Egyptian Timewave

Chapter 8

Abayomi holds back a groan from where she is slumping in the chair, her eyes burning. She's been staring at the photographs of the seals on that door for what feels like hours, and they've made practically no progress on the translating. The seals are too worn away to make out from the photos, and the photos are actually better than if she were to examine the seals on the door itself.

She's managed to make out enough of the symbols to determine that the tomb certainly was designed for someone from the royal family, but that's about it. She can't get the name that follows the seal, though the hieroglyphs almost look familiar. If she could just have a tiny bit more definition on these hieroglyphs, she's positive that she could figure it out.

With a sigh, Abayomi lets her head drop to the desk with an audible thump. There is a scrape of a chair against the ground and Yasmine taps on her shoulder, prompting Abayomi to raise her head. Yasmine gives her a soft smile.

"Struggling with the translations?"

Abayomi nods, touching the edge of her hijab to check for any loose hairs that may have strayed out. It's highly unlikely that any are loose, but force of habit. She finds none. "The inscriptions are just damaged enough that the name isn't clear."

Yasmine's eyebrows raise. "But that means you got something else, doesn't it?"

"Of course. Some of the hieroglyphs are exactly like the ones on Tutankhamen's tomb when it was found, whoever is inside our tomb is a member of the royal household, and they're from the same dynasty. Perhaps they even knew each other."

Yasmine nods along to what Abayomi says. "I noticed the similarities as well. Did you see anything else?"

Abayomi points to the first symbol in the cartouche. "This here tells me that whomever is named as the one inhabiting this tomb should be female, or at least the tomb was built for a female."

Yasmine gapes at her. "You could make that hieroglyph out?"

Abayomi frowns in confusion. "It was the clearest one. You didn't?"

Yasmine tugs the photograph toward herself, frowning deeply at it. "It's worn and chipped away to the point of being practically unrecognizable. There was no way for me to actually tell what it was."

Abayomi narrows her eyes at the hieroglyph in question. Sure, it's a little worn away, but it isn't that bad. She can still see the general outline of it. Or at least she can see it some of the time. Occasionally, when she blinks, it just looks like a mess of stone, but all she needs to do is clear her vision and she sees it again.

"It isn't really that bad. Honestly. I could see the outline of it."

Yasmine opens her mouth to retort, but before she can, someone ducks into the tent and grins at them. "We've got the door down!"

Abayomi pushes to her feet, almost knocking her chair over in her excitement. She follows the man out, Yasmine a step behind her. When they reach the tomb, the door has been relegated to rubble that sits just outside the opening until someone will clear it away from the site entirely.

As they pass it, Abayomi catches sight of a familiar piece of the door. The one holding the cartouche, the name of the inhabitant. She picks it up, tucking it into her pocket for now. She can take it back to the tent and examine it after, perhaps they'll have better luck with the cartouche by examining the real thing, rather than a picture.

It sinks deep into the deep pocket of her pants, heavy as it scrapes against her leg. Then the three of them duck into the tunnel, following it to where the tunnel had been. There is a small group there when they reach the spot, picking through the stone chips strewn in to fill the space between where that door had been and the second one several yards beyond.

Abayomi narrows her eyes at the spot where the cartouche would be on that door, frowning when her eyes pick out the hole in the door right where it would be. Grave robbers must have broken through that door too, although it looks pretty small. Maybe they didn't get too much of anything left inside, it's small enough that they might not have even made it through.

Maybe they'll be lucky with this tomb. But for now, perhaps there are small trinkets hidden underneath this filler rubble, like there was in Tutankhamen's tomb. In fact . . . there's what looks like a scroll tucked against the wall, just barely peeking through the limestone chips. For a heartbeat she debates if she should pick it up, as if it's old then just touching it could destroy it.

But it's too bright, not like something that has yellowed with age. So she bends down and carefully, pulls it free from the stone, tucking it into her unburdened pocket to look at later. Perhaps someone dropped it while taking the door down. She doesn't know how it got wedged against the wall, the chips aren't shifting around that much, but it definitely isn't as old as the rest of the tomb.

She can examine it later and try to figure out who it belongs to. Abayomi stands, stepping farther into the passageway, freezing when something clinks beneath her feet. It's the sound of metal hitting stone, not stone hitting stone. She crouches again, pushing aside the chips beneath her. Something golden glints from beneath the layers of dust and rock, and Abayomi's eyes widen. The stone crunches behind her and she twists to look back at the approaching person. It's her uncle, Fahim.

"Did you find something, Abayomi?"

She nods, pointing at the gleam of gold. "Look."

Once he sees it, he flashes her a grin. "Good catch. How'd you find it?"

"I heard it shifting against the stone. Metal sounds different than rock does."

With another nod, he shouts to the group of people in the passage. "Be careful removing the chips, it's likely that there are a few buried artifacts."

The group chatters in excitement and Abayomi turns back to uncovering the item, worming her fingers into the hole she's made in the rubble. Her fingers scrape painfully against the edges of the stone chips, but she doesn't let it deter her. With a grimace, she prizes the item free. It's a jeweled ring, still bright despite the years.

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What do you think of the ring she found? What other items might be buried in the passage? What do you think might be on the scroll? Why was it there? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out