“I am glad to hear it,” said Ramses like a true royal. “Now, what brought you all into Awamya? This is a lawless area. I would have thought you would have stopped them from taking their lives in their own hands, Cairo.”
Cairo looked downwards as he said “Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry, but why are you here?”
Alex answered, so that Kate did not have chance to have another go at Henuttawy. “We were looking for Awamya Street.”
“Well, you will not find Awamya Street here, because it is over there.” Ramses pointed towards the centre of Luxor.
“Where exactly?” asked Alex, who had decided not to confront Ramses over his treatment of Henuttawy, as being able to use her name to call in Ramses’ elite guard could come in very useful whilst they were on their quest.
The great man stood, carefully, so that he did not fall from the ancient tower, he moved over to a window opening. Alex, with some difficulty, joined him. “You need some serious medical treatment. We should get you back to the Winter Palace right now.”
“No, Ramses, I need to know where Awamya Street is.”
“Easy, my boy, it is right there.” Ramses pointed towards a very tall television mast.
“But that is Television Street, everyone knows that.”
“Aah yes, it is now, but before television and before that television mast was stuck there, it was called Gesr El Awamya Street.”
“No!”
“Yes, Alex, now let us get you all back to the Winter Palace. You all need an evening of pampering, before you are back on your adventures tomorrow.”
Alex and Cairo said they did not want to go back to the hotel, as they did not want to bring any problems upon the family.
Kate said nothing as her world spun out of control.
“I insist,” said Ramses, “and anyway, if Television Street is where you are going, you can reach it quickly by leaving the hotel through the staff entrance, at the back of the gardens.” He stepped over to Kate, stood directly in front of her and offered her his hands which she took. Lifting her up from the chair, he pulled her into him and hugged her as he said very quietly, “This may not have been your best day, but neither will it be your worst. It is what you make of the days in between that will define if you have a happy life, or a miserable existence.”
Chapter 16
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Television Street
As the fingers of the masseuse ran over his bruised and battered body, Alex was collecting his thoughts. Much to his surprise, he did not find himself thinking of Kate, or even Henuttawy, he was thinking of Ramses II and everything that went to make him such a great pharaoh. His presence, as once seen, nobody would ever forget him. His childishly fun side juxtaposed with his underlying anger. His ability to make hard decisions, however wrong or unjust Alex considered those decisions to be, such as banishing his favourite daughter from Egypt, when she was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing, were made for the greater good of his country. Ramses knew it was unfair, yet he had made the difficult decision, a decision which even today reduced the great man to tears.
It was how he had dealt with Kate which had so impressed Alex. At a time when it could quite reasonably be expected that anyone would lose their patience with her and tell her to grow up, to treat the people around her who cared for her in a far nicer, much more gentle way, Ramses had correctly read the situation. Kate was in turmoil, and he had reacted in the perfect manner by giving her a reassuring hug whilst uttering words that should, hopefully would, get her thinking.
Over the last few weeks Alex had grown to respect Ramses more and more. Yes, he was angered at how Henuttawy had been treated. He was also not happy about being thrown aside by the great man when he and Cairo had been trying to protect Kate from his anger. He was a far from perfect man, a man who had flaws just as everyone did, yet overall, Alex decided, he was a good man, and a brilliant pharaoh for Egypt and its people.
With ancient balm being rubbed onto each of Alex’s bruises, he was feeling better by the moment. He smiled as he pictured the size of the pot of balm that would be needed if all his bruises were going to be treated. Before he had arrived in Luxor and before his ancient memories had been opened up to him, he had been happy to follow. He never sought adventure, and until now it never sought him. He was in his happiest state of mind sitting in the peace and quiet of his local library, whilst reading of the adventures of others. Right now, he desperately wanted to be a leader, to take the best aspects of Ramses, Aryamani – his ancient relative of whom he was also so proud – and Rose, who had proved herself to be universally liked and respected. He did, however, have the maturity to be able to follow, to avoid confrontation unless absolutely necessary. He was changing, and changing quickly. Alex wondered if it was his ancient memories which had caused him to change so dramatically. After some soul searching he decided it was the people around him, the power of the people around him to do good, which was causing the change. His life had been turned upside-down, and he liked it.
“Well, where do we look now?” asked Kate as she firmly placed her hands on her hips.
“How do I know,” replied Alex, who, despite the early hour, had already become inwardly agitated by her attitude.
The three young adventurers had, as agreed the previous evening, risen early. After literally grabbing a sandwich or two, or in the case of Cairo an entire tray of sandwiches from the hotel kitchen, they had eaten breakfast on the go whilst walking through the Winter Palace garden. Once at the far corner, Cairo had given the empty silver tray to a rather confused security guard, as they had left by the staff entrance. Outside, the peace and calm of the Winter Palace garden was replaced with all the usual traffic noise of Luxor. They had been at the very beginning of Television Street, or as it was called before the days of television, before the massive television aerial had been erected, Gesr El Awamya Street. This was the street they had to be on if they were to find the very old Egyptian who had some knowledge of magic. Just how much, they did not know, but this was their best lead, the only lead in their search for Pure Red Cinnamon.
Alex was well aware that some, if not all of Kate’s frustration came from the fact that it was a clue from Henuttawy, someone Kate had taken every opportunity to show her dislike of. Saving her from Ramses’ soldiers was one thing, liking her was quite another.
“We cannot stand around waiting for the warlock to be told what we are up to.” Kate was unaware of how right she was, but neither Alex nor Cairo paid any attention to her. All she had done since they had left the hotel was moan, groan and complain about just how stupid this search was. By now they had been up and down both sides of Television Street several times, where, at every opportunity, she had told them what a useless quest this was.
They had looked around both large supermarkets, large for Luxor that was, as the larger of the two was still probably smaller than most Tesco Metro. They had even walked into and around the seating area of a coffee shop called One Thousand and One Nights. The menu showed that they sold several cinnamon flavoured drinks, and the whole coffee shop was broken down into small seating areas with candles on the tables which glowed red. Initially they had thought they were on to something. Kate had actually stopped moaning for a very short while. They had all been convinced that this was the place where they were going to find both the very old man and Pure Red Cinnamon. There had certainly been enough old men sitting around, nothing except old men in fact. Elation was writ large on their faces as they had come across several cardboard boxes full of candles, all of which were guaranteed to have red flames. However, depression soon followed. Closer inspection had revealed a Made in China stamp on the underside of each box. Their mood was far from enhanced when the owner had appeared and ushered them from his storeroom, then out of his coffee shop.
This was now some distance behind them as they stood on the pavement not knowing what to do. Kate’s attitude was forcing them to pay far more attention to her than anything going on aro
und them.
They were standing just a few metres along from, though on the opposite side of the road to, an open fronted tyre repair shop. An old metal bath full of oily black water sat on the pavement, supported by two piles of bricks. A tyre repairman who had overinflated a flat tyre immersed it in the water. His expression changed from one of drudgery to one of satisfaction, as air bubbles showed him where the nail had penetrated. He disappeared inside to affect the repair.
This main artery through the centre of Luxor had two narrow lanes for traffic either side of a slightly raised metre wide central strip. This alternated between plantings of bougainvillea and hard standing for shoppers. Even though the two outside lanes were always full of parked cars, there was no way any pedestrian could reach from one side of Television Street to the other in one go, not with the crazy way Egyptians drove.
“We cannot stand out here like this. We are far too vulnerable,” thought Alex as his eyes darted everywhere in his search for inspiration. Ignoring the now ranting Kate, he looked around again. An old man, a very old man, grabbed his attention. He, along with a much younger and taller man, arrived at a locked shutter. The younger man bent down, removed the padlock, then pulled before pushing the roller shutter up and out of the way. There were no glass windows, just an open front, but there, less than ten metres away from them, was a spice shop. The old man disappeared inside, leaving the younger man to bring out large sacks of dried karkadé, black tea, as well as many spices, which he placed on the pavement directly outside of his shop. Just as Alex knew where they had to go, a sudden screeching of brakes caused him to spin around. Actually, as Alex was to realise later, it was not the noise which had caused him to spin around, it was a feeling.
Kate totally ignored the screeching, as did Cairo. Television Street was always noisy, and screeching like this was something which had occurred many times already this morning. She very sarcastically thanked Alex for re-joining them.
Looking past her, Alex saw a motorcyclist who for no apparent reason had locked his brakes and was now swerving into the tyre repair shop. Bike and rider collided hard with the bath, sending its contents gushing over the road. The driver of a speeding car lost control on the mixture of oil and water, hitting a parked car with such force that it was sent across the pavement and through the large plate-glass window of a bridal shop. Brightly coloured dresses in orange, turquoise, lime green and bright pink flew into the air. Their empty sleeves waved as though they were possessed on their descent back to earth.
Spinning from the impact, the speeding car, now travelling backwards, brought down a metal electricity pole from the middle of the road. The attached cables gave way instantly, lashing around in the air as if they were demented snakes. The first cable to hit the ground set the highly inflammable nylon wedding dresses alight before its fireworks of sparks ignited one parked car after another. The remaining electric cables appeared to be under some sort of supernatural control as they unnaturally held themselves aloft. Television Street went from a typical Egyptian shopping street to fire, explosions and mayhem with screaming people running in all directions. It had been transformed from a shopping area to a war zone in under twenty seconds.
The three high-power electric cables, which were lashing around in mid-air, now coiled around each other. “Magic,” Alex screamed as he dived onto Kate, in fact both Alex and Cairo dived onto her. They brought her to the ground just as the demonised electric cables shot out to where she had been standing a millisecond earlier. The entwined electric cables stood back, just as a snake would before it strikes. The three young adventurers were all now totally alert to their predicament.
The waterfall of sparks started to move against gravity as they curled around to form a bright yellow and white flickering ball from which the features of a face appeared, though a face which had no gender to it. The face then spoke to them, though the voice was also genderless. “I am not as bad as you think I am. I am not working against you. I am not going away. I am going to finish this once and for all. I am the warlock.” Both the face and the voice could have as equally been male as female. They were all confused by the message, though Alex was also shocked, as he had read these exact words in a note signed by Henuttawy.
“Quickly, this way,” Alex called out as he ran towards the spice shop. The three electric cables unfurled before jabbing out in desperate attempts to hit any of the three young adventurers as they ran the short distance. Once they were inside, the younger man, not caring about his stock outside, pulled down the metal shutter. There was a bang, causing the man to shudder violently before turning around. His curly black hair was now not only straight, but also singed and smoking. So were his eyebrows, what was left of them. He shook slightly as dribble ran from both sides of his mouth. He attempted to speak, however nothing intelligible came out.
“Do not worry about him, he is quite level headed. You can see that he is from his dribble. It is coming out of both sides of his mouth in equal amounts.” The very old man sniggered as he pushed the central display of spices to one side, before bending down to open a trap door. The younger man went to say something. It was clear that he was not finding this at all funny, though his words were still unintelligible. His attempt at speaking only resulted in producing more dribble.
Kate followed the very old man down through the trap door. Cairo did not. He stepped over to the younger man, lifted his galabeya as high as he could, then wiped the dribble from him. With Alex supporting one arm and Cairo the other, they first assisted him to the trap door, then, with difficulty, down the steps. Kate was well into conversation with the very old man by the time they were all together. The sounds of continuing explosions, along with emergency services sirens, was now somewhat deadened.
“Yes, as I was saying, young lady, I know of you all and I know what you are looking for.”
Kate was excited for several reasons, mostly because she felt as though she was in charge again. This letting someone else be in charge had not worked for her. For a short while she had thought it was what she had wanted, but as it turned out, it was not. Now Alex and Cairo were following her and she liked it, and her face showed that she liked it.
Cairo turned to Alex, giving a look which Alex read correctly, as he felt the same. At that moment in time neither of them wished to see Kate ever again. Alex now knew that Ramses’ words had fallen on fallow ground. Kate was Kate, and no one, not even the mighty Ramses, was going to change her.
“Sorry, we do not know your name,” said Alex to the very old gentleman.
“No need to be sorry, though as I was explaining to this delightful young lady here, it is better if we do not use names. We never know who is listening now, do we?”
Kate blushed whilst Alex had to bite his tongue, so he did not say ‘You will not think she is so delightful when you get to know her!’
“I have not been a fan of Ramses since I found out how he treated Nutty.” Kate laughed out loud as it was the first time she heard Henuttawy being called by this name, though she laughed rather excessively. She obviously wanted to make a point and she did.
Alex was more than a little perplexed upon hearing this, as his father had also called her Nutty. Did his father know much more about the afterlife than even Alex was willing to give him credit for, or was it that people who did not want to mention Henuttawy by name just saw Nutty as the name to call her? “No,” he thought, “someone must have overheard dad and me speaking on the ferry, someone who was not an ancient, and possibly that same someone read my note from Henuttawy before I received it. The warlock is playing mind games with me.” Alex wondered why the warlock had set his focus on him. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said as he cut across the very old man, “but are you an ancient?”
“Of course not, you saw me come in here from the street.”
“Yes, I did, but I did not see how you arrived. So you may have been walking on ancient ground.”
“But I wasn’t, and though I am ancient, I am not an ancient
.” Kate laughed loudly at Alex, a false laugh, though the smile was quickly taken from her face when the very old man admonished her. “The young lad is quite correct. It is only by watching, judging and asking that you can be doing.” He paused before saying, “Doing without watching, judging and asking is always a recipe for disaster.”
Kate felt as if she wanted to kill Alex, yet it was her own rudeness which was the cause of her misery. She really should have taken in what Ramses had said to her.
“How you know of ancients?” asked Cairo.
“Well, it is certainly not because I am likely to be one soon.” He gave a little chuckle. “I ‘saw’ when I was somewhere around the age of the three of you. I believed and I still believe. It was probably easier for me as my family had some ancient magic running through it. We always have had because we had some very influential magicians within the family.”
“As well as one very evil family member,” added Alex.
“Very well-reasoned, yes, exactly! Not that we are proud of him, quite the opposite in fact.”
Kate fumed inside as she had totally failed to make the connection to the warlock. Cairo spun around, then he spun around again.
“We are not in a trap, Cairo. Hen … sorry, Nu …” Alex really had to struggle in order to call Henuttawy Nutty, and in the end he could not do it. “She would never lead us into a trap.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Well, young lady, you should be sure.” Kate was far from happy at being admonished by the very old gentleman twice in as many minutes. “I have had the pleasure of helping her several times. She is a thoroughly lovely young lady. Even after all Ramses has done to her, she will not have a bad word said about him. She is one in a million. Perhaps even one in several millions.”
“I think so,” said Alex under his breath, “I know so.”
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