The curse of Kalaan (7 page)

The walls were blackened and cracked by fire, the sandy floor was a dull sooty gray and there was a strong, distinct smell of sulfur in the air. Not far from what had once obviously been a pedestal, lay Jean-François and Kalaan, their bodies twitching and agitated. They were writhing as if in agony, screaming and moaning incomprehensible words.

“Light up the floor, look carefully everywhere. They may have been bitten by snakes or scorpions!” ordered Salam as he went towards the injured men.

He knelt at Kalaan’s side and signaled that Lil’ Louis should do the same with Champollion, thinking the scholar would be the easier of the two to control in this state. Salam thought he would be a better match for the count than the old seaman, and he was not mistaken. As Salam leaned over the count, Kalaan swung out at him. The man was so strong he could have knocked out a camel! The Tuareg barely managed to dodge the first attack, but couldn’t avoid the second one and received a deep bite on his forearm. Clenching his teeth in pain, Salam managed to break free and, because the young count was becoming far too dangerous, he knocked him unconscious before throwing him over his shoulder to carry him outside. Meanwhile Lil’ Louis grabbed Champollion by his feet and a hardy sailor picked up the other end.

“Let’s get out and fast!” barked Salam who had noticed that the heavily cracked walls were on the point of collapse, was but kept this to himself, not wanting to frighten the men more than necessary.

His silence was unnecessary, however. Lil’ Louis, like the other men, was far from stupid and realized the danger they were in. Keeping cool heads, they calmly but quickly made for the exit, kindling Salam’s admiration.

The minute they were out, Salam shouted orders in Arabic and the Egyptian workmen hurriedly stretched canvases over the bodies of the two friends, still held by the men, but now lying outside on the sand. The sun was going down, but its rays were still strong.

“Hold him
Genaoueg
[28]
!
” Lil’ Louis shouted to his companions who were doing their best to keep the delirious Count of Croz under control.

“We must find what put them in this condition. Look for the slightest sting or bite mark on their skin!” As Salam shouted this order, the fabric of his clothing grazed Kalaan’s contorted face. The young man’s reaction was surprising, and he began struggling even more.

“Get me out from under these petticoats,” he screamed like a lunatic. “They’re suffocating me!”

Lil’ Louis’ eyes opened wide in astonishment. “Oy’d like t’know wot he’s goin’ on about. Petticoats? He’s dreamin’ o’ lassies agin!”

“No, no... not the teeth, not the teeth...” Kalaan chanted, his face tense with pain or fear.

“Petticoats, teeth, women, it dinna seem a nightmare.” The old man trying to joke had a bawdy tone to his voice. He turned to Champollion who was muttering something about scythes and black-caped skeletons.

“He is pursued by Death,” murmured Salam in reply to Lil’ Louis’ unvoiced question. His examination of Kalaan’s body showed no evidence of wounds inflicted by snakes or scorpions.

Jean-François’ body was the same, no bite nor sting; however the bridge of his nose was swollen and the palm of Kalaan’s right hand had a triangular shaped burn mark. Even so, these injuries could not logically be the cause of their delusional state.

“Lack o’ oxygin?” Lil’ Louis was trying to find an explanation.

“Most likely.” Salam nodded his turbaned head in agreement. “Or noxious air in the tunnels. There have been cases of that before. It is most definitely not a disease as neither of them have a fever.”

“Champollion is waking!” one of Kalaan’s sailors called out.

Indeed, the Egyptologist was looking around him, a haunted but alert expression in his eyes, his body no longer trembling. It was not the same for the young count who was still fighting off the “filthy petticoats” as he called them while crying out in his agitation.

Salam squatted down near Champollion.

“Do you recognize me?”

“Sa... Salam,” murmured Jean-François. His hair was disheveled and he spoke with difficulty as he tried to raise himself on to his elbows. “Where… where are we?”

“Outside the building. You are safe now.”

“What building? We were supposed to... a discovery... a tomb... Kalaan wished to show me…”He was very confused and to Salam and Lil’ Louis’ astonishment, he seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened.

“What is my friend suffering from?” the stunned Egyptologist stammered as he sat up to gulp down some water from the goatskin he’d been handed.

What could they possibly say in response?

“You don’t remember anything? Not the building, or the hieroglyphs, the door that turned to dust under Kalaan’s touch, nor the tunnel or anything that happened afterwards?”

“No... no, nothing.” Jean-François was babbling, his eyes bulging. “We were on the dune, we were to see a tomb and, and then… nothing. Death was pursuing me swinging his scythe above my head.”

A very loud rumbling followed by strong tremors caught them by surprise and they all retreated as fast as they could, carrying Kalaan and Champollion with them. In no time at all, the structure caved in completely while emitting one final agonizing lament. The sand from the tall dune where they stood buried it completely before turning into a powerful maelstrom
[29]
twisting and swirling down into the depths of the earth.

“Everyone back or we will be sucked in!” Salam had to shout in order to be heard above the deafening noise. He knocked Kalaan out again so that he could move freely without worrying about his friend.

“
Ma Doue”
[30]
, whistled Lil’ Louis breathlessly, “Oy have only seen the like at sea! Oy dinna know the sand did the same.”

“It never does,” muttered Salam in his strong accent.

The strange phenomenon stopped as suddenly as it started and where there once stood a building, there was nothing more than an immense cone-shaped hole. They had to leave this place as quickly as possible!

Which is exactly what all the local workers did, running as fast as they possibly could, screaming like madmen. This time Salam could not hold them back. All the pandemonium alerted the members of Jean-François’ expeditionary team and the agitation even reached the other side of the river. Many of the men were already boarding feluccas to cross to the other side of the Nile as quickly as possible.

“I do not understand,” Champollion managed to say. He was slowly regaining strength and managed to walk. “What is happening here?”

Then, an idea struck him and he pulled out his notebook, but ... nothing. The last words he could read had been written when he was visiting Tell el-Amarna. This came as an enormous surprise to Lil’ Louis and Salam, because they had seen him take notes when he was deciphering the inscriptions on the wall. Even more disturbing was that there were no missing pages! Here was another new and very particular mystery!

“The heat.” Salam said quickly, ignoring Lil’ Louis’ bewildered expression and before he could open his mouth to say something, Salam intervened again, glaring darkly at the old man. “I said the heat!”

Lil’ Louis understood this was not the moment to discuss what had happened. They were surrounded by too many curious ears. The very inquisitive Nestor L'Hôte and Ippolito Rosellini, were with them now, as well as the men in arms and the chaplain that accompanied their expedition and who would not have hesitated to mention heresy in his report.

“Yes, well, you are probably correct,” exclaimed Champollion who was not taken in, but was trying hard to put this whole nightmare behind him; the nightmare and hallucinations must have been caused by sunstroke. Yes, well…

Moments later, as he boarded a felucca, he reassured his comrades about his health and then told them the story of the sand maelstrom. They quickly arrived on the east bank of the Nile and took leave of Kalaan’s group. Despite his many unanswered questions, Champollion headed up the river to Thebes to continue his journey. Before leaving though, he did express his concern for Kalaan who was still unconscious. Salam and Lil’ Louis promised to keep him informed as soon as possible and Kalaan’s group boarded the
Horus
as night set in. As for the local laborers hired by the Count of Croz, they had disappeared into thin air.

“What do we do now?” Lil’ Louis was very distraught and obviously worried about Kalaan. He should have come to as Champollion had, but instead he remained in the throes of his delirium and the old seaman was worried for his life.

“The workmen will spread the story of the curse and the edifice swallowed by the sand.” Salam said with conviction. “In this country, Kalaan will soon be given the role of a demon and will have to be punished for unleashing the fury of the ancient gods. His life is in danger and we must leave Egypt as quickly as possible!”

“We? Ye’r comin’ with us?” Lil’ Louis could not hide his surprise.

Salam nodded.“Yes, you will need me. And I owe a life to Kalaan. I will be in his debt until he is out of harm’s way.”

“Then let’s go home!” the old man shouted before giving the crew their orders. He was immensely relieved by Salam’s decision. It was high time they said goodbye to Egypt and returned home to Brittany.

“Oy hope the lad can hold on ‘til we get te France. Oy wouldn’t want him to die before seeing his mama one last time.” Lil’ Louis could not hold back a solitary tear that trickled down his chubby cheek and into his graying beard.

Chapter 5

Acceptance

            
 
K
alaan was feeling queasy, and becoming conscious of the pain riddling his body as he slowly came out of the nightmare induced fog. In the nightmare he was continually fighting off the harpies, in a never-ending battle. He fought, succumbed, and came back to life, only to die again. Good God! It was infuriating to never triumph over women, especially as the confrontation was purely an illusion! Damned fever-induced hallucinations! The young man could find no other explanation. Never in his furthest memories could he find a time when an illness made him suffer so.

As Kalaan cleared away the last of the cobwebs that were clouding his mind; he heard two familiar voices, ringing in his ears. Salam and Lil’ Louis must be standing very near and they had succeeded in getting him out of the building. Well done! If only he could open his eyes to see his surroundings and see where he was. But his eyelids were too heavy to lift. Opening them was beyond his capacity. One thing was certain, however. He wasn’t lying on sand.

“Tanfoeltr
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!
It looks like
Ar sorserez
[32]
summoned the winds te bring us home rapidly!” The old sea dog was practically singing with joy.

“This ship does have a soul. It is doing everything possible to save its captain,” replied Salam.

Save me? From what? And why are we at sea?

These questions ran through Kalaan’s mind but he couldn’t open his mouth and was completely disorientated by what he’d heard. As hard as he tried, his body was no longer his to control. And yet he could feel everything; the swaying and heaving of the ship as it rode the waves confirmed what his friends said.

“We’re making good time. We’ll soon be past the coast of Sardinia.” From what Kalaan could hear, the old sailor was looking at old maritime maps as he spoke.

“Is that good?”

“Verrrrrry good,” exclaimed Lil’ Louis rolling his ‘r’s. “Only five weeks o’ sailin’ ‘n we’re ‘ome!”

Kalaan’s mind was now completely clear and he started to calculate how much time he’d spent in the terrible dream. Four weeks, counting the journey from Amarna to Alexandria on the
Horus
and the time it took to reach the sea on the frigate
Ar sorserez
.

The last day he could remember was November 7
th
at Tell el-Amarna, with Champollion. He could remember everything — the edifice, the long narrow tunnel, the chamber with is golden walls and...the black pyramid shaped stone. If his calculations were correct today would be the 5
th
or 6
th
of December and, if indeed the winds were favorable, they would reach the Isle of Croz during the first half of January 1829.

He tried to say something, but when he opened his mouth the only sound that came out was a high-pitched croak. It felt like he was hoarse or was just recovering from a synanche
[33]
. Apparently no one else heard it. But what was happening to his beautiful husky voice?

Lil’ Louis sighed and rolled up the maps. “Oy hope the lad can ‘ang on until then. We can’t keep feeding him bouillon for much longer. He’ll lose all his strength and…”