The Gold in the Grave (4 page)

“The King will be placed in his coffins–he has three of them,” Antef explained. “Then the priests will sweep the floor and leave. They will close the door to the tomb and seal it. The King’s workers will fill in the passage with stones to block it off.”

“I’ll be sealed behind a stone door and a passage full of stones? I can’t dig my way out!” I argued.

“We will dig our way in,” Antef said. That is why we have the stupid, but strong, Kerpes.”

“I don’t want to be shut in a tomb!” I wailed.

“It will only be for the night,” Antef said. “We’ll start digging a tunnel as soon as the workmen leave. We will pay the guards to look the other way. You’ll be out as the sun rises.”

“We’ll take the treasures in a boat down the river. There are traders there waiting to buy them from us,” Dalifa said.

“Just one day from now you will have more riches than you could earn in your lifetime as a peasant farmer.”

“It’s not the day I’m worried about. It’s the night,” I told them.

Antef laughed. He gripped my arm in his claw hand. “Time to take the boat,” he said.

We stepped into the quiet streets.

“Everyone has gone to see the procession,” Dalifa said, nodding towards the temple. “Time for me to join it.” Dalifa waved goodbye.

Antef and I hurried down to the riverside where the huge barges were waiting to take Tutankhamen on his last voyage.

I just hoped it wouldn’t be my last voyage too.

Chapter 5
To the Tomb

We slid over the water faster than a fish and landed on the western shore. The west where the sun set and where Tutankhamen’s spirit would soon be travelling … without his treasure.

The evening sun was cool as we crossed the desert. This was the road I’d taken every day for seventy days to Tutankhamen’s tomb. I knew the way. But usually I walked with the other young scribes and our masters and a few of the royal archers.

Desert lions and jackals never troubled us and the archers would drive them off if they did.

But this evening Antef and I were alone and the cries of the creatures made our feet shuffle along the road as fast as our racing heartbeats.

Great piles of gravel stood by the entrance to the tomb. “That is ready to shovel in once the King is inside,” Antef said.

“And me–they’ll block me in too.”

“Not for long,” Antef said with a wink. “These stone workers are friends of mine. They will not fill it to the roof. We’ll have you out in a couple of hours.” He waved to one of the labourers who leaned on his shovel.

A guard blocked the door. He was there every day and he knew my face. That’s what Antef had been hoping for. “The boy has come to finish the painting,” the old man explained.

“A bit late,” the guard grumbled. He looked across the desert to a cloud of dust that was rolling in from the river. The funeral parade. “They’re almost here.”

Antef turned on me and acted angry. “See, stupid boy? I told you this should have been finished yesterday.” He slapped me with a horny hand and drove me into the corridor. “These boys are a waste of time!” he called as he passed the guard.

Servants and priests and craftsmen and scribes were in the tomb putting everything in its place, ready to receive the King.

I knew the room where Antef wanted me to hide. We passed through the entrance chamber where a golden chariot was lying in pieces on the floor. The King’s servants would have to put it together to drive him into the Afterlife.