The Golden Queen

One

She waits for me in the lobby as I come down the aisle. She runs up to me and throws her arms around me. "Has it really been three years since I've seen you?" she asks. Her long blonde hair hangs in loose curls around her shoulders. Her blue eyes twinkle as she smiles. "You must be exhausted. Come along. Let's go home."  

We arrive at Claire's apartment and she shows me to my room. I drop my suitcases in front of the closet and open one to pull out my photo. I place it on the shelf overlooking my bed. Clair notices it and gazes into the wooden frame.  

"King Ahmose," she breathes. I glance at her as her face softens into a thoughtful expression. "He was all Bob spoke of that last year he was in Egypt before the heart attack claimed his life. He believed there was a royal tomb to be discovered, one that was more intact than Tutankhamun's. I disagreed because there was no evidence to support him, and he was driving our work based on a whim. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Bob made headlines in Egyptology months before he died when he uncovered a mysterious slab of rock bearing the name of a pharaoh Egypt had forgotten. "Robert Walker Discovers the Tablet Belonging to A Mysterious Pharaoh," one headline read. Once the tablet was discovered, Bob convinced the Head of Antiquities in Cairo to fund a dig for the mysterious pharaoh. King Ahmose II, the pharaoh lost to Egypt, was buried somewhere in the Valley of the Kings, and Bob was determined to find him. But your father pushed himself too hard, working long days, and spending many restless nights trying to decipher the mysteries concealed by the tablet.

Ahmose's tomb eluded discovery, always remaining just out of reach, and Bob's dream perished with him. Kara, I am meeting with the Council this evening. I have to convince them we are close to finding the tomb. If they doubt our progress, they may not fund the dig anymore. The diggers won't work for us if we can't pay them. And we certainly can't dig the tomb out ourselves...it would take years." 

"We'll find the tomb," I promise.  

"I hope you're right," she says.  

"I have some errands to run before my meeting. I'll see you later at the museum," she says and leaves the room. Her perfume wafts behind her as she closes the door.

I decide to unpack later, so I fall into the soft pillows on my bed to rest my heavy eyes. Though I'm exhausted from the thirteen-hour flight, I want to be in the arms of my mysterious visitor once again. 

He doesn't come tonight.

***

I head to the museum with Clair. She paces the room nervously, whispering her speech to herself. I admire the old photographs hanging on the whitewashed walls as I sit in an isolated corner in the back.  

The door suddenly opens, and people crowd into the room one by one. Clair stands at the front, turning on the overhead projector and opening her presentation on her I-Pad. She isn't just nervous; she's terrified. 

I was also afraid the Council would cut the funds, and all of their hard work would go to waste. As each member took a seat, they all wore the same mask of doubt in their expressions.  

Once the crowd had settled themselves into their seats, I saw Dr. Malek, the Head of Antiquities, had seated himself in the front. From the scornful glint in his eyes, he was ready to disprove Father's theories, and tear Clair's presentation apart. He had been against the search for Ahmose's tomb since Father had discovered his mysterious tablet three years ago, but the majority of the assembly had voted in favor of the search. Perhaps they were just as hopeful that there were still secrets buried within the valley. 

Two men came into the room carrying the tablet itself. It remained in its glass case, safe and secure as they sat it on the table behind Clair. They left the room and Clair began to speak.