A tomb they couldn’t even be certain was that of the Pharaoh they thought.
Narmer.
The first great Pharaoh.
“Raissa,” he said, making the effort not to get his hopes up. “Are you certain? Is this how you read this?”
Looking into the excitement in his eyes, Raissa’s smile spread and she nodded. “I was right, wasn’t I? It’s what you were looking for?”
On a half laugh, he nodded. “Part of it. It’s part of what I’m looking for.”
He almost kissed her, the impulse so strong it rocked him.
Still, with this and this alone, he had the confirmation he’d looked for, if only for himself, and possibly enough that he could get the additional funding needed to expand his search beyond the fort, continue looking further. Perhaps even into the Gilf Kebir itself, to find the tombs.
It had been Ky himself who, through research and extrapolation, through clues on papyrus, small hints, had originally discovered the remains of the early dynasty fort that even now was being uncovered out in the desert. That gave him a certain cachet, a little pull.
“Let’s get a copy of this off to Dr. Hawass immediately,” he said, to Ryan, keeping his voice even with an effort. They needed, he needed, to be sure. “We’ll get it dated for certain the next time we’re in Cairo, to be sure. Could you set that up, too, Ryan? Get us time to do the dating.”
Dr. Tareq Hawass of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was his friend, mentor and a force to be reckoned with in Egyptology. They were old friends from back in the days when they’d been Archaeology/Egyptology students. Now Tareq was head of the Museum, by virtue of his knowledge of Ancient Egypt, his skill at wheedling the necessary funds from both the government and donors, and his undeniable charm.
He would let Tareq fight this battle.
Ky’s spirits lightened. Sometimes it was a matter of who you knew. As much grief as it had caused him to be friends with the head of the Egyptian museum, this time it had paid off.
The tombs he sought were here in Egypt as far as Ky could tell and the folks at the Egyptian Museum and in the Egyptian government would very likely be more than happy to help him find them.
That would take time, though, and there was still more to discover, more clues to search for.
It was a beginning. The next step.
Contrary to popular opinion and what was depicted in the movies, there was rarely an outright AHA moment in archeology but instead a series of steps. Sometimes they led you down dusty side roads or dead ends, but most led you, step by careful step, where you hoped you would go.
If you did your job right.
Chapter Seven
Situated at the very edge of the desert at it was, as always it was hot, dry, dusty and windy at the dig site. Sand filtered down, over, through and beneath your clothes until by the end of the day it felt as if you were coated in a fine layer of grit. Engrossed in their work no one either noticed or cared. As much as possible, you tried to prepare for it but it was part of the job. Ky had long since gotten used to the discomfort. Some of those around him wore hats against the heat and the chance of sunstroke but he rarely did, preferring the feel of the breeze through his hair. He did wear polarized sunglasses against the brightness but also to fend off the glare from the sand that might make him miss something important.
He glanced up and across the site to the solitary form standing near the entrance to the dig site where entry through the second wall had once been.
Many of these old forts had had inner defensive walls as well as outer ones. It had worked well, forcing anyone who managed to get past the first wall to face the defenders behind a second one, while the attackers were forced to fight through a narrow passageway.
With no one at the dig site except foreigners like themselves and educated Egyptians who wouldn’t object to her clothing―in other words, no one from town―Raissa had foregone the abaya and instead wore a casual pleated linen dress that revealed her lovely legs. Her long golden hair, drawn back in a loose braid, blew in the breeze as she shaded her eyes with a hand to look across the dig site.
The sunlight illuminated her fine and lovely features, the wind pressed the fabric of her dress against her body to flutter around her legs. In some ways that dress was more practical in this heat than what some wore.
In a short time she’d become nearly as indispensible and intuitive as Ryan. She was turning into a very capable, very efficient and very pleasant distraction.
She’d been with them now for more than two weeks and she fit in with team so well, joking with Ryan, gently teasing Komi as they worked, that it seemed she’d always been a part of it. Nor was she averse to teasing Ky as well, slipping in some quiet aside, hiding her smile and her twinkling eyes behind her hair until the shot had been delivered and struck home. Then when they were all laughing he would catch that little glimmering glance from the corner of her eye.
They’d already had some lively debates over her translations. She had a marvelous mind behind those brilliant eyes, something he definitely appreciated. Nor was she afraid to state her opinion or defend it even against him and she was flexible enough to see another side.
To his surprise, though, given her background, she’d never been to a dig site. This was her first visit and she seemed to find it fascinating.
Each find had been labeled as to what had been found where with little color-coded flags stuck in the ground or tied to the twine that marked of the sections of the site. That helped those who worked her get a sense of what had been where, but it also meant that Raissa didn’t need to have someone explain everything to her. Pretty as she was, it was unlikely she would have had trouble finding someone to do so, though. She was a beautiful young woman. Ky knew he wasn’t the only one looking at her and he felt a small odd twinge at the thought. Between he and Ryan they’d cautioned her about all the things she couldn’t or shouldn’t do at the dig―as well as the inconveniences, like a lack of facilities. It was rough living, not that anyone complained, whiners didn’t last long on a dig.
Sandwiched between them on the bench seat of the ancient jeep as they’d ridden out to the dig site, Raissa had simply looked from one to the other of them as they’d explained, shaking her head in amusement.
“It’s not the first time I’ve lived rough,” she’d said, clearly entertained by their concern. “Have you looked around at all?”
There were parts of the town where goats, dogs and cats relieved themselves in the streets and some that still didn’t have indoor plumbing, much less electricity.
That air of amusement around her was beguiling.
It did raise the question of where she was living but she always arrived clean, so she couldn’t be living too rough.
Ky remembered far too well the brush of her smooth warm thigh against his own.
Familiarity had not diminished the attraction one bit, every time he saw her his body tightened automatically in response.
She was usually sprawled across the chair by the window of the suite, her beautiful hair streaming over the arm or the back of the chair, the light turning it into a shimmering golden fall, her shapely legs over the arm, her pretty feet bare―in a place where bare feet weren’t always wise. She seemed to have no fear of scorpions or sand spurs.
Working patiently in the remains of one of the rooms along the north wall, Ky eyed some of the others working here. There were people here he didn’t quite trust.
This section was not where he’d found some of those intriguing fragments.
Across the way was one of those Ky didn’t trust. Heinrich Zimmer, a part of a group excavating the north tower.
Tall, with thinning sandy hair and a fleshy face, his black eyes always seemed to be at odds with the rest of him, too dark for his fair coloring.
A number of their colleagues were wary of Zimmer and with reason. He had a reputation within the archeology world―unsubstantiated legally―of stealing the work of others. From the interactions Ky had had with the man, he didn’t find the rumors difficult to believe. Although Zimmer could be charming enough there was something about him Ky just didn’t like.
That charm was part of it. Although some found him personable enough, Ky had always felt that Zimmer’s charisma was a carefully crafted act. The one or two who dared talk about it had remarked bitterly how easily they’d fallen for it, how Zimmer had worked his way into their good graces then turned on them.
Zimmer’s presence hadn’t been Ky’s choice.
It was difficult these days for any one organization to fund a dig of this size. More so for Ky since he had an even greater project in mind in the future―if he found what he hoped to find here.
Allowing other partners in on this dig, spreading the wealth as it were, would hopefully give him a little more leverage in keeping the tomb site to himself.
It was also good politics.
And so other universities and organizations had been invited to take part in opening this site.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated those partners would include Zimmer.
In light of that Ky was taking extra precautions and being very careful around the man.
Then there were the thieves.
Where had they found the stolen fragments that Raissa brought him?
He was still waiting on Tareq’s response to what he’d sent.
The tombs existed. If he could get that funding…
Working in this section wasn’t a waste of time, though, it was necessary. The more he knew, the better his chance of finding what he sought. It was sometimes surprising what you would find. They’d no way of knowing, for example, why this fort had been abandoned all those millennia ago and another built in a location not that far away but slightly closer to the flood plain of the Nile. Perhaps it had been the proximity for supplies but it seemed a waste.
Zimmer, Ky noted with a frown, seemed to have his mind on something or someone else.
The man nudged one of the other workers, tipped his head in the direction of his gaze, spoke.
Following his look, Ky saw where his eyes settled, although he already guessed.
Raissa.
A thread of uneasiness moved through him watching Zimmer’s avaricious eyes on her.
She seemed oblivious as she examined the site.
The air blew hot, lined with a fine coating of sand, and the sun beat down on her shoulders but Raissa was long used to it. She looked across the great square hollow of what had once been the fort with its carefully mapped borders of twine wrapped around sticks. If she hadn’t known what it was, she wouldn’t have recognized it, although clearly those who worked here did, each section had been labeled with what they thought the area had once been. There was so little left. Only the outlines of the towering walls remained, the remnants of mud bricks showing where the thick inner and outer walls would have been, the rooms for the officers, the common rooms and barracks for the soldiers, the areas where they would have drilled.
In her mind’s eyes she could see it as it had been, the great walls surrounding them on all sides.
Once it would have towered far above the desert…
Above her a falcon cried out as it circled, looking for prey. For a moment she watched it, its wings flared as it floated high above.
She could see Professor Farrar working off to one side, his dark hair lifting in the breeze, just curling over his collar a little.
With a sigh, she mentally shook her head.
She hadn’t expected to like them. She didn’t want to like them, it complicated things. They were so foreign and this was something she had to do.
But she did like them, she liked all of them.
For all his joking around, Ryan was no fool, when he spoke it was to the point, anything else he kept to himself. She respected that.
John was harder to know and like, he was a man of strong opinions but his competence with equipment was undeniable.
Quiet Komi, with his halting manner and his gentle wit had won her over swiftly.
And then there was Ky. Professor Farrar. She had to remember to think of him that way.
She looked across the dig site, watched him at work, his dark head bent, intent, focused.
She refused to consider his resemblance to the Khai of old as a sign of any kind.
Both had been/were handsome men, that was undeniable, with strong features that reflected a strength of personality, in the firm jaw, the intelligent dark eyes, that firm, full mouth.
The attraction was there, though, she couldn’t deny it.
A burst of warmth went through her to watch him. No matter how many times she looked at him he made her heart jump. She wished she could see his eyes, though, hidden behind the sunglasses. Sweat had dampened his t-shirt so that it clung to his firmly muscled chest. An academic should not be so finely muscled.
Her breath hitched a little as he glanced up to catch her looking at him.
Smiling, she turned away, amused and embarrassed he’d caught her.
It was so hard not to look, even harder not to want to touch. She knew it was far better if she didn’t. He wasn’t for her. That wasn’t something she could even consider.
There was his policy against fraternization, she would respect that, and it was for the best. Or so she tried to tell herself.
They’d left both Komi and John back at the hotel. Neither was an archaeologist. John was the fix-it/muscle and driver and Komi’s translation skills weren’t necessary out here, where Raissa’s translation skills were or might be, depending on what Professor Farrar or Ryan found, if anything.
Professor Farrar had also made it very clear he wasn’t sharing her skills with anyone, here or elsewhere.
That was fine with her as that had been her intention anyway.
She turned her face up to the sky to feel the sun on it for a moment. It felt wonderful after so long cooped up inside.
Some of the other groups were packing up against the heat of midday, retiring to their air conditioned tents and vehicles to let the worst of the heat pass. They were in no hurry, after all. This place had waited for millennia, its secrets would wait a day or two more.