Trafalgar and Boone and the Books of Breathing

by Geonn Cannon

  Agnes said, “So long as I can get in a few licks once he shows up. I owe him a broken bone or two, just to even the score.”

  Leonard said, “I’ll stay out of your way when the time comes, love.”

  Dorothy looked at Trafalgar and gestured at the table where they’d been working. “Shall we?”

  “After you, Lady Boone.”

  #

  Amenemhat wandered Ruby’s kitchen, examining the cabinets as he pondered his next move. She had a staggering amount of food; bread, butter, cabbage, cheese, flour, and cornmeal. He found a tin of sardines in olive oil, one of which he ate but found unbearably salty. Fruit and meat in such quantities were normally reserved for the elites. He had seen pharaohs buried with smaller stores than what Ruby had socked away in her small home.

  She returned to find him examining a bag of navy beans. She had changed into a lighter robe, her hair now uncovered and the veil gone.

  “Are you hungry? I could perhaps make you a small something to eat.”

  “Is it not scandalous for you to entertain a man in your home?”

  Ruby opened a cabinet and withdrew a pan. “I have better things to do than worry about what people think about me.” She stood in front of the oven. “What about you? Are you ready to tell me exactly who I’m harboring in my home?”

  “There are people hunting me. My beloved, she needs my help. My foes wish to prevent me from doing what must be done to save her life.”

  “Why would they do such a thing?”

  “They do not care about her life. They believe she deserved to be lost forever.”

  Ruby frowned at him. “They sound beastly.”

  “You have no idea the lengths to which they have already gone to stop me.”

  “What can be done to help?”

  Amenemhat thought before answering. He hadn’t considered the possibility of an ally, especially not one with access to benefits of the modern world. If Trafalgar and Boone could bring an army, then he should at least make use of a lieutenant.

  “Do you have access to transport?”

  “I can get a car if that is what you need. Where do you think I’ll be taking you?”

  “I must get to Thebes.”

  She stared at him for a long moment and then said, “Do you mean Luxor? That’s over six hundred kilometers!”

  “Please. It is vital. Unless... does anything of the ancient city remain?”

  Ruby said, “In Luxor? The entire city is basically a ruin. Everywhere you look, there is a temple.”

  Hopefully that meant there was a chance of finding one of Amun’s temples. Performing the ritual there would not only bless his endeavor, it would eliminate the need for the Books. The power of his god would be enough to lock Henuttaui into a new host. He could even secure his place in Desmond Tindall’s body at the same time. He tapped his fingers on the table and stood up. Ruby backed away from him but didn’t retreat. She was strong, brave. She was also beautiful and Egyptian. He had resigned himself to finding a Caucasian host, but perhaps everything would work out. Perhaps Amun was still smiling on him after so much time.

  “Please, Ruby. If I can get to Thebes... o-or Luxor, you called it? If I can get there, my beloved will be saved.” And best of all, he neglected to add, Trafalgar and Boone would be unaware of his plan. He would leave them hundreds of kilometers behind thinking he was still coming after the Books. By the time they figured out the truth it would be too late for them to do anything but surrender.

  Ruby said, “What’s her name? Your beloved.”

  “Hen... ah...” He realized he could not give her true name, but he hadn’t thought of anything to say instead. Fortunately, Ruby saved him.

  “Hannah. It’s a good name. For Hannah, I will see what I can do.”

  He smiled and gripped her upper arms, perhaps harder than necessary, but he couldn’t contain himself. “Thank you, Ruby. You have saved both of our lives.”

  #

  Dorothy’s mind wandered. She was no stranger to a short attention span, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if it was due to the translation work or if it was a deeper affliction. Had something gone awry during one of her ‘swaps’? When she went from herself into the statue, or from the statue to Desmond, or from Desmond back to herself? That was a long distance for a soul to travel, and it stood to reason not all of it survived the journey. Were there pieces of her left in the statue? Did shreds of Amenemhat survive in her psyche, waiting to reveal themselves?

  “Dorothy.”

  She looked up, looked down at her pen, then shook her head. “I apologize. Was I tapping the pen on the table again?”

  “On the contrary. I don’t think you’ve moved in the past five minutes. Why don’t you go upstairs to rest?”

  “We’re on a bit of a timetable.”

  “And you’ve been through an extraordinary trauma. In fact, having your mind ripped out of your body not once but thrice is more alarming than whatever concussion Beatrice may have suffered. Go upstairs, get some rest, and let me work on this. When you wake up, you can take over while I rest. It’s one of the benefits of working with a partner.”

  Dorothy put down her pen. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

  Trafalgar’s smile was patronizing. “I would hardly classify what you’re doing here as ‘helpful.’ I would much prefer a rested Dorothy in a few hours to what you are right now.”

  “Very well. If you insist on insulting me.”

  “I do.”

  Dorothy stuck her tongue out and stood.

  “If Mazzi comes by, I’ll be sure to send her up.”

  “I thought you wanted me rested.”

  “There are many kinds of rest,” Trafalgar said.

  Dorothy chuckled. “Good luck with the Books.”

  “Sleep well.”

  #

  Ruby had no idea what she was doing, or what had possessed her to agree to such madness. It was over six hundred kilometers to Luxor with a crazed British man who seemed barely coherent at the best of times and dangerously erratic the rest of the time. There was something not right about his eyes, the way he spoke, the way he moved. She watched him from the corner of her eye while she’d cooked him a meal and observed myriad peculiarities. He stared at the icebox and oven as if he’d never seen them before. He poked and probed the bread like an alien being presented with something new and strange. And sometimes he would just stare at his hands. She’d even seen him touching his face in a way that suggested he wasn’t sure what he looked like.

  She’d heard of people losing their memory, but why not admit the truth if that was the case? Surely pity would be better than suspicion.

  Of course maybe she was wrong, because despite her suspicions she was trying to help him. There was no chance her car would make the trip to Luxor and back, even if she was willing to make the drive. Hamid owned a bus, but she doubted he would loan it to her even if she explained why she needed it. And how could she? She could barely explain it to herself. He would call her mad, and rightfully so. Perhaps she should just find a revolutionary and tell them about the strange British man hiding in her home. They would deal with the problem for her.

  But then she remembered Osman. She had seen his life fade, the blood seeping into his shirt from the horrible wound in his throat. She would have given anything to bring him back, to save him, even if it meant taking the bullet herself. If Desmond Boone had a chance of saving his beloved with her help, then she couldn’t bring herself to deny him.

  There was still the small matter of practicality. She prided herself on her imagination, making every nekla count when buying groceries and finding ways to wash her clothes without paying for water. She doubted there was any hope of finding safe, quick transport to the town Desmond wanted to visit. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to follow-through after all. If she went back and told him it was simply impossible, he would have to understand. And her conscience would be clear.

  She didn’t know if she was pleased or d
istressed when she spotted the opportunity sitting on a service road just outside of town. She tried to ignore it, but the sun kept catching the metal and glinting in her eye as if one of those dead, ancient gods was trying to send her a hint.

  Finally, as night was falling, she surrendered and drove to where the impossibly convenient machine was waiting. She got out of her car and found the pilot, explaining the situation to the best of her ability. She mentioned the strange British man, his quest to save a lover who was in danger, the foes he claimed were around every corner, and the queer little statue which never strayed far from his reach.

  When she finished, she clutched her hands together in front of her and watched the pilot’s face carefully. “Well?” she asked. “Is there any chance you can help?”

  Isidora Mazzi smiled as she scanned the horizon, one hand fisted on her hip as she rested the other on the side of her plane. “I believe there’s something I can do to help you,” she said, “but first I need to speak with some friends of mine.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dorothy’s head was pillowed by her hands, though she definitely was not asleep. She had gotten upstairs to discover the Keepings asleep in her bed. She remembered offering them use of her room and went back down, now completely concerned about the potential damage to her memory. Sitting down again, she had put her head down on the table and went through everything she thought she should know. The names of her parents and brothers, the rooms of the house in which she’d grown up, the name of her loyal kitten. Her grandmother. She listed as many of her quests as she could recall, as close to chronologically as she could muster.

  So while it may have looked like she was asleep, she would have adamantly denied that fact. She was not the sort to simply doze while there was work to be done. And yet, when she blinked open her eyes to find Mazzi standing over her, the pilot’s body language indicated she’d been there for quite some time. Trafalgar had also put down her pen and was in the process of packing everything up.

  Dorothy sat up straight and flattened her hands where her head had just been. “Hello.”

  “I think you drifted off,” Mazzi said.

  Dorothy shook her head. “No, I was awake.”

  “Of course you were,” Trafalgar said. “So you heard Mazzi telling me... telling us... that her plane was hired to fly Amenemhat to Luxor.”

  Dorothy looked at Mazzi. “He contacted you?”

  Mazzi shook her head. “I was approached by a woman named Ruby. Initially I believed she was the, ah, the woman. You said there was a woman your enemy was trying to revive...”

  “Henuttaui,” Trafalgar said.

  “Right. But she seemed like a normal person. I think she is just, ah, someone who is trying to help. From what she told me, she believed Amenemhat is a British man named Desmond who is attempting to escape his enemies. She implored me to help. She said it was a matter of love.”

  Dorothy said, “So either Henuttaui is a master manipulator, or she’s an innocent. What’s our plan?”

  “I told her I had another client going out tonight, so I couldn’t take her before tomorrow morning. My baby can get you there in four hours if I push her. Then four hours back here to pick up Amenemhat.”

  “Your plane handle that kind of exertion?

  Mazzi shrugged. “We’re going to find out. This trip has been the best trial I could have hoped to give the old bird. I’m willing to give it a chance.”

  “Then so am I,” Dorothy said. “Although I wonder if we might save ourselves some time and simply wait until morning and ambush him at the plane. We know he will be there.”

  Trafalgar said, “And we know he will most likely be with this Ruby woman. If we make a move against him, he could use her as a hostage. And once he’s aboard the plane, we’d have no hope of getting to Luxor before he did. This gives us the opportunity to corner him in a place where he’ll have no escape. We covered all of this while you were listening intently with your eyes closed. I’m shocked you don’t remember.”

  “Shush,” Dorothy said. Of course this Ruby woman made an ambush untenable. She should never have brought up the possibility. God, how badly damaged was her mind? “We’ll have to leave immediately. And it doesn’t give you much chance to sleep.”

  “I slept this afternoon.” She winked at Dorothy and stood up, pushing her chair back under the table with the side of her foot. “Let me just grab something to eat while we’re in the air and we’ll be off.”

  Dorothy said, “I do wish Denny was here. If everything works out in our favor, we may not have cause to come back to Cairo, and I would like to say goodbye to him before we left.”

  Trafalgar sighed. “Okay, we can no longer even pretend you were awake. Denny is here. I required a few references and he was kind enough to bring them by from the library. There’s a little restaurant next door and he said he was going to have dinner. That’s where Mazzi is going right now.”

  “Oh. I’ll...”

  “Go. I can wait. But here...” She opened her bag and handed two large books to her. “Return these to him.”

  Dorothy jogged to catch up with Mazzi, who led her to the restaurant. Denny was sitting alone near the counter, leaning away from the food on his plate to read the book he had lying open on the table. He looked up when Dorothy entered and smiled brightly. He waved her over and marked his place in the book with a ribbon.

  “I’m almost finished eating. Otherwise I would ask you to join me.”

  “That’s all right, I’m not staying.” She sat across from him. “Trafalgar wanted me to return these, with her thanks. We’re about to leave for Luxor, and I don’t know if we’ll be returning to Cairo before going home. If that is the case, I wanted to say goodbye to you. It’s been an extraordinary pleasure meeting you, Mr. Razek. What we shared was... extraordinarily unique, which might sound a bit repetitive, but it deserves to be said twice. I never thought I would experience anything like that. You gave me an experience that cannot be duplicated.”

  He pushed his glasses up with the knuckle of one finger. “Well... thank you very much, Lady Boone, but I should be thanking you. I’ve never been so bold as I was with you. I felt safe from ridicule or shame because of how you reacted to... to who I am. I appreciated that so much. And what happened between us in the tomb? As marvelous as that was, it was second to your attitude. I don’t know if you understood what that meant to me.” He held his hand across the table. “I hope we get to work together again one day.”

  Dorothy shook his hand. “Barring that, I hope we get to spend any time together, be it business or personal. You’re a valuable asset, Denny Razek, and a person I would like to get to know better. And perhaps next time I shall give you and Desmond a proper introduction.”

  He chuckled. “Be well, Lady Boone. Good luck with your foe.”

  She stood and went to where Mazzi was waiting for her food.

  #

  Amenemhat stared into the eyes of Henuttaui’s statue. Ruby had gone to bed, reluctantly trusting him to behave himself in her home. There was nothing for him to steal and there was no benefit in harming her. She was the only one who knew where to find the pilot with whom she’d made her arrangements. His only chance of getting to Luxor was Ruby’s continued well-being, which turned him from potentially dangerous into a sort of guardian. He planned to stay awake the entire night. He doubted he could relax enough to sleep, and he didn’t want to give Desmond Tindall’s lingering subconscious a chance to assert itself in dreams.

  He thought back to memories of his own life to strengthen the hold on his mind. Searing days when the sun seemed to be impossible to avoid, nights when the chill was almost unbearable even when bundled in every sheet he could find. But even on those coldest nights he’d found warmth when his beloved would come to him. He remembered the night he told her they’d been discovered. His heart was pounding in his chest, fear gripping him in its icy talons as she placed his head against her chest and told him everything would be fine.

&
nbsp; “I will find a way for us to be together,” he swore to her then, “either in this life or the next.”

  Henuttaui wept when she cupped his face. “Do not make me wait too long, my love.”

  There were tears in his eyes now, shame at taking so long to fulfill his promise and joy at being so close to his reward. He stood and walked to the window to look outside, wishing they were underway at that very moment. Ruby assured him that waiting until morning would get them to Luxor much faster than if they traveled by car. He couldn’t help but feel like time was slipping through their fingers. Another few hours, another day. How long would he have to wait?

  Meanwhile, Trafalgar and Boone were out there somewhere. Were they coming for him? Were they destroying the Books of Breathing? No. They would never do that while he was still occupying their friend. He reached up and touched his face. At the moment, Desmond Tindall was his hostage and his insurance. So long as he wore their friend’s face, they would pull their punches. That would be their ultimate downfall.

  #

  Leola was waiting for them at the plane. Trafalgar smiled as she approached and pulled her old friend into a hug. “I was afraid I would not get a chance to say goodbye.”

  “I had the same fear. I knew your schedule may not allow it, but Mazzi told me you were setting off tonight and I had the time to wait.” She squeezed Trafalgar tightly. “I could not have this life without your assistance. Everything you showed me in our travels, the opportunities you afforded me, the education I gained without even knowing I was learning. I’ll be forever grateful to you, Trafalgar.”

  “I’ve not had many friends, so I treasure the ones I do have. No matter how far away they might move. You’re my family, Leola. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

  Mazzi and Dorothy had been giving them space for their farewell and now moved closer. Dorothy was already wearing her leather flight cap and goggles, lifting her chin to tighten the strap along her jawline. She hugged Leola as well, thanking her for everything she’d done for them since their arrival in Egypt. “Our mission would have been utterly impossible without you. Thank you.”