~ Ardeth has not gone crazy yet and I hope my readers wont too.~
Now his hand was really trembling. He touched the bloodstain on the bed. And then he looked at the fresh, red markings it left to his fingers. Fresh blood. It made no sense at all. He looked around in the room. Unlike the others his walls were pained with beautiful frescoes. He tried to study them in case they gave any clue. The wall behind the bed was divided in two. In one part the woman on the bed was kneeling in front of Sekhmet the lion-headed goddess of war offering a sacrifice, while in the other she was facing the goddess, who was giving her a golden necklace. On the next wall he could see the weighting of the deceased woman's heart. On her right side stood the man from the previous room and on her left the girl. Anubis was holding the scale and Thoth was standing behind him holding a scroll. Osiris and many other gods were supervising the scene. The heart –of course!- was balancing perfectly with the feather of truth. Ardeth turned to the next wall. Here was a beautiful, everyday scene. The woman talking, laughing and playing with her friends in an idyllic location that obviously existed only in the painter's imagination. On the last walk the woman didn't appear at all. Instead a young man was depicted on a chariot with a bow in his hand. The markings on his chest and face were showing that he was a med-jai. And this face looked really familiar to Ardeth. Chillingly familiar. He turned his gaze away. Nothing useful. But there should be something. Obvious or not there was something. And Ardeth would look for it.
While trying to figure out what he was going to look for he noticed that the wall with the painting showing the goddess was much less smother in one place. He moved there and gently passed his hand over the painting. When his fingers met the place were the golden necklace was he understood that it was not a painting, but a real jewel, brilliantly placed there so that it looked like a part of the picture. He slowly and cautiously took it out. It could be something. As soon as the piece of gold left the wall a strange sound filled the air. It was like a song, but its tone was so sad that it ended up being a lament. It only lasted for seconds but it was clear. Ardeth could not say that it was in his mind. He had heard it. He looked around, then run to the other rooms. Nothing appeared changed. He returned to the last one and immediately noticed the change. The painting was now showing something entirely different. In the first picture it was not the woman any more who was offering the sacrifice but the med-jai. The woman was now driving the chariot. It looked as if the characters had decided to switch places. In the second half of the painting with the goddess, she had completely disappeared and Ardeth was placing the necklace round the woman's throat.
Suddenly a thought passed through his mind. Maybe he should do what the pictures showed, maybe this could unlock other hidden powers there. So he walked up to the woman and slowly placed the necklace where it should be. The result was immediate. The temperature raised a lot in the room and the body appeared to radiate a soft golden glow. A sweet sent of jasmine filled the air. Ardeth was now watching these miracles happening around him and had forgotten the sense of fear. But as swiftly as they have started the wonders disappeared and were replaced by darkness and terror. The goddess in the painting re-appeared and then turned completely into a lioness. "Do not disturb her rest!" she growled in the ancient tongue at him. "Now you will pay." She went on and appeared ready to jump from the picture to reality. Ardeth had enough of this to day. He turned and went out to find his horse and decide what he should do next. He closed both doors behind him. He didn't sure that the lioness would not come after him.