Halloween Short Stories

TutTut

Tuttuttut

Howard Carter watched as the diggers pounded away at the stone wall, his heart beating with excitement and fear with each strike of the pickaxe. He'd been searching for this tomb for decades, losing much of his personal fortune along with that of his financial backer, the Lord Carnarvon. After two seasons of systematically checking each point on a grid that he himself had designed for the Valley of the Kings, they'd finally found a tomb on the very last square of his grid.

Carter paced back and forth, waiting for the diggers to break through the wall. He avoided looking at a discoloration on the stone wall- evidence of possible tomb raiders from eons past. Every tomb in Egypt that had been found to date had been raided, leaving almost nothing behind but bits of pottery and great stone sarcophagi too heavy to remove. He'd hoped to be the first to discover an intact tomb, but that wall...

Behind Carter was Carnarvon himself, who appeared no less anxious to see the tomb open. He'd brought several servants and his daughter with him, much to Carters chagrin. Carnarvon was uncharacteristically quiet, as if he, too, sensed the importance of the moment.

"Sir, sir!" cried one of the diggers, speaking Arabic. "We've broken through, sir!"

Carter rushed to the small opening, and all digging stopped as he bent down, peering in the darkness.

"Light, damn you!" cried Carter, holding out his hand without looking. "Fetch me a lamp at once!"

Someone, he didn't bother to see who, passed a lantern to Carter, and he held his breath as he used the light to cut through the darkness.

"Well?" said Carnarvon excitedly. "What can you see, man?"

Carter released his breath in wonder and said, "Wonderful things."

***

Gleaming in the first light that had entered the tomb in thousand years, Carter could see treasures beyond his wildest dreams. Golden statues stood on Jackal-decorated tables, gemstones sparkled in the distance, and he saw what looked like chariots gleaming with gold against the far wall.

Carter entered the chamber, walking carefully through the opening the diggers had made with reverence in his heart. Carnarvon came up just behind him, the Lords daughter not far behind.

"Where is the man himself?" asked Carnarvon, stirring Carter out of his reverie.

"Hm?" asked Carter in confusion.

"Tutankhamen, my dear chap!" exclaimed Carnarvon, gesturing around the room. "This is all quite astonishing, but is this not a Pharoahs tomb?"

"I believe it is, sir." Carter pointed to the artifacts strewn about the chamber in wonder. "Such treasure could only have belonged to Egyptian royalty."

"Then where is the mummy, man?" Carnarvon asked.

At that, Carter furrowed his brow in thought. He walked around the room, noting the treasures as he did so. "There," he said, pointing to the wall on the other side of one of the long tables. There were hieroglyphs and cartouches on the wall in question. "Just through that wall, I'd say."

"Well, let's take a look, then!" said Carnarvon, and he marched with his daughter over to the wall, feeling the stone.

Carter shook his head.

"There are laws about this in Egypt," Carter said. "The minister of antiquities must be present in the event a body is found."

Carnarvon snorted. "I've spent a fortune helping you find this wonderful place, Carter." Carnarvon looked Carter in the eyes. "I'll not wait around for some old fool to come who has nothing to do with our discovery. Just a quick look, that's all I ask."

Carter shook his head again. "If we were to look and got caught, we could lost the tomb."

Carnarvons daughter put her delicate hand on Carters arm, looked up at him with her big, blue doe-eyes and said, "Please, Mr. Carter? Can't we take a quick look?"

Carter hesitated. He hated to say no to such a beautiful girl and to the man who'd backed him financially when no one else in Egypt- or England, for that matter- wanted to have anything to do with him.

Turning back, he ordered the diggers to secure the area and took out his personal rock hammer.

"Alright, a quick look then," he said in resignation and excitement. "But we must make bloody well sure that no one knows about this." He chose a spot low to the ground, near the corner and quickly started chiseling the stone away.

Carnarvons daughter kept watch at the entrance, while the Lord himself and Carter created a small opening as quickly and as quietly as they could. When the hole was just big enough that they could squeeze through single-file, they stopped and called his daughter back.

The girl went in first, followed by Carnarvon and Carter. As they stood up in the next chamber, Carter gasped as he saw the great golden wall of the burial chamber. He ran his hand against the smooth, cold metal and they made their way to the door.

"It's still sealed," whispered Carter.

"Do you mean he's really there?" asked Carnarvon in astonishment.

Carter could only nod in answer.

He carefully removed the seal from the door in such a way as to still look unbroken, for when they later returned, and opened the inner door.

Inside, Carter could see a great stone sarcophagus. In excitement, the three entered the tiny chamber, clambering around the ancient coffin in silence.

Suddenly, Carter heard a rustling sound coming from behind him. Turning, he saw a young man, wrapped in linen carrying a stone goblet.

"What are you guys doing in my room?" said the young man.

Carter screamed in terror, swinging his rock hammer, and the lanterns light went out.

Moments later, as Carter came to, he could see the body on the floor. Carnarvon, seeing Carter was waking up, came over and leant down.

"Are you alright, man?" Carnarvon whispered.

"I- I'm not sure," said Carter, trying to sit up. "What happened?"

"Well, it appears," said Carnarvon, stepping aside to give Carter a better look at the body on the floor. "It appears that you've killed our King Tutankhamen."

***

In the days and decades that followed, the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen captured the imagination of the world. The tomb revealed artifacts and treasure the likes of which no one had ever seen before or since.

Archaeologists and scientists the world over have long debated how the 'boy king' had died all those supposed thousands of years ago, but none came close to the truth.