The Serpent Waits

by Bill Hiatt

  I should have been interested in that tidbit. My reporter’s curiosity should have been hungry for the whole backstory. Instead, all it did was cower in the shadow of my future. Besides, thanks to Amenirdis, I’d already learned more about Tal than I had any right to know.

  Ceridwen led us back downstairs and to the sitting room—which I hardly recognized. The shattered furniture had not been replaced, but all the pieces were gone. So, too, were the animal remains. Even the blood in the carpet, which should have been impossible to remove, had vanished.

  A small, shriveled man with long, grayish hair and faded, old-fashioned clothes was arguing furiously with Viviane. He must have been the brownie she summoned.

  “Is there a problem?” asked Tal.

  “He’s asking for more than we agreed,” replied Viviane.

  The brownie glanced at Tal. “Twas a bigger job than I was told.”

  “What form of gift did you want?” asked Tal. “Honey, butter, cream, porridge?”

  The brownie laughed as if the village idiot had just said something amusing. “What century are you from? Cash is acceptable, though gold would be even better. Then I can buy whatever food pleases me.”

  “This is what the world is coming to,” Magnus muttered to me. I couldn’t tell whether he was being sarcastic. “If he says he accepts all major credit cards, I’m going to be tempted to punch him.”

  Ceridwen sighed loudly. “I’ll pay him. The rest of you can finish whatever you need to do.”

  “Status report,” said Tal.

  “Thank God, none of the security guards were dead,” said Carla. “I healed them, adjusted their memories, and put them back on patrol until the end of the shift.”

  “Excellent! The door’s hinges have been repaired, I see.”

  “Yeah,” said Khalid. “Apparently, the staff includes a resident handyman. Alex and I found his workshop, took a couple of spare hinges, and fixed this one and the front door.”

  “Good job,” said Tal, but he sounded almost disappointed. From what I’d seen of his life, he probably didn’t get much chance to work with his hands.

  “Anything else that needs doing before we go to bed?” asked Tal.

  “I have a request,” said Morfran. He was speaking so quietly that I could barely hear him. “As you are the leader, it seems fitting that I ask your permission before approaching one of the members of your group.”

  “Whatever you need, friend, I’m sure we can help,” said Tal.

  “My body is so worn that it demands sleep, but my mind is troubled, and I fear it will not allow me the rest I crave.”

  “What troubles you?”

  “In all my long life, I have never known the love of a woman. And I thought I might ask one of yours to honor me by being the first to share my bed.”

  Morfran had continued to speak quietly, but the surrounding noise faded just as he made his request. He realized everyone had heard, and he blushed.

  Magnus tried so hard to suppress a snicker that I thought his head might explode. Carla blushed and looked down. Jimmie clutched Eva hard as if he feared she might dash across the room and throw herself into Morfran’s arms. Viviane had the look of a teacher who knows she shouldn’t be amused by something mischievous a student has done but is amused anyway. Ceridwen’s face was a grim mask.

  “Whatever you need, friend,” said Magnus in a mocking imitation of Tal’s voice.

  “Brother,” said Creirwy, “it is not the custom of this time to ask in such a way.”

  “I had not intended to have the whole room hear my request before I had Taliesin’s approval,” Morfran said. He bowed to Tal. “I apologize for my breach of etiquette.”

  “The breach was unintentional,” said Tal. “Though the dangers we face require that we have a leader—”

  “And lucky we are to have one who is infallible,” said Magnus, smirking. It had not taken long after his recovery from Amenirdis’s magic for his sarcasm to grow back.

  “I do not have any say about who the women in the group…do or do not sleep with. You will need to, uh, ask them, uh—”

  “Let me take it from here,” said Carla. Tal had the expression of death row inmate who has just gotten a reprieve.

  “Normally, women would like to know a man for a while before making love to him,” said Carla. “Morfran, please don’t take it personally. You are both handsome and good. Yet we have not known you long. And some of us have already given our hearts to others.”

  “That’s right,” said Jimmie, squeezing Eva even harder. She looked awkward in his arms, out of place, though she made no move to pull away. I saw a trace of the ambivalence the spell had ripped out of her—a grim reminder of the damage I had helped cause. I did my best not to let my guilt show. I didn’t want to derail a conversation that was pretty far off the rails as it was.

  I was surprised that no one seemed to have realized Morfran was talking about a particular woman, not making a general request. I looked at Nancy, who was resolutely staring at the floor, embarrassed. I wanted to say something, but I might make the situation worse.

  “Why do you people make everything complicated?” asked Magnus. “Morfran, buddy, you and I will take a little trip. If the businesses in the area are more or less the same as they are in our world, I’m sure I can find a woman for you. I’ll just need to make another stop by the ATM.”

  “As long as Hafez is still on the loose, people shouldn’t separate from the group,” said Shar. “It might not be safe.”

  “Without his staff, he’d be no match for me,” said Magnus.

  Morfran looked increasingly awkward. He knew how to approach a commander, but, aside from his mother and sister, he had probably had no contact with women for centuries—and probably very little before that. He glanced at Nancy with a look that implored her to intervene.

  “Morfran’s first time shouldn’t be with a hooker,” she said quietly, glaring at Magnus. “In fact—”

  “If you pay enough—” began Magnus.

  “He shouldn’t have to pay at all,” she shot back. “Nor is there any need. I know things have been hectic, to say the least, but I’m amazed none of you noticed that Morfran and I are…starting a relationship.”

  Morfran’s relieved smile lit up the room.

  “That said, Morfran, I can’t promise I’ll sleep with you…tonight. You’re a great person from what I’ve seen, but I haven’t known you very long. As Carla said, we’re used to knowing a guy a little better first.

  “What I’d like to suggest is that we talk, get to know each other.”

  Magnus snorted. “Talk!”

  “Then, if I feel right about it, and if you’ll have me, I’d be honored to be your first.”

  Her offer ought to have been confusing to someone from such a different society. However, Morfran looked as if he wanted to jump in the air and shout for joy.

  His feelings were even more intense than I had thought. I could see it in his eyes. He hadn’t run into the fight just because Shar was in peril. It was Nancy for whom he had risked falling under the curse again. The way she looked back at him suggested she knew it, too.

  “You know you don’t have to do this,” said Tal.

  “Of course, I know that,” said Nancy. “And I may not. Morfran understands that,” she said, glancing his way. He nodded, but his grin made me wonder whether he really understood it or not. “I wouldn’t even consider it if he were just handsome. But he’s a good person, too. He saved my life.”

  Tal still didn’t look happy, as if he thought Nancy was just humoring Morfran, and Ceridwen was actually frowning—a no-one-is-good-enough-for-my-son look if I’d ever seen one. However, when he glanced her way, she forced a smile.

  Morfran held out his hand, and she took it. “If you decide in my favor, I’ll be gentle with you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “And I with you.”

  They walked toward the guest rooms holding hands in a very modern way. Perhaps Nancy had trained Morf
ran in current customs more than I thought.

  “I know you were trying to help when you—” began Tal.

  “Spare me the ethics lecture,” said Magnus, raising a hand. “I have them all memorized by now.”

  “We’re all tired,” said Viviane before Tal could reply. “Exhausted, in fact, and we have very few hours before we have to figure out what to do about Hafez. Sleep should be our priority. Ceridwen, are there enough guest rooms?”

  “Uh, yes, there are several in this wing. There’s room for everyone.”

  “Just check to make sure the room isn’t occupied,” said Magnus. That smirk was not a good look for him. It had far less warmth to it than Gordy’s.

  “Before we call it a night, should we secure the staff in some way?” asked Carla.

  “Where is the staff?” asked Stan.

  “Morfran put it down over…there,” said Shar, pointing at an empty corner.

  Right Under Their Noses

  “We were so focused on securing the place against attacks from the outside that we didn’t set up any way to prevent someone from leaving,” said Tal. “Magnus, Ceridwen, quick, let’s lock the house down. Viviane, Carla, Creirwy, see if you can locate the staff. Sweep the surrounding area if you can’t sense it in the house.”

  Tal, Magnus, and Ceridwen joined hands just as if they hadn’t been ready to kill each a short time ago, and their differing magics mingled effortlessly to adjust the spells surrounding the house. I was feeling more alert now than when I had seen them rebuild the house’s defenses, and I was struck by how much everyone fell back into their normal routine, seemingly forgetting all about how their guts had so recently been torn out of them, tied in knots and put on display. Could they really have recovered from such trauma so quickly?

  If so, I wished I were as resilient. I had suffered less, yet I wasn’t sure I would ever be the same.

  The others moved with efficiency equal to Tal. Those without an immediate job paused for a moment to do damage control. Eva looked into Jimmie’s doubtful eyes and kissed him. Shar and Khalid both shook hands with Alex. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they looked like friends again. Their easy forgiveness made me want to cry, but I held back my tears. All of them deserved the time to heal without being distracted by my self-made problems.

  Viviane and other staff searchers had no luck finding that damn hunk of wood. Did I still have any special sensitivity to it? I needed to feel useful right now. I closed my eyes and tried to find it, but I got nothing. I had no trouble sensing the magic in the room, but the staff, which had been so visible to me as Amenirdis, was completely hidden from me now.

  “Feel around,” said Shar. “Make sure it hasn’t just become invisible.”

  “Spontaneously?” asked Gordy.

  “Maybe Hafez had it cast a spell on itself to hide if it is separated from him. It doesn’t hurt to check.”

  “Of course, it could just as easily have such a spell that would return it to Hafez’s home or to some other location,” said Stan. “But Shar’s right, we should check the room first.”

  Some of the guys started crawling around on the floor. I joined them even though I doubted the staff was there. Doing something, however futile, felt better than doing nothing.

  “All right, now no one who isn’t one of us can leave,” said Tal.

  “No one else is in the house, though,” said Magnus. “If one of Hafez’s agents was here to retrieve the staff, whoever it was is long-gone now.”

  “I have to agree,” said Carla. I’m not seeing any blank spots such as someone would create if they were trying to conceal themselves from magic detection.”

  “There’s no sign of the staff, either,” said Viviane. “Something that powerful is hard to camouflage at close range. It must no longer be here.”

  “Perhaps the brownies—” began Magnus.

  “I watched them the whole time they were here,” said Viviane.

  “And I checked them discreetly on the way out,” said Ceridwen. Some of the supernatural races have sticky fingers, especially where valuable magic objects are concerned, but I didn’t find so much as a piece of silverware on any of them, much less an artifact of such immense power.”

  “Then how could it have gotten out?” asked Stan. “Could someone have snatched it with all of us standing here?”

  “Well, something has to have happened to it,” said Shar. “By the time we’d beaten Hafez and…stopped Amenirdis, we were all pretty drained—still are. Someone whose use of magic was very subtle might have been able to levitate the staff out of the room. Or maybe someone came in with really good invisibility. Someone who had well-honed stealth skills. Either of those approaches might have caught us off-guard in the shape we’re in.”

  “I could have done it,” said Khalid.

  “But I don’t think you—oh, you mean your counterpart?” asked Shar.

  “Why not? We know he works for Hafez. We know he can become invisible like me. Remember when I used to sneak along on missions you said were too dangerous?”

  Shar nodded. “I still have nightmares about that.”

  “Well, even when you guys were fully rested and alert, you didn’t see me right away. Tired as you are now, I could have snuck in and out easily—which mean he could have snuck in and out easily.”

  “Well, at least Other Khalid can’t use the staff,” said Shar. “We’re still safe from that kind of massive attack until Hafez gets back—if he can.”

  “Maybe not,” said Stan. His fingers flew across his phone’s keypad. “I haven’t located Khalid’s contact information yet, but I did find references to him in a couple of news articles. He’s more important in the organization than we thought. Hafez adopted him a couple of years back. In this world, he’s Khalid Hafez.”

  Khalid frowned. “He sure didn’t act like Hafez’s son. He called him ‘Mr. Hafez,’ if I’m remembering correctly.”

  Tal’s eyes narrowed. “Amy, what can you tell us about who the staff will respond to?”

  The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of Amenirdis, but I had to do whatever I could to help.

  “I only know what she was thinking while she was in control, not everything she might have known. Pharaohs and religious deputies of the pharaohs, like priests and god’s wives, can all get the staff to respond.”

  “Other Khalid isn’t any of those things,” said Gordy.

  “Unless Hafez inducted him into an ancient priesthood,” said Stan. “He must be a member of one himself to wield the staff.”

  “Hafez is the Pharaoh Apepi, or at least that’s what he told Amenirdis,” I said. “That’s how he controls the staff. From what I know of the history, a pharaoh could certainly ordain priests.”

  “What about a pharaoh’s heir?” asked Jimmie.

  “Maybe we need to let Amenirdis out long enough to—” began Magnus.

  “Absolutely not!” Tal’s expression was hard as granite. “That’s dangerous for Amy—for all of us, really. We can’t trust Amenirdis.”

  Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not stupid. I know she’s dangerous. But under controlled conditions—”

  “We’re too tired to control the conditions well. Regardless, we can’t ask that of Amy again. She’s done enough harm to herself on our behalf as it is.”

  “We have to assume Other Khalid can use the staff until we know otherwise,” said Stan before Magnus could continue the argument. “Maybe that’s why Hafez was comfortable fleeing without it. He trusted Other Khalid to recover it and bring him back.”

  “Too many maybes,” said Gordy. “We need hard facts.”

  “Amenirdis’s attempt to undo what she had done drained the staff clear down to zero,” I said. “Even if Other Khalid can use it, he won’t be able to get a very powerful effect from it for a while.”

  “Which would help if we knew where he was. Any luck with that, Stan?”

  “I can’t find an address, but since he’s Hafez’s adopted son, isn’t it
logical he lives at the Summerland house?”

  “Where Hafez has weaponized the ghosts and where the shadow assassins will be keeping watch?” asked Jimmie. “Even if he’s there, what good does that do us? We’re not equipped to attack right now, not against those odds, anyway.”

  “There is one other possibility,” said Stan. “We encountered him in New Karnak. Hafez owns a luxury hotel there and has a suite reserved for him. I just found an article that shows him there—with Khalid.”

  “The Summerland house looked more like a museum to me,” said Carla. “Maybe that’s where Hafez does his magic. He and Khalid might live at the hotel.”

  “Floorplans?” asked Tal.

  “Got it,” said Stan. “At least, I got the publicly available floorplan. It doesn’t label Hafez’s suite, of course, but from the pictures in the article, it appears to be on the west side of the hotel, top floor.”

  “With heavy security, no doubt,” said Shar.

  “It’s a public place, though,” said Tal. “It’s not exactly as if Hafez can have giant scorpions guarding his door. I’ll take human security any time.”

  “Even so, are we up to storming a location with unknown security precautions in our present shape?” asked Alex.

  “I’m not tired at all,” said Michael. “You know how fast I recharge. I’m happy to share.”

  “We’ll need to network, anyway,” said Viviane. “I can set up a way to keep Michael’s energy flowing to us—but we still won’t be at full power. There are just too many of us. And we will need to sleep eventually.”

  “Let’s not take the whole group, then,” said Tal. “Unless Hafez has enormous magical defenses, we should be OK, and, as far as we know, Hafez hasn’t really faced a serious magical threat since he captured Ceridwen. He’d have no reason to make the hotel into a fortress.

  “Magnus and I will go for magic firepower. Viviane, you should come in case we need a healer’s touch. Michael, obviously, is the battery, and he’s got good fighting skills. Khalid, you should come, too. You might be able to anticipate your counterpart’s moves. Amy, if you’re willing, I know you can’t give us as much information as Amenirdis could, but you’re still the closest thing we have to an Egyptian expert.