka glanced towards the house they had just left and then back to her, finally nodding. “It just feels incomplete.”
“We followed this as best as we could, but there will always be those things that remain unanswered.”
END