Marshall College, Connecticut, 1959.

Dr. Jones stood in front of a blackboard. "Curses are one thing that archeologists face a lot. Listen to the local legends, because many times they can give you clues to the location of whatever you're searching for. But curses are nothing but a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, the only kind of curse that you can get from opening a sarcophagus is a booby trap. That's what you have to watch out for. Never get too cocky when it comes to taking anything of value."

Ben listened intently as his father spoke, but he wasn't sure if he believed that. He'd been reading up on Egyptian mythology and he was pretty convinced about some of the curses that he had read about. He'd had a fascination with Egyptian history since he was young, if he didn't want to be just like his father and explore a wide range of cultures and history, he would have become an Egyptologist. He knew almost everything about Egyptian history and he could read, write and even speak ancient Egyptian.

"But trust me, you're in more danger from being shot or crushed by a bolder than some undead army of mummies rising..."

The bell rang, interrupting his lecture.

"Next week we will be studying myths and legends and their role in archeology," Dr. Jones said as the students began to get up from their seats.

"Dad, do you really think there are no such things as curses?" Ben asked when all of the other students had poured out.

"I've seen a lot of strange things in my lifetime, and sure I've seen some things that border curses, but nothing like the curses that mark most sights...undead armies, the ghosts of some ancient emperor, is nothing but a myth to keep grave robbers out."

Ben nodded thoughtfully.

Before he had a chance to question his father anymore on the subject, Marcus Broady stepped into the classroom. "Indy, you have a visitor."

Indiana waved a hand dismissively. "Tell them I'm busy, Marcus."

"It's Dr. Anderson," Marcus replied. "He says it's urgent that he speak with you."

Indiana nodded. "Let's go kid."

Ben nodded and followed his father.

Marcus led them to his office. "He's waiting in there."

"Thank you," Indy opened the door and stepped inside with his son following closely behind.

Sitting at the desk was Dr. Anderson, an old grizzled man with white hair and a white mustache. He was an old friend of Dr. Jones and a fellow archeologist.

Indiana reached out his hand to the old man. "Dr. Anderson, it's been a long time."

The old man nodded and shook his hand. "It's good to see you, Dr. Jones."

"This is my son, Ben." Indy gestured to the young man.

Dr. Anderson reached his hand out to Ben and he took it. "It's nice to meet you, kid."

Ben smiled. "It's nice to meet you too."

Indy sat down in an empty chair. "So what brings to Connecticut?"

"Well, I found something...something pretty big."

Indiana looked at him curiously.

"I found the location of the lost twin queens of Egypt."

"What? The actual twin queens?" Ben asked excitedly.

Marcus laughed slightly at his excitement.

"Ben has a bit of an obsession with them, it's all he's talked about since the lost scroll was discovered at the bottom of the Nile. Ben is one of the best ancient Egyptian translators there is, so they called him in to translate it."

"Only because I had the best teacher," Ben replied.

Indy smiled at him before turning back to Dr. Anderson. "It's all he's talked about since he read the scroll."

"According to the scroll the pharaoh had twin daughters, but no other children so when the pharaoh died the eldest of the twins, Khepri was crowned as queen. They called her the Queen of the Nile because under her rule Egypt was filled with life. She was a good and kind queen, under her reign all were happy...all but her twin sister who wanted the throne for herself. She turned to the ancient dark arts and buried her sister alive putting a curse on her so that she could never enter the afterlife and tell their parents what she had done. So she cursed her sister to live forever trapped in her sarcophagus," Ben went on excitedly.       

"I told you he had an obsession," Indy interrupted, knowing that his son could go on and on about it all day if he didn't do something. "But I thought that they were just a myth."

"I found evidence that they actually existed," Dr. Anderson replied. "I found the location to their tombs."

Ben leaned forward. "Have you excavated them yet?" 

"No, I'm getting a little too old for this, besides I knew that you and your father knew more about this than me."

"Well, I don't know if it's such a good idea to disturb their tombs. They're both cursed, Queen Khepri is nothing to worry about. The only one who can awaken her is her true love, and even if she did awaken she was a good queen according to the legend. On the other hand, we don't want to awaken her identical twin sister, Uadjit. According to the legends..."

"According to the legends, after Queen Uadjit brought a rule of darkness and death to Egypt, the pharaoh's guards overthrew her. The priests buried her alive as she did to her sister, but she put a curse over her tomb that if anyone opened her sarcophagus she would awaken again to have her revenge and conquer the world," Indiana interrupted, he'd heard this a hundred times; but he tried to pretend to be interested in what he considered to nothing but folklore. But he faked interest for Ben's sake, not wanting to repeat the mistakes he'd made with his father in the past.

Ben nodded.

"That's exactly why I came to find you. The man who hired me, Hondo Ammit, I thought that he just wanted the money from the artifacts that I found in the tombs. But I soon discovered that he was planning on awakening Queen Uadjit and using her as a weapon. He wants to side with her, let her use the army he's built so that he can share her power. All he wanted from me was the location of the tombs, but I did the only thing I could to stall him, I mixed the location of the tombs. I gave him the location of Queen Khepri's tomb and told him that it was Queen Uadjit's."

"Once he reaches the tomb, he'll know you set him up," Ben pointed out. "According to the legends, the stories of both queens are etched on the walls of their tombs."

"That's exactly why I need both of you to move Queen Uadjit's sarcophagus to a secure location before he realizes that I've pulled the wool over his eyes. You need to leave as soon as possible, there isn't much time."

"Luckily Ben and I were already planning a trip to Egypt, our bags are already packed and we've already booked a flight," Indy replied.

Ben looked up at the clock on the wall. "Our flight leaves in one hour."

Dr. Anderson nodded. "Then Godspeed to you both."

Pronunciations...

𓆙 Hondo (HA-N-DO)

𓆙 Uadjit (OO-AD-JIT)

𓆙 Khepri (KEH-PREE)

Did you know ...

𓂉 Uadjit is an Egyptian name meaning "the mythical cobra goddess"

𓂉 most pharaohs have "curses" on their tombs to prevent grave robbers

Share your thoughts ...

𓆣 do you think Indy and Ben will be able to find Queen Uadjit before Hando does?

𓆣 what do you think will happen when Hondo Ammit discovers that he has been given the wrong location?