to the barred gate in the back wall of the sanctuary.
'The tomb of St. Frumentius!' he said, and went to the grille. She came
to his side, and together they peered through the square openings in the
woodwork that was black with age. The interior was in darkness. Nicholas
prodded his torch through one of the openings and pressed the switch.
The tomb lit up in a rainbow of colour so bright in the beam of the
torch that their eyes took a few moments to adjust and then Royan gasped
aloud.
'Oh, sweet heaven!' She began to tremble as if in high fever, and her
face went creamy pale as all the blood drained from it.
The coffin was set into a stone shelf in the rear wall of the cell-like
tomb. On the exterior was painted the likeness of the man within.
Although it was badly faded and most of the paint had flaked away, the
pale face and reddish beard of the dead man were still discernible.
This was not the only reason for Royan's amazement.
She was staring at the walls above and on either side of the shelf on
which the coffin lay. They were a riot of colour, every inch of them
covered with the most intricate and elaborate paintings that had
miraculously weathered the passage of the millennia.
Nicholas played his torch beam over them in awestruck silence, and Royan
clung to his arm as if to save herself from falling. She dug her sharp
nails into his flesh, but he was heedless of the pain.
There were scenes of great battles, fighting galleys locked in terrible
combat upon the blue eternal waters of the river. There were scenes of
the hunt, the pursuit of the river horse and of great elephants with
long tusks of gleaming ivory. There were battle scenes of regiments
plumed and armoured, raging in their fury and blood lust.
Squadrons of chariots wheeled and charged each other across these narrow
walls, half obscured by the dust of their own mad career.
The foreground of each mural was dominated by the same tall heroic
figure. In one scene he drew the bow to full stretch, in another he
swung high the blade of bronze.
His enemies quailed before him, he trod them underfoot or gathered
together their severed heads like a bouquet of flowers.
Nicholas played the beam over all this splendid array of art, and
brought it to a stop upon the central panel that covered the entire main
wall above the shelf on which the rotting coffin lay. Here the same
godlike figure rode the footplate of his chariot. In one hand he held
the bow and in the other a bundle of javelins. His head was bare of any
helmet, and his hair flowed out behind him in the wind of his passage, a
thick golden braid like the tail of a lion. His features were noble and
proud, his gaze direct and indomitable.
Below him was a legen in classical Egyptian hieroglyphics. In a
sepulchral whisper Royan translated them aloud:
Great Lion of Egypt.
Best of One Hundred Thousand Holder of the Gold of Valour Pharaoh's Sole
Companion Warrior of all the Gods May you live for ever!
Her hand shook upon his arm, and her voice choked and died away, stifled
with emotion. She gave a little sob, and then shook herself as she
