As she advanced towards him she stumbled on a loose block, but, with a steadying hand from her guard, she quickly regained her balance.
Tutankhamun heard the noise and turned to face her. “No! No, my Queen. Do not enter this place. I forbid it!”
Ankhesenamun stopped. “You cannot mean that, Pharaoh. It is the queen to whom you speak – Ankhesenamun, daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten. At the time of his internment it is I who worshipped in this sepulchre. It is I who retain the right to worship here once more.”
“No! You will obey me! Do not enter this room. You must do as I say. It is for your own protection that I speak these words.”
“My protection? From what do you contrive to protect me, my lord?”
“From that which you do not need to know, my Queen. That which you must not know.”
“If those are the orders of Pharaoh, I must obey.”
The queen turned to the guard standing behind her. “Give me your firebrand. Now, leave us!” She turned to the other. “Both of you!”
The guards looked at the king. He nodded. The guards disappeared back up the staircase towards the glimmer of light at the tomb entrance.
As soon as the sound of their footsteps had faded away Ankhesenamun spoke. “Now there is no one to hear or see, I will ask you, my lord, once more in this the sepulchre of my father, what is it here that you wish to protect me from?”
So far as Ankhesenamun could see in the light thrown by her single torch, the king was standing in the middle of the burial chamber amongst a thick scatter of rubble. Akhenaten’s sarcophagus, like that of Nefertiti, had been smashed to pieces. The queen knew they would have stripped her father for his jewelry, just as they had done her mother. She would be distressed by the sight of him but had to see for herself.
“I await your answer, my lord.”
“Ankhesenamun. Beloved of Pharaoh. I pray you let us leave this place.”
The queen was quick to recognize that what had previously been an outright order had now moderated to a simple request. She walked forward tentatively and into the huge chamber.
She looked around but couldn’t see anything that resembled a body. With her torch held out ahead of her she walked around in a circle examining the floor. All she could make out were slivers of torn bandaging, pieces of broken grave goods and what appeared to be fragments of mutilated mummified animal parts.
Then she recognized the decapitated head.
An excerpt from Tutankhamun Uncovered, by Michael J. Marfleet.
Copyright 2009-2010 Michael J. Marfleet. All rights reserved.
Published by Apex Publishing Ltd.
