I always loved everything there is out there about ancient Egypt. It started when I was a kid and got my first book about mummies. I must have read the thing every day for two weeks. That led to more books, videos and other things about mummies. I was always a bit of a death-obsessed child, loving mummies, cemeteries and horror. But as I read more about mummies from Egypt, I started to learn more about the land to interest me. The stories of the mighty Pharaohs, all their gods and goddesses, the many great stories that are told of the Pyramids, the Valley of the Kings and more. I guess that was what led me to the museum when I saw online there was a special exhibit of actual artifacts from Egypt coming to town.
My full attention was on everything I saw that day. I was pretty much there the minute the museum opened that day and the first one in the exhibit hall that held all the things from Egypt. It was all so interesting and nice to look at. The jewelry, tools, everyday items and yes, even the mummies. I took my time looking at everything several times. Plus all the reproductions of all the artwork from tomb walls and the actual statues and figures. I walked several times past a display case full of funerary masks that once covered the faces of the ancient dead. I looked at all of them, one by one, before I finally saw her.
Her face was there, cast in the golden mask from long ago. As hard as it was to tell there, I could tell that she was probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I read the small white card next to her mask telling me all about her. It said the mask was that of Ahmose, a name which in their language was said to mean "born of the moon." She was a princess, the daughter of a Pharaoh in the Eighteenth Dynasty. She was estimated to have died somewhere around 1475 BC, meaning she had been dead for around 3,500 years. The card didn't say much more, other than her mask had been found in a treasury of stolen tomb goods and her mummy was still missing. I stared at the mask for some time, I cannot really say how long as time itself seemed to slow. I went on with the exhibit eventually, but the image of Ahmose's funerary mask stuck in my mind.
The image of Ahmose was fresh in my mind over the next several days. Every free moment I had was spent trying to find out more information about her, but there seemed to be none online. The only things I could find were the names of her parents and that she died when she was about 25 years old, at least according to the records. She was only ever mentioned on pages about her father, one of the Pharaohs. I looked to see if there were any books about him or his family for sale, but found none.
Looking for this information did provide me with a clue, however. I had been somewhat successful in my professional life so I had plenty of disposable income laying around. I didn't have a real collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt, but there were a couple of items lying around. One day I got an email alert from an auction site I bought in the past saying that they were selling a recently deceased doctor's collection. I browsed through the items and found some that peaked my interest. But two stood out to me above the others. One was a necklace of turquoise beads and a faience amulet. The origins were unknown other than it was believed to be from the New Kingdom. The next item really got my attention. It was a ushabti, a small figurine buried with the deceased to act as servants in the afterlife. The name was what really got me, as it came from the tomb of Princess Ahmose.
I read over the item listing several times. It talked about how the ushabti had been one of the few items discovered in the 1800s when explorers in Egypt found her plundered tomb. I looked closer at the listing for the necklace and it turned out to have been found in the tomb as well before being restored. I knew I needed both of them, a small token to the funerary mask that I was thinking more and more about. I bit regularly over the next few days, determined to win. Finally, when the auction closed, I had won both items, even at the cost of a few thousand dollars.
Now I just had to wait until the items arrived from the collection in Europe. While waiting, I looked around on the web for details on Ahmose's tomb. Since it had been discovered, I had hoped that there really was more information on her, even though I turned up nothing in my earlier searches. The details I found had nothing to do with Ahmose other than mentioning her name. It was said the tomb had been previously flooded several times, destroying quite a number of items and leaving very little. It was also said the tomb probably had been robbed several times in antiquity. When I tried to see if her mummy still existed, they said it was missing from the tomb, presumed long lost to time and the elements.
A few weeks later, and after much impatient waiting, I arrived home to find a package from Germany on my doorstep. While a little annoyed that the delivery person had left it unattended in this manner, I was ecstatic to finally receive my goods. I took it inside and carefully tore into the box. First I pulled out a small plastic bag containing the necklace. Opening the bag, I fingered each bead carefully, wondering if Ahmose herself had worn it in life. Then I unwrapped the packaging that protected the ushabti. The small statuette was of clay, badly faded and most of the paint worn off from all the flooding and years. But I could still slightly make out the face I recognized from that day in the museum when I laid eyes on the funerary mask. I prepared to put them on display in my house, but a place of prominence did not seem right to me. I can't explain why, but as I prepared to lay down for bed that night I placed the ushabti on my bedside table and the necklace was wrapped around it.
I slept well that night, probably because I no longer had to wonder when my package was arriving. I had a strange dream that very night, one starting with me standing alone in a solid black room. Suddenly I found myself frozen, completely unable to move. Then, a bright white cloud of fog appeared in front of me, almost sparking. From this cloud, a heavenly female voice called out to me.
"Be free, my love and come closer to me."
The voice repeated itself a few times, maybe four or five, before I was able to walk towards it. I stared into it, unable to make out a person within.
"Speak, my love," the voice again called to me.
"Who are you? Where are you?"
"I am Ahmose, the Princess whom you have come to know about. I have come to you, as I have known since you looked upon the face of my funerary mask that it is the will of the universe that you and I be able to come together."
"But where are you?"
"Do not worry, my love. Soon you will learn. Until our next meeting."
The fog faded away and no matter how much I called out to Ahomse, her last words just repeated themselves again, fading out each time. Soon, I woke up, confused and wondering if it had all been a dream. As I stirred I realized that wrapped around my hand was the necklace from her tomb, no longer on the nightstand as it had been. Logic would have said I had simply reached over and grabbed it in my sleep, but I knew this wasn't true. Deep down, I was telling myself that Ahomse's spirit had put it there.
The dream was on my mind all of the next day at the office. After getting home, I prepared dinner as usual and prepared to sit down. But for some reason, I felt especially alone that evening. I can't explain what led me back to the bedroom and grabbing the necklace and ushabti of Ahmose, setting it down on the table across from me. I began to eat, occasionally glancing up at the figure. About half way through the meal, I suddenly heard a familiar voice.
