Episode 2: For the Pharaoh's Cat, chapter 2
The hotel was simple, but comfortable enough, and the couple were up at first light, ready to head back out to the temple. They breakfasted in the hotel restaurant and Eve waited in the reception area while Flynn went to retrieve his satchel. She turned when she heard his familiar footsteps and stopped, open-mouthed and eyebrows raised.
"Where did you get the pith helmet?" Eve sighed.
"I picked it up years ago in a market somewhere," said Flynn with a wave of his hand. "You know, I have always wanted an excuse to wear one of these."
"Seriously?" Eve's voice went up a notch.
"What? They were all the rage in Howard Carter's day!"
Eve sighed and shook her head, leading the way out of the hotel to the street, where the latest tour group was gathering. They merged with the crowd and tagged along, reaching the western bank and the great temple itself without incident. They were merely another couple enjoying the sights and sounds of Egypt. Maybe, Eve began thinking, a honeymoon here wouldn't be all that bad at that.
She took the arm her fiancé proffered her, but glared at him when he brought a second pith helmet out of his bag. The big brown eyes pleaded. She rolled her eyes and relented.
"I look ridiculous," she complained as he placed the Victorian era hat on her head.
"You look beautiful, as ever, my love," grinned Flynn.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Librarian," she growled.
"It's worked so far, Guardian," he sing-songed back. That earned him a dig in the ribs.
They made their way up the steps again, merging with the crowd and enjoying the view. The sheer scale of the temple and its enclaves were magnificent. As they walked, Flynn pointed out the outlines of long diminished smaller buildings, and described the beautiful, lush, green gardens that Hatshepsut had caused to be built and maintained in the two great courtyards at each level.
Eve fanned herself with a brochure she had picked up in the hotel lobby. "Does it ever cool down here?"
"This is cool," said Flynn. "This is actually cooler than normal for this time of year!"
"It feels just as hot as it was last time we were here," groaned Eve, "and that was even closer to the equator! If we do come here for our honeymoon, let's make it in winter."
"I thought you wanted a spring or summer wedding?" Flynn frowned petulantly.
"I do," Eve assured him, "but that doesn't mean we have to disappear on honeymoon right away, does it?"
"You know, a honeymoon is traditionally the first month of a newly wedded couple's life, where they spend all their time together and get to, er," he hesitated. "Get to really know each other."
Eve raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. "Uh-huh. Well, we've got plenty of time to decide. More importantly, have you picked a Best Man yet?"
"What?"
"Well, I haven't exactly got much family, so I'll be asking Cassandra to be my Maid of Honour. You know the Maid of Honour and the Best Man always dance together at the first dance and get photographed together..."
"I hadn't thought about it," he shrugged.
"Flynn! This is our wedding!" Eve chided.
"Forgive me for being more worried about the marriage!" Flynn returned.
"Why are you worried?" Eve's glare immediately changed tone. "Should I be worried? What is there to worry about?"
"It's a figure of speech!" Flynn threw up his hands. He sighed and turned her to face him, her face cradled in his hands. "I don't care about the bridesmaids and the ushers and the invitations and the traditions. I care about you. At the end of the day, the only thing that I care about, that I really want to happen on that day, is that by the end of it, you're my wife. Stone can turn up in jeans and a cowboy hat, Ezekiel can turn up with some priceless work of art under his arm and blues and twos following, Cassandra can turn up in the weirdest pair of shorts you have ever seen, and I still won't care so long as you turn up and marry me!"
"Okay," Eve squeaked. She took a breath and recovered her composure, but she couldn't stop the smile that warmed her face. "I'm just gonna kiss you now, is that okay?"
"Works for me," he smiled back.
Most visitors to the djeser-djeseru pass a contented few hours there and then move on to the fabled valleys that hold the final resting places of the kings and queens of a bygone world. Not so for Flynn and Eve. They spent the morning scouring the timeworn walls of the temple complex for the key symbols. As the sun reached its zenith, and the temperature soared, they adjourned to the inner part of the temple, carved deep into the living rock itself. Electric lights had long since replaced the smoky candles or paraffin lamps that had once explored the haunting interior of the venerable masterpiece, but some patches of blackened walls could still be seen where the cleaning process was not yet complete. Flynn handed a bottle of water to his fiancée and shone a torch into dark corner.
"I haven't seen anything even remotely similar," said Eve, taking the bottle. "We'll have to stop to eat soon, too. Please tell me you've found something."
"Nothing," Flynn shook his head. "There are still some rooms to try. And, of course, there's the possibility that Hatshepsut was depicted in some other tomb, but I think I would have heard about something like that."
"Where does that leave us?"
"There is one other possibility that springs to mind," he said, drawing out his words in a way that made Eve instantly suspicious.
"You mean there's an obvious possibility that you forgot, don't you," she said, without looking round.
"Well," he dragged the word out again.
"What is it? Where is it? How do we get there?" Eve sighed.
Flynn took her hand and led her out to the space in the centre of the colonnade of statues. He pointed to the southern reaches of the river. "If we head upriver a bit we should come to another temple that Hatshepsut had built. The temple of Pakhet, or Pasht."
"Who was Pakhet?" Eve asked, shading her eyes against the sun.
"Well, most scholars believe that Pakhet was a fusion of Bastet and Sekhmet," Flynn began, reverting into lecture mode. "She's another lioness headed goddess. However when the three became distinct, Bastet began to take on the more house-cat appearance, Sekhmet retained the lioness and Pakhet was more the wildcat or caracal. She kept the mother-goddess side from Bastet, and replaced the warrior side from Sekhmet with a huntress identity. The Greeks identified her with Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, amongst other things, and therefore renamed the temple Speos Artemidos, the cave of Artemis."
"Anywhere else that I should know about?" Eve turned to watch his expression. He pulled a thoughtful face. It wasn't a face that said 'I'm not sure, let me have a think'. It was a face that said, quite clearly, 'well there is, but I'm not sure you really want to hear it right now'. Her own expression darkened. "What is it?"
"Ah," he vacillated. "Well, it's just a slim possibility, you understand."
"Tell me," she growled.
"Well, Hatshepsut was famous for sending a great expedition to the land of Punt," he explained, "which brought back incense and spices and all sorts of other goodies."
"And where is Punt?" Eve sighed, fearing that she already knew the answer.
"Well, I'm not, er, not entirely sure," Flynn admitted. "Best guess, I'd say somewhere in or around Eritrea."
Eve looked at him, eyes wide. "So we could actually be in entirely the wrong country?"
Flynn nodded. Eve sighed again.
"Okay," she said. "Let's just finish looking here, then we'll go down to this Speos Artemidos, then we'll worry about the mysterious lost land of Punt, if and when we have to."
Flynn visibly relaxed. "I'm sure we won't," he said. "Well, reasonably sure. Seventy percent. Sixty maybe. Half and half at the worst."
"Remind me never to listen to you in a horse race," she quipped, throwing him a look.
"I cannot imagine why for one instant you would," he agreed, instantly, and allowed himself to be led back into the shadowy halls of the temple.
The rest of the temple proved no more fruitful that before. As the sun wore on through the afternoon sky, Flynn and Eve turned their backs on it and headed towards the car park where they had alighted from the tourist bus. Another bus was getting ready to leave, so they joined the group and headed back to the hotel. There were no commercial boats or busses leaving that evening, so Eve suggested they hire a private one. Soon they had acquired the services of a willing skipper and his boat, who knew the area they were heading for. They had collected their sparse possessions from the hotel that morning, having only checked in for the one night. It was the work of a moment to set up a workroom in the small cabin below deck as the little boat pulled out of the harbour and began the journey upstream.
"I don't see what else we can do until we get there," said Flynn.
"I like to be prepared," replied his better half. "Even without the Serpent Brotherhood around, I still like to make sure I'm ready in case they should suddenly pop up out of nowhere and take my husband-to-be captive. Again!"
"I was caught unawares!" Flynn protested.
"My point exactly!" Eve laughed.
"Come upstairs," he said, taking her hand and stepping towards the door. She didn't budge. "Whatever lies in store for us, we'll handle it, like we always do. Come upstairs. Enjoy the view with me."
She relented. "If I get caught off guard, I'm blaming you," she told him, following up the gently rocking steps to the deck.
"If you get caught off guard, I promise you won't have to!"