The Third Gate

5

For a moment, Logan hesitated. He wasn’t sure he understood. Stone merely returned his gaze, cup in hand, his expression unreadable.

Logan began to reach for the worn coaster, paused, then extended his hand-gingerly-and picked it up. As he did so he realized it was not earthenware, after all, but a thin piece of limestone, badly chipped at the edges. Turning it over, he saw faint pictographs drawn in pale brown ink.

“Not the original, of course,” Stone said. “But an exact copy.” He paused. “Do you know what it is?”

Logan turned it over in his hands. “It looks like an ostracon.”

“Bravo!” Stone turned toward Rush. “Ethan, this man impresses me more by the minute.” He looked back at Logan. “If you know it’s an ostracon, then you’ll also know its purpose.”

“Ostraca were discarded bits of leftover stone, pottery, almost anything, used for unimportant writings. Antiquity’s version of the notepad.”

“Precisely. With emphasis on ‘unimportant.’ They might have been used for bills of sale or for grocery lists. Which is precisely why I was using that as a coaster. A melodramatic touch, but it makes a point. To someone like Flinders Petrie, ostraca were a dime a dozen: occasionally interesting in the light they could throw on humdrum, everyday life in the ancient world, but otherwise of little significance.”

“Which is why Petrie would never have noticed it before.” Logan looked down at the faded limestone inscription. There were a total of four pictographs, badly scratched and faded. “I know very little about hieroglyphs. What makes this so special?”

“I’ll give you the short version. Have you heard of King Narmer?”

Logan thought a moment. “Wasn’t he the pharaoh who many believe unified Egypt?”

“That’s right. Before Narmer came along there were two kingdoms: upper and lower Egypt. ‘Upper’ meant farther up the Nile and actually lay to the south. Each had its own ruler, with his own crown. The kings of upper Egypt wore a white, conical crown, shaped almost like a bowling pin, while the kings of lower Egypt sported a red crown with a peak at the back. Around 3200 BC, Narmer-the ruler of upper Egypt-came north, killed the king of lower Egypt, and in so doing unified the country, with himself as pharaoh. It’s my belief that he was the first god-king of a long line that followed; and-who knows? — perhaps only a god could have united the two Egypts. He was certainly believed to have power over both life and death.” Stone paused. “Anyway, he unified something else, too. He unified the crowns of the two kingdoms. You see, Dr. Logan, the crown of the Egyptian pharaoh was a uniquely important symbol of power. Narmer of course was aware of this. So once Egypt had become a single kingdom, he wore a double crown-a combination of the white and red crowns, symbolic of his dominion over both lower and upper Egypt. And for the next three thousand years, every pharaoh that followed in his wake did the same.”

He drained the tiny cup, put it to one side. “But back to Narmer. The unification of Egypt was memorialized on a large siltstone tablet, depicting his defeat of the rival king. Scholars have referred to this Narmer Palette as ‘the first historical document in the world.’ It depicts the earliest representation of Egyptian kings ever found. It also contains primitive-and very distinctive-hieroglyphs.”

Stone held out his hand and Logan gave him the limestone fragment.

“What Petrie saw on this ostracon were hieroglyphs dating from that very early period. As you can see, there are a total of four.” Extending a slender finger, Stone pointed to them in turn.

“What do they say?” Logan asked.

“You’ll understand if I’m a little reticent about the details. Let’s just say that this is no insignificant laundry list. Quite the opposite. This ostracon is the key to the biggest-and I mean the biggest-archaeological secret in history. It tells us what King Narmer took with him when he journeyed to the underworld.”

“You mean, what’s actually buried in his tomb?”

Stone nodded. “But you see, here’s the rub. Narmer’s tomb-we know where it is, a rather sad little two-chamber affair in Abydos, Umm el-Qa’ab to be precise-held none of the things described on this ostracon.”

“Then what…” Logan paused. “You’re telling me the known tomb isn’t a tomb at all.”

“Oh, it’s a tomb, all right. But it’s not the tomb. It might be an early example of a cenotaph-a symbolic, rather than actual, tomb. But I prefer to think of it as a decoy. And when Flinders Petrie saw this ostracon-and understood that… well, that’s the reason he dropped everything at a moment’s notice; abandoned the comforts of retirement; and risked his health, his safety, and his fortune-in an attempt to find Narmer’s real tomb.”

Logan thought about this. “But what could possibly be so valuable-”

Stone raised a hand by way of interruption. “I won’t tell you that. But once you know the location of the tomb-I’ll leave that to Dr. Rush to explain-you’ll understand why, hypothetically, even if we didn’t know what the tomb contained, we would be utterly convinced of its incredible importance.”

Stone leaned forward, tented his fingers. “Dr. Logan, my methods are unusual. I’ve implied as much to you already. When I undertake a new project, I spend most of the total time and at least half the total expense merely in preparation. I research every possible avenue of success, bring overwhelming scholarly and investigative pressure to bear, before a spade first breaks ground. So it probably would not surprise you to learn that-once this ostracon and its message were in my possession-I gave the project a green light. In fact, it became my highest priority.”

He leaned back again, glanced at Rush.

The doctor spoke for the first time. “Where Petrie failed, we succeeded. We’re triangulating the location of the tomb. Everything is in place; all assets are on the ground. Work is proceeding.”

“Proceeding very quickly,” Stone added. “We are under some significant time pressure.”

Logan shifted in his chair. He was still trying to fully grasp the enormity of the find. “You’ve learned of the real tomb’s existence. You know where it is. You’ve started excavation. So why do you need me?”

“I’d rather you find that out for yourself, on site. It would serve no purpose for me to prejudice you or color your judgment. Let’s just say there are complications that fall under your area of expertise.”

“In other words, something strange, perhaps inexplicable, and probably frightening is taking place at the dig site. Such as a curse.”

“Isn’t there always a curse?” Stone asked quietly.

This was greeted by a silence.

After a moment, Stone continued. “These complications need to be analyzed, understood, and dealt with. Ethan here can give you some more background on your way to the site.”

“And where, exactly, is this site?”

“That, my dear doctor, just may be the strangest element in a very strange story. But enough background.” Stone stood up and again shook Logan’s hand. His grasp was cool and slight. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you. Ethan will take over from here. He has every confidence in your unique talents-and, having met you, I do as well.”

This was an unmistakable sign that the meeting was over. Logan nodded, turned to go.

“And Dr. Logan?”

Logan turned back.

“Work quickly. Quickly.”