Egyptian Timewave

Chapter 7

Abayomi helps push the last boulder out of the pit and steps back, panting. She swipes at the sweat beading on her brow just as a flutter of wind brushes against her elbow and her father appears there, holding out a bottle of water. She takes it with a smile and screws open the cap to take a swig of it, cold from the cooler. Down in the pit, the opening to the tomb beckons, a dark hole in the rocky side of the hill. Her father chuckles.

"You want to get in there, don't you?"

Laughter bursts from Abayomi's throat. "Who doesn't?"

Her father grins. "From what we can tell, the tomb is in pretty good condition. Right at the end of last season we found a relatively sealed door at the end of a short passage, but we haven't taken it down yet. We should be doing that in a moment, but would you like to see the door first?"

Abayomi straightens. "Are you kidding? Of course I want to see it!"

"Come on then."

Her father pushes off of the boulder and walks-slides down the slope, Abayomi following at his heels. The air just inside the tomb is cooler than the outside air by at least ten degrees, despite the only difference between the two being shadows and a few feet of height. Regardless, the change is a breath of respite from the sweltering heat.

Abayomi turns slightly to look at the limestone walls of the passage, catching a glimpse of faint lines etched into the stone. She hesitantly trails a finger along one, her hand hovering just over the surface of the rock. It almost looks to be writing, but it is too faint to tell for sure, it could very well be marks from the formation of the tomb, or if she feels like being pessimistic, stress fractures in the stone.

Her dad nudges her and nods towards the gloom deeper into the tomb, so Abayomi pulls away to follow him, lifting the flashlight higher in her hand. The beam of light just barely manages to hit the back of the tunnel at first glance, illuminating what appears to be a solid slab of stone. She would almost think that it was just the back of the tunnel, a dead-end, except for one thing. It's completely flat.

The architects wouldn't have smoothed it down like this unless it served a purpose. She pauses for a moment, her steps stuttering as she squints. Yes, it certainly isn't a dead end, not with the carvings on it. But she can't quite make them out, not yet. Her pace picks up in excitement, but she is careful not to move too fast, as the rubble is strewn over the floor in a minefield.

Even so, it only takes her half a minute to reach what must be a sealed door. The seals at the top catch her eyes first, distinctly familiar to her. It takes a heartbeat for her to understand why. She's seen them before, or at least a photograph of them. But these seals were from a different tomb.

"Baba, do you see these?"

"Yes. They look familiar, don't they?"

She flashes a grin at him, her eyes bright. "They're eighteenth dynasty, and connected to the royals."

Her father frowns slightly. "How can you tell so easily?"

"Baba, these exact same seals were on the sealed door of the tomb of Tutankhamen. They're exactly the same. So perhaps-"

Abayomi crouches, shining her light against the bottom of the door. There are more seals here, but they aren't in as good of a condition, faded away. But she can catch just enough of what is inside a cartouche to determine that it belongs to a female.

"Whoever is inside this tomb, or at least whoever it was made for, they're definitely female."

"So a royal female, or a female buried here by the royal family?"

Abayomi nods. "Yes. She's more likely to have been royal than not, though, I think."

She moves to touch one of the symbols but stops at the faint tingling in her fingers, a warning against what she is about to do. She pulls back her hand and raises her flashlight instead, marking a path of light along the uppermost edge of the door. One of the corners has crumbled away, leaving a gap large enough for someone to squeeze an arm through, and perhaps more. She frowns at the edge of the gap and steps closer.

The stone is jagged as if it was broken, an indication that someone broke into the tomb some time ago. But it isn't fresh, whoever the tomb robber was, they were someone from times long past. Abayomi rises up onto the tips of her toes, trying to see through the crack. From the small space her light is able to illuminate, she is able to see rubble piled high in the short passageway beyond, and at the very back, what could be a wall or another door. She pulls back and grins at her father.

"It looks promising, I can't wait to see what's inside."

He grins back. "Why do you think everyone is so eager to get this door down? Everyone should be ready to do that right about now."

"Then let's clear the way."

Abayomi moves back the way they came, clicking off her flashlight when the tunnel brightens enough for them to see normally. People are gathering outside, collecting tools to take down the door. She flashes a small smile in return at the one from the young man who helped her with one of the boulders, and scrambles up the slope of the pit. A flash of insight comes to her then, and she frowns at the dirt. Either the ground has sunk since the tomb was built, or it was purposefully designed to be hidden like it was, with an entrance beneath the hills.

She glances over at her father. "Baba?"

"Yes, Aya?"

"How did you find the tomb?"

"We saw the remains of a structure that looked like it could be a mortuary chapel, and started excavating around them. It was pure luck, really. If the sunlight hadn't hit the rubble as it did, or the rock hadn't been at the right angle, we wouldn't have been able to see the faint markings in the stone that gave it away."

"Where was the chapel?"

Abayomi's father points to a spot on the hill beside the tomb where rock has gathered, and she can see it, for a moment. A shadow of a small structure, large enough for offerings and gifts to the inhabitants of the tomb. A heartbeat later, the shadow fades, leaving only a pile of rock in its place. Abayomi is about to say something more when someone sweeps up to Abayomi's side and touches her arm. Abayomi hears the familiar, lilting voice before she manages to turn enough to see the person.

"If I might steal her away, ya efendim?"

Abayomi's father grins at Yasmine. "Go ahead."

"Thank you. Come along, Abayomi. Now that you've seen the door, I was wondering if you could help me?"

Abayomi frowns slightly as Yasmine steers her towards the tent with all her equipment. "What is it?"

"I think you might be better with hieroglyphs than I am, so while they are all taking that door down, perhaps you and I could work on translating those seals?"

Abayomi's eyes light up. "I think that's a great idea!"

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Hmmm, what do you think of the seals? How good of a condition do you think the tomb will be when they get inside? What will the seal translations reveal? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out