by Paul Edwards
Chapter thirteen
When we had returned to Nineveh, it was mid afternoon. I had kept the same room that Peter and I had rented the previous day, I was surprised to see that a cleaner had actually been in and had cleaned and straightened things up. I was glad I had not left any of our toiletry lying around.
"Wow maid service," Peter said as we walked in.
"I doubt they were just here to clean things."
"More spies?"
"I think so... Semiramis is probably worried about other sorcerers."
"Would they stop her, if they knew?"
"I know Imhotep would... but the others... I know so little about the City of Magic, when I built it, it was just a small town. I never really trained another sorcerer until Shelley came along, six thousand years later."
"So the sorcerers there now, what would they be like?" Peter asked.
"Intellectuals... megalomaniacs... crazy... who knows, even in this time it's already been fifteen hundred years of spells being created, hundreds maybe thousands of sorcerers trained. Look at the city in our time, it's a death trap, I think it that's why it was deserted."
"Why did you give all your magic secrets to Senbi anyway?"
"I thought I was dying, I had learned so much and I didn't want it to be for nothing. I trusted him, he was honest and a man of conscience."
"Well maybe since he started everything the City reflects him, like a country reflects its forefathers."
"Ya... well he also conjured up a copy of me for a wife, kinda creepy."
"So what next?"
"Tonight we will sneak into the palace and spy on our prey, maybe we can find out what we need without confronting her."
"That doesn't sound very safe," Peter said, he looked slightly alarmed.
"Don't worry, we'll be ethereal, no-one will be able to see us."
We spent the rest of the day walking around the city and seeing the sights.
When night finally fell we were back in our rented room. I conjured up the image of two sleeping people in our bed, complete with regular breathing and the odd snore. They would only be revealed as dummies upon close inspection.
I shut off the rooms magical light, it was controlled by covering a small statue of the god Shamash with a cloth. I then used my bracelet to turn Peter and I ethereal.
The ethereal spell had taken me many months to create, when activated the user was not so much actually invisible and immaterial, but more like transferred to another place while still getting sensory input from the place that they had left.
The trickiest part of the spell to write was to enable the user to walk on floors and stairs without sinking through. It left an unfortunate side effect, if the users feet were wet, or if they walked through sand, footprints would be visible.
I made sure Peter was aware of this.
Peter and I were also able to see and touch each other when we were ethereal, something I had only been able to add recently by integrating modern technology into the spell. I had also incorporated a modern sound amplifier so that if I needed too I could increase the sensitivity of our hearing.
We could only communicate by hand signals though.
I grabbed Peters hand and we walked though the rooms door, he turned and stared at me with a startled expression. When a person walked through a wall it became black for a moment because of the absence of light, for this reason the spell user had to be careful and stay away from thick walls and buttresses. It was also why it was never a good idea to use this spell in the wilderness, you could get lost in a large mountain.
We were soon walking down the street towards the large palace complex in the city center. I noticed that the city had quieted down from the revelry of the previous night. I was glad the streets were empty I had used my ethereal spell many times before but it still made me squirm a little when someone walked through me.
We were now walking up the wide staircase leading to the place gates, I waved at the guards as we walked passed them.
The palace was a maze of corridors and rooms but I was able to figure out where to go by following what looked like a scribe. He was walking quite fast and had a worried expression on his face, he led us to a large open room furnished with an enormous wooden table surrounded by chairs.
I saw Semiramis and Ninus seated on one side, there were three middle aged men seated across from them, they looked like her generals.
The scribe bowed to her and then reached across the table and put a clay tablet covered in cuneiform writing in front of her. The scribe bowed again and then backed out the door.
Semiramis picked up the tablet and read it.
"Hmm... seems my old friend Imhotep had a guest a few days ago," I saw her eyes narrow.
"Who?" Ninus asked.
"A mysterious Nubian woman and her manservant... he had skin as white linen it says... he must be from one of the northern tribes."
"Do you think it was her in Babylon."
"It is curious, it says she managed to sneak out of Memphis without being seen and that Imhotep was always accounted for."
"So Imhotep recruited her to protect Babylon." Ninus said.
"No... I told no one my plan until two days ago, if it was her she must have acted on her own."
"Do you think she is a god like you?" Ninus asked.
"I wonder..."
I noticed that Ninus and her generals had expressions of profound concentration on their faces, like they were handling dangerous explosives.
Semiramis stood up suddenly, a dark expression on her face.
"I feel someone watching me," she said angrily
She turned her head and looked right at me.
"That is impossible my goddess, I have guards everywhere," one of her generals stammered.
"Shut up you whining dog," she said abruptly.
She slowly started to walk towards Peter and I, she stopped in front of me and then waved one of her arms through both of us.
"You're there aren't you... hiding... Imhotep? No... I feel someone else."
"How can you tell, my queen," Ninus asked.
"One can always tell when they're being watched, if they pay attention, something Imhotep never figured out."
"What shall we do?"
She turned towards Ninus "Nothing... and say nothing, a spy cannot spy if there is nothing to overhear."
She stared at me again.
"I will wait for you my mysterious enemy, you will have to reveal yourself eventually, you will only get what you want by confronting me."
Semiramis then turned and walked out of the room.
Peter and I were outside the city walls sitting on the banks of the river, the moon was high in the sky, we heard the frantic chirping of crickets and frogs.
"So much for that," Peter said.
"Ya... god what a creepy chick... is that true, you can tell if someone's watching you?"
"I can tell sometimes, I think though it has more to do with being perceptive, your spell probably has a slight effect on the environment somehow."
"That's probably it, It has pinhole cameras so we can see and a small number of membranes so we can hear, they are tiny but they probably cause some kind of disturbance."
"Yes, and our feet on the floor too, that would make noise," Peter said.
"I've used that spell a hundred times, this is the first time anyone noticed me, I even walked around a ultra high security building once."
"What for?" Peter asked, a curious expression on his face.
"Needed to get something," I said enigmatically.
"What?" Peter said now slightly perturbed.
"It would be better if you didn't know."
"Geez Kem... tell me."
"That idiot congressman... I got so pissed off, so I got his military records and dumped them off at the newspaper."
"That was you?" Peter had an amazed look on his face.
"Ya."
"You do that sort of thing all the time?"
"Sometimes... I
don't wanna talk about it anymore."
"Those news reports, about the flying woman... saving that girl from the rapist, beating up a mob boss."
"I said, I don't wanna talk about it!"
"So, that's why you were watching all those Batman movies."
I stared at Peter feeling my eyes narrow, I then stood up brushing the dirt off of my bum, Peter stood up next me.
"I want to get this over with, I'm not her enemy I'll just walk in there and ask her," I said.
"Won't that be dangerous?"
I put my arms around Peter's neck and kissed him then I let him go and stepped back, I started to flip the squares on my bracelet.
"Yes... that's why I'm sending you back."
"What?" Peter said, a surprised look on his face.
He disappeared in a flash of light.
I sent him back to his office in the factory he owned, he would be safe there. Shelley had closed all the entrances to the City of Magic so he would not be able to come back.
I knew he would try, he was very stubborn and overly protective. I could not bear the thought of him being hurt, or worse.
I conjured up my enchanted bronze sword, if I needed to I could turn it's control over to a master swordsman I had met in my past. I had only done this once before, from the way the sword had fought I had gotten the impression he had been a remorseless killer.
I had not known him very well when I incorporated him in the swords enchantment.
I slung the swords scabbard over my shoulder and started walking towards the cities gates.
