A Tomb Keeper's Lot, Chapter 5
Ishizu was pushed roughly down the passage, the cries of her brothers echoing after her from the Chief's room.
She heard a shout from Odion, and her uncle calling out to her brothers, but they did not respond.
Her eyes widened in fear and she struggled even more against the guards, but they grabbed her more tightly and continued to push her forward, cursing at her in Arabic.
As they turned a corner she saw a room with a wooden door at the far end of the hallway; she didn't know what this room was now, but the whole corridor had previously been housing for the extended Tomb Keeper clan members.
When they reached the door the men opened it and shoved her through. She stumbled into the torch lit chamber, but quickly regained her footing and turned back to the guards just as they were closing the heavy door behind her.
She rushed to intercept it, but the latch was already locked.
She stood by the door another moment, inspecting it and the lock for any weak points, when suddenly a soft, female voice behind her said "It's no use escaping. There's nowhere to go."
Ishizu froze, then slowly turned to see who her companion was.
Her eyes widened at the sight before her.
The dimly lit room was filled with women, all fairly young and pretty, draped in robes and seated on blankets and cushions throughout the room.
But there was something off about them.
Most were huddled against the wall, trying desperately to blend into the shadows in the room, and it seemed that many of them were dressed in head scarfs and modern clothing.
However, a few of the women gathered in the middle of the room were more… familiar. Their clothes were reminiscent of what she remembered women in the tomb wearing, and their faces were much more like those of her family.
They also appeared to have much more fire and vitality than the other women as they examined Ishizu.
One of these women rose from her spot on the ground and stood amongst the others, tall and proud as she stared down Ishizu.
"Who are you? Where are you from?"
Ishizu recognized her voice as the one who had spoken earlier.
She considered for a moment whether or not to reveal her identity, and decided to do a little investigating first.
"I will not tell you until I know where I am. So?"
The woman before her raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You mean you don't know? His 'highness' usually loves to tell the new girls exactly why they're here. Just who are you?"
Ishizu didn't respond, but her apprehension showed through her stance as the woman continued to scrutinize her.
The woman smiled slightly, but the expression seemed empty.
"Fine. This", she said gesturing to the room, "is Jibade's harem; a special place for all of the pretty, young, useless women in these tombs to sit around twiddling their thumbs until his highness feels the need for company. No other men are allowed here."
Ishizu froze, terror gripping her body. "Then… am I to be a concubine?"
The woman before her shrugged nonchalantly, saying "It depends on who you are."
"I suppose I must tell you then." She struggled to swallow, but her mouth had gone dry and her tongue seemed caught in her throat. "I am Ishizu Ishtar, daughter of the Tomb Keepers."
The familiar women she had noticed before broke into whispers and gasps of astonishment, though none seemed as shocked as the woman conversing with Ishizu.
"It can't be…."
Ishizu cocked her head, looking more closely at the woman who had had such a strong reaction. There was something about the woman's eyes… they seemed familiar. And the shape of her face; it reminded her of someone she knew long ago. That someone was now murky in her memories, but the more she looked, the clearer the image became: her uncle. This woman before her was most definitely an image of her Uncle Najja.
And suddenly, she knew exactly who this person was.
"Sharifa… my cousin."
Sharifa blinked, coming out of her stupor, a smile slowly growing on her face. "It really is you. Ishizu."
She rushed forward to embrace Ishizu, and suddenly the other women from the center surrounded her as well.
And she remembered them.
There was Panya, who had been a little servant girl when Ishizu was young and was now a lovely young woman; and Ife, daughter of one of the priests of the clan, who was a few years older than Ishizu and had always been very sweet. Monifa, the only child of her uncle Fenuku, wept silently as she grasped one of Ishizu's arms.
Ishizu gazed at the women surrounding her, amazed to see these relatives when it had been so long since she had last seen them. Back then she had known almost everyone in the clan (it was difficult to avoid anyone when living underground) but it was mainly the other women with whom she had spent time.
Having lost her mother at such a young age, the other women of the tomb took her under their wing. She had cooked and cleaned with them, learned the lore of the clan and been trained in the ancient ways with them, and had played with the very women surrounding her now. She had even gone with a few to the surface to get certain supplies from the village.
She remembered those experiences quite clearly.
But as Marik grew older, she had spent less and less time with these other women as she strived to guide her little brother and give him the motherly love he had been robbed of, and because of that she grew up too fast and had no more time for games.
Yet as she looked around, she felt the same feelings of love she had experienced for these women as a little girl wash over her, and she was elated to find they were happy to see her as well.
She looked beyond her circle of relatives at the other women in the room, who watched the group in confusion and, in some cases, envy.
"Sharifa, who are these other women?" She said quietly, and Sharifa looked to see the women watching them closely. "They're not Tomb Keepers, are they?"
Sharifa shook her head and said "No, they are the wives of the Arabians who now live down here, as well as the mistresses of 'his highness'. He likes to think he's Pharaoh and entitled to take whatever he wants."
As she looked back at the women, another question came to her mind. "Where are the rest of the women? You're mothers, and aunts, and other servants?"
"Who knows. They're forced to read through the ancient records, always searching for information on the Pharaoh or his treasure. They wander the tombs looking for clues; we hardly see them anymore."
Her words struck Ishizu, bringing the urgency of her situation home and reminding her of her reason for being in the tombs in the first place; not to mention the currently unknown situation of her brothers.
"Cousin", she said in a somewhat urgent tone, placing a hand on Sharifa's shoulder, "I need to get out of here and find my brothers, and for that I need your help."
Once again Sharifa looked shocked. "Brothers? You mean… Master Marik is here as well?"
Ishizu nodded, a soft smile on her face. "Indeed. And I have good news! Th-"
She was cut off as Sharifa placed her finger to her lips, her eyes wide in fear. She moved away and gestured firmly for Ishizu to follow her.
They moved to another corner of the room, and when Sharifa spoke again she had switched to ancient Egyptian instead of Arabic.
"I'd rather not discuss matters of family so near the door; it's always guarded. What's more, the guards don't know our language, so it should be alright. Now", she stared deeply, searchingly into Ishizu's eyes as she continued, "What is your news?"
"The Pharaoh has returned."
The Tomb Keepers erupted in gasps, and Sharifa fell forward to grab Ishizu by the shoulders, almost shaking her in her fervor.
"He exists? Have you seen him? When? Where?! Does he have his memories? How did you find him? What do we do now?!" She paused to breathe for a moment and her face paled slightly. "… Does Jibade know?"
"You've mentioned this 'Jibade' several times. Are you referring to the Chief?"
Sharifa scoffed lightly, removing her hands from Ishizu to fold them in front of her. "I refuse to refer to him as that. I do not consider him to be the true Chief, nor my brother. He knows that. He's lucky I even agree to call him Jibade."
Ishizu blinked in confusion. "And why is that?"
"He is not my father's son any more than he is a true Egyptian. Jibade is the false name he uses to try and trick us into following his rule. His real name is Fathi."
"So…" Ishizu said softly, contemplating the information, "he isn't really a member of the clan after all."
Sharifa glanced back at Ishizu in thought. "You have seen him then?"
Ishizu nodded. "Yes, Uncle Fenuku took us to him when we first arrived. Marik doubted the Chief's claims from the beginning."
"Then Master Marik has good eyes." Sharifa said smiling, but after a moment her eyes fell and a sigh escaped her lips. "Master Fenuku always was too trusting of that invader."
"You're wrong Sharifa!"
Ishizu turned to see Monifa walking towards them, a frown set on her lips and fire in her eyes. "My father does not trust the Chief any more than we do. But he has his duties, and he performs them as best he can."
Sharifa frowned at Monifa in turn, and Ishizu guessed that this was likely not the first time the two had had this argument. "Your father lets him get away with too much. It was his place to take over after my father. He has not fulfilled his duties in the least."
"He still leads us! He keeps peace! Without him The Chief would have plundered this place ages ago and probably killed all of us! He is out numbered though! If he does any more than allowed, he will be killed, and then what will happen?"
"Cousins, please", Ishizu placed herself between the two, arms outstretched to calm them both, "we don't have time to start blaming each other. I must find my brothers, and we all need to find a way to prepare for when the Pharaoh comes home."
Monifa bowed her head, and Sharifa turned away brusquely, though she was considerably calmer than she had been.
"It won't be that easy Ishizu," Sharifa said, her voice low and eyes grim, "as I said, there are guards outside this door at all times, and I highly doubt 'his highness' is going to let you get away with anything."
"Why? What can he do to stop me?"
Sharifa turned to face her, her face severe. "We're not just gathered here to socialize Ishizu. Jibade has been with plenty of women, both here and above ground. He's careful not to give any heirs to the Tomb Keeper women though, in fear that they'll have a claim to his position, but that doesn't mean he leaves us alone. As for you though… well, I have no doubt he plans to take you as his wife, you being the daughter of the former heir. A child by you is a whole other matter; it would finally give him the claim to the secrets of the Pharaoh he has always sought."
Once again Ishizu's throat went dry, but she was not one to give up hope.
"My brothers would never allow him to do such a thing."
"Your brothers wouldn't have a say in the matter. And if you or they tried anything, you could put them at serious risk. He wouldn't kill Master Marik simply because he is the only one who knows the full secret of the Pharaoh, but he could still be hurt. And your other brother – Odion was it? – he would be even less safe. I'm sure Jibade would have no qualms in killing him."
Ishizu drew away, trying desperately to stop the images rushing to her mind: Marik being shackled and beaten, Odion knocked to the ground, bloody and bruised as The Chief laughed and she fought against bonds to help her brothers… and then images of dear Odion, lying in a pool of blood with vacant eyes, while Marik screamed for his brother and she looked on, helpless and broken.
She brought a hand to her face and felt tears flowing down her cheeks; when had she started crying?
She shook her head to clear it. No. Those things would not come to pass. They couldn't. She wouldn't let them.
With renewed determination she turned to Sharifa, saying "I am leaving, and I will need all of your help. This Chief will not stop the work of the Tomb Keeper's and prevent the Pharaoh from fulfilling his destiny."
Sharifa stared at her, considering her words. Finally she nodded and said "Then we will help you. Like you said, it is our duty to prepare for the Pharaoh. But Ishizu, it will not be easy."
Ishizu actually smiled then, surprising the women around her as she said with a laugh "Try saving the world sometime."
*Author's Note:
First of all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to ALL of my wonderful Reviewers, Followers, Favoriters, and Viewers! You guys are awesome, and I'm so happy to see that people like my story!
I'm sorry if I don't get around to responding to your reviews, but please know that I truly appreciate them! They make my day! 3
We'll be getting back to Marik and the boys next week, but I wanted to take a little interlude to see how Ishizu was faring.
Oh, by the way, I don't know if I'd mentioned this previously or not, but many of these characters (like the Chief, guards, others that will be seen soon) are inspired by the Grave Keeper Yugioh cards (i.e. Gravekeeper's Chief, Gravekeeper's Assailant, Gravekeeper's Spear-holder, etc. etc.), though they're more inspired by the looks and titles of these cards than anything else.
Also, I imagine Ishizu had actually been to the surface before since she knew what a tv and a motorcycle were, as well as where a village was; however, like in my story, I imagine it was supervised, since apparently she didn't know about the alarm.
Besides, her mother found Odion while she was outside, so… yeah, I'm stickin' with my head-canon.
And I really want to explore the Tomb Keeper women some more; according to all the research I've done, women in Ancient Egypt actually had a lot of power and rights, more so than pretty much any other culture of the time, and definitely more than women in modern Egypt. However, it seems that things changed over time for the Tomb Keepers, since they definitely adopted a more… female-subordinate ideology.
I have a few ideas on how this all happened though, so stay tuned!
Next chapter to be posted next Monday!