//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - In the Land of Egypt // Story: The Traveller // by LavenderRain24 //------------------------------// As the sun shone through her curtains around 9am Monday morning, Ms Stone brushed her right arm against the wall almost knocking her favourite framed photograph of her mom. "Oops! YAWN.... morning mom." She gasped and sat upright in bed, "Today's the day! Dad's finally going to do it!" she stared at the ginger haired woman smiling back at her from behind the glass. It was as if she was excited for what was happening that day as well. "Mom... I wish you were here. Dad's taking me out in the field! I get to sit with him in the big machines! YES!" She punched the air out to the side but was brought back to reality when her glass of water spilled out onto the wooden floor. "Aww man..." After taking a few minutes to wipe up the spill and to get dressed for the day she realised she forgot to check outside, grey clouds were approaching towards the east, that was the direction of the campsite. They live in the gorgeous hot terrain of Cairo, Egypt and their campsite was smack dab in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Her dad was born in Cairo and met Sapphire's mom on her first holiday trip alone. They literally bumped into each other on the streets and with his help of guiding her through the city for her trip, they fell in love and well, you know the rest of the story. Sapphire hurried her way through the small house that was built from mostly concrete and looked a lot like a rectangular box on the outside that was painted white. They painted most buildings white or pale colours due to the intense heat of the sun in the country along with the warmth of the dry dirt and sand made it extra hot in summer. She wrapped a thin white head scarf around her face, covering her neck to protect her skin from the sun. Even though it was cloudy today, she didn't want to take any chances as she burned easily even with her tanned skin. "Marhabaan Yaqut! Hello Sapphire. Up already? You normally sleep in till 10. Since it's the summer holidays and all." Mr. Stone looked up at his only child who reminded him so much of Miranda, his late wife. Even with her natural black hair, she had it long and curly like Miranda and also her bright blue eyes which contrasted strongly against her burnt umber coloured skin. "So are you ready for your first trip to my workplace?" "Duh!! Of course dad! But..." He noticed she looked sad, "What is it?" his heart yearned to please his daughter and hated seeing her even the slightest bit unhappy especially since her mother passed away a year ago. She sighed, "I wish mom was here. Even though she supported your work she just wanted me to be safe and happy. I would be happy if..." "If she were still here with us?" he smiled but sighed slightly, "I know my little precious stone..." "Dad! I'm not 10 anymore... I'm 15." she laughed teasingly. She truthfully loved that nickname he gave her. It always makes her feel better. "You're still my little precious stone. Always will be and you know that!" he bops her on the nose playfully with one finger in a light tap bringing out a large smile on her face. "There's the Sapphire I know. Her smile always makes her face light up like the jewel itself." "DAD! STOP IT!" she giggled as he shook her on the shoulders playfully. "Come on now... mom would be out the door calling me already. You have everything? It'll be hot out there so bring lots of lotion and especially water. Mints would help as well... they say the smell of mint keeps the insects away." "WHAT? You made that up!" "Pfft nah! Wouldn't hurt to try it though right?" Sapphire smiles, "I guess not... honestly dad. You're worse than Pete." He lit up at the mention of the mechanic. "How is Pete by the way? Any confessions lately?" he says raising his eyebrows playfully as he locks up the house and jumps up into the silver truck that had a white shelter on the back open boot. "DAD... please.... he's like 17 and already thinking about university. He's way too far a head of me. Besides... I don't even like him." "Right.... sure.... so you just have rosy cheeks every time he says your name for no reason then?" Sapphire was stunned into silence. He noticed that!! I thought he wouldn't pay attention to me blushing..... ugh so embarrassing! Keeping this thought to herself she blushed. "Um.... uh... so... the Digging Site. What was it your team was looking for exactly?" laughing nervously hoping he took the hint. His eyes glinted in delight whenever she showed interest in his projects. "Oh! Right... let's see," 'Phew!' she whispered under her breath. He took the bate and changed the subject to something more... comfortable. "Well, you know how I've always had a fascination of lost civilisations, such as Atlantis?" rolling her eyes Sapphire responded, "Uh yeah?" "Well Amir phoned in about a new discovery at Site E a few days ago. We decided to wait before taking a closer look at the findings until school had finished for the year. Since he's heard about how you've always wanted to see what goes on in the archeology business - what better time to do it than now?" Mr. Stone thought she might've miss heard him or something as she hadn't said a word since he told her of the finding. But then, "That's incredible! What do you think it is? Old pottery? Ooh oh what about an old roof structure that's managed to withstand the pressure of being covered up by sand and time itself??" he burst out laughing in a joyful manner. "Don't do that! Haha! For a moment there I thought I broke you!" she was surprised; a little confused for a second but then clicked at what he meant. "Oh haha dad. But seriously that's amazing! How long till we get there?" Mr. Stone rested his left hand up onto his slightly bearded chin and thought for a moment, "Hm well it is located in the middle of the Sahara Desert a few hours from here so yeah. It's a bit of a drive but totally worth it! You'll see." After about 5 hours of straight driving, they were deep in the largest desert of Africa. Nothing but grey skies and sand for miles all around the truck. "Wow... Isn't this the first time I've been out here dad?" the man wearing a flat soft fabric hat secured by a wrapped brown scarf with thin black stripes covering it looked over at Sapphire. "Hu, you know... I think it is. Well if you don't include the times your mother came out here to see me while she was pregnant with you then yeah it is your first time." "I don't think those times really count dad. I wasn't aware of my surroundings back then." the two grew silent for around half an hour before she sat upright as she spotted something big and yellow in the distance. "Is that, a bulldozer?" she looked at him as he concentrated on the sand tracks ahead. "Mhm! Big B they call him. He's a monster but he's handy to have for deep digging. At least near the surface." Suddenly she heard a deep growl to her left, and was stunned to see a camel drinking at a small watering hole surrounded by greenery. "An oasis. The desert is scattered with them. Camels can last for long periods of time without eating or drinking. They're very uniquely suited for living in these climates don't you think?" "I do..." Parking the truck next to a large white tent, he turned off the engine. "We're here. Welcome to my home away from home." Tents were dotted around the oasis with different vehicles ranging from cars & trucks to vans and of course the bulldozer, a.k.a Big B. "Ah there's Amir." Sapphire watched her dad open his door and step out the truck as she followed by doing the same on her side. "Marhabaan syd stun , almawqie jahiz min ajlk! Ah this must be your lovely daughter we've heard so much of." Amir placed his hands on his hips and grinned widely at her, "Good morning Ms Stone, your father here is a great man, he's told so much about you." "Haha yes Amir, this is my daughter Sapphire Stone. She's on break for the next 6 weeks so it was perfect timing." "Indeed! Well, would you like to inspect the site old friend?" The 3 of them walked over to the square box-like area that's been dug out of the ground and lined with a barrier of string tied to metal pegs. A bunch of tools were laid neatly in an open brief case in the pit next to some exposed hard clay pottery pieces. "Looks like you were right Sapphire, we did find old pottery." Sapphire smiled excitedly, "Told you!" "Well, someone knows a thing or 2 about ancient artefacts. Yousef, would it be out of order to let her partake in the dig this time around? I could spare some basic tools for digging and brushing." Sapphire's face lit up instantly at that suggestion. "Please dad? That would be the best!" Yousef thought for a bit and decided, "Eh, why not? Surely nothing could go wrong with a bit of harmless excavating? Sapphire why don't you follow Amir and he'll tell you how to get started."