The Magic Quilt

PART 8

Step by step, Sam and Lee moved closer and closer to the entrance to the pyramid.  Down below and in the distance, they could see clusters of mud-brick houses with children playing outside.  Donkeys and carts were tied up outside some of the houses and chickens scurried across flat rooftops. 

The disco-lights ball revolved slowly in Sam's outstretched hand.  Lee was shakily holding the quilt behind Sam as if it was a royal gown.  The guards stared firmly ahead, hardly glancing at the friends as they moved from the heat of bright sunlight into the flickering glow of the cold passageway.  As Sam and Lee glanced backwards, they realised that they were the last ones to enter the pyramid.    Ahead of them, a group of priests were chanting.  Sam and Lee slowed down so that they were a little way behind the main procession.  

You sound like my mum.  I don't think anyone's even noticed us so far.

The floor beneath Sam and Lee had been gradually sloping downwards as they walked along the narrow corridor.  Suddenly, the passageway opened into a massive room that was full of carved ornaments and household items.  Each item was richly decorated and some of them glinted with gold in the flickering glow of the flaming torches.  Ahead of the two friends, the rest of the procession was just leaving the room by a door in the opposite wall.

As quickly as they could, Sam and Lee squeezed past a pair of huge, decorated jars and a golden chair.  They had just ducked down behind a large painted chest when the funeral procession came back into the room.  Sam and Lee held their breath as priests, servants and soldiers made their way across the room and back towards the entrance.  Although the procession seemed to take ages to pass, both Sam and Lee managed to stay absolutely quiet.  They glanced at each other nervously as the last guard crossed into the entry corridor.  Eventually, after several breathless minutes, they dared to speak.

For several minutes, Sam and Lee pushed and shoved at the huge door blocking their exit.  Despite their best efforts, it did not budge.  Not a centimetre. Not a millimetre.

As Sam and Lee squatted down in the cold stone passageway, the torch on the wall above them sputtered and died.  Although there were two other torches nearby, their flickering light was not strong enough to illuminate the paper so that Sam and Lee had to rely on the revolving coloured lights of the disco-lights ball.  Realising that they would not be able to see for much longer, the two friends quickly composed a poem that they hoped would lead to their escape from this ancient Egyptian tomb.

We don't want to be skeletons here in the gloom,

So whizz to when Carter discovers this tomb.

As our disco-lights spin - red, yellow, green, blue -

Please take us to 1922.

As the friends peeped out from behind the chest, expecting to see the Egyptian guards returning, they were surprised at what they saw.  Carrying a torch in one hand, and wearing a waistcoat over his old-fashioned shirt and tie, stood a tall man with a moustache.  Looking over his shoulder into the treasure room, there was another man .. and they were speaking to each other ... in English!  Sam and Lee almost jumped out from behind the chest, then they realised that they would have a lot of explaining to do.  Just a few minutes later, both men had moved through the room into the next part of the passageway.

This is the end of the Magic Quilt story - for the time being.

If you had a magic quilt, where would you choose to go.

What do you think might happen when you got there?

Why not write down your ideas and send them to Brainboxx?

(Get permission from your teacher or an adult first)

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