"Oh my god," Roma said, then repeated, "Oh my god. Skeletons!" She dropped to her knees and shone the lantern around the chamber, "Three skulls, I don't see any more." She set the lantern on the floor then picked up a skull and examined it in the light. "This one's male, see the ridge on the brow?" She looked carefully at the other two, "All three are males, but I can't tell how old they might be until we bring them up and take them to the lab."
"They must have been tomb robbers," said Evie but Roma shook her head.
"They can't be. They were trapped behind the door and the shaft was filled. I think they were workers that were shut into the tomb to ensure their silence—forever. I wonder if someone killed them or if they were buried alive."
"I hope they weren't buried alive," she paused, "Let's get the sarcophagus to the surface, and then we can dig up the skeletons." The practical side of Evie bubbled to the surface under pressure.
"Yes," said Roma absently, unable to take her eyes from the skeletons. "I want to excavate these and make sure we don't get the bones mixed up." She reluctantly left the skeletons, even though they now held more fascination than the sarcophagus.
They took great care as they wrapped the sarcophagus in cotton sheeting and secured it with ropes. A second winch was added to keep it as stable as they could as they slowly raised it from the shaft. Roma and Omar, along with Evie and another workman, placed themselves in strategic places on the ladders to stop their prize from swinging wildly back and forth as they raised it to the surface.
Up, up, and up went the sarcophagus as the men slowly pulled on the ropes. Every so often one of the four would reach out a hand to steady it when it began to swing back and forth. Then the sarcophagus slowly resumed its journey to the surface as if a ghostly unseen hand was pulling it.
They scrambled up the ladder, eager to be there when it reached the surface. At last, the bundle came into view and they lifted the sarcophagus and removed it, stripping off the sheeting and ropes they were able to see the fine details of the decoration painted on the lid of the coffin.
"Get it into the pavilion, for now. We can't get it to Cairo until tomorrow-Evelyn, when did you say Rick would be back?" Roma rubbed the small of her back.
Evelyn glanced down at her watch, "Well, it should be any time now, he left before you woke up. Sorry," adding the implication that she had been part of the scheme was unspoken.
"I'm tired, it feels like I've had a long day but I need to get back down into the shaft and excavate the skeletons. Oh, how I wish all this were over. Are you coming with me, Evelyn?"
"No, I want to examine the sarcophagus. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to remove the lid; don't you want to see what's inside?"
"Well, yes, but we shouldn't, not really, I need to get back down the shaft."
"Oh, come on," urged Evie, "It won't hurt to take a quick look. Those bones aren't going anywhere."
Roma sighed, knowing she was defeated. She summoned the photographer who set up tripods and cameras to get the best angles. The pavilion provided enough light that he would be able to take pictures without artificial aids. The photographer took a few photographs, then stepped back, and Roma and Evelyn came forward to examine the sarcophagus.
The wood was fragile but miraculously held together. There was no termite damage, no rotting as if the centuries in the sand had preserved it. Omar and Roma brushed the sand carefully from the surface, taking pains not to damage the centuries-old painted design.
The photographer renewed his task once the sand was removed from the surface. It was too bad the photos would not be in color, but the artist she had brought from Oxford was talented and would catch the finer details that the camera would not reveal.
"I've never seen one so beautiful, it's intact, no cracking, no termite damage, being in the ground hasn't seemed to affect it." Evelyn touched it gingerly, surprised that the surface was as smooth as the day it had been put into the ground.
"Are you sure you want to open it?" asked Roma, "We can leave it until we get to Cairo, I want to get those skeletons out of the shaft so I can look at the bones."
"Let's open it," Evelyn's tone was decisive, "I've been waiting for this, if it's so well-preserved on the outside, just think what might be inside. Roma, how can you resist?"
"If it had come from any tomb but this one, I might share your enthusiasm. Evie, this tomb scares me. I know what I saw before, and I believe it followed me out of the desert. This tomb is evil, and everything it might have in it."
"Roma, you're letting your imagination run away with you. It's just a coffin, after all. It won't hurt to open it, then after we've seen what's inside, replace the lid." Evelyn widened her eyes, seeming to say Roma was exercising caution to the point of excess. "Open it," her wide-eyed look said, "You want to see what's there as much as I do."
"We really should wait until we get to Cairo," Roma started to say but she could not argue with Evelyn's logic. She, too, wanted to see what was inside the coffin. The workers' skeletons still lay in the shaft, neglected, and waiting for centuries to be unearthed.
There was a temptation to Evelyn's logic. It would be over a week before they reached Cairo and she, too, longed to see what was in the sarcophagus. The skeletons had lain in the shaft unnoticed for centuries, surely to let them remain there a little longer would do no harm.
Roma's guilt tore at her. The skeletons had lain so long and deserved more than to just be left neglected, but she looked at the sarcophagus with its smooth wood and notice the image of Nepthys, the vulture goddess, protector of the dead, below the woman's face drawn on the coffin. The decorations still bore a trace of the gold leaf and a longing came over her to see what was inside. She traced the woman's face drawn on the outside with her slender finger and made up her mind.
"All right, we'll do it, but afterward we will replace the lid and leave it alone until we get to the lab in Cairo," she told Evie, "We'll use sawhorses and boards to set it on and put the lid on the table. There should be verses from the Book of the Dead, or some hieroglyphs to say who owns it.
Omar and Mohammed brought the sawhorses and boards and the coffin was moved carefully to the makeshift bench. "It's heavy, miss," said Omar, "There must be another coffin inside."
"That's what I'm hoping for, Omar, I think the lid will come off easily, there doesn't seem to be any pins or hinges."
Omar stood at one end, and Mohammed at another. Then, gingerly and very carefully, lifted the lid which came more easily than expected after nearly three millennia on the earth. The lid was placed carefully on the table, then all gathered round to take a look at what had been hidden.
Evelyn drew in a deep breath and Roma placed her hands over her mouth saying, "Oh my," for words failed her.
Beneath a shroud of linen was a coffin heavily covered with gold leaf. As with the outer sarcophagus, an image of Nepthys, her wings spread out to protect the deceased lay beneath the representation of the dead. The tiny pieces of glass and semi-precious stones were still in place. A string of gilded hieroglyphics carved into the wood ran down the center of the coffin.
"Sitamun-TaSherit, daughter of the king's body. This is royal, Evie, but why the plain wood outer coffin? Gold was reserved for the pharaoh and royalty. This coffin has lain hidden for three thousand years, and we found it!"
"Do you think she was married to Penteweret? After all, the royal family married brothers and sisters to keep the royal line pure. Do you think this is Penteweret's wife?"
"Let's have a look at the inside of the lid of the outer coffin. If it's royal there should be writing and we can confirm who she is. There should be a name and sacred spells to protect her mummy. Oh, Evie, we've found something and no one can take it away from us!"
They turned the coffin lid on its side, delighted to find names and spells and a line from the Book of the Dead. "Sitamun-TaSherit," read Evie, "Daughter of the King's Body, Great Royal Wife."
"Wait, no way was she the 'Great Royal Wife', Penteweret was never crowned Pharaoh, but she's identified as his wife. She was certainly a princess, otherwise, she wouldn't have a coffin like this." She paused, "I think we may have a royal mummy in here."
"Let's take off the lid and see what's inside," urged Evie, "It couldn't hurt to just lift the lid, could it?"
"Out of the question, it's not going to be as simple as lifting the lid. Look, there are pins on either side to fasten the lid to the coffin base. The coffin will have to be removed from the sarcophagus to open it. We need to wait and take it to the laboratory and let the lab technicians do it. This is something that can't be done haphazardly. I can make arrangements for us to be there, but we can't open it. We should not even have removed the lid of the sarcophagus, but we can replace it, and hopefully, no one will be the wiser."
"Oh, all right, have it your way then. I just think it's a shame that we can't have a glimpse to see whether or not there's a mummy."
"Believe me, there is one, the shroud on the coffin was undisturbed and that gives it away if nothing else. Rick warned me about you, I just didn't believe him."
"Rick warned you about what?" there was a tone to Evelyn's voice that let Roma know she was not pleased, and woe betide what might happen to Rick.
"That you're impulsive, that you act before you think. Your enthusiasm gets in the way of your using common sense..." She did not get to finish her sentence as a wind blew suddenly through the pavilion.
"Sand storm," said the knowledgeable Omar, "This is a bad time of year to dig."
Evie tossed and turned on her cot, unable to sleep. She could not help herself; she just could not stop thinking about the coffin. When Rick had returned the women had told him what they had found, that the wooden sarcophagus contained a royal coffin. Rick, along with Ardeth and Roma did not share her enthusiasm about opening the inner coffin.
"Just think, there's probably a royal mummy inside that hasn't been disturbed!" but her words failed to persuade the other three. The coffin was not going to be opened, Rick had said in his no-nonsense voice and he and Roma began to make preparations to transport it to Cairo.
Finally, she got up and threw a shawl over her shoulders. As she approached the tent, she was surprised to find the pavilion lit from within.
She ran towards it, wondering if Roma had returned to make some final notes. As she stepped through the door, however, she noticed that it was lit by torches that had been set around the sarcophagus.
A tall, thin, figure stood beside the sarcophagus with his back to her. "Hello," she said tentatively and the figure turned around.
One of the workers? It had to be but why was he not wearing a turban? His shaved head gleamed in the torchlight and he smiled with even, white teeth. He said something, but she could not understand, it was not the Arabic that Egyptians spoke, and then she realized that she was hearing a language that had not been spoken in over two millennia.
Oh no, she thought and that thought was the last she had as she crashed to the sand floor in a dead faint.