Someone was slapping his face. It hurt. His whole head hurt. “Come on, wake up,” said a rough voice. It was Hori. “Intef’s tired of carrying you.”
Ramose was lying on the ground. Hori was leaning over him. He slapped him again. Ramose tried to sit up, but he couldn’t because his hands were tied behind him. His jaw was stiff and sore. His mouth was dry because of the tight gag. He rolled onto his side. Ramose didn’t know where he was. It was still dark. He couldn’t hear the sound of the river, but the air was still moist and he could feel grass beneath him. Hori and Intef were watching him. Seth was opening Ramose’s bag. He undid the string. There was a ferocious spitting and hissing as Mery leapt out of the bag. Seth shrieked. Mery darted off into the darkness.
“It’s a monster,” Seth yelled. “The boy’s got a monster in his bag.”
Ramose would have laughed if he hadn’t had a strip of linen gagging him. He hoped the cat could find its way back to Karoya.
“It was the slave girl’s cat, stupid,” said Hori. “Let’s get moving. We’ve got a long way to go before it gets light.”
Ramose’s moment of pleasure disappeared as Intef dragged him to his feet. After walking for about two hours in the dark, the moon rose. Ramose could see two pyramids in the distance, their limestone faces gave off a soft glow in the moonlight. They were walking towards the larger pyramid. It was surrounded by tombs, chapels and temples. As they got closer, Ramose could see that there was a row of trees planted around the edge of the pyramid. There were not only date palms and tamarisks, but also sacred persea trees.
It was starting to get light by now. Ramose was tired. He could tell the other men were as well, but Hori was making them hurry. He led them to a crumbling rectangular tomb where he broke open the door and they went inside just as the sun rose. Inside was a chapel with painted walls. Ramose knew that somewhere below them an important person would be buried.
“No one goes outside until it’s dark again,” said Hori laying down his reed mat.
“I don’t like the idea of sleeping in a tomb,” said Seth looking nervously in all the dark corners.
Intef’s brow furrowed. “What if I want to…”
“Go now,” said Hori. “Seth, you go out and find a temple that’s still in use and steal some of the food offerings.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
Seth left reluctantly. He soon returned with food and the robbers feasted on the meat, vegetables and sweet cakes that he had stolen from a temple. When they had finished eating, Hori belched loudly.
“Untie the scribe’s hands.” He nodded to Seth who went over and untied the rope around Ramose’s wrists.
They gave him a piece of dry bread and a few mouthfuls of warm beer.
“Intef, you sleep in front of the door,” Hori said as he settled himself down. “Just in case the scribe decides to wander off.” He grinned at Seth. “Or in case any spirits try and get us.”
They were all asleep within a few minutes. All except for Ramose. He couldn’t sleep. Seth had insisted on leaving a lamp burning. In the dim light, Ramose looked at the paintings on the walls of the chapel. He peered at the writing. It was the tomb of a priest called Amenhotep. There was a painting of the priest and his wife, ploughing in the Field of Reeds in the afterlife. Another painting showed the couple praising Osiris. The third wall had a scene from Amenhotep’s funeral. The fourth wall showed a banquet with girls dancing and playing musical instruments. In the dim light it reminded Ramose of the palace and his own room with its wall paintings. There was an offering table, but it looked like it had been a very long time since anyone had brought offerings for Amenhotep.
Ramose felt like he’d only just got to sleep when Seth was shaking him awake again.
“Come on, Scribe,” he said. “You’ve got work to do.”
Breakfast was another mouthful of dry bread, and three dates. Ramose suspected it was nowhere near breakfast time.
“I’m thirsty.”
Hori gave him a flask of beer.
“Don’t you have any water?” Ramose asked.
“No.”
Outside it was a still, cool evening. It was peaceful. Nothing disturbed the quiet but the howling of a distant dog, the buzzing of insects and Intef’s heavy breathing. Ramose thought that many people probably worked in the area, tending the tombs and the temples around the pyramids. There was no one around, though. All the workers had returned to their homes for the night. Ramose was led by his captors towards the pyramid, which loomed eerily in the dark.
“Okay, Scribe,” said Hori. “This is where you earn your keep.”
“Since you’ve only given me a piece of dry bread and three dates, there can’t be much for me to do.”
“Don’t get smart,” said Hori pulling out the papyrus that he had shown Ramose on the boat. “Find the entrance to the tomb.”
Ramose had guessed that the men were tomb robbers. He hated the idea of helping them, but at that moment he didn’t think that he had a choice. He peered at the papyrus in the dim light of an oil lamp. “It says:
Read these words well, they will teach you.
If you disturb the great one’s place of rest, you will feel the wrath of the gods.
If riches come to you by theft, they will not stay the night with you.
The greedy man will have no tomb.
He will be tortured for eternity by the spirits.”
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” said Seth, glancing around nervously.
“Don’t worry about that stuff. It’s just to scare us off,” Hori said. “Get to the important bit. Where’s the tomb entrance?”
Ramose read on.
“Seek the truth where you least expect it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Intef, his brow furrowed with confusion.
“Tomb entrances are always facing north, aren’t they?” said Hori. “Aligned with certain stars.”
Ramose nodded.
“So maybe the entrance is on the south face of the pyramid,” said Seth.
Hori nodded. “Yes but where? What else does it say, Scribe?”
“It says:
The sun rises twenty and seven cubits from the east and climbs to a height of ten and five cubits.”
“That must be the measurements to find the entrance,” said Hori.
Ramose was sure he was right, but he didn’t say anything. He was thinking about what the scroll had said about feeling the wrath of the gods. The tomb robbers were hurrying to the south side of the pyramid. Ramose reluctantly followed them.
The men measured out the distances that Ramose read out from the papyrus. Intef clambered up the side of the pyramid with the aid of a rickety ladder that they made out of tamarisk branches and reeds. Intef had a large stone hammer tied around his waist.
“There’s no sign of a doorway,” said Intef.
“Of course there isn’t,” snapped Hori. “It’s a hidden entrance!”
“Are you sure this is where it is?”
“Twenty and seven cubits from the eastern corner. Ten and five cubits up the side, that’s what it says isn’t it, boy?”
Ramose nodded, feeling a wave of guilt at helping the criminals.
Intef took the hammer from his belt and with a mighty swing smashed it into the side of the pyramid. The sound seemed deafeningly loud in the quiet of the evening. Ramose winced. The robbers listened anxiously to see if the noise had attracted anyone.
“It hardly made a mark,” said Intef.
“It’s solid stone,” said Seth impatiently. “It’s going to take more than one whack to break it.”
Intef swung the hammer again and again. It took a dozen blows before the stone block even cracked. It looked like the ladder might give way before he broke it. The big man continued to swing the hammer, grunting louder with the exertion of each blow. His body glistened in the moonlight as the sweat ran down him.
“This is getting nowhere,” he called down.
“That’s because you’re useless,” Hori shouted. “Do I have to come up and do it myself?”
Even though Intef was plainly stupid, he didn’t like anybody saying so. He swung his hammer with a growl of anger. The stone exploded under the blow, pieces of rock showered down on those watching below.
“That’s more like it,” said Hori with an ugly grin, aware that his jibe had worked.
“Don’t get too excited,” said Intef. “There’s another layer underneath that one.”
“Well, you better get into it, otherwise it’ll be daybreak and we’ll still be on the outside.”
The second layer was thicker but made of mud brick. With a lot of grumbling and a few more hefty blows, Intef’s hammer disappeared inside the pyramid. Seth cheered.
“Shut up, you fool,” said Hori. “We don’t want to bring the temple guards over here. Get the lamps and the bag, Scribe. You’re going in with him.”
“What about you?”
“Seth and I will keep watch.”
Seth smiled, relieved that he didn’t have to go inside the pyramid. It was an ugly sight as the robber had hardly any teeth. Ramose tentatively put his foot on the shaky ladder and climbed to the hole, balancing an oil lamp in one hand and with a bag of tools over his shoulder.
The air from inside the tomb was cool and had a strange smell. It was escaping after being sealed inside for four centuries. While he had been waiting for Intef to break into the pyramid, he’d read the papyrus carefully. The pyramid contained the tomb of Pharaoh Senusret from long ago.
Ramose remembered the name from Keneben’s lists of kings, which he’d had to learn off by heart back in the palace schoolroom. He crawled in through the hole gouged in the white limestone of the pyramid. He’d been a good pharaoh as far as Ramose could remember, known for irrigation systems and trade with foreigners. Ramose didn’t like the idea of disturbing his tomb.