"I'm so terribly sorry. I wasn't paying any attention at all."
"It is alright. I can see why you were not. These exhibits are breathtaking."
With that, the man turned to leave; yet something made him stop. Turning, he examined the girl more closely. She had long, flowing brown hair and deep brown eyes. He also noticed that on both of her wrists were golden bracelets, large ones as if to conceal something. Whatever force had compelled him to turn around drove him to go talk to her again.
"Excuse me. I am sorry to be so rude, but why do you wear the golden wristbands? I have not seen anything like them but in the museum here."
"If people saw what they had underneath, they might get worried like the people in my village did."
"What do you need to hide?"
"Strange markings. Tattoos."
"Why hide them?"
"Because I don't know where they are from."
"May I see them?"
"Sure, if you want to."
She took of the golden wristbands and revealed the tattoos. On her left wrist was hieratic, an ancient form of writing that had not been used in centuries except by a few tribes of people, the Med-jai being one of them. He translated the writing as "Med-jai." Confused by this, he noticed that on her right wrist there was a scarab beetle in the middle of two winged cat goddesses, the wings framing the beetle. Confused, he asked her
"When did you get these tattoos?"
"The night of my 18th birthday. It was really strange actually. I was sleeping when all of a sudden I felt as though I were awake. I looked around the room, but it was no longer a room. I was in a tent with five men. One man was standing watch, two were holding me, and one held out my wrist. The fifth man was heating a knife over the fire in the middle. Once the knife was glowing red, he took it and made the markings of the hieratic you see on my left wrist. The tattoo on my right one looked as if it had already been there for a while. After burning the tattoo into my wrist, I was told to put my wrist into a large urn of water to cool it off and help the healing process. Then everything became cloudy again, and I sat straight up in bed. I looked around and noticed that I was back in my own home. Thinking it to be just a strange dream, I was about to go back to sleep when I looked down at my wrists and saw the markings there. My hand was still wet from dipping it in the water, but there was no water to be found anywhere. The next day I went to the village elder and told her what had happened. She got a very concerned look on her face when she saw them, and told me that I must show them to nobody else. I took the wristbands that I had found in the temples and put them on. She then told me that I must explore the temple more. That something needed to be discovered there, and that I was the only one to do it. Ever since then, I've been exploring and mapping the temples at Bast, and happened on this chamber where I found a sarcophagus and strange inscriptions and spells on the wall. I took a rubbing of them and tried to translate, but couldn't make some of it out, which is why I'm here. I was told that Dr. O'Connell was the expert on hieroglyphics and hieratic. I need her help in translating what I found."
"I will take you to her."
"Just a second. You seem like a nice person and all, but I have a hard time following someone around whose name I don't even know."
"My name is Ardeth Bey. What is yours?"
"I am Seera."
"Very well Seera. I will take you to her."
With that he turned and went down a large hall, statues standing guard like sentinels. Soon they were to a room where she saw two men and a small boy who looked to be about 10. Turning to Seera, Ardeth said
"Wait here. I must speak with Dr. O'Connell first."
"Why though?"
"You will find out soon enough."
With that he left the room, leaving everyone wondering who the woman was, and Seera wondering who they were. The boy was the first to speak.
"Hi. I'm Alex. Who are you?"
"I'm Seera."
"Where are you from," he asked.
"Dier Al-Sha'ad, a small village near Bast. I came with something for Dr. O'Connell to look at."
"That would be my mum. She's really good."
One of the men, the one with two revolvers in shoulder holsters, spoke up.
"You'll have to excuse my son. He's very talkative. My name is Rick O'Connell. I'm Evelyn's husband. The other 10 year old over here is Johnathan, her brother."
"Hello," he said, glaring at Rick for embarrassing him in front of her.
"What exactly did you bring for her to see," Rick asked.
"I hope it's something from the temples. Maybe some pots or stones with markings, or mummies," said Alex.
"Let's hope that it isn't mummies. I've had enough of them," said Rick.
Johnathan just paled at the thought of mummies and had to steady himself by leaning on the wall.
"No, it's none of that. I took some rubbings of hieroglyphics I found in an underground chamber at a temple I was exploring. I couldn't fully translate it, so I came here for help."
"Well I'm sure that…"
Rick never got a chance to finish that sentence. Just then Ardeth and Evy came in, apparently in a heated discussion. Evy turned to Seera and introduced herself.
"Hello. I am Dr. Evelyn O'Connell. If you could just follow me to my office, I'll get a look at those tattoos."
"Why do you need to see them? Nobody is explaining anything, and seeing as how I'm the center of attention, I want to know what's going on."
"If you'll follow me to the office I will explain everything. Please."
Finding no other way to get this solved, Seera followed Evy into her office while Ardeth, Johnathan, Rick, and Alex were left to talk.
"What was that all about? Evy practically attacked Seera when she asked to see her wrists. What's so interesting about those tattoos?"
Ardeth stared off into space for a while before continuing.
"Those tattoos on her wrists are very strange. One of them is written in Arabic. When I looked at them and translated, they read 'Med-jai.' The other one was an eye of Horus with a hieroglyph cat goddess on each side, facing the eye."
"Are you saying," asked Johnathan, "that that woman is a Med-jai? I thought they were all men."
"They are. That is why these markings are so strange."
The boys continued their conversation, trying to figure out why those symbols had sent Evy into the apparent frenzy.
Meanwhile, Evy and Seera were talking.
"So why are you so interested in seeing my tattoos," asked Seera.
"According to Ardeth, the man you met, the tattoo on your right wrist translates to 'Pharaoh Med-jai.' I have heard of an ancient tribe of woman Med-jai before, but never since the time of Seti I had there been record of them. I need to see your wrists to compare them with the symbols in my book. Please, may I see those symbols. They may be very important."
"Well, since you put it that way…here."
Seera took her golden wristbands off and revealed the tattoos to Evelyn. She immediately translated the same as Ardeth Bey had said was on her right wrist. On her left, though, that strange symbol. She needed to find the volumes on Seti I. She quickly ran through the assortment of books in her expansive office until she came to a book on Seti I. She looked inside to try to find anything on the Med-jai. After much searching she found a record of the last female tribe of the Med-jai. The book stated that there had been only one left at the time, that she had been the last hope of a failing tribe to gain favor with the Pharaoh. A symbol identical to the one on her left wrist was pictured in the book as the only identification of the female Med-jai. Turning to Seera, she handed her the book.
"What's this," asked Seera.
"Look at the symbol at the bottom of the page. What do you see?"
A look of shock and surprise crossed over her face as she realized that the symbol was identical to the one she bore on her wrist.
"How can this be? I've never even heard of the Med-jai, let alone a female tribe of a male sect. I never knew they existed, and now I'm to believe that I'm a descendent or some sort of reincarnation of one?"
"Yes," said Evy. "Believe me, with all that I've seen, this is not out of the ordinary."
"Is that why that man was so interested in the tattoos? Does he know about the Med-jai?"
"He is a Med-jai. A Med-jai chieftain to be exact. His name is Ardeth Bay."
Suddenly she realized what Ardeth Bay had been wearing: dark robes. The forecasting of the old woman came back to her, and suddenly she turned to Evy and, pulling the wall rubbing and translation out of her backpack, said,
"I came here to ask your help in translating something I found in a temple. Ever since these tattoos appeared, I have been exploring a temple at Bast. A village elder, an old woman, told me that the answers I seek may be found somewhere in the temple. I have been mapping the temple to keep track of where I went, and just when I thought I had searched everywhere, I saw a small crevice-like staircase in a wall near the last chamber. I followed it down into a small room where I found the walls chiseled with inscriptions in gold. I looked at one wall and through a small part where the wall had broken off, I saw a sarcophagus. I took a rubbing of the wall underneath where the hole was, and took it home to translate."
She handed Evelyn the rubbing and her translation. As Evy looked them over, she continued.
"Not knowing what to do, I went to see the village elder for counsel. She told me to go to a large city to the south and see a woman who would help me, but also to watch for a man in dark robes. She said that he would be the most help of all. I have a feeling that she may have meant your friend Ardeth Bay, but how I do not know. This is all very confusing. What do you make of the translation?"
Still reading over the translation, Evelyn turned to Seera and said,
"We must go to Bast at once to uncover this sarcophagus. We need to destroy the body. I cannot tell you why right now, but you will understand in good time. All I can hope is that we get there in time."
"Why? Why do we need to destroy the body? What does it have to do with anything?"
"I'm not positively sure yet, and the books I need are at home. Do you have a place to stay here in Cairo?"
"No, not yet. I was going to do that after I met with you, but it appears that it is too late."
"You will stay with us then. We will leave in two days for Bast. We need to gather supplies. Can you go join Johnathan, Rick, and Alex and send Ardeth back in here please?"
"I trust your judgment, Mrs. O'Connell, but why you come to such a conclusion I do not know. However, I will not question. I will send Ardeth Bay back in here."
"Thank you Seera, and please, call me Evy."
"Alright Evy. Thank you."
Seera left Evelyn's office, now more confused than ever. Why did they need to destroy that body? What had Evy read into the translation that she had not? She was still thinking when she walked into the room. She looked at Ardeth Bay and told him that Evy wanted to see him. Their eyes locked for a second, and in that second it seemed that both of them understood what had happened. After their gaze broke, Ardeth headed off to Evy's office.