Finding Pharaoh

Finding Pharaoh

Old man Hobbs was not so old that he’d forgotten the days of his youth. At university, as a student of archaeology, he had built himself a reputation as a radical, forever spouting his theories on the pharaoh, Hatmetushep, and the reasons why his tomb had never been found. Hobbs had been as good as his word, spending his life on the search for the tomb in the arid sands of Egypt. But thus far it had been a wasted life, with little to show for his efforts and the funds given by those who listened to his impassioned oratory on the lost king.

Until today, that is. Today the old man was alone on the dig when he stumbled upon a stone protruding from the earth. It was a stone like any other in that desert but something impelled Hobbs to dig at the dirt around it. Very quickly, it became clear that it was much larger than he had supposed at first. Frantic with the hope that it would be what he had searched for throughout his life, he cleared away more and more of the stone until hieroglyphics began to appear on its outermost face. He stopped digging, his breath coming in a wheeze, and read what he could of the inscription.

His excitement increased as he came across a cartouche reading Hatmetushep. He had found the tomb at last.

Realising that he would not be able to clear the entrance alone, he called his workers together and began a non-stop dig to reveal the entrance to the tomb. It wasn’t long before he stood before a sealed door in the passage they had revealed. Hand trembling, he scraped away at the seal until a small opening was created. Training a flashlight beam into the hole and peering in behind it, he was able to see the brazen figures that, presumably, guarded the inner chamber.

Hobbs enlarged the hole until he could squeeze through and found himself between the two guardians. In front of him yawned a doorway that must be the final entrance. On the lintel above, painted hieroglyphics pronounced the usual warning of curses on anyone entering the tomb. But Hobbs could see that the the place had escaped the attention of thieves. The prospect of an intact burial and the treasures it would contain was too much for the old man.

He took the few steps to cross the threshold. So great was his excitement that he felt no great dismay as a great block of stone fell from the ceiling to block the doorway behind him. His flashlight played upon the sarcophagus in front of him, lid fallen in some historic movement of the earth and, visible in its flickering depths, the aged wrappings of a royal mummy.

Hobbs did not realise the extent of his error until the mummy began to move and a sepulchral voice intoned, “Who dares disturb the sleep of Hatmetushep?”


Word Count: 496
For SCREAMS!!! November 08 2020
Prompt: Use the following words in a flash tale of horror: Wheeze, radical, dismay, sepulchral.