AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess

Looks like the ENWorld reset put us back a ways. Thankfully I've been cross-posting to Dragonsfoot.org. I'll repost a chapter a day here until we get caught back up again.


Chapter 89, “The Ride to Gizah”, September 11, 1882, 6:30 P.M.

Before leaving the Temple of Ra, Ruby asks, “Is there any other equipment that we might need? Perhaps the priests here might have some healing potions they could part with. Any other mundane equipment before we go?" Lawrence pipes up. "Yes, healing elixirs would come in handy. Some long guns would be nice, but I doubt they have any lying around the temple. With martial law it's probably too risky to go out looking for any either."

Ruby says, "Don't we have a whole army somewhere at our disposal? I mean, I'm sure they could spare some guns for us." She asks one of the higher clerics, "Is it possible you might have some healing potions available? We are about to aide the King and the Princess and other Royal Family members are most assuredly our lives will be in danger." Lawrence says, "Right. The Franklin Pierce should have something for us. Thanks for reminding me." "No problem Lawrence!" Ruby gave him a wink. "Do we have time to get there and get supplies before we have to run off though?"

"I don't know how useful rifles will be inside the pyramid. But I do know that we ought to get our hands on some magical ammo. We had a dickens of a time getting through some of those barriers back in the palace." suggests George. Ruby says, "Good point George. I'm not sure where to buy that but there has got to be a place here in this magical city we can get some of that." Mina says, "Not likely, with a pending war. All of the military officers with any money would have scooped them all up."

Mina then pulls out a small leather bag and pours around two-dozen bullet shells out onto the table. They note that the brass on the shells have rims plated with different metal, with four each of platnum, gold, silver, bronze, copper and nickel. She says, "But we did get these, that pouch was worn by the French Foreign Legion officer who died on the lower level of the Dreadnaught. The bullets are a unique size." She then takes out a small wooden case and opens it up to show a pair of revolvers and says, "This case was near the door. These are custom-made dueling pistols, which are just single-shot weapons. There's no way of knowing what the different bullet types do."

"Well, no time to test, if we need to we try in battle" replies George. Ruby says, "Well, we've got two guns and some magic bullets. We'll save them for if and when we absolutely have to make a shot and hope the bullets help. Who is getting the guns?" "Why don't you and Abby take them." suggests George.

Abby says, "Alright, although I'd like a weapon with standard ammunition as well if we can get our hands on it. If we're in tight quarters I don't want to be firing rounds that could be explosive. No good to take out an enemy if you take yourself and your friends out at the same time." "heck if Ruby hasn't blown us up yet, you won't" laughs George. Abby widened her eyes comically. "Oh, a challenge!"

Ruby says, "We have to be able to get you a gun somewhere Abby. I'm surprised you haven't been carrying on around all this time!" Abby shrugged with a little smile. "I've never been in a battle before. I'm actually better with a firearm than with my blade, but generally I've only needed to drive off or discourage locals around the cities near dig sites. I haven't needed more than my spells and the blade for that."

"Alright I'll take one," Ruby says while pulling one of the new guns out of the case. She takes two of each of the colored bullets. "This should be interesting, not knowing what these do. So, what's our plan next? Just ride out to the pyramid since we probably can't get any other magic on the street at this point?" "In any case, I think, well, I hope we will only need guns to get through any guards and to deal with the French, I am counting on Diplomacy to win the day with the King." adds George.

Hardin arrives with the party's horses. He receives messages from the group and then rides back to the telegraph office where Cetan, Meren and Alsoomse still are, leaving the other seven mounts for the party. Ruby declares, "Alright then, so do we have everything we need or should I say, everything we're going to have to leave then?"

Dressed in the robes of Priests, Priestesses and Acolytes, the seven mount up and proceed westward through the city of a half-million people. Under martial law the city appears strangely deserted, with soldiers at the major intersections but nobody else about. Sabah shows the soldiers her holy symbol of Bast and explains that it is urgent that they get to Gizah as quickly as possible. Abby stayed close to Sabah, but kept her head down, as an acolyte might, but ready to take action if she had to.

In order to exit the city they have to cross tributaries of the Nile at two separate locations. The first has a bridge that they cross after considerable discussion with the Army Captain in charge of guarding it. The second requires a crossing in a ferry boat, which presents a problem as the ferryboat operator fears that if he leaves the boathouse the soldiers will shoot him for not being in his home. The ferry boat consists of a small flat barge with side rails and the steam powered motor on the end besides the steering wheel that is connected underneath to the rudder.

George asks the man if they can pay for the ferry ride but that George will pilot the boat so the ferryman will be safe. They settle upon a generous price which George pay. It takes a little while to secure the horses and to bring the fire up to a full head of steam, but once that it done they proceed across the Nile with relative ease. Once on the opposite shore the fire is lowered and the craft secured.

Abby scanned the area before taking the horse's reins and leading it off the ferry. It would be foolish to assume no one would try to stop them from reaching the Pyramid, and she was tired of being taken off her guard. With the ferry secured George leads the groups swiftly towards the pyramid. Noting Abby's watchfulness George comments "Caution is always valuable Abby, but we must move with alacrity. We have a deadline of midnight." Abby states, "Dead will slow you down considerably more."

"But she is right George, we must keep our eyes open too." Ruby hops up onto her horse. It was always tense before a fight and who knew what they were going to come up against. She stole a glance back towards her grandmother. The older woman gave her a reassuring smile. She had done this many more times than Ruby had and it did reassure her. "Alright. Do we have a plan once we get there? I guess we'll have to see what it's like once we arrive but we could certainly try to use the way we..." She stops short and gives Abby a knowing glance, wondering how completely they can trust Sabah. George smiles "Oh indeed, that is true. But if we move cautiously to reach the pyramids safely, but too late to save the country we may be dead regardless."

It takes a mile before they leave the outer sections of Cairo and head off into the dessert in the direction of the distant pyramids. Freya tells the party some of her background. Her Grandfather was an actual Asgardian. Their story goes back almost a thousand years, when a trio consisting of an Asgardian demigod in human form, an Asgardian dwarf and an Asgardian Frost Giant came to Midgard (Earth) to help the Viking people. Their quests lasted for centuries and the demigod sired many children with earth women, just as the Asgardian dwarf did with earth dwarves.

Their final quest was at the beginning of this century, against Napoleon's armies, when the French leader desired to take over northern Europe. During that quest they also retrieved from France the stuffed carcass of a Black Dragon Earth Spirit who had once been a friend of the Viking people. Odin in turn blessed the dragon scales, and allowed them to make transformational armor. Five suits were made, for those three plus the demigod and the dwarf's current mates.

The demigod and dwarf have since returned to Asgard, with the now-ancient Frost Giant remaining on Midgard as the team's elder. Before leaving for Asgard the demigod and dwarf passed their dragon armor on to a son and a grandson. Freya’s grandmother Astrid had been the demigod’s human wife. She was slain two years ago by the French wizards and Freya inherited the armor, now being a full team-member (albiet the youngest and least experienced) of the five protectors of northern Europe who call their team the Asgardians. George listens intently to Freya's story understanding finally her deep-seated hatred for the French wizards.

As they get closer the two tall pyramids make for a very impressive sight. Mina comments, "They both look to be the same height, but one is actually ten feet taller, at 480 feet above the base. It was built as the Tomb for Cheops, also known as Khufu, the second king of the 4th Dynasty. He ruled approximately 5,500 years ago. The other one was built as the tomb for his son, the third king of the 4th Dynasty. He was named as Chephren, also known as Khafre. The third largest one, behind the other two, was built by Menkaure, Khafre's son and Khufu's grandson. While it stands only 250 feet in height, the stone that it is made from is fancier and more decorative."

"It must have been a boring time back then, if all they had to do was sit around and build these things," Ruby comments. Abby says, "More that all the slaves were allowed to do was build these things. And kept mildly intoxicated most of the time so they'd be less likely to get surly about it." "True, I suppose the people with the money wouldn't be doing the work, now would they?" Ruby laughs. "And drunk? One big party? Now that doesn't too terrible..." Before she can think too hard about it she shakes her head.

"Did the ogre say which pyramid they were in? We need to be on the look out for that other dirigible" says George. Mina says, "Probably none of those three, the burial chambers inside are actually not that large and it would be considered desecrating the dead to enter. He is probably at one of the six even smaller pyramids, each around 100 feet tall. One trio of them is immediately south of the smallest of these three that we see from here, and another three are east of the largest."

"Alright, well let's go see which pyramid is guarded" says George heading towards the southern pyramids. They are now a mile away from the pyramids and see the Great Sphinx ahead of them, southeast of the pyramids. It is a massive stone structure with the head of a man and body of a lion. Mina says, "The head was modeled after King Khafre." "He must been been posing a loonnngggg time for that," Ruby giggles. George grins at Ruby's little joke. Even in the middle of the desert, facing deadly risk, that woman could make him smile.

Moving in from the southeast, the three pryamids are all equi-distant at this point, a quarter mile away. Stretching from each pyramid and going a quarter mile east of each is a causeway leading to another temple. East of the largest pyramid, in addition to the three aforementioned smaller pyramids and hundreds of other smaller rectangular structures, approximately fifty-by-two-hundred feet and standing thirty feet high. Mina says those are where High Priests and other top advisors to the kings are buried. Another cluster of hundreds of smaller structures stand to the west of the largest pyramid and north of the second largest. The only structures near the smaller of the three great pyramids are the trio of smaller ones to the south of it.

"Looks like there will be some places to hide if necessary. There are tons of buildings around here," Ruby comments. Mina says, "Well, some of the buildings house the Egyptian Army Battalion that is stationed at Gizah, but George pulled them away from here and into Cairo this morning. It does not appear that any of them have returned yet." Abby asks, "But do you see any signs of guards, or the Dirigible?"

Ruby asks, "Freya, do you think you'd been seen if you fly up in the night sky?" She says, "It won't be fully dark for another hour." Ruby says, "Alright, well, we don't want to do that then. Maybe in a while if we don't have a plan in place. But I think we'll know better what to do by then. How about we just move up towards the small pyramid? They are likely in one of the bigger ones anyway." George says, "Sounds like a plan Ruby, now is the time Abby when caution is our watchword."

Lawrence dismounts and it is easier for him to sneak up on people on foot. He tries to spot any movement around the pyramids. He comments "This feels like a trap. Then again, I always feel that way." Ruby says, "Okay, so let me also go up and peek around the corner until I can spot where they are." She dismounts and hands her reins to George. She moves forward into the darkness with just a small torch in one hand and her gun out in the other.

With Lawrence and Ruby taking the lead on foot, the remainder of the group dismount and also approach on foot. They move towards the easternmost of the structures known as the Queen's pyramids (the trio of smaller pyramids closest to the Sphinx). The sun has set but the last remnants of light are still on the western horizon. The skies appear clear with a three-quarters moon.

The party approaches the first of the trio of smaller pyramids, their horses being led behind them. The wind blows across the desert and the immediate area appears empty. They whole pyramid area is darkened, although lights do shine from the built-up residential area beyond the pyramids, where the small city of Gizah sits and tens of thousands of people reside. The closest structures in this area are primarily dark, being the barracks for the thousands of troops currently in Cairo. Sabah points in that direction and says that the Temple of Bast is situated not far into the community of Gizah.

"Can we count of help from there, if we need it?" Abby asked Sabah. "Not that I expect to be able to ask for it once we get into a pyramid. I just get the feeling there's something bigger going on." She says, "Of course. I am always welcome there and you are all my friends. Plus we are working on the same objective, to preserve Egypt." Lawrence exclaims, "And preserve it we will. Let's try to keep the priestesses out of this unless necessary. We should hurry."

Ruby says, "Let's keep moving forward. Soon it will be dark and we will have the night to help cover our movement. We don't have a lot of time to waste so I don't want to leave everyone behind while I go up ahead, it's too far. And I'm not sure about taking the chance of sending Freya up into the skies, it's risky." The group continues to move up using the buildings as cover.

Chapter 90, “The Great Pyramids” September 11, 1882, 8:30PM.

The sun has finally set to the west as the party comprised of George Eastman, Ruby West, Wilamina Parker, Abigail Marsters, Lawrence Cantrell, Freya and Sahah are approaching on foot one of the three smaller Subsidiary Pyramids immediately south of the Pyramid of Menkaure at Gizah (the smallest of the three large pyramids). As a cool breeze whips across the sands no other sounds are heard. There is enough residual light coming from the moon and from Gizah City beyond the pyramids to see by. Sahab falls back to the rear, leading the party's horses.

"Is anyone any good at tracking in this sand?" Abby asked quietly. "Otherwise we're going to have to check each of these pyramids, and I'm not sure we have the time." Abby searched her memory for any remembrance or bit of fact that might make one pyramid more likely than another for the meeting. Sabah says, "I have been here many times, but never at night. We should be careful, the sphynx do not like intruders on sacred ground." Abby says, "That sounds plural. More than one sphynx? A creature of some kind?"

Sabah replies, "A family, the guardians of the pyramids. The Priests and the gods created them in the image of the Earth Spirit that watched over this land three thousand years ago, the one that the great statue was modeled after." Abby comments, "The King being who he is, and the Princess being who she is, they were probably able to pass freely. Which doesn't really help us figure out where they passed."

Abby begins to walk near the first pyramid, looking for any signs of recent disturbance, or anything the looks out of place. They see nothing to indicate anybody was here recently. They circumnavigate around this smaller pyramid and are now in the space between this trio of small pyramids and the larger Pyramid of Menkaure.

Less than a half-mile away, Benjamin ‘Fish’ Trout, tanned as brown as a chestnut, thinks to himself as he looks up at the night sky above Egypt,"Damn, but I'm a long way from New Orleans!" He wipes his brow and plods along. It has been nearly two days since 'Fish' separated from his companion Alsoomse. She was following a black-garbed Egyptian while he was following a 'begger boy' that didn't act like one, both thinking their prey to be a French Wizard.

In the time since then, the 'Boy' met up with a Frenchman by the name of Maurice Beaujolais, and he witnessed them both using wizard magic. Following them from Heliopolis to Cairo, they then joined before noon today with the Scottish boy Henry Jones. Jones had assisted Fish and Abby at Tanis with the rescue of British archaeologists. Not knowing what to make of this development, Fish moved back from the crowds surrounding the palace in Cairo. Then all Hell broke loose, as fireballs were flying everywhere and cannon fired from the roof. The French dirigible then arrived and opened fire onto the palace.

When the smoke started to clear Fish witnessed a battle in the air between the dying dirigible and a large black dragon. Both crashed near the Nile a mile off. Fish thought of going there, then spotted the French wizards and young Mr. Jones, now accompanied as well by Abby's old boyfriend Callum Stuart. Fish continued to follow these four as they purchased a wagon and headed west to Gizah. They are now approaching the largest pyramid from the west, with Fish a safe distance back.

Benjamin rather enjoys the fact that he's stowed his sandals in the duffle slung over his shoulder. With the sun having set hours ago, the sand isn't crazy-hot 'neath his toes. Stretching a thousand feet west of the towering Khufu pyramid are various smaller structures, burial chambers for the various priests and officials from Khufu's court. The cart with the quartet turn south prior to these and begin to travel due south, some three-hundred feet west of the next large pyramid, that of Khafre. He feels nervous around this place of the dead.

Fish sees the cart approaching the east-west wall north of the Menkaure pyramid. They turn east, riding parallel the wall for around 100 feet until the reach the corner of the intersection of the north-south wall situated west of the Khafre pyramid. Once in the corner the four secure the horse, place a stepladder on the cart, and begin to scale the wall. Fish gauges the odds for stealing the horse.

A mere 600 feet away from Fish, Abby says "Let's check Menkaure and leave these behind us. Might the Princess have left something behind to tip us off?" Ruby says, "It's possible, she knows we're coming I'm sure. But in this darkness it would be awfully hard to spot. Unless Freya can spot something from up in the air and at this point I think we shouldn't take the chance of sending her up and alerting anyone else to our presence just yet."

They do not see anybody along the southern wall of Menkaure's pyramid. Walls and the mortuary extend out from the pyramid's east side, requiring the party to go around this pyramid on its west side. Once the party reaches the northwest corner they stop after seeing people some 400 feet away to the northeast. These people are climbing over a wall between the Menkaure and Khafre pyramids.

Abby stilled herself and focused on her senses. She focused on her eyes and her ears. There was no reason for someone to be out here unless they knew about the meeting, or were grave robbers. Either of which might mean a fight. She laid a hand of the hilt of her sword, not wanting to bring attention to the group with the sound of gunfire should it come to that.

Fish watches as the two boys are lowered down by Callum, who then jumps down himself on the other side. Maurice swings over the wall and then is helped down. Since all four men have abandoned the cart and horse, having climbed out of sight to the other side of the wall, Fish decides it is safe to move in. He then disables the cart’s axle.

Ruby whispers "Apparently we're not the only ones with this very same idea." She squints, "Does anyone here recognize any of them?" They are too far away to make out details in the moonlight. The people appear to be a man and pair of boys. Another man then lowers himself down from the wall, joining the other three. The four move on cautiously eastward, staying close to the wall. Abby shook her head and replied, "Not yet, but two of them the size of children... possibly not a threat."

Lawrence sneaks up to the wall separating the group from the quartet. He whispers, "What do you think they're up to?" Mina replies, "Hard to say without knowing who they are. They're clearly looking for something or someone." The quartet continues to move eastward for another 500 feet. Some 100 feet ahead of them the wall is intercepted by a southern wall extending for 300 feet. Rather than traveling this they instead throw a grappling hook liked to a rope up and over the corner of the walls. One of the men then scales it. The other man helps the two boys up. The man atop the wall then helps to pull him up and they drop down on the opposite side, no longer visible by the party.

"Oh no, no you don't," Abby said quietly. Ruby says, "Boys? Could that be one of the boys you were with earlier today Abby? Either way they must know something... should we follow them?" Abby waved to the others to follow and began moving as silently as she could, keeping to the shadows herself, to follow where the other group went. Ruby asks "Can we all climb? Either that or Freya, can you carry us over?"

The group quickly covers half the distance between the far corner of Menkaure's pyramid and the corner 900 feet away where the men had climbed the wall. "Now is the time to hurry friends, any sentries will spot the first group before us. Let us hurry and catch up to them and find out who they are. If a small group of our foes, better to take them out there than in a larger group." suggests George. The party does their best to move silently, but one of the horses whinnies. On the opposite side of the wall Fish recognizes the sound of the horse he had been riding earlier in the week.

Standing up on the cart and hoisting his head to the top of the wall, Fish looks down in the courtyard below north of the Menkaure pyramid. Fifty feet before him is the Priestess of Bast named Sabah, leading five of the eight horses belonging to his group. Ahead of them some 50 to 125 feet he spots six other people, moving eastward along the wall and already beyond where he is. One is an armored blonde female who he does not recognize, but the other five are the people who he had traveled to Egypt with.

The group of Lawrence, Ruby, George, Mina, Freya and Abby reach the corner where the two walls intersect and the quartet climbed over. The wall is at a nine-foot height, so hoisting each other and using a rope the are able to get over it. Meanwhile Sabah leads the seven horses south along the north-south wall from this intersection, as that wall ends at open desert approximately 300 feet further down. Benjamin Fish Trout discretely follows from behind.

From the other side of the wall they see that the east-well wall they just scaled is part of a perimeter wall around three walls of the middle (Khafre) pyramid that is 400 feet north of where the party is now standing. The open side is to the east. Immediately east of the pyramid beyond an open area of 40 feet is a large stone building approximately 80 feet north-south by 250 east-west. From the eastern end of that a long covered corridor-style building extends eastward for over a thousand feet, making the only way around this pyramid being the open area the 40 feet between the pyramid and building east of it, as they spot the quartet of men heading north though this opening and then turn east behind the large building.

The moonlight shines down on the impressive pyramid, and illuminates at the very top the outline of a large winged creature with the body of a lion that is perched on the structure and keeping watch below. George nods towards the top of the pyramid "Let's hope it asks riddles as well" George whispers dryly.

"Anyone have an illusion or a sound spell we can use to distract and lure away that sphinx?" asks George. Mina says, "No need to borrow trouble. As long as it stays up there we shouldn't have to worry about it." Lawrence replies, "As long as it doesn't try to eat us, George." 'You haven't read much history have you Lawrence?" asks George wryly. Lawrence says, "Can't say as I have. I'll keep my distance from it then."

Fish decides to trust an intuition. "My friends must be nearby!" he thinks to himself. Then he remembers: Wilamina had given him a breath mint and told him, "Suck on it if you need to send a mental image to me or a short message. Understand that its range is limited, so use it carefully." He pops the lozenge into his mouth and thinks, "Lady Wilamina, I think I spy you! I'm north of the wall, hiding in a horse cart."

After commenting about the sphynx, Mina suddenly pauses as if deep in thought. She then raises up her hand and says to her companions "It's Ben Trout, he's nearby." George says, "Ok, let's push on, Trout can catch up to us." Lawrence says, "Fish is here? Excellent. I wonder what they're up to." Mina looses the clerical robes she is wearing and removes an object from a belt pouch which she places in her mouth. She concentrates on Ben and thinks back "Ben, we are now east of the middle large pyramid. We are following a group that appears to be comprised of four men and boys."

The breath mint tingles in his mouth upon reception of Mina's message. Licking his lips, Benjamin quickly but stealthily attempts to join his friends. Making his way over the wall to his east and continuing to the northeast in the direction of the Khafre pyramid, he soons finds himself at the southwestern corner, almost to the opposite side as the party. While deciding whether to circumnavigate around the southern or western side Mina asks him
"Ben, do you have any idea who those four men we were following are?" "A coupla wizards, Henry Jones, and Callum Stuart...I think," replies Fish thoughtfully. Mina says to her companions "Ben believes those four we are following are Callum and his British spy friends."

Ruby exclaims, "Oh would that be the man we were with earlier today? He ended up being quite helpful, actually. Abby pulled in a loud, deep breath, and sagged for a moment. She had kept her mind carefully away from what might have happened to Cal back at the Palace when she had gone haring off to a rooftop and he had stayed below. "We're too far away for a message spell, but at least we know now they're friendly.

Fish is soon able to join the others. “Ben, I'm glad to see you!" Ruby says cheerfully as she plants a kiss on his cheek. "It seems like so much has happened since we've seen you it feels like forever. I'm sure you have just as many adventures to tell as we do, I mean, after we get this whole save Egypt thing over with."

Mina comments "Sabah still hasn't rounding the bend of the southern wall 800 feet away. She should have by now." They then note the reason why she may have hesitated to do so, as a quarter mile to the south they see a dust cloud and then the distant shape of two mounted horses galloping swiftly towards the pyramids.

"Late to the party I suppose" quips George. "I wonder who they could be now. Wish we had a good telescope. Anyway it is getting late and all eyes will be on those two now so let us hurry." Lawrence says, "Yes. Those horse can cover the ground much faster than us." The pair of horsemen continue to ride in the party's direction towards the gap between the Khafre pyramid and the building east of it. By moving to the north side of that building the party cannot be seen by the oncoming horsemen, at least until they pass through this gap.

The only real illumination at this spot is moonlight, as the residual light from the city to the north is somewhat blocked by the large pyramids to the north and west of the party's current location. As the horsemen near to a distance of 100 feet those peering around the corner are able to better see them. They are two of the three French wizards who had been aboard the Dreadnaught dirigible that the party helped crash five hours earlier. These two are Joseph-Michael Montgolfier and his still unnamed companion from before, with the then very wounded Jules-Henri Poincare no longer being with them.

Ruby says, "Well, we knew they were involved in this plot, didn't we. They are certainly here to cause trouble. We should try to disable them before they get to their destination. However, they are powerful wizards and we don't want to alert the whole army to our presence with a huge battle. Anyone have any ideas?" Grateful to have rejoined his friends but more than a little anxious, Fish presses his back against the wall as though seeming to want of folding himself into the nearest, darkest shadow.

Mina replies, "It is hard to say what the best course of action would be. A battle could alert the other wizards, while letting them through would also give us the opportunity to follow them right to who we are seeking. On the other hand, if we let these two through they will surely tell the King and the others that we were responsible for the Dreadnaught's destruction, and possibly ruin any chance we have of negotiations." Lawrence says, "We'll have to take them by surprise and knock them out. We could use them as hostages. If we spook the horses or kill them, they'll throw the riders."

The riders have now closed to fifty feet. Mina states "We'd better act fast. What is the plan?" Ruby says, "I have two ideas. One is that I can make their horses fall asleep. That would certainly disrupt them. The other is that I can try to detect what they are thinking. It would take a little longer but if I am successful then we would know their plans and can act from there."

The horses continue to gallop through the space between the pyramid and building to the east that the party is behind the corner of. They are 20 feet from emerging into the area past the building at which point they will be able to spot the party. George says, "Quick, everyone make your way back around to the east side of the building. We can come around behind them so they don't spot us and we can watch their actions from behind them. Fish maybe we can get you on the roof from there to be our eyes."

Ruby casts sleep at the two riders, aiming really for the unnamed companion’s horse. The horse immediately stops and falls to the ground. Interestingly enough, the French wizard riding it manages to jump upward as it falls, his cape fanning out to the side like a pair of wings, and provides him with a light cushion of air as he gently glides forward and lands on his feet. Meanwhile, Montgolfier noticed his friend’s house falling and slows from a gallop to a trot as he begins to pivot around.

Fish quickly scampers up to the building's roof 20 feet above. Unfortunately it is over 100 feet to the east wall, so the party is unable to get more than 20 feet that distance by the time that Montgolfier's horse turns and he spots them. Ruby waves to the others to move as she does what George asks, moving to the east side of the pyramid, taking Mina with her. Lawrence readies himself for action.

Chapter 91, “Wizard Battle at the Pyramids ” September 11, 1882, 9:00PM.

Ruby says, "Uh, either we get on our horses and try to outrun them or Freya, how do you feel about unleashing some retribution right about now? These are the wizards who were firing on the palace earlier and who were inside the dirigible we took down. They are probably pretty afraid of that dragon they saw earlier..."

"Everyone take cover or fire back with what you have." orders George as he pulls out his gun and loads the unknown magical bullets. Freya meanwhile nods her ascent, a green fire in her eyes at the thought of vengeance against the French wizards who wronged her. Both French wizards begin to cast spells in the direction of the party. Ruby exclaims, "Fine, be that way!!! Nana, let's blast them! Obviously we're not going in unheard at this point.

Mina quickly follows that with a magic missile to whichever human looks less injured. The spell from the first man strikes Mina. It is a very bright Light spell that illuminates the entire area, centered around Mina, who is temporarily blinded by the spell. Montgolfier continues his enchantment, this spell apparently having a longer casting time.

Ruby whips out one of her fireball wands, points it at the two of them, and…..then becomes mesmerized by the rainbow of colorful hues flashing before her eyes in a fascinating pattern. Freya is also enraptured by the streams of color coming from Montgolfier's hands. All other party members are unaffected. Meanwhile, the other French Wizard begins another spell.

George fires his weapon. The bullet strikes the man in the thigh for a non-lethal wound, which causes enough pain to disrupt him from finishing his spell. The sound of the gun firing echos though out the whole area. George fires a second time, this time at Mongolfier. Abby stands up next to George and adds a shot from her rifle to his, also aiming at Mongolfier.

George’s shot hits the center of the man's face and he falls dead. Rather than instantly blinking out, the mesmerizing colors continue for another minute and then begin to fade. The other wizard successfully manages to get another spell off, this one pinning Freya, Mina, Abigail and Ruby to the wall of the building they are next to with a two-inch thick sticky spider web. The web partially covers George as well but he is able to move forward and out of it

"I am sick of these French bastards." mutters George his gun hand free as he fires at the remaining wizard. The man staggers only slightly after being hit by a perfect shot in the torso that should have been fatal. The wizard then reaches down for something on his belt.

Ruby blinks a couple of times, coming back to reality. She looks around from her position on the wall. "What the Hades happened?" She sees Mongolfier lying dead. "What did I miss? A good party, eh?" She tries to moves her arms but they won't budge. "Spiders? Not spiders... I HATE spiders!" "Better than snakes my love." quips George.

Watching all this occur, Fish has a moment, actually about 20 seconds, of insane courage and takes a running leap off the roof aiming to land heels first by the wizard. Fish manages to distract the wizard as he lands at his feet. The man has removed from his belt an object that looks to be a metal rod, with a hilt like that of a dagger and the head shaped like a cobra with its mouth open and ready to strike. Fish rolls away from the man and his snake like rod, zigzagging his way clear.

Ruby manages to get one arm and hand free, but the rest of her remains pinned. Luckily, it was the hand that had her wand in it. Still gripping it tightly she carefully aims at the wizard making sure Fish is clear and speaks the command word.

The sound of the fireball fills the air as the man is engulfed in flames. He struggles but then falls, screaming all the while. The webbing remains even though the man has perished. The fireball igniting managed to scare Montgolfier's mount, with it running off to the east. The other man's horse remains asleep. "Well, now someone has definitely heard us. We need to get out of this web before we leave ourselves here to be caught. A little help?" Ruby asks to those who are free.

George sighs. "Two more wizards dead. And Mongolfier, such a waste. Ok let's get out of this stuff" says George putting away his pistol and drawing a knife as he cuts the others free. "Fish! Rifle through those two and get anything of value. We need to hurry as I am sure we just drew some attention" Freya then transforms to her dragon form and rips through the webbing with ease. She says, "My thanks to you George Eastman for your assistance in my vengeance"

Ruby says, "It's not like we want to kill anyone but anyone who is going to take our life, well, we're just not going to let that happen, are we? Of course not. Wizard or not. Now, how to get where we need to without being seen... we need to hurry, I bet there is going to be a lot of guards coming from there really soon. What can we do? Freya, do you think you can fly up without being seen? Then you could look overhead for the best route for us to take."

The group hears sounds of people in the distance. The noise appears to be coming from approximately a quarter mile to the northeast, from the eastern side of the largest pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Khufu George says, "Freya up in the air with you, stay in the shadows of the pyramid, but where you can see us if we need to signal you to come in. The rest of you, help me drag the bodies back behind this building and let us see who is coming and lay an ambush as best we can." Freya replies, "With those sphynx on guard, unlikely. If I take to the air at all they will probably swarm me, which would attract more attention."

Ruby says, "Okay, no air for Freya, stay with us. We should leave the bodies here or maybe set them up quickly so they look like they killed each other, then maybe, just maybe that will throw them off looking for us. Even if just for a little bit. If we hide them they will definitely be looking for whomever hid them, once they find them, or whatever happened, if they don't." George says, "They? There is more than one? Fine stay here and stay in the shadows here. Good idea Ruby. But let's position the men so that they faced each other and it looks like they were attacking each other. Fish have you finished rifling pockets yet?" The group manages to reposition the bodies.

Distant shapes start to appear from behind the smaller buildings south of the Great Pyramid so the party has to quickly move around the building they are beside, back through the gap between it and the Kafhre pyramid and to the south wall of the building. They hear sounds of several people moving in the direction of the battle, as additional lights begin to illuminate the area.

Ruby says, "Okay let's get going on that. Let's try to go over the sand too and cover up some of our footsteps. I know this seems impossible on this little amount of time but if we work together we might be able to get it done. Plus we have the cover of night, perhaps Chons will be looking out for us and help us." The group quickly pushes and pulls the charred bodies to look like they battled and killed each other, the best they could do on quick notice.

Fish scrambles back up to the roof to get a better view. The rest keep an eye around the corner to see who is investigating. Fish gets a good view and picks up snippets of conversation. After 10 minutes he climbs back down the south wall and tells the others. "It was a large group of mostly Egyptians, probably close to two dozen. Most were guards but I saw that Vizier wizard guy there too. Four Frenchies were with them, with that Daguerre guy apparently in charge."

He adds, "They found the bodies but aren't sure what happened. Daguerre identified the two bodies as Montgolfier and someone named Viollet-le-Duc." Mina comments, "Okay, that makes sense. He was the only architect with the wizard group. If the Dreadnaught's job was to destroy the palace an architect's skills would have been able to direct the cannon shots to the most vulnerable points."

"Eh" shrugs George "I always felt that his Gothic Revivalist facades were pretentious. But onto more pressing matters. We still have some wizards to deal with. And this group seem to still be pretending to be on the King's side since the Vizier was with them, that or the Vizier has betrayed the King." "Are they still there or did they leave?" whispers Ruby. "Did they buy our little ruse?" He says, "Most have started to head back towards the Great Pyramid but a half-dozen or so are still there. We may need to find another way around."

Ruby says, "Or maybe they really ARE with the King? How do we know that they aren't?" "Why would they bomb the palace if they were with the king? No, they have been duplicitous too many times to be on the King's side. Plus at least some of them are actively plotting against him as Abby overheard. I hate to damn them all for the sins of some, but without any way to tell one faction from the other I see no alternative than to assume they are all deceiving the King." replies George.

The next forty-five minutes move quickly. Once there appears to be no more activity to the south Sabah heads around the southern wall and rejoins the party with their mounts. They continue east-southeast, staying to the south side of the causeway structure running over 1500 feet from the building east of the Khafre pyramid to temple dedicated to Khafre at the other end. Once around that, there are a large number of buildings comprise the tombs to the priests and lesser royalty situated due east of the Great Pyramid for close to 1000 feet square. This gives the party plenty of cover to move in the direction of the pyramid without being seen.

They eventually wind up at the three smaller subsidiary pyramids on the lower half of the eastern side of the Great Pyramid, similar in size to the trio that had been south of the Menkaure pyramid. There appears to be some activity on the Great Pyramid side between the southern and central of these three smaller pyramids.

Sending the party's stealthy scouts, Ruby and Fish, they can see that on the opposite side there is an even smaller pyramid between this trio of structures and the Great Pyramid, which appears to be where all of the activity is centered based upon the amount of noise and light coming from the opposite side facing the Great Pyramid. Multiple Groups of seven Egyptian military soldiers, comprised of an officer and six enlisted personnel move clockwise in patrols around this smallest pyramid.

Once they report this back to the party Sabah says, "I believe that structure, unlike these nine larger pyramids, is mostly hollow inside rather than solid. The King has held private ceremonies and religious services with the High Priests there during his prior visits to Gizah. The only opening to it is on the side facing the Great Pyramid of Khufu." Lawrence taps his chin. "That's gotta be the place to be. We'll need a big distraction to draw away the patrols." "I'm better'n sneakin' than I'm makin' noise!" offers Fish.

Watching for around fifteen minutes it appears that one of the three separate patrols has stopped. Where it had been that the groups were generally in sight of each other there is now a short gap of a little more than a minute between sighting the two remaining patrols. Lawrence whispers, "Or we can rely on some luck. Follow me." He sets off in a half-crouched run with Fish right behind him. George looks to Ruby with a look half way between astonishment and what the hell and crouching, runs after Lawrence and Fish. "Sure, I guess let's just try to get between them!" Ruby motions to the others and they make a run for it. Abby shrugged and, since she didn't have any better ideas, followed the others out. Sabah, Mina and Freya remain with the horses.

The five manage to successfully scurry across and get down behind a low sandbank before the next patrol comes around. They all hold their breath as the patrol reaches the area where their tracks intersect the soldier's path but none of the men appear to notice them. This group eventually moves around the next corner of the pyramid and out of sight. The other three have a better view of the prior corner where the next group will be coming around from and Mina gives them the "All Clear" signal.

Staying close to the pyramid and using the low sand dunes that had built up by the base of it, the group circumnavigates around in a clockwise direction going from the western side then along the south side, stopping and hiding whenever the roving patrols approach. They eventually reach the east side (the side facing the Great Pyramid) and can see what is going on better.

The front of the pyramid opens up by a pair of large stone doors, creating a doorway 30 feet wide and 20 feet high. Magical light shines out from inside. From the angle that the party is at they are unable to see what is inside the doorway. However, a large canvas canopy with a wooden framework is covering approximately 40 feet on each side, has been erected in front of this doorway heading towards the Great Pyramid, the area lit by lanterns. There are at least 60 people milling about in this area. Several appear to be servants, but there are at least a dozen guards and also the Grand Vizier. One man is dressed in western European garb, and is probably another French wizard, but not one that they have met up until now. Ruby also recognizes one of Neferka's sisters also in this area, being guarded by an ogre.

Lawrence crouches in the shadows. He whispers back to the others, "That's too many for us to handle. Do you think the wizards would recognize us if we just walked in?" Ruby says, "I think anyone would recognize us as outsiders if we just walked in. We may need to dress as guards or servants or find another way to sneak inside." Lawrence says, "Then we'll have to draw enough of them over here."

"Yes, you are right Lawrence." Ruby squints her eyes. "I wonder, does it look like there are any areas of that tent, any small corners that are not guarded?" She takes a moment to give it a good look. "I wonder if the other side is similar to this one, though I think it would take us too long to get around over there to see for ourselves."

The canvas is more of a pavilion than tent. The guards are looking mostly to the southeast, in the direction that the earlier trouble was from which the party is to the northeastern corner of the structure. The Grand Vizier and some of the guests head back inside. There are now only four people within forty feet of the party. One is the man dressed in western garb. The other man is an older Egyptian man dressed in very fancy robes. Two other Egyptian women are beside him, acting as servants.

There looks to be some commotion, as guards bring back to this area the bodies of the two Frenchmen that had been recently killed (by the party). Most people under the canopy either look or move to the southeast to get a glimpse. Neferka's sister wants no part of this and heads back inside the pyramid with her bodyguard. Interestingly, the Frenchman near the party appears disinterested and continues his conversation with the old Egyptian.

Ruby says, "We could draw off some of the guards and then what? Perhaps we should just... go inside and get involved. I don't think they will kill us on sight. It looks rather grim as to how we can get inside without..." her words grow slower, "... being... seen..." She ponders for a long moment. "I realize that the palace would have a lot of magical protections but I wonder just how much magical protection that tent would have. Thoughts?" She looks to her group with a grin.

George nods slowly. "Ok, I think that is worth a shot, lets give it a go. Ideally with some kind of distraction to the side to help us." Lawrence says, "Ruby, can you cast an illusion or make a noise away from the entrance? We need to keep the crowd's attention away from us." She replies, "Yes, I can do that once we are ready. I will cast something in the far distance and then we can try to run in this area. Ready?"

Once her companions are ready, Ruby casts dancing lights approximately 170 feet to the southeast, in the area where the guards are already looking. She tries to motion to the remaining group but doubts they have any clue what is about to transpire. "At least there is someone left behind to help us if we need it," Ruby grins, "Which of course we won't because my plans always go according to, well, plan. Let's go!" she whispers, leading her friends towards the tent in a quick dash, finding a loose area to try to sneak up underneath it. She listens next to it trying to find a quiet area then finally peeks underneath.

Chapter 92, “We'll make this stuff up as we go." September 11, 1882, 10:30PM.

Staying low and moving quickly, the five of them manage to get across the distance without being seen. Looking under the canvas they now see the interior of the pyramid, which primarily is a large room approximately sixty-foot-square with a twenty-foot high ceiling and nine stone supports beams situated in the room each 15 feet from the wall and next beams (the beams hold up the upper part of the pyramid).

The interior of the pyramid has approximately seventy-five people, with the King and Queen both present, as well as many of the French. Among the people in the room are approximately 20 guards (15 human, 5 ogre) as well as around 20 priests and acolytes attired in robes, nearly identical to those which Sabah provided that the party are now wearing. "I wonder if the Princess is here," Ruby whispers. "I don't see her yet.” A quick look at the people present do not reveal either the Princess or General Orabi to be in attendance yet.

Ruby says, “Good thing we have these clothes, we can blend in. Should we split up or try to stick together?" "Let's stick together, and mingle as a group. We can mill around the edges, keep your hoods up and look devout" adds George with a grin. Walking around, nobody questions them although one of the real priests inside the pyramid does eye Ruby a little suspiciously for a few minutes. They spot four of the French who had been in the Palace in Cairo the previous day, specifically the former Empress of France Eugenia de Guzman, Victor Duruy, Edgar Degas, and Jean Faure. This quartet is staying close to where the King and Queen are at.

Ruby nods, "Okay, let's mingle. The Princess mentioned a private chamber, this may be that room. We should also keep a lookout for any French spies or intruders who may wish to disrupt the peace treaty." The group, as casually as they can, slips into the other groups of priests, trying not to engage anyone specifically. George and Ruby soon see that towards the very back of the room are the elder French wizards Louis Daguerre and Michel Chevreuel. Dagurerre looks nervous and checks his watch.

George moves to stay within earshot of Daguerre to see if he can overhear anything. George directs Ruby to covertly watch the priest who watched her with suspicion. It takes around fifteen minutes for George to piece together snippets of the conversation. They are apparently waiting for the arrival of the other dirigible with the Princess and General. It was apparently expected to be here a short while ago.

Ruby pulls up her hood around her red hair a little tighter before slowly moving closer to the group in the front of the room and trying to listen in to their conversation. Luckily she had spent many a lesson with her friend Katherine back home in Promise City learning how to speak French. Of course, she always thought it would be useful for her singing, it never occurred to her she's be using it for eavesdropping on the former Empress of France. Ruby hears that they are anxiously waiting the arrival of the Princess and her husband. Victor Duruy is confident that they will be able to bring a speedy end to the war, that getting the King and General together in the same room will be a chance to finally air their differences.

Ruby observes as the Priest looks around the room and then exits the pyramid. George motions Ruby to follow him. Ruby gives a nod of her head, acknowledging George then makes her way across the room to meet up with him. "Yes that one disappeared out. Perhaps he knows why the Princess is not here yet? Let's go find out." The two leave to follow the priest out of the temple. The Priest has joined up with another and is asking the other man if he knows why any followers of Bast would be present. The other replies that he is unaware of any having been invited, although he says that since the Princess was in Bast's city she may have ordered some to be in attendance.

Up to this point they had perceived all of the priestly robes to be identical. Upon closer examination of their garments, compared to the others, George now notes that there is a slight difference in the pattern of the silver threading on the sleeves. The two priests talking together have slightly different patterns as well. Ruby gives a nod of her head, acknowledging George then makes her way across the room to meet up with him. "Yes that one disappeared out. Perhaps he knows why the Princess is not here yet? Let's go find out."

George stays hidden in the shadows as he continues to listen, making sure their ruse continues undiscovered. One of the priests gestures upward. Three sphynx simultaneously take to the sky, one departing from each of the larger pyramids. They are flying upward. George watches the sphinx. "Um, that doesn't look good," Ruby whispers. "But what are we going to do against three of those? Maybe they are going to escort the Princess back here. They should be protecting her, right?"

"In theory yes, the priesthood I would think has not been influenced by the French. I want to see what the Sphinx are doing, but our job here is to ensure the continuation of the truce. It may fall to you and I to be Orabi's silent partners here and make sure the treaty is signed." muses George. Ruby stares at George long, unspeaking. Finally, "And how are WE going to do THAT?" "Well, we will use the tried and true method of Miss Constance West. We'll make this stuff up as we go." replied George with a smile.

Ruby tries to keep a straight face but a grin breaks out anyway. "I can't argue with that. Yet I hope it doesn't come to that. It will be hard trying to convince someone who it seems like mere hours ago locked me in jail and considered the death penalty to listen to what I have to say. It would have to be my greatest acting feat ever." The trio of sphynx fly off to the northeast. With the moon shining on the golden sections of their bodies it is easy to track their movement. They fly for nearly a mile and them stop and hover at a point over 1000 feet above the ground. Ruby says, "I sure hope that isn't our friends. I thought they were going to follow us as we went and I hope they did..."

Ruby comments after a long pause. "I sure hope the Princess shows up." George studies where the sphinx are hovering and estimating what may be there. "Get ready Ruby, we may need to have these priests not report something" whispers George. A distant shape soon becomes visible as the dirigble. It flies over the community of Gizah as the three sphynx fly towards it. The two smaller female sphynx each take up a position on either side of the gondola, still keeping a forty foot distance from the craft . The male sphynx flies before it, escorting it towards the pyramids.

George watches with relief as the sphinx take up escort positions. He waits with Ruby as the dirigible nears. "Ruby I think we should head out to greet the dirigible, hopefully you can signal the princess that you are here so she knows she has some allies present?" suggests George. Ruby replies, "I don't really know how I can signal her while she is up in the sky. I am sure she will look for us when she is landed. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves and get ourselves arrested before negotiations even begin. If there is a way I can signal her once she is landed I will. Let's just keep watching and see where they land."

"Yes, that is what I meant, be there to greet her as she lands. Though I do suppose I could try to send her a message with a spell" suggests George. She answers, "No, save your spells . I have a feeling we will need them." Ruby and George track the dirigible as it lands and if it's safe they will try to be in the landing area. The dirigible begins to get closer and starts to lower in altitude. They continue to stay close but not draw attention to themselves as the dirigible gets closer, intending to get the Princesses or the General's attention if either exits the ship once it lands. Lawrence hangs around the party to keep an eye on the French. He thinks, "Those shifty bastards look nervous about something."

The dirigible lowers in elevation and nears. As it gets closer they see that cables have been extended out from the gondola and that each of the sphynx flying on either side the gondola are holding the end of the cables. Circumnavigating around the three pyramids, the dirigible lands on the plain immediately below the Great Pyramid and the small pyramid that the King is currently at. The two sphynx hold the cables while most of the guards and servants under the awning head out to assist with the ropes.

The dirigible is secured and several guards take up position by the ramp moved up to the door. The guards take up position by the foot of the ramp and the first to exit the gondola are two ogre guards. Next to exit are two pair of Frenchmen coming off side-by-side. The first two are the elderly Jacquard beside another man who looks nearly as old, who the party has not met yet. Behind them are the diplomat Passy walking beside the archaeologist Champollion. Ruby let out a sigh and caught George's eye. "Of course there would be more," she whispered. "And them." They stayed hidden within the group.

Instead of following Ruby and George inside, Abby had hidden herself in the shadows outside. Someone had to keep eyes and ears on what was going on out here, and she suspected not everyone had arrived yet. She'd also hoped to spot Cal and his group again. When Ruby and George came back outside she detached herself from the shadows and casually made her way toward them. "All quiet out here so far," she said softly as the dirigible made it's way down. "Inside?"

The next pair to exit the dirigible gondola are Princess Neferka and her husband General Ahmed Orabi. Behind them are two more Frenchmen, who the party only met once during the initial dinner when Orabi first arrived at Zakazik. They are two of the six French assigned to the team to accompany Orabi in the field, these two being that group's leader Baron Gaspard Gouraud, who had been Napoleon Bonaparte's friend and biographer, and Hippolyte Adolphe Taine, an accomplished writer and vocal critic of war.

Ruby says to George, "There they are. They will be hard to get to, though probably harder once they get inside." Ruby glances at the dirigible. "It looks like that will be easy enough to get off the ground on this side but I don't think those Sphinx will exactly let us fly off with it once in the air. But for now we need to let the Princess now we are here. Let's go." Ruby begins walking through the crowd towards the Princess getting closer, looking for a spot she can take advantage of.

Once they are all off it appears that the dirigible gondola is now empty except for two men working inside at the controls. One has his back to the group but appears to be the French designer of the craft, Giffard. The other is attired as a pilot, although he is a different man than the one who piloted this craft before. The ten who exited remain in double-file rows and are led by the ogres in front through the area with the canvas tarp, with people partying to make way for them.

As the royals approach the pyramid Orabi says "Halt. I require further assurances of my safety before I enter this structure." Ruby moves closer but still stays a distance, she wants to see what will happen. But before they go inside the tent she will make her move to the Princess. A young man in his twenties soon exits the pyramid. From appearances, he seems to be one of Neferka's brothers. He tells Orabi, "The King cannot exit this pyramid, it would not be safe outside with the rebels from Cairo seeking to kill him. The truce stated to you is in effect and will be until midnight." Orabi says, "Very well Seneb, I trust the word of the crown prince." He turns to Gouraud and asks "The present time?" The Baron takes out a pocketwatch and says, "General, it is now 10:45PM" Orabi says, "Very well, we will stay for no more than one hour." The ten enter the pyramid. The crowds follow.

Ruby keeps her head down and approaches the group on the Princesses side, getting in front of the group. She stays towards the back of the tent but finds a small spare box to stand on. She stands on it but not above the crowd until the Princess is looking her way. Once the Princess looks her way, Ruby stands taller and pulls the hood partially off her head, revealing her red locks. She tries to make eye contact with the Princess to get confirmation that she has seen her.

Abby moved with the crowd, blending in and staying off to Ruby's side. When Ruby climbed up, she moved off to the right where she could see both her teammate and the Princess and observed. Ruby leans over to George. "We can only hope they know we're here." George sighs "I am not sure, we have to wait and watch. My confidence derives from the knowledge that the queen of improvisation, Ruby West is at my side." says George with a little smile. "You know, I'm mostly good getting me INTO trouble, not getting us OUT of trouble," she laughs. She locks eyes with Abby to acknowledge her position. Ruby steps down and recovers her fiery locks. "The question is, what do we do when stuff - the French plan - goes crazy. Do we know?" All they could do was wait.

The Princess and General do not take their eyes off of the King and Queen. Baron Gouraud moves to Orabi's right while Passy takes position on the Princess's left. Taine and Campollion fall in behind the Princess and her husband, so the French have essentially surrounded the young couple on three sides, with the two ogre guards flanking them as well. Jacquard and his companion head over to the far corner, joining Daguerre and Chevreul.

George whispers into his sleeve, casting "message" to General Orabi and saying in Arabic "You have hidden allies here to keep you safe. At least some of the French are not working for peace." The General looks noticeably shaken. For the first time since his arrival he takes his eyes off the royal family and begins to glance around the room.

The next fifteen minutes pass with Neferka and her mother the Queen doing almost all of the talking. Most of it is superficial, about wedding details and various small talk. The King finally steps forward. Looking first to his daughter he says. "Explain why you would marry this traitor, and do so without my permission?" Neferka states, "He is not a traitor, he is my husband. Do not speak unkindly to either of us or we will take our leave." A long silence follows.

The Queen is the first to break the silence, saying to the King "Once again she proves that she is indeed her father's daughter. You raised her to be as decisive as you, and now fault her for doing so." He turns towards his wife and says, "Silence woman." Turning back towards Neferka he states, "Very well my daughter, I will rephrase my question. Why did you marry this man? Did he or our foreign guests coerce you in any way?" Neferka says, "Coerce, no sir. Influence perhaps, but I chose my husband primarily to bring peace again to Egypt. How can that be a wrong decision?"

Ruby's body tenses. She watches the Frenchmen closely as the proceedings begin. She motions to her companions to move a little closer to the front of the room, where all the main players are and for all to be ready but is cut off off by an elder woman muttering in a language she doesn't speak. Luckily she has a lot of experience reading body language. She relaxes the best she can, takes George's hand and reads his body language, smiling if he does, nodding when he does, frowning when he does so it looks like she understands.

An older Egyptian woman attired in nice clothing who had been attending to one of Neferka's sisters breaks away from the royal family and heads over towards where Ruby and George are standing. George's eyes are on the king and queen, though he watches the approach of the woman from the corner of his eyes with indifference. Abby let Ruby and George keep their eyes on the main group and observed the woman walking toward them for a moment. She is trying to keep an eye out for any dangers in the room.

Ruby directs her vision to the main area so it looks like she is not paying great attention to the woman in front of them. The woman approaches the party and speaking very softly mutters in Arabic, "Priests and Priestesses of Bast, your presence is a welcomed sight. There is much tension in the room and the elder French possess the power to destroy everyone in the room should they desire too." Abby answered, just as softly, "We seek first, always peace. If that is not to be, we seek to protect all the Royal Family and the sovereignty of Egypt. The elder French will not find themselves unopposed should they choose to act without honor."

George still keeps his eyes on the action at the front but replies softly in Arabic "Thank you for the warning. Let the princess know her precious jewel of the west is here. We are here to insure peace for Egypt. Bast will protect her people." The woman replies, "I will let her know."

Before leaving the older woman leans over and whispers into Ruby's ear in English "The Mexican Fire Rod may soon be needed, my Golden Eagle." Ruby's breath caught in her chest and she had to catch herself from falling into the arms of the old woman, who had just identified herself to Ruby as in reality being her mentor, the Mexican wizard Manual Gonzalez. But she stayed strong and steeled herself. With a nod of her head in understanding she watches the woman walk away.

After the woman leaves George whispers the conversation to Ruby. Suddenly George was whispering in her ear. She whispers back. "I know who that is, someone very close to me. It's time for the very big guns. Literally. Things are about to get very bad and we must be ready. George, get into my pack and get the rod out and hide it in your robe so I have it ready when I need it." She slips her pack off her back.

Ruby motions for Abby and Lawrence to come to them. Once they are all together Ruby speaks quickly. "Trust me on this now, things are going to happen now and the time for talking is over. Prepare for battle the best you can." Lawrence says, "I was afraid of this. Battle is not something I look forward to. But prepare for the worst and hope for the best." He sighs and reaches into his pocket for his pistol.
Abby continued to watch, paying more attention to the other observers than the negotiations going on. Mentally, she noted the rifle, pistol, and sword secreted under the robe in case she should need them. Lastly, the fire rod, tied to her belt. George complies with Ruby's request and surreptitiously retrieves the Mexican fire rod and conceals it in his sleeve.

The Frenchmen Passy and Taine had held back, but once the discussion moved towards a negotiated peace they stepped forward and contributed to the conversation. With their guidance both Orabi and the King begin to negotiate terms of a truce.

The peace negotiations continue. The major terms to the peace treaty have been established. The General says that he will be departing with his bride as planned, and that since it will take time to prepare the treaty documents, that they follow the western custom and shake hands on these terms for the time being and sign the actual documents the next day at noon. The Kings consults with his Grand Vizer before agreeing to this.

The King returns from the consultation and says, "For the benefit of these Foreign diplomats who have helped with these consultations I will adhere to their custom." Orabi raises and extends his hand forward. George alone notes that while his thumb is up and index finger extended, his other three fingers are actually curved inward. George quickly casts detect magic to see if the general is under some kind of control or his hand is false or magical. George nudges Ruby and whisper "hand" as he nods in the generals direction. George notes a magical outline of what appears to be either a large revolver or a sawed-off shotgun in the hand that the General is now extending directly towards the King.

Chapter 93, “Boom" September 11, 1882, 11:30PM.

George notes a magical outline of what appears to be either a large revolver or a sawed-off shotgun in the hand that the General is now extending directly towards the King. Alarmed, George quickly casts message again to the "general" "Put your hand down and use the other hand or you will be destroyed." George gestures Ruby to intercept the general "his hand is a gun stop him" Ruby reacts quickly to George's warning, pulling out her gun and moving as quickly as she can she tries to shoot the "General" in the hand to keep him from shooting the King. "Save the King!" she yells, stopping to shoot.

As occurred with the earlier message to him, the General appears alarmed at hearing this. Rather than complying, his reaction is to fire the gun, which then becomes visible to everybody in the room. It is a sawed-off version of a 55-calibur Elephant Gun, designed to bring down the largest land animal from a distance of 100 yards. It lets out a resounding "Boom". The impact at point blank range is that it has blown a large hole in the center of the King's chest. Lawrence had made his way for the nearest exit. When he is halfway there, the boom from the general's gun causes him to turn around. "Crap." He struggles to control the crowd trying to escape.

Ruby simultaneously fires her gun at the General and continues to run towards the Princess. As the shots ring out, George signals Lawrence and Abby to take the edges of the room as George breaks into a run towards the general. Abby ripped off the robe as she sprinted to the right. Her eyes scanned the room for other reactors, anyone she suspected of interfering on the side of the probably impersonated General. Or anyone looking to take advantage of the chaos to harm any of the Royal family.

Ruby's shot is perfect, hitting the General, however the bullet does not penetrate, instead deflecting off and striking against the pyramid wall. "Okay officially time for big guns," she mutters. Seeing Abby's move, Ruby thinks "That's a good idea", as she now copies Abby, also dropping the priestess robe of Bast to the ground as she continues to rush to the aid of the Princess. "Princess!" she calls out in the chaos, though it occurred to her just then that this also might be an imposter. Perhaps even one of her idols, Sandra Bernhardt. Wasn't her name mentioned among the French traitors?

The two Ogre bodyguards in front move immediately, one pushing the Queen back against the wall and shielding her. The other grabs Princess Neferka, pulling her away from General Orabi. Three separate lightning bolts fly across the room from the far corner where the elder Frenchmen were standing. Two strike the Grand Vizer, one bolt skewering his chest and the other through his neck. The bolts also continue on behind him, striking down two of his apprentices and another guard. The third bolt curves out from a side angle, striking the crown prince who earlier spoke to Orabi and another young man who was near him. Abby sees this but is too late to stop the lightning bolts, but she does note that the quartet of elder French appear to be preparing to cast more spells.

George is less than ten feet away from the General when Orabi sees him with his peripheral vision and swings the elephant gun up in George's direction. George knows that it appears to only a single-barreled weapon, so would now be empty of ammunition, however Orabi is wielding it as though it can be fired again. George charges forward trying to get close enough to get past the barrel of the gun. Ruby glances around in the chaos for George to get her Fire Rod and she immediately sees the danger he is in. "Crap." She runs full speed for the gun to jumps on it, hoping to tackle it to the floor and keep it from going off.

One Frenchman completes his spell and an iron wall immediately erupts over the large entrance to the pyramid, sealing all occupants inside and separating them from anybody outside. At this point there are approximately 65 people total trapped inside. The room is illuminated by magical light, although the smoke from the firearms is slightly obscuring the visibility. Lawrence stops short of the wall. "Well that just ain't right. If this is how things are going to be, so be it."

Abby decides that goal number one had to be to stop either of those men from casting another spell. She pulled the rifle out, but instead of pointing it she held it her side ready to be pulled up if she needed it. Then she charged the man on the left, fully intending to slam into him and knock him into his compatriot.

Ruby manages to throw herself in front of the gun pointing to George as it fires again. Inside the now sealed pyramid Orabi's Elephant Gun sounds even louder, almost deafening. The recoil from the hit flings Ruby's body back and George catches her. However, unlike the King, there is no hole in her chest. Instead there is a large round scorch mark on Aphrodite's magical dress that Ruby is wearing. George lays Ruby on the ground as he sees she in conscious, As he stands the fire rod slides out of his sleeve next to Ruby. George tries to grab the gun away from the ogre or at least cause it to fire away from Ruby or anyone else

Before Abby reaches the Frenchmen one tosses magic missiles from his Fingertips at her as well as a human guard and an orge guard who are also charging them. A total of seven bolts fire forward, two striking Abby, two striking the human guard, who falls, and three striking the ogre guard, who appears unfazed and continues his charge. The fact that this man had just sent seven missiles flying didn't escape her. But magic was his playing field, and she didn't plan to play fair. Aware now that she wasn't alone Abby continued her change and lifted the rifle. But instead of firing, she swung it like a club at his head.

Orabi releases the gun completely to George and grasps tightly onto him while casting a spell. George is only mildly bothered by a wave of electricity that moves from Orabi's hands and into him. However, by the time the gun is pointed to the wizards an orge guard and his ally Abigail are blocking his shot. Orabi is them lifted up the air by an oversized disembodied hand comprised of golden energy that grabs the General around the stomach. The hand stretches back to the older woman who had spoken to him and Ruby earlier.

The Frenchman who had thrown the missiles was Jacquard, who she successfully strikes with the rifle. Despite his use of magic to slow his aging, he is still the eldest of the wizards at 130 years of age and no longer capable of physical combat. The rifle strikes him the head for a large gash, which dazes him. Meanwhile, the Ogre charges and makes a dive towards Daguerre and Chevruel, but instead goes head-first into the pyramid wall as they teleport away. The remaining elder Frenchman throws five magical missiles into the now fallen Ogre, who now appears to be either unconscious or dead.

Abby didn't want to leave the first man at her back, but he seemed to be reeling from the blow of the rifle. Abby turned and launched herself over the downed Ogre toward the last of the elder Frenchman, shoving the butt of the rifle into her stomach, hoping to knock him over. Leaping the ogre causes her to lose her footing and stumble. The wizard turns towards her and prepares to cast a spell.

Lawrence draws his gun and fires at the wizard who struck down the ogre. "Hermes, aid your servant." His shot is true as the bullet strikes the elderly wizard in the side of his head and he falls. A gun shot then rings out and he then falls dead at her feet. She sees that Lawrence was her savior. Lawrence then finds himself covered over by a thick sticky web-like substance that pins him to the floor and nearest support column. Abby sees this and realizes that he will not be helping her again anytime soon due to the web spell.

George whirls back to Ruby, not letting go of the gun. Summoning the grace of Athena, he chants a quick healing spell over her rapidly bruising chest. Ruby feels immediately better. She blinks a couple of times as the room spins. Once it stops spinning she says to the elevated Orabi, "You've just pissed off a goddess. Probably not a good idea around these parts." She was woozy but not going to let on. "Are you willing to risk further wrath of the Gods by harming us?" George bends down for a quick kiss "Find the princess, make sure it's really her." before grabbing the gun he is up and running towards the king, hoping he has enough healing to stabilize him at least.

Once the immediate battle is over Ruby lets out a long breath. George's healing had made her feel much better but she couldn't help but think that had been a close call. "Thank you Aphrodite," she says out loud to no one in particular. She gathers the Fire Rod and holds it tightly. "Someone secure that traitor, just in case the spell wears off. He's better to us alive, obviously," she says, pointing to the fake Orabi.

However, the remaining five still-standing guards in the room ignore her comments and open fire on the held target that had just slain their King. They are joined by magic missiles thrown by the quartet of French diplomats, Duruy, de Guzman, Degas and Faure, who had remained out of the battle to this point. The barrage of missiles, both lead and magical, bring his life to a close. The magical hand lowers the body to the floor and the hand then fades away. Ruby nods to the "old woman." She wasn't sure she should give away her teacher's identity. Few here knew who he was and perhaps he wanted to keep it that way. George crawls over to the King and not surprisingly finds that king is very, very dead.

A blinding flash of light shoots forth from the very center of the room and about fifteen feet up, temporarily blinding all occupants. Simultaneous to that a voice loudly yells out "Stop" in Arabic, French, English and Nubian. As eyes re-adjust they see that an Egyptian man in fancy robes holding a scimitar has moved to the very center of the room. George and Ruby recognize his as the Oxford-educated attorney who accompanied the Grand Vizier Azam when he abducted them from Zakazik.

The man with the scimitar says, "Everybody except for the King's Guard, lower all weapon and magical items immediately. Guards, if anybody speaks without being addressed first by me you can assume they are casting an offensive spell and are ordered to shoot them. There has been enough killing. Both of the assassins of the Royal family appear to now be dead." He turns in the direction of the ogre shielding he Queen and says, "Release her." He then asks, "Queen Nikkathia, are you unhurt?" She turns and then sees her husband's body and screams. She then sees the bodies of her sons and rushes over to them, sobbing.

Ruby lowers her weapon and nods to her comrades to do the same, in case they had other plans in mind. She kept a very close eye on the Princess to see how she would react. George, had already placed the rifle on the ground, but he sits back on his heels and waits for more order to come to the room.

Ruby then heads over to the Princess. "Nerferka, are you alright?" Ruby carefully looks the woman in the eyes, checking to see if the girl is actually the real princess or if it is the actress Sandra Bernhardt (or another) is disguised as the Princess. Looking Neferka in the eyes, there does not seem to be anything amiss. However, the Princess has no reaction at all to Ruby, as though she has never met her before. She has spent enough time recently with Neferka to know the young woman well, and the woman before her looks slightly younger.

Ruby then recognizes that she has seen "this woman" before, specifically in the mirror the previous day after she used Neferka's ring to make herself into the Princess. The King had confiscated that ring from Ruby before sending her back down to the castle dungeon. This woman, however, is not wearing any rings. Stepping back and checking for a magical aura as she had been taught, Ruby detects one around the Princess, the highest magical concentration appearing to be coming from a toe on the woman's right foot, however the feet are both currently covered with silk shoes, although looking closer there appears to be a slight bump on that toe.

Ruby takes a step away from the Princess with her head bowed low in an nonthreatening manner. She stops, then looks at George and ever so subtly looks in his eyes and shakes her head back and forth in a manner that probably only two people who had been together for a long while would recognize the meaning. She shakes her head once towards the Princesses right foot and stops moving.

The lawyer orders all eleven bodies lying on the floor to be checked. The only one still alive is the Frenchman Jacquard. The lawyer turns to Duruy and says, "You said that you team had a physician with you?" Duruy replies, "We did, Napoleon Bonaparte's person physician Dominique Larrey." The Frenchman Baron Gouraud gestures to the body beside Jacquard Duruy and angrily states, "The Americans have murdered him."

Queen Nikkathia tooks up in anguish from beside her dead son and with venom in her voice says to Gouraud "You're a fine one to accuse somebody else of murder. You were the person who handed that invisible gun to Orabi to kill my husband!" The Egyptian lawyer says "What!" Nikkathia replies, "When he first stood beside Orabi I saw their hands touch. I did not realize at the time that anything was in it." Several others in the room are recognized and now acknowledge that they too saw that. The lawyer orders two of the guards to arrest the old Baron. The man makes no attempt to resist or deny the charges.

The French Empress Eugenia Maria de Montijo de Guzman moves forward and hugs her old friend the Queen saying, "We knew nothing of this plot Nikki, I swear. Gouraud has spent the last week in the company of Orabi, somehow the charismatic General must have persuaded him, just as he persuaded your daughter to enter into marriage."

The Egyptian attorney turns and faces George. He states in English "All right Eastman. Explain your presence here." George nods slowly towards Ruby. George stands slowly with hands out to his side, making no sudden moves. "We were asked to come by the princess. Do not bother asking her now, for she is not here. Just as Orabi was an imposter, so too is this 'princess'. Her fears were correct and she was in danger. My companions and I have uncovered a plot by a few of the French high wizards to destabilize Egypt to further their own fanatical politics of magic. They want to create a puppet state that will allow them to practice arcane magic without restriction. I fear the faction of the French wizards who schemed to kill the king have both the real Orabi and princess captive. My guess is they wished to kill all the other royal family and be in control of the new rulers of Egypt. We are also here under the guidance and protection of Bast and under her aegis seek to protect and save Egypt," answers George in his calm, earnest, baritone.

The lawyer mulls this over and nods. "Some of what you say is clearly true, however I believe that you may have overstated the involvement of the French. One thing that I have learned over time is to recognize when people are sincere. Other than Mr. Gouraud's involvement I sensed no duplicity from any of the French present here now. During the last week Mr. Duruy, Mrs. de Guzman and their party have been sincere in their seeking of peace. Similarly, Mr. Taine and Mr. Passy's negotiations during this past hour spoke of true passion, they believed and wanted a peaceful resolution."

He then gestures to the body of the apprentice lying dead behind that of the Grand Vizier Azam and says, "Prince Rajjid was clearly in on the plot, for it was he and not the French wizards who cast the bolt that struck down his two half-brothers. He was the eldest son of the King's second wife, and was in the line of succession to the throne if Queen Nikkathia's five children were to have perished. He did it in such a way as to try to incriminate the elder Frenchmen, but that was his own undoing, as the French wizards saw that and retaliated. Whether Azam was also part of that conspiracy we will never know."

Looking back to George he says, "What other evidence do you have? And which other French do you know were involved? Do not speculate, I am seeking hard facts Sir." George laughs at this last statement. "Hard facts? In the hot minute after a fight? I don't know whether to find fault more with your rhetoric or your logic. Hard facts? When we are dealing with magical concealment, duplicity, impersonations, royal intrigue, foreign intrigue, and assassinations? When has hard facts ever been used where these are involved. Shall we begin a lengthy, fact-finding investigation? Foremost though is the fact that I have no reason, evidence, or even inclination to value or trust your authority here to conduct your ad hoc investigation.

The lawyer briefly interrupts, "Sir, I do not know how they did it at your Harvard, but when I studied law at Oxford we were concerned with facts. As to the magical concealment, we will address that momentarily." George answers "Sir, and please do grace me with your name now that I have your title, what "facts" does Oxford concern itself with? Testimony, exhibits, or documentary material? And then there is the issue of authentication. One man's facts are another man's fiction. But perhaps we can discuss such epistemology at a later date. The matter before us is still what "facts" you care to give notice to, admit and consider and which you choose you choose to ignore or dismiss because of their origin."

The man says, "Very well, allow me to clarify. And my full name is Mensah Zuberi, although most address me as Barrister Sefu (George recognizes "Sefu" as being the Egyptian word for sword).

George continues "Secondly, I will not reveal further evidence, speculations, or allow interviews with my team until I have sufficient evidence that you yourself are not a part of the cabal of traitors. Our best suspect was killed, the man who could have identified the people behind this. You did little to stop that, though you were quick to take charge after he was dead." The lawyer answers "Things happened quickly Sir, and my primary concern after the Princes were slain was the protection of the other royal heirs. At that time I was temporarily occupied with throwing up a magical protective sphere over the two youngest Princesses." Gesturing to the far wall where the young ladies are standing he adds, "It still protects them. You may question my priorities, but I have no regrets to my actions."

George goes on "Thirdly, I doubt YOUR assertions sir, as they do not line up with observed facts. I have little inclination to acknowledge your leadership or line of investigation. I KNOW that I am here under the direct orders of the princess and the guardianship of Bast, I have no evidence of your loyalty, motives, or authority. Without proof of that, I cannot aid what may be a deliberate attempt to shield the leaders of this cabal by delaying and deceiving those who would bring justice to Egypt."

The man replies "I am the Royal Barrister, and my duties extend beyond the life of the Monarch. In fact, in accordance with Egyptian Law, I am the sole person designated to certify the eligibility of his successor. I am therefore the ONLY person in Egypt who is in authority at the moment. Once we are free of our temporary prison I will be able to provide you with documentation to support that claim, but in the meanwhile it can be verified by the Queen and any others in the room familiar with Egyptian Law."

George, "I might take some umbrage at your statement considering there are several persons of the royal family who are very much alive. Your yourself have already acknowledged the presence of two of the princesses. And without further information Princess Nerferka is alive, unless you deem them unworthy of succession. A might bit presumptuous"

Chapter 94, “Captive Audience" September 12, 1882, 12:00AM.

The Royal Barrister continues "As to my loyalty, produce a Priest who detect Truthfulness and I will swear my devotion to the Royal Family and how I would never wish to see any harm to them." Gesturing to the Iron Gate over the pyramid entrance he says, "Mr. Dagurrre's spell will not dissipate for another two hours and before that happens I will take full advantage of this captive audience to uncover the facts of what has transpired." George smiles wryly "I have so many options at my disposal to test your assertion. However, perhaps we shall take you up on that offer."

Looking towards 'Neferka", the Royal Barrister says, "Now as to people not being who they seem to be, I would like the 'Princess' to go stand beside her deceased husband." He then turns to the wall where the Royal servants are standing and points first to the older Egyptian woman that had earlier whispered to Ruby and then he gestures to to a young male clerk and states, "And you may both go join them Selletta and Kator."

The Young Man moves forward and says, "That will not be necessary", as he removes a feather quill from his pocket. He immediately transforms into Neferka's Ogre Mage bodyguard, who had delivered the magical robe to Ruby hours earlier. He is attired in his fancy uniform, with the Legion Flying Belt around his waist. He states, "The Princess sent me here to help, a duty that I have clearly failed with until now. I should have acted earlier, but was confused as to exactly who to help. Mr. Eastman speaks the truth, the woman before us in not Neferka, however I have no reason to believe that the body lying on the ground before us is anybody other than her husband."

Ruby keeps her eyes trained on the "princess," waiting patiently for her clever fiance to straighten out the details, she was definitely not going to let that fake princess pull a fast one. George says "Thank you for your affirmation Mengesha. And I would ask you where the princess is now, but would accept if you declined due to security reasons. But you know we only seek to aid her in whatever way we can."

Turning back to the barrister George continues "There, you have some confirmation of the reason of our presence. I wish now to ask you some questions. You misrepresented my statement earlier. I merely said SOME of the French delegation acted as such, most of them have acted with the grace and dignity of their station, position, and mission and I commend them for that. But I do take issue with your assertion that the lightning bolts were fired in self-defense. Most of us would say they saw three bolts, all originating from the corner. I saw no attack on them first. It is easy to accuse the dead of crimes as they cannot defend themselves."

The Barrister says, "Three lightning bolts were indeed thrown, and all appeared to have originated from the section of the room with the elderly Frenchmen. However, I was close enough to Prince Rajjid at the time to hear his incantation, which was a different version of a lightning bolt spell than what the French were casting. His was a localized version of a 'Chain Lightening" spell, which bounces from one person to another, and draws upon each victim's life force to continue. You may have noticed that the bolt that killed the princes curved somewhat rather than being fully straight as the wizard version would have been.

The French began their spells first, and I presume Rajjid also heard them start to cast their lightning spells and decided to use that timing for his. However he acted too quickly, his version of the spell had a much shorter casting time. The wizard version taps into only Wizard Magic, whereas the other version taps into both Wizard and Earth Magics, which are both strong in the Cairo region and accellerated his spell even more. So Rajjid's spell was essentially speeded up, beginning slightly before the others.

I presume that the French saw it originate from where they were although they did not cast it. Their own spells then reached the end of the casting time and so they sent them at the Egyptian wizards, rather than at Orarbi, their most-likely original target. Furthermore, the French wizards were much more powerful wizards that Rajjid, if had been the ones to cast a 'Chain Lightening' it would have had the power to strike far more than just two victims.

However, you are correct in pointing out that mine is also just a theory. When Mr. Jacquard regains consciousness we can ask him directly. It may very well be that Azam, Rajjid and the other apprentice Kellif were their intended targets from the onset. However, it is still a fact that the bolt which struck the princes originated from Rajjid rather than the French wizards." George says, "No, it is your observation, not yet a fact until confirmed by other witnesses. It is plausible though I will grant you."

George next says, "I also will now send my finace to examine the body the Orabi, to determine if it is Orabi in truth. Although we have no way now to know if he was under some mental control of another party. Based on information I know of tonight I suspect as such. But again that will be difficult to determine. So, please do not shoot at her as she proceeds to help us discover more of the facts so say you crave. Back to the French, we have further evidence, facts as an Oxford man might say, would you care to hear such testimony?"

The Barrister says, "You may, but only after I first attempt to remove the magical disguises from these other two as well as Orabi if that identity is indeed false." The Barrister moves forward and casts the spell on the two servants as well as the body of General Orabi. The woman who appeared as Neferka is transformed into the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt. The older servant woman grows in height and transforms into the form of a middle-aged wood elf. As this occurs the French Empress loudly exclaims "Manny!" She jumps up and starts to move towards him until an icy stare from the Barrister causes her to stop.

Manuel Gonzales states, "Barrister Sefu, I am a long-time friend of the woman Selletta and assumed her identity with her express permission, in order to help protect the King. Obviously, I was unsuccessful in that endeavor, which I deeply regret. My apprentice Constance Grace West nearly died at the hands of that madman as well." The Barrister says, "A madman yes and as near as I can tell, he was also General Orabi, as this appears to be his normal form."

George says, "Indeed, I fear that there are many layers to this plot. Now we need to determine why Ms. Bernhardt was impersonating the princess. Most likely to provide a better cover for Orabi. I have my own observations for the behavior of Orabi. We cannot verify them directly since he is dead. But we can discuss those later. let us deal with the living. I would ask that my companion Ms. Abigail Marsters to come forward and provide personal testimony as to further evidence as to Ms. Bernhardt's greater role in this as well as again some of the French delegates." The Barrister says, "She may, but first I would like to hear from Ms. Bernhardt directly, otherwise she may pattern her words based upon the further testimony."

The wood elf speaks up again stating, "I concur that Orabi does not appear to be under the transformation of a spell or magical item. After my apprentice's bullet bounced off from him I cast a Dispel Magic to rid him of the "Stoneskin" spell. It would have stripped off any magical disguise as well." The Royal Barrister turns back to the wood elf and says, "And exactly who might you be?" He bows and says, "Manual Gonzales, originally from Mexico, now a resident of the United States. If you are familiar with Novarro's text about world magics, I was the author of the chapter regarding Latin American and South American magic." "I know that book," the Barrister states.

Gesturing towards the French Empress the Barrister asks, "And she was under you?" For the first time since Ruby has known him, Gonzales blushes and stutters, stating, "Errr, well, what exactly..." The Barrister impatiently replies, "Was she your apprentice?" Gonzales answers "Apprentice? No Sir, although the time that we spent together was rather magical." Several in the room briefly laugh at that response. Ruby steps forward. "I am Master Gonzales's apprentice Ruby West, though as we've already met barrister, you already know that. What I want to know is, where is my friend, the real Princess? And I hope her true husband is with her and this dead body is just a decoy. I would imagine the actress knows where the Princess is."

Turning to Bernhardt the Barrister says, "Ms. Bernhardt, what have you to say." The woman says, "Like Mr. Gonzales, I am here at the express request of the person whose place I was taking. Princess Neferka feared what her father would do to her, so just as she had done yesterday with Miss. West, she today asked me to use her magical ring to impersonate her. I am not involved in Mr. Gourard's plot, I did not know anything about an invisible gun, or the plan to kill the King."

The Barrister nods and says, "You too appear to be sincere, however you are also the greatest actress of our generation, so I will remain skeptical." He continues, "Well Ms. Bernhardt, where is the real Princess Nefeka?" The woman replies, "When I saw her last she was in Zakazik. If she is still there now I do not know. Her advisers were suggesting that she relocate, as a major battle may be taking place within that region at dawn." Ruby narrows her eyes at the actress. "The last I spoke to the Princess she was very committed to being here herself! She wanted to convince her parents of her love for her new husband in her own words. I think you kidnapped the Princess, stole her magic ring and you are lying!"

The Ogre Mengesha steps forward and asks to be recognized. He says, "Either or both of their statements may be accurate. When I left Zakazik many hours ago the Princess did indeed wish to appear before her father in person, however both her own advisors and the French diplomats were strongly opposed to the idea. General Orabi also was opposed, feeling that if the King obtained both of them then the couple would have absolutely no leverage remaining. But one of the main reasons she wished to come in person was to vouch for her friend Miss West.

Once Neferka found out that Ruby West was safely free of the castle dungeon that no longer became necessary. She still feared for her friends safety, and sent me here to return to Ruby the magical dress that had been purchased earlier. It is truly fortunate that she did so, or Miss West would now be dead. It therefore does not surprise me that Neferka may have sent somebody in her place." He then gestures to Miss Bernhardt and adds, "However, I have never met this woman before. As of early this afternoon she was not in Zakazik, and had never met the Princess up until then. I would be wary of believing this woman's story at face value, and would also very much like to know the current whereabouts of my charge."

The Barrister looks back towards George and says, "I will hear from your Ms. Marsters now." She steps forward and says, "I am Abigail Marsters, and if I may, sir, what I have to relate may shed some light on the motives of Miss Bernhardt. It may be easier to sift truth from lies if I tell you what I know away from her ears, so you may then question her without her being aware of what I've told you." He replies, "It might indeed, and under other circumstances I would agree with that suggestion. However, we are all confined to a single room and will all be here for the next few hours, so this environment will have to do."

Abby nods and states, "I entered a French camp seeking to liberate some British archaeologists who had been held as spies. They were not, of course. I disguised myself as this woman, Sarah Bernhardt, for the simple reason that I knew she was a member of the wizards group and I knew what she looked like. A man name Prosper Merimee saw me there, and believed me to be his apprentice and that Miss Bernhardt was there to discuss her role in Egypt with him.

From him a learned of a plot where Miss Bernhardt and a man named Sardou, another actor, would impersonate the Druidess Meren and her Priest companion and use the opportunity of delivering sheep from the royal flock to poison the feast in the Palace that night. These orders were passed to Miss Bernhardt by a man named Gay-Lussac. The attempt was to be made this way because two wizards by the name of Pascal and Monteblanc had tried to enter the Palace the previous year using magical disguises and we caught and killed, but without revealing their true identities. A man named Chevreul was the one who brought Merimee, Bernhardt, and Sardou into the plot. The poison was provided by a man named Moissan."

The lawyer stops her there and comments. "Very interesting, that dovetails with facts already obtained. Your friend Miss West warned us of the poisoning plot. And the fact that you know of what happened last year adds further credence to your story, those facts were not shared with outsiders. He turns to Duray and says, "Mr. Duray, your group that came as guests in Cairo numbered six. We know that Mr. Massonet went to convey a message to your colleagues, but what ever became of Mr. Moissan? We have not seen him since word of the poisoning plot first circulated yesterday. And isn't his scientific field alchemy?"

Duray replies, "Henri Moissan is a chemist and inventor. Yes, he has indeed worked before with toxic substances, but only for good intentions. As to where he is at, I cannot say, I have not seen him since last evening. Given all of the confusion at the palace earlier I just assume that he exited along with most of the other guests." The Barrister turns his attention back to Abigail.

Abby took a deep breath and continued. "Later, I went with a friend to warn the Druidess. She allowed us to accompany her as guards when she left to deliver the sheep to the Palace. We were attacked. We managed to wound some of the attackers and they teleported away. Only a man named Rene Belloq remained. He claimed that my information was incomplete, that Merimee know only part of what was going on and had incorrectly assumed what the purpose of the mission was. I did not trust him, but I also do not like to kill out of hand, nor do I think my own judgment infallible. I wish I had followed my instincts. When we reached the Palace Belloq spoke to the guards in Nubian and we found ourselves imprisoned for our trouble."

The Barrister says, "Actually, your imprisonment had far more to due with Miss West's words to the King and Grand Vizier than anything Mr. Belloq said to a guard. Once we knew of a potential poisoning plot involving the royal flock we left standing orders that any sheep brought to the palace were to be isolated along with the people who brought them." Abby replies, "And yet, Belloq was not quarantined with us. And when I accused him of being a murderer, he only smirked and said it was too bad I didn't speak Nubian so I could warn them. He was quite satisfied with himself, the bastard."

Abby continues, "I later saw Belloq on a dirigible that was firing on the Palace. The political situation in France is such that the wizards are losing influence rapidly. Soon, France may restrict wizardry, or outlaw it entirely. At least some of the members of the wizards group are trying to bring Egypt under their control, to keep their power and have a safe base to operate from. How widespread this plot is, I cannot say."

The Barrister says, "Thank you for your testimony." Turning back to Durey, the Barrister asks, "What can you tell me of this Mr. Belloq?" The man replies "I do not really know him, he is one of the newest members of our rather vast group, we have over fifty members. He is a linguist and rather charismatic, so I am not surprised that he managed to talk his way past a lower-level guard. She says she saw him on the dirigible over the palace, and we all saw that crash after the encounter with the transformed German wizard, so he is most likely now dead. Even if he survived the crash, that German wizard has deep hatred for our group, so she would have seen to his demise."

The Barriseter now turns back to Miss. Bernhardt and asks if she has anything to add. She says, "I stand by my earlier statement. I had no involvement with any plot to harm the King. I was indeed with the group who attempted to stop Miss Marsters from reaching the palace with the sheep yesterday, but only because we too had uncovered information about the poisoning plot. Keeping the poison from ever reaching the palace seemed the best course of action. I could be magnanimous and say that it was to save your King, but the truth is that our team leader Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac was primarily worried about the safety of our six colleagues visiting with the King at the palace and did not wish for any harm to come to them."

One of the ogre guards calls out "He is gone" in Arabic. It is one of the pair guarding Baron Gaspard Gouraud. As the others turn in that direction they see both guards still pointing their weapons where the elder French wizard had been, but he is no longer there. Ruby concentrates on the area where the wizard was, trying to detect if he is actually gone or just invisible. She spots an aura of somebody moving away from that area under the cover of invisibility. He is moving in the direction of the unconscious man Joseph-Marie Jacquard, who Abigail is still standing beside.

"He's there!" Ruby yells, pointing to the spot where the man is. She keeps concentrating while moving towards him in a hurried fashion towards Abby. Not able to see the man, Abby could only assume he was trying to come for the man behind her. She set herself between and began listening carefully as well as watching the floor for signs of the wizard's passing, planning to throw herself toward his feet. A guard fires at where Ruby pointed. The Barrister says, "Nobody shoot. I will cast a detect invisib...." He then stops mid-sentence and freezes like a statue. George swears to a host of gods in several languages.

Abby lays in wait. She does not hear anybody moving near her. Ruby rushes towards the man, scoops up some sand from the ground and throws it onto the invisible shadow. "Shoot him now! You probably need magic to harm him!" Abby attempts to use Ruby's guidance for a magic missile spell. Missiles shoot out from her fingertips and at least two connect. Ruby exclaims, "Nice shot Abby! The coward is hiding behind the pillar, he knows he is guilty!" The man quickly moves behind the nearest support pillar (and away from Abby and Jacquard).

Abby grabbed her rifle, again not as a gun but as a club. She ran for the pillar, then swung about where she would expect his mid-section to be. He manages to just miss her first swing (one disadvantage to not being able to actually see your target). An object is thrown out from behind the support column. It lands in the center of the room, not far from where George and the Barrister are standing. It looks to be a metal can with the smoke pouring out the top. Reflexively George kicks it back to the column, those days as a footballer in college serving him well. that goes up into the air and explodes, then falling to the group with a trail of red smoke coming from it and hits the pillar. Gonzales yells out "It's not magical, but may be poisonous". Ruby notes the man is still invisible and makes no attempt to get away from the can, and appears to now be casting some sort of spell.

Ruby hears the incantation, recognizing the spell as the "Transport" spell that Gonzales has used many times before, and remembering that Gonzales always had to use a brazier to first generate a colored smoke needed to make the spell work. "Oh no you don't!" Ruby runs over towards the Baron full speed and dives onto him, trying to knock him over and restrict his weight so his spell won't work. "You're staying right here in this room!!" Unfortunately Abigail is in her way and Ruby sees the aura disappear. Using the sound of his voice and her last swing to guide her, Abby re-aims and tries again. The voice stops and the rifle swings through the air where the voice had been.

Sighing, George swears again "Guards, obviously a little more alert" "He got away," Ruby says, disappointed. "It happens," Abby said, also disappointed. "But we kept him from taking his friend with him." She watched the guards as they restrained the French and was finally able to move toward the others. "Now there is just her to answer questions." Seeing that he isn't must help against an unseen foe, Lawrence scans the area just to make sure there are no more surprises.

Chapter 95, “Have we gone from the frying pan into the fire??" September 12, 1882, 12:15AM.

George hurries over to the barrister to both protect and try to heal any injury or paralysis, keeping his body between the barrister and the baron. Gonzales says in Spanish, "It appears to just be a minor hold spell George. He will come out of it in a few minutes.” Gonzales then says softly to George, “In the meanwhile, should we discuss this matter with the benefit of his temporary absence?'

George whispers to Gonzales in Spanish "I am well in agreement, though I am not sure who all has ears for this tongue. We need to secure all the remaining French." In Arabic George addresses Mengsha "I would suggest to ensure the safety of your charge as best you can from here you secure the remaining French in the room until we can sort out true motives." The Queen exclaims, "Yes, do so, but not the Empress. She can be trusted." George quietly asks Gonzales in Spanish if he trusts the empress. Gonzales replies "Intimately." "I hope your carnal associations don't blind you" replies George in Spanish. Gonzales answers, "I am usually a good judge of character. And more importantly, her presence will help to calm the Queen. We may need that before this is over."

Ruby says pointing to the actress. "And we're very sure she is in on it so we can take no chances letting her get away. You should tie her to a guard." The Queen says, "Yes, tie her up. Also tie up that one on the ground who the Baron was moving towards." Two of the five guards obey the queen's command, the other three continuing to point their rifles at the other Frenchmen in the room. "Very wise your Majesty. If I might make a suggestion you should also retrieve your daughter's magical disguise from the actress also. I believe it was stolen from her but even if it was not the Princess is not here to claim it herself and it could be dangerous in the wrong hands."

The Queen says, "The only disguise that I know of it the ring which you used yesterday, and I have it right here." She reaches into her pocket and removes what appears to be the ring. Gonzales says, "Your majesty, I detect no magic at all on that item." Ruby says, "I detected a magical aura on her foot, I believe her right toe, that is where I believe her disguise came from. I would suggest checking there. Is seems more and more lies are coming to light." The guard who had tied her up removes the shoe to review a ring that looks identical to the one the Queen is holding. "Now THAT ONE is magical," Gonzales states.

George interjects, "I think all of them need to be searched for additional weapons and escape paraphernalia." Lawrence volunteers to search the prisoners. "I have to find someway of making myself useful." Gonazles suggest to Ruby that she or a magic-using companion cast a "detect magic" and then assist her friend with that task. Ruby nods her head. "Yes my teacher that is a wise suggestion."

Ruby casts detect magic and with Lawrence's help they will go around the room and search for magical items. Between Taine, Champollion, Passy, Jacquard, Bernhardt and the body of Larrey they manage to collect 6 magical rings, 3 magical wands, 2 pair of magical boots, 4 travelling spellbooks, 2 magical daggers, 1 magical belt, and a magical statue of a chimpanzee.

Ruby and Lawrence deposit the pile of goodies at the Barrister and Queen. "Someone came prepared for battle I must say, quite the stash of magic. Most people don't see all this in a lifetime. My mentor might know what some of this is but likely it would need time for examination." Ruby gives the pile a longing look but steps away. Before leaving the statue in the pile, Lawrence examines it closely. "I've never seen anything like this before. I wonder what it does, maybe a magical servant."

Abby looked at Bernhardt with real regret in her eyes. "Until just now, I'd believed maybe you were honest. Merimee expected you to be upset by the mission you were given. How sad that he so overestimates your character." Ruby moves over to the fake princess and purses her lips. She moves closer to the actress and tries to contain her anger but it's simmering in her eyes. "WHERE is the Princess?" she says between gritted teeth. "I don't think there is anyone here who is still believing your story." The tied up Bernhardt looks up at Ruby. For a moment it appears that she would continue spinning the tales she told before....until she gets a good look into Ruby's eyes and the spirit that is behind them. Sarah says, "I honestly do not know. I never saw her."

Ruby says, "That's probably the only thing that will save you now. I don't think anyone believed you but even if they did I know I didn't. If you are honest now and tell the Queen and the court what you know perhaps you will get out of here with your life. Help us understand who made you do this and figure out what is going on." "Where did you get that ring?" Abby asked.

Bernhardt replies, "It was given to me by the King of Hearts, Jean Meissonier. He has a keen eye for detail and briefed me on how to carry myself as the Princess." "So you are only an accessory to regicide and conspiracy?" quips George. Ruby says, "It's time to start imagining then. Someone got that ring from the Princess, and if he's observed her enough to coach you, it's likely to be him. Where would he be, or where might they hold the Princess? For now I'm assuming they'd want to preserve her life."

The Queen of Egypt approaches the woman and says, "My husband was going to have Miss. West executed for impersonating my daughter, although that now appears to have been done with her consent. You just admitted to having never met my daughter. I could have you executed on the spot. Speak the truth, and I may let you live." Bernhardt says, "I went to Zakazik this morning with my team leader Merimee. At the Grand Hotel I met with Meissoner and Jacquard. They said that the Princess was worried about meeting her father and asked me to accompany General Orabi in her place. I do not know anything about a plot to murder your husband your Majesty. Had I known that I would not have participated."

George states, "Your ignorance of the goal is no excuse for your participation, whether you were aware or not, they cast you in their web and you are guilty by association and participation no less than poor judgment." The Queen says, "I concur. Guards, gag this woman so she can cast no spells or attempt to use her charms. We can execute her later."

Gonzales approaches Abigail and says, "We have not been introduced yet, but I am Miss West's teacher. Do I detect a New Orleans accent young lady?" "Indeed, sir," she said, letting her full accent come through. She'd been downplaying it here in order to blend in better. "I'm sure Miss West was an eager student. I am Miss Abigail Marsters." Ruby says, "I am sorry Abby, that was quite rude of me to not introduce you but perhaps you can forgive me I was a little bit distracted with all this," she sweeps her hand in a large motion around the room, "Going on. This is my wonderful, amazing teacher who will have to tell me later just what he is doing here! Not that I am not grateful, of course. But as he knows I am dreadfully curious I am wondering how he ended up here just when we needed him most. He always has a knack for doing that and I am always and forever thankful for his presence in my life." Ruby pauses then gives him a very large hug. "Ah, that is much better."

"So, Abby, Mr. Gonzales, Mr G. Mr.G, this is my friend Abby, whom I have been having quite the adventure with here in Egypt. Something tells me you already know that. She is a very smart, sassy girl so you can imagine why we are friends," Ruby laughs. "All thing have their proper time, Ruby. The middle of a battle isn't always the right one for introductions. At least, not pleasant introductions."

The spell on the Barrister ends. He notes everybody is in different places and most of the French are tied up. "What has transpired?" he asks. As George watches the exchange between the Queen and Sarah he quickly briefs the Barrister on the spell he was under, the escape of the Baron and the interrogation of the actress. The barrister whispers back "Mr. Eastman. I would hope to avoid a panic, but we have a new problem. This pyramid was built with ventilation on each side, which earlier caused the various smoke to filter out and fresh air to come in. Due to my temporary absence I can now see a difference. They no longer appear to be open, as the air in the room is becoming quite stale and the temperature in the room appears to have increased a few degrees."

George rubs the bridge of his nose, "Ok, gather the prisoners in the far corner there and have everyone else go and sit in the other far corner and start talking to distract them. I will take two of the Nubians and we will try to dig a ventilation tunnel under the steel barrier. That is, unless the ventilation shafts are large enough for a human to squeeze in and open the louvers outside. " The Barrister says, "They are up above and too narrow for a person to travel, otherwise looters could enter the pyramid. And there are stones below the barrier, so digging would not be possible."

George says, "Let me have Gonzales on the team at the least he can put up a visual barrier so people don't know what we are doing, and perhaps he has some magic up his sleeve to help." Lawrence sidles up to George, "What's going on? Have we gone from the frying pan into the fire?" "Yes Lawrence, in fact." Ruby sees George pointing to her, Abby and Gonzales and motioning them over. "Seems we're wanted," Abby said, nodding toward George. "Let's head over." Ruby nods and the three of them make their way over to George. "Everything okay? Well, as okay as it's going to be locked inside a pyramid with just about everyone wanting to kill you and thinking you're trying to kill them?" she grins.

As Abby, Ruby and Gonzales come over to join George and Lawrence, George quickly explains the problem of the increasingly stale air. "Seems the French who fled want to finish the job, anyone have any ideas other than digging an air tunnel under the steel wall?" Gonzales tells George, "Indeed. I guess they decided that their colleagues still within the room are expendable. Actually, Miss West does have the means to help. The Mexican Fire Rod was originally designed for a naval vessel, to blast holes in other ships, both wood and metal. It should be sufficient to get through that iron wall." Lawrence claps his hands. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Ruby, do your magic!"

Ruby blinks, a little shocked. "Won't it cause a big explosion inside of here?" George stands agog at Gonzales. "Ooookkkaaaayyy. Uh now pardon my ignorance of arcane magic, but fire is fire and that much fire in here will consume a LOT of oxygen perhaps the remaining supply, not to mention the concussive effects, destabilization of the stones surround the area, collapses, cave-ins, not to mention the pressurization effects that could puncture all our ear drums, result in blackouts and leave our prisoners unguarded. You know other than those tiny issues I think it's a good idea." replies George with perhaps a little too much sarcasm.

To Ruby Gonzales says, "I have a scroll with a barrier spell that I can throw up first to shield those in the room. It creates a Wall of Ice. I've always brought it along on desert treks, as ice can be used to make water." He glances at George and then back to Ruby, saying, "Is he always one to worry about minor details?" "Physics aren't minor details, even in magic. Nor is the life of my Ruby minor in any way shape or form." replies George stiffly "It's okay darling, think of it as making our mark on Egypt," she grins. "Somehow everything will turn out just fine. It always does." George says, "Ok, as long as we don't permanently disfigure an Egyptian monument. It might look funny if the top of the pyramid was missing or the nose fell off the Sphinx."

Ruby shrugs. "Sounds good enough to me. I don't know that we have any other options anyway. I don't exactly want to be sitting in this room with people who just yesterday were ready to execute me. Any minute I'm figuring our warm fuzzy welcome here will wear out and they will want my head back on that platter. If there is a way to secure the prisoners first that would probably be good but otherwise I say let's go."

George says, "Ok, lets get everyone back against the back wall so Gonzales can set up the barrier. Then Ruby and I will go by that pillar over there. I will help her brace the rod against the pillar to minimize knockback. If we sit on the ground with our backs to the pillar and the rod braced against the pillar we should be good." Gonzales likes the suggestion, and builds the ice alcove around the pillar. With the Barrister's assistance Gonzales ushers everybody towards the back corner and throws up a very thick ice barrier, with an alcove built onto the side of for him, Ruby, Abby, Lawrence and George. He says, "Okay Ruby, time to throw caution to the wind." The corner of her mouth crooks up, "It's one of my favorite pastimes!"

Ruby holds up the Mexican Fire Rod, braces herself then recites the activation word at the wall where George had told her to aim. A huge energy missile shoots forth from the wand, travelling the very short distance to the iron doors where A massive explosion follows and the entire pyramid appears to shake. Much of the remaining oxygen is indeed consumed. The wall gets the brunt of the blast, but there is enough residual energy striking the stone walls to both sides that the room gets pelted with smaller stones blasted loose, resulting in several pieces embedded in the ice wall and many cracks in the ice wall as well, but it manages to hold. While the floor and walls of the pyramid are made of stone, there is enough sand and dust inside to stir up and temporarily reduce visibility.

When the dust settles, the six-foot center of the iron wall is pushed in over a foot, with a huge scorch mark. Most of the iron wall still remains, however there is a section on the left where it has separated from the stone wall and is bent outward creating a gap open to the outside that is about eight inches wide and four feet high. "Well, we have ventilation," Abby said with a bit of wry understatement.

With a cloth over his mouth and nose, George approaches the door to inspect it. Turning with a grin he quips "Guess it's too late to worry about starting a panic" to the barrister. George signals a few of the Nubians over to see if they can't open the gap in the wall a little more now that the metal has been stressed. George calls Ruby over and giving her a little kiss and a whispered "good girl" he shows her the gap. "Ruby call an unseen servant and have them set up just outside the door, have them take my jacket and use it as a fan to help push air into the room. Should be a good mindless task to set it to."

I can do that, hopefully it can get some fresher air in here." Ruby casts an unseen servant and after handing it George's jacket sets it out the break to send in some fresher air. It's something anyway. Now, I guess we can wait a bit to see if someone comes around from outside to help us out of here. Barrister, did you say someone was on their way here?" The Barrister says, "There were several people still outside when the doorway was sealed. They hopefully have not gone far." The air begins to circulate and the ogre guards examine the opening then try pulling on it to open the gap wider.

Abby came over and took a look at the gap as well. She knew a little about architecture, so she hoped to use that knowledge to find a better way to widen the gap. She notices that there are a pair of steel poles against the pyramid wall not far from the King's throne, probably used to carry the throne in on top of. They would work as ideal levers to widen the gap. Speaking Egyptian, she pointed out the poles to the guards and helped bring them over. She pointed out the ideal points to apply the levers and lent a hand, as long as it wasn't offensive to the guards. The ogres use the poles to widen the opening, soon bending the metal wall far enough back that not only can the humans exit but the ogres as well (albeit, a rather tight fit for the larger race).

Ruby says, "If nobody objects, I'd like to take a look at the General's body." Ruby searches the body gently, desperately hoping to find any clues that lead her to believe this isn't really Orabi. She finds nothing obvious to indicate that the man is anyone other than who he appears to be. There is no magical aura surrounding him. Ruby leaned back on her heels and let out a deep breath she didn't even realize she had been holding in. "It looks like him. I had really been hoping it wasn't him and maybe there is some other trick here I don't know about. Perhaps the Princess was wrong about him. Perhaps he had been under a spell of some sort. This just seemed so crazy, she was so convinced..."

Gonzales suggests "Perhaps he was under some type of powerful mind control? Chevreul is the world's foremost expert on magical potions, so might have created something that caused the General to act on Chevreul's commands. That also might explain why Chevreul was here in the pyramid and also here in Egypt for that matter, as the man is not known for traveling. In fact I do not believe that he has ever left France until now. It would have been nice if we could have found out more about what the old alchemist was up to prior to this." Ruby says, "Well, we need to find a way to find to find him then. Or I'm sure someone else has to know something. I wonder where they would have gone. Maybe the actress knows?"

Chapter 96, “All Together Now" September 12, 1882, 12:30AM.

After Princess Neferka and her newlywed husband General Orabi entered the pyramid at 10:45PM many of those outside followed, including Benjamin 'Fish' Trout's allies George Eastman, Ruby West, Lawrence Cantrell and Abigail Marsters. Fish himself however, chose to stay back, to keep an eye on things from the rear. By 11:30PM things inside became quiet. Those outside then saw the General extend his hand towards the King, a western gesture of negotiation conclusions. All hell next broke lose, as a loud roar sounded the General's assassination of the King.

Those outside expressed shock and the word quickly spread among those where not looking through the opening when it occurred. Gunshots fired inside and several guards outside rushed to the doorway. Their entry was then blocked as a solid iron gate appeared over the large opening to the pyramid. The sphynx all take to the air, circling high and crying out in anguish, having failed in their appointed task to protect the monarch.

The Frenchman Giffard and his dirigible pilot were approached by the leader of the guards who first asked if they had the magical ability to dispel the gate. Giffard attempted to do so but was unsuccessful. Mina Parker also came out from her hiding place and attempted to do so as well without success. After that she stuck closely to Fish. She told him that Sabah had gone to the Temple of Bast in Gizah City. Freya was still over beyond the nearest secondary pyramid with the party's mounts.

Almost an hour has passed since that time. Horses were summoned for the priests to ride to Cairo with word of the assassination of the King at the hand of the rebel leader. Many of the servants also fled, some to the nearby Gizah City, others in carts heading back to Cairo. The fourteen guards worked frantically at trying to break through the iron gate, but lacking anything significant to use to do so. The iron gate then reverberates from the inside as a huge indentation is punched out from the inside, knocking four the guards back who had been pounding on it.

When the dust settles it appears that there is a gap between one side of the gate and the pyramid wall. Metal bars then begin to pry it wider from the inside, and the guards outside also assist. Eventually it is widened enough that those inside begin to exit the stone structure.

Inside, Gonzales gestures to the makeshift doorway and says to Ruby, "It looks like everybody is heading over to go outside. We should do the same." "Alright." Ruby got up from the floor and paused next to the old elf. "Have I mentioned that I am so happy you are here? It always seems like everything will be okay when you are." She hugged him and then headed over to the hole. George helped her climb up and out into the night. "Ah, that is much better," she said, breathing in the fresh air. "What now I wonder? This has become such a mess. I wonder where Nana is?"

Outside the pyramid there are very few people around. About a dozen guards and soldiers, both human and ogre, helping the people exit the pyramid. The French dirigible remains, with the pilot and owner also currently under armed guard. Over by the far end of the tent Ruby spots her grandmother standing with Ben Trout. She walks over to her grandmother and Fish. "Glad to see you two, you missed all the fireworks," she said sarcastically. "Where did everyone go?" Mina says, "Most of the crowds went to spread word of the King's murder." She then lowers her voice and says, "Sabah went to her temple, Freya moved back behind the far walls with our horses."

Ruby says. "Yes, there is quite some gossip to spread. I am glad Freya is not here. Mr. Gonzales I will tell you about her in a bit though I have a feeling you already know about her presence." He says, "From here we saw the Asgardian Dragon fighting the armed balloon over Cairo. However, I thought she was known by another name." Ruby replies, "She calls herself Freya and she was helping us. She helped us escape the palace, we were inside when the French attacked it. What did you think her name was?" He replies, "The female Asgardian is named Astrid."

Ruby asks, "Do you know why Sabah returned to her temple?" Mina says, "The King was murdered by the General. She sought guidance from her deity on how to proceed." Ruby nodded her head. "Yes, that is very wise indeed. I don't really know what to do next myself. We could look for those wizards but they are much more powerful than we are and I fear we wouldn't know what to do with them if we did find them. We have to try to find the Princess but where do we look? I don't know that the actress is telling us everything but the French have been pretty smart so far in their plans, why would they bother to tell a lower level accomplice their bigger plots and plans." Gonzales relies, "They wouldn't."

Abby came up behind the others and said, "Now we decide what our goal is. We were trying to stop the French plot. Well, now the fact that some of them were plotting is out in the open, although certainly not unraveled. We may still be needed to help enforce the Queen's will. The Princess is your friend, so of course you want to find her, and finding her may be essential for Egypt's stability."

Gonzales says, "Or not. What the Royal Barrister stated earlier is correct. Under Egyptian law he must certify the next Monarch is qualified for office. Those qualifications include understanding and respecting the role of the ruler as the representative of the Egyptian gods here on Earth. Proper respect for the ruler clearly means not killing that person. Princess Neferka may indeed be next in line for the throne, but she is the wife of the King's killer. If it is discovered that she had even a hint of foreknowledge of what he planned to do, then that would invalidate her claim."

Ruby tapped her lips. "That's interesting... then who would be next in line after her?" He replies, "Her next oldest sister. Which would explain why the Royal Barrister's first action was to protect those two Princesses, and why they are under under heavy protection now." "Any chance she has a hand in this plot?" Ruby asked bluntly.

Abby interjects "It's possible. When we met her, she was already intent on marrying the General. She was having wealth moved. We have no idea what her history is with her father. Really we have nothing but her word, saying she wanted to end the fighting and preserve Egypt, and our instincts. I hate to think badly of anyone, but for all we know she and her father have never gotten along and she was more than happy to have a way to get rid of him. Do I really believe that? No. But I have to allow for my own ignorance." Gonzales says, "Don't ask me, you folks appear to know far more about this conspiracy than I do. I've only been in Egypt since this morning."

Ruby gasped, "Oh no Abby, I meant the other Princess, the one who would be next in line for the throne should they decide the Princess was involved in the "General's" plot to murder the King. If the next in line Princess wanted to be first in line, she could have found a way to put the General under a spell and have him kill her own father. I might not know a lot about a lot of things but I do truly believe the Princess loved her father and she loved her new husband. She trusted him. Now, her faith could have been misplaced. As for the General I only met him for a little bit. He seemed sincere but I can't say much about him. I thought they were in love. I just find it hard to believe Orabi would do this." George interjects, "No, no. I think you are both right ladies. Either princess could have had a hand in this. Truly all we have is our gut about Neferka, so we can't rule it out though we do not wish to believe it.

Abby adds, "Remember, we may still be under suspicion here as well." Gonzales says, "I think that you may have gained some favor by your actions within the pyramid. Note that it is the French and not us who are currently under guard." Ruby says, "Yes, I am afraid one small misstep and we find ourselves with the noose around our neck again. Finding the Princess is definitely a priority I think unless someone else has a different plan."

Gonzales says, "I am thinking that the unconscious Jacquard is our only reliable source for information about this plot." Ruby says, "Okay, we wake him up and ask him some of our questions. We have to make sure he can't cast any spells on us though." Abby couldn't help but smile a bit. "Every now and then it pays off that I don't like to use lethal force.” Ruby says, "You did exactly the right thing. Killing these guys doesn't help us figure out what is going on here. I mean, I know you know that but the other goons inside aren't thinking that, obviously."

Abby says, Of course, getting the jump on a wizard of his power is better done in close quarters. I wouldn't have stood a chance against him using magic." "Nor I," states Gonzales adding "Mr. Jacquard is one of the five most powerful wizards on the planet. However, his weakening body appears to now be failing him. A decade ago he would have also been able to challenge you in hand-to-hand combat as well." "Alright, so the old wizard is tied up. We wake him up. We ask him some questions. Mr. Gonzales, is there something we can do to protect ourselves from him casting spells on us?"

Gonzales looks around and says, "Yes, we should be somewhere other than out in the open surrounded by pyramids, buildings and walls that any number of enemies could ambush us from." Ruby says, "Well, he is still in there so we can go back in and wait for the others to clear out and do it then. Objections?" Gonzales says, "Yes, given that the ventilation for that pyramid appears blocked, leaving only that one small opening the ogres pried open, which could be easily blocked or sealed. Is there anywhere else we could go?"

Ruby says, "There are a lot of smaller buildings around here but I am not familiar with them. We could trek back to the city with him but that seems like an open invitation to his associates to come and take him back." "Also, do we really want to try to slip away with the only living witness? Remember that noose you were talking about?" Abby looked around. "I wonder where Cal and his friends went? He was a spy, he'd be better at this than me."

George's mind was racing processing all the new information. He liked to be quite at times like this, but he finally did speak. "I think that we may be able to unveil Freya now. Gonzales, as I understand it Astrid became Freya when she inherited the armor she now wears when the French wizards killed the previous wearer, Freya's kin. With the French now the de facto enemy of the state her previous actions against the gun ship may well give her good standing too. We will have to test the waters on that one first. The barrister would find her a powerful ally against this cabal.

Ok, interrogation. I need a blade, some hot pokers, boiling water and some salt. That and some rope and I am sure we can get the truth. Unless someone has some magic to force someone to tell the truth or at least detect if they are lying. That might be helpful if we want to avoid torture. However, just because some of the French were left behind does not exonerate them, while we have suspected of at least two factions among the French without further evidence we need to assume they are all in on it. I think we spotted Beloq as well, he may have been the other man to survive the airship crash. I should have let Freya eat them." says George shaking his head.

"Ok, tie up the wizard, fingers bound. Keep a close watch and a rifle butt handy to interrupt spell casting. Even with a spell to ensure the truth we need a way to make him talk. Unless someone can read minds. Though if we find a out building, I would bet our draconian friend Freya may provide some motivation for him to talk. Nor would she balk at physical force, though the old Spanish Inquisition tortures against wizards still work well." trails off George pondering abhorrent tortures from days gone by.

"Alright, Fish head inside and snag as much of the pile of magical stuff as you can, Abby go with him to show him and identify anything else of use in there." They find that the Barrister has collected all of the magic, nor will he allow anybody to enter the temple where the bodies of the various people remain while under guard.

George says, "Ruby go wait at the entrance for the Queen. Offer our condolences on the death of her husband, and assure her of our help to bring the assassins to justice and find her daughter. If you or your name is recognized I don't think it will matter now. While there see what the response is from the younger princesses. Lawrence you go with Mina and find a place to take our captive and get Freya there as well. Once you have a place come back and let us know." Mina says "I may know of a safe place that the barrister would also agree to." She and Lawrence head over in the direction where Freya is waiting with the group's horses. The two mount up and ride to the northeast towards the adjacent Gizah City."

George says, "I will go talk to Barrister Sefu and see about commandeering that airship for us. It would help us tremendously. I may talk to him about a dragon as well. Ok any questions? If not let's go, the sands are running out on us." George approaches the Barrister, who is giving orders to the additional guards outside to carefully watch the French prisoners.

Ruby says, "Oh, wait, I don't think we should split up..." Ruby said, but it was too late, the group had already separated and her grandmother rode away. "George, you do remember that I can remember that I can read minds, right? I need to be able to concentrate and if he is powerful and has protective spells or magic items I probably couldn't get through that, it might not work but in this case I doubt either of those two things are considerations here. So If we can talk to the wizard it could work. Before and while we scare him with the dragon, that is." "Yes, that is right. Ok, once we get him in a secure location we can try that with you first. But my love, contingency, contingency, contingency." adds George as Ruby sashays off.

Once out of the pyramid the Egyptian Queen and her daughters are immediately surrounded by more guards. The Royal Barrister is given a wand which he points upward, which sends a small flare. The Andro-sphynx (male) then flies down and the Barrister speaks to it. The Sphynx then takes up a protective posture before the royals with the pyramid to its back. The Barrister then orders a soldier to go and get another battalion of troops.

Abby was just as glad that the Barrister had already had all the magic items collected and would not allow them to look through it. In her mind, she was struggling with Mr. Eastman's casual acceptance of torture as a way to get the information they needed. He was too intelligent a man to think they could only bluff the man with threats of violence. You must be willing to follow through on such a thing, and Abby wasn't sure if she was willing to go that far. She headed over to where Ruby was approaching the Queen and the Barrister, keeping an eye on the Sphinx to see how it reacted to them.

As she got closer to the royal family the three sphynx move in closer to better protect the women. With a sudden change of mind, Abby turned and walked back toward the old Wizard, Gonzales. Reaching him, she said, "You know Miss West well, yes? Do you know Mr. Eastman as well? He can't really believe the Barrister is going to let us take that Frenchman to interrogate ourselves. That man has the attitude of someone who knows he's in authority."

Gonzales says, "I have known Miss West for a considerable amount of time. My first impression of Mr. Eastman was not positive, although it has moderated over time. One thing that displeased me initially about Eastman is his overall attitude that he will get whatever he wants. At the time he wanted Miss West despite her being in a serious relationship at the time, and he persisted until he won. So I am not surprised he actually thinks he can bully the Barrister, but in this instance I agree with you, our Egyptian lawyer will only give us so much latitude."

Abby nodded and considered that for a moment. "The truth is, the Barrister has the authority here, and we don't want to challenge it. And the only way we could is physically, and that's a bad, bad move." Gonzales replies, "I concur, especially with those three sphynx present, we lack the power to defeat them." Abby says, "Our concern here has been to unearth the French plot, make the Egyptian royal family aware of it and protect them, and keep Egypt free. This situation, in their eyes we are superfluous at best and suspicious at worst."

He replies, "You were of considerable help with that already. Your information from Merimee helped to shift the Barrister's view towards the French, and Baron Gouraud's collusion with Orabi to murder the King helped to then confirm it." Her talking was the mental equivalent of pacing, trying to work her way through the problem to a solution. "So how do we become valuable? Just offering our services won't do it. We're still outsiders here." Gonzales says, "We provide value through the continued unraveling of the French plot, and if we can help accomplish that before dawn, then the bloodshed of the armies can be spared." Abby answers " "I guess I have to hope that Mr. Eastman's bullying is successful, then. Although I don't care for his interrogation techniques."

Gonzales replies, "As long as it is the French and not us who are under arrest there is still hope. And even if Eastman pushes too far and finds himself in shackles, I believe that I can keep the two of us from suffering the same fate." She barked out a laugh, loud enough that a few people turned to look at her for a moment. "You'd leave him here, then? I don't think my boss would like that," Abby said, still chuckling. "I'm sorry. It's been a long couple of days and I may be a little punch drunk," she added and tried to get herself back under control.

He replies, "Personally, I think that a few days in shackles might be a humbling experience for good old George. A nd while it may have been a long couple of days, it will probably get even longer before morning." "Maybe I should ask for hazard pay," she said lightly and watched the others. "Things seem to be going well. Perhaps I worry too much." Gonzales says, "No, your instincts are correct, we are all still in grave danger. This situation is very volitile and by tomorrow at this time any one of several different factions could be the de-facto rulers of this land. The Egyptian Royals, the Egyptian Army, the Rebel Army, the British, the French, or even us."

Ruby waved at the Queen and called out. "Your Majesty! A quick word please!" Two Egyptian guards move to block Ruby but the Queen Nikkathia stops them and says, "No, let the Trollop's Granddaughter speak." Ruby kept her anger at the insult to her grandmother inside, she didn't want to do anything to further anger the Queen. "Your Majesty, I am so sorry for what has happened to your family. I hope you can believe me when I say I am a true friend of your daughter, that is how I knew that girl inside was a phony." The Queen says, "I am not inclined to believe anything that you personally state, but given that my daughter's trusted guard Mengesha has verified you story, then I take that and that alone to be true."

Ruby continues ""I understand why you would not trust me, but I am glad that you are taking Mengesha's word for my sincerity. They are absolutely spoken in truth. My goals now are to find your daughter and return her safely to you and also to find the assassins that have done these horrible deeds and help bring them to justice." She watched the Queen closely and also kept an eye on Neferka's sisters. The Queen says, "I share those goals. Do you have any suggestions as to how we would best accomplish those tasks?"

Ruby answers, “As for what to do next, we have a couple of ideas. I t would help if we were given your blessing," she paused for a quick moment, "Your permission at least to do what we have to do. We will interrogate the French wizard who we have in custody, one of Orabi's accomplices. Then we will get to Zakazik as fast as we can to look for your daughter. We think she may be there and we WILL find her if she is." Ruby waited for the Queen's reply but before she even knew what she was saying she blurted out, "You know, we could get to Zakazik MUCH faster if we could... borrow the French airship."

Chapter 97, “Questioning the elderly Wizard" September 12, 1882, 1:30AM.

Ruby has just requested from the Queen to "borrow" the French airship." The Queen replies, "It is the Barrister's decision, although I support the idea of retrieving my daughter from Zakazik, if that is where she still is at." Ruby says, "I understand and will take it up with the Barrister. Where will you go now your Majesty? So we know where to bring your daughter once we find her." She replies, "I do not know. Somewhere that the Barrister feels is safe for us." Hearing Ruby's conversation with the Queen, George catches the attention of Sefu.

"I understand. I am sure we will have a way to contact him at least and he can advise us where to go." Ruby bows slightly to the Queen. "Take care. And trust NO ONE right now, even your most trusted friends could have somehow been comprised. We don't want to see any more loss. Be safe." The Queen replies, "I doubt the sphynx will let my daughters from their sight. We are safe in their presence."

Ruby looked like she was about to leave but something stopped her. One Princess looked very interested in what was being said. Without looking alarming, Ruby took a couple steps towards her and addressed her. "Princess, I am wondering, do you have information that might help us find your sister? You must have been close with her, you are sisters after all. Perhaps she was not kidnapped at all but instead ran away to escape all the craziness going on. Where do you think she might go? I am sure you loved her deeply and would do anything to help find her, yes?"

The Princess says, "Where would she go? She loved the Cleopatra exhibits at the museum in Alexandria, but the British are there now so I doubt she would head there. She also liked Father's ship, but I am not sure which port along the sea it is presently docked at." Ruby nodded, "That could be helpful, yes, thank you. Did you ever have an opportunity to meet General Orabi?" She says, "Oh yes, he was at the palace quite often. He was one of father's military leaders until he betrayed the family to lead the rebellion." Ruby nodded again. "Yes, that was a terrible betrayal. From talking with your sister and my own interaction with him, he seemed to very sincerely love your sister and want the fighting to end."

With venom in her voice the sister exclaims, "He had a strange way of showing that then, murdering our father." Ruby answers, "Yes, you are right about that Your Highness. Though it IS possible someone else had a hand in controlling his horrible actions. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this mystery and bring the real culprit to justice, no matter who is it." Ruby watched the princess closely, studying her face and body while she spoke. The girl chokes up and then softly says, "There are no excuses for murder." "You are correct Princess, there are no excuses for murder. I hope to get to the bottom of this quickly and bring all the perpetrators to justice." Ruby gives a small bow. "I will take my leave now and get to it then." Ruby excuses herself then finds the others.

George says, "Barrister Sefu, might I request that you place the airship under my command for the time being. I am willing to act upon your orders of course, but I believe I am the only one here whom you can trust who knows how the operate the vehicle. And time is of the essence in combating the French plot." suggests George in his most diplomatic tone. The Barrister says, "I will take that under advisement. I clearly do not wish the French to have access to it, but unless you tell me exactly what you wish to use it for and I in turn concur, I am inclined to leave it here under the watchful eyes of my sphynx guardians."

"Quite honestly, I wish to take my crew and race to find and rescue the princess. That is my main goal. It would be nice to also prevent the battle in Tel el-Kabir if I can. A battle obviously orchestrated by the French. Or perhaps I should clarify and say the cabal of some of the French wizards. The speed of the airship would allow us time to do both, though the former is our priority," replies George. The Barrister says, "You wish to locate and rescue the possible heir to the throne. That I will agree to, although I will insist that you take the Princess's guard Mengesha with you as well as one of the Egyptian Army Officers."

George says, "More than agreeable. Send the officer and Mengesha to the airship and I will meet them aboard presently as I round up my crew. Thank you Sefu. We will notify you as soon as we have actionable intelligence." replies George extending his hand in thanks to the barrister. He shakes George's hand and says, "Bring her back safely if you can, it would make everything much easier, even if she was in league with her husband. Of course, now that he is dead we may never truly know."

George heads over to Gonzales and Abby "Abby, we have been given permission to take the airship to try to rescue the princess, can you help me round up the rest of the crew?" Abby says, "Mina and Lawrence are supposed to meet us back here after they find a place for quiet questioning. How long do we wait?" "Well I was hoping that the quiet place for questioning would be 3,000 feet in the air. If we take the wizard with us, we can begin traveling as we get the information. So perhaps we can get Freya, Lawrence and Mina back here quickly with the wizard?" replies George. Abby answers, "Freya may know which way they went, I'll start there."

Lawrence and Mina are seen riding back. She rides to George and dismounts. Mina states, "Sabah says that the Bast Temple in Gizah should be able to provide safe haven." "Good we'll drop the geezer off there regardless. We have been given permission to use the airship. We are mounting a rescue operation, but we need the wizard for directions. Load him up and stay on guard. Let Freya know to meet us mid-air and she will join us. I need to go and find Constance. Oh and find Fish and make sure he hasn't pocketed anything" adds George with a grin. Abby moved back to hear what was said, then said, "I'll still go let Freya know." She walked rapidly away, glad for a few moments to herself. She finds Freya beyond the far buildings, still watching six of the party's horses.

Abby returns and tells George "Freya will bring our horses over to Sabah's Temple. She'll then remain in her human form and ride Northeast on one of horses, to meet us once the dirigible is out-of-sight of Gizah. I suggested she ride Lawrence's horse for that stretch, as it has the magical horseshoes that allow flight, so it might come in handy for us to bring along." Lawrence dismounts and says, "Mina has a point. If I'm riding in the airship, then the magical horseshoes are pointless."

Lawrence walks over to the captive wizard, Jacquard is being guard, and cracks his knuckles. "The queen seems mighty angry. She'll want someone to blame. Seein' as how the general is dead and your friends have left you behind, you would make an excellent scapegoat. But if you tell us where the princess is, maybe you can get out of this. What do you say?" Jacquard appears to still be unconscious, so does not respond.

George sends Mina to go get Freya before she departs. He heads over to the prisoner and checks to see if he is really conscious, and then applies some small token of Athena's magical healing (cure minor wound) so that he is awake. With the healing magic applied the very elderly man regains consciousness. The Barrister and the two Egyptian Soldiers guarding Jacquard stay and carefully observe what it is that George and Lawrence will say to the man.

With the issues with Freya sorted, Abby stood back to watch what was going to happen with the questioning. She stood away from Eastman and Lawrence, as well as away from the Barrister and the soldiers. Confusion wasn't something she was used to, and until her mind cleared up a bit, she didn't want to move too fast. Manuel Gonzales approaches her and says, "Be ready to throw any remaining spell you have into Jacquard, he is one of the five most powerful wizards on the planet. It wouldn't take much for him to get the better of all of us." "I'm pretty worn out, unless you think a Daze is going to bother him," she said ruefully.

He replies, "I'm unfortunately down to a handful of non-offensive spells, a hold portal, an enlarge, a locate object, and a phantom steed. You were successful with fists last time, but that was only because he wasn't expecting it from you." She says, "I am well aware how lucky I was there. Although I am a little disturbed by how... intense and carried away I feel in a physical fight. I've never been in fighting like we've seen here. My spells go so fast I need other options." With a chuckle he says, "Stay with my Ruby and I'm sure you'll have future opportunities for fights."

"She and Mrs. Parker do seem to lead exciting lives. Even people I thought I knew turned out to be adventurers in disguise. I'm beginning to wonder if I have some kind of berserker in my own background!" She paused for a few moments. "I'm more concerned about the questioning. Lawrence seems as willing to beat answers out of this old man as Eastman is. I know we need them, and someone has to take the lead. I don't have any better ideas. I just don't like that one." He replies, "I like this one even less. We were better off with Jacquard unconscious, now all of our lives are in danger. Even more so if he talks. We're too exposed out here in the open and I sense we are being watched, probably by the other French wizards. If he starts talking they'll probably let loose to silence him."

She see they are questioning the old wizard. Why did they start without me? she thinks unhappily. She shakes her head obviously disgruntled. She finds a corner of building near where everyone else is gathered. Confident she is unseen, she casts detect thoughts. Then she enters the room and waits silently next to Abby and her mentor, concentrating on the old wizard. She knew there was little chance of this working on him but she hoped him being unconscious for some time would help any spells he has on him subside. Luckily they has already removed his magic items. She nods at her friends to continue.

Lawrence walks over to the captive wizard, Jacquard, and cracks his knuckles. "The queen seems mighty angry, friend. She'll want someone to blame. Seein' as how the general is dead and your friends have left you behind, you would make an excellent scapegoat. But if you tell us where the princess is, maybe you can get out of this. What do you say? Let me help you." He replies in French (a language known to Lawrence) "Let you help me? You? An uneducated American ruffian? I would not waste my time with one such as you." Lawrence shrugs and replies, "Comme tu voudras. Bonne chance (As you wish. Good luck) ." He turns his back on the wizard.

George steps forward to the wizard, gesturing to Freya to come forward, and addresses him in French. "Bonjour Messier Jacquard. I believe you know the young lady here." George gestures over to Freya. "The Teutonic order isn't particularly fond of your Order these days. Freya, if he twitches wrong, put him out. In fact why don't you apply some gentle pressure just to make casting without his hands or silently that much harder for him." George then beckons over Ruby. "And I know you also know my fiancee. And I assure you she is as competent and capable as her grandmother. She is also as cunning, cruel and effective as she is stunningly beautiful." Ruby's lips turned into a smile but she kept concentrating on the wizard.

George pauses to give a smile to Ruby, before his face resets to a friendly smile towards the wizard. "Now, Jacquard, and do forgive my familiarity but I am in a bit of a hurry. As such I do not have time to pretend to the niceties of diplomacy. And other methods that can be quite efficacious as well as time saving may need to be employed. I respect my elders. I respect your exhaustive studies of arcane mysteries. I would hate to have to deprive you and the means to practice and employ those mysteries. So to ensure that everyone leaves here whole of body, mind and spirit, especially you sir. Tell us what you know of the plot tonight. And do not lie. Tell us how you manipulated or impersonated Orabi and where Nerfika is." says George calmly but with an underlying force to his words.

The French wizard is careful not to move even a finger as he clearly articulates "Mr. Eastman, I was not involved with the death of the King. General Orabi and the Egyptian Monarch had a long history that deteriorated into war. My only guilt was in bringing the man here on our dirigible under what we thought was a flag of truce. As to the whereabouts of his bride, when I saw her last she was at the Grand Hotel in Zakazik in her hotel room." George raises a quizzical eyebrow to both Ruby and Astrid seeking verification of veracity by the wizard. Neither are able to penetrate his thoughts. Ruby shrugged in response to George. Even though she was getting nothing from the wizard she would concentrate a little longer to be sure.

George says, "So if your only offense was transporting Orabi, then why did you attack those seeking to restore order?" He replies, "The Grand Vizier was trying to kill us, our response was self defense." "Interesting. And how pray tell, do you justify self defense when you cast first?" asks George. Jacquard replies, "I think that you are mistaken Sir, everything happened rather quickly. Those less familiar with magic often fail to understand the sequence of what is transpiring." "My what a unique manner of calling me stupid and blind. I am quite familiar with magic good sir, do not insult my intelligence or patience. If you cannot speak the truth perhaps Freya can wring it from you. One way or another." replies George.

The silence of the night is broken by the sound of a rifle firing. A bullet fires down from above that misses Jacquard's head by mere inches, striking the sand beside him. "Aha, well it appears your friends want you dead rather than speaking to us. Ruby sight the muzzle flash if there is another round and return fire. Freya stand behind Jacquard and prevent any spells from being cast, and ensure his friends do not accidentally hit you. Mina, Lawrence and Abby, take cover. In fact, Mina see if you can get a light up there. Sefu, do you have men to investigate?" says George rapidly marshaling the group.

Freya immediately moves around to the other side to stand over Jacquard with her armor. She appears totally fearless. Another bullet fires, slightly to the right of where Freya is standing, this one striking Jacquard in the leg. He screams out in pain and falls unconscious again. Lawrence takes cover when he hears the familiar sound of gunfire. "Where's it coming from?" Ruby nodded at George's instructions. She turned her body only slightly so she could keep concentrating on the wizard but still look for gun flashes. She slowly pulled her gun out of the holster to be readied. She spots the flash. It appears to be coming from near the top of the Pyramid of Khafre, the middle of the three which is only slightly smaller than the Khufu Pyramid closest to them.

Ruby shakes her head. "Well, I couldn't detect his thoughts and now that's a mute point. I did however see where the shot came from." She quickly pulls the loaded rifle off her back and shoots up to the top of the Pyramid of Khafre. "We should probably move, we're sitting ducks out here." "Sefu! Send up a sphinx!" shouts George pointing to the pyramid. The Barrister points toward the pyramid and sends the two female sphynx into the air.

The sniper fires a third shot, which strikes Freya but bounces off her armor. Abby and Ruby both see that he is perched about 50 feet down from the pyramid's peak, apparently braced with climbing gear and he trains his rifle below. Abby stepped back into shadow, but did not take full cover. Instead she pointed the rifle toward the distant shooter and fired. "Gotcha!" Ruby braced her feet, narrowed her eyes and shot again. Ruby's rifle was designed for sniper work and her shot is true. If finds the man and he falls from his perch. He tumbles around fifty feet before being scooped up by one of the sphynx. After Ruby fells the sniper, Lawrence breathes easily. He scans the area for better cover in case there are more assassins around.

"Keep an eye out for more shooters everyone, there could as easily be more. Let's see what the Sphinx brings back." says George turning to the wizard to assess his injury. Abby began moving through the shadows, scouting for more shooters. The sphynx soon lands by the Barrister's feet. The man is dressed in standard Egyptian garb but is caucasian rather than middle eastern. The hole that Ruby's shot placed in the center of his forehead indicates that further information from him will not be immediately forthcoming.

The Barrister sends the other Sphynx aloft to look for more shooters. He then tells the party "This area is too exposed, I am moving the prisoners and the Royals to that temple in Gizah that you had suggested." Ruby answers, "Good idea, we definitely need to move." Before she followed she walked over to the now dead shooter to get a good look at his face. George heads over to the shooter, searching him for any identification. He also notes his clothes and facial features employing ethnology and typological features and indicators to try to deduce his nationality. The face if familiar but George cannot place him. His clothing is local but one identifying characteristic is a ring on his right finger, indicating that he was a graduate of the Aix-Marsaille Univerisity, an old and distinguished French school.

Ruby says, "Come on George, I don't recognize, we need to get out of the line of fire. I got lucky with that last shot, we can't leave everything to fate you know! Let's get inside and discuss our next move." Sefu says, "We need to leave now for the temple. Eastman, are you taking the balloon to find the princess or not?" Ruby says, "He's right. We should get on the airship and start going, making our plans as we go." "Yes, I am Sefu, But I wanted to have some certainty about where she was. I think we have what we can out of Jacquard. So we will be setting off. You should make sure he doesn't bleed out." replies George.

Manual Gonzales slowly makes his way over to the body and casually takes a look at the man. Ruby says, "Good shot earlier Abby. I'm glad one of us got that guy before he got us." "Pretty sure that was your shot, not mine," Abby said quietly. "I don't like this whole situation. Something is making my instincts itch." Lawrence adds, "You should trust your instincts. Mine have served me well."

Chapter 98, “Back to Zakazik" September 12, 1882, 2:15 AM.

The group of Mina, Freya, George, Ruby, Lawrence, Abby, and Fish head towards the dirigible. Neferka's ogre bodyguard Mengesha joins them. George is happy to see that the assigned man is Lieutenant Colonel Dhahabiya Hassan, the man who assisted him with coordinating activities back at the telegraph office. Before they depart Gonzales approaches Ruby and whispers to her "The man you shot was Paul Cezanne, a French painter and apparently also a sniper. He is part of the French wizards group."

Ruby gulped a little but swallowed the guilt down. "Well, he was trying to kill the other French guy and one of us could have gotten killed!" She pursed her lips in displeasure and started stomping off into the airship. She stopped abruptly, turned on her heel, grabbed the dead man's weapon, then stomped off into the airship. Abby watched Ruby stomp inside. "I don't enjoy ending a life either, certainly not a talented one, but there is nothing wrong with defending ourselves." Lawrence shrugs and adds, "He chose to pick up a rifle rather than a paintbrush today. I hope there won't be any other artists trying to kill us today."

It takes George only minutes to re-familiarize himself with the airship's operation. Ruby composed herself during the trip, she just wouldn't let herself dwell on the necessities of war. During the ride on the airship she looked over the artist's weapon, now in her possession. The possibility that there was magical ammunition intrigued her and she spent most of the flight figuring this out. The weapon itself appears to be a fairly regular European-made rifle, which would have been inaccurate at the 300 yard distance he had fired from unless he were a superb marksman. Yet the shots were surprisingly accurate, supporting her theory of magical ammunition.

The balloon flight to Zakazik takes just under an hour. As the dirigible nears Zakazik they can see in the distance to the east the town of Tel-el Kabir, where from the hundreds of visible lights as it appears that both armies are preparing for the forthcoming battle. They soon reach the city and approach the Zakazik Grand Hotel. It is 3:15AM when they reach the roof, where a quartet of hotel employees assist in grabbing and securing the ropes to anchor the craft.

As the party exits they are greeted by Sultan Ali Ramuel, the nephew of the Hotel owner, who had first welcomed Ruby and Mina upon their arrival in Zakazik a week earlier. When they were landing Ruby saw the Sultan waiting there. She quickly fixed up her hair and adjusted her robes. Miraculously, even after having gotten shot not long before, they were pristine. Aphrodite had definitely been watching over her this night.

Abby stretched and got herself up from the ball she had curled herself into. Her exhaustion was enough that, even with those she couldn't count among those she might trust, she had gone straight to sleep. At least that had kept her from wondering what had happened to Cal and the others at the pyramids. She could only trust that he knew what he was doing and would be alright. "Gods, I'm tired," she muttered, and dug for her glasses. She followed Ruby out, warm, sleepy to sun in contrast to her vibrant fire. Her bright blue eyes behind her glasses took in everything around them. Let Ruby do the talking, she would do the watching.

Ruby exited the airship and greeted the Sultan with a sparkling smile. "Sultan Ali Ramuel, what a pleasure it is to see you again." A wide grin covers his face and he exclaims "Ah, dearest Ruby, it is indeed a pleasure to see you again. I suspected the craft would contain only elderly Frenchmen, my eyes certainly find this to be a marked improvement." Turning his eyes to Mina he says, "And the beautiful woman who you claim is your Grandmother. Hard to believe, clearly a case of child bride."

Ruby gave the man a little bow as her grandmother came up behind her. "Such a charmer you are Ali. And I am happy to see it's you here greeting us and not some form of trouble. But I must admit, I didn't think we would find you here. Hadn't you told me you would be out of town by now? I fear your prediction of bad times coming was correct." He says "I have been away and am now back. You are quite right, bad times are indeed coming. I do not know if it is the truth or not, but word has just reached us that the King has been killed."

"Yes, it's quite unfortunate that bad news is true." Ruby shook her head sadly. "And that is why we are here to fetch the Princess. It's urgent that we find her now. We've brought along her personal bodyguard to confirm this and for her protection. Is she in the same room as when we left?" He replies, "No, she left here at sunset with her husband on board this same balloon that you just arrived on. She is not with you?" "No, no she is not. We are afraid she has been kidnapped! Someone impersonated her. Could we please have access to the room they were in immediately before they left? Was it the same room I met with her before her marriage?"

He says, "I can bring you there, but it is mostly empty. The Frenchman Louis Dagurerre oversaw the collection of her things a couple of hours ago." "That bas....!" Ruby stopped short and took a deep breath in to regain her composure. George swears in a few languages. "We would like to see the room anyway. When and to where and how did Dagurerre leave?" She let the long breath out and exclaims "Yes, We would like to look around, you never know what we might find. If you see Mr. Dagurerre could you please quietly let us know? We'd all be most obliged."

The Sultan replies, "He and Mr. Chevreul arrived at around 1:00AM. Chevreul collected up most of his laboratory items from the Frenchmen's rooms while Dagurerre oversaw the collection of the Princesses items. They left ninety-minutes ago on another balloon, one about half the size of yours. It flew away to the north. Since that time the Princess's room has been vacant and locked. About a half-hour ago another Frenchman and colleague of theirs, the Mathematician Jean-Gaston Darboux, arrived with word of the King's death. He is currently in the rooms that the other Frenchmen had stayed in."

George perks up. Lowering his voice he says, "Ok, Freya, go see if you can get airborne and head north and find the other airship. Don't engage, just follow it and see where it lands. Then head back and report." Freya agrees, but decides to wait until the Sultan and his four assistants exit the roof before transforming into the dragon form and taking flight.

"Sultan, if you would show us to the Frenchman's room, we have a few questions for Mr. Darboux," adds George with an edge to his voice that left no room for the Sultan to decline. Lawrence asks, "George, are you planning on a little rough-and-tumble?" George says, "Yes, but that will have to wait until Ruby and I get back to our room. In the meanwhile I need to punch someone. And I would prefer a Gallic face right now." *Snort* Lawrence shakes his head. "Kids these days. In any case, that sounds about right."

They head downstairs. The Sultan lets Ruby, Mina and Mengesha into the Princess's room and then continues on with the other men. They spend the next ten minutes looking around. Ruby notes that nearly all of the Princess's clothing is still in the closet. Mengesha also comments that nearly everything that the Princess brought with her is still there, with the one notable exception being the large steamer trunk that she had originally brought her things in. Ruby asks, "That trunk was large enough to fit the Princess in it, wasn't it Mengesha?" "Yes, it would have been," is his concerned reply.

Ruby says, "So they smuggled her out in the trunk so no one would see it was her, while they had the actress play her. The question is, how long ago did they move her and where. I only hope that Freya can find them to the north." Ruby tapped her lips. "I wonder...," She casts the familiar detect magic and gives a good look around the room. Despite the vast number of the Princess's things still remaining in the room, none appear to be magical, an indication that the French wizards apparently did the same before departing. Ruby sighed. "I knew it was a long shot. I think we've found all we will in here. Let's go see if the others are having more luck." She stood wistfully at the door for a moment before leading her grandmother and the guard to the other room.

While George, Lawrence, Hassan and Fish are escorted by the Sultan to the rooms of the French. Rather than knocking the Sultan uses his pass key to open the door. Lawrence and Fish have been in this suite before but it is new to Hassan and George. They enter into a large room with chairs and couches. A well stocked bar is along the side wall and several empty wine bottles are in a wooden waste basket beside the bar. Off from this room is a long corridor with four doors on each side of the corridor. Two of the four doors are open. One leads to the dining room and Lawrence notices that the large map of Eygpt is now gone.

The other open door is to the kitchen, which Chevreul had converted into a laboratory. There appears to be somebody in that room. Lawrence calls out, "Hello, who's there?" He replies in French "Hello, I am Jean Darboux." A man then exits the room who is clearly NOT the French mathematician Jean Darboux, as Lawrence and George recognize him as Maurice Beaujoulais. They last saw him approximately twelve hours earlier in Cairo as the palace was being bombed by the Dreadnaught. The Sultan steps forward and says to Beaujoulais "Mr. Darboux, these people wished to speak to you."

George hesitates for a fraction of a heartbeat as his eyebrow raises then slowly speaks "Hello Mr. Darboux, how do you do. May we have a word with you?" He says, "Why yes Mr. Eastman, my associate Mr. Chevruel said you had a question regarding my recent journal article about Geometric Theorems." George begins to expound upon mathematical ideas. Not wanting to listen to a pair of academics discuss math, the Sultan excuses himself. Lieutenant Hassan decides the same and says that he will go check on the status of the Egyptian Army in Zakazik.

As soon as the Sultan and Hassan leave and the door closes George rushes up to Maurice grasping his hand. "Well this is a surprise Maurice. How is is we find you here? And where is Darboux? There is much trouble afoot and time is wasting"

Maurice replies, "Well my friend, the last half-day or so appear to have been busy for both of our teams. How I got here is a long story. When we last were together the Egyptian Palace was under attack from the Dreadnaught dirigible from above. Your team headed up to deal with the threat, but my main priority at the time was my wounded and unconscious colleague Henry Jekyll. That he was also in the form of a Rhinoceros further complicated matters.

So Callum and I raided the King's treasure room and "borrowed" a magical carpet from his magic trove, to get Henry out of there. We headed to a safe house in Heliopolis until the animal transformation potion wore off. Meanwhile, young Henry Jones and Callum had heard rumors at that point of Freya's destruction of the Dreadnaught and that the balloon gondola and it's French passengers were prisoners of the United States Navy. That was your doing I assume.

The next news was several hours later, that General Orabi had met with the King and murdered him in cold blood and that Chevruel and Daguerre had escaped. Jekyll was in better shape then, and I realized that Zakazik was probably the destination of the French wizards, so we boarded the carpet and flew here. Henry Jones snuck into the hotel disguised as an Egyptian servant boy, discovering that the French had come here and left in a hurry. Given their hasty departure I decided to investigate, so took a page from your friend Abigail's book and assumed one of their identities to gain access to their rooms. I chose Darboux because my latest intelligence said he is currently with their team way down in Nubia, and his face wouldn't be well known."

Gesturing to the closed bedroom door Maurice says, "Take a look, it appears that I arrived just in time." George moves forward commenting, "Oh and wait until you hear the whole story from the slaying of the king. It's a doozy." "Do tell," Maurice state." Ok, first let's see this room. Have you heard anything about the princess? We believe the French have her captive." replies George heading up to look into the room. In the center of the bedroom is a huge block of melting ice, approximately six-feet high, six-feet deep and eight-feet wide. In the center of the ice there appears to be a large wooden crate, with a small wooden box on the top of it.

Fish gestures that he wants a word alone with George. Lawrence catches the signal and engages Boujoulais in conversation. As Lawrence engages Maurice in conversation, George heads over to inspect the contents of the room. As he does so he sidles up to Fish. "Yeah?" he whispers from the side of his mouth. Fish whispers "This guy's story has holes in it big enough to drive a carriage through. About a half-hour after the dirigible crash I spotted him near the palace, along with Callum Stuart, Henry Jones and that other kid. I followed them from Cairo to Gizah, and they got there on a carriage pulled by an old horse, no magical carpet."

George whispers back to Fish "So is he playing double agent, self-aggrandizing, or is this NOT actually Maurice? What does your gut tell you?" Fish says, "Hard to say, none of us really know the guy, if this is him. All I know is that his story doesn't stand up to what I saw."

Ruby and her team arrive at the wizard's rooms. George and Fish and looking into one of the side rooms while Lawrence is talking to the American of French descent, Maurice Beaujoulais, who was working with the British spies. "Maurice, pleasure to see you again," Ruby said as she swept into the room. "What are you doing here?" He replies, "Averting a disaster and trying to stop a war!" Ruby says, "As are we! I am so glad you made it out of the crumbling palace okay. So, what is your plan here? Have you seen the Princess?"

She does not sense any overt deception from him. He says, "No, but I haven't left this suite since I arrived. I've been rather busy." He gestures into the room that Fish and George are looking into. Inside the center of the bedroom is a huge block of melting ice, approximately six-feet high, six-feet deep and eight-feet wide. In the center of the ice there appears to be a large wooden crate, with a small wooden box on the top of it. "What this?" she asks with furrowed brows, looking it over closely.

"You said you arrived just in time. Just in time for what? And what is in the boxes?" George asks Maurice. Maurice says, "The large box is filled with dynamite, the smaller box has the clock and triggering mechanism for the bomb, and the crate itself has magical "Pyrotechnics" glyphs on it, to increase the explosion ten-fold. Daguerre and Chevreul apparently didn't want to leave any evidence or witnesses behind so decided to blow up this building up after they left. When I found this the clock was down to six minutes remaining. There wasn't time to evacuate the hotel so I created the ice barrier to muffle the blast. We were fortunate, as the ice also appears to have also stopped the clock in the process."

Lawrence says, "Smart thinking, Maurice. We should get this out of here now that the clock has stopped. That ice won't last long in this heat. We'll need a cart or something to get it out of the city. Carrying it out ourselves will be too slow. Did you find anything else?" He replies, "Yes, Chevruel's laboratory was filled with burners, beakers and pots. But he took whatever liquids he was working on with him as well as his ingredients. It would have been helpful if I knew what it was he was concocting in here." Lawrence replies, "Rats. Chevruel escaped after the king got killed. Maybe he didn't clean his gear out completely."

Ruby says, "We have to save this city again, eh? We should be getting paid!" She kneels next to the boxes and sits back on her feet while continuing to inspect the bomb. "Can you dispel the pyrotechnics on the box? Do you think that part of it will go off in some way if I try to disarm the bomb?" He says, "Probably not, as Daguerre and Chevruel are both much more powerful wizards that I am. The creation of the ice around it, which lifted the boxes two-feet higher in the air, did not set it off. So I think that it is safe to move them. Although I doubt we have the strength to do that due to the weight of the ice. I estimate that it will probably be a good three to four hours until the ice is fully melted away.

Young Henry Jones, still dressed as an Egyptian servant boy, arrives at the room. He announces "News of the deaths of the King and of General Orabi have now reached the Egyptian Rebel camp. Orabi's second-in-command General Fehmy has taken charge and has dedicated the upcoming battle to be fought to honor Orabi as a martyr to their cause. The troops appear to be very motivated." George asks Henry to search for any notebooks or writings or samples that were overlooked in the lab.

"Well...," she paused as she looked to George and her other friends. George and Fish both have apprehensive expressions so she wasn't sure just how much she should share with this man or if they should trust him at all. She continued with measured words, "We might have a way to move it but it is uncertain when we could do so and time is running out so we shouldn't count on it. Out of curiosity Maurice, whatever happened to the other man who was with you at one point, Cal I think his name was?"

He replies, "Callum Stuart and Doctor Henry Jekyll. They took the flying carpet north. That was the direction that the dirigible had gone away to, so we assume that Chevruel and Daguerre are heading up to their battleship." "How many of those huge ships do they have?!?" Ruby said exasperatedly. He says, "Just the one, and it's not an airship, it's an actual Battleship. The ironclad three-mast ship Armide was part of the French Navy. They sold it to the wizards a short while ago, and the Wizards then magically enhanced it."

She says, "We destroyed one of their huge airships earlier today, the dirigible gun ship that attacked the palace. And we currently have another of their ships in our possession." There was a long silence while Ruby tried to ponder out what was just said. "I'm confused. They have a flying battleship, like, a real ship ship?" He says, "No, it doesn't fly. It is a real ship, although they've used magic to dramatically increase its speed on the water. The original Battleship Armide had a maximum speed of 10 knots, around 12 miles-an-hour. They've quadrupled it, so it goes close to 50 miles-an-hour. I only know of two other ships that can achieve that type of speed."

She asks, "Which two ships would that be?" Gesturing to Willamina he says, "One is James Parker's ship Magnificence, which my sources indicate will be arriving in Alexandria at around noon today. The other is a ship under my command and is currently waiting in Herakleion, fifteen miles east of Alexandria. That ship is secretly watching the French ship Armide, with orders to sink it if they attempt to escape with Princess Neferka's dowery. Those priceless Egyptian artifacts should not be allowed to leave Egyptian waters."

"My grandfather has a fine ship, yes." Again, she was afraid to give too much away. "How do you know when his ship is arriving?" He says, "It was seen crossing into the Mediterranian Sea just before dawn almost a day ago. Based upon the ship's speed, and my assumption that he wishes to reunite with his wife as soon as possible, I estimate it will reach Egypt at noon." Clever not admitting to his sources... she thinks. "Well, yes, I do believe my grandfather's ship is on its way here. But that isn't going to help us with this bomb. I can try to disarm it myself though it is something a little different than I have dealt with before."

While this conversation is going on George further examines the ice block, which is now around 20-inches on all sides of the chest, so will not currently fit through the door. The outside corridor leads to the staircase down to the main floors and up to the roof. There is also a large picture window on this floor that could be broken and the block of ice would fit through. He concludes that it must be removed as it would probably bring the whole building down if it explodes anywhere inside. George, still pondering how to deal with the bomb, leaves to explore the other doors off this hallway. Based upon Maruice's estimate on the melting, in approximatley 90-minutes enough will have melted to get it through the door.

Ruby is confident that she could disconnect the triggering mechanism from the explosives, however, she is totally uncertain about the magical glyphs on it and the possibility that disarming it might set some of them off. "If it comes down to it, I know I can disarm the bomb. I'm not positive about the magic on it but I have Aphrodite to protect me. If it comes down to it, that is. Otherwise, WE could get it out of here, take it in our airship and drop it in the middle of the desert. Right?" Maurice smiles and says, "I like your plan. We could drop it anywhere we want, in the desert, in the middle of this battle that will start in a couple of hours, or on the French ship Armide."