Ramose and the Tomb Robbers

  “What’s the rush all of a sudden?”

  “Got to get outside.”

  Intef grabbed him by the arm and took the lamp from him, setting it down safely on the lid of the sarcophagus. “You’re not going anywhere yet.”

  Ramose tried to struggle out of Intef’s grasp. “I can’t breathe. I need air. Fresh air. I have to get out.”

  Intef slapped him hard on the face with the back of his hand. “We’re not leaving until we’ve gone through these chests.”

  Intef opened all the chests one by one and took out everything of value.

  Ramose’s breathing slowed. He wouldn’t get out of the pyramid if he panicked. If Intef hadn’t slapped him, he might have gone charging up the passage, fallen down the shaft and drowned in the celestial waters, or taken a wrong turn and ended up back in the poisonous yellow powder.

  “Now get up to the upper chamber and I’ll hand this all to you.”

  It was a slow business, but at the sight of the treasure Intef’s impatience had completely disappeared. He handed the items one by one to Ramose, up through the hole in the ceiling of the burial chamber. Ramose, in the darkness of the upper chamber, had no choice but to do as he was told.

  “We’ll need something to make a bridge across the gap as well.” Intef looked around the chamber. There was a tall shrine in one corner of the chamber. It had two doors covered with delicately patterned gold foil. Inside was a wooden statue of the goddess Hathor. Intef grabbed hold of one of the doors and ripped it from its hinges. Ramose winced at the destruction of such a beautiful thing. Intef handed that up to Ramose as well. Finally Intef came up himself with the lamp.

  There were four sacks of treasure. Intef carried three and gave one to Ramose to carry. They retraced their steps. Laying the shrine door across the shaft, they crossed the dark space. Then they crawled through the tunnel, Intef hauling his three sacks behind him.

  It seemed to take forever. Ramose just kept thinking of the air and the space outside. Every step he took, every finger-width he crawled, brought him closer to it. He followed the dim light and Intef’s grunts. The smell of the robber’s sweating body just in front of him made him retch, but he kept going. Eventually they reached the end of the tunnel and climbed down to the false burial chamber. As he walked up the final passage, Ramose saw a dark blue square ahead of them, tinged with pink. It was the entrance to the passage. It was almost daybreak.

  Hori and Seth were waiting impatiently.

  “What took you so long?” called Hori as Intef thrust the ladder out of the hole in the pyramid and climbed down it.

  Intef didn’t say anything but threw down the four sacks of treasure. Ramose could hear the greedy sounds of the men gloating over their haul as he climbed down the rickety ladder. His legs were trembling. He was exhausted, parched and hungry. He collapsed on the ground.

  “We had a visitor while you were away,” said Hori with a smirk.

  Ramose realised there was another figure in the group. Someone with his hands and feet tied. It was Hapu.

  9

  THE TOMB OF THE PRINCESS

  The tomb robbers took their treasure and their prisoners back to the hiding place in the abandoned tomb. While Hori and Seth were poring over the pharaoh’s treasure, Ramose sat with Hapu. Hori was so pleased with the haul that he’d given Ramose some dry bread and fish to eat. Ramose was still feeling sick, but he ate some of the food.

  “I didn’t know what to think when I woke up and you were gone,” said Hapu. Now that they were back inside the temple, the tomb robbers had untied him.

  “You thought I’d gone on to Memphis without you?”

  “It did cross my mind, but when Karoya found that Mery was missing, she was convinced something was wrong.”

  “I would never have left you without food.”

  “That’s what Karoya said. And no boats would have passed during the night, so we knew you must have gone inland.”

  “How did you find out where I was?”

  “A boy minding pigs told us he’d heard the sound of men swearing during the night and Karoya found some footprints in the sand so we knew which direction you’d taken. Once we saw the pyramids, we guessed that’s where they’d be heading. I wanted to search the temples. Karoya thought they’d be more interested in the tombs.” Hapu looked guilty. “We had an argument. She went towards the pyramids and I started searching the temples. Hori saw me and captured me last night.”

  “So Karoya doesn’t know where you are?”

  “No.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of eerie wailing coming from just outside the tomb door. Seth looked up from the treasure in fear.

  “What was that?”

  “Just some sort of wild animal,” said Hori.

  “It sounds like a ghost to me, Seth,” said Ramose.

  Hapu smiled grimly. “What are we going to do?” he whispered to Ramose.

  Ramose sighed. They had to get away from the tomb robbers. He knew he had to come up with a plan, but his mind wasn’t working. He hadn’t slept for two nights and he couldn’t think straight.

  “I have to get some sleep,” he said to Hapu. He wrapped his cloak around him and lay down.

  When Ramose awoke, the tomb robbers were preparing for another robbery.

  “There are other tombs close to the pyramid,” Hori said to Ramose.

  “It doesn’t say anything about other tombs on the papyrus,” said Ramose trying to put Hori off. The last thing he wanted was to have to go down into another tomb.

  “I found the entrance to one yesterday while you were in the pyramid. You wouldn’t lie to me about what’s in the papyrus, would you?”

  “No. I told you, the papyrus is just about the pyramid.”

  “Well, you and your friend are going down into this tomb anyway, just as soon as it gets dark.”

  “You better let us out of here immediately,” said Hapu. “You don’t realise who Ramose really is.”

  “He’s an apprentice scribe,” said Intef looking puzzled.

  “No he isn’t. That’s just a disguise,” replied Hapu. “He’s Prince Ramose, Pharaoh’s son.”

  “I’m not stupid, you know,” said Intef. “Prince Ramose died last year, everyone knows that.”

  “We were thinking of robbing his tomb, but there were still too many people in the valley,” said Hori.

  “He didn’t really die. It was all a trick. This is him.”

  Hori nodded. “I’m actually a vizier. Did you know that? And Intef is a high priest. We’re all in disguise.” The tomb robbers all laughed at the joke. Seth suddenly let out a yell.

  “There’s a rat in the food bag,” he said throwing the bag across the room.

  “Is it alive?” asked Intef.

  “I think it’s dead.”

  Hori went over and prodded the bag. He opened it cautiously with a stick. Inside the bag, among the temple offerings that they had stolen, was a dead rat.

  “It must have been poisoned by the tomb bread,” said Intef.

  “It didn’t die of poisoning. Something has killed it. See? It’s bleeding.”

  The rat was still limp and bleeding from a wound in the neck.

  “Do spirits have teeth?” asked Seth anxiously.

  “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going.”

  Intef grumbled all the way to the pyramid. “I’m not going down into another tomb. I hurt my ankle last night.”

  When they reached the pyramid, they walked around to the western side. Beyond the wall around the pyramid, outside the row of trees, there was an untended rocky area. Hori and Seth went over to a pile of rocks and started throwing them aside.

  “Don’t just stand there,” Hori said to Ramose and Hapu. “Help.” He turned to Intef. “You too.”

  They moved the pile of rocks and underneath they found a flat stone slab. Hori handed Intef the lever and the big man lifted the slab and pulled it aside.

  Ramose smelt the same strange smel
l of ancient air as he had at the pyramid. He held up a lamp and looked down the shaft. It was a sheer drop.

  “There’s no ramp,” he said. “The shaft’s at least sixty cubits deep. How will you get down?”

  “I’m not going down,” said Hori. “You two are.”

  Hapu looked alarmed. “By ourselves?”

  “No, don’t worry, I’ll send Seth down to hold your hand.”

  Seth didn’t look happy. “Do I have to go down?”

  “Intef’s hurt his ankle. It’s your turn to go down.”

  Ramose didn’t bother arguing. He slung the bag containing tools and lamp oil over his shoulder. Intef tied the rope around Ramose’s waist. The big man took a firm hold of the rope and braced himself. He nodded to Ramose. Ramose heard Hapu gasp as he stepped out into the dark hole, trusting the weight of his body to Intef’s strong hands. He swung free. The big tomb robber grunted as he slowly lowered Ramose down the shaft. As he descended into the coolness of the tomb, Ramose felt the same dreamlike calm come over him as he had when he had entered the pyramid. He was getting used to being in tombs. It was almost as if he preferred them. He hadn’t seen daylight in three days. He’d forgotten what it was like. Darkness was normal.

  Hapu was lowered down next and then Seth. The boys held out their lamps to see what was around them.

  “What do you see?” Hori’s voice echoed down the shaft.

  “Is there gold?” Intef shouted eagerly.

  “There’s just a tunnel,” Seth shouted back. “We’ll see where it leads.” He started forward and then changed his mind. “You go first,” he said.

  The boys walked slowly along the tunnel. It was a rough-hewn passage, but not as low as the tunnel in the pyramid. Ramose and Hapu could walk along it comfortably, if they bent their heads a little. Seth had to bend over double.

  “We better watch out for those demons you read about,” said Hapu.

  “What demons?” said Seth trying to look in front of him and behind him at the same time.

  “He’s just joking, Seth,” said Ramose. “There was nothing about demons on the papyrus.”

  A noise echoed down the tunnel, the sound of falling rocks.

  “What was that?” said Seth. He was so afraid, he almost grabbed Ramose’s arm.

  “It was just some stones falling down the shaft.”

  “It sounded like it was coming from the tunnel.”

  “It’s an illusion. The sound echoes from one wall to another.”

  “I’m not so sure,” said Hapu. “It could be the ghost of the owner of this tomb.”

  Seth stopped to listen. Hapu grinned at Ramose.

  “Don’t worry, Seth. We’ll protect you.”

  The passage turned first to the left and then to the right and then opened into a chamber stacked with burial goods. Another short passage led to the burial chamber. The room was almost filled by a white sarcophagus. There was less than a cubit of space on either side. In each of the side walls there was a recess, stacked with chests. Seth’s fear of ghosts suddenly evaporated.

  “That was easy,” he said, examining the lid of the sarcophagus. “I think we should be able to lift this and slide it off.”

  He was right. The lid wasn’t as thick as the pharaoh’s had been. With the aid of the lever, the three of them were able to lift the sarcophagus lid and then slide it over to one side. Ramose looked inside. There was a painted coffin similar to the one in the pyramid. Ramose held his lamp up to read the inscriptions.

  “It’s the tomb of a princess,” he said. “Daughter of the pharaoh in the pyramid.”

  Seth had already jumped inside the sarcophagus and was smashing the coffin with the stone hammer.

  “You don’t have to break it,” said Ramose. “We can ease it off.”

  “This is quicker,” said Seth.

  In a few minutes he had broken open the coffin. The mummy inside was small. The gilded mask bore the face of a young girl, a child. Seth was gleefully ripping the jewelled collar from around her neck and the armbands from her arms. The threads broke, just as they had with the pharaoh’s jewellery. Seth scooped up handfuls of beads. He ripped the linen bindings from her and began roughly pulling the amulets from the mummy’s body.

  “Don’t just stand there!” shouted Seth stuffing the treasure in a bag. “Start going through the chests and take anything valuable to the bottom of the shaft.”

  Ramose and Hapu did as they were told. They collected up golden bowls and goblets and alabaster vases and carried them to the shaft. Intef let down a large leather bucket on the rope and they piled the treasure into it to be hauled up. Inside one of the chests, Hapu found a casket decorated with gold and ivory. He opened it up. A sweet perfume filled the chamber.

  “Look at this,” he said.

  Inside was a gold mirror and two silver combs. There were small jars made of jasper and greenstone, which would have once been filled with perfumes and cosmetics. Hapu closed the lid and carried it out to the shaft. Ramose saw another casket with similar decorations. He opened the lid. It was full of jewellery. There was a necklace with large solid gold beads in the shape of lions’ heads. Two matching beaded anklets had seated lions threaded on them. Another necklace was strung with gold cowry shells. There was also a delicate crown decorated with rosettes of gold and turquoise. It had thin gold streamers hanging at the sides and a rearing snake’s head at the front, similar to the pharaoh’s only smaller. There were armbands made up of hundreds of beads. Ramose knew that if he picked up the jewellery, the rotten strings would break and the beautiful necklaces would crumble into a jumble of beads at the bottom of the box.

  Ramose shut the casket lid without touching the jewellery and sat down with a sigh. He looked at the carvings on the alabaster tomb. It was sculpted with images of the young princess. He ran his fingers over the carved hair and the folds of her robes. She reminded Ramose of his sister, Hatshepsut. He wished he could do something to save the princess from the indignity of having her tomb stripped. He heard the sound of Seth grunting back down the passage.

  Ramose jumped to his feet and looked around. There was a recess in the wall. It was packed full of furniture. He quickly pulled out the furniture and put the jewellery casket as far back as he could. There was some builder’s rubble in the corner. He scooped it up and covered the casket. He picked up a gold painted chair and a stool just as Seth entered.

  “Get a move on!” he shouted.

  “I was just waiting for you to come back,” said Ramose. “There’s only room for one person at a time in the passage.”

  “Why are you bothering with all these chairs and stools?” said Seth angrily. “They aren’t worth much. I’ll take out any jewels or gold inlaid in them. There should be more jewellery somewhere. Keep searching.”

  An hour later, Seth had stripped the tomb of everything of value. He had gouged out all the gold and jewels inlaid in the chests and furniture, leaving a pile of broken pieces of wood in the middle of the chamber. Ramose looked at the destruction sadly. At least Seth hadn’t found the hidden jewellery casket, he’d been able to do that much for the princess.

  They made their way back along the low-ceilinged passage. Seth was at the front. He stopped suddenly. “Look at this,” he said holding up his lamp. “There’s another passage.”

  Sure enough, hidden by a sharp turn in the passage was another opening that they hadn’t noticed before.

  “You go through and see if it leads anywhere,” said Seth pushing Ramose into the passage.

  “It’s lined with smooth white limestone.”

  “It must lead to another tomb,” said Seth excitedly. “They wouldn’t have gone to that much trouble for a false tunnel.”

  “They might have. I’ll just look at the papyrus.”

  “I thought you said the papyrus was only about the pyramid?” said Seth.

  “It is,” said Ramose hastily. “But there might be clues.”

  Seth’s dirty hand reached out and grabbed the pap
yrus. He studied it in the lamplight.

  “You can’t read!” said Ramose. “You can stare at it as long as you like, it won’t make any sense to you.”

  Seth grabbed Ramose by the hair and shook him angrily. “You tell me what it says or I’ll—”

  “Look!”

  Hapu had moved down the passage holding his lamp high. The light from it reflected on something further ahead.

  Seth let go of Ramose, held up his own lamp and followed Hapu. In a niche halfway along the passage was a beautiful golden statue of the god Amun with a ram’s head. It was studded with jewels and shone in the lamplight.

  “That must be solid gold,” said Seth pushing past Hapu.

  “I can’t believe it’s been here for hundreds of years,” Hapu said gazing at the statue. “It looks like it’s just been polished.”

  Ramose was reading the papyrus.

  “Does it say anything about this tomb on there?” Hapu asked quietly.

  “Yes,” whispered Ramose. “It refers to several other tombs. I just didn’t want the tomb robbers to find them.”

  Ramose read on. He had an uneasy feeling. “Don’t touch the statue, Seth,” he called out to the robber. “It says here:

  He who offends Amun will feel the breath from the lord of eternity’s nostrils. The fist of Osiris will descend to end his hour.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” Seth said. He snatched the papyrus from Ramose and moved closer to the statue. His eyes were sparkling with the light reflected from the statue. “That will melt down into enough gold ingots to last a lifetime.”

  Seth was so entranced by the shining object that he’d forgotten that Ramose had said there was nothing about the tomb on the papyrus.

  Ramose looked anxiously around the passage. He noticed a dark patch on the ceiling. He realised it was a hole, a black slot about four palm-widths wide cut in the smooth limestone from one side of the passage to the other. Seth dropped his bag and reached out for the statue with both hands. Hapu leaned closer to look at the beautiful patterns made with inlaid jewels.

  “Don’t!” yelled Ramose.

  Seth grasped the statue. There was a sudden rush of air from above. Seth and Hapu stood frozen.