Chapter Fourteen

Mr. Tillyard reacted instantly to my screams. Still with the gun at my neck, he clamped his other hand over my mouth.

“Please calm down, my dear. Besides, they’re only natives. I thought I’d need a couple of decoys for later on, and they weren’t very keen on joining their colleagues in this venture,” he said, kicking a foot away from his path. “Anyway, here we are. Would you like to take a look? I think it’s only reasonable under the circumstances.”

He spoke like a considerate host taking pains to keep his guests happy, and I wondered briefly what he meant by “under the circumstances.” But whilst he had been talking, we had been moving farther down into the less well-known areas of the Tombs of the Nobles. We had been made to descend a steep incline until we finally reached a passageway. From a distance it seemed to be a dead-end, but then, as we drew nearer, I saw a robbers’ hole not unlike the one we had found in our tunnel. This one, however, was much larger, head high and wide enough to allow easy access. I didn’t need it to be explained to me that it was so wide in order for all Khaemwaset’s wealth to be removed. But as we were prodded forward into the chamber, I forgot all about the trouble we were in and just stood, breathless, drinking in the wonders before me.

We were once again looking at all the priceless treasures in the burial chamber of Khaemwaset. But this time we were actually there, not just spying through a tiny, uncomfortable hole in a wall with barely room to move. I relaxed almost involuntarily, and Mr. Tillyard felt my compliance and finally let me go. I pulled my coat tighter over my night-dress and moved forward into the chamber, walking around, touching everything I saw with a kind of reverence. There was just so much to admire and wonder at. All the things I had glimpsed in the robbers’ hole, the gold, the jewels, the marvellous furniture; now I was actually in the same room as them. It was impossible not to pick things up or touch them, revelling in their cool, smooth elegance and their beauty. The care with which they had been made was all for the use of a dead king, buried for thousands of years.

“This is fantastic,” said Adam at last, reluctantly setting a small statue of a female slave back in her place by the shrine. “It’s so perfect, as though they were placed here only yesterday—”

I looked at him, and he checked himself. It wasn’t perfect at all. Despite all the dazzling riches before us, it was impossible to miss the fact that much more was missing. There was so much empty space in this vast chamber. Clearly it had been constructed to house a lot more. And what was left was in a state of great confusion. Caskets had been left carelessly open with the contents spilling out and some of the great gilt couches were left lying on their sides, with no regard for their value. We suddenly found ourselves returning to the real world with a bump.

“So much wealth I have to leave here,” said Mr. Tillyard sadly, as he picked up an alabaster vase. He paused, then handed it to a mercenary who nodded and walked out with it. “Still, it doesn’t do to be too greedy, and I have to leave something to keep the Antiquities people happy.”

Adam gave a brief, hollow laugh. “You know I can hardly believe it’s you doing this, Tillyard. And to think I saw you only as an unimaginative bureaucrat. I really did make a mistake about you.”

“Yes, you did,” Mr. Tillyard agreed. “Your contempt was obvious and extremely insulting. Miss Whitaker, however, was much kinder.”

He slid a hand over my shoulders as he said this, and I shuddered, horrified to think that I had ever considered this man pleasant and attractive. I even hated to think how I had let his lips linger on my hands, and I pulled sharply away now. Adam took my arm, but before either of us could speak, Mr. Tillyard lifted the gun up again.

“Never mind, Ellis, I wouldn’t want her anyway. Not now she’s soiled goods.”

“Soiled—?” For a moment, I was confused. “Oh! It was you back at the campsite, wasn’t it? You were spying on us.”

I could see in his eyes it was true and I couldn’t finish my sentence, but I didn’t have to. He smiled nastily.

“It was quite stimulating watching you two love-birds consummate your union with such passion. Almost made me wish—”

He got no further. Before any of the men around us had time to react, Adam leapt forward and struck him across the face. He fell to the ground, blood beginning to trickle slowly out of his nose. Two mercenaries, meanwhile, had grabbed hold of Adam and held him whilst a third punched him in the stomach. Mr. Tillyard watched them for a few moments before snapping out a sharp order. Reluctantly they stopped beating Adam.

“That’s enough. It won’t do to have them looking too damaged,” he said in perfect, almost accentless Arabic. Then he switched back to English. “Well, I’m sorry it has to end like this, Miss Whitaker. Or may I call you Kate? I feel as though I know you so well now, and I’ve become quite fond of you over the last few weeks, even though I expected to hate you. You were an odious little baggage, by the way, when you were a child.”

“I hope I made your life a misery while you were out here,” I spat at him.

“Oh, you certainly did that. You know even now I can’t decide whether it was the laxative in my morning tea which made me hate you more or the time you locked a pack of flea-ridden cats in my room. I was itching for weeks after that. And your doting father always took your side. It really was too bad. Did she behave so monstrously when you were out here, Ellis?” he asked chattily, but Adam was leaning against a gilt couch, barely conscious. “No, probably not,” he continued, perching on a wooden chest. “Puppy love can be very enduring, can’t it? Lord, all those letters you two wrote to each other! It got quite an ordeal in the end, having to wade my way through so many nauseating outpourings of emotion in case either of you said anything important. I was very relieved when you both finally gave up.”

“You read our letters too!” I cried.

Mr. Tillyard looked at me in mild surprise. “Well, of course I did. I couldn’t take the chance your knight in shining armour might come charging back to help you and the professor.”

For a second I just looked at him with utter disbelief: then I did something that I have never done in my life before. I spat at him. I’d seen Egyptian men do it in the streets many times, and my nannies and governesses had always turned their heads away in disgust, appalled at such behaviour. Mr. Tillyard hardly batted an eyelid. He merely took a handkerchief from his pocket and calmly wiped his cheek. Then he stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.

“You really are quite an uncivilised little creature, aren’t you, Kate?” he said, before snapping some more orders to the men still standing guard by us. One of them picked Adam up and threw him across his shoulder. Tillyard grabbed my arm and steered me towards another doorway at the bottom of the chamber.

“Down that way, please Kate. That’s right, keep going.”

He pulled at a huge door which led into yet another tunnel. As I stared down into its gloomy depths, I began to feel a sudden dread clutch at my stomach. I had spent all my life wandering in and out of tunnels just like this one and never once felt any fear. But suddenly I understood what claustrophobia was.

“Quickly now,” Mr. Tillyard said. “It’s quite a trek down to the next level and we don’t have much time left before someone realises you’ve gone. It’s amazing how wealthy the ancients were, isn’t it? Khaemwaset didn’t just have one chamber full of treasure, he had several, although I won’t be telling the Service that, of course. I’ve already taken most of what’s down here, but I’ve got to leave a few things for future discovery.”

He kept up this awful chatter as we descended ever farther into the ground..We seemed to walk for ages before finally reaching another doorway. This one was simpler, less ornately decorated, but still sturdy despite its aeons in the dark. The mercenaries prised it open, and we were hustled in.

The chamber was smaller, and although there were treasures inside, it was clearly meant for a less important purpose. The couches were not so fabulously carved, the statues seemed more utilitarian, and there was a general air of common sense about the items chosen to accompany their owner onto the next life. Mr. Tillyard nodded to his men, and they dropped Adam onto the floor near the back of the chamber.

“You won’t get away with this, you know that,” I said.

“Really?” He looked up at me, with an interested smile on his face. “How are you going to stop me? Oh wait a minute, there’s Miss Wyndham-Brown, isn’t there and that vulgar little maid? You must be expecting them to arrive any second with a horde of rescuers. Of course.”

He walked across to one of the large wooden chests and knelt down by a tarpaulin. I had barely noticed it and now looked at it, expecting to see a new pile of treasures. But as he threw it back, I gasped.

Bella lay crumpled on the floor, Ruby beside her. They were both unconscious, but breathing. Bella had a huge, purple bruise on her forehead, but she seemed the less injured of the two. Even in the lamplight I could see blood on Ruby’s face.

“I don’t think Miss Wyndham-Brown will be doing any rescuing, do you, Kate?” he enquired in a jolly tone, and I resisted the urge to spit at him again. “You know, you all gave Ali over there quite a shock when you turned up at the tomb. It just goes to show you how important it is to keep a guard posted at all times, doesn’t it, Kate?”

“You are the most despicable excuse for a human being I have ever met in my life,” I said coldly. “And I suppose you thought it was funny having people dressed up as ghosts and putting scorpions in my boot.”

“Good heavens, Kate, that wasn’t me. Although I do rather wish it had been. You know, you’ve been out here too long, my dear. Ghosts indeed! And as for the scorpion—well, that was just a stroke of luck.”

By now, half of what he was saying made no sense, but as he moved towards the chamber entrance to leave us alone on here, I said the first thing that came into my mind. Anything to give us a little more time and a little more hope of rescue.

“I don’t care what you say, Richard, you won’t get away with this. As soon as we’re free, we’ll tell everyone what you’ve done. You won’t see a penny of all this treasure.”

He shrugged and looked slightly bored. “Well, frankly, Kate, unless you can shout very loudly, I don’t see how you’re going to escape. This tomb is far below the original one found yesterday, and once I leave there’s going to be an unfortunate cave-in along the tunnel that you and your friends found when you came snooping in here. I doubt very much you’ll be able to shout loud enough to attract anyone’s attention, and the air won’t last forever down here. And the lantern will give out soon enough. And I certainly intend keeping the whole campsite busy looking for you in all the wrong places, until it’s too late. But do try. It’s important that when we eventually find your dead bodies it looks as though you’ve done your best to escape.”

He stood the lantern on the shrine next to us and walked briskly away. “Goodbye, my dear. Give my regards to Dr. Ellis and Miss Wyndham-Brown when they wake up.” And with that, he stepped through the chamber entrance. Almost immediately I heard the sound of rocks and boulders being pushed back into place. I knelt down beside Adam, still unconscious on the floor by my feet.

“Wake up, Adam,” I said, at first patting him gently with my hands. This brought no response at all and I soon gave up and began shaking him briskly. “Adam, wake up!”

I was trying not to give in to hysteria, but as the seconds ticked by and the sounds of the men outside the entrance faded away to silence, it became almost impossible. But just as I despaired of getting any signs of life from Adam, his eyelids fluttered feebly.

“Adam! Wake up!” I shouted and slowly his eyes rolled open, closed, then opened again.

“Will you stop yelling in my ear?” he said irritably, pushing himself up, then groaning with pain as he remembered the battering he had taken. “Oww! That hurt! Where’s Tillyard?”

“Adam, get up. We’re in terrible trouble.”

He had managed to lever himself into a sitting position, still rubbing gently at his stomach, but he looked up at my words. “Really? Do you think so?”

I bent over him as he sat back against the wooden chest. “There’s no need to be sarcastic. How much of what he said did you hear?” I asked as I wiped a trickle of dried blood away from his mouth.

He grunted. “Most of it up to the part where he said you’d put laxatives in his tea. Oww!”

“You would remember that,” I muttered.

He took a few careful, deep breaths. “Laxatives. Honestly, Kate, I don’t know how you ever made it to adulthood.”

“I was twelve, Adam,” I said irritably. “I wasn’t very sophisticated. Besides, considering what he’s done to us, I wish I’d put arsenic in his tea now. Oh my God!” Suddenly I realised what I had just said. “Papa! Adam, Papa is in danger!”

“Not as much as we’re in. Besides, I doubt Tillyard will be bothering himself with the professor. Your father is safely out of the way back in Luxor. We were the ones causing him trouble.” He grimaced as he levered himself up with great care. “Is that Bella and Ruby? How did they get here?”

I went across and checked on them. They were still out cold, and it seemed kinder to leave them that way. As I explained to Adam what had happened, there was a short boom, followed by a dull thudding sound. Adam and I looked at each other.

“What are we going to do, Adam? The lantern is only good for another hour at the most, and we don’t know how long the air in here will last.”

There was a slight pause while we both realised that the atmosphere in the chamber suddenly did seem stickier. My skin seemed to become clammy, and try as I might, I could not stop myself from saying, “Does it seem to you that there’s a funny stale smell in here, Adam?”

“No,” he said firmly, but I knew he was lying. When you lie a lot yourself, you recognise it easily in others.

“We can’t just stand here, hoping someone will find us,” he continued. “Let’s take a look around. There might be another way out of here. The tunnels in these tombs honey-comb all over the place. If one lead into Khaemwaset’s tomb, it’s possible there might be another one that might take us away.”

I nodded and began helping him examine the mud walls of the chamber. We inched our way slowly round the room, our eyes straining to find the slightest sign of a robber’s hole or a blocked up doorway. We ignored the vast collection of treasure behind us, oblivious to their charms now. It was difficult working the smooth surface of the mud chamber, especially since we only had the one lantern between us and the wick kept guttering fitfully. We worked slowly, trying to conserve as much oxygen as we could, whilst at the same time give ourselves something positive to do, but it was hard going. Sweat had begun trickling down my forehead and along my rib cage and I could feel myself becoming more tired with every step. Then, suddenly, I stopped. I gestured for Adam to hold the light up closer to the part of the wall I had been examining, my fingers scrabbling tensely as I detected a definite change in texture.

“Look, Adam! There’s the outline of a hole!”

“Here,” said Adam, holding out the lantern for me to take. “I’ll go and see if I can find something to dig with.”

He stood up and walked back to the middle of the room, coughing with the exertion. Finally, among all the pots and vases, he found a solid-looking sword. Panting with the effort, he hefted the weapon above his head, then swung it down. Mud and dust flew up around us, making us cough as it entered our nostrils and mouths, and for a few seconds I felt as if I were choking. But at last the debris settled, and we found ourselves peering once more into a small hole.

At first it was hard to make anything out. The lantern was definitely growing weaker now. I stared into the hole, taking shuddering breaths as I did and almost gagging on the stale, old smell from the tomb, proof that this was one chamber that hadn’t been opened for centuries. As our eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, we began to see better what we were looking at. It was a very small chamber, hardly bigger than the inside of a coal cellar and almost immediately we knew two things: one, that it was not a tunnel to another tomb; and two, that it was empty.

Adam wiped his dust-covered face on the sleeve of his shirt and sank down onto the ground beside me.

“I’m sorry Kate. It doesn’t look like we’re going to get out of here by another route after all.”

I sighed as he put an arm around my shoulder. “I should be the one apologising to you,” I said. “After all, it was my stupid idea to go into the tomb at the dead of night without telling anyone.”

He laughed. “True. Remind me to break off our engagement if we ever get out of this.”

“I don’t remember you ever proposing.”

“Didn’t I?” He was starting to sound as weak as I felt.

“Trust me, Adam. It’s the sort of memory we girls treasure.”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it. I just thought—”

He stopped, interrupted by my gasp of surprise. I had looked away briefly and something in the far corner of the foul little chamber had glinted, catching the last feeble glow of the lantern. I sat up, my body tensed again.

“Adam, there is something in there. Hold the lamp up.”

I turned away from him and began to crawl slowly into the little hole. The floor was quite smooth, and my nightdress was almost in shreds by now, the slick feel of the mud beneath my knees revolting. Then, as Adam followed closely behind me the lamp held high above our heads, we saw it together, shoved up tight at the back of the chamber. A tall, slim, sleek statue of a cat. It stood over five feet tall, covered in rubies, carved in the most exquisite pink gold. The Scarlet Queen.

We stared at it for a long time without speaking. Finally I crawled up to it, slowly, reverently, like a heathen on her knees before a false god.

“It’s the Queen, Adam,” I said at last. “It really is. The Scarlet Queen. Papa was right. She did exist! She was made and put down here to be with—”

I stopped. Now that the first rush of excitement had abated, it occurred to me that this tiny, crude little hole was an odd place to put such a magnificent piece of workmanship. By rights, she should have pride of place in the centre of the chamber and not this chamber either, with its simple tools and plain bowls. She should have been in the main tomb, the royal tomb.

“Hmm, who was she put down here with?” wondered Adam, as he moved closer to the statue. We both looked curiously up at the cat-goddess, with her inscrutable smile.

“Oww.” I felt Adam flinch, then draw back slightly. “Hello, what’s this?”

I dragged my eyes away from the face of statue and looked down at her feet. There were a couple of objects on the floor by her sharp claws, dull and dusty from lying unused so long. Adam poked at them gently with his finger, careful not to push too hard for fear they might break. One object was a dagger, long and pointed; the other a small clay vial, broken in two.

“Odd,” said Adam as he rolled a piece of the vial away from the dagger. “I wonder what the significance of this is. It seems to be some kind of—”

“Oh God, Adam! Look!”

“What?”

I was pointing to a pile of bones, lying near to the statue, when suddenly, just for a second, it seemed to me that they shimmered away and in their place was a person. It was surreal, but in the haze I was staring into the face of a beautiful young woman, dressed in the clothes of an ancient Egyptian, living and breathing although logic dictated she had no right to do either. For a few seconds our eyes met and she smiled at me. Then, with horror, I saw the knife at her throat, red blood oozing beneath the blade.

I screamed. I was vaguely aware of Adam’s hands on my face, trying to calm me down, but the light had gone by now and the darkness was so absolute and so thick and stifling that I couldn’t even begin to control myself. Then, just as it seemed our situation couldn’t get any worse, there was a thundering noise above us. Something large and heavy fell on top of me, cracking against my skull, and I remembered nothing more.