Jared Padalecki and the Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy, Ch. 4
It’s not that Jared didn’t want to learn more about the mysterious man that arrived in the nick of time to save the day, but there were other things he has to take care of. When Akil came wandering back, looking for him, Jared excused himself from Jensen’s company and found out that they lost four men. One was last seen when his camel went down before they reached the rock. The other three were completely unaccounted for. Twenty eight men and of those only two had lost their packs. The supplies animals were still with them and that made everything better.
“What do you know about the stranger?” Akil asked and there was curiosity in his words, but a fair degree of trepidation. Strangers didn’t come across you in the desert like that and it was obvious Akil didn’t like it one bit.
“He seems fair enough.” Jared answered. “His name is Jensen Ackles.”
“This man? This is Jensen Ackles?”
Jared’s brow furrowed. “You know him?”
“I know of him. An adventurer, I believe you would call him. He goes his own way and rarely travels long in the company of others. If he is this man, then you would be well off to have him join us.”
Jared nodded. “Let’s get everyone settled for this storm and then we’ll worry about that.”
He didn’t notice it immediately because he was busy with the others. He moved around them, talking, laughing, and lightening their moods. The storm was still blowing outside and they decided it would be best to simply bed down for the rest of the day and night. Men worked their trade as they needed then, sharpening knifes or mending shovels. One of the men was skilled at caring for the fine brushes and he took a look at those. The horses and camels were overlooked for signs of strain or injury.
Then he noticed a small laugh. His men were settling into the main chamber, happy enough to let Jared and Jensen alone to the privacy of the smaller alcoves. He looked up at the laughter and saw Jensen moving around them the same as he was doing. Where Jensen’s fingers grazed a man’s shoulder, he sat up taller. He shared water with them and they laughed a little brighter. When Jensen looked up at Jared, something in the way his eyes seemed to reach out to him made Jared’s smile a little brighter too.
“We would be good to keep him Jared.”
Jared nodded at Akil’s words, knew that he trusted the other man’s judgment enough to ask him along just for Akil’s sake. As he watched Jensen wandering through the cavern with the men though he just kept wondering how he was going to be able to keep his hands off the other man.
He forgot about it almost as soon as Akil walked away. Not because Jensen Ackles was easy to forget, or that their plight was either, but as Jared had been looking through his bags he’d noticed something on the wall. When he went to the front there were small marking on the wall, not obvious when they were pushing to get as far out of the storm’s winds as possible but when he looked it was there. He lost time completely before he heard the soft scuff of feet behind him and someone clearing their throat.
“Yes, just one moment.” He said, barely aware of what he’d said or the need to say anything. What he was looking at was a small set of hieroglyphics and they seemed to be telling a story, if he could only find all the pieces of it.
“If that’s the sort of thing you’re into, I’m sure I could find something else for you to play with.”
Jared turned around sharply to find Jensen behind him, lips turned up in a smile and eyes warm and amused. “Sorry about that. I…” he looked at the wall and it wasn’t until a water bottle was placed in his hand that he was able to look away again. “I get caught up but it’s really very fascinating.” Jared assured him.
“What does it tell you?” Jensen asked as he looked up at the wall behind him.
“So far, it tells me we’re going the right way.”
“Really?” Jensen asked. “Because I was pretty sure you had to be lost, traveling out this way. I nearly didn’t believe my eyes when I saw you running from the storm.”
Jared nodded. “Yes. I’m following a map left in the hands of a sarcophagus. It’s supposed to lead us to an unknown tomb. It’s absolutely fascinating because if this is accurate then the tomb was made in secret and against the Pharaoh’s wishes.” Jensen’s eyes danced before him and he shook his head, thinking perhaps it was time to address what Akil had said, before he forgot it in hieroglyphs again. “Akil seems to think highly of you. It’s not often that he presses me about things, but he thinks you would work well with us on this journey. What do you feel about joining us?” Jared asked. “I can see the way my men respect you. Even without Akil’s words, I could see that. It’s not much of a reward for helping us, but I’ll see you paid well in the end. That much I can promise.”
Jensen looked hard at him, eyes turning to stone for a moment. “I didn’t help you for reward so you don’t need to think anymore on that. As for the rest, let’s just see how everyone feels after the storm lets up.”
Jared nodded. “That sounds fair enough.”
“Good. Then let me show you what else there is to see here.”
Jared let Jensen lead him further into the cavern, following walk ways that were too symmetrical to have been created by nature. “I can’t get over the work these people put into this.” He confessed as they walked through the tunnel.
“What do you mean?” Jensen asked, but Jared could see the way his fingers trailed the walls, his touch filled with reverence and awe.
“Thing of what it would take to create a tomb, the labor, the materials, let alone the wealth needed to procure those things and to furnish it. Then think of what it must have taken to hide that from the Pharaoh and anyone who might have wanted to gain favor with the Pharaoh by telling him of the tomb. Think of what it would take just to leave a marker behind like this, in a way that they would survive across time. Just think how long it must have taken a crew of men to come into this cavern and carve out these hallways to wherever you are leading me.” Jared sighed. “This man, he must have been someone spectacular.”
Jensen seemed to be shaken a little and Jared reached a hand out to touch his shoulder. “Jensen?”
“It’s… I’ve walked in this cavern a hundred times and I don’t think I ever understood before now.” He gave Jared a sad smile, but when he grasped his hand he gently squeezed as if to reassure Jared that he was alright. “I’m glad I thought to bring you back this way. Perhaps you will be able to appreciate what is here far better than I can.”
“What is it?” Jared asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Jensen smiled as he dropped Jared’s hand. “You’ll see when we get there.”
A few more twists and turns and Jared realized that Jensen was following small marks at the bottom of the wall. He wanted to stop an examine each of them but he had a feeling that Jensen was taking him to something that he would want to see more than he wanted to look at these.
Jensen stopped suddenly and Jared almost ran into his back. When Jensen turned Jared found himself so close that all he could see were those green eyes. He could feel phantom hands holding him close and lips kissing his eyes and he tripped back a few steps in his haste to get away before he could try to close the distance between them anymore.
Jensen looked confused, but Jared just shook his head and gave Jensen a slight smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to almost run through you.”
Jensen nodded, but didn’t look comforted by the words. “It’s in here.” He said, as he watched Jared. “It’s… I don’t think anyone’s ever seen it. If they have, they left it undisturbed which I can’t imagine would really happen. This is the sort of thing you see hanging in museums, not left to the ravages of nature.”
Jared nodded, understanding that Jensen was trying to show him something he thought could be important. Jared didn’t say anything because he didn’t trust himself to speak. He knew what he wanted this to be and everything he’d seen in the cavern so far seemed to indicate this would be the marker he had been looking for.
Jared took a step forward but Jensen’s hand flew up, his fingers catching to grip tightly in Jared’s shirt. “Jared… this place… it means something. I feel connected to this place, of all the places I’ve been. Treat it with care.”
Jared nodded, unable to say anything with those green eyes holding him so completely. He felt Jensen’s fingers dig tighter into his shirt for a moment then release slowly. Jensen nodded as he took a deep breath, then stepped away, turning to lead Jared through another corner and into an open cavern.
Jared stopped as soon as he stepped into it. It was half the size of the first, but where wind and rains had formed the first, this one had been placed where the ravages of either would never touch it. The cavern was man made, with strict geometric corners. Mirrors reflected off one another, coming from another source behind them, illuminating the room as if they were in the midday sun.
On the wall directly opposite him was a huge relief sculpture. “It is here.” He said, his voice a whisper that seemed to echo along the walls. It was as if the room itself was build for worship, that even here in the first marker the people who loved this man demanded respect from any who entered. He felt humbled and awestruck to be able to stand there at all.
When he found the strength to move forward, he did so slowly, his eyes cataloguing what he saw in whole without starting to translate what it was. “I need Akil.” He said softly. “In a few minutes I will need his help.” He looked over at Jensen then and realized that the other man was watching him. “I just need a few minutes first.”
Jensen nodded and backed away. Jared knew he hadn’t left the chamber but he was giving Jared space and that was what he needed. Jared sat down in the middle of the chamber, eyes taking it all in, before he closed his eyes and just breathed deeply. He could smell something in the air, kapet, he thought as he inhaled the sweet, slightly spicy scent. He heard the murmurs of those around him, heard the almost prayer like quality of their voices as they worked to finish the relief, work created out of love and respect. He felt the fear and knew that they were aware of what would happen if their work was found, but it was not deterrent enough to stop them. He couldn’t hear the words, knew if he opened his eyes to try to find them that the vision would be lost to him. Instead he sunk further into the feeling of it all, the steady hum of their work around him, the soft chipping away of stone and the sanding of the walls around them. It went fast around him, like hours were passing in just minutes and he could feel the growing excitement and restlessness to have it completed. Their fear was ever present and grew more intense towards the end, but as it did, so did their dedication and devotion. He didn’t know what caused it, didn’t have an understanding of who the man was and what he did to cause this adoration of the people but when his mind’s eye slowed a noble stood before him and there was no doubt in Jared’s mind that this was the man he had taken the first scroll from.
He watched as one by one each of the slaves handed over a figure. Shabti, he knew, so that they would be allowed to help their beloved general with his passage to the afterlife. He shivered as he watched the number of men and women offering their afterlife in servitude. Some held simple figurines and others more ornate. Some offered models of blacksmithing, or hunting, or planting fields, but they all meant the same thing and it was again humbling to be in a place where so many people had love this one person so much.
He jerked his eyes open when he felt someone touch him. When he looked up at Jensen, eyes wide with concern, Jared took a ragged breath and pulled away, feeling raw and jagged. Jensen backed away, but his brow was furrowed in concern. “I need Akil now.” He said as softly as he could and Jensen simply nodded as he walked away to bring the man to him.
Jared took a deep breath, alone in the room for the first time and let himself come back from the vision. He didn’t know how to ask Jensen if maybe he had visions also, but the way he seemed to revere the place suggested he knew something more about it. Or maybe it was simply having been in this room. He didn’t know, but he hoped Jensen would stay with them long enough for him to ask. He said he was connected to the place and now Jared felt the need to find out why.
He felt Akil’s presence in the room in the way he had felt the servants, a man moved by love of what he did. Oddly enough, he didn’t feel Jensen’s presence as much as he felt his eyes watching him. Akil stared at the relief for a moment before turning his wide eyes to Jared’s. “This is it.”
Jared nodded. “It is. We’ll find him Akil. We’ll find the tomb and see what it was about this man that deserved so much devotion.”
Akil understood him, understood that Jared was a man caught in a mystery, not in the material around him. He didn’t want to find the tomb for a need to sell it or to be able to say he did it first. Jared Padalecki couldn’t keep himself clear of a mystery. He needed to solve it, needed to get to the bottom of it. As Akil approached the relief with appropriate awe, Jared’s eyes locked with Jensen’s.
There was a hard look in his eyes as he watched Jared and he didn’t know where it came from or how such a stony glance could come from a man who radiated such warmth and comfort at other times. It was another mystery and Jared resolved himself to solve that one as well.
On To Chapter Five
“What do you know about the stranger?” Akil asked and there was curiosity in his words, but a fair degree of trepidation. Strangers didn’t come across you in the desert like that and it was obvious Akil didn’t like it one bit.
“He seems fair enough.” Jared answered. “His name is Jensen Ackles.”
“This man? This is Jensen Ackles?”
Jared’s brow furrowed. “You know him?”
“I know of him. An adventurer, I believe you would call him. He goes his own way and rarely travels long in the company of others. If he is this man, then you would be well off to have him join us.”
Jared nodded. “Let’s get everyone settled for this storm and then we’ll worry about that.”
He didn’t notice it immediately because he was busy with the others. He moved around them, talking, laughing, and lightening their moods. The storm was still blowing outside and they decided it would be best to simply bed down for the rest of the day and night. Men worked their trade as they needed then, sharpening knifes or mending shovels. One of the men was skilled at caring for the fine brushes and he took a look at those. The horses and camels were overlooked for signs of strain or injury.
Then he noticed a small laugh. His men were settling into the main chamber, happy enough to let Jared and Jensen alone to the privacy of the smaller alcoves. He looked up at the laughter and saw Jensen moving around them the same as he was doing. Where Jensen’s fingers grazed a man’s shoulder, he sat up taller. He shared water with them and they laughed a little brighter. When Jensen looked up at Jared, something in the way his eyes seemed to reach out to him made Jared’s smile a little brighter too.
“We would be good to keep him Jared.”
Jared nodded at Akil’s words, knew that he trusted the other man’s judgment enough to ask him along just for Akil’s sake. As he watched Jensen wandering through the cavern with the men though he just kept wondering how he was going to be able to keep his hands off the other man.
He forgot about it almost as soon as Akil walked away. Not because Jensen Ackles was easy to forget, or that their plight was either, but as Jared had been looking through his bags he’d noticed something on the wall. When he went to the front there were small marking on the wall, not obvious when they were pushing to get as far out of the storm’s winds as possible but when he looked it was there. He lost time completely before he heard the soft scuff of feet behind him and someone clearing their throat.
“Yes, just one moment.” He said, barely aware of what he’d said or the need to say anything. What he was looking at was a small set of hieroglyphics and they seemed to be telling a story, if he could only find all the pieces of it.
“If that’s the sort of thing you’re into, I’m sure I could find something else for you to play with.”
Jared turned around sharply to find Jensen behind him, lips turned up in a smile and eyes warm and amused. “Sorry about that. I…” he looked at the wall and it wasn’t until a water bottle was placed in his hand that he was able to look away again. “I get caught up but it’s really very fascinating.” Jared assured him.
“What does it tell you?” Jensen asked as he looked up at the wall behind him.
“So far, it tells me we’re going the right way.”
“Really?” Jensen asked. “Because I was pretty sure you had to be lost, traveling out this way. I nearly didn’t believe my eyes when I saw you running from the storm.”
Jared nodded. “Yes. I’m following a map left in the hands of a sarcophagus. It’s supposed to lead us to an unknown tomb. It’s absolutely fascinating because if this is accurate then the tomb was made in secret and against the Pharaoh’s wishes.” Jensen’s eyes danced before him and he shook his head, thinking perhaps it was time to address what Akil had said, before he forgot it in hieroglyphs again. “Akil seems to think highly of you. It’s not often that he presses me about things, but he thinks you would work well with us on this journey. What do you feel about joining us?” Jared asked. “I can see the way my men respect you. Even without Akil’s words, I could see that. It’s not much of a reward for helping us, but I’ll see you paid well in the end. That much I can promise.”
Jensen looked hard at him, eyes turning to stone for a moment. “I didn’t help you for reward so you don’t need to think anymore on that. As for the rest, let’s just see how everyone feels after the storm lets up.”
Jared nodded. “That sounds fair enough.”
“Good. Then let me show you what else there is to see here.”
Jared let Jensen lead him further into the cavern, following walk ways that were too symmetrical to have been created by nature. “I can’t get over the work these people put into this.” He confessed as they walked through the tunnel.
“What do you mean?” Jensen asked, but Jared could see the way his fingers trailed the walls, his touch filled with reverence and awe.
“Thing of what it would take to create a tomb, the labor, the materials, let alone the wealth needed to procure those things and to furnish it. Then think of what it must have taken to hide that from the Pharaoh and anyone who might have wanted to gain favor with the Pharaoh by telling him of the tomb. Think of what it would take just to leave a marker behind like this, in a way that they would survive across time. Just think how long it must have taken a crew of men to come into this cavern and carve out these hallways to wherever you are leading me.” Jared sighed. “This man, he must have been someone spectacular.”
Jensen seemed to be shaken a little and Jared reached a hand out to touch his shoulder. “Jensen?”
“It’s… I’ve walked in this cavern a hundred times and I don’t think I ever understood before now.” He gave Jared a sad smile, but when he grasped his hand he gently squeezed as if to reassure Jared that he was alright. “I’m glad I thought to bring you back this way. Perhaps you will be able to appreciate what is here far better than I can.”
“What is it?” Jared asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
Jensen smiled as he dropped Jared’s hand. “You’ll see when we get there.”
A few more twists and turns and Jared realized that Jensen was following small marks at the bottom of the wall. He wanted to stop an examine each of them but he had a feeling that Jensen was taking him to something that he would want to see more than he wanted to look at these.
Jensen stopped suddenly and Jared almost ran into his back. When Jensen turned Jared found himself so close that all he could see were those green eyes. He could feel phantom hands holding him close and lips kissing his eyes and he tripped back a few steps in his haste to get away before he could try to close the distance between them anymore.
Jensen looked confused, but Jared just shook his head and gave Jensen a slight smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to almost run through you.”
Jensen nodded, but didn’t look comforted by the words. “It’s in here.” He said, as he watched Jared. “It’s… I don’t think anyone’s ever seen it. If they have, they left it undisturbed which I can’t imagine would really happen. This is the sort of thing you see hanging in museums, not left to the ravages of nature.”
Jared nodded, understanding that Jensen was trying to show him something he thought could be important. Jared didn’t say anything because he didn’t trust himself to speak. He knew what he wanted this to be and everything he’d seen in the cavern so far seemed to indicate this would be the marker he had been looking for.
Jared took a step forward but Jensen’s hand flew up, his fingers catching to grip tightly in Jared’s shirt. “Jared… this place… it means something. I feel connected to this place, of all the places I’ve been. Treat it with care.”
Jared nodded, unable to say anything with those green eyes holding him so completely. He felt Jensen’s fingers dig tighter into his shirt for a moment then release slowly. Jensen nodded as he took a deep breath, then stepped away, turning to lead Jared through another corner and into an open cavern.
Jared stopped as soon as he stepped into it. It was half the size of the first, but where wind and rains had formed the first, this one had been placed where the ravages of either would never touch it. The cavern was man made, with strict geometric corners. Mirrors reflected off one another, coming from another source behind them, illuminating the room as if they were in the midday sun.
On the wall directly opposite him was a huge relief sculpture. “It is here.” He said, his voice a whisper that seemed to echo along the walls. It was as if the room itself was build for worship, that even here in the first marker the people who loved this man demanded respect from any who entered. He felt humbled and awestruck to be able to stand there at all.
When he found the strength to move forward, he did so slowly, his eyes cataloguing what he saw in whole without starting to translate what it was. “I need Akil.” He said softly. “In a few minutes I will need his help.” He looked over at Jensen then and realized that the other man was watching him. “I just need a few minutes first.”
Jensen nodded and backed away. Jared knew he hadn’t left the chamber but he was giving Jared space and that was what he needed. Jared sat down in the middle of the chamber, eyes taking it all in, before he closed his eyes and just breathed deeply. He could smell something in the air, kapet, he thought as he inhaled the sweet, slightly spicy scent. He heard the murmurs of those around him, heard the almost prayer like quality of their voices as they worked to finish the relief, work created out of love and respect. He felt the fear and knew that they were aware of what would happen if their work was found, but it was not deterrent enough to stop them. He couldn’t hear the words, knew if he opened his eyes to try to find them that the vision would be lost to him. Instead he sunk further into the feeling of it all, the steady hum of their work around him, the soft chipping away of stone and the sanding of the walls around them. It went fast around him, like hours were passing in just minutes and he could feel the growing excitement and restlessness to have it completed. Their fear was ever present and grew more intense towards the end, but as it did, so did their dedication and devotion. He didn’t know what caused it, didn’t have an understanding of who the man was and what he did to cause this adoration of the people but when his mind’s eye slowed a noble stood before him and there was no doubt in Jared’s mind that this was the man he had taken the first scroll from.
He watched as one by one each of the slaves handed over a figure. Shabti, he knew, so that they would be allowed to help their beloved general with his passage to the afterlife. He shivered as he watched the number of men and women offering their afterlife in servitude. Some held simple figurines and others more ornate. Some offered models of blacksmithing, or hunting, or planting fields, but they all meant the same thing and it was again humbling to be in a place where so many people had love this one person so much.
He jerked his eyes open when he felt someone touch him. When he looked up at Jensen, eyes wide with concern, Jared took a ragged breath and pulled away, feeling raw and jagged. Jensen backed away, but his brow was furrowed in concern. “I need Akil now.” He said as softly as he could and Jensen simply nodded as he walked away to bring the man to him.
Jared took a deep breath, alone in the room for the first time and let himself come back from the vision. He didn’t know how to ask Jensen if maybe he had visions also, but the way he seemed to revere the place suggested he knew something more about it. Or maybe it was simply having been in this room. He didn’t know, but he hoped Jensen would stay with them long enough for him to ask. He said he was connected to the place and now Jared felt the need to find out why.
He felt Akil’s presence in the room in the way he had felt the servants, a man moved by love of what he did. Oddly enough, he didn’t feel Jensen’s presence as much as he felt his eyes watching him. Akil stared at the relief for a moment before turning his wide eyes to Jared’s. “This is it.”
Jared nodded. “It is. We’ll find him Akil. We’ll find the tomb and see what it was about this man that deserved so much devotion.”
Akil understood him, understood that Jared was a man caught in a mystery, not in the material around him. He didn’t want to find the tomb for a need to sell it or to be able to say he did it first. Jared Padalecki couldn’t keep himself clear of a mystery. He needed to solve it, needed to get to the bottom of it. As Akil approached the relief with appropriate awe, Jared’s eyes locked with Jensen’s.
There was a hard look in his eyes as he watched Jared and he didn’t know where it came from or how such a stony glance could come from a man who radiated such warmth and comfort at other times. It was another mystery and Jared resolved himself to solve that one as well.
On To Chapter Five