Khopesh – The Magical Mystery

Back home. Charu felt lost, lonely and let down. She could never for a moment believe that Yuvan was guilty. She felt pity for him when he was arrested but could not convince Abhay of his innocence. As luck would have it, Yuvaan was born into a family of criminals and though he was straightforward and honest, one was inclined to believe that he could have gone wayward. She had hoped that Abhay would let Yuvaan go after admonishing him, but no – it seemed as if Abhay was vindictive and wished him out of the way. Charu had told Abhay that she looked up to Yuvaan as a brother, but it was obvious from Abhay’s severe action, that he considered Yuvaan to be his competitor to woo Charu.

Charu slopped on the recliner, her mind in a whirl. Her visit to India was getting more and more complicated. Though Grandma was not getting better, she was not getting any worse either. Occasionally, she would appear to be normal too. Charu felt that Yuvaan’s arrest was the last straw and she could not take any more of these incidents. She wished to be back in New York attending to her cosy life and clients. She had not checked her mail for quite some time and though her morale was down, she opened her mailbox just to be updated.

While she was waiting for the mail to be downloaded, she casually looked up Khopesh in Wikipedia. She was surprised to see that there was a lot of information on this Egyptian sword. Apart from it being considered a prestigious status symbol and an all-purpose weapon, she came to know that for the Egyptians it was a symbol of royal and divine authority and – her heart missed a beat when she read “it was also associated with life after death”.

Was that the reason she was involved in this mystery? She was a simple Charu, leading a peaceful life in New York and here in Cochin, she was Sheryl or Charmaine with some considering her as a reincarnation of a lost loved one while others were petrified that she was Sheryl reborn to take vendetta. Charu had recently been reading a lot of material on death and rebirth and about the travels of souls. Charu’s head had not stopped aching and she got up to get herself a glass of water and also to pop a Tylenol tablet to feel better. She was also slightly hungry and went to the kitchen to see if she could pick up something to munch on.

On the way, she crossed the mantelpiece and saw some notice among the dak received that day. Something urged her to pick it up and open it. It was another reminder notice to renew MV02FK09! Charu felt the adrenaline rush and was curious to know what this cryptic combination of alphabets and numbers meant. She saw that the charges payable including the late fee penalty were only $20/- and straightaway remitted that amount and sent an e-mail detailing the payment particulars. Within a few minutes, she got a reply that the account was reactivated along with the link to access it. Charu was excited that not only had the payment been smooth, but there were no hassles in logging into the e-domain.

She was surprised that there were no passwords or authentication needed and merely feeding the cryptic combo opened a page which made her sit up! She could not believe her eyes. Here was a catalogue of various kinds of gemstones alongside their colour images and the rate per carat and size in mm. What astonished her was that there was a mention of an antique Khopesh too and the rate quoted was a whopping $ 5 million.

As she browsed further, she came across several queries from prospective customers and was surprised to see that almost all of them were from Egypt. She recollected Vincent’s trip to Egypt and also recalled Yuvaan telling her that both his father and grandfather had clandestine dealings with the gems mined from the hilly mountains along the banks of the Kutta Lake. She recollected the cottage by the Kutta lake and the picture of several people moving about in the den-like lab looking like zombies appeared before her. She had read somewhere that the fine cutting of crude gemstones could cause a lot of harm and so those engaged in that job had to wear protective garments and cover their face too providing only a small shielded window opening through which they could see.

This was a true revelation. Charu’s excitement knew no bounds and she was tempted to call Abhay immediately to share the news, but something held her back. She wanted to savour the joy herself in solitude for some more time before she could share it with someone else. She was casually running through the names to see if she could come across any familiar one. There were a lot of Egyptian names with queries for the gemstones. Under the Khopesh classification, she read – Aat, Abar, Abasi, Abayomi and….ABHAY!  

She was stunned, to say the least. Abhay was one of those enquiring about the Khopesh! Charu felt a lump in her throat! Was Abhay also involved in this racket? Did that mean that he was involved with the Mafia? He had enquired its cost to ascertain its value. That meant he had stolen the Khopesh from the Museum so that it could be sold through the Mafia boss for a huge sum of money! It had more value since it was also believed to be associated with life and death and the Mafia could always strike a deal easily on this ground. She was crestfallen. She felt helpless, not knowing whom to trust. She had a gut feeling that Yuvaan was innocent – she knew Yuvaan more than she did Abhay – but was there a villain behind Abhay’s handsome exterior? Just a few minutes back her joy on cracking the cryptic combo made her feel that she would sleep peacefully that night, but now the name “Abhay” cropping up in this list was more than she could bear.

She looked at her watch – it was nearing 9. The streets were well lit and with all the past adventure, she had nerves of steel and did not feel frightened to go out. It looked as if it would rain and there was a strong breeze heralding a storm. She did not think twice but kick-started her scooter and made for Abhay’s home. She switched off the engine a few blocks away and walked down to his house. Just then there was a strong breeze which blew the curtains in Abhay’s room exposing Abhay with a drink in his right hand and…and… in the right – what was that?? It was THE KHOPESH supposed to have been lost! Blissfully Abhay was caressing the sword, not knowing that he had revealed himself in a weak moment.

The next moment, Charu went back to her scooter and raced home before she could get caught in the storm.