ducked through the doorway of the hut and was gone.
hen Nicholas touched the frame of the screen, fragments of the mesh veil
tore free with even that tiny movement and fell to the tiles of the
floor. The golden rosettes trapped in their folds tinkled on the stones.
Now there was an opening in the curtain large enough for them to step
through, They found themselves before the inner doorway. It was -guarded
eat god Osiris on one side by a massive statue of the gr with his hands
crossed over his chest, clutching the crook and the flail. Opposite
stood his wife Isis, with the lunar crown and horns on her head. Their
blank eyes stared out into eternity, and their expressions were serene.
Nicholas and Royan passed between these twelve-foot-high statues and
found themselves at last in the veritable tomb of Mamose.
The roof was vaulted, and the quality of the murals that covered it and
the walls was different - formal and classical. The colours were of a
deeper, more sombre hue, and the patterns more intricate. The chamber
was smaller han they had anticipated; just large enough to accommodate
the huge granite sarcophagus of the divine Pharaoh Mamose.
The sarcophagus stood chest-high. Its side panels were engraved in
has-relief with scenes of Pharaoh and the other gods. The stone lid was
in the shape of a full'length effigy of the supine figure of the king.
They saw at once that it was still in its original position, and that
the clay seals of the priests of Osiris which secured the lid were
intact. The tomb had never been violated. The mummy had lain within it
undisturbed through the millennia.
But this was not what amazed them. There were two extraneous items
within the otherwise classically correct tomb. On the lid of the
sarcophagus lay a magnificent war bow. Almost as long as Nicholas was
tall, the entire length of its stock was bound with coils of shining
electrum wire, that alloy of gold and silver whose formula has been lost
in antiquity.
The other item that should never have been placed in a royal tomb stood
at the foot of the sarcophagus. It was a small human figure, one of the
ushabti dolls. A glance of this effigy, confirmed the superior quality
of the carving and both of them recognized the features instantly. Only
minutes before, they had seen that face painted upon the walls of the
arcade, outside the tomb.
The words of Taita, from the scrolls, seemed to reverberate within the
confines of the tomb, and hang like fireflies in the air above the
sarcophagus:
When I stood for the very last time beside the royal sarcophagus, I sent
all the workmen away.
I would be the very last to leave the tomb, and after me the entrance
would be sealed.
When I was alone I opened the bundle I carried. From it I took the long
bow, Lanata.
Tanus had named it after my mistress, for Lanata had been her baby name.
I had made the bow for him. It was the last gift from the two of us. I
placed it upon the sealed stone lid of his coffin.
There was one other item in my bundle. It was the wooden ushabti figure
that I had carved.
