Kate failed to show up for breakfast, which was probably best for everybody. The amount of apologising between Alex, Emmy and Cairo, over the events of the day before, would have had her screaming.
Even David, who had expressed no concern for his missing daughter, joined in with the apologies. “How is your head, Cairo?”
Cairo involuntary placed his hand on the back of his head as he said, “I okay.”
“The second that I saw it was you, I really tried to stop my swing, but it was too late.”
They were sitting around a large wooden table in a room filled with new clay water pots. They were stacked high against all four unpainted mud-brick walls. They even partly obstructed the entrance, as well as a square hole in the same wall that acted as a window. Both appeared to let very little light in. Whilst everything outside was bright and colourful, where they sat it was dark by comparison. It was also reasonably cool. They had each ventured outside, though they had each stepped back in very quickly. The heat out there was oppressive.
David retained the look of a young Pharaoh Nakhtifi. He was also just as instantly forgettable. Alex studied David, Emmy and Cairo before closing his eyes. He tried to picture each of them in his mind. Emmy and Cairo were easy to picture. David, on the other hand, was not. Alex could picture David’s clothes, but he could not picture his face. Kate had mentioned to Alex that she had carried out this exercise at the time she had met Nakhtifi wearing all of his royal regalia. She had been able to picture everything he had been wearing, had even been able to picture the faces of his Nubian guards, though not the face of Nakhtifi himself. Alex wondered why he was surprised at not being able to paint a picture of David in his mind, when Nakhtifi was immediately forgettable and he was Kate’s and David’s most ancient relative. He worked out that his surprise came because David had far more personality than Nakhtifi. So that was why he had expected a different result. He could certainly picture Kate, but she had so much personality that he was often bruised by it, both physically and metaphorically.
“Is your head still bothering you?” David asked as Alex sat there with his eyes closed.
“No, sorry, well just a little, but that was not why I closed my eyes.” Alex was digging a hole for himself, so he changed the subject and asked the question that both Emmy and Cairo had wanted to ask. “Why are you and Kate here?”
“Why, is a really good question,” David said very slowly. He could not look at any of them so he stared into his mug, which he held between both hands on the plain wooden table top.
Alex looked at Emmy who moved her head as if to say ‘ask again’. He then looked at Cairo whose eyes widened. In effect he was saying ‘ask or I will explode’.
“Why are you here, David?”
It turned out to be a long boring answer with many pauses and a significant lack of detail. Basically they found out that David was a follower. He was here because Kate was here and, just as Alex had experienced at many times in the recent past, he was afraid of how Kate would react if he said no, or even dared to ask her to explain her actions. Rather than being worried when Kate went off on her own he was relieved, immensely relieved.
Emmy and Cairo both felt that Alex would get more detail out of David if they left. So they did.
“Cover your heads the both of you,” David called out as they reached the doorway. “It will soon be the hottest part of the day, so do try and keep in the shade as much as you can.”
“See you both later.” Emmy moved the scarf from her shoulders to her head and left it loose as she stepped outside.
Cairo looked back as David called his name. He caught the small piece of silver that David flipped to him. “That will go a long way in the souk, so get yourselves something nice.” Cairo thanked David and ran after Emmy.
“See you both later,” called out Alex before he turned to David and said, “It is silver that brought us here.”
“I suspected as much.” David did not say any more. Alex knew better than to push the subject if David was to really open up to him. A trick he had learned from his father. The silence was far from uncomfortable. David had lived for years as a loner, so silence was something that came naturally to him. It was actually something that he needed. Alex tried an innocuous question in an attempt to restart the conversation. “What are all these water pots doing in here?”
It worked. David leaned back in his chair and pointed off to some vague point far outside of the room they were in. “There is a very poor family over that way who I have helped for many years. They are far too proud to accept charity, but they do make pots. The only way I have found to help them is to buy a pot or two. I used to give them to the people around here, but now they all have more than enough water pots.” David stood and walked towards the door. He wiped his brow. “Silly isn’t it. I can’t even give them away. It would be so much easier if they just took the silver.”
“Is silver the main currency here?”
“Oh no, gold is. Silver is still very rare at this time in the history of Egypt.”
“Which period of history are we in? I was wondering if it–” Alex interrupted himself. “I think Kate is back.” It was obvious that she was because she could be heard shouting in the room adjacent to them. At who or what was far less obvious. Alex mentally cursed that she had come back now of all times. Now he would not be able to get any information from David. If Alex had been able to read minds, then he would have known that his curse was as nothing when compared to that of David.
“Quickly, grab two pots and let’s go.”
Alex did not need to be asked twice. Both left carrying two large water pots. Alex followed David as they walked quickly, almost ran, through the twists and turns of the narrow passages between mud brick homes. Occasionally they had to hold their pots high up over their heads, in order to pass locals who were going about their daily business.
“We go in here,” David said as he nervously looked around. Alex wondered if he was worried that Kate may have seen them leave and followed, but then he wondered where the ‘in’ was. This was a really narrow and, for the time of day, dark passage. He turned full circle. There was a totally solid wall on both sides. There was not one window, and more to the point, there was not one door. “Where, David?”
“In here.” David was looking at a plain mud brick wall as he said this.
Knowing that David was far from crazy, Alex understood that there must be a secret entrance, though as hard as he looked he was unable to see where it was. “How do we get in? And where are we going?”
“All in good time.” David put his pots down before removing a piece of silver from his pocket. He placed it on his opened palm and held it out. Alex looked at a small cheap tourist silver box which was made in the shape of Tutankhamun’s famous mask. “You will have to step back as you are blocking his view.”
“Whose view?”
David pointed upwards with his free hand. Alex followed the finger all the way up to the roof of the building and saw a man peering over. “He, Alex, is how we get in.” The man disappeared and so did a section of the wall in front of them. It moved inwards before rising upwards. “Quickly, he will not keep it open for long.” David held one pot in front of him and one behind as the entrance to where they were going was not much wider than one of their pots. Alex did the same, only he did not realise that David would stop such a short way inside. Two of their pots collided and shattered.
“Didn’t expect to see you here until later, David.” Both David and Alex looked up a shaft to see the same man peering down. Alex was intrigued by the arrangement of wooden cogs and levers. These started at the door they had just come in by, before travelling all the way up to the roof. There was a similar, though much more complicated, arrangement of levers and cogs on the opposite side of the shaft. Alex could not make out what these were for.
David tipped his head back. “Kate came back.”
“Then it is understandable why you are here early.”
“He
is speaking English,” Alex said as he pointed up and looked back at David.
“Because he is an ancient.”
“You said that we are in ancient times, so he can’t be an ancient.”
“For your information, ancients didn’t just appear on the day that you were born,” David replied with a smile.
“Not too bright this one,” said the man on the roof. The shaft naturally magnified the voice, so nobody had to shout.
“This one, as you put it,” David said as he looked back up to the man above, “is Alex Cumberpatch.”
“The Alex Cumberpatch!”
“Yes, THE Alex Cumberpatch.”
“Wow! Can you get him to sign my copy of ADD?” This was the ancients’ own newspaper, the Ancient Deity Digest.
Alex looked up. “You do know that I am here and that you can talk directly to me.”
“Can I?”
“Yes you can, and yes I will sign your ADD.”
“Is he here?”
“Yes, David, he is. Would you like me to let you in?” The man placed his hand on one of a range of large levers.
“NO,” David said over firmly. The man’s hand instantly moved from the lever. “I need a private room first.”
“With your usual services?”
“No, just Alex.”
“I didn’t know you were like that.”
“I’m NOT. We need to talk … in private.”
“Understood. Room seven it is. You can leave the pots behind.” He moved a combination of levers and they in turn moved many cogs; some in, some out. Finally, he pulled on a large lever. The walls ahead moved into position, and what must have been room seven opened just a short distance from them. “Would you like me to send Tara in?”
“Yes please,” David said as he ducked slightly in order to enter the room.
“It is a privilege to have you here, Mr Cumberpatch.”
“Mr Cumberpatch is my father. Call me Alex,” he called back as he also entered the room, though he failed to duck!
“You really are going to have to take more care of yourself,” David said as he flopped into an oversized armchair, upon which many cushions had been placed. He made himself comfortable, eventually tossing a couple of large superfluous cushions across the room. They landed on a sofa which looked amazingly like a bed. It was obviously there to serve both purposes.
Alex stopped holding his head and finally sat down as a serving girl entered the room. She stood just inside the door and held her hands in front of her. Both softly and seductively she welcomed David back before asking what he would like to order. David placed the small silver box on the round marble table that sat between the chairs and ordered a bottle of their best red wine. He insisted on having two glasses, not gold goblets. Alex was not given a choice.
“Was that Tara?”
“Rules of the house are that we, the guests, never get to know the real names of anybody here. It’s for their own safety. To me she is Tara, because she reminds me, just a little, of a Tara I went to many lectures with at university. I am sure that she is known by many, many names.”
“Am I in a brothel?” Alex asked as he gestured towards the bed and then to the general kitsch of the room.
“No, not really, this is a place for ancients to meet. Admittedly the more liberal thinking of ancients. I consider it to be a place for libertines, though there would be many who disagreed with me.”
Alex made a mental note to look up what a libertine was. “She looked Greek.”
“Her chiton is a dead giveaway. They are so classically Greek.”
“If we are going to go on like this he might as well be speaking Greek,” thought Alex. He then had a mental image of a small white dress, pinned together on one shoulder and given shape by a cord around the waist, which finished well above the knees. His ancient memories had come to the rescue. “Yes, those little dresses could not be anything except Greek. So why are we here, in Tanis, in the time of Pharaoh Psusennes?”
‘Tara’ returned with a bottle of wine in one hand and two very fine wine glasses in the other. As she leaned over to place them on the table she noticed Alex looking at her. “You like what you see, Mr Cumberpatch?”
“Sorry, it’s just that … I was just … I was thinking.” He stopped there before saying, “Mr Cumberpatch is my father. I am Alex.”
“Well … Alex … your father liked what he saw.” She gave a wink and a shallow, somewhat teasing, smile.
“Enough, Tara, we have much to talk about, so please can you see to it that we are not disturbed.”
“Of course, David. Would you like me to bring another bottle when it is time?”
“That would be most appreciated. And you are as lovely as ever.”
‘Tara’ smiled a full beaming smile, gave what could only be described as a slight curtsy, then turned and left the room.
“My father has been here! I can’t believe it. She is young enough to be his daughter!”
“She is several thousand years old. Don’t forget, she is an ancient. Everybody here is.”
“You know what I meant!”
While Alex continued to be outraged, David opened the wine and poured some for both of them. “Alex, calm down, your father has never been here.”
“But she said … you heard what she said!”
“She was attempting to put you at your ease.”
“Well, she failed!”
“I can see that. Quite clearly I can see that.”
“How does my father having been here put me at my ease?” Alex’s ancient memories were not answering this question for him.
“In ancient Egypt, and also in ancient Greece and Rome, sons respected their fathers much more than they do nowadays. The greatest achievement in the life of any ancient son was to become a mirror of their father. It was Tara’s way of letting you know that your father would be proud that you were here.” David took a sip of his wine and as he did he could see that Alex was anything except mollified. “Fact, Alex, and you will have to take my word for it, your father has never been here. It is usual for them to say that to every young man on their first visit here. It is meant to confirm nothing more than the young man is doing the right thing. That he is in no way bringing his family into disrepute.” David paused, waited, and eventually saw the muscles in Alex’s face relax. “Are you okay now?”
“Yes, fine. It’s just that I … Oh, nothing.”
“Good wine?”
Alex had not tried the wine. He lifted the glass to his lips and took the smallest sip. “Not bad at all,” he thought, and then he told David so. Having had a moment or two to consider his options, he decided that firstly he needed to find out what had prompted David and Kate to be here, and secondly, what they had been able to find out. David’s obviously failing relationship with his daughter and what this place was, were less important. Not much less, but less important for now. “So what made you come here?”
“I come here every time I am in Tanis. It is the only place in Egypt, ancient or modern, where I feel I am able to totally relax.”
“Sorry, I meant, what caused you to be outside of wherever we were.” His hand went to the back of his head. The lump was going down. “You have mentioned silver and you have a piece there,” Alex pointed to the little silver box on the table between them, “so I presume you know what is going on.”
David did not say anything. Alex was willing to wait. “Good health,” Alex took another sip of his wine, a very small sip.
“Good health,” David looked reflective as he said this, and he was. “I would have good health if it were not for …” He stopped. His eyes moved up from his red wine to look at Alex. In David’s eyes Alex could see an appeal for help.
Alex attempted to look at David in such a way as to give him the confidence that he could tell him anything in the certain knowledge that it would not get back to Kate. He could see from the look on David’s face that he had failed. So he decided to say it, “You can tell me anything, a
nd if it involves Kate, rest assured it will remain between us. Anyway, if I told her anything you said, she would thump me again, she always does, and I really do not want to be thumped.” There were several seconds of silence.
“I really cannot understand why Kate reacts in the way that she does. Honestly, Alex, I have no understanding of how my own daughter thinks. We are on the same side. We should be working together, yet I say one thing, a quite innocuous thing, or innocuous to me, and she flies into an uncontrolled rage.”
“Tell me about it. Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt.” Alex had spoken without thinking. Thankfully this did not stop David from talking.
“Over a period of a few weeks we came across several events, and we also heard a few rumours, which, when put together, made us curious as to what the ancients were up to. We both agreed that we should take a look. Investigate further. All I suggested was that we headed south and … well … to put it frankly, I was scared by her reaction. It was a fifty-fifty choice. I could, just as easily, have said north. Had she said that she would have preferred us to go north, I would have willingly gone north. It would not have been a problem to me. We were doing nothing more than trying to satisfy our curiosity, so to go north, or south, made no difference. After the way she reacted I wondered whom I should be most scared of. Her or the bad guys. Believe me when I say this, I have never see so much anger over nothing, and it came at me without warning.”
“That sounds like Kate. Bad guys are pussycats when compared to her in a rage.”
Chapter 22
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Red Wine and Revelations
“Curiosity and rumours. You have me intrigued, David.” Alex gestured for David to go on as he sank back into the cushions of his chair and held onto his red wine.
“Well, it started as a coincidence. Really because of all that nastiness with Nefertiti just over a year ago.” Alex thought that describing what had happened back then as ‘nastiness’ was a vast understatement. “I really didn’t think it was wise to be right under her nose when I had Kate with me, so I made the decision to pitch camp to the east of Amarna. Actually, quite a long way east of Amarna. That way I could carry on as before. Nefertiti knew where I used to camp, right on the edge of her city. We never bothered each other. Kate, on the other hand, appears to have bothered everybody she has ever come into contact with. My thinking was, that even in Nefertiti’s weakened state, having Kate there, someone who had helped to tie her up in her own bedchamber, was far too tempting, so a little distance would be good. I also wanted to get to know my daughter, really get to know her. I wanted to make up for so much lost time. Well, I did … then!” David suddenly became much more emotional. “Do you know, Alex, she is absolutely impossible to live with?”
Gold of the Ancients Page 17
