Warning: This chapter contains large amounts of historical inaccuracy, along with a vast lack of knowledge of ancient Egypt. The writer clearly doesn't have a clue what she is talking about. She does like talking third person though.
Just go with it. Anyone wishing to place a complaint, feel free to do so. Just don't expect them to be read and/or cared about ;)
This chapter is a lot longer than the last one, thank god, but still relatively short...oh well. I think the next one is even shorter. Oops.
And I couldn't think of another word for tomb that fit with this, so it's is massivley over used...
One last thing, i HATE writing in present tense, but it seemed to work better than past tense for this story, so if i randomly change tenses then let me know and i'll fix it. ^_^
I take another gulp of water from the flask. It's so hot. Okay, that's to be expected – it IS Egypt – but I didn't know it was possible to be this hot. Mat doesn't share my pain, he's spent more time out here than me, but he notices my discomfort and smiles. "We're almost there, 'Tal."
"You said that 15 minutes ago," I complain, but I grin all the same. Although I always miss my parents when their work keeps them away from home, because of it I've bonded with my big brother, and we haven't had a lot of time alone together this past month. My smile widens as I think about what he said: only my brother calls me 'Tal.
He laughs. "I know, sorry....but we really are almost there." He glances at me. "I've missed spending time with you. It's nice being able to talk to you."
"I've missed you too." More than you know. My brother is my closest friend, but he's an adult now. After the summer he'll want to go to university and get a job; he'll want to start a life of his own. And i won't be a part of it. I've been wanting to talk to him about it for weeks, but he's been so busy helping mum and dad that we've not been able to really sit down and talk. But we're alone now. You can talk to him now. I sigh, I don't want to spoil what little time we have left together, but i have to say this.
I take a deep breath, the well rehersed speech i made weeks ago going out of my head completely, and start talking. "Mat, what are we going to do when we get back home? Mum and dad are never home and you're always there for me, you always have been, and you take care of me but you're going to want to go off to university and get and job and start a family and i-i'll be left alone with some stupid nanny who doesn't even care about me while i start some stupid new school where nobody will like me because my parents don't care about me and i'm a stupid freak and...and..." I meet his eyes imploringly "...and I'll miss you. I need you" (1)
I meet his bright green eyes defiantly, tears pouring down my face, but I see his sad expression and my eyes soften, my gaze dropping to my feet. "Oh 'Tal. Did you really think I would leave you? I love you more than anything in the whole wide world, little sister. I will never leave you. Even if it means I have to find a university near home, even if it means I can't be an archaeologist like mum and dad. I won't ever leave you. And as for mum and dad not caring about you, that isn't true. They love you Crystal, they just can't always be there for you. You understand that, don't you?"
I nod, then look back up at him. "You won't leave me?" I repeat, wanting to make sure of that fact. "Promise?" I ask, holding out my hand to him. I know it's selfish of me to make him stay, but he's the only family I've really got, and I couldn't stand it if he wasn't there for me. He grasps my small hand in his large one.
"I promise, Tal"
AN: This is where chapter two ended and chapter three began, but they were far too short - so i merged them together. It didn't flow very well so i thought i needed to say why.
After another 5 minutes of dragging my feet through the scorching sands, we arrive at what is clearly an excavation site – hammers, chisels, brushes and various other tools that I mostly don't know the names of are littered around the area. (1) There is a wide, hollowed out area of about fifty feet in perimeter that is clearly man made. I walk up to the edge of it and almost slip in the loose sand, but my brother grabs my arm and steady's me. I smile in thanks and peer down into the pit. About ten feet below us are the remains of four ancient stone walls with a stone tomb in the dead centre.
I look around, checking that we are the only ones here, then roll my eyes at my own stupidity: Of course nobody is here, not a soul knows about this place other than mum, dad, me and Mat. No-one even knows our family is here; we should be back home in England right now. We would be too, if my parents hadn't made this 'magnificent discovery' and dragged the whole family out to see it. (2)
Mat slides down the sand slope and walks up to the tomb. It's small, smaller than I'd expected – somehow I'd been visioning some huge, elaborate structure, but it's just a large, rectangular stone coffin with what look like hieroglyphics marking the edges. He smiles at me and holds out his arms. I look down nervously but decide to trust him, like i always do, and i slide down after him. Mat catches me in his arms and pulls me back to my feet with strength i didn't know he possessed. He turns to the stone, examining it'
"That's it?" I ask, raising my eyebrows
"Yes, but there would have been some sort of structure built around this tomb when it was first built, a pyramid or just a simple chamber. There might even have been an outer chamber built around this."
"How old is it?" I ask, more curious than I would have shown in front of my parents.
He smiles "Around 3000 years old. That's dad's guess anyway but it's hard to tell without proper testing."
I wonder around the small block of stone. "So there could be the body of some old dead guy in there?"
"Some old dead pharaoh," he corrects me with a smirk. He appreciates how special this is far more than I can.
Suddenly something occurs to me, and I voice my puzzlement to my brother. "I thought pharaohs where always buried in massive pyramids with loads of jewels and money and mummified cats and things, so why doesn't this guy get any of that stuff?" (3)
"That's what is so exciting about this tomb in particular. You remember mum saying that a pharaoh was buried around here, but nobody had found a tomb? She thinks that the reason there's no giant pyramid here is because this tomb wasn't meant to be found. Did you ever hear of a pharaoh named Aknamkanon?" I nod my head, I couldn't remember who he was exactly but I knew the name. "Well there's this story among Egyptologists about his son. There are no records of Aknamkanon having a son, but the odd phrase on various tablets and scrolls seems to imply as much, and there has been more than one mention of a nameless pharaoh who saved Egypt from a terrible fate. Nobody knows what this fate may have been, or what the pharaoh did to stop it, but there have been many speculations." He pauses. "It's unusual for there to be so little information on a man of his power, and it seems that he only ruled for a few months, which is very odd, so it wouldn't be a suprise to find out he never existed. But some historians insist on believing that this nameless pharaoh was purposely wiped from records. We don't know when it was done or who did it, and there are no real facts to support it, but it's a little-known legend that Egyptologists worldwide have dedicated their lives to uncovering."
I stare at him, baffled by the very idea of it all, and he smiles, gesturing towards the stone in front of me. "That's why mum and dad think this is the nameless pharaoh's tomb, because it's small, it's discrete, and it's nowhere near anything else. If someone stumbled across it, they would assume it was just the resting place of one of the better off ancient Egyptians, not that of a pharaoh. "
"Then why would it be a pharaoh's tomb? Everything you've said makes it sound like it isn't."
He points to some of the markings i saw earlier. "See these hieroglyphics here? Dad knows enough to understand most of it, and there doesn't seem to be any mention of a name, which is very unusual if the guy could afford something like this." He gestures towards the tomb. "More importantly, look at this word here." He indicates five small symbols, "It says 'ruler'. And over here," he says, walking around and point triumphantly at another group of symbols that meant nothing to me. "That means 'King'. As in king of Egypt – Pharaoh."
"Whoa" I breathe, "That's pretty impressive. You really think this could be it?"
"I didn't, maybe it's just mum and dad's enthusiasm rubbing off on me, but I do now. It's incredible, truly incredible. This could be one of the biggest historical breakthroughs in years, decades, and I get to be a part of it." He sighed contentedly, looking away from the structure and up at the sky. All of a sudden he froze, eyes wide and an expression of fear showing clearly through his soft features.
I sense the sudden tension and look up from the hieroglyphics and see his expression. "Mat?" I say worriedly, "Mat, what's wrong?"
He turns to me and grabs my arm roughly, painfully. "Crystal, stay here. Okay? Stay right here and do not move. I'll be back. It'll be fine..." He seems to say the last part more to himself than to me. He turns away and I grab on to him, my voice choked with worry.
"You promised you wouldn't leave me!" I cry fearfully, my voice an octave higher than usual.
His expression softened. "I know, I'll be back. Stay here 'Tal. I love you, I'll be back. I promise." And without another word he turns and runs full pelt back where we'd come.
Hope that was okay, if you ignore how little i obviously know about Egypt.
(1) I know I used 'and' way too much in that sentence, but it's only an 11 year old girl and she's saying everything that's been going through her mind. She's letting out all her anger and fear, just in one long, strung together sentence. :)
(2) Pay attention to this bit, it's important
(3) I thought that sounded like the kind of thing an 11 year old would say. Oddly enough, it's exactly the kind of thing i would say too...
I will update soon, i promise!