“I hate to be practical at a time like this, but how do we get around this pit?” Charles said. “And it won’t be the only pit.”

  Abigail agreed. “This is a typical device in Egyptian tombs. It was meant for tomb robbers.”

  “It was strange how we didn’t get any warning,” Riley said. “Maybe we happened to be shining our flashlights over the walls, not over the floor at that very time.”

  “And the pit is fairly narrow too,” Myles said. “We’re going to have to be more careful.”

  “Look here,” Charles said. “I think if we get a run-up, we should be able to jump across it. It is narrow, like Myles said.”

  Abigail considered the distance. “I don’t think I could make it across,” she said.

  “Did you want to wait here?” Myles asked her. “Maybe go back to the house?”

  Abigail shook her head. “No.” The thrill of being in the great complex built by Amenemhat III had overcome her. “I’m going with you.”

  “I’ll tie a rope around you, and if you don’t make it across, at least I can haul you out of the pit,” Riley said. “And don’t worry, you won’t fall all the way down. You might get some grazes and cuts though.”

  “I’ll do it,” Abigail said.

  Riley touched her arm. “Before anyone jumps, I’m going to throw a chem light into the tunnel ahead of us, just in case,” he said. As he was speaking, he threw the chem light.

  Everything looked fine ahead. All Abigail could see was the continuation of the tunnel. However, she was disturbed to see more rubble on the ground. She hoped it wasn’t a sign that the way ahead was impassable, the roof having caved in. It was a well known fact that many of the ceilings in the Black Pyramid were not sufficiently supported and many had collapsed soon after it was built.

  Myles walked back a few paces, took off at a run, and jumped over the pit. Riley indicated Charles should go next. “Aren’t you going to tie a rope around me?” Charles complained.

  “No, I’m tying it around Abigail,” Riley told him. “If you fall into the pit, Myles and I will help you out.”

  Although Abigail could not see Charles’s face, she was in no doubt as to his expression. “All right,” he spat. He walked further back into the tunnel and took the pit at speed. One foot landed on the side, but the other foot went in. Myles at once was at his side and pulled him to safety.

  Riley turned to Abigail. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  She nodded. Riley tied the rope around her waist. “Now do what Charles did. Go back a long way, as far as you can, and take it at speed. Don’t look down.”

  Abigail closed her eyes tightly and thought of the slime and maybe a crocodile at the bottom of the pit. She told herself she was being fanciful because the pit was small and any crocodile would, of course, have attacked Myles. Maybe it had been a snake in there with him. That thought afforded her no comfort.

  Riley easily jumped over the pit holding the rope. “Okay, Abigail,” he called out.

  Abigail walked back down the tunnel. She sprinted as fast as she could and then leapt into the air. To her surprise, she landed with both feet on solid ground. Maybe the jogging she had done recently had some effect on her, after all.

  “Great work,” Myles said as Riley untied the rope around her waist. “Abigail, is there anything in particular we should watch out for now, apart from pits?”

  “Portcullis stones falling on us, snakes and scorpions, and if the place has flooded recently, maybe a crocodile,” Charles said. “We’re quite close to the Nile.”

  “And the ceilings falling in on us,” Abigail said. “If you see anything holding up the ceiling, whatever you do, don’t touch it.”

  Charles snorted rudely. “It would be a coincidence if the ceilings stayed up for thousands of years and then happened to fall the very time we were in here.”

  Abigail was getting a little tired of Charles’s attitude. “That’s why I said not to bump anything,” she said tersely.

  The going was level now. They rounded a corner and ahead of them was a sharp bend. “Maybe this is the start of the labyrinth,” Charles offered. “We’ve been level for a while.”

  “Would the labyrinth itself have those large pits?” Myles asked him.

  It was Abigail who answered. “I mentioned earlier that there was an underground labyrinth and an above ground labyrinth. Herodotus details the above ground labyrinth. He mentions the chambers of the subterranean labyrinth, although he says he didn’t see them in person. The other ancient writers who mentioned the labyrinth lived four hundred years after Herodotus. They included Strabo, Pliny, and Diodorus. Pliny mentions the underground chambers. Today, Egyptologists can’t agree whether the labyrinth was here or at Hawara.”

  “Well, it’s obviously here since we’re in it,” Charles said in a scornful tone. “Unless there were two labyrinths and I very much doubt that, though.” After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “Although it’s always a possibility, since both sites are associated with Amenemhat III, and the famous Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie, did say there was a labyrinth at Hawara.”

  Ahead of them, the tunnel seemed to end, but upon approaching the wall, Abigail could make out a passageway running both to the left and the right. The unmistakable stench of that manure field was stronger at this point and she wondered if they were close to an exit.

  “Stop!” Riley’s voice startled Abigail. He shone his flashlight ahead. “Another pit.”

  Myles and Riley edged forward, but Riley turned side-on, keeping an eye on Charles.

  “Snakes!” Myles said.

  Abigail edged forward and shone her flashlight into the pit. She at once wished she hadn’t. This pit was dry, but snakes were writhing about in it. “Are those cobras?” she asked. Several were striking at the torchlight, and they looked like the snakes she had seen with snake charmers in movies.

  “Yes, Egyptian cobras,” Charles said. “Quite venomous. I have no idea how they got in.” He leaned over the pit and peered inside. “There’s a small crack at the bottom. It must lead to an exit, at least for something the size of a snake.”

  Abigail was at a loss. “We’ll never be able to jump across it.”

  Riley threw a chem light across the pit. Everyone gasped in unison. In front of them was a ledge cut into the wall and running alongside the pit. “There’s the way across,” Riley said.

  Charles snorted rudely. “It doesn’t look safe to me!”

  Myles at once climbed onto the ledge. He carefully made his way along it. Abigail held her breath for most of it, fearing it was a trap and the ledge would give way. When he reached the other side safely, she sighed with relief.

  “It feels quite solid underneath,” Myles said. “I don’t think it will give way. Come on Charles, you’re next.”

  Charles crawled along the ledge ever so slowly, far more slowly than Myles. When he reached the other side, he loudly announced, “I hope there’s another way out, because I’m not coming back this way.”

  Riley once more tied the rope around Abigail’s waist. “Now, are you all right to do this?”

  “Yes,” Abigail said, although she was partly terrified. Truth be told, the excitement of being in the famous labyrinth of Amenemhat III overcame any fears. She stood there and watched as Riley made his way across the ledge. He was even faster than Myles and reached the other side in no time.

  Abigail climbed onto the ledge. She soon discovered it was by no means easy. Her palms were sweaty, and the stone dug into her knees as she crawled. She kept as close to the side of the wall as she could, but she had to crawl low to the ground. Her legs ached. She realized it was the thought of the pit of venomous snakes to her left that made the going hard, but that didn’t help any. She tried to slow her breathing and reassure herself that Riley had a rope around her. If she fell, maybe the snakes wouldn’t reach her legs before Riley pulled her out of the pit.

  “Come on, you’re doing great,” Riley called out.

  It seemed like an age before Abigail reached the other side. A pair of strong arms grabbed her. Soon she was against Riley’s hard chest. He squeezed her tight ever so briefly, and then undid the rope. “Good work,” he said, admiration evident in his voice.

  “You’re a regular Flinders Petrie,” Charles said with a chuckle.

  “Who?” Myles said. “You mentioned him before.”

  “A very famous Egyptologist from almost two hundred years ago,” Charles said. “Honestly, I thought you guys would do a bit of research.”

  “We haven’t had the luxury of time,” Riley pointed out. “And we do have you and Abigail.”

  “Point taken,” Charles said. They had reached the wall where a passageway branched in opposite directions. “Left, or right?” Myles said, looking at Abigail.

  “I really have no idea,” she said.

  Myles pointed to the left. “All right, let’s try this way. We can always backtrack.”

  They had only gone a few paces when the four of them stopped.

  Before them was a huge vestibule with forty-foot high corbeled ceilings, thrown into illumination by the chem lights both Riley and Myles had thrown. It was a narrow and symmetrical space. The walls were made of granite blocks, no mud brick here.

  Opposite it stood a vast doorway with sandstone doorposts.

  A loud, rumbling sound emanated from the passageway behind them.

  Abigail grabbed Riley’s arm. “What was that?”

  It was Charles who answered. “I do remember one of the ancient writers said that some of the halls within the labyrinth are designed in such a way that when doors open, there’s a terrifying rumble that sounds like thunder.”

  “That means someone else is in the labyrinth,” Myles said.

  24

  DAHSHUR

  “Then we need to move forward,” Riley said.

  “No, this might be a warning.” Abigail indicated the representation of Amenemhat III carved in light relief on the wall beside her. On his head were many jewels. The woman sitting on the extension of the throne was his wife. Next to those two were five lines of prisoners along with the names of various conquered cities and towns.

  Abigail read aloud, “Gold that has been twice refined, copper, black gold, electrum, new cedar.” She could not read the next part of the relief, and then it ended, ‘mighty with prestige’.”

  What had caught her attention, however, was the scene of beheading. Was this a scene of ritual massacring of prisoners? She scratched her head and stared at the scene, the precariousness of her situation forgotten in the moment. Abigail then looked at the suns. Usually, these were inside a cartouche, but these were freestanding. Did this mean the sun god? There was more than one disk, and they were in pairs. She had never seen the sun god mentioned in this way before. Some of the hieroglyphs describing the scene were worn. Abigail did her best to read them but to no avail.

  She looked once more at the disks and then at the scenes of a massacre. Suddenly, it dawned on her.

  “Stop!” she yelled, turning around.

  Charles stopped in his tracks and took one step back toward her. He opened his mouth to speak but didn’t have time. A swinging disk whisked past him, causing him to squeal and jump forward.

  At that moment, a concert of swinging disks swung from each wall, passing each other in the middle and making a grating sound as they skimmed the surface of the floor.

  “What on earth?” Charles said. He was white and shaken.

  Abigail hurried over to Riley and clasped his arm by instinct. He put his arm around her and held her close.

  “The reliefs on the wall show people being cut in half,” she said. “I thought they were prisoners, but they might be people who have come through here without permission.”

  “We’ll have to go back the other way,” Myles said. “Hopefully, there aren’t any booby traps like this in the tunnel to the right.”

  “Are you kidding?” Charles said. “The presence of booby traps indicates that there’s something good on the other side.” He waved one hand at the swinging disks. “They ancient Egyptians were hardly likely to put these big swinging guillotine things here to guard bat droppings, were they? There must be something really good on the other side.” His eyes lit up. “Maybe lots of gold. Maybe Goliath’s spear. Maybe Goliath’s spear and lots of gold.”

  Abigail frowned. “You’re not suggesting we run through those?” She wondered where Charles had gotten his sudden burst of bravery. Maybe, it was the thought of potential gold.

  Charles was still speaking. “We’re onto something here, I tell you.” He turned around to look at the disks once more. “Okay, they’re sticking to the same rhythm, and there’s enough space between them to stand still.”

  To Abigail’s surprise, Riley agreed with Charles. “I see what you mean,” Riley said. “Maybe they were built to let their own people through, people who were supposed to be here rather than tomb robbers.”

  Myles stepped closer to the first line of swinging disks. “They’re falling at different rhythms, so it’s impossible to sprint past them all at once. However, there is room to wait between each pair of disks.”

  Abigail could scarcely believe her ears. “You want us to go across?” she said, shocked. “You think it’s possible to get to the other side?”

  “Of course it’s possible,” Charles said. “Why else would they be here? They must have been built to allow priests through or attendees or whatever.” He held up both hands, palms upward. “Look, I don’t have a clue, but they’re obviously meant to allow someone to get through. Otherwise, there would not be any space between the pairs of disks. It’s quite obvious and logical.”

  It didn’t seem so obvious and logical to Abigail. But then again, she didn’t fancy being chopped in half by one of those sharp disks. “I can’t believe they’re working so well after centuries,” she said.

  “It might not be centuries,” Charles said thoughtfully. “Some of those excavators in the last two hundred years were quite cagey about this dig. Maybe they got the disks working to keep tomb robbers out of the way.”

  Abigail thought on it for a moment. “Yes, you might be right. There has been a lot of looting here, especially in the last decade.”

  “But if excavators helped these booby-traps along, wouldn’t they have found Goliath’s spear and removed by now?” Riley said.

  Charles shook his head. “No, the labyrinth is vast. We don’t know how far they got. Even good old Dr. Addington only got a little way in. Maybe these people got in a little further. They must have thought something was still worth guarding.”

  “But not necessarily gold,” Abigail said. “Modern-day archeologists who remove mummies are actually desecrating graves. Maybe whoever got these booby-traps in working order or repaired them was of the same belief.”

  Charles simply grunted by way of response. “Who’s going first?” he asked.

  “Why don’t you go first, Charles, since you’re so keen?” Riley said.

  “No way.” Charles folded his arms over his chest.

  “Maybe we should go back and take the other passageway, after all,” Myles said.

  Charles pouted. “Okay Myles, you go first and I’ll go second, and I promise I’ll go first at the next booby trap we find.”

  Myles clapped his hand on Charles’s shoulder. “You’ve got a deal. Now stand back and give me time to think.” He counted aloud. “One, two, three, four, five.” As soon as the disks were on their way back to the wall, Myles stepped into the small area between the first and second pair of swinging disks.

  Abigail held her breath, wondering if she would hear a bloodcurdling scream from Myles at any moment, but he said, “There’s plenty of room between the disks, although I’m only between the first and second pairs. I’ll let you know when I get to the other side.”

  Soon Myles called out, “I made it across.”

  “Stay there. Don’t go any further until we get there, in case there are more booby-traps,” Riley called back to him.

  “There are five sets of these swinging disks and there is plenty of room between them, but make sure you stand perfectly still,” Myles called out. “It’s not a close shave by any means, but you wouldn’t want to misjudge the distance.”

  Abigail was about to say something when Charles stepped between the first pair of disks.

  Riley turned to Abigail. “Will you be all right with this?”

  “I don’t really have a choice,” she said. When she saw Riley’s frown, she added, “Sure. I’ll be all right. I’m excited to see what lies beyond.”

  “Do you want to go next or shall I?” Riley asked her.

  “I’ll go next to get it over with,” Abigail said.

  Riley pointed to the ground. “See those striations on the floor? Keep your eye on those and it will show you where the disks land. Abigail, be careful, very careful.”

  Abigail simply nodded. She was too afraid to speak. She stepped up to the disks. She took a deep breath and waited until the swinging disks met in the middle. The second they parted, she stepped through, keeping her eye on the marks on the ground.

  She fought a moment of blind panic as disks swung behind and in front of her. One false move and it would be the end.

  Abigail took a deep breath. As soon as the second set of disks parted, she stepped forward into the third section. “You’re doing well,” Riley called out. “Keep going, you’re almost there.”

  When Abigail got between the third and the fourth set of tests, it seemed to her that the area between the disks was slightly narrower than before. Still, Myles and Charles had made it across safely.

  She held her breath and stepped between the fourth and the fifth pair of disks. One more pair to go, and she was safe. She felt the blades part pass close behind her and as soon as the disks in front parted, she jumped forward.

  Abigail staggered against the far wall and leaned against it for support. Now she had to watch Riley cross. Abigail couldn’t bear it. She planted her palms firmly over her eyes until Riley appeared beside her. He gently prised her hands from her eyes. “We all made it,” he said.