by D. S. Murphy
“Is it dead?” Jessie asking, putting her fingers on Puriel’s shoulder. “I mean, like really dead?”
“Leeches can’t survive once the head is missing,” Sitri said. “I’m surprised this one was still alive at all, after being locked up for so long.”
“Well, just in case, should we put him back where we found him?” Jessie asked, nodding towards the black stone crypt.
Sitri shrugged. Even if it was overkill, I agreed with Jessie. I felt safer knowing there were twenty tons between it and us. Sitri stepped into the water, wading up to his knees, and collected the blackened pieces and scraps of fabric that remained. He lay them inside the bottom of the sarcophagus, then Puriel helped him close the lid. It took them longer, I noticed. They were probably exhausted after the fight. I shivered, realizing how dangerous this mission had turned out to be.
“How about our new friend?” Sitri asked, nodding at Aziz. “Should we bring him with us or leave him here? If we come up without him, his friends are going to wonder where he is. But if we bring him up...”
“They’re going to wonder which one of us ate his face,” Jessie finished.
In the end we decided to leave him, and hope we could get away before they noticed his absence. We climbed up the tunnels, back into the light. I was rehearsing a story to tell Aziz’s friends, and smiled when I stepped out of the ruined structure, holding my hands up against the blinding daylight. There were far more men outside than I remembered. I blinked, confused at first by the dark gray uniforms and glinting metal. When my eyes adjusted, I realized it was the local police with their guns drawn.
12
Puriel and Sitri were strong, but they weren’t bulletproof. Still, I think they’d have fought their way out, if it weren’t for me and Jessie. The lead detective was wearing dark sunglasses and a beret, and he was surrounded by at least a dozen men with semi-automatic rifles. He grinned and beckoned for us to come down from the structure.
“It’s a shakedown,” I said quietly, spotting Aziz’s gang hovering nearby. “This is a setup, to squeeze money out of dumb tourists. Move slowly and keep your mouths shut.”
“You’ve entered a protected heritage site,” the detective said when we got closer. “I’m sorry to spoil your holiday, but smuggling antiquities is a very serious crime in Egypt.”
“We’re tourists, not smugglers,” Jessie said. “A guide offered us a tour. We didn’t know it was illegal.”
“And where is this guide now?” the detective asked. He smiled, revealing a gold tooth.
“We don’t know,” I said. “Sorry for the misunderstanding. We hate to waste your valuable time. We’d be happy to contribute to your overtime pay, for you and your men.”
I nudged Sitri, and he reached into his pocket carefully, pulling out his moneyclip. The detective’s eyes lit up as Sitri counted out hundred dollar bills. The detective made a big show about refusing the bribe at first, but finally took the entire stack of cash. I thought we were in the clear when it disappeared into his jacket pocket, but then there were shouts behind us in Arabic. Two of his men emerged from the Temple of Khentkawes, holding a round parcel. I felt a sinking sensation in my chest when I realized it was Aziz’s head.
When I turned around, the detective’s smile was gone and he was aiming a small pistol at Sitri’s chest. He nodded to his men, and they searched us – looking surprised when they found the curved daggers and short sword. They forced us around and put us in handcuffs roughly. We didn’t have time to corroborate a story, so I just shouted loudly that our guide tricked us into a private tour, then fell into the hole and broke his own neck. Hopefully the others would back me up. They asked for our IDs and passports, but we had none, other than Sitri’s fake ID. At the police station, they separated us into different holding cells.
“Guess we should have put Aziz in the box too,” Jessie said when we were finally alone. “No body, no crime.”
“We’ll have to remember that for the next time an ancient demon murders our Egyptian tour guide,” I said, leaning back against the metal folding cot. There was a thin mattress and pillow, but I hated the thought of spending the night in here. Our run-in with the leech had seriously undermined my confidence; I’d never seen a leech that powerful, other than Puriel. To still have that much magic, after all this time, he must have been a god among men. Egypt was more dangerous than I’d suspected, with far older magic. But at least now we had a place to start looking: Alexandria. We just had to find a way to escape the prison, first.
“Shouldn’t the guys have broken us out by now?” Jessie asked, standing on a chair to peek out through the small barred window.
“Maybe they’re waiting till night to escape,” I said, “so they don’t hurt anyone else.”
“Yeah but we’re wasting time,” Jessie said. “We should be out there looking.”
“I know, alright? You think I like being stuck in here? If we can’t get out, we’ll have to call for backup, which would probably mean giving up and going home without answers. We have to find a way out of here, before Able figures out where we are and sends help. Can’t you do something?”
Jessie went to the door and I held my breath as she mumbled some charm over it and waved her hands. “Abracadabra,” she whispered loudly. “Open Sesame.”
“That’s not funny,” I said, when she turned to smirk at me.
“I’m not Houdini,” she said.
“I thought Maddie taught you something.”
“Wishing she was here instead?” Jessie folded her arms.
I bit my lip to keep myself from getting into a fight. Instead I lay back on the hard flat bed, rolling the thin pillow into a ball. We had a toilet in the center of the room. I had to pee, but didn’t want to do it here. It smelled, and reminded me of the JDRI dungeon where they’d sent me after stabbing Dennis with a fork. I was nearly dozing off when I heard the click of a lock. I looked up to see Jessie’s surprised expression as she pushed open the door to our cell.
“You did that?” I asked.
“I guess so,” she said. “I can’t believe it worked.”
I threw my legs down and got up quickly. I flicked a finger towards the guard at the desk and he slumped over, unconscious.
“That’s so awesome,” Jessie said.
“Grab the keys,” I said, pointing at the wall. They’d put our personal belongings in a locker earlier, and I fumbled the keychain until I got the right one open and retrieved our gear. We found the boys down the hall in another cell. They looked surprised to see us.
“How did you get out?” Sitri asked.
“Magic,” Jessie grinned.
I took out two more guards on the way to the back exit, tapping their threads just lightly enough to knock them out. Hopefully they’d wake up in a few hours with nothing more than a slight headache.
It was dark outside, which made it easier to disappear down side streets and alleys until we were sure we weren’t being followed. We ended up in a seedy district of the city, with a crowded nightmarket full of exotic smells.
“So now what?” I asked finally.
“I need a shower, and a change of clothes,” Jessie said.
“We can’t go back to the hotel,” Sitri said. “They took my fake ID; I’m sure they’ll trace it back to the hotel booking. They’re probably already there, waiting for us to show up. That detective got most of my cash, and our weapons are at the hotel.”
“Not all of them,” I said, holding up the bag. I still had my glove, and the few Q-bombs that Jessie was carrying earlier. Sitri grabbed his daggers and handed Puriel the short sword.
“Right now we should get off the street till we figure out our next move. Coffee?” Jessie said, pointing to a dark pub across the street. “I don’t think this is a touristy area, and we stand out.”
We sunk into a dark corner booth, trying to avoid the stares of the locals, and ordered lamb shawarma and falafel.
“The leech said Isis was in Alexandria,” I said quietly.<
br />
“A thousand years ago,” Sitri mumbled.
“Still it’s the only lead we have.”
“Only one problem,” Puriel said, pointing at a TV screen mounted on the wall. My face was on it, followed by the others, with text in Arabic.
“Shit,” I said. “They took our photos when they booked us.”
“It looks like they’ve just issued a warrant for our arrest.”
“Great,” Jessie said. “We’re wanted fugitives.”
“It was a long-shot anyway,” Sitri said, rubbing his jaw. “But now that our cover is blown, it’s not safe to stay out in the open. I promised Able I’d call if we got into any trouble. Now that our faces are on the news, everyone’s going to know we’re in Egypt.”
“The gods don’t watch human news,” I said, “other than Heph. And he’ll cover for us. I think.”
“There’s one more thing,” Sitri said, stirring yogurt into his tabouli salad. “Able gave me a time limit of 48 hours.”
“What? And you didn’t think to tell me earlier?”
“I’m telling you now,” he said.
“But we haven’t found anything yet,” I said, “and we’ve already been here... how long?”
“18 hours. Maybe we should regroup, get help. We still don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
“No,” I said. “We’re not giving up. We just got here.”
“Well, we can’t fly because they’d recognize us. I’m sure they have the airport blocked off.”
“How else can we get to Alexandria?” Jessie asked.
“We’ll have to take a boat,” Sitri said.
“How long will it take?”
“A day at least,” Sitri said.
I frowned, that didn’t leave us much time left.
“Then I guess we’d better get started,” I said. I drained the rest of my tea in one gulp and put the empty cup on the table, before reaching for my coat.
***
By the time we made it to the harbor, the sun was rising. We’d picked up a change of clothes on the way, and Jessie and I wiped ourselves down in a McDonald’s bathroom.
“Not exactly the luxury experience,” Jessie said.
“There’s something to be said for American’s hygiene standards,” I said, splitting a hashbrown with her and sipping my orange juice. The harbor was full of green and blue boats with white sails. We sat near the pier as Sitri negotiated with the captain of a small raft. Jessie looked right at home in a white dress, and an oversized sunhat that hid her face. I preferred dark glasses and a baseball cap. I couldn’t find any jeans though, so I grabbed a loose-fitting linen suit and a purple shawl to wrap around my head and neck.
“We’re leaving in twenty minutes,” Sitri said. “It’s going to be a long trip, you should pick out some food or snacks from the market. Back here in fifteen.”
A line of covered tents and shops surrounded the pier. We grabbed a few loaves of bread, some butter, honey, and sliced ham, and a few large bottles of water. The market was less touristy than the ones I was used to, though it still had the odd stack of brightly colored carpets or the pile of bronze antiques.
I paused to watch a young man charming a cobra out of a basket with a wooden flute, then a young girl near him drew my eye. She was doing some kind of a magic trick with a rope.
“They’re Hekau,” Jessie said next to me. “Egyptian seekers.”
The girl made a loop and tied a thick knot in the middle of the rope, then slid the knot off completely and tossed it into the air. She caught it again in the middle, then cut through the knot with a knife. The rope fell apart, into three long pieces. She gathered them together in both hands, then held her hands up and the rope was one long piece again. She grabbed it suddenly with the other hand, and it became a long stick. A few onlookers clapped their hands, and some tossed coins into the plastic dish she’d put out in front of her.
“Can you teach me how to do that?” I asked, stepping forward. The girl smiled, then grabbed her dish and ran away quickly.
“Wait!” I shouted, running after her. She ducked under tables and over stacks of vegetables. I followed awkwardly, shoving people out of the way to catch up with her. A man with tattoos on his face grabbed my wrist, peering at me. I pushed him away, and finally caught up with the girl at the end of a short alley. High walls cut us off from the sun, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw her run straight up the wall, grabbing at the edge of the roof and pulling herself up like an acrobat.
Shit, there’s no way I could do that. I sighed, catching my breath. I wasn’t even sure why I’d chased after her. Maybe the slim hope that an Egyptian seeker performing tricks with knotted ropes might have the answers I was looking for. My eyes scanned the walls for another way to reach her, but I finally had to admit she was gone. The sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard made me turn around suddenly.
“You are Kaidance Monroe?” asked a deep voice from behind me. The light was behind him, so I only saw his silhouette at first. Gradually I could make out more details – his bald head glistened in the early light and his dark beard sparkled, like it was filled with gold dust. He had gold-hooped earrings and something was wrong with his lips; they looked dark green in the dim alley.
“I am,” I said cautiously. I wasn’t sure if revealing my name was a good idea, but on the off chance he was another seeker, my identity might loosen his tongue.
“I was told to look for someone with a red mark around her wrist,” he said, nodding towards my arm.
“And you are...?” I asked, reaching into my bag for my iron glove.
“My name is Philinos Cadmus. You killed my mistress. Prepare to die.”
He lunged at me without warning, and his sword passed so close to my ear I could feel the vibrations of the metal, quivering from the force of his thrust. I barely moved out of the way before the second swing. I shoved my hand into the iron glove and lifted my arm just in time to block the next strike, praying Heph’s handiwork was strong enough to protect my arm. Sparks flew out as I deflected the blade and stumbled backward.
I grabbed his thread before he had time to strike again – it was distinct, though not difficult to spot. A shiny, bright green thread. I grabbed it with the iron glove and pulled as hard as I could before letting go. It twanged like a guitar string, and the man crumpled into a pile of crooked limbs, like a marionette after someone let go of its strings. But only a second later, the man started picking himself back up again.
I gripped his thread again, squeezing tightly with my iron fingers, but he didn’t stop moving.
“What are you?” I asked, backing away.
“I am a son of Cadmus, one of the five noble families descended from the slain serpent, champion of Athena, and I will get my revenge on her murderer.”
He got to his feet, pulled up by an invisible force. His sword scraped on the ground behind him until his arm snapped back into place. Something rippled under the surface of his skin, something large and coiled. I reached up with my other hand, gripping his thread tightly with both fists. I could feel it slither through my palms like a salamander. I searched the alley for any kind of sharp instrument, but I didn’t have time before he lifted his arm to strike again. He was much slower, with me gripping his thread, but he kept moving.
I yanked the thread down again with both hands, letting it snap backward loudly. The momentum flung him against the far wall. I sprinted in the other direction before he hit the ground. I’d barely reached the market when I saw Sitri and Jessie looking for me. Sitri’s face looked relieved when he saw me, but then his eyes narrowed. He reached towards his waist and grabbed his two long daggers. I froze as his hands shot out and the two daggers flew past me.
I heard a grunt, much closer than I expected, and turned around to see the man on one knee, with a knife buried to the hilt in his chest. The other he pulled out of his leg, slashing after me. I struck his thread again, kicking the blade out of his limp hand, but I knew he wouldn
’t stay down for long.
“Run!” I shouted. We raced down the steps. Jessie tossed the bags to Puriel, who was waiting for us on the bow of the flat, rectangular raft. We jumped into the boat as Sitri untied the anchor and pushed it away from the shore, yelling at the ship’s captain. Together, with long wooden oars, they steered the raft out into the bay. We were already twenty feet out when the man walked to the edge of the pier. I half expected him to jump into the water and swim after us. Instead, he pulled the blade out of his chest and held it loosely to one side. I could see it dripping green blood, the sunrise behind him, as Puriel lifted the sail and the wind filled it up.
13
Once we pulled out of the harbor, I was overcome with exhaustion. I hadn’t really slept since leaving Nevah, and between the leech and the weird bald guy, I barely had enough energy left to keep my eyelids open. I settled back into the pile of pillows and the thick shaggy carpet covering the raft, and let the gentle rocking of the boat lure me into a deep sleep. When I woke up again, the sun was high in the sky. The wide sail kept us mostly in shade, but my skin was still sticky with sweat from the heat. I brushed a dragonfly off my arm, letting my hand drift into the cool water, and then splashed my arms and face.
Cairo was far behind us now, and all I could see on the shore was a dense curtain of palm trees. The raft’s owner and his son sat in the front, steering along the shallow river with long dark paddles. Jessie and Sitri were still asleep, so I reached over quietly and grabbed a bottle of water from our bag of supplies. Puriel was sitting against one corner with his hands folded in his lap, but his eyes flickered open at my movement. He reached into a bag of dates and tossed one to me. I smiled, and popped it into my mouth. It was dry, and too sweet. I opened a package of crackers, then settled in next to him.