Chariot to Heaven


by

Jaromir Malek


© Jaromir Malek 2011


The Epilogue



After the obligatory seventy days in the hands of the embalmers, the body of King Tutankhamun was taken south, to Wise, in his ceremonial barge. A small tomb was hastily prepared for him in a desolate valley on the west bank opposite the temple of Amun. An elderly man called Aye was in charge of the funeral and succeeded Tutankhamun on the throne of "the Two Lands", but the children never discovered whether he was the "old man" whom they heard mentioned during their adventure in Tutankhamun's palace. King Aye reigned for only a few years. If, indeed, he was the schemer behind the plot to assassinate Tutankhamun, then he was not granted much time to reap the awards of his crime.

 


Ipi and Meryt never saw the man in a blue cloak again and he made no attempt to harm them. The incredible sequence of adventures seemed like a dream but the fine dagger which the man dropped during his hasty retreat from Meryt's home reminded them that it had really happened.


The only real heroine in the story of intrigue, deceit, vengeance and murder was Meryt's cat, Nedjmet. But she was quite unaware of the role she had played in the events surrounding the death of King Tutankhamun and, quite frankly, she would not have cared in any case. The priorities of cats are quite unlike those of people.


Tutankhamun's mummy rested in his tomb for more than 3,000 years until, early in November 1922, its peace was shattered when the tomb was opened by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. But that is another story.


The End


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