Tickle Torture Tales: The Tomb of Torment

CHAPTER FOUR: THE RETURN OF TIKELTOOTSI

As dusk descended over Luxor, a most uncommon lunar eclipse hung high in the heavens above the Valley of the Kings; that of a blood moon. All across the eastern hemisphere, many millions of onlookers raised their heads skywards to witness the strange spectacle of the crimson-coloured satellite, yet amongst the craggy limestone cliffs surrounding the valley, all seemed silent and still; save only for the occasional patrols of the security staff employed to protect the many tombs from trespassers.

Nestled west of the Nile amidst the Theban Hills, the skyline dominated by the pyramid-shaped peak of Al-Qurn, the valley had been formed over many millenia by the steady rains of the Pleistocene Epoch cascading upon the plateau; slowly wearing away at the rock. In the 15th century BCE, the valley attracted the attention of Tuthmose I, the first pharaoh to be buried there; yet of the more than five-dozen tombs discovered in the valley thus far, only twenty or so were found to contain the final resting places of rulers, many others dedicated to royal advisors and an assortment of other nobles.

Over the intervening millenia, the valley had played host to many visiting invaders, from the ancient Greeks to the Romans; whilst in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte embarked upon an expedition to study the site, surrounding himself with surveyors, archaeologists, astronomers and engineers. Some years later, in 1816, Giovanni Belzoni, a former circus strongman turned archaeological explorer, declared the valley to be devoid of any further tombs to be discovered; however in 1922, his words were disproved when Howard Carter uncovered the stone steps leading to Tutankhamun's tomb.

Nowadays, visitors to the valley could view only a handful of the tombs, the on-site security staff employed to prevent flash photography that could potentially cause damage to the hand-painted heiroglyphs upon the plaster walls; a far cry from ancient times when the area was fiercely guarded by the itinerant mercenaries known as the Medjay.

In a far corner of the valley, outside KV66, site of the recently discovered tomb of Tikeltootsi I, a pair of robed figures crept cautiously down the narrow flight of steps carved into the bedrock before disappearing into the dark depths of the burial chamber beyond. Having bypassed the patrolling security staff, the trespassers pushed ahead of them an apparently protesting prisoner, that of Doctor Rosetta Stone; the young Egyptologist's wrists remaining bound behind her back with torn sheeting since her abduction earlier that afternoon, a strip of the same material still tightly tied over her mouth.

Upon a wall of the burial chamber was painted a depiction of the Eye of Horus, illuminated by the light of a lantern held aloft; applying pressure to its pupil caused a narrow section of the wall to slide slowly aside, accompanied by the sound of stone scraping against stone. Beyond the concealed portal lay a torchlit passage twisting and turning its way beneath the bedrock, along which the silent procession trooped; presently the prisoner was led into an antechamber carved many millenia before into the subterranean stone.

Inside the antechamber, it came as no surprise to Rosie when she encountered her missing colleague Petra; a pleading, pitiful expression etched upon frightened features as the abducted assistant curator locked eyes with the Egyptologist. Petra lay stretched out upon a stone slab, one of several standing against the west wall of the chamber's fairly cramped confines, struggling somewhat all the while. The young woman had been mummified, observed Rosie, though not entirely, for the embalming bindings ensnaring her squirming body began from the neck down and ended at the exposed soles of her bare feet; frightened whimperings muffled with the thick folds of a length of linen tied over her mouth.

Before Rosie realised what was happening, the burly, red-robed brute known as Sa'id lifted her bodily before placing her upon an adjacent slab; upon instruction from Delta he at once began to entwine the Egyptologist's torso with bindings. Soon Rosie found herself as utterly helpless as her colleague, each struggling desperately to free themselves, but to no avail; destined to become the first of many playthings to appease the long-dead queen once the high priestess had awoken the ruler from her eternal slumber.