The Plot on the Pyramid Read online

  THE PLOT ON

  THE PYRAMID

  Illustrated by Helen Flook

  A&C Black • London

  Reprinted 2009

  First published 2004 by

  A & C Black Publishers Ltd

  36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

  www.acblack.com

  Text copyright © 2004 Terry Deary

  Illustrations copyright © 2004 Helen Flook

  The rights of Terry Deary and Helen Flook to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  eISBN 978-1-40811-577-0

  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of the publishers.

  This book is produced using paper made from wood grown in managed, sustainable forests. It is natural, renewable and recyclable. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain

  by CPI Cox & Wyman, Reading, RG1 8EX.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1. River and Rat

  Chapter 2. Peril at the Pyramid

  Chapter 3. The Slipping Stone

  Chapter 4. Peril at the Pyramid

  Chapter 5. The Dead Driver

  Chapter 6. Beard Wigs and Earwigs

  Afterword

  Chapter 1

  River and Rat

  Nephoris sat by the edge of the mud-brown river and threw a stone into it. She was a tall girl and made her little brother Pere look tiny..

  A light wind kept her cool and the rustling reeds seemed the only sound in the world. “Perfect,” she said.

  Of course that was before her mother called her home.

  “River,” Pere said. He picked up a stone and tried to copy Nephoris’s throwing. But he forgot to let go and threw himself into the dirty water.

  Nephoris shook her head, paddled into the cool water and pulled him out.

  “It’s Akhet,” she told him.

  The little boy’s round face crinkled into a frown. “No Akhet. River.”

  She sat beside him and watched the graceful ibis birds land and stalk through the shallows, looking for food.

  “I mean it’s the time of the year – Akhet. The time when the river rises. It floods our fields and makes the corn grow. Akhet brings us food.”

  “Food,” Pere repeated. Pere liked food.

  Nephoris smiled. There weren’t many restful days like this. Days when she could sit in the sun and play with Pere.

  She had to weed the fields ...

  ... fetch water ...

  ... grind corn or bake bread.

  She’d done it ever since she was as young as Pere. But not at Akhet.

  “When Akhet comes we can’t work in the fields. So we get days like today. Peaceful days,” she sighed.

  Of course that was before her mother called her home. In the years to come Nephoris would never think of Akhet as the peaceful time again.

  Pere took a fistful of mud and made it into a little pile. “Pyramid,” he said.

  Nephoris nodded. “Yes, Daddy is working on the pyramid for the King. Most of the men of Lisht are helping to build it because they can’t work in the fields at Akhet. Poor Dad. We have idle days and he works harder than ever.”

  Pere made his chubby hand into a fist and smashed it down on top of his mud pile. “Pyramid!” he giggled.

  “Poor pyramid,” Nephoris said. “King Amenemhat is our god, you know. He makes the river flood the fields and makes the corn grow. That’s why we are building Amenemhat a huge pyramid. Build Amenemhat another pyramid,” she said.

  As Pere piled up the mud, a ripple from the river washed it away. The river was rising fast now. Amenemhat was doing his magic.

  Pere frowned at the river and his ruined pyramid. “Naughty!” he said and slapped the water. It splashed up and soaked his angry face. Nephoris laughed. Life was good.

  Then her mother called her home.

  Her shrill voice carried over the quiet fields. “Da-fi-aaaa!”

  “Mama!” Pere said and struggled to his feet. He had sharp ears and heard her first. Nephoris quickly washed his muddy legs and hands, scooped him up and ran along the dusty path towards their small mud house.

  At the Pyramid of Lisht their father, Yenini was getting more and more angry …

  Chapter 2

  Peril at the Pyramid

  Yenini’s face was red. Red with the heat of the midday sun. Red with the strain of pulling a pyramid block almost to the top of Amenemhat’s pyramid. But, most of all, red with rage. Rage at the fat little bully, Antef.

  Thirty men from Lisht made up a team of workers – the Boat Gang, they called themselves. They were proud of being the best of the hundred gangs that worked on the pyramid.

  But the Pharaoh had put Antef in charge – Antef with his perfumed wig and beard-wig, pot belly and wicked tongue.

  The Boat Gang were free men. They worked for the love of King Amenemhat. Antef treated them like slaves – like the prisoners of war who were forced to work and beaten.

  The day had started badly. Their massive stone, big as a house, had slipped off the barge that carried it over the Nile. They had to fasten ropes around it and drag it through the mud and onto the shore.

  Yenini was a little worried that they would not get it up the pyramid before sunset. He didn’t like the Boat Gang to fail. They never had before.

  Then they heaved it onto a wooden sledge and the sledge cracked. It was an old one and Antef should have got them a better one.

  Yenini was a bit upset by that.

  The cracked sledge was harder to pull and it took them most of the morning to get it to the foot of the pyramid. Yenini was getting hungry. He had a lunch bag at his belt. When the sun passed the peak of the pyramid they could take a rest and eat in the shadowed side of the tomb.

  But the sledge stuck on the ramp that led to the top.

  Yenini was annoyed.

  “Come on, Boat Gang,” he cried. “Put your backs into it. There’s a neat little hole at the top just waiting for this stone. And there’s an even bigger hole in my stomach waiting for my dinner!”

  The men laughed and tried harder. They sweated and strained and the huge stone moved upwards.

  That was when Antef really upset them. He walked behind them and watched them.

  “Laughing are you? Laughing. You are the biggest bunch of brainless beetles on this pyramid and all you can do is laugh. You can’t move one little stone and you think it’s funny?” he jeered and cracked his leather whip. It snapped in the air close to Yenini’s nose.

  “Hang on, Antef,” Yenini said. “It’s your fault that we have this cracked old sledge. It’s your job to see we get the best.” He was getting angry.

  The stone reached the edge of the hole and the Boat Gang began to turn it so it would slide down neatly into the space.

  Antef shook his whip in Yenini’s face. “I am the servant of Amenemhat. It is the King who tells me what my job is. It’s not your job to tell me my job. It’s my job to tell you your job,” he gabbled. “That’s my job and I’m doing my job – so you do your job or my job will be to send you to the King to be punished.”

  “Don’t threaten me,” Yenini roared. He let go of the rope and stepped towards Antef. The little man jumped back in fear. His foot slipped on the edge of the hole and he slipped back into it.

&nb
sp; The hole was just too deep for him to climb out. “Throw me a rope you desert snakes, you river rats, you savage scorpions you … you … slimy ox dung!”

  Yenini was red with rage. “It is time for lunch.”

  “You take lunch when I say you can take lunch! The King is coming this afternoon. He wants to see this stone in place. You will not stop for lunch. I forbid it,” Antef wailed. “Get me out of here!”

  The Boat Gang looked at each other. They dropped the ropes and walked back down the pyramid for a rest.

  Back in the village Nephoris was carrying Pere home …

  Chapter 3

  The Slipping Stone

  Yenini’s family lived in a village on the edge of Lisht. That morning the people were working in the shade of the houses but one man worked in the full glare of the sun.

  Using precious cedar wood, the artist Oneney was building a large statue.

  “Big man,” Pere said.

  “Statue,” Nephoris explained. “It’s a statue of King Amenemhat. When he dies the statue will go inside the pyramid with the King’s mummy.”

  The King’s statue was almost finished. It was dressed in a white kilt and carrying a shepherd’s crook. The life-sized model had one leg raised as if it was striding forward.

  Beside it stood a finished model. A small round man in a wig, beard wig and purple robes, no taller than Nephoris.

  “That’s a model of Antef, the work-driver” Nephoris told her brother. “That will go in the pyramid too, so the dead King has company. Dad doesn’t like Antef.”

  “Naughty man,” Pere said and slapped the model.

  Oneney was painting the crown on Amenemhat’s head a bright red. A bowl was full of red paint.

  “Blood,” Pere said as Nephoris carried him past the artist.

  Oneney shook his head. “No, young Pere. Beetles. I crush beetles to make the red colour.”

  Nephoris shuddered but Pere just looked puzzled.

  “Your mother is looking for you,” Oneney told her.

  “I heard her calling. What does she want?” Nephoris asked.

  Oneney shrugged.

  Nephoris’s mother stood at the door of their house holding a small package wrapped in cloth.

  “What’s wrong?” Nephoris asked.

  Her mother held out the parcel. “Last night the cat caught a rat and left it in the middle of the floor – a nice present for us. I didn’t want Pere picking it up and chewing at it. You know what he’s like …”

  “Rat,” Pere said and licked his lips.

  “This morning your father set off for the pyramid to work and I packed him some bread and onion like I always do,” her mother went on.

  “Yes,” Nephoris said.

  “Well … when I went to throw the rat away I opened the parcel and found the bread and onion!” she moaned.

  “So,” Nephoris grinned, “when Dad opens his lunch parcel he’ll find …”

  “Rat!” Pere said.

  “Exactly! He’ll be furious! He’s in a bad temper all the time these days. That Antef bullies the workers all day long from sunrise to sunset. Your dad comes home and he’s full of fury. If he goes without food all day he will be as horrible as … as … ”

  “Rat,” Pere said.

  “Exactly,” Mother agreed. A big, bad-tempered rat. She looked up at the clear sky. The sun was not far from its highest point. “They’ll be stopping soon for a break,” she said. “You have to get this food to him before they stop!”

  “Don’t worry, Mum,” Nephoris said. “I can run faster than anyone in this village. Give me the food.”

  She put her brother on the ground, took the parcel and sped towards the site of the pyramid.

  The sun ran on. Nephoris ran on. Her black hair flowed behind her and her long legs raised clouds of dust. “I’m winning, Sun, I’m winning,” she cried.

  At last she reached the wall around the site and ran up to the first gang leader she could find. “Boat Gang,” she panted. “Where will I find the Boat Gang?”

  The man pointed towards the top of the huge pyramid. “Working up there today – rather them than me!” he grunted.

  Nephoris groaned. The sun raced on and this time it was winning.

  As Nephoris reached the foot of the pyramid she saw her father and the Boat Gang stomping down with heavy feet and grim faces. “Just in time,” she muttered. “He looks in a rotten temper. If he’d opened his lunch pack and found a rat … he might have eaten it in anger!”

  Yenini glared at Nephoris. “What are you doing here? It’s a dangerous place for a child. What is your mother thinking of? Wait until I get home.”

  “But I came to bring …” Nephoris began.

  Then there was a rumble and the men of the Boat Gang turned and looked up at the pyramid.

  At the top of the pyramid …

  Chapter 4

  Peril at the Pyramid

  The Boat Gang had left their stone at the edge of the hole. The old wooden sledge grew hotter and drier in the midday sun. It creaked a little then it cracked.

  The stone sank into the sledge and turned it to splinters and dust. Finally the stone began to slip. It slipped steadily into the hole that was waiting for it. The stone landed with a “whumph” and settled.

  It was a perfect fit. It would stay there until long after the Boat Gang had finished their work, long after Amenemhat was buried inside, long after the grave robbers had stolen his wealth. It would stay there until the end of time.

  Yenini raced up the steep ramp. He was the fastest of the Lisht men – smooth and swift as his daughter. Nephoris ran behind him. She caught him up at the top of the pyramid. She could see clear across Lisht, over her village and over the mud-brown flowing Nile.

  Her father’s redness shrank to a spot on each cheek. The rest of his face and body was pale and sweating. “What’s wrong?” Nephoris asked. “It fell where it was supposed to. It saved you the work!”

  “We’ll never get it out,” her father whispered as the men of the Boat Gang panted and wheezed up to their side.

  “Why would you want to get it out?” Nephoris asked, puzzled.

  Yenini looked at her with haunted eyes. “Because little Antef is underneath that stone,” he groaned. “Crushed.”

  “Like Oneney’s beetles,” Nephoris said.

  “We’ve killed the King’s man. Now the King will kill us,” one of the workers moaned.

  “It was an accident,” Nephoris said.

  “We all hated him,” Yenini sighed. “No one will believe it was an accident.”

  “The King is coming this afternoon,” a man said. “How do you think he will kill us?”

  “Club us to death,” someone suggested.

  “Too quick and painless. Probably tie us to stakes in the desert and leave us to rot. Let the jackals eat us,” another man argued.

  They all began to wail and sob. “Throw us in a pit of poisoned snakes!” came one loud cry.

  Suddenly a voice called out louder than all the rest. “Stop it! Stop this pitiful noise!” Nephoris cried.

  They stopped. They looked at the girl. “We’re going to die-ie-ie!” an old man croaked.

  “No you are not!” Nephoris said. “Get back to work. There is another stone waiting on the barge by the river. Get it on a sledge. Drag it up the pyramid. That’s what you must be doing when the King arrives. Showing how hard you work for him – how much you worship him.”

  She waved a hand at the scene below. “Look! The Nile is flooding. Amenemhat has brought you life for another year. Let him see how much you love him. Get building!”

  Yenini frowned. “He will want to see Antef driving us.”

  “And he will see Antef driving you,” Nephoris promised.

  “We can’t pull him out from under the stone,” a man argued.

  “And if we did he’d be a bit … flat,” Yenini argued.

  “Just do it!” Nephoris said. “I’ll have Antef with you by the time you have the next stone at
the foot of the pyramid.”

  The men looked bewildered but wandered back down the pyramid to obey her. Nephoris raced past them like a Nubian antelope and set off across the plain to Lisht.

  King Amenemhat’s boat drifted down the cool waters of the Nile and headed for Lisht …

  Chapter 5

  The Dead Driver

  King Amenemhat was carried in a shaded chair. That’s the only way for a god to travel. When he reached the pyramid he opened the curtain and looked out. His face was as calm as the carved lions in the temple, but inside he was excited.

  He watched the Boat Gang heaving on the ropes and singing a hymn. A hymn about their glorious King Amenemhat. His Majesty was pleased.

  Walking alongside the Boat Gang was a little man with a perfumed wig and a plaited beard. Between the lines of the hymn the King could hear the little man shouting. It was not very pleasant.

  “You are the biggest bunch of brainless beetles on this pyramid and all you can do is sing. You can’t move one little stone and you think it’s something to sing about?” he shouted in his voice that was thin as a Nile reed.

  He raised the whip and tried to crack it. The end of the whip lashed back and caught him on the end of his nose.

  “Don’t laugh, you rabble of rats! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! If one man laughs I will have him taken to the top of the pyramid and thrown off! Now h-e-a-v-e!”