As Long As by Jackie Ivie Page B

completely destroyed by robbers looking for his tomb. They found all the other pharaoh’s tombs. Emptied them of treasure. They did not find Amenemhet the Fourth’s.”
    Sokar started moving through the line of sentinel-like statues. They looked alert. Ready. He guided her toward the next room. The lights were getting brighter. She could clearly make out the horses and chariots in this room. As well as the lines of archer statues. Rows of weaponry. Stacks of what could be feed bags, although these didn’t look like they’d ever been used. The next room contained furniture. All kinds of furniture lined every wall. Low couches, the ends carved into various animals shapes. Tables inset with more gems.
    “My father had three sons. One with his Great Wife. Two from lesser wives. I was first-born. I was the heir. Had I lived, I would have been his co-regent, and then I would have become Pharaoh Senusret the Fourth. Instead, the reign was left to my youngest brother. He was not strong. He died as a youth. That left Amenemhet the Fourth with no male heirs. The dynasty died out. We have reached the treasury room.”
    He took her through another arched doorway. Geena’s heart thumped oddly. She stopped for a moment. Sokar stopped with her. Everything in the room looked like it was made of gold. Or the alloy called electrum.
    Everything.
    There were hammered room divider screens. All sizes of platters. A large throne chair. It was solid gold. Geena noticed something. The walls in this room weren’t painted with huge depictions of the gods. They were festooned with cartoon-looking characters. It looked like King Tuthmosis the Third’s tomb. In the Valley of the Kings. From the nineteenth dynasty. And...wait . She looked back. The furniture room was covered in hieroglyphic symbols. Floor to ceiling. In rows. She’d seen this before, too. King Unas from the fifth dynasty had his tomb decorated with spells from the book of the dead.
    “Sokar?”
    As if she’d asked it, he answered.
    “It was my hand behind this tomb. I excavated the rock. Carved out the rooms and pillars. I removed every speck of dust to spread it throughout the desert. I would not let construction debris be a marker. And then I moved everything. I didn’t decorate until everything from my father’s tomb was safely in place. I started with the burial chamber. It has an astrological ceiling, the match to that of Seti the First. I couldn’t decide what tomb decorations had the most power, which were the most beautiful, so I decided to incorporate them all. And I had a lot of time.”
    “Is he...here?”
    “Yes. My father’s mummy still rests in his own solid gold sarcophagus. It should be nestled within a wooden coffin, and then a stone one. They are in the gold room. Within his shrine. I moved the stone sarcophagus intact. Reassembled and then resealed his shrine. I didn’t check his mummy when I moved it. We can open it now if you wish.”
    “Um. No. I wouldn’t...want to disturb him.”
    He smiled. “Exactly as I wished at the time. Come. We have so much more to see.”
    “There’s more?”
    “Yes. You have not seen his ba statues. Nor the ushabtis. My father has over five hundred of them. Life-sized. And rows of amphora, containing sacred oils. Carved from alabaster.”
    “I can hardly believe this.”
    “It is all real, I assure you.”
    “Sokar? Can I ask you something?”
    “Of course. Have I not answered everything you have asked thus far?”
    “Why didn’t you go back?”
    “Back?”
    “To your father? Amenemhet the Fourth?”
    “I did. I just told you of it.”
    “No. I mean...when it mattered. While he lived. Why didn’t you go back then?”
    “I could not.”
    “Aren’t you immortal?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then, you achieved what every Egyptian wanted. You had immortal life! You could have changed everything. You’d have been the most amazing pharaoh Egypt had ever seen.”
    He shook his head.
    “No? Why not?”
    “I did not