"You who go, you will return." "You who sleep, you will rise." "You who walk, you will be resurrected." "For glory is due to you, to the heavens and their loftiness, to the earth and its breadth, to the seas and their depth." "The Night of Counting the Years" "The Mummy" "Based on the story of the discovery of the cache of mummies in Dayr Al-Bahri in 1881" ""May you be obeyed, Lord of Light, you who live in the heart of the great house." "Prince of night and darkness," "I have come to you as a pure soul." "Grant me a mouth that I may speak in your presence." "Bring me my heart quickly on the day when the clouds become heavy and the darkness thickens."" ""Give me my name in the great house, and return my name to memory, on the day when the years are counted."" "A distant echo that comes to us from distant Thebes," "separated from our day by three thousand years." "You may have recognised it as a chapter of the Book of the Dead." "The repetition of this papyrus restores the dead person's ability to remember his or her name." "Any soul that lacks a name wanders in endless toil." "For losing one's name means losing one's identity." "But I haven't called you to this meeting so we can discuss the Book of the Dead, which all of you know very well." "My predecessor, the late Mariette Pasha, gave it to me:" "a funeral papyrus for Pennedjem I from the 11th Dynasty." "This is a picture of a funeral papyrus that was smuggled out of Egypt about five years ago." "Unfortunately, our Egyptian Museum has only this picture." "It clearly shows the name of Queen Nedjmet." "This papyrus was sold by an unknown merchant in Thebes." "From all this, we can deduce that someone knows the exact location of these unknown tombs from the 21st Dynasty, and that this person has known this secret for a long time." "But there is no trace of the tombs of that dynasty in Thebes, Mr. Maspero." "True." "And excavations in this case would be a waste of time and money." "Someone in Thebes knows where those tombs are." "Otherwise, how did all these things get out to the world's antiquities markets?" "Our top priority in the next season will be the matter of these unknown tombs." "Ahmad Kamal," "Do you have any other business before we end this last meeting of the season?" "Yes." "I want to be in Thebes this summer to work on just this matter." "Everyone there knows that the antiquities authorities don't work in the summer." "Therefore, it's the season in which antiquities thieves are safe and try to smuggle out their goods." "My unexpected arrival will throw them into confusion, and their confusion will surely lead me to some evidence." "I'm pleased with your suggestion." "These documents will be useful to you." "I'm confident that you'll act patiently and wisely." "I'll leave right away, then." "In Thebes, you'll find a small force of mountain guards who guard the Mountain of the Dead." "They'll help you to the best of their ability." "I wish you success." "May God have mercy on his soul." "He prepared you for this day so you could honour his name and protect his tribe." "So you could honour his name and protect his tribe!" "The tribe of the Hurabat." "Here, before my brother's grave" "I reveal to you the secret of what is ours and what will remain ours as long as this mountain lasts." "A secret for you to protect with your blood, with your lives." "The secret of a hidden treasure whose protection has been passed from father to son." "Why are we taking this path?" "It's a path for goats." "Because it's safer." "Safer for jackals!" "Save your courage for the city people and the guards." "They're spreading over the mountain like plague." "Climb up." "The path is safe." "Follow me." "What's the matter, Wanis?" "Nothing." "But it's humiliating to hide." "Hurry." "Follow me." "Follow me." "Be careful, and don't ask questions." "Here, you're nothing but grains of sand in the mountain's belly." "Is Wanis staying here until we return?" "I came here to fulfil my father's wish." "He'll come with us, to know everything I'll know." "That's how men should talk." "Truly, both of you take after your father." "Take this to the merchant Ayyub." "What is this secret?" "You've made me afraid to look at you, father." "What is my destiny now?" "What is this secret?" "It's a sin to know it, and a graver sin not to know it." "Sin?" "What sin, cousin?" "I don't understand this talk." "I don't understand your calm." "For years I've been bringing things to the merchant Ayyub." "You told me they had been found on the mountain." "You taught me not to ask questions, and I believed you." "Was this our way of life?" "It was and will remain our way of life." "Don't you see what you're doing?" "Isn't there anyone whose conscience worries him and makes him speak up?" "Now you know the secret of the hidden treasure." "Your father's share now belongs to you and your brother." "Is sharing it with your brother what bothers you?" "Sharing the dead?" "Those whom you call the dead are only dust or wood from thousands of years ago." "Nobody knows of their parents or children." "Kind mistress of the house, our condolences." "We have come to your house, to the house of my late brother to console you and to share in your sorrow, and to offer you whatever you ask." "Your very presence consoles me and honours the house." "May God give you the strength to bear your sorrow." "What's boiling inside you, cousin?" "What?" "Why didn't you deliver this to the merchant Ayyub?" "The whole tribe is waiting for the money from its sale!" "— If your father was alive..." "— Leave the dead in peace!" "You mean leave them to the city people?" "!" "What trade do we have with them?" "Those arrogant Cairenes would lock you up if they found this on you." "They pillage everything." "And unlike Ayyub, they don't pay us." "To you it's a piece of gold," "But I see it as an eye that pursues me." "A dead eye, containing enough gold to feed a hundred mouths." "A hundred mouths that would eat your flesh if they were hungry." "What about you?" "!" "Where has your food been coming from all your life?" "!" "I never thought I would hear Salim's son talk like the city people." "I want you to know" "That entering and leaving the cave has made you into another person," "different to the people of the valley, and to the city people who wish they knew the secret." "I also want you to know that the secret of the hidden treasure is worth more than the life of any individual in Salim's tribe." "My brother prepared you for this day, but I see you standing before me trembling like a child." "Our life is a hard struggle!" "But it seems that you're weak or incapable." "What you call our life feels like a poison in my body." "This is the life of jackals!" "Carry these sins by yourselves." "This was your father's life, and his father's life before him." "He wanted you to learn the secret of the hidden treasure." "If he was alive now, he would want you dead." "I'm not afraid of your talk." "You should fear your children when they ask you someday," ""Is this our life?"" "We will raise them to respect their parents' traditions." "That's enough." "I'm the one who raised my children." "I raised them to be as proud and haughty as the mountain." "We don't accept insults in my brother's house." "It's still his house." "I hope so." "It's only his walls." "The walls and the people that the walls protect." "Give me that piece." "Not just anyone should touch such things." "We'll go now." "If you'll excuse us, mistress of the house." "May God give you the strength to bear your fate." "Where is Wanis?" "You defended me only when they talked about my upbringing." "True." "They crossed the boundaries of respect for this house." "Go and look for your brother." "— Have you seen him since...?" "— Yes." "Did you talk to him?" "Yes." "You talked to him." "What does the future have in store for us?" "My mind is troubled and can't keep silent." "Answer me." "Count with me." "How many corpses did my father's hands defile?" "Enough!" "What do you want?" "I want the truth." "Now." "You'll know it someday." "Or maybe you'll never know it." "As for the truth that I know, it's that you have sullied your father's name in his house." "No." "Nobody will harm him in his home." "Not even his son." "He was my companion in life." "The truth?" "A curse on your truth." "And a curse on you." "Because you have disturbed he who rests in his grave." "Now he will never have any peace." "A curse on you." "You keep us from seeing clearly." "Get out of my sight, you wretch!" "I don't know your name." "Wanis." "Wanis, why are you always evasive?" "Why did you do all that to her?" "She only lives in the past." "Wanis." "You showed me a dark destiny." "A desert that I have to cross alone, afraid of feelings and memories." "What memory?" "Remembering weakens the will." "What will?" "The will to forget what was truth for me yesterday?" "Let's go start over somewhere else." "There's nothing for us here anymore." "Why did you let me in on this?" "And why you, my brother?" "Listen." "I don't want to listen." "I've heard enough already." "Why have they come before the appointed time?" "We must look for Wanis." "He's the only one who knows the secret." "No." "Let his tears rid him of his childhood." "He'll be back driven by hunger and loneliness." "Watch Wanis from a distance like a shadow." "And make sure he isn't harmed." "Look for... what's-his-name, Ayyub's assistant, the pale-faced one." "— Murad." "— Yes." "The mountain guards still don't know his face." "Go and look for Murad." "Murad!" "Murad!" "I've repented." "I have nothing to do with that." "Am I stupid enough to keep working in Ayyub's business now?" "Listen to the steamship's whistle." "The city people have come back sooner than expected." "And Mr. Badawi and the guards will block all the roads." "No, sirs, tell your uncle:" "Life in this place calls for a different sort of man now, someone extraordinary." "— You're a coward." "— Yes, sir, I'm a coward." "— So why don't you leave?" "— And why should I leave?" "Look, Miss Zayna has come to open a small shop near the port, to cater to the city people." "My cousin and I will help her." "A loyal young woman." "When did they arrive?" "You didn't tell us about them before." "Since when do you ask after poor Murad?" "You all ask after Ayyub." "Ayyub this, Ayyub that, where is Ayyub?" "In Cairo, in Suez, wherever he wants." "When he returns, we all run to serve him." "Wait, cousins." "They're very keen to see the city people from Cairo." "Excuse me." "I shouldn't leave them unattended." "More city people from Cairo." "A whole floating town full of them." "The rich strangers." "They're truly rich." "Difficult days are ahead." "And your father, may God have mercy on his soul, left you to bear a weighty secret." "— May he rest in peace." "— What do you want now, Murad?" "May God protect you." "I want only your health." "They're truly powerful and brilliant." "What about work?" "How will it be now?" "A person has a right to know how and with whom he will be dealing." "Is that a message from Ayyub?" "Ayyub?" "Who is Ayyub?" "Your boss." "My boss is gold and its glitter, boss." "Look." "Murad!" "My cousin is very keen to see the city people from Cairo." "Forgive me, sir." "I'll circle around and investigate to find out why they've come back, and I'll let you know later." "Do me the honour of a visit, sir." "I'm at your service." "— There's a strange look in his eye." "— Yes." "As if he was a statue that came back to life." "They have no faces." "True." "But there's a face as big as a man." "Are you a stranger to the mountain?" "Yes." "Aren't there things like this in your valley?" "No." "Don't they frighten you sometimes?" "They were my childhood companions." "My brother and I used to hide among them." "This palm is closed around its destiny, which will never be read." "What destiny can be read in a palm of stone?" "The destiny of those who built these palaces, these images." "Men who walk towards nothing." "Ships that sail towards nothing." "Pillars that hold up no roof." "Come work for the city people!" "Come over here!" "Let's go." "It's honest work." "Come on." "I have other things to keep me busy." "Come over here!" "I would have liked us to stay together, but I'm a stranger here, and I have to work so I can stay." "We'll meet at the end of the day by the port." "Good-bye, brother." "Everything here seems obscure and silent." "A whole dynasty's lost tombs." "What you're saying is hard to believe." "I've walked all the paths on this mountain, and they're all abandoned." "Some accursed person is the link between those tombs and the itinerant merchants." "I'll evacuate all inhabitants from the vicinity of the mountain." "I'll arrest anyone who comes near." "And we'll lose the only evidence that could lead us one day to those lost tombs." "You don't know how defiant the mountain people are." "They don't care about us, nor do they respect the law." "In fact they make us feel like intruders." "Therefore, at the moment I don't see any reason why they would surrender." "They'll surrender, because each of us knows the other's strength." "I can wait in front of this mountain." "Nothing is disturbing me." "But they can't wait for long." "That's my only strength." "Somewhere on this mountain lie the pharaohs of the 11th Dynasty." "This whole area is under our surveillance, along with all the paths that lead to the Valley of the Kings." "Those tombs might not be in the Valley of the Kings." "Only the tombs of the 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties are there." "And they were all pillaged three thousand years ago, when the Pharaonic Empire collapsed." "Those were the greatest pharaohs." "What destiny did they all meet?" "Ahmos, the liberator of the Nile valley, his son Amenhotep, and all the dynasties that followed them." "I walk among them and I find their tombs empty and dark, like caves in the belly of the mountain." "Like deep wounds in the belly of the mountain." "The ruins of their funerary temples lie all along the valley, a temple for each pharaoh." "Thutmose III, the conqueror of the first empire in history." "Seti I and his son Ramses II, whose legendary name a whole dynasty bore." "His temple is there, along with the temple of Ramses III." "What's that sound?" "It's the sound of the mourners of that mountain tribe." "Their leader died yesterday, and was buried at the foot of the mountain, as is their custom." "Tell me about that tribe." "They're herders whose history goes back five centuries." "The famous tribe of the Hurabat." "They never leave the mountain." "They have no relations with the people of the valley." "I've been observing them for some time." "Do you know him?" "No." "You!" "Keep quiet." "Sir." "Please come inside, out of this tiresome wind." "Nobody must see us, neither the city people nor anyone else." "Come in." "Would you like to know why they've come here?" "It seems that a papyrus fell into the hands of the leader of the city people." "That Ayyub has grown old and negligent." "Did you talk to him?" "To whom?" "To the leader of the city people." "Yes... no." "So how did you find out?" "From their assistants." "They are truly cunning young men." "They say this papyrus came from a tomb," "and of course you know better than anyone." "The whole mountain belongs to you." "Forgive me, sir." "This talk of the city people has distracted me and made me forget the rules of hospitality." "Please honour me by coming in." "I have guests who are dear to you and to whom you are dear, and who will be glad to see you." "Our leader is welcome." "Don't worry about the city people, as the elders of the tribe do." "I don't care about the city people." "That's a good quality for a leader to have." "But is it wise for the leader to trust strangers?" "He's just a passing stranger." "He works for the city people." "And they're passing strangers, too." "How many strangers will come to the mountain to help themselves to it, son of Salim?" "I don't need your words in order to know who I am." "Forget your sorrows, Wanis." "Yesterday will never return." "Murad..." "Murad!" "What's going on here?" "I'll bring it to you, sir." "I'll bring it." "Whatever you want." "You're truly an extraordinary merchant, cousin." "He wouldn't give me the beautiful girl." "What's going on here?" "!" "And for whom?" "!" "For whom?" "!" "Aren't I better than a piece of gold?" "Be quiet, woman, and go!" "Come here, my treasure." "They're talking about business." "What's happened to you, Wanis?" "— We'll do business with Murad, since he gives us what we want." "— Of course, of course." "Everything in the mountain must be shared with the whole tribe." "We'll share it with you." "Everything in the mountain must be shared with the whole tribe." "Are you prepared you say that to the city people?" "You're a leader now." "Why should we share with the elders of the tribe, and lose half of what we find?" "The mountain no longer belongs to them alone." "By the heavens, what should I call you?" "Your cousins and lifelong companions." "This is the companionship of scorpions!" "Jackals!" "You live on the flesh of those who feed you!" "How can you talk to us like that in front of strangers?" "!" "As if you had any shame!" "Enough!" "We're still cousins." "Not at all!" "Be angry at Ayyub." "Don't be angry at your cousins." "He's the one who deceived your tribe." "I know this very well, because I've worked with him." "Come back, sir." "Don't go out in this windstorm." "Come here, jewel." "Don't be afraid." "I can give more than Ayyub." "Ayyub will come today to take the golden eye." "Why shouldn't I take it?" "I'm always here, serving you." "— A vile service." "— Perhaps." "But Ayyub is the one who taught me." "That's how Ayyub started here." "Beware if you cross my path someday, Murad." "Or any of you." "We'll meet again." "Never." "The Hurabat know only the path that goes up the mountain." "Go back, Ayyub!" "The guards are everywhere." "Salim, whom you know, is dead." "Let's leave, Ayyub." "There's no life for us here anymore." "Another Salim will come." "This is the monthly appointment." "Another Salim will come." "Pay for this and go, Ayyub." "How is Shaykh Salim?" "He died." "And it's dangerous for his brother to go out carrying this." "What else?" "He says it would be safest for you to sell it piece by piece." "All is not well with the tribe." "Ah." "Where are his sons?" "Go, Ayyub." "Don't ask questions." "I've said enough already." "We won't see Murad again." "Has he left?" "No, sir." "Now he can do business with a hundred different people." "That scoundrel!" "Your father's death saddened me as it saddened you." "I was only kept away by the risks that you're well aware of." "You're not welcome here anymore." "Since when you do dare to talk to me that way, young man?" "Has your inheritance made you that arrogant?" "For whom do you speak?" "For myself and my brother." "This trade will not go on any longer." "So what other trade do you know?" "You don't even know about this." "Give it back to me, my son." "Don't call me your son." "Yes, my son." "Your father was more than a brother to me." "Give it back." "Stop, you viper!" "Give it back to me." "I've already paid for it." "All the wealth of your hungry tribe came out of my own pocket." "You're the cause of all this misery." "Do you want to do business with Murad?" "Take it from him even if it costs him his life." "There will be no business anymore." "Let the men of your tribe writhe in hunger and your women carry wood!" "You've condemned your tribe!" "Wait." "Wait." "Have mercy on me, son of Salim." "So you know my name now?" "Were there three of them?" "Don't think badly of me." "I'm leaving." "They threatened to kill me if I don't leave before this evening." "Wait." "What are those city people doing at the foot of the mountain?" "You worked with them." "I don't know." "I told them I don't know." "Don't be afraid of me." "I'm wounded like you." "I have enough pain, son of Salim." "Stranger, my pain is the whole life I've lived." "A pain I can't understand." "Tell me clearly, for conjectures have drawn me out of my home and muddled my thoughts." "I stand in front of this mountain, incapable." "Its silence fills me with anger, though a portion of it belongs to me." "Answer me!" "What are they looking for in it?" "They already have as much wealth as the mountain contains!" "They say they're looking for a people on top of whose ruins we now live." "They call them the ancestors." "They read their writing and their names on stone." "They care about them and want to preserve..." "Enough!" "They're dead!" "Dead!" "Nobody knows their parents or children." "You've said enough." "You've made the stones seem alive before my eyes." "Sir." "Sir." "Why have you followed me here?" "A curse on the day when I have to bring you bad news." "A curse on the awful day when they'll hurt you, too." "Who's going to hurt me?" "A curse on the day I was born." "Say what you have to say, and go." "Your tribe... your flesh and blood..." "Hit me... kill me..." "I can't say it." "It's horrible!" "Talk, Murad." "Don't play with words." "Your brother, may God have mercy on his soul, has been killed." "Liar!" "How dare you make up such a thing?" "!" "It's the truth!" "I swear..." "Don't touch it!" "I'm a wretch." "Everyone hates me." "Prove what you say." "Who killed him?" "Talk!" "The boat that your brother left on, a boat marked with two palms like a butterfly, moored outside the village:" "its owners are waiting to be paid for their despicable act." "Your uncle disappeared all day." "They say he's looking for you." "He doesn't trust you with the secret." "Unlike your brother, may God have mercy on his soul." "Wanis... sir..." "You and I know what we want." "Ayyub has sent for me, and he'll take everything." "Everything." "Yes, Ayyub will take everything." "He'll deceive you and your tribe again." "He's always done that." "He brought me here." "I was alone, a stranger, like a dog." "You're young and strong, and you can climb the mountain faster than your uncle or Ayyub." "Take me with you." "Sort yourself out now." "If you don't, your uncle will take everything." "And if he doesn't, the city people will soon get to him." "And what will be left for us?" "We aren't like the people of the valley." "Believe me." "I know how and where Ayyub does business." "All the gold will be ours." "We'll sell it in Cairo." "Have you seen the dead, Murad?" "What?" "!" "Stop, sir!" "Stop!" "There must be another way up to the mountain." "Stop, sir!" "They're scoundrels!" "They'll arrest you and torture you until you tell them the secret." "— Go away!" "— They won't pay you anything, sir." "We'll do business however you want." "I'll be a brother to you." "Get away from me, you wretch!" "You won't get to them, son of Salim." "You won't take a single step." "You won't take a single step." "You won't get to them." "Who's there?" "Hold your fire." "Stop!" "Hold your fire!" "Hold your fire!" "Who's there?" "A man in tattered clothing, sir!" "Let him approach." "Let him approach." "Turn off that spotlight." "What do you want?" "Are you the leader of these city people?" "Let him approach." "— Do you know him?" "— No." "Come closer!" "Why did you come to the mountain with all this equipment?" "You own more than all the gold of the dead." "What do you know about the gold of the dead?" "Who are you?" "The son of Shaykh Salim, and his only heir." "Won't you welcome me in your house?" "Welcome." "You mustn't be alone with that man." "I won't leave you alone." "I'll listen to what he wants to say." "I'll arrest him." "You don't have any charges against him or his tribe." "I'll talk to you alone." "And I'll talk to the son of Salim." "Welcome to my house." "We are the high priests of Amon." "In the 10th year of Pennedjem, the high priest, we found the remains of the god and pharaoh Seti I." "It had been defiled in its safe resting place and its gold sarcophagus had been stolen." "There we strove to move the god's body in secret to another safe hiding place." "I read the name of the pharaoh Ahmos." "18th Dynasty." "The pharaoh Amenhotep." "I have come to look after you and protect you from what has harmed you" "Here are your bones, joining together, and your heart, returning to you," "and your enemies crushed under your feet." "Here you are in your beautiful form, alive, resurrected again every morning as a youth." "I was hoping to discover a tomb from the 21st Dynasty, but I've found what seems to be a cache of pharaohs from five dynasties," "from the 19th to the 21st." "How were they all moved here?" "The writing on some of the sarcophagi indicates that they were moved here by the remaining priests of Amon three thousand years ago, when the the tombs of the Valley of the Kings were pillaged." "The priests put the mummies of the pharaohs in these humble sarcophagi after their gold sarcophagi were stolen." "How many men do you have on board the ship?" "Only 20, and four assistants here with me." "What do we do now?" "We could be attacked by the tribe of the Hurabat at any moment." "And they have more men than all of us together!" "— How many sarcophagi are there?" "— About 40." "Prepare to move them on board the ship." "Extinguish all the torches so no sign of our work is visible." "I'll bring back all the trusted men from the valley immediately." "Don't let anyone suspect what we're undertaking." "Put out the torches!" "Put out the torches!" "Put out the torches!" "Ramses II." "Number seven." "Thutmose III." "Be careful!" "We're passing through the area of the Hurabat." "Attack them!" "This is our last chance." "Attack them!" "The dead?" "!" "Was that our life?" "Nobody must see me with you." "Go to the city people, you filth." "Let him go." "They've reached the valley." "Rise, for you will not perish." "You have been called by your name." "You have been resurrected."