"What is this place?" Roma ran the beam from her electric torch along the walls of the chamber while Ardeth followed with his lantern. "Look," she said as she flashed the torch overhead, "The ceiling hasn't been worked but the walls are smooth and carved. I see the gods of the underworld, Horus, Osiris, Anubis, Isis, and Hathor, carved into the walls of the chamber, along with an image of the weighing of the heart, but where are the hieroglyphs?"
She pointed the torch at the floor, revealing a shiny black stone sarcophagus without its lid. She knelt beside it, running her hands over its smooth surface. "That's basalt, it's very hard to carve and polish but look at it! It's plain, though, not a carving in sight! I wonder what happened to its lid?"
She walked over to the plain stone coffin and peered inside, "Nothing on the inside, either, no traces of gold leaf." She sat back on her legs, thinking, running her hand through the sand at its base.
"Look!" she commanded, and he came to her side. She held up three beads carved of lapis lazuli. "Someone was here, this tomb was raided at least once, but what self-respecting Egyptian would bury themselves in a tomb without their name or spells painted on the walls from the Book of the Dead? They used them to guide them on their journey through the Underworld. And why did he, and I think it was a he, choose to be buried so far from the Valley of the Kings? He should have been buried where the royals had their tombs."
She went over to a wall with a carving of what might have been the owner and his wife. "This isn't bas-relief, this was carved directly into the wall. They carved the corridor and the chamber but only half-finished it. She crossed to the other side, "And here's two boys, these may have been his sons, but why no hieroglyphs? Egyptians wanted their names to be spoken to assure that they would have a place in the afterlife."
"There should be pictures of him harvesting grain, maybe hunting ducks, and one of Anubis attending his mummy, but there's nothing. This was most certainly a noble, but he was buried away from the others in the middle of this godforsaken place, no temple for funerary offerings or priests to say prayers for him. The sarcophagus is exquisite---even though it is plain there was a lot of work put into it. I wonder if there are any ushabtis here with his name on them?"
Outside they could hear the howling of the wind as it blew clouds of sand about, but inside the chamber they were safe. Roma ventured as far down the corridor as she dared until the sands started reaching her and she retreated into the tomb.
"How long do you think the storm will last, Ardeth? I want to get out of here, something is feeling very wrong. This is not a good place."
"Usually about half an hour, but no two storms are alike. Remember the story of the Persian soldiers that were buried alive by a sandstorm? We should stay here until we are ready to leave for the night. You need to get some sleep, do not tell me that you don't, you are half dead on your feet. Enjoy the chance to rest someplace cool."
And it was cool in the tomb if a tomb it was, refreshingly so, but she was not convinced. "I don't think he wants us here; we should leave."
"He? Who is he? If this tomb was ever used it was abandoned centuries ago. What have you found besides a few beads? We'll leave tomorrow evening, so rest and take it easy. Explore this place if you must, I know you want to. The spirit of the occupant no doubt disappeared with his grave goods and his mummy. In the meantime, I am going to sleep."
In the end, she found it hard to resist his logic. He removed the cots from the pack camel and set them up, but when she laid down, she found it hard to keep her eyes closed. She was tired to the point of exhaustion, yet sleep eluded her. Her mind and body had slowly begun to accustom themselves to sleeping during the day and staying awake at night. Fatigue might yet overcome her, but she was not ready to give in to sleep, not yet.
She waited until Ardeth's breathing became steady, then picked up her torch and began to explore the chamber further. The carvings on the wall were of such exquisite quality that the occupant must have been a member of the nobility or the royal family. She ran her finger along the wall, kneeling at its base feeling for chips of painted plaster, but found none. A tomb this elaborate would surely have been painted but she found no sign.
She found a frieze of baboons that represented the hours, but none of the hieroglyphs that should have accompanied them. How curious, she thought, this place is devoid of writing, and all the sacred spells that should be on the walls are missing. It's as if the person who rested in this place demanded complete anonymity and was willing to risk not naming his name. Or the Pharaoh issued orders that there should be none.
She walked around slowly, keeping to the wall, shining her light downwards, looking for indications that enough sand was present that could provide a shield for hidden artifacts.
She stumbled upon one when she tripped over a loose bootlace. A glint of blue showed sticking out of the sand and she dug eagerly, mindless of the fact insects might be hiding, and discovered a blue faience ushabti.
Eagerly she brushed the sand from its surface and saw it had the face of a man. She shone the torch on it, hoping that she might, at last, find a name, but all she saw, written in gilt letters now badly faded, was, "I am the servant of he who dwells in this tomb." She repressed an urge to throw it against the wall but slipped it instead into her pocket.
She dug around and found only two more. She returned to the sarcophagus and dug in the sand around its base finding some beads of turquoise, amethyst, and carnelian. Whoever had robbed this tomb had done a very thorough job, almost nothing had been left behind. The coffin had probably been gilded wood inlaid with semi-precious gems such as the ones she had found. The mask could have been cartonnage, gilded, and painted with an idealized face of the owner.
The tiny bits of gems went into her pocket with the ushabtis. From the size of the tomb it might have held many treasures if the owner had been wealthy, but why oh why were there no signs of writing anywhere?
"You are supposed to be sleeping," Ardeth's tall body loomed over her, but she paid no attention.
"I couldn't; see what I found?" She drew the ushabtis from her pocket and showed him the handful of gems. "Whoever was buried here must have been wealthy, a noble or a member of the royal family, maybe. This must have been a rich burial, but I cannot understand why there are no names or hieroglyphs."
He looked briefly at her finds and nodded and she returned them to her pocket. What he did next took her by surprise. "What am I going to have to do to make sure you do as you're told?" The look of affection, visible even in the darkness, took her by surprise, then he took her in his arms and kissed her.
She had not expected this, nor ever dreamed of it, let alone the fact that she would kiss him back—and Ardeth knew how to kiss.
What am I doing, she would have thought in other circumstances but all she could think of was how it felt to be in his arms, how right she seemed to feel there. And she didn't want him to let her go.
She thought of something her father had said after she and Ardeth had yet another fight. "The two of you fight like brother and sister, or like a married couple." She had denied any such thing but he looked at her and smiled.
Was it possible that there had been an affection percolating between them that neither would admit? She felt confused, a feeling that always made her uncomfortable.
"Ardeth," she said tenuously, but he laid his fingers on her lips. "I have been waiting to do that for a very long time," he said, "I did not wish to frighten you." She could see him smiling in the faint light of her torch.
"You didn't, but you took me by surprise. Maybe father was right," she said dreamily, "He used to tell me that you and I fought like a married couple."
He threw his head back and laughed, then walked over to the cots, and put them side by side.
"What do you think you are doing?" she asked.
"I am going to make sure you do not get up again. If I have to, I will bind your hands and feet so you cannot move. Come and lay down, I want you to sleep and be rested when we set out again. The storm is over but it is cool in here, so I wish to take advantage of it. It will cost us time, but you will be better rested if we remain here until tonight."
She could not sleep for a long time, the memory of him kissing her would not leave her. She was surprised but not surprised, she had known him for most of her life and Ardeth never hesitated to be direct. It was her feelings that she feared the most, but with Ardeth next to her she felt protected, and safe.
Having him so close felt comforting, she could reach out and touch him if she wished. She had never imagined that she could have felt like this for him, but his kiss had awakened her to a feeling she knew had only been waiting to emerge.
But could he protect her from whatever might be living in this tomb?