Page 36 of Tomb of the Sun King

“Knives?!” Neil echoed, blanching.

“I am more interested to learn that there are ‘usual spots,’” Sayyid added, looking both impressed and intimidated.

“We must be able to think of a better plan than a knife-fighting melee!” Ellie protested. Her look shifted, turning to one of avaricious interest. “Perhaps there is something chemically volatile down here…”

“No explosions,” Adam cut in quickly. “Or plans. If we wanna stop Dawson from getting whatever’s down here, we’re gonna have to wing it.”

“I suppose you are right.” Ellie crossed to the crumbling gap in the rubble that blocked the doorway to the next chamber. “Could I get a leg up?”

Adam…blushed.

Neil wasn’t sure he had ever seen Adam blush before.

“I mean—might I have a boost to the opening?” Ellie amended primly.

Her cheeks had turned a little pink.

“Boost. Right,” Adam returned, crossing over and forming his hands into a stirrup. “Here you go, Princess.”

Ellie set her boot into his grip and squirmed through the opening, her sturdy walking boots disappearing from his view.

Neil gaped at the place where they had been. “Did my sister just crawl into the unsurveyed portion of the tomb?”

“It would appear so,” Sayyid said from beside him, looking pale.

“Lend another lady a hand?” Constance asked cheerfully.

“Of course,” Adam agreed, launching her up behind Ellie.

“And why did Bates call my sister ‘Princess?’” Neil asked, bewildered.

Sayyid gave him a long, surprised blink. “Have you not… Did it not seem to you that…”

Neil stared at him blankly, waiting for him to elaborate.

Sayyid clamped his mouth shut.

“Either of you need a lift?” Adam called over, sounding a little tired.

“Allahumma la sahla illa maa ja’altahu sahlan,” Sayyid recited with a shake of his head. “At least I can try to make sure they do not damage the paintings.”

Without waiting for Neil, he crossed over and wriggled through the gap.

“But procedure…” Neil began helplessly. “Proper survey methods… Stabilization…”

Adam scooped a coil of rope up from the dig supplies on the floor. His eyes flashed with sympathy as he clamped a warm hand on Neil’s shoulder—and then used it to steer Neil toward the door. “Come on, Fairfax. Looks like we’re gonna raid your tomb.”

??

Nine

With her bootbraced on a loop of rope, Ellie dropped awkwardly down the dark, narrow length of another shaft. At least this one was shorter than the first they had descended, so it was less likely that Adam would reach the bottom of it and need to lie down.

She bumped against the tight stone walls as she haltingly descended. Above her, Adam reeled the rope out around one of the big columns in the pillared hall, a handkerchief tied around his palm to keep the fibers from irritating his scar.

Ellie had spotted a scattering of blue faience shabtis—real ones this time—among the rubble on the floor of that chamber. The find strongly indicated that Neil’s foreman, Mr. Al-Ahmed, was right. The tomb had almost certainly been looted in ancient times. A Roman-era thief wouldn’t have found much value in the little statues, but a modern one would have been able to fetch a good price for them on the black market.

Ellie didn’t let that dissuade her. She had a theory about the nature of the clue Dawson was seeking in the tomb. If she was right, what they were looking for wouldn’t have been of interest to a Roman thief, either. It would take the form of something more humble—something meant to be kept hidden.

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