Hidden in Plain Sight
A gentle cool wind swept by the open landscape environment as the tourists stepped foot onto the scorching hot mixture of sand and rocky terrain. Amongst the visitors of the heritage site were Ayesha, Christian and Lara, where the trio were eager and ready to find out if what the mysterious manuscript had led them to believe was indeed true that very afternoon. As people gathered into their own crowds around the entrance, the leader of the trip stood in front of the tall board that showed off the map of the vast area.
"Gather around everyone! I would like to welcome you all to the Valley of the Kings. Now if I can have your attention please, this little speech of mine will not take too long so you can begin touring around this wonderful expedition of discovery. For starters, let me hand out these leaflets…" The lead tour guide had begun to pass out the informative pamphlets to the group along with the necessary tickets to explore the chambers.
"These detail about some of the tombs that you are able to explore today mainly in the east valley of the site as you can see on map designated as KV numbers, an acronym meaning Kings Valley. Whereas the burials on the west valley they are abbreviated as WV. Plus, there will also be experts around the tombs who will show you around them and go into depth about the architecture, the Pharaohs, and historical facts about Egyptology. Ensure you hold onto those tickets and if you get lost either the map or one of the helpful guides will assist you back on track, and we will meet back here in three hours. Right enough from me, have fun exploring!"
Once the public address by the lead tour guide was all done and dusted, the small gathering had dispersed into various directions where each individual or group wanted to start off their exploration of the valley.
"Just throwing it out there but have we got anytime for sightseeing? I'm interested to see KV62 which is the famous tomb of Tutankhamun." An enthusiastic Ayesha announced, Christian and Lara had kept their composure.
"I know what you mean, but don't forget our main aim is to follow the breadcrumbs of this scroll where it should lead to a hidden chamber somewhere out there. Once more is revealed about its whereabouts I am sure we will have time for further viewings, but we have only three hours to find it." Christian reminded her of the current situation and objective.
"That's plenty of time in my books, what do you think Lara?"
"Hmmm it depends the sooner we find some evidence the better, anyhow let's go and track down where we are in correlation to the ancient manuscript."
With the two maps and GPS in possession, the trio began their venture into the valley with the means of finding any clues that led to this supposed underground complex. It was yet unknown though whether it may have been already discovered or even robbed of its possible riches, though this did not deter the adventurers despite the quest being comparable to finding a needle in a haystack. The first hour went by with no tangible results and temperatures were slowly rising as time went on which did not help with the matter at hand. Due to the unbearable heat the trio decided to take a break and took shelter nearby KV16 which was the burial place of Pharaoh Ramesses I.
"Can't believe we haven't had much luck so far…" Lara expressed to the duo as she took a gulp from a bottle of water. The others followed suit to rehydrate themselves.
"I'm sure we'll find something soon…with the translations from the texts and your estimated GPS co-ordinates I do feel we are inching closer to our goal." Christian tried to reassure her.
"Still it's nice to relax to unwind and recharge the batteries for a bit, I must say we've certainly picked a busy day to be out here."
"True, but not surprising given it's a really popular tourist place to visit and I can see the lore and attraction to this remarkable archaeological site." He summed up.
"One thing for sure is that we are fortunate to be out here in a place like this looking for something undiscovered for centuries." Ayesha voiced her appreciation, and both agreed to her statement in response.
"Hmm indeed we are. Anyway, let's review where we've covered so far…" Lara anxiously said as the fear of all this being a wild goose chase began to creep in.
Side by side she drew out the maps and started to mark out the areas that they have already tracked within the hour. This narrowed down the scope of the last potential spots which were left to explore.
"We haven't searched around here or there yet so that's where I think we'll head next." Lara pointed out and the rest of them seemed to like the plan going forward.
"Good idea, well there's no time like the present lets go out there again." Christian signalled, doing his best to keep the spirits up for this search.
They stepped back out to the open and made their way towards the landscape where Lara had marked on the map. Initially examining the deserted environment brought up no results or clues of any kind, and that was the case up until Ayesha spotted a peculiar glint within the sands as the bright sunlight shone upon the vista.
"Hey, take a look at this!" She excitedly called to the team as they rushed over to see what Ayesha had discovered.
It was in that eureka moment the trio examined the crevice where Ayesha had pointed to, brushing aside the desert pebbles an aged metal plate with rough markings was partly revealed. Could this be what they have been searching for… Their eyes widened as finally it looked like some good fortune was coming their way, though this started to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.
"Excuse me, do you need some help over there!?" One of the workers from the valley approached.
"Quick! Someone needs to distract them…" Panic arose as they got caught in that moment.
"Leave it to me…Hello there! Yes, we are fine thank you, just picking up some random ceramic shards that unknowingly got out here. Your timing is impeccable though as I've got a question for you, can you tell me more about the significance of some of the Alabaster jars that we've seen in some of the tombs?" Ayesha without hesitation queried the worker.
"Ah an interesting question which my answer would be that it will be easier to show you in the tombs. Please come with me and I shall explain the jars at the nearest tomb." The worker said, none the wiser as to what the three had found within the sands.
"Gladly, I'll just leave you two here to finish off picking up the pieces." Ayesha winked at them both as she turned and walked off with the worker.
"By the way, my name is Ayesha, what's yours?" The conversation quickly trailed off as the worker and Ayesha made their way back to the main site.
"Phew! That was a close one, but this might be a problem that will keep cropping up." Christian admitted to Lara once they were a distance away.
"We can be easily spotted in the open with all the witnesses around here, plus as well we don't know how deep this goes nor have the tools to dig through…"
"I suggest we'll have to leave it for now and come back tonight to excavate."
"Tonight?"
"Yeah it would be the best time to dig up what we have found, I'll mark the coordinates on the map so even though it will be dark we can use the GPS to track and return here. What do you think?" Christian summarised, Lara thought to herself about his proposal but soon made up her mind.
"Very well, we'll let Ayesha know and enjoy the remaining time we have left of the tour. Wouldn't want to miss KV62 whilst we got the opportunity to see it…" Lara smiled as she and her fellow friend followed the direction Ayesha went along with the valley worker.
