Valley of the Kings: Prologue

Valley of the Kings, Egypt 1885 AD

"I think we’ve found one!"

I turned my head to see who shouted, it was Amir. He wouldn’t call out unless he was absolutely certain he had one. Maybe we really have found something. I glanced around the camp, my eyes taking in the burnt orange sand and numerous men dressed all in white to keep cool in the desert sun. I had never been able to wear such bland clothing, preferring instead the a variation of the clothing of my ancestors. That meant thin cotton pants with a slit from just below the waist to the ankle where it gathered together with a piece of cloth below that for modesty and more of the thin cotton wrapped around my chest and behind my neck. Not proper clothing for a prominent Egyptologist but it was cooler then what I ought to be wearing. I didn’t hold with their idea of proper hairstyles either but left mine flowing down my back like a dark river that ended at my waist. Gold ribbon was woven into tiny braids to break the monotony. I stopped my inspection of the site and hurried over to where I saw Amir’s hand frantically waving. Amir was sitting on a set of stairs leading downward into the sand. There were lanterns placed around the opening and a few farther down to where I got a tantalizing view of what might or might not be a Pharaoh’s tomb. I stopped breathing for a moment before my heart began beating a frantic tattoo and I rushed down the stairs.

"Dr. Ankhoret is this... have we found it?"

I ignored Amir’s hesitant question and reached out to touch the doors that blocked my path. They had the Egyptian royal seal on them. I slowly ran my hands over the doors in awe until they cam eot rest on the seal.

"Smenkhkara." The name was barely even a whisper on my lips and I was shivering with excitement as I broke the seal and pushed the doors open. I got a tantalizing glimpse of hieroglyphs from the flickering torchlight before my world went black and I felt my body collapse.