Gold of the Ancients

by Graham Warren

  “And you,” Sobek snapped with his mighty jaw. Kate had run off in search of a toilet.

  “Are you on your own?”

  “If having twelve of Ramses’ elite guard, whom I personally trained, protecting the perimeter, along with a kitchen staff of six, is alone, then I am very alone.” His jaw snapped several times. He was in a good mood.

  Alex gestured to the feast before him, “Are you joining us?”

  “I don’t mind if I do.”

  They were both tucking in well by the time Kate returned. Sobek continued eating long after Kate and Alex had stopped. The conversation had failed to be about anything special, but it had been most enjoyable. The only really important point had been made by Sobek. He had informed them that once Gadeem’s messenger arrived with the location of Emmy and Cairo, they would have to leave immediately, though this was unlikely to be before sometime tomorrow.

  It became increasingly obvious to Alex that Kate had something she wished to talk to him about. Something she was not willing to speak of in front of Sobek. “Would you mind if we took our drinks to the bedroom?” he asked.

  “Yes, I am really tired,” Kate added as she refreshed her glass of tamar-hindi, before passing the jug to Alex.

  “Young love,” Sobek said as he nodded, and being too lazy, perhaps just too content to get up, he gestured in the direction they should go.

  They were both extremely comfortable lying on an oversized bed. Alex was on his back. Kate propped herself up on one shoulder. They had been talking for some while, going around all the possibilities of what use the stolen gold may be being put to. They had shared a few minutes of fun where they had tried to best each other as to who could come up with the most outlandish and crazy idea. It started with world domination. After many more outlandish ideas it finished with the building of a spacecraft so that Cleopatra could go back to the planet she came from.

  Now there was silence, a silence that Alex knew he should not break if Kate was to open up … and he really did want her to.

  Quentin and Rose were well aware of their guard having moved to stand directly outside of their cell door: they had heard his footsteps, yet he had made no attempt to enter. It was far too soon for another meal, and neither of them had banged on the door in order to use the facilities. They had actually been mesmerised by the activity above them. A world of sea creatures, of life devouring life. It made neither of them ever want to swim in the sea ever again.

  “What do you think he wants?” Rose asked.

  “I don’t know, but can you hear that?”

  The sound of the water above made it difficult for Rose to pick out any particular sound. She listened intently. “Yes, I hear something. Sounds as though …” Rose paused as the sound changed. It was definitely becoming louder, and it definitely was not coming from above them. “I thought it could be soldiers, perhaps a change of guard, but if it is soldiers, it sounds as though they have somebody with them who is resisting.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “They don’t sound particularly friendly. They appear to be heading this way with purpose.”

  “That’s also what I thought.”

  “Do you think they are coming for us?” Rose knew Quentin had no better idea than she did. It was just one of those unanswerable questions that was asked at a time like this.

  “If they are, then, and I don’t wish to be defeatist, there is nothing we can do. Rose, you can hardly move, and … well … and! I’m completely out of ideas. Given another day or two we could have worked on the guard, softened him, possibly convinced him that it was in his best interests to help us, offered him anything that he wanted, but right now he is not going to help us.”

  They had both stood and pushed themselves into separate corners of the cell, furthest from the door, though they could not take their eyes off of it. Their ears were searching, straining for any clue as to what was going to happen.

  Rose wished for the water to be still so that she could hear more clearly. She placed an ear against the wall; it was then that she knew how to get out of the cell without the help of the guard.

  “Alex, when you look in a mirror, what do you see?”

  Now here was a question he had not expected. Alex was all too aware that how he answered was vital if Kate was to open up to him. “You know me, I don’t like mirrors,” he considered to be the safest answer.

  “I know that, we neither like them, but specifically what do you see?”

  Alex decided upon honesty. He rolled over and now also rested on one arm. The bed was really big, so they remained well apart. He was just about out of Kate’s reach, though she had shown no signs of wanting to hit him. He thought some more and decided that her hardest blows had come when she had shown no signs of wanting to hit him. He shuffled backwards a little and almost fell off the bed.

  “For God’s sake, Alex, answer the damn question.” She smacked a fist down out of frustration.

  “Sorry, Kate, I want to, but I really do not know what to say.” He was now pleased that he had moved away, then it came to him, her question was one of identity. Who they were, who she was. “When I look in a mirror I see …” he started because he had to say something. Quickly, very quickly, he arranged his thoughts before speaking again. “I see someone who does not fit in anywhere. I sometimes feel very proud of what I have become, what I … what we have achieved in the last couple of years. I feel like a man, yet, when I look in a mirror it reflects nothing more than a teenager.”

  “Exactly,” Kate said in excitement as she sat up.

  Alex flinched, though on this occasion he was safe from attack. He went over his words as he considered what he could have said that had so excited Kate.

  “See, you think that you are a man, but when you look in the mirror you know you are a boy.” Kate saw the look on his face change, so she added, “Okay, a teenager.”

  This was not why Alex had changed his expression. It was because he thought that he had an inkling of what Kate was going to say. He did not, as Kate’s pronouncement proved. It was a seminal moment for Alex, but it was even more so for Kate.

  The approaching footsteps were now very close to their cell. They were definitely coming from soldiers, but their orderly march was being interrupted. Both Quentin and Rose knew the corridor outside to be narrow, but these soldiers were struggling with something or someone.

  Rose looked around the walls, the very smooth walls. She pressed her face against a wall with one eye almost touching it. She looked up and down as the light from above rippled around the cell. She moved slightly and now pressed her other cheek against the wall and smiled.

  Thinking that she may have lost her mind, Quentin reminded Rose that the soldiers would be coming through the door. He even pointed to it in an attempt at clarification.

  “I know how we can get out of here.”

  “You have already said that. How?”

  “We will need a little time.”

  “I would suggest that we have about sixty to ninety seconds.” The footsteps were now so loud that they could be counted. Eight to ten people in total. Not all were soldiers as there was the sound of at least one person resisting and something, or someone, being dragged.

  “If they do not take us from this cell I think that we, or at least you, could be out of here tonight.”

  Quentin thought better than to give Rose the ‘I’m in a cell with a crazy lady look’.

  The marching stopped; the cell door was swung back hard; two tied, gagged – though fighting bodies – were thrown in before the door closed just as quickly as it had opened. Forgetting her pain, Rose fell to the floor to untie Emmy. Quentin did the same for Cairo, though only after removing him from a sack.

  “They killed her in front of us,” Emmy said through tears. “I will never forget her screams. They tortured her in the most dreadful way. We told them that there was no point, to stop, as we couldn’t tell them where Kate was, because we didn’t know. We had no idea,
but they wouldn’t listen to us. They were like animals; they were worse than animals.” Emmy broke down completely and sobbed.

  Cairo was banging his fists on the cell door and shouting in the ancient soldier language. It was a good thing that none of them could understand what he was saying, though the guard outside would. Cairo was angry, really, really angry.

  Rose gestured for Cairo to calm down. It took a while, but once he had, she called out over the sobs of Emmy. “Guard, guard, can you hear me?” He could, though there was no way he was going to open the door. “Could we have some food, please?” His initial response was to move away from the door. To go back to his usual seat. “Guard, please let us have some food. I will not be able to keep them calm until you do. They haven’t eaten for days.” This was not true, but this was not about truth, this was about escaping. “We all need it to be peaceful, don’t we? It will not be peaceful if they remain hungry.” A sort of reply came, a grunt, but it was enough for Rose to know that he would soon be bringing them food.

  “I not care about food.” This was not a sentence that could ever have been expected to spring from the lips of Cairo: he was always hungry. “They killed her. No need to kill her.” Cairo became progressively louder and ended by hitting the door with both fists. This obviously hurt him as they were now both under his armpits and he was hopping from foot to foot.

  With her adrenaline subsiding Rose felt her pain and slid to the floor. Emmy had almost cried herself out and Cairo was momentarily more concerned about his hurting hands than he was about shouting at anybody.

  “I think it best if we all sit,” Quentin said; they took a corner each. The cell was small, obviously it was intended to incarcerate just one person. With the four of them in there it was positively cramped.

  Everybody was quickly brought up to date with recent events. They all felt dreadful about the young girl, who had played the role of Kate, having been put to death in such a barbaric and violent way. Emmy and Cairo both had more than enough dried blood on them to confirm this as a fact. She had been no ancient, she could not have been in order to have ridden with them, but neither Emmy nor Cairo had any idea who she was. They did not even know her name.

  “I really don’t feel hungry. I couldn’t eat anything.”

  “It is not about the food, Emmy. It is about getting the tools we need to be able to get out of here.” Rose had grabbed their attention. “It didn’t dawn on me until just now. What is wrong with this picture?” She pointed to the water above them.

  “We not getting wet!”

  “Exactly, Cairo. I really did not see it until just before the two of you arrived.” Rose could see that she was on her own with the escape plan. “Look at it another way. We are in an ancient palace, the palace of Cleopatra.” This they agreed. “So what should be above us?”

  “Not fish,” Cairo said as he scratched his head.

  “Blue sky, I would expect,” Quentin uttered in a less than confident way.

  “Emmy?”

  There was a look of confusion before she suddenly said, “That water is the water of today. That is the exit back to our time!”

  “Exactly!”

  “But those walls must be five, if not six metres high,” Emmy said as she looked up, rubbed her eyes, and looked up again.

  “Yes, but we are going to walk up them once we have had something to eat.” Rose gave a knowing smile.

  “Alex, I don’t want to hurt you, but I know who I am inside, deep inside. I think that subconsciously I may have known for some while. I now understand that however much I may wish to have one, any emotional relationship kills me. It does something to me, alters me in ways which I find unacceptable. It burns me up and wears me out.” It was as if the floodgates had broken. Kate was excited, relieved to be able to tell Alex, and unstoppable. “I turn into someone I cannot recognise. Worse than that, it turns me into someone I dislike. I desperately need to be me, only me, not half of somebody else. I know that I will never be able to share myself with anybody, not you, not David; see, now I cannot even bring myself to call him dad.” Kate had no option except to pause for breath: her words had poured out, leaving little time to breathe. “I cannot be around anyone who needs more from me than friendship. That may sound silly to you, because you know I am jealous of you being with Emmy, I freely admit it, though not in the way you may think. My jealousy stems from knowing that I can never have that kind of relationship. It is no good for me, it actually kills me.” Kate told of how she missed her mother, yet she had never wanted her around whilst she had been alive.

  Alex was having a head spinning moment. He moved closer and hugged Kate, really hugged her. “I am so happy for you.”

  Kate was taken by surprise. Of course she had expected a reaction. After what she had just told Alex it would have been impossible for him to do nothing. She had worked through so many scenarios in her mind, how she would deal with each and every one, however, this failed to be any she had thought of. This she had no idea how to deal with. Kate had to be in control, she thought that she had been in control, but of this she was not.

  “Honestly, Kate, I feel so privileged that you told me. Thank you.”

  Chapter 28

  -

  The Bond of Friendship

  “Anybody about?” Alex called as he left the bedroom only to come across Sobek sound asleep at the dining table. His jaw was wide open; a little bird darted in and out, pulling food from between his teeth. A member of the kitchen staff appeared. “I need a bottle of wine and two glasses.”

  “Red, sir?”

  “Of course red,” Alex rather snapped back in his excitement. “Sorry! Yes, please, red … oh, and you had better bring a pitcher of tamar-hindi just in case. This is time for a celebration. I have my friend back!”

  “It will be with you immediately, if not before,” the man said as he gave a slight bow and took a step back.

  Alex did not even bother to try and work out the ‘if not before’; but upon returning to Kate and seeing the red wine, two glasses, and the tamar-hindi, all sitting upon a small round table at the foot of the bed, he understood.

  “Come on, Kate, come and join me.” He sat in one of the small white armchairs and picked up the bottle of wine. He read the label with interest.

  Kate looked a little upset, unsure possibly, though Alex failed to notice. “Are you sitting at the table because you no longer feel comfortable on the bed with me?” Kate was unsure. Yes, Alex had hugged her after all she had said, but by now he had had time to think everything through. Perhaps, on reflection, he was not comfortable with knowing that they could never be anything more than friends.

  He immediately looked from the wine bottle to Kate, “Of course not. It’s just that it is difficult drinking wine lying down, and we need a celebration of you finding your true self.” He said this buoyantly as he gestured for Kate to join him, before pouring just a little wine into each glass.

  He looked happy, he sounded happy, but Kate stayed on the bed and looked anything except happy. She brought her knees up and hugged them.

  Alex, after taking in all her signs of insecurity, picked up both wine glasses and jumped on the bed. White sheets, red wine, it looked as though there had been a massacre. “See, I told you that it was difficult to drink wine lying down!” Kate thumped him, causing more wine to be spilt. Alex slid off of the bed, placed the glasses on the table, and fell back on the bed rubbing his arm and moaning.

  “Okay, you can stop rubbing your arm now. I didn’t hit you that hard … but I could!”

  Alex immediately stopped his playacting, rolled over, and propped himself up on one arm. “When did you know?”

  “I don’t exactly know. It was lots of little things.” She sat cross-legged and was again excited to be able to talk. “It was such a confusing time.”

  “Which time?”

  Kate jumped off of the bed and animatedly talked about everything. The death of her mother, Aggie, her ancient memories, meeting ancient
s, finding her father, even how she really felt when they were together. She totally opened up, causing Alex to feel more privileged with every sentence. After quite a while she sat back on the bed, exhausted.

  “Did your ancient memories help at all?”

  “At first they confused me. Oh boy, did they confuse me. Look, I want you to try something for me. Close your eyes and picture Nakhtifi in your mind.”

  Alex did, and the face came up as blank as it did the last time he had tried this.

  “You cannot see his face, can you?”

  Alex shook his head by way of confirmation.

  “Try doing the same for my father.”

  Again Alex did, and again the result was the same. He could picture the clothes, the situations they had been in, but not the face.

  “Now,” Kate said with slightly less confidence, “try again to picture Nakhtifi in your mind.” She gave him a few seconds. “Hold onto that image, keep it in your mind as you think of Ramses.”

  Alex sat up with a start. “I could see a face, not every detail of a face, not complete, but I could see a face and it was Nakhtifi’s face!”

  “Do the same thing again; though this time try and picture my father, then put my face into your mind as think of him.”

  Alex did this and had a similar experience. He saw a partial face, but it was not Kate’s face, it was David’s face. He told Kate what he saw before asking, “Do you have any idea what it means?”

  “Not exactly, but my best guess is that they have both lost their identity by not being true to themselves. Not being their own person.”

  “I can see that,” Alex said, and he really could.

  “That’s why I have to be true to me, nobody else. However much I kid myself that I can be part of a team, I must be in control. I need to do things my way. You know that. How could I share my life with anyone if it is my life which gets lost? I can’t Alex, I really can’t. We are all different.” Seeing the look on Alex’s face she threw a pillow at him; he ducked; it missed!