The Thieves

“Come, the food is in here.”

“But, the guards will kill us if we’re caught.”

“I know this secret way. The builders leave it until last and do not tell anyone where it is to discourage thieves. The guards do not know about it so we’ll be safe. And it’s a maze that only the builders and I know. They’ll never find us in here.”

“But it’s dark and I’m afraid. What if a god catches us?”

“The gods are a myth. I’ve defied them many times, stolen from other graves and they’ve never punished me. Come, I’ll need help carrying it all.”

“But the kings spirit will know and punish us.”

“No. I’ve taken rings from other kings fingers and no spirit has ever punished me either. I believe the spirit is a myth of the priests too, like the gods. They use them to control even the royal families. Now come.”

“What was that? It sounded like the whole structure moved.”

“Come, we must get out now, they’re dropping the sealing stones.”

~

They were found, huddled together in a corner with the scraps of the food offerings spread around them. The The 2 archeologists had found and opened the 3,500 year old tomb of Hatshepsut, the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt and the second historically-confirmed female pharaoh. The priests had declared her as heretic and tried to destroy all references to her, but she’d been smarter than them.