by Paul Edwards
Chapter four
I found Peter in our quarters, he was watching TV, or more accurately sleeping in front of one. I watched his chest rise and fall rhythmically as I listened to his quiet snores.
He was so particular about what programs he watched, usually sports or awful films of people chasing each other shooting guns. The odd thing was he slept through just about all of them, the only time he woke up was when the show ended, then he would change the channel.
I picked up the remote and shut off the TV.
"Hey... I was watching that," Peter said as he jerked awake.
"The blue team won," I said.
"Kansas?"
"Ya... Kansas, we gotta talk."
"Um... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that."
"Do what?"
"Whatever it is you're going to get mad at me for."
I felt a surge of anger, then I calmed myself, I had been losing my temper a lot lately. I had been getting fed up dealing with Shelley and Janet, I had started to realize I had been taking it out on Peter.
"We have to go on a trip."
"Where? Up North... we could rent a cottage on a lake... go fishing have barbeques."
I had to admit that sounded nice.
"Ancient Egypt, around twenty six hundred BC."
"Really? Isn't that when the pyramids were built?"
"The first ones, the bigger ones came about a hundred years later."
"Why?"
"I gotta talk to a dead sorceress, I don't want to go alone it's dangerous."
"Where in Egypt?"
I picked up a large coffee table book then flipped through the pages until I found a large map of ancient Egypt.
"There," I pointed to a city on the tip of the Nile delta.
"Hmm... Memphis."
"Well Men-nefer... actually it was called the City of the White Walls in the old kingdom."
"I'll stick with Memphis, wonder if we'll see Graceland," Peter said smiling.
I had heard of Graceland, I had seen part of a TV program about it once while I was flipping between channels, it was a large temple that pilgrims travelled to in order to pay homage to a long dead king.
There would be lots temples for him to see in Memphis, many of them dedicated to kings.
"We must get ready, we will leave immediately."
"Why?" Peter asked, a concerned look on his face.
"The sooner we solve the problem this sorcerer left us the better."
I did not tell Peter that I was fed up with Shelley and Janet's bickering and I just wanted to get away from them.
I did not know how long the both of us would be gone so I gave Gwen all my notes for the film that I was producing. I showed her a picture of Mr Selznick and told her that I had scheduled a meeting with him every week.
"You must be very forceful with him or he will change the script."
"Don't worry Kem... he will fear me."
Gwen clenched her fists and attempted to look intimidating, an image of a kitten pouncing on a piece of string popped into my head.
"Ya... and visit the sound stage... but do it unannounced then he won't be able to hide anything."
"I will be like a hawk and watch his every move," she said.
I was suddenly struck by how fearless she was, I had supervised people many times in my life, it was normally a chore to get someone to do something onerous.
"And try to keep Janet and Shelley from killing each other... if you can."
Gwen's posture changed suddenly, her shoulders became square and a look of fierce determination appeared on her face.
"I will deal with them," her voice was lower, for the first time I could see a tiny bit of flint in her eyes.
It occurred to me that Gwen was probably just as fed up with their behavior as I was.
Peter and I spent the next hour preparing our outfits and equipment for our journey into the past. We were going so far back in time that horses had not yet been domesticated in Egypt, we would have to walk and carry everything.
I wore a conservative dress and a large thick wig, I had previously doused my hair with anti-lousing powder. I was probably dramatically increasing my chances of getting cancer, but I preferred that to having filthy little bugs burrowing into my head.
I had dressed Peter up as a manservant, a perfect counterpoint to my costume as a minor noblewoman.
I conjured up a small vial of kohl and painted both our eyes in the distinctive eye of Horus pattern.
"Geez... even guys wore makeup?" Peter said, an annoyed expression on his face.
"Relax, the real reason people wore it was to keep the fly's away."
"Oh..."
"Ya... and don't drink or eat anything."
"It's that bad?"
"Hygiene hasn't been invented yet, just remember, when I was growing up half the people I knew were dead by the time I was fifteen, I personally think soap and the flush toilet are mankind's greatest inventions."
"So what are we going to eat?"
I tapped my magic bracelet.
"Whatever we want... do you have all your shots... tetanus... etcetera?" I asked.
"Ya, I had to, one of the launch sites I had to visit was in a tropical country, what about you?"
Before I had met Peter he had been running a company that manufactured a device that assisted large rockets to get into orbit using less fuel.
The device was just his stone moving spell disguised as a bolt on component.
"I have an obsessive compulsive disorder, I've been vaccinated against every illness possible."
The OCD had been the result of having viruses and bacteria explained to me when I had woken up in the future. I had had to see a psychologist for many weeks before I was able to stop washing my hands constantly.
"What about malaria?"
"Mosquito repellant for you, I'm probably immune having lived in the past, but I will use the repellant as well. Malarial drugs are almost as bad as the disease."
"Did you every catch it?" Peter asked, curious.
"Hmm... I don't know... I have had many horrible illnesses, we never really named them back then."
"What did you think caused them?"
"Bad luck... the gods... curses... honestly there was always a feeling that we were being punished for something, it sounds weird now."
"Not really... I've had bad things happen to me... that's the way I felt sometimes."
We walked together to the room with the doorway spell, Harry, Nancy, Janet and Gwen were in front of the entrance in order to see us off.
"I will send a message every day, if you don't hear from me for more than two days then I probably need some help," I said to the group.
The three girls came forward and hugged me, all of them telling me to be careful. I shook Harry's hand then grabbed Peter's elbow and walked inside the transport room.
I pulled out a piece of paper with the co-ordinates of the time and place we needed to travel to, I had researched it previously.
The transport spell in the room was not particularly well written and it took a bit time and some calculations to set the dials and levers properly.
I was always intending to rewrite it but never got around to it.
I pulled the final lever and a second door appeared on the wall, right beside the door to nineteen thirty seven Los Angeles.
The door was a non-descript metal door, the other side of which would be disguised as part of a limestone wall in a small temple. We were going so far back in time that unlike today, a random door might look suspicious.
There was a brass key in the doors lock, I turned it unlocking it then pulled the key out, I grabbed Peters hand as I pushed the door open and then we both walked through. I turned and waved to the everyone as we left.
Peter and I emerged into a small dimly lit temple, there was a life sized statue on one end with a small altar in front of it, at the other end there was a large open door leading out to a dusty street.
I closed the do
or behind us then used the key to lock it, the keyhole was just a small slit just large enough for the key. The door blended smoothly into the wall, only close inspection would reveal the small crack surrounding it.
The key had a leather cord tied to it which I used to hang it around my neck.
"I see Egypt was just as hot in the past as the future," Peter said, he was already starting to sweat.
I conjured up a small aerosol can of mosquito repellant, it was military grade, and started spraying Peter.
"Geez, that stinks, aren't people here gonna wonder what the weird smell is?"
"Just wait, then you'll understand," I said.
I sprayed myself down and then dispelled the can.
I told Peter to stay close to me then cautiously stepped through the door and out onto the street.
"Holy shit!" I heard Peter say behind me, I turned and looked at him, his eyes had started to water and he had shoved the back of his hand under his nose.
"Welcome to the past," I said laughing.
"How the hell do people stand this... it smells like a landfill... actually a landfill would be a big step up."
"Believe it or not you get used to it."
I looked back at the temple in order to get a mental picture of it, then I flipped a few squares on my bracelet using a spell to bookmark its spot. I would now be able to find my way back to it even if we got lost.
I looked up and down the street it was narrow and deserted. I had purposely transported us to an area off the beaten track.
"You gotta act kinda subservient, remember you're my servant," I said to Peter.
I saw his eyes narrow.
"How do I do that?"
"Just pretend I'm a celebrity and you're my assistant."
"Oh... that's it?"
"Yep... some things never change, self important jerks have been around for eons."
Peter and I started walking down the dusty street, we turned onto another larger street, I saw people for the first time. We did not seem to be out of place for they took no notice of us. We soon emerged into a large market square teeming with people and stalls full of merchandise.
I scanned the crowd looking for a for a particular type of person, I soon found him.
"We have to follow that guy," I said while surreptitiously pointing to him.
We slowly walked staying a few dozen yards behind a young man wearing a white kilt and carrying the hindquarter of some kind of grazing animal.
"Who is he?" Peter asked.
"Royal servant."
"How can you tell?"
"His headdress... that weird cap, only royal servants are allowed to wear it."
"So he'll lead us to the palace... then what?"
"Imhotep was the Kings right hand man."
Peter stopped suddenly, grabbing my arm.
I slapped his hand, and tried to stare at him as if I was angry.
"Don't do that!"
I looked around quickly, thankfully nobody noticed him touching me.
"Oops... sorry... were gonna meet Imhotep... the Imhotep?"
"Ya... sorry I guess I should have told you."
"He wrote my spell... made me millions... is the reason I met you."
I had forgotten Imhotep had originally written Peter's stone moving spell.
"I have met many Egyptologist's who feel the same way as you, but for different reasons, maybe I should organize a speaking tour for him, for a percentage of course," I said smiling.
"Why do you need to see him?"
I told Peter about the Semiramis and the spell in her quarters.
"Hmm... so I guess you don't just want to talk to her?" He said.
"Not until I figure out what's going on."
I turned back and looked at the royal servant we had been following, he was just turning into another street disappearing from view.
Peter and I quickened our pace then turned onto the same street, I caught sight of him and after a minute or two of walking at a quickened pace we were again just a few yards behind him.
It took us about fifteen minutes of walking before we saw the royal palace, we both stopped and surveyed it not following about the servant anymore.
"It looks like a bank... or a government building," Peter said.
"All buildings in this era are squarish with columns, the arch hasn't been invented yet, plus it is a government building, this is what the bureaucratic buildings of the future are gonna be based on."
"We just walk in?"
"A big chunk of any ancient palace is administrative buildings, I was a scribe once upon a time, I'm sure I can convince the guards to let us in."
We kept walking until we saw a large open entrance, I saw two guards, on one on each side of the entrance, both carrying spears and wearing royal headdress's.
There was a small trickle of people walking n and out of the entrance, I could tell that some were scribes, they carried pallets and rolls of papyrus.
I squared my shoulders and approached the entrance with confidence.
"Halt!" One of the guards barked.
"Yes?" I replied in ancient Egyptian, I stared at him insolently.
"State you name and purpose," he said mechanically.
"I am the scribe Kemamonit, I have come to research some precedents regarding a dispute I am presenting to the king."
"Who is he?" He pointed to Peter.
"My manservant."
"He looks so strange... he is so large and white, where is he from?"
I could tell the guard was just asking because he was curious.
"He comes from the far north, he was captured in battle."
"Does he not speak?"
"Only in grunts and gestures... the tribe he is from was very barbaric."
"Yes... I have heard of such people, they live in caves and eat their meat raw."
"Ya... so can we pass?"
"Carry on," he said sharply.
