Egypt, The Valley of the Kings, 1985.
Hector and Lyta Hall stared in amazement at the Egyptian hieroglyphs on the wall before them. The word ‘Fate’ still burned yellow. It may have been the lost tomb of Khufu that they stood in, but this was something else altogether. It had to be… Hector was sure of it.
Lyta felt it too as the goose bumps traveled over her limbs. She had felt an inexplicable draw to Professor Hall… yet just attributed it to him being ‘hot’. This went far beyond that. She knew they were linked… yet did not know how.
Was it fate?
"Ms. Trevor… touch the hieroglyph with your other hand." Hector requested, "but don’t let go of mine."
Silently she reached forward and touched the hieroglyph with her right hand… her left still clutching onto Hector’s with all of her might. Hector reached out as well with his left hand to touch the word, etched in fire, on the wall of the lost tomb.
The Earth beneath them seemed to lurch with a deep rumble as the wall before them came to life. The hieroglyphs light intensified and the ancient stones the wall was composed of began to move as if they were alive. The archaeologist and the photojournalist backed quickly away from the wall. Lyta quickly let go of Hectors hand and practically leaped into his arms for safety.
The stones shifted and realigned themselves revealing a long corridor, darker than a starless, moonless night. Hector waited a long moment, for something to snap. He had seen the result of ancient booby-traps in the past and did not wish for he & Lyta to become victim to another. Still gripping Lyta tightly, he peered into the corridor, but saw nothing.
"Um, excuse me… Dr. Hall?" Lyta said rather embarrassed at her initial need to be held.
"What? Oh, yes, of course!" Hector released her sensing her newfound discomfort.
"What is it? I mean, besides the obvious?" she asked quickly.
"I don’t know…" he said thoughtfully. He bent down, gathering a small stone fragment in his hand and tossed it through the doorway. It landed with a dull thud. It wasn’t a pit at least. It dawned on him suddenly that he had a small flashlight in his shirt pocket. He grabbed it, turned it on and shone it through the doorway. The light peered 5 feet forward before the darkness overcame the beam. It was far enough to verify that there was at least a full floor.
He walked forward, cautiously stepping through the doorway.
"Oh, I don’t think so Dr. Hall…" Lyta urged as she lunged for his arm. "You’re not going anywhere without me."
"Carefully then…" Hector cautioned with a smile, moving her hand from his arm to a belt-loop on the seat of his jeans, "step only where I step."
Lyta nodded enthusiastically in reply.
"Ok then… here goes." He stepped forward with Lyta in tow.
Lyta clutched onto Hector’s belt-loop for dear life and held tighter with each step.
"Careful now Ms. Trevor, you’re going to pull me backward."
"…sorry…" she whispered relaxing a bit.
The moment they had both cleared the doorway, an ancient torch jammed into a wall sconce burned to life. Both paused and stared at it, unsure of what to think. Hector reached up and pulled at the torch, but it wouldn’t budge.
"…that’s kinda weird…" Lyta whispered to him.
He turned and looked at her. "You think?"
They continued down the corridor each time they stepped beyond the reach of the torchlight another flared to life. With each torch, Lyta increased her grip again on Hector’s belt-loop. When they reached the end of the corridor they stepped into a cavernous, pitch-black room.
Hector reached into his shirt pocket and grabbed the small flashlight again. He clicked it on again and caught site of something in the center of the room before the flashlight burned out.
"Dammit! I just put batteries in this blasted thing!" he said as he smacked the flashlight in the palm of his hand.
"There are steps in the center of the room." Lyta exclaimed.
"I saw them too. I’m going towards it. Hold onto me…" he began as he moved cautiously forward. "Slowly now."
After what seemed an eternity they reached stone steps. Slowly they proceeded up the steps. As they reached the top of a stone platform, the room erupted with light. Torches burned in wall sconces and a trough that ran along the wall of the entire chamber sparked to life with fire.
They stopped to look at the chamber… it was unlike anything they’d ever seen. And it was unlike anything Hector had even seen in Egypt. In fact the only semblance of Egyptian architecture were 3 statues standing on the stone platform with them. One in the center was a bearded man, wearing gauntlets, an amulet and holding a helm of gold. Behind it and to the right was a statue of what looked like Horus, the Hawk-God. To the left of the statue was what looked like a female counterpart to Horus. Before the three statues stood a small alter of stone that held two halves of a broken gold amulet. The amulet looked exactly like the one on the statue.
Hector walked forward toward the altar.
Lyta stayed behind to survey the rest of the chamber. At least it seemed at first to be just a chamber. The ground surrounding the stone platform was Egyptian sand; the stone beneath their feet and the stone the walls were composed of were not Egyptian. The walls were a deep gray color and completely free of hieroglyphs. She looked up and realized they were not in a chamber at all.
"… Hector!" Lyta whispered excitedly.
Hector ignored her as he stared at the broken amulet. He searched all around it for signs of a trap, but found nothing. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a small brush. He began dusting the amulet off and came across a hieroglyph. From top to bottom… water, a bent arm, a leg with a foot & a small bird.
"Nabu again…" Hector said to himself, looking back up at the statue of the bearded man.
"Hector!!" Lyta called again a little louder, which he either ignored or didn’t hear.
"Nabu…" he said to himself as he gently picked up half of the small, broken amulet with a handkerchief. He held it up to the torchlight. "Fate… I’ve heard this before," he said to himself. "Fate… it’s not a word… well, it is, just not to be taken in that context. Like Nabu… it’s a name."
"HECTOR!" Lyta shouted at him, causing him to jump and nearly drop the amulet half. She had stepped right up behind him.
"Jesus, Lyta! What?" he asked, his heart pounding in his chest.
Looking him in the eye, she simply pointed upward. He followed her finger up and was shocked by the sight. Instead of a stone ceiling, the chamber went up and up with gray stone staircases leading to other levels. The chamber seemed to stretch on and on. Level after level. At the pinnacle, where the ceiling should have been there were stars, planets… what looked like an entire galaxy. It was indescribable.
"My God… We’re in a tower. It’s daytime. We’re less than 150 feet underground… How is this possible?" he asked turning to Lyta.
"You’re the professor… I thought you might know."
"Nabu… Fate… names," he said staring back down at the amulet. "My mother & father. I know this somehow. It’s all tied together."
"You said that Nabu was Khufu’s most trusted advisor, right? Well… this place is attached to the tomb of Khufu. Your parents discovered it… didn’t they?" she said confidently. "There’s your link."
"No… well, yes. But it goes deeper than that," he answered, closing his eyes, "I don’t know how… when I was younger, my parents, before they died, had friends that would come by. They would meet together for hours talking. I was too young to understand what they were saying. In fact, I always thought this was my imagination and not memories… there were… two of these people… a married couple, I think. I remember seeing them more than the others. The man… he had an amulet he wore on a gold chain. I remember touching it when he held me. I remember him laughing; kindly… he and his wife were very kind. I know this name… Fate. These people spoke of him… Nelson. They were the Nelsons."
"I assume, we’re not talking about Ozzie & Harriet. Alright… Nabu… Fate… is it possible Fate & Nabu were the same person?" Lyta asked.
"Impossible… Nabu was alive in the 3rd dynasty of Egypt. They spoke of Fate as though they knew him personally." Hector replied even more confused.
"So this has what to do with this place?" Lyta asked.
"This amulet… it’s identical to the one that Nelson wore. Ken… no… Kent. Kent Nelson." He said, opening his eyes & looking up again toward the ceiling. "And look… this statue." Hector rushed to the statue pointing at it excitedly. "This, I believe, is Nabu… he’s wearing the same amulet."
Hector looked at the altar and saw the other half of the amulet. He reached down and picked up the other half with the same handkerchief.
"What the Hell were my parents into?"
~
