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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 5500330" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 51 "Welcome to the Zakazik Grand Hotel” (Episode Two, Chapter Eleven) - Thursday, September 7, 1882, 2:00 P.M.The crew returns to their hotel room and for the next several hours they work on their various makeup, disguises and concealing various weapons.  They then split into three groupings,  Mina and Ruby state their intentions to head off to the fancy hotel to check in as guest, adding that one of the men should also accompany them.  "I will of course accompany my intended," replies George "So she can protect me" he adds with a smile.Fish says that he will lead a 'stealth' team to follow and watch both the first group and hotel.  Lawrence says, "OK, Fish. That works for me. Let's go to the hotel."  A third group will be led by Alsoomse, to simultaneously investigate the city.  Abby states, "I'll go on with Alsoomse. I'm not feelin' much like a fancy dinner this evenin'."  John says that he will stay back at this hotel, to be able to assist either group if needed.  Alsoomse says she will bring the parrot with her and send it back with a message if they run into trouble. George, Mina and Ruby head out with their luggage in the direction of the fancy hotel. The sign by the front doorway reads "Zakazik Grand Hotel" in English as well as similar names in French, Italian, German, Greek and Arabic. Upon entering the building the most immediate thing noticed is a sharp decrease in temperature, with the interior of the building being in the high sixties or low seventies. The main lobby is brightly lit with a number of side rooms, most of which appear to be restaurants or taverns. The center of the room has a large fountain with a statue of Bast in the center. Young boys wearing the official uniforms of he hotel hurry forward to relieve George of the bags while young girls offer glasses of ice water to all three travelers. An Egyptian man in a three-piece suit and top hat steps forward to greet George.  George greets the man in Arabic "Marhaba. I would like to inquire about rooms"The man replies in Arabic "Yes indeed sir, we have the finest rooms in the city. Will you want separate individual rooms or a suite? And please specify the age and gender desired for each personal assistant and if you will be requiring their services during the daytime hours, evening hours, or around the clock."   "Yes, a suite please, with three rooms."  The clerk says, "Yes sir, and the attendants? Male? Female? And for how much of the day?"  George replies, "Two female, and until tomorrow, though my business may keep me longer."While George is checking in an Egyptian man wearing gold-embroidered robes and lots of gold jewelry heads over towards Mina and Ruby and says in heavily accented English, "What beautiful red hair! Would the two of you be from the Emerald Isle? I spent much of my youth in Dublin and Belfast.""Why thank you," Ruby replies to the man, shaking out her long hair to make it bounce. "Actually, our family is from England. From your accent it sounds as if you are also familiar with England, or there must be a curious story as to your accent..." She looks at him with a questioning, curious gaze.  He smiles and says, "My Maternal Grandfather was from Ireland and saw to my education there. I am Sultan Ali Ramuel. And what brings you lovely creatures to this isolated part of the world?"Ruby smiles and gives him a little curtsy. "Pleasure to meet you Sultan Ali and thank you for the compliment! My Nana and I are here on vacation. A little adventure and sightseeing does one good, I am sure you know. It's so beautiful here I have always been curious to take a look around at the wonders."  Ali smiles and replies, "Well then, I welcome you here to my Uncle's hotel, and hope that you will enjoy your stay. I would, however, suggest that you not stay too long in Zakazik, trouble appears to be on its way here.""Your Uncle you say? What a lucky man, this hotel is absolutely stunning." Ruby furrows her brows in a way her Nana knows is an act, "Trouble you say? What kind of trouble? And will this trouble be here soon? I'd hate to have my vacation cut short."  He replies, "A very bad kind of trouble, which I fear will impact your vacation. Foreign invaders. I came here to assist my Uncle prepare for the worst.""What are these foreign invaders after? And when will they be here? I'll be so disappointed if I have to cut my dream vacation short," Ruby pouts.  Ali replies, "British soldiers, the same ones who have been bombarding Alexandria for the last three months. They're now coming overland and will be here in two or three days. I plan to be gone before they arrive."  She asks, "Any idea what they are after?"  Ali replies, "Total control of all of Egypt.""Oh, well, is that all? Who wouldn't want that?" Ruby sighs, "Well, I suppose it might cut our vacation short then. That's too bad I was so excited to see all of this beautiful country.  I'm curious, what is that big balloon thing attached to the building? It looks... interesting." George has finished arranging for a suite, but remains across the room and keeps an attentive ear on Ruby's conversation, not wanting to interrupt the free flow of information.Ali replies, "It belongs to some of our guest. I can introduce them to you at dinner if you would like. I am sure that they would be happy to tell you of their wondrous invention."  Ruby says, "Oh that sounds exciting! I love adventure. So tell me, what do you suggest we do here with our limited time?"  He replies, "One of the men with the balloon is an archaeologist who is familiar with the ancient ruins of Bubastus. Perhaps he could give you a tour tomorrow.""I will most certainly ask him tonight then. Thank you for all your help you have been most kind." Ruby loops her arm through Nana's then stops short. "What time is dinner sir?"  He replies, "7:00 PM, four hours from now."  "Very well." With a nod of her head Ruby leads her grandmother away and over to George.  "Anything else either of you need to do before dinner? I'm thinking we should wait until we hear the story of that balloon before we go searching it."Mina says, "I imagine that the rooms will be rather elegant. I for one wouldn't mind taking advantage of that in the short term. And quite frankly, due to the time difference, I wouldn't mind a nap as well, otherwise I might fall asleep during the meal."  At the desk, two female Egyptian teenagers are called forward and assigned to George and his party. They are introduced as Cleo and Tierra and both appear to be around sixteen years of age. They accompany him over to where Mina and Ruby are waiting.Good idea Nana. Let's have some baths and a nice nap then we will proceed with the evening. We will need to be fresh and well rested tonight for our little dinner."  She waves to the girls. "Good afternoon ladies. We'd like to have baths and naps, if you don't mind helping us get settled in the rooms, we'd appreciate it."  She takes George's arm then follows the girls up to their new room, taking a good look around and she walks through the hotel.The girls lead them up to a third floor five-room suite. The center room has a sunken floor with a coffee table and pillows in the center. Colorful tapestries and paintings of ships on the Nile adorn the walls. A four-foot high statue of Bast stands near the door. Three of the side rooms are bedrooms, each with plush king sized beds. The other room is an elaborate marble bathroom with one large bathtub and one small bathtub.George hands each of the girls a few coins and dismisses them. After the doors are closed he turns to Mina and Ruby. "Maybe a late night, I think a nap is definitely a good idea Mina. Though I do think we need to have some idea of what we wish to accomplish and how. I fear I am still rather troubled by my lack of comprehension of what is is we intend to accomplish."While it is mid-afternoon in Egypt the trio have actually been awake for much longer so settle down in their beds.  The pair of servant girls have departed. Mina agrees that a nap is certainly in order and heads into one of the three bedrooms, closing the wooden door from the inside.  Ruby also agrees a nap is in order. She drags George off into one of the bedroom, quickly strips down and collapses into bed. Meanwhile, Fish and Lawrence had followed the trio of Mina, Ruby and George from a discrete distance until they entered the hotel. They then looked around for an entrance other than the front door, seeing a number of doors to the side of the building. A young man wearing a simple white tunic stained with food steped outside from a side door and emptied a bucket of food scraps into the alley, which two stray dogs then poke through.   Lawrence nudges Fish and says, "Here we go. Let's wait for him to go back in, then wait a minute. I doubt they'll lock this door. Too much trouble for the staff."  "Yes," replies Fish quietly, "Let's each take a hit of Alsoomse's juju and saunter on over there." Benjamin and Lawrence each takes a swig of the Elixir of Comprehension, which temporarily overwhelms them with the various sounds of the city as well as smells from the alley way.Fish has a keen sense of his surroundings, used as he is to dark alleys and the riff raff that frequent them. He adds one last detail to his disguise, smearing some mud along one incisor and scuffing his lapels. He then spits on Cantrell's coat and follows that up with a handful of dirt rubbed in for effect.  "Lawrence, what say you we go commiserate with them other working stiffs, like that pearl diver over there that just emptied his dish water in the street?"Fish and Lawrence approach the door. They hear voices inside speaking in Arabic, which their ears hear as Arabic but it is then mentally translated within their head with the comprehension of what is being stated. The two men who are speaking currently talking about when they anticipate the enemy armies to arrive.Fish reaches inside his vest to extract a small leather pouch with a drawstring, presses it flat, and then proceeds to wrap it neatly inside brown paper. "Cooks need rare spice to prepare fancy meals, right, Lawrence?" he says with a wink. "Good thing we're delivering this 'mastic', huh?" He steps toward the kitchen door, tilting his head to indicate Cantrell should follow.  Lawrence nods and follows Fish. He tests out the elixir by trying to say in Arabic, "Can we speak or just understand? Anyway, delivery men sounds good. Just pretend like we belong and start raising our voices if they get suspicious.""Suspicion is to be expected, Lawrence," quips Fish with a sly grin, "our objective is fairly simple: gather info, chat with the kitchen crew, pass through and move on. George 'Fancy Pants' may be all that, but we're the ones gatherin' the intel!"  Fish and Lawrence reach the back door just as it opens again, the man having a pail full of soapy dishwater.   Lawrence taps Fish on the shoulder and says, "Here we go. Showtime." He walks up to the man and hopes the potion works as advertised. "Hold the door, my good man. We have a important delivery here."  The man holds the door and says in response to Lawrence's comment, "Ah yes Sahbib, hurry up with that, Urbek has been waiting for it."  Fish waves the package. Lawrence bows and replies, "Excellent. We'll get it to him right away."   The cook nods towards a side door of the room and says, "Good, you made good time to get it here from Memphis this fast.”   The cook holds the door as Lawrence and Fish exit into the service corridor saying "Urbek is in the laundry room". Lawrence nods and heads down the hallway. "Let's go, friend. Urbek's waiting." They travel for twenty feet when a plump man in a plain linen tunic and wearing a scruffy beard exits from a hot room filled with freshly folded sheets and towels. He says, "Ah, the messengers from Memphis! Do you have what the Frenchman was looking for?"  Lawrence says, "Yes, yes. Of course. We have it right here. Now, where is he so we can give it to him in person?"  Urbek hands Lawrence a pile of clean folded towels and pointing to a door says, "He is on the top floor, in the Executive Suite. Take the servants staircase up and if anybody asks say that you are delivering towels."Fish speaks softly, though his charm is palpable. "Do tell, Urbek, what's really in the parcel? We've traveled all these many nights under shadow and slept too many fitfully hot days in tents with sand fleas molesting our nether NOT to have finally arrived with your package and gain no clue what the freight was! It made sense not knowing for the trip itself: ignorance IS bliss. That ugly red signet ring won us uncontested passage repeatedly, although occasionally a threat, a slap, and/or a palm full of coins helped too. What has the frog acquired?"Urbek replies, "I don't know anything about a ring. And as far as I know, all that you are bringing is a feather from some sort of very rare bird. The French alchemist needs it for a special elixir he is making." While he is speaking the man hands Fish another pile of clean and folded towels.  Heading up the stairs with the towels, Fish turns to Cantrell and says quietly, "I can't bluff the existence of a feather we don't have! What do we do next? Reconnoiter and then duck out?"They reach the top floor and are momentarily surprised to see four armed guards outside of the door, all wearing uniforms of the French Foreign Legion. "Who are you?" one of them say?  "Fresh towels!" grins Fish, offering up the linens.  The man removes a key from his belt and unlocks the door, a second soldier holding the door for Fish and Lawrence to enter.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. Another armed guard in a Foreign Legionnaire uniform is at the end of this corridor and he raises his rifle in their direction.Feigning deference, Fish asks, "Here on the bar OK, soldier?" while moving to set the towels on the counter. He glances at Cantrell.  The guard yells out in French "Mr. Chevreul, we have company."  One of the doors opens and out walks a well dressed man who looks to be around sixty-five years of age, clean shaven, with white and gray hair in a bit of disarray.  He removes a pair of rubber gloves from his hand and approaches Fish and Lawrence, stating in French "Are you the messengers? Did you find it?"Fish feigns incomprehension. Bowing, he says, "Sahib, we are here with your linens. Every apology for disturbing you." He glances again at Lawrence and backs up toward the door while continuing to bow.  The Fenchman gestures to a pair of doors on the opposite side of the main living room and replies in Arabic "Put half of them in the master bath and the others in the kitchen." He turns and heads back into the room he came from. Before the door is shut Lawrence and Fish glimpse what appears to be laboratory equipment inside of that room.Fish and Lawrence see that the kitchen is a large room with a lit woodstove roaring away and a dozen of pots of various sizes containing liquids and thicker fluids boiling atop them, but none of the contents smell or look anything like food. A basket full of damp and soiled towels is near the door, as it appears they were down to the final clean towel. The door to an unoccupied adjacent dining room is propped slightly open.  Lawrence carries half of the towels.  He takes a good look before setting his towels on an empty shelf. He sneaks some sniffs of the bubbling liquids and tries to remember them for later. Lawrence gently pushes the dining room door open. The dining table has been pushed alongside the far wall, with all of the chairs removed and along another wall. Fastened to the entire five-by-twelve foot table is an enormous map of Lower Egypt, the area of the Nile Delta, prominently showing where the Nile forks shortly after Cairo with the Rosetta Branch flowing northwest to the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria and the Damietta Branch flowing northeast to the Mediterranean Sea near Port Said. Sitting atop the map in various places are eight piles of playing cards. Each pile has exactly six cards, with at least one card of each of the four suits in each grouping of six. The playing card box is in the table corner, with another six cards inside it.  Lawrence whispers to Fish, "What do you think they have going on here?"  Lawrence describes the scene to Fish. "Huh. What do you make of this? Are they playing for control of different areas of the country? Or is this some sort of ritual?" He notes what areas are covered by each pile.Atop Zakazig are the Ace and Club of Hearts, the Jacks of Spades and Diamonds, the Eight of Spades and the Two of Clubs.  East of Zakazig atop Tanis are the King of Spades, Nine of Diamonds, Seven and Six of Clubs, and Threes of Spades and Clubs.  Further East at Port Siad are the King of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs, Tens of Hearts and Clubs, Six of Clubs and Five of Spades.  Northwest of Zakazig between there and the Sea at the town of Damanhur are the Ace of Clubs, King of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Seven of Diamonds, the Four of Spades and Two of Diamonds.  At the Coastal city of Alexandria are the Queen of Spades, Sevens of Clubs and Spades, Six of Clubs, Five of Hearts and Four of Diamonds.  Not far from Alexandria at the town of Athribis are the King of Spades, Queen and Jack of Hearts, Ten and Nine of Clubs and Three of Diamonds.  To the Southwest at Cairo are the Ace of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, Ten of Diamonds, Nine of Spades, Eight of Hearts and Five of Clubs.  The cards remaining in the box are the Five of Diamonds, the Four, Three and Two of Hearts and both Jokers.   A few miles north of Cairo, when the Nile forks at Heliopolis are the Queen of Clubs, Nine of Hearts, Eight of Diamonds, Six of Diamonds, Four of Clubs and Two of Spades.Lawrences replaces the cards as he found them. He sets down the towels and says to Fish, "We should go. I don't think there's any more information to get here. The others need to know about this."  "Agreed!" replies Fish. He looks around for something small but interesting to palm as they slip out.  He finds an onyx stone of the Egyptian God Anibus.Fish shares with Lawrence a glimpse of the stone he liberated, tossing it from one palm to the other, arching his eyebrows and pressing smooth lips into a thin lecherous grin. "This stone is freakishly cold! Cantrell, we need to find the others right quick." He squirrels the item away inside a false hem behind his left pant leg. "Lady Wilamina pays me well when I liberate baubles like this one! Besides, don't you wanna see what the hens are wearing tonight? We should choose an ostentatious bouquet for the ladies. There's gotta be some street vendors between here and the hotel. Ooh! And Ruby loves chocolate! I'll get some of that for sure!"Lawrence pats him on the back. "You should be careful about trying to impress Miss West so hard. She is smitten with Mr. Eastman. However, a bouquet is a capital idea, Fish. I wonder what that stone is used for. James will probably know. Let's go." "While that's true, Lawrence, it is kinda fun watching George trip over a slow burn!" replies Fish mischievously. "Miss West is a flirt and curvy too, but I'd never come between the two of them," says Fish lightheartedly. "Besides, her grandmother pays far too well!" he adds with a wink.  Lawrence replies, "Aye. Well then carry on. As long as you enjoy the chase. Like a dog chasing a carriage." He winks.</blockquote>

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