The Riddle Of The Silent Watcher
"In the realm of gods and men, I dwell,
A silent watcher where the spirits tell.
By the feet of she who guards the fair,
A hidden way, if you dare."
Lori carefully tried to translate the hieroglyphics on the base of the statue she recognized as Thoth, the god of wisdom.
"You don't sound super confident. Thought you were an expert?" Brandon observed.
"You know I'm an anthropologist, not an epigrapher," Lori shot back at her husband, annoyance plain in her voice as she glanced towards the closed chamber door in the darkness.
"I don't... know what half those words mean..." Brandon shook his head. Lori sighed.
"I usually study mummies, not hieroglyphics. I can translate passably at best and reading them under pressure by flashlight is a whole different matter entirely." Lori shined the flashlight on the soft sand-colored stone, walking over to Brandon and plopping down beside him on the steps to the Thoth statue.
"When I volunteered for the dig, I wanted to see what your job was like, I thought I'd be seeing some old pots, maybe helping wipe dirt off rocks, possibly even find gold." Brandon stared down at his useless cellphone, no bars visible, any possible signal blocked by the thick stone of the pyramid.
"I promise, love, my job usually involves studying artifacts, not getting trapped by ancient booby traps," Lori said, attempting to lighten the mood. "Looking at dead things sometimes, but I try to keep the potentially dying to a minimum. This is a first."
"Do other archaeologists deal with this?" Brandon asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Not that I've heard of. This is the first time I've been invited to a dig at a recently discovered pyramid, though." Lori shined the flashlight around the room, looking for anything that could aid in their escape—the tall sandstone walls and large statues towering above them.
The chamber was filled with relics of a bygone era. There were statues of various Egyptian gods, a large staircase that peaked at the statue of Thoth, a statue of a figure Lori did not recognize—possibly the pharaoh buried somewhere in the pyramid—various pieces of furniture, and some ancient clothing. However, there was no passageway or corridor out, other than the one they'd come in through, a large stone slab firmly trapping them inside.
"They gave us some pointers for how to handle this type of thing, so it has to have happened before." Lori continued.
"Were the pointers any good?"
"Don't waste your resources. Conserve air as much as possible. Don't scream unless you think someone can hear you."
"Seems obvious. How much air do you think we have left?" Brandon voiced the thought that had been in the back of his mind since he first heard the fateful click of the trap activating.
"Considering the size of the chamber, a couple of hours at least, possibly even a day. Enough for the rest of the team to find us... hopefully."
"Do you think they will find us?"
"The pyramid is newly discovered, and it's big, but they'll notice when we don't return at the end of the scouting period, so they'll at least know we're gone." Lori pondered the question, closing her eyes to think.
"That's a start at least. That stone slab has to weigh a couple of tons, and from what I can see, it's thick. Do you have anything on-site that can get through it?"
"We generally don't need to cut through stone. We focus on preservation, so no," Lori almost whispered, deflated.
"That's what I was afraid of." Brandon's breathing increased in pace, bordering on hyperventilating, as the feeling of hopelessness settled in.
"We need to avoid panicking as best we can," Lori said quietly, resisting panicking herself as she tried to recall her training.
"Why? Seems like a pretty solid option right about now."
"Same reason we shouldn't scream unless we think they can hear us. It wastes oxygen quicker. Try to take deep breaths. It saves air and will help you calm down." Lori's hand found its way into Brandon's and gave it a squeeze.
Brandon quieted his breathing. Lori shut off the flashlight to conserve battery while the two of them sat quietly in the darkness of the ancient chamber, pondering their situation.
"Alright, panicking is out, so what should we do?"
"I've been thinking about the writing on the Thoth statue's base. It seems out of place for what I'd expect to find in a chamber like this."
"Didn't seem that helpful."
"Thoth is the god of wisdom, and it sounds like a riddle."
"I don't follow?"
"These chambers were made to protect against robbers and thieves but the builders had to have a way to escape." Lori explained, hope creeping into her voice.
"So, you think it might show us a way out?" The sound of hope in Brandon's voice in the darkness was unmistakable.
"It's possible."
"Well... better than doing nothing and suffocating. What did it say again?"
"'In the realm of gods and men, I dwell, a silent watcher where the spirits tell. By the feet of she who guards the fair, a hidden way, if you dare.'"
"Well, you're the one who is familiar with 'those who built these chambers'. any ideas?"
"Not yet."
"Suppose it wouldn't be a good riddle if the answer was obvious," Brandon sighed. "'A hidden way, if you dare' does sound like it points to a way out though."
"That means the the first few lines are to guide us towards it."
"Sounds like we need to look 'In the realm of gods and men,' wherever that is."
"I think it's just this room." Lori clicked on the flashlight, shining it around at the various statues of gods and the pharaoh. "See? These are all statues of gods and some of men. This room would be their 'realm.'"
"That's brilliant, Lori." Brandon clapped his hands. "We're halfway there."
"'A silent watcher where the spirits tell. By the feet of she who guards the fair' is all that's left. I think the 'where the spirits tell' part might just be more fluff pointing to the room itself."
"'A silent watcher' is the most important part then," Brandon noted.
"Silent watcher... that could be Harpocrates, the god of silence," Lori suggested.
"And 'she who guards the fair'?"
"Not sure yet." Lori swept the flashlight over the statues. "Let's see if we can find Harpocrates first."
"Is there one here?" Brandon asked, following the beam with his eyes, unsure of what he was looking for exactly. Lori's light landed on a statue of a man with a finger to his lips and a crown-like hat.
"There! That's him!" Lori exclaimed. They hurried to the base of the statue.
"Do you see anything?" Brandon asked, his hands moving across the heavy pitted stone.
"Not immediately. I'm not even sure what we're looking for. Maybe a pressure plate? Or a switch?"
"I'm not seeing anything like that," Brandon sighed, running his hands all across the base. "Guess the riddle was a bust." Brandon and Lori moved away from the Harpocrates statue, back to their place on the stairs, the failure to solve the riddle weighing on them.
"Maybe the 'silent watcher' part is some kind of red herring?" Lori suggested, trying to retain hope.
"Well... There is a whole line of the riddle that we haven't used."
"Maybe I'm overthinking it." Lori shined the flashlight straight up at the face of the Harpocrates statue, then back at the statue of Thoth. "Maybe 'silent watcher' just means a statue?"
"So 'by the feet of she who guards the fair.' Maybe 'by the feet' is where the switch is. But who is 'she who guards the fair'?"
"She who guards the fair... She..." Lori moved the light across the other statues and settled it on a statue of a woman. "OF COURSE! Hathor!"
"Yeah! Hathor! Wait...who's Hathor!?" Brandon asked. "Wouldn't it be someone like Isis?"
"No, no, Hathor is the protector of women!"
"Then that's got to be it!" Brandon and Lori hurried to the statue of the female goddess. Their hands scrambled over it, searching for a button, a lever, a switch—anything.
"I'm not feeling anything, are you?" Lori asked, concern creeping into her voice as they felt along the base of the statue.
"So far, nothing," Brandon replied, his defeat more evident.
"She has to be it. No one else fits." Their hands continued to move desperately around Hathor's feet, growing more nervous as nothing seemed to happen. Lori shined the flashlight around Hathor's feet to better see what they were doing.
"I don't see anything. It just looks like the other statue." Brandon sounded crushed. "We're going to die down here aren't we?" His hand stopped moving, settling on Hathor's left foot.
"Don't say that. The team will find us." Lori said trying to retain her confidence, her hand moving over her husbands. The left foot of the statue sank down a little as she placed her hand over his. "Did you feel that?"
"Did... did it just move?"
"I think so! Press down harder!" The couple pushed down on the statue's foot, and with their combined strength, the left foot sank down further. The loud scraping noise of stone against stone filled the room.
"The slab is moving!" Lori exclaimed with excitement as the heavy stone slab shifted away from the corridor they had entered through.
"Oh, thank Hathor! Thank Thoth! Thank Harpocrates! And thank any other gods that might be listening!" Brandon screamed with joy.
"Now, let's get out of here. When the rest of the team finds the burial chamber, they can come find us, I've had enough exploring." Lori said with relief as she and Brandon headed through the open passage.
Thanks for making it his far! More stories to come. Follow and stay tuned.
Credit to www.craiyon.com for the images.
Photo of statue used was photographed at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. and licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0
The image was edited onto the background.
This story was written for Belle's "Riddle Me This" challenge link below:
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