22-09-2013 9:00
Los Angeles - United States
The sun was still low in the sky behind the high buildings, not yet able to shine down its warm colors on the city. Only a few people were out on the street that Sunday morning and it was soothingly quiet. A knock on the door followed by a soft voice broke the silence that reigned in the hotel room. 'Room service.'
Chris, the only one who was already up, opened it, giving the young boy a small tip after he had rolled their breakfast into the room. He looked down at Al and Emily who were sleeping on the settee-bed. Emily's head was resting on his chest, her arm wrapped around his torso and Al's arm around hers. John had dozed off in the chair after having performed a long surgery on Emily. His mouth hung open slightly and his hand rested on his big belly.
Chris almost felt sorry for having to wake them up - almost.
'Alright!' he yelled. 'Time to get up!'
Al shot up immediately, lost his balance and fell off the bed. Emily was dropped down on the bed when Al moved away from underneath her, her face flat down. John kept on sleeping.
Emily lifted her head a little and rolled over to her back.
'Meh,' she mumbled, looking up at Chris's grin.
'What's going on!' Al jumped to his legs.
'It's breakfast time.'
'So, the Ruby Pendants you said?' Emily asked when they had sat down at the small wooden table to have breakfast.
'Yes, the Ruby Pendants. They were worn by two lovers in ancient Egypt. One of them is now, according to some old Japanese documents, in the Japanese Sea.'
'How did it get from Egypt to Japan?' Emily cradled her cup of tea in her hands and leaned her head over the rising steam, breathing in deep.
'Like the tea?' Al asked smiling.
'How come tea always smells better than it tastes?' Emily asked.
'Hello?' Chris waved his arms around, trying to get their attention back. 'I was telling a story here.'
Al raised his eyebrows, puffed up his cheeks and rolled his eyes upward at Chris. Emily snickered and quickly covered her mouth to hide it. Chris growled and slapped Al's cheeks with both of his hands, releasing the air.
'Ouch, you didn't have to do it so hard.' Al rubbed his cheeks.
'Could we please get back to the story?'
'Yeah, yeah, pray tell,' Emily replied.
'Egypt was conquered by Cambyses II in 525 B.C. so it fell into the hands of the Persians. The pharaoh at that time was Psammetichus III. He had a wife, Tadinanefer and two children. Cambyses spared the woman and her daughter and made Tadinanefer his wife. Psammetichus was brought to Susa, where he was held captive. It is said that Cambyses didn't kill him because of Tadinanefer.
Now, Psammetichus plotted a rebellion against Cambyses when he heard he had his beloved Tadinanefer. When Cambyses found out, he had Psammetichus drink bull's blood causing his death.' Chris took a bite from his sandwich.
'Bull's blood?' Al made a face and frowned at his sandwich.
'Yes. Soon after Psammetichus had died, Tadinanefer found out the love of her life was dead. She then had no longer any reason to obey Cambyses, so she killed him and made sure her daughter got out of the country safely.'
'How did she manage to kill him? Didn't that guy have any guards?' Al asked.
'I'll come to that in a moment.' A subtle smile of enthusiasm appeared on Chris' face. 'Tadinanefer searched for her husband's body, but couldn't find it anywhere. It had been taken away by order of one of his guards. He had said that the pendant Psammetichus wore was cursed and should be taken as far away as possible. The person in charge of disposing the pendant travelled south, through Iran and China, all the way to Japan. Tadinanefer thought her husband was taken there as well, so she travelled to Japan to retrieve her husbands body. But when she arrived on the banks of the Japanese Sea, all she found was the Ruby Pendant.'
