Beth was troubled but sent Jane and Laurence to find Mrs Bennet. “Tell Grandmama it is time for luncheon,” she said.
“But what about Meg?”
“William and I will decide what to do, and Mr Massri will help us.”
As she said this, Saeed came back to her. His expression was, if anything, even graver, and Beth felt her heart sink. But she was a Darcy, with the true Darcy spirit, and she was not about to give way to nerves like her grandmama. Instead, she was determined to make her parents proud.
“This is very bad, Miss Darcy. The fellahs say they saw the little girl wandering into the desert some time ago.”
“Why did they not stop her?” she asked.
“Because they believe she is being influenced by great magic, and it would be bad luck to interfere with the vessel the spirits are working through.”
“What nonsense!” said William, with an arrogance that made him sound just like his father. “She is probably looking for Mama and Papa. She never likes to be left behind and once followed them halfway down the street in London when they were going to walk in the park because she wanted to go too.”
Beth was not sure whether he believed it, but she was glad of William’s calm sense and commonplace explanation.
“William is right,” she said. “We must find her and bring her back to the camp before we make any other decisions.”
Saeed looked anxiously back at the fellahs. “They won’t wait much longer.”
“I can’t help that, Mr Massri. Leaving Mama and Papa is one thing, but we cannot just allow Meg to wander the desert alone. You must do as you think fit, but William and I will look for her.”
Saeed looked at her intently. She was so young and yet so much more sensible than Mrs Bennet, who had refused to speak to him after he had tried to get her to understand the gravity of the situation.
“Very well,” he said reluctantly. “I will come with you and leave Josef in charge. He is reliable and will take care of those left in the camp, though I fear he will not be able to stop the fellahs leaving if they make their minds up to it.”
“Then let us leave with all speed, Mr Massri,” said Beth lifting her chin stubbornly, “and pray it does not come to that.”
***
Elizabeth and Darcy sat in the damp silence of the tomb, listening to the soft murmurings of Sophie and Edward beneath them. Elizabeth dared not ask Darcy again what the time was. She had done so already three times, and it was still barely two in the afternoon. She leaned a little closer to him and he put an arm around her shoulder.
“Well, you have had your adventure now, my love,” said Darcy, kissing her forehead gently. Elizabeth grimaced.
“This was not what I had in mind all those months ago at Pemberley,” she admitted. “If ever I seem inclined to wander again from the safety of my home, remind me of this.”
She glanced around at the ever encroaching darkness. The torch was gradually dimming, and she was sure she had heard the soft scurrying of rats—or something else she did not even want to think about.
Darcy laughed. “Even if I did, it would do no good. It will take more than this to dim your spirit. In a few months time it will be Christmas, and we will be shivering with the cold and you will be wishing yourself back in the desert,” he replied.
“We will be celebrating with a great fat goose in front of a roaring fire,” said Elizabeth, taking new heart from the cheerful thought. “And I may pine for the heat of the desert, but I can assure you I will never pine for this soft dampness oozing into my bones.”
“I must agree with you on that—” Darcy began, but then they heard Edward’s voice, attempting a loud whisper.
“What is it, Edward?” Darcy leaned forward and stared down.
He could just see Edward’s white, strained face.
“It’s Sophie,” he said in concern. “I think she is delirious.”
Elizabeth leaned over.
“It must be the heat. Do you need more water, Edward?” she asked.
They had thrown down one of the two canteens they had left after Wickham had gone. There was very little left in their own now, but if it would help Sophie, she would gladly give it.
“I think it might help.”
Elizabeth threw down the canteen, and Darcy included Edward in their conversation to take the young man’s mind off the fears of the present. But Darcy couldn’t stop himself at last from looking at his pocket watch. It was only just after two in the afternoon and he very much feared the torches would not last much longer. And then all five of them would be sitting in the pitch black.
***
“I cannot see how she could have come so far,” Saeed said for the fifth time in ten minutes.
Beth said nothing. Seated atop the camel, with William behind her, she looked back from where they had come. The camp was nowhere to be seen.
“She could be anywhere now,” Saeed added. “I wonder if perhaps we should return to—”
“We should go to the tomb,” said Beth.
“I doubt very much that Miss Margaret will be there, Miss Darcy,” Saeed said politely. “It is a long way away and she has no idea—”
“No doubt you are right, Mr Massri, and at any other time I’m sure I would agree with you. But my sister Jane said that Margaret mentioned the tomb and that is where she will be going,” Beth said clearly.
There was a silence. It seemed ludicrous that a little girl out on her own walking across a desert would have any idea how to reach the tomb. But eventually even Saeed nodded.
“It is as good a place as any to look,” he said at last.
Chapter 16
The torches were very near the end of their life. Darcy could see there was hardly anything left to fuel them and even from twelve feet away he could hear Sophie moaning.
“It will not be much longer now, Edward,” Darcy shouted down to him. “Very soon Sir Matthew will be coming through the tunnel entrance with a hundred fellahs.”
“I pray you are right, Darcy,” Edward replied. “Sophie’s colour is ghastly and she will not drink even though she looks parched.”
From above they saw him try to press the canteen to Sophie’s lips, to no avail. The light from Edward’s torch was almost gone, and things looked bleak.
“We have to do something,” said Elizabeth. “If we look around, perhaps we can find something…”
“Yes,” said Paul, even though they had looked around several times already and found nothing of use.
Elizabeth began searching again, but before long, the final flames flickered and died on the torch beside them. A few moments later they lost sight of Edward too, as his torch went out, and they were all plunged into darkness.
“Edward!” Darcy shouted.
“I am still here, cousin, but talk to me, please. I feel very alone down here. And as for Sophie… If anything happens to her, Darcy, I will never forgive myself.”
“None of this is your fault,” said Darcy.
“No?” said Edward. “I lied to you and deceived you, luring you into a trip that could very well end your life, and I have no idea why I did it. I was like a man possessed. I—”
“What was that?” Darcy cut across him.
“What?” Elizabeth strained her ears, immediately alert as she felt a change in him.
“Listen. Again. There, do you hear it?” Darcy asked.
“I hear it,” said Paul, in a voice full of hope.
Elizabeth strained her ears. “I hear nothing—” she began, and then she stopped. At first it seemed as though there was the scratching of some tiny creature, and then the noises seemed to grow.
“It’s someone calling your name, Darcy. A voice, calling for—”
“Papa! Papa! Where are you?” came the sudden pure voice of a
little girl, cutting through the blackness around them.
“Meg? Is that you?” Darcy shouted in astonishment, and as he turned to the sound of his youngest daughter, there was the faintest flicker of light in the distance near the tunnel entrance, the warm welcome glow of an orange flame illuminating the darkness around them.
“Papa, where are you?”
Suddenly they heard other voices too, Beth and Saeed, and although they could barely believe it, William was there as well. Within minutes there were several torches bobbing and weaving their way down the tunnel into the tomb.
“Edward, we are saved!” Paul cried.
“Thank the Lord,” came the heartfelt reply from below.
“Beware of the moat!” cried Elizabeth to the children.
Darcy and Elizabeth turned their backs on Edward’s pit and went toward the bobbing lights, stepping carefully so that they did not stumble and keeping their eyes on their feet so that they did not fall down the moat themselves.
“What happened, Mama? Why are you and Papa standing here in the dark?” asked Beth.
“And where are the donkeys?” asked William.
“More to the point, what are you doing here?” asked Elizabeth, her fear turning to anger once she saw they were safe. “And why did you bring Margaret with you? She is far too young to be here.” For Margaret was sitting on the edge of the moat.
“We had to come. Margaret wandered out of the camp and we followed her here,” Beth said.
“Is that so?” asked Darcy. “Children, I am proud of you.”
Elizabeth was about to protest when she caught the glow on William’s face as he heard his father’s words and her angry words died on her lips.
Darcy is right, she thought. He is not a little boy anymore. And look at Beth, a young woman almost. And both of them sensible and intelligent. And so she put her fears and admonition aside and said, “Your father is right. You are a credit to us.”
“I’m glad we found you, Papa,” sighed Meg. “Aahotep said I helped her find the tomb so that she could say she was sorry to Ammon and Husn, and so she was going to help me to find you and Mama before she went to her rest. She used to be very bad but she’s not very bad anymore, she’s just tired and sorry and she’s glad you’re safe.”
Darcy took Elizabeth’s hand and gave it a squeeze as William and Beth put a protective hand on each of Margaret’s shoulders.
“What happened here?” asked Saeed. “Why are you in the dark? And where is the bridge? How did you get across the moat? And why did you not come back when your torches went out?”
“A long story,” said Darcy, “and one which will be better told when we are out of the tomb.”
Saeed nodded and set to work. The planks were lying on the other side of the moat and he and William pushed them across again so that Darcy and Elizabeth could embed them in the dirt.
“We need ropes and more planks,” said Darcy. “Miss Lucas is hurt. She has fallen down a pit and we must get her out. I fear that she is in some danger if we do not get her back to the camp right away. Has the physician arrived yet?”
“He has, effendi,” said Saeed.
“Good,” said Darcy with relief.
They were all together now, the new arrivals having crossed the bridge. The men set to work by the light of the torches, lowering further planks to Edward so that he could make a makeshift bed for Sophie to be lifted out on, while Elizabeth hugged her children.
“Now, Beth, tell me what has been happening since this morning,” she said to her daughter. “If I am not mistaken, you have a great deal to say.”
Beth explained everything as the men worked, ending with “…Meg was almost here by the time we caught up with her. It is a miracle she got so far in so short a time. We had camels but she was walking. And Mr Massri is still unclear as to how she knew the way. But as we arrived she insisted we let her down and really she ran in before we could stop her, which is odd considering how frightened she was the other day when we visited the false tomb.”
“Yes, it is,” said Elizabeth, stroking her daughter’s hair.
By now the men had managed to place Sophie on a makeshift stretcher and they were lifting her to safety. Elizabeth knelt down beside Sophie as soon as she was clear of the pit. Her face was a sickly white colour, but at least she was quiet at last.
“So the fellahs refused to come here,” Darcy said to Saeed as he threw down a rope for Edward and Edward climbed out of the pit.
“I’m afraid so, Mr Darcy,” Saeed admitted. “There was nothing I could do to get them to accompany me. They are simple people, easily frightened. They believe in magic and curses and all kinds of superstitions.”
“Possibly,” Darcy said quietly. “But I wonder if it really is all superstition.”
Beside him Edward nodded. “There seems to be much that they understand better than we do,” he agreed, looking down at the pit. Far below, the gold sarcophagus lay. It looked no different now than it had done half an hour before, but it felt very different. It felt as though the bones inside it were at peace.
“Time for us to go,” Darcy said, lifting Meg in his arms.
As he shifted her into a more comfortable position on his shoulder, something dropped from her grasp. It was the little doll, now thoroughly drab and dirty from being held so long in tiny, grubby hands. Elizabeth picked it up.
“I do not think Meg wants this anymore,” she said, looking at the face. “And I do not think the doll wants Meg. Aahotep has found her way home and made amends. It seems she was buried here, with her victims, though her spirit was far away. But now it will no longer have to wander the earth. It can rest in peace.”
As she spoke, the doll seemed to shrink in her hands. She looked at it closely and saw that the painted-on eyes had been all but rubbed out, the mouth almost nonexistent. It was hard to believe they had ever found anything malevolent about it. It was just a worn-out toy.
“Put it where it belongs,” Darcy suggested, and with a nod Elizabeth threw it down into the pit, where it landed on the sarcophagus.
As they moved off toward the entrance to the tunnel, Elizabeth could have sworn she heard the faintest hint of a laugh, and the paintings on the walls seemed to be smiling. But when she turned back, there was only the blackness swallowing up the tomb again.
She followed the others into the bright sunlight of the desert and felt Darcy’s arm go round her shoulders. She put her arm around his waist and breathed in deeply, inhaling the sweet, fresh air with relief.
***
Back at the camp they found more good news waiting for them. Sir Matthew was no longer tossing and turning feverishly in his bed but was sleeping peacefully. It was Mrs Bennet who conveyed this piece of news, ascribing it to her own efforts, but Elizabeth more wisely ascribed it to the efforts of Beth before she had left the camp and to Mr Knight, who had tended to Sir Matthew ever since.
His improvement had done much to allay the fellahs’ concern, and they had been persuaded to stay on a little longer when the Darcys returned. The guards, too, had returned, coming into camp shamefacedly, as they were forced to admit they had run away at the sound of mysterious wailing in the desert and at the sight of a fleeing man who had told them to run because their excavations had angered the dead and an afrit was on its way.
The stories of fabulous treasure lying unclaimed in the tomb tempted the fellahs further, and they seemed at last to overcome their fear of the curse. If Sir Matthew was not going to die, then why should they, who were only humble servants, be struck down? And if they were not going to be struck down, why should they not benefit from the enormous amount of money they were being offered to bring the remaining treasures back to camp?
The camp physician set Sophie’s broken arm and seemed confident that it would heal well. By the following day, she was well enoug
h to sit in the shade, while Edward sat beside her and brought her drinks and fruits and anything else that would help restore her to vigor. Sir Matthew was still in bed, but he was so much better that he was able to sit up and take an interest in everything they had to tell him.
Saeed returned to the tomb with the fellahs, and Paul elected to go with them. Since leaping for his sketchbook at the expense of Sophie, he had been effacing himself and Elizabeth guessed he was glad of an excuse to leave the camp.
“It will take some time to empty the tomb,” said Edward to Darcy as he sat contentedly by Sophie’s side, while Sophie herself recovered from her ordeal by reclining against him. “Perhaps you will wish to remain in Egypt until everything has been cataloged and removed from the tomb, but I, for one, will be content to return home just as soon as I have rescued enough treasures to enable me to present myself to Sir William Lucas. My obsession with Egypt is over. As soon as we have Sir William’s consent, Sophie and I intend to marry without delay.”
“You must marry by special licence,” said Mrs Bennet in delight. “And you must invite us all to the wedding.”
“How could we not,” asked Edward, “when you have been with us every step of the way?”
“I think we, too, are ready to go home,” said Darcy.
He looked at Elizabeth, and she agreed.
“It has been a splendid adventure, but I confess I am ready to see Pemberley again.”
“If we are really all agreed then I suggest we return to Cairo the day after tomorrow,” said Darcy. “Sir Matthew should be up and about again then, and he has Saeed to help him until he has made a full recovery. There will be a lot of formalities to attend to in Cairo and a lot of people to notify of our find, and it will take some time to make arrangements for our return journey, but as soon as possible we will be on our way.”
Saeed offered to go to the boats and tell the reis to make everything ready for their departure, and when he returned he was laughing.
“Ah, effendi, there is such talk on the river! Your enemy returned to his boat yesterday with donkeys loaded down with treasures. He put them all on his boat and said the reis must set sail. The reis said he would not—there were too many treasures; the boat would sink!—but your enemy had his way. Then the boat ran aground on a sandbank and the fellahs made off with the treasures. Not honest fellahs like the fellahs here—thieves, effendi! And when your enemy swam to the bank, it is said that the crocodiles chased him all the way.”