Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow by Kathryn Le Veque

might as well get a good look at the thing since she was here, so she inspected it closely, locating the elusive cartouches on the upper right hand corner and in the center. She took the required Egyptology classes in college, but wasn't as quick about reading hieroglyphs or hieratic as she would have liked to have been. But she did know one thing; neither the cartouche nor the hieratic on the plaster announced Ramses VIII.
    "Oh, my God," she breathed. "It's not the one he's looking for."
    Marcus' voice penetrated her thoughts. "Kathlyn?" he called. "I'm throwing a rope through the opening. Grab hold of it and I'll pull you through."
    She tore herself away from the unfamiliar cartouche, wondering how she was going to tell him. She also wondered how she was going to hold onto a rope with only one good hand. Walking back over to the boulder, she called up through the opening.
    "Marcus?"
    He must have been standing on something, because his face was almost in the opening. "What?"
    She swallowed, thinking how to break the news. There was no easy way to tell him. "Well... there's a couple of things you should know about."
    "What's that?"
    "I hurt my wrist when I fell. I don't think I can hold on to the rope very well with one good hand."
    He didn't say anything for a moment, but she could hear conversation going on. "How bad did you hurt it?" he asked.
    "I don't know. But it can't bear my weight."
    "That's okay," his tone was surprisingly comforting. She thought he would have been angry at her. "We'll think of something. What else do I need to know?"
    She glanced back at the sealed doorway. "I can see the cartouches on the plaster."
    There was an edge of excitement in his voice when he answered. "What do they say?"
    "I'm not sure," she said slowly. "But it isn't Ramses VIII. It's somebody else."
    He was silent for the longest time. "Are you sure about that?"
    She went over to the wall once more, gazing at the cartouches with bits of ancient straw imbedded in them.  "Yes," she said. "The cartouches have crumbled somewhat, but give me a minute, I'll read it out to you."
    Kathlyn didn't know that the entire dig had ground to a stand-still. Marcus stood on a crate someone had brought up to him, since there was no step ladder in easy distance, nearly rigid with anticipation. Lynn, Mark, Ed and Otis all stood around him, waiting with baited breath. Even the roadies were down from their bulldozers, waiting with Debra Jo. Juliana was on her way up to the shaft. Word had leaked out to the workers that Dr. Trent was at the threshold and some had begun to wail in a traditional Egyptian mourning ritual for their dead king. It was an eerie, prickly ambiance.
    Next to the entrance, in her own world of prickly ambiance, Kathlyn began sounding out the symbols aloud. "Khep... kheperk...," she blew gently on the plaster, not wanting to wear it away any more than it already was. "Kheperkheperu!"
    Marcus looked at Lynn and Dennis. "Kheperkheperu?" he repeated, confused and incredulous. "Who in the hell...?"
    Lynn shook his head, baffled, and yelled up through the hole. "Is that it? Is there anything more?"
    Kathlyn stared hard at it, shining the flashlight directly on it as if to burn the name right off the plaster. "Yeah, there's more, but it's hard to see," she blew again and read slowly. "Kheperkheperu-Ra ir ma'at." 
    Marcus repeated the name back silently, his lips moving. Then he translated. "The forms of Ra have come into being, the one who does right."
    Lynn and Dennis simply shook their heads, perplexed. "I don't recognize it," Lynn insisted. "Who in the hell is that?"
    "Ay," Ed said.
    Everyone looked at him. He had spoken so softly that he had barely been heard, but Marcus stared at him as if he'd gone crazy. "What did you say?"
    Ed was very unruffled by the whole thing. "Ay," he repeated. "That is the throne name of Ay, the old bastard who succeeded Tutankhamen, and who some say killed the kid for his throne." He grinned at Marcus