Jane Lindskold The Buried Pyram

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desire is here.
Certainly that seemed possible. The tranquility and beauty of Neferankhotep s garden was tantalizing, as
was the hint that beyond the delicately carved stonework gateway lay other gardens, other fields,
beautiful rivers, towering mountains in short, anything one could desire.
Neville felt a tug at his heart. It would be very nice to stay. He wondered if the remaining stiffness from
his old injuries would vanish. He was feeling the first touch of age s long fingers. Here he would never
grow old, and if Audrey stayed with him, paradise might hold new delights as well as preservation of old.
Eddie was shaking his head.
I hope you don t intend to try and keep us, sir, he said. I have a wife and children I need to get home
to.
You will not be kept from them, Neferankhotep assured him. Nor do all of you need to make the
same decision. Those who remain will simply have died on this venture into the unexplored desert. It
does happen.
Too frequently, Eddie agreed. However, I ll take my risks with living.
Stephen looked around rather forlornly. Neville didn t doubt that he was comparing this luxury with his
straitened circumstances back in London. But Stephen, too, shook his head.
I need to go back, he said. My mother and sisters depend on me and there s still so much research
to do, so much to learn. I suspect I won t be talking about these discoveries . . .
No, Neferankhotep said. No evidence will remain to support your claims. You would ruin rather than
enhance your reputation.
Stephen looked momentarily sad, then he brightened.
But no one can take what I ve learned. That will certainly help.
Without a doubt, the pharaoh agreed.
Neville sighed. He had no family but Jenny, but there were others who depended on him, friends who
would mourn him. He d be selfish to abandon them.
I ll go back, too, he said.
Jenny reached out and squeezed his hand, And I ll go with you, just so you have a new problem to keep
your mind occupied.
She looked at Neferankhotep.
Do I get to keep Mozelle?
That is up to her, the pharaoh said.
Mozelle purred, but she also jumped down from Jenny s hold. Maybe it was to get a drink of water.
Maybe not. Now the only one left was Rashid.
He bowed deeply to the pharaoh, then made a gesture that encompassed the others, and pointed up.
He, too, wishes to go.
Neville looked at the youth. If you want to return to England with us, you would be welcome. If you
wish to remain in Egypt, I will be happy to speak to various people on your behalf.
Rashid then did something curious. He turned to Stephen and made a gesture as if scribbling.
You want pen and paper? Stephen said. I thought you couldn t write.
Rashid repeated the writing gesture, and Stephen handed him the necessary articles, still contained in the
box in which he had carried them through time.
Rashid sat cross-legged on the floor, a fresh sheet of paper on the box braced against his knee. He wrote
perhaps a dozen words, then showed them to Neville.
Before you offer me your kindness, they said, you must know. I am the Sphinx.
Jenny felt her head swim as reality adjusted itself far more strikingly than it had done when Ra carried
them back in time. She had long thought Rashid was more intelligent than Captain Brentworth believed, a
belief Rashid had validated by his actions once they had all been taken into Tuat. However, Jenny had
never dreamed Rashid was well-educated enough to be the Sphinx.
What? she said, her question echoed by all the others, and Rashid began again to write, positioning
himself so that the others could read over his shoulders.
I was born in Cairo, and when I was very small a fever came. It killed all my family but for me,
and me it left mute. I was fortunate, however. My parents had loyal friends, and these secured for
me a place in an orphanage.
It was a good orphanage, run by English who were interested in providing an educated
population for Egypt, one that would be free from the usual clan and family ties. They thought
that such might be the answer to some of Egypt s factional problems.
I think I know that place, Neville said, sounding mildly surprised. I gave some money to it when I
came into my inheritance. Sent some books for the library when I merged my library with my father s.
Rashid gestured so eloquently to be permitted to continue his tale that Jenny felt a wash of pity. How
horrible for an intelligent young man to be forced to act like an idiot. Her pity transformed into anger as
she thought of the daily misery of that life. Maybe it wasn t so sad after all that Captain Brentworth had
ended his life impaled on Apophis s fang.
Rashid continued writing: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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