The bitter wind ripped across the naked landscape, it was hot, so unbearably hot. Dust and muck jammed into every gap, mouth and open eye. The canvas canopy and walls of the research tent gave some shelter from the inhospitable climate outside but still the dirt devils got in. Time after time an avid reader lifted his glasses to rub his irritated eyes. On the table before him were too books, one was large, torn and so old it was almost updateable. The other was the reader’s own notebook filled with mindless unrecognisable scribbling. The young man with the glass was attempting to make sense of the outdated language in the first book. It held so many secrets that his mind hurried with excitement to the point he could hardly concentrate. Yet still frustration gripped him as the answers eluded him. He tapped his forehead with his pen deliberating over one symbol that seemed so familiar yet… where had he seen it?
“Hey specs! Any luck?”
The researcher almost threw down his pen in anger as the rude interruption robbed his ability of recollection. He looked up at the grubby intruder with irritation.
Dropping his scarf from his mouth and sliding his goggles onto his forehead the grubby archaeologist smiled apologetically.
“You choose your moments Will… Perfect timing without fail…”
“Yeah… sorry bout that but… they’re getting impatient you know?”
“Yes. I am quite aware of their aggravated anticipation, however I am no magician. You rushed me here with no time to prepare. I have very little notation on this language in my possession.”
“Alright specs I didn’t mean…”
“My name is Alexis.” The young man with glasses corrected adjusting his glasses out of habit.
“I know… well look did you find anything? Even one or two symbols? That friggin puzzle box ain’t opening by itself.”
“This is no simple task, it is a six phase section! It may not even be a solution. It may be no relevance at all to your ‘puzzle box’. If you would just let me inside I could…”
“Out of the question!” Came a demanding female voice as a pushy young woman entered the tent dropping her face protection. “I won’t lend you the opportunity to steal MY father’s discovery!” She pointed at the seated historian who remained looking on at the pair in irritation.
“Gracia I have no intention of…” He attempted to reply.
“Ah ah! I won’t listen! I know how you men work, especially you educated sorts. My father said not to trust you especially.”
“Ridiculous...”
“To you perhaps my bookish adversary… but I will tell you this, we are on the brink of a historic and ground breaking discovery. This could finally be the tomb of the great King and I shall discover it in my father’s name!”
“Alright alright… just please shut up and leave me to my work or you will never get your passage. Then you would be a monologu-ing passage-less archaeologist.”
Giving a frown she stomped over and slapped him on the forehead twice sharply.
“Work work then my little Lexi! Work work!”
Replacing her face protection she left the tent along with Will the other archaeologist. Alexis gave a long sigh he was exhausted. He pulled the small box of resources that he had manage to grasp at 4am that morning when they had practically kidnapped him from his home. He looked over the plans of the inside of the ruins as he picked up a book titled ‘The Great King: A History’. On the plans there was a square marked where the old book he was working from has been found. The passage in the book he was trying to decipher was also inscribed on the wall above the ancient book. The archaeological team believed this northern area of the ruins to be a door into the burial chamber of the great King.
He looked to the passage again and then to his notebook where the first phrase had been hurriedly scribbled earlier. As he looked at it more he understood he was incorrect, fatigued and grasping at straws. He thumbed through his history book which he had read perhaps a hundred times with never so much as a thought that he could well one day discover the King’s tomb. He leafed through to the section on the great King’s language and that was when he realised his error, his frustrating stupidity. He grasped the old book and turned it on its head and began to study the characters and at last they began to fall into place. For hours he had sat hunched over this book only to find now he had been looking at it upside down. The phases quickly made sense as he recalled the characters that he knew. ‘The true door to… lies behind… be…’ He looked at the plans again and began to piece together the answers. He needed to see inside if he was to make sense of it all. He snatched the page from his notebook and despite Gracia’s commands to stay out of the ruins he hurried out of the tent, to a pleasant mouthful of dirt.