Dear Mother,

If this letter reaches you, know that I am dead, lost forever in the Saharan sands.

We left Cairo months ago, loaded with enough supplies for the weeks-long journey to the oasis where we hoped to find the tablets. And find them we did! Oh, Mother, to hold in our hands the very tablets given to Moses by God!

Our caravan was ambushed a few days later. We lost almost everything. The nomads killed most of the camels and the guides scattered and never returned. Beau and I escaped on camel but I’m sorry to tell you that Joseph didn’t make it.

We had some water and food and the tablets but we were hopelessly lost. Our food ran out and the water ran low. Beau sacrificed himself so that I might survive.

I’ve been wandering since. Nomads have been shadowing me, waiting for an opportunity to take the tablets. They think I still have them but I buried them days ago. Oh, Mother, I broke them! I didn’t mean for it to happen but they were so heavy.

I’ve neither water nor bullets. The nomads are coming.