Yanking at the wraps, the mummy tried to free herself, fighting like she had when they’d first ordered her mummified alive. She yelled for her guards through the wrapping, but the only sounds that came out sounded like muffled moans.
Calming down, she tried to remember where the end of the wrapping was. If she could find the end, maybe she could unravel it. Then it hit her! It was on her back! Great...she couldn’t reach it with her arms folded on her chest.
So instead of yanking outward with her arms, she began yanking them downward, trying to get them to come down out of the cross wrapping. This new plan worked. Soon her wrapped hands and arms were free from her chest. The only problem was she couldn't use her fingers, thumbs, or even see anything.
Feeling her wrapped back, she searched with her hands for the end of the wrapping that they’d tied off.
It was several annoying minutes before she found the end, and it was several more before she could untie it with the tips of her fingers. Why wasn’t there anyone there to help her?
Quickly unraveling the wrap from her body, her oiled skin on her stomach was bare to the air. Soon her chest and shoulders were unwrapped. Then she unwrapped the strong cloth from her head and took a large, deep breath of air, the first breath she’d breathed since they’d put that jewel on her forehead.
Gazing around the tomb, she saw that it was completely empty, except for a strange black object on the floor, producing light out the top. It didn’t appear to be lit by fire.
Quickly unraveling her arms and legs, she hopped out of the sarcophagus and walked slowly over to the black object, wondering if it was something dangerous.
Reaching down, she picked it up and looked down the light. It didn’t burn her eyes, and it wasn’t hot. How did this work?
She shook it for a few seconds, but that didn’t do anything. So she shrugged and shown it around the room, looking for the ones that woke her up. Everything was dark and quiet though. But someone was definitely here. Several items of her treasure were missing, and the blue jewel was on the floor.
She walked over and picked up the jewel, looking it over. Then she glared back at the doorway to the tomb, wondering what they’d planned to do to her before she’d scared them away. Were they grave robbers?
Walking back over to her treasure, she took out a small necklace and hooked the jewel to it. Just in case she needed it later, she would have it on hand.
She suddenly remembered her cat! Miko! Poor Miko!
Running over to what appeared to be a statue of her cat, she quickly yanked off the blue jewel, and the black leopard instantly came to life, crouching down into an attack stance. When he saw that it was only his master, he relaxed and began licking his paws.
“Miko, go find the intruders.” She pointed towards the tomb doorway.
Miko just looked up at her, and cocked his head. So much for that idea.
So she turned and walked out of the tomb, down the hallway and to the fork. At first she was going to head to her advisor, Runi’s, tomb and wake him up, but then she thought twice. He’d agreed whole-heartedly with her father’s order to have her mummified before the Romans attacked, even though she’d insisted otherwise. If fact, he might’ve even been the one that gave him the idea. There was no reason she should wake him up.
Glaring at the hall to Runi’s tomb, she turned, sticking her head up, and walked down the hall to the Corridor maze, intent on finding the ones that had awaken her so rudely.
Leoma and Kadin finally halted, and stood leaning against the wall, panting heavily. By now Kadin had lost most of his treasure, except for the light stuff in his pockets, and the sword on his hip.
“Wh-wha-what was that!” Kadin breathed holding his stomach.
“I...I-I’ve never seen anything like that! It...it was alive!” Leoma breathed heavily holding her forehead with her hand.
“M-maybe that jewel really did do something!” Kadin held his flashlight shakily.
“It has to be. It couldn’t be anything else.” Leoma slid down until she was sitting on the cold floor.
“We...we can’t stay here. We have to keep going. That thing could catch up any minute!”
“Kadin...we just ran for almost fifteen minutes. It won’t catch us unless it ran as fast as your jeep.” Leoma sighed, trying to gain control of her breathing.
“Yeah...I guess. But still...” Kadin shown the light down the way they’d come. “Wait...how many turns did we make?”
“Umm...” Leoma thought a moment, “three to the left...one to the right...then...I lost count.”
“Oh great. Now we’re lost too.” Kadin sank to the floor on the other side of the passage. “Maybe we should just wait here and let the thing catch up and kill us. It would be a much quicker way to go.”
Leoma didn’t reply as she sat on the floor. Then she realized that she’d forgotten her flashlight. “Oh no. That thing must have my flashlight.”
“What’s a mummy going to do with a flashlight?” Kadin’s remark had sarcasm laced in it.
“I don’t know! What’s a mummy doing sitting up and groaning?” Leoma snapped before folding her arms.
They fell silent for several moments, trying to calm down.
Kadin relaxed, letting his hand holding the flashlight rest on the floor. That’s when he noticed the light beam reflecting off of gold. Then his eyes grew wide, “Oh no.”
“What now?” Leoma groaned.
“Kadin crawled on his hands and knees over to the passage they’d come from and shown the beam down along the floor. “I dropped treasure the whole way, leading a trail right to us.”
“Perfect.” Now it was Leoma’s turn to be sarcastic. “At least we were smart enough to put the jewel back on the forehead of the first mummy we found.”
“Yeah. One’s enough to deal with.” Kadin slid back against the wall again and shown the flashlight away from the tunnel, just in case the mummy wasn’t following the treasure, he didn’t want to give their position away.
Leoma blew up some air against her bangs. “Well, I’m going to put up a fight.” She stood up and dusted herself off. “If that mummy is after me, it’s going to have to catch me first!” Then she turned and began reading the hieroglyphics on the walls.
Kadin blinked a few times, then stood up also, “What does it say?”
“This place is a maze after all. It says that only the ‘holy’ will find the way out. Then there’s a riddle.” Leoma explained, dragging her finger across the pictures as she read.
Kadin trudged up behind her and shown the light on the wall closely, “And?”
“‘To go forwards, you must go back; to get out, you must get in; you must finish to begin.’” Leoma stared at it and reread it again just to make sure she’d translated right.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Kadin scratched the back of his neck, “How are we supposed to figure something so stupid out?”
“Hmm...to go forwards, you must go back...we came in the front of the palace...” Leoma shifted her weight to her left leg. “We want to get out...so we’re trying to find a way back, so we can go forwards out?”
“That doesn’t sound right.” Kadin shook his head. “To get out, you must get in...this is impossible!” He shook his head and leaned up against the wall.
“We have to figure it out.” Leoma tapped her chin, “Maybe...we have to keep going towards the middle of the palace to find a way out? Could that be what it means?”
Kadin shrugged, “How should I know? Maybe...I guess.”
“You must finish to begin...I think it’s just telling us over and over that we need to go in deeper to find the way out.” Leoma wagged her finger once at the hieroglyphs.
“I hope you’re right.” Kadin glanced back the way they’d come, “Only one problem.”
“What?”
“Which way do we go to head deeper?”
“I...” Leoma whirled around a few times, gazing undecisibly at the three other passageways they could choose from. “...have no idea.”
Following the treasure down the passage, the mummy paused to pick up the matching gold armband that the thief had dropped on the ground. She put it on her left arm, completing the set.
If the thieves were descendants of her subjects, they would have to see her in at least a more formal manner. Her set of burial clothes only consisted of a long skirt, with two large slits up the sides, and a small white top.
Continuing down the halls, she soon had her golden arm bracelet with the head of a snake on it, and her gold headband also with a snake on it. After all, the snake was the sign of royalty.
Soon she also had her papyrus sandals, which were painted gold, and her signet ring.
She had to reach them soon. They couldn’t have gone very far with such a heavy load. And they didn’t appear to know the way out either. They’d taken any passage that they could, zigzagging.
Then she saw it, a light from an object like the one she carried. Quickly turning off her own object (she’d learned how to use the button earlier), she decided to creep up on them.
“Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.” Kadin went back and forth between the passages. “Catch a mummy by the toe, if he hollers, let ‘im go, eenie, meenie, miney, mo.” His finger stopped on the passage in the middle.
“What a brilliant deduction.” Leoma smirked. “I’d rather go left. It looks longer.”
“Hey, I’m the one with the flashlight here. So the tunnel I pick is the one we use.” Kadin stuck his thumb against his chest.
“Awww, so brave and chivalrous.” Leoma rolled her eyes.
Kadin stuck his tongue out at her before heading into the tunnel. She had no choice but to follow. The mummy followed also, very close behind Leoma, wondering why the thief partners were fighting, and weren’t going back after the treasure.
“Keep your eyes peeled for any sign of a staircase or hole in the ceiling.” Leoma gazed around the dark quarters.
“Yeah yeah, who’s the guide here, eh?”
“Certainly not you.” Leoma folded her arms.
“Hey, I’ve been in here more times than I can count.” Kadin snorted.
Leoma yawned. “You could’ve fooled me.”
“Let’s just find a way out.” Kadin groaned. “I don’t like being buried with a live mummy running around, and who knows what else down here. All I want is to leave alive.”
“Next time I come for an expedition, I’m hiring my own guide.” Leoma made a loud mental note to herself.
“And I’ll be happy to wish him luck with you, since you have a way of getting people buried alive!” Kadin rolled his eyes.
So, these thieves weren’t thieves after all. They were some kind of explorers from a different country. They must have found a way in by accident, and now couldn’t get out. She was able to understand what they were saying, since it seemed to be a slightly different her form of the Arabian language. It wasn’t hard to catch on.
“What was that stupid riddle again?” Kadin broke the silence.
“Let go of me first.” Leoma glared at him.
“What?” Kadin stopped and turned back towards her.
“You’ve got a hold of my...”Leoma paused as she glanced down at Kadin’s one hand holding the flashlight and his other one down by his side. Then her eyes bulged, “...th-the...th-the...”
“What?” Kadin shown the flashlight on her face and saw the color leave her pinkish skin.
“‘To go forwards, you must go back; to get out, you must get in; you must finish to begin.’”

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