The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters [127]
Evelyn decided she would not add her disturbance, and suggested she take Lia on a tour of the major tombs. I knew what she was thinking. If they decided to return home, at least the child would have seen the most famous sites in the Valley. David offered to escort them, and I sent Daoud along too.
The rest of us had our turns in the burial chamber of the new tomb, but not until after all the men in Mr. Davis’s party, and three or four of the women, had been down and back. It was an astonishing and depressing sight—the broken, violated coffin, tumbled objects everywhere, and a great golden panel propped against the wall. Chunks of plaster had fallen from the walls or hung ready to fall. There had been damage in the past, from seepage and other causes; but every breath of air, every vibration disturbed the delicate objects again. As I crouched on hands and knees in the doorway, a section of gold-covered gesso fell from the panel and added itself to the pile of flakes already on the floor.
My conscience would not allow me to penetrate farther into the room. I crawled back along the narrow plank, pausing only long enough for another look at the gilded panel so dangerously close below. The queen was there, offering flowers to the Aton who was her son’s sole god; another figure, standing in front of her, had been cut away. It had almost certainly been that of Akhenaton. The heretic’s enemies, determined to destroy his memory and his soul, had penetrated into even this forgotten sepulchre.
When we started for home, I was still dazed by what I had seen. I do not mind confessing, in the pages of this private journal, that I was filled with the direst of forebodings. The contents of the tomb were so precious and so fragile! They came from one of the most intriguing periods in all Egyptian history; one could only guess what light they might throw on the many unanswered questions about the reign of the heretic pharaoh. They would have to be handled with extreme care, and the proceedings thus far had not given me hope that this would be the case.
Ramses had kept to himself most of the afternoon, joining us only when we were starting on the homeward path. He brought up the rear of our little procession. I stopped and waited for him to catch me up.
“A fascinating day, was it not?” I inquired, taking his arm.
“Quite,” said Ramses.
“Very well, Ramses, out with it. What is worrying you? Not the tomb, surely.”
We had reached the donkey park. The others had gathered round the boys’ beautiful Arabians, and Lia was demanding that she be allowed to ride Risha. Everyone appeared to be in a merry frame of mind; even Emerson looked on, smiling, as Walter attempted to dissuade his daughter and Nefret laughed at both of them, and David lifted Evelyn onto his mare. The only gloomy face was that of my son. I was about to repeat my question when he sighed and said, “There is no keeping anything from you, is there? I don’t know why they call me the Brother of Demons.”
“Now that I think about it, that name casts rather rude aspersions on me,” I said. “Well?”
“I must go over to Luxor this evening. Can you keep Nefret occupied so she won’t insist on coming along?”
“Why?”
He told me. “Abdullah said I must not let Nefret know. That’s impossible, of course, but I don’t want her examining this body. The other was bad enough. This would be unbearable.”
“Not pleasant for you either,” I said, concealing my own shock and distress with my customary fortitude. “Good Gad. No wonder you have been looking so strange all day. You think it may be—that woman? Layla?”
“It is a possibility. Someone must find out.”
“I will go with you.”
“To hold my hand?” Then the bunched muscles at the corners of his mouth relaxed, and he said quietly, “I apologize, Mother. It is good of you to offer, but I can deal with this unassisted. You must keep Nefret and the others in the dark, at least until we know for certain.”