The Mummy: The Tomb Robbers' Secret

To Luxor

Rick and Evelyn appeared, and Ardeth admitted them into the room where Roma sat huddled in bed, the covers pulled up under her chin,

"She's all right," said Ardeth, "She just had a bad dream."

Rick handed Roma the flask that he had brought with him, and she drank deeply.

"No, Ardeth, it was no more a dream than it was when I saw it in the desert. Something was standing at the foot of my bed, it was tall, black, and opaque, no light came through it. I closed my eyes when I saw it, then opened them again and it was still there.  I saw it in the desert when we spent the last night in the tomb. Please tell me it didn't follow us from there."

Two days later, her father's body arrived from Luxor. "We could lift the lid for you, miss," said the mortician, "But I wouldn't recommend it. You should remember him the way he was the last time you saw him, it's better that way."

The O'Connells stood next to her for the graveside service, and, to her surprise, Pierre Lacau made an appearance to pay his respects. She watched as the acacia wood coffin was lowered into the grave—he would rest now next to the body of the son he had lost. His secret knowledge went with him.

She dreamt about him the next night. They were sipping tea in the parlor in their Cairo house. "I'm sorry about my deception, my dear, but I didn't want to frighten you."

"Who killed you, Father, and what were they after? The jewels? Do you know who betrayed you?"

"I'd be careful about that tomb if I were you," he said, ignoring what she had asked, "you know how the Egyptians felt about names. Not a good sign that you didn't find any hieroglyphs, you'd only find a cartouche if he were royalty." He stood up and kissed her, "I've got to be going now." He walked out the front door and disappeared.

She jerked up and shook her head. The dream had seemed so real—but how had her father known about the tomb? She certainly didn't have the chance to tell him. Her father was not familiar with the desert, let alone any ruins that might be found there.

"Ardeth, wake up, please," she gently shook his shoulder and he was awake immediately.

"What's wrong?" his face was full of concern as it always seemed to be these days.

"Nothing's wrong, but I had the strangest dream—Father was here and it seemed so real that it felt like he was alive, not dead. He warned me about the tomb, the fact that it had no hieroglyphs, and how I would only have found a cartouche if the owner was royalty. Then he walked out the front door and disappeared."

"You should listen to your father, that tomb is an evil place. Remember how you said you'd never go back there? Your bad dreams? Why do you want to return?"

"I don't know, that figure that appeared at the foot of my bed, well, I don't think I can make it go away if I don't go back there. We won't be alone this time, Rick and Evie will be with us. Evie is an Egyptologist, too, maybe she'll know something that I don't."

He sighed, "I wish we hadn't taken shelter in that tomb; you have not been yourself. We'll go to your house in Luxor and see what we can find out about your father's murder. Wouldn't you rather investigate those markings on your father's map than go back into the desert? It was three days by camel, we'll have to bring everything we need with us. Doesn't Evelyn have a job with Howard Carter waiting for her?"

She slumped down, defeated for the moment. "Yes, everything you are saying makes sense. All right, I'll forget it for now, but if Evelyn wants to see the tomb and we can do it, I want to try to find it again. After all, we won't be going all the way to Minya this time."

There was a party atmosphere on the ship taking them to Luxor but she would not have been in the mood to enjoy it if it was not for Evelyn. Rick and Ardeth would disappear together for hours at a time. Evelyn told her that Rick carried an arsenal with him and Ardeth was more than competent with firearms. They would no doubt be well protected, but what if firearms could not kill whatever threatened them?

The night before the boat was due to dock, Evie took Roma aside. Grabbing a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, she led her to a table located at the stern. She poured a glass for each of them then said,

"Tell me about this tomb." Her eyes glowing.

"Well, there's not much more to say, I've pretty much told you everything there is to know."

"Of course there is, like, how did you find it?"

"There was a sandstorm. It's about a month too early for sandstorm season but that doesn't mean it can't happen. We saw this opening in the cliff and decided to see if it was big enough to shelter us and the camels. The opening led to a long corridor which led to a huge chamber with a sarcophagus."

"We didn't give it too much thought, you know, we needed a place where we could find refuge until the storm was over, and it seemed perfect. The tomb was kind of strange, the walls of the chamber had been finished and carved, but the ceiling and the corridor were left rough. And the tomb is in an out of the way place, if he was a priest, he might have been able to have a small tomb in the Valley near the pharaoh he served—why did he pick a location that was so remote?"

"You told me the walls were decorated, what was on them?" Evelyn's voice seemed eager, obviously wanting to hear more.

"Well, there were the usual gods carved on the walls, they had been finished but not plastered over and painted. There was also a carving of what may have been the occupant and his two sons. But no hieroglyphs, no names, nothing. There was a carving of the god Set where the sun would hit it from the corridor, but neither he nor any of the other gods had their cartouches. I've never seen a tomb like it."

"I'd love the see it," she breathed, "How old do you think it was?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing by the style of the carvings that it was New Kingdom. He may have been a priest of the Set cult, though I can't be sure. There's nothing of value there, I found a few beads and some ushabtis, that's all. The only thing that would be important is the wall carvings and the fact there are no names."

"It sounds intriguing, I've never seen anything like you just described. Just think, if it hasn't been officially discovered, we could claim credit. This might be something important, we could submit a paper and get official recognition. There are so few women archaeologists, we could set an example for future generations!"

"All of that will be irrelevant if we can't get anyone to take us there. I know Ardeth will try to keep me away, and I won't go there by myself, it's too dangerous. That tomb scares me, Evie, I'm not so sure I want to go back there—ever."