Moments later, Keren fell to the floor in a senseless heap. And the door of the Emperor’s chamber swung silently open. The first quarter of the night had slipped past before Keren was discovered. Keren! What’s amiss with you? Lord Brag . . . I . . . Something . . . someone took me by the throat . . . The Emperor! Brag burst into the Imperial bedchamber. What he saw there brought a cry of anguish to his lips. Aaaaaagh! Trigo! By all the stars! No! His brother’s voice answered him! What is it, Brag? You’re alive! Thank the stars! But . . . Who? . . . I slept out on the balcony and left—this just as a precaution! The precaution was well-taken, Brother! It’s a wonder you never heard your would-be assassin, light sleeper that you are. He must have moved with the silence of the grave! Something here, on the floor! Keren held out the thing he had found. Why! It’s a scrap of old, faded cloth!The piece of cloth was taken to Peric’s laboratory. I have subjected it to all the usual tests. The material is unbelievably ancient. As old as King Yutta’s tomb. Then, by all the demons in Daveli, how did it get into my bedchamber? The great scientist’s answer chilled the blood in their veins. That I cannot answer for certain, Imperial Majesty. But it is the kind of material used in the preparation of royal mummies. It could be that your assailant was—The Mummy of King Yutta! The “King’s Curse” was the sensation of Elekton. The views of prominent citizens were eagerly canvassed. Councillor Rothi, it was you who proposed the motion to place the mummy and its treasures on public display. Do you feel that you may have brought down the curse upon your head? Don’t talk rubbish, fellow! The bluff, no-nonsense councillor Rothi took off in his private air craft—and disappeared from the sight of men! The wreckage of his craft was washed up on the shore of the Great Ocean, a lunar month later.
This instalment was originally published in Look and Learn issue no. 562 on 21 October 1972.
