 
SMASHWORDS EDITION

PUBLISHED BY:

Paul Edwards on Smashwords

Kemamonit Pursued

Copyright 2012 Paul Edwards

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work

Kemamonit Pursued

Prologue

He stared at the apartment door she had just slammed shut, he could feel her staring at him through the peephole.

"I could use the stun device," he thought to himself.

The eggheads had given him the quantum cerebral incapacitator a few weeks ago. It worked on some bizarre quantum mechanical principle that was incomprehensible to a lay person.

"You have to be careful, sometimes it shoots in the past if you've fired it in the future, and you have to observe the target otherwise it won't work." They had told him.

"Why didn't they just give me a nine millimeter Sig," he had murmured under his breath.

He had seen a video of a test of the device on a charging African Elephant, the animal had gone from a rampaging gallop to looking like it had just inhaled a two foot long doobie. It screeched to a stop and then stood stock still drool dripping from its mouth.

He considered kicking the door open and using the device but the door looked quite sturdy.

He remembered his briefing from the eggheads, "don't be misled by her appearance, this is one of the most terrifying people you will ever meet. She is a powerful sorcerer able to destroy cities with a blink of an eye. She is six thousand years old, god only knows the millions of people she has subjugated or massacred."

They had shown him film of a secret archeological site uncovered in Egypt in the nineteen twenties, it was a perfectly preserved small shrine built by an unknown worshipper named Senbi.

The shrine housed a life-size statue of a Nubian woman named Kemamonit, there was a small stele in front of the statue proclaiming her as a fierce and terrifying godlike sorcerer. The archeologists also discovered the whole site seemed to be made of some kind of indestructible substance.

That's when the shrine's location became a closely guarded secret.

The years had passed without anyone discovering the secret of the sites indestructability or the fate of the woman depicted by the statue.

Then suddenly six thousand year old Egyptian jewellery started showing up in pawn shops in Seattle.

He had doubted the slight harmless looking woman he had traced the jewellery too was the same terrifying sorcerer portrayed by the shrines statue, the eggheads disagreed.

"The resemblance is uncanny," the head egghead had shown him her photograph in comparison to the statues.

"This chick has boobs the size of Dolly Parton," he said as he pointed to the photograph of the statue.

"I suspect that was just artistic licence. She probably forced this Senbi guy to exaggerate her assets. "

Now standing in front of her door his doubt about her identity had vanished, during their brief conversation he had sensed her lying about her real name and he also noticed the strange exotic bracelet on her wrist. It was not something he had ever seen another woman wear.

"I'll be back," he thought to himself as he turned and walked back down the hall.

Chapter one

"Shouldn't there be like, a talking hat?"

I stared at Shelley not understanding her question. I guessed that talking hats were now used to teach people in some instances, I thought it strange I had not seen one during the numerous courses I had taken.

"Do we really need one?" I asked.

Shelley gave me an odd look, "no... I guess not."

We were in a large covered amphitheater in the Magic city. I had used it originally years ago to brief my servants on the numerous magical projects that I had needed their assistance on.

It was probably too big for lecturing just one person but the room had many built in spells that would make my instruction of Shelley much easier.

I had a long wooden pointer in my hand and used it to point to the large blank limestone wall behind me.

"This is perhaps the greatest sleight of hand artist I have ever seen," the wall changed to show the projection of a man slowly moving his hands causing a white ball disappear.

"Look how he uses one hand to cover the other while he hides the ball," I said.

"Hey I know that guy, I seen him and his partner perform in Las Vegas, how'd you get him to show you all their tricks," Shelley asked.

I had to stifle a smile, "there are no secrets when it comes to sorcerers. Now this will be your first lesson, you must learn to do this trick."

I used my own sleight of hand trick to pluck a ball out of the air, I then tossed it to Shelley only to watch it bounce off her hands and fall to the floor.

I walked over to Shelley as she picked up the ball and sharply rapped her knuckles with my stick. I had practised my knuckle rapping prior to our first lesson just to make sure I had good accuracy.

"Oww!!! What was that for!" Shelley pressed her sore knuckles to her lips.

"Sorcerers need tough knuckles, sorry but it must be done," I said.

I had prepared carefully for my lessons to Shelley and had tried to anticipate all her protestations to my teaching methods. From my recent schooling I knew that rapping knuckles had for some bizarre reason disappeared from a teacher's repertoire a few decades ago.

I could not comprehend why or think of another equally suitable method to motivate a lazy unprepared student.

"Why do sorcerers need tough knuckles?" Shelley asked suspiciously.

"The magic must be molded with the fingers like clay," I said, lying to her.

The first lesson proceeded well from that point on, Shelley worked diligently trying to master her first sleight of hand. It would take her a few days of practise before it would fool most people.

"Why do sorcerer's need to learn sleight of hand?" Shelley asked me.

"It's not just sleight of hand, it's stage magic in general, it showed me that a lot of what happens in the world is just smoke and mirrors. It really helped me write spells," I replied.

I was also conducting the lessons in ancient Egyptian, I had asked Shelley if she was able to comprehend it well enough, she had said yes.

"Why ancient Egyptian?" she had asked

"It is how I create magic, when you have learned enough you will create your own style of magic in your own language."

"All magic isn't the same?"

"It can be as varied as the people who use it."

I had allotted ten weeks for Shelley to learn the basics of sleight of hand and stage magic. As the weeks progressed I could see she was very diligent and it was clear to me she was practising on her own. I also noticed her hands had become much quicker, I had had to resort to smacking her on the nose on a few occasions after missing her knuckles.

The ten weeks passed by quickly and I thought Shelley was ready to perform a small magic show in the amphitheater so I could evaluate her.

"Why do I have to do a show?" She asked me with a perturbed expression.

"It's a good way to learn how to deal with the stress of real magic?" I said.

"What kind of stress?"

"You'll see."

Chapter two

Shelley spent a few days preparing before performing her show, when she was ready she summoned me to the amphitheater.

The show was not too elaborate and lasted about twenty five minutes. Her final illusion was making a large inflatable elephant appear behind a curtain.

"I would have used a real one but the pet store was out," she said smiling.

I clapped my hands together when she was finished, "very good, no obvious mistakes and a confident stage presence. You are now ready for the real thing."

Shelley blushed a little and then smiled an embarrassed smile.

"Come with me I have something to show you," I said.

I left the amphitheater and walked down the corridor while flipping the small wooden squares on my sorcerer's bracelet.

I stopped in front of a short hallway that ended with a solid looking bronze door.

"Where did that come from? I never noticed that hallway before," Shelley asked.

I smiled at her, "It's a secret place, be observant you will not see it often."

I reached up and felt along the top of the doors frame. My fingers closed around a large key and I took it down.

I put the key into a square hole in the bronze door and lifted it up, I then grabbed a protruding lever and slid it back.

"That's and odd looking key, it looks like a toothbrush" Shelley said pointing to the keys protruding handle.

"It's an ancient lock, the principle is the same except you lift up the key instead of rotating it."

I pushed open the heavy bronze door revealing an enormous well lit room with a high ceiling. The room's floor, ceiling, and walls were constructed of brilliant white marble, on the floor there were numerous long wooden table like structures arranged in parallel. The tables tops where tilted at forty five degrees.

I grabbed Shelley's hand and led her to one of the nearest tables it was about twenty feet long and had an equally long sheet of papyrus about two feet wide sitting on top of it. The papyrus was covered with columns of writing.

"This is a spell," I pointed to the papyrus.

Shelley tried to touch it with her index finger but was met with resistance about an inch from the surface.

"It's a time gradient, time moves so slow above the papyrus it would take years to move your finger to its surface." I said.

"Why?"

"I had to do it to stop the papyrus from rotting."

Shelley suddenly had an expression of enlightenment, "that's the same thing you used on your sarcophagus to preserve your body."

I smiled, "very observant."

"What does this spell do?" Shelley said.

"Believe it or not it's the cities plumbing system, it is in sore need of updating now that I know of the existence of infectious micro-organisms."

I walked over to another table as Shelley followed me. This table had a long sheet of paper lying on it instead of papyrus.

Shelley cautiously tried touching it and was surprised when she was able to.

"It feels like paper money," she said.

"It's the same type of paper they use to print bills."

"How did you get it? I thought only governments could buy this."

I smiled at her, "you have to ask?"

"Oh..."

Shelley studied the paper closely, "The ink is different too, it looks familiar."

"High quality magic marker, I do the preliminary spell in pencil then trace over it with the marker," I said.

"What is it for?"

"It's kind of a secret, it's not done yet anyway. Do you see any other differences between this spell and one of the older ones?"

Shelley studied one of the papyrus spells then looked at the paper one, "The symbols, the new spell doesn't have those weird symbols at each end."

I conjured up a pad of paper and a pencil and gave it to Shelley.

"This is your first lesson, copy down the symbols, make sure they are exact," I said.

"What are they?"

"They are each a geometric representation of a number."

"Can't you just write out the numbers?"

"Yes you can but the symbols are much easier to remember."

Shelley painstakingly copied both the symbols it took her about ten minutes.

"Never ever show those symbols to anyone, they are the biggest secret in sorcery. In order for a spell to work you must put these symbols at the top and the bottom of the script."

I pulled a sheet of folded paper out of my pocket and handed it to Shelley. She unfolded it and looked at the writing on it.

"What does it mean?" She asked.

"Write the symbols on the top and bottom."

Shelley did as I asked, as she finished the last symbol a snapping sound caused her to jump back startled.

"What is it?" she asked breathlessly, her gaze locked on to the magic fissure floating above the ground.

"The building block of magic, its most basic element."

Shelley reached out to touch it. I had anticipated her curiosity and quickly grabbed her arm.

"No don't touch, it has no thickness it will slice your finger off."

I pulled a pencil out of my pocket and pressed it against the fissure, it was sliced in two without any resistance.

"This is just one of the many reasons why sorcery is so dangerous," I said.

I picked up the sheet of paper and carefully ripped the symbols off the top and the bottom leaving the just the script. The fissure disappeared.

I put the paper down on a table and began to explain the first basic principles of sorcery to Shelley.

After thirty minutes of explanation I turned and asked if she had any questions.

"What about the molding it with your hands stuff... you know... strong knuckles."

"Oh... yes... that comes much later. That is for the very advanced sorcerer."

Shelley's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You now know enough to write a spell, the first spell every sorcerer learns, the copier."

"It creates a copy of something?" Shelley asked.

"Yes, do you think you can do it?"

"I think so," Shelley took out her note pad and began to write. It took her about twenty minutes to finish the script. She then wrote the magic symbols on the top and bottom of her spell.

Shelley took a ring off her finger and put it beside her note pad. We both waited for a few seconds then we both heard a snapping sound as a second ring appeared six inches above the first and fell beside it.

A few seconds passed and another ring fell, then another. Shelley picked up the note pad and ripped the bottom symbol from the spell sheet. No more rings appeared.

"You did it! You wrote your first spell!" I clapped my hands together.

Shelley had an expression of profound accomplishment on her face.

"Ok now I will give you some homework, I want you to write five variations of the copier spell, I will check them tomorrow," I said.

I picked up the rings on the table and put them in my pocket, "let's go," I followed Shelley out of the spell room then turned and locked the door. When we had left the small corridor I used my bracelet to make it disappear again.

Shelley walked over to the now featureless wall that stood in place of the corridor and put her hands against it.

"It's solid, it's not an illusion," she said to me.

"Everything is an illusion," I replied.

The next day Shelley met me in the amphitheater as usual, she handed me the five variations of the spell she had created, I looked them all over and was happy to see they all showed effort and imagination.

"Very good, I said as I put them through a paper shredder.

"We're not going to try them?" Shelley asked.

"Experimenting with spells is always dangerous, I only do it when I need a new one. I have lots of copier spells. Come I have another room to show you," I said.

Shelley followed me down another one of the buildings numerous corridors. I stopped in front of a large wooden door, It was made of heavy oak bound together with thick bronze straps.

"This hasn't been opened in six thousand years," I said.

"What is it," Shelley asked her eyes wide with excitement.

"It's my research library."

I conjured up a small bronze sword and gave it to Shelley, "Just in case there's something in there, don't be afraid to run like hell."

"Why would there be something in there?"

"My original library was pretty pathetic, all It had was my notes on magic and some mathematics and religious texts, so I came up with a plan to make it grow on its own. I enchanted several scrolls that contained the sorts of writings that other scholars would find irresistible. I then gave these scrolls away.

When these scrolls are placed in another library they copy all the books in that library and transport them back here, this room has a spell that catalogues the books and enlarges the shelf space for each new delivery."

"So why should there be anybody here?" Shelley asked.

"Well some spells have little mistakes in them that make them do unexpected things, I never really had a chance to thoroughly test this one."

"Wouldn't the enchanted scrolls eventually be lost?"

"They were basically indestructible and if they stayed in one place too long they would disappear then reappear high in the sky and then fall to earth for someone else to find."

I lifted up the small wooden beam that held the door closed, it sat in two heavy bronze hooks. Shelley and I grabbed the doors large wooden handle and pulled as hard as we could. The door resisted our efforts for a few seconds then flew open.

We both cautiously walked over the threshold and emerged into a large open area that had a number of wooden tables and chairs. Beyond the open area as far as the eye could see there were shelves and shelves of books, scrolls, tablets, and every other conceivable medium for writing.

"Holy crap!" Shelley said.

"Holy crap indeed," I replied.

I walked over to one of the large shelves, there was a small wooded sign that jutted out with a name written on it in a language I didn't recognize.

"It's ancient Greek I think, it looks familiar. Ar... Archimedes!" Shelley yelped.

She took one of the scrolls out and unrolled it, "Oh my god Kem, I think you've got all his writings here."

We walked through the shelves trying to discern how big the room had become, after twenty minutes of walking we feared getting lost. The shelves appeared to be endless.

The books were catalogued in every conceivable method I could think of and some I hadn't thought of, there was no common system throughout the library. We even stumbled on a huge modern section that appeared to be using the Dewey decimal system.

There were some sections that appeared to be from technical libraries, I found a row of handwritten notebooks on the enrichment of uranium the dates were all in the early nineteen forties.

"Wow, now this is a research library, I'll bet the contents of the library of Alexandria in in here somewhere," Shelley said.

"Yes but how can you find anything?" I replied.

"I thought you had a cataloguing spell?"

"My original library had maybe fifty scrolls, I never thought this would happen."

We walked back to the open section by the rooms entrance door, I grabbed Shelley's hand and led her to the rooms very first set of shelves. I pointed to a meager group of papyrus scrolls.

"Those are my writings on magic," I said feeling a bit embarrassed.

Shelley walked over and took one of the scrolls out and unrolled it.

"You must never take any books out of this room," I said to Shelley.

"Why? Will something bad happen?"

"Yes... I will get very angry. This is very dangerous stuff especially if it gets into the wrong hands."

"Do you think there are other magical writings here?" Shelley asked.

I thought for a moment, "I guess it's possible."

I started to think of some way of finding them, of finding anything in this place. The ceiling of the room was about twenty feet high, the shelves rose to about half that distance. I started flipping the squares on my bracelet, a small square wooded platform appeared hovering about six inches off the floor.

I stepped onto the platform motioning Shelley to step onto it as well. I flipped another square on my bracelet and the platform slowly started to rise. I stopped it when our heads were about a foot away from the ceiling.

The shelves looked like they extended into infinity, I could not see the far wall. The room also widened more and more as it lengthened. I lowered the platform to the floor and we both stepped off.

"We need some kind of search spell," Shelley said.

"No such spell exists unfortunately, let's go I have much more to teach you."

I taught Shelley the basic laws and fundamentals of magic over the next few weeks. I had her write spells which would utilise each new principle so that her understanding would be complete.

She was an eager learner and I was always impressed by her solutions to the problems I gave her. It was soon evident to me that she was ready for the next big step in her journey to become a true sorcerer.

"Shelley I have a new project for you," I said to her as she sat in the amphitheater taking notes.

"What?"

"I want you to write a spell."

"What do you want it to do?"

"Whatever you want, it's time for you to start being creative. Think of something you want to do, prepare the spell and then show me. You have two days, remember be careful, it's more important that it works right then if it's spectacular."

For the next two days I seldom saw Shelley, and when I did she was very secretive and non-committal. She was obviously putting a lot of effort into her spell and wanted to surprise me.

The day came for her demonstration, she told me she wanted to perform the spell on the stage in the amphitheater.

We both walked to the amphitheater in silence, when we arrived I took a seat on one of the amphitheaters benches facing the stage. Shelley walked onto the stage and expression of excitement on her face.

"OK here goes, it's a simple spell but I tried to incorporate a lot of different things into it."

Shelley walked backwards until she was to the far left of the stage facing the middle. She raised her arms dramatically.

"ELEFANTE!!" she yelled.

There was a bright red flash and then a very large African elephant appeared in the middle of the stage.

The large beast stood stock still for a few seconds his eyes darting about as if panicked. The elephant then noticed Shelley standing in front of him, she was in the process of raising her arms again, I assumed to send the great beast back from where he came.

The elephant suddenly raised its trunk let out an enormous bellow and charged towards Shelley.

Shelley's face turned as white as a sheet.

"Eek..." she said, then she turned and ran off the stage and out the room faster than I had ever seen anyone run.

The elephant stomped around the stage for a minute or two crashing into things while making a huge racket. He suddenly stopped and stared straight at me, I thought I could see an expression of smug satisfaction.

"Sobek?"

The elephant then turned, bellowed and smashed through the rear wall of the stage exiting the room.

I stared at the bright sunlight now streaming through the large hole he had created.

"Well that sure didn't go well," Shelley was back, peeking through the door.

"Nonsense, that was spectacular," I replied.

"He sure was a lot nicer when I met him at the zoo."

"Well he's free now."

"Will he be all right?" Shelley asked a worried expression on her face.

"There's a large river a mile from here and elephants can smell water, there are other elephants too. He should be fine."

Shelley's face brightened.

"He was so nice at the zoo, the handlers let me feed him peanuts. I guess getting transported here scared him."

"I noticed you made an elephant appear in your magic show too," I asked.

"I just like elephants... it's a long story," she replied.

"Well congratulations, you wrote your first original spell, I pronounce you a novice sorcerer."

"Really... it's not a particularly useful spell," she said.

"I don't know... I'm sure there are dozens of uses for a rampaging elephant... an unfaithful lover for instance."

"Ya... or if I need the recycling compacted."

"Or if there's a long line at the movie theater."

We both started laughing.

"We should celebrate, let's go out. We'll drink the hard wine from the little glasses," I said.

"Do you think it's safe? What about that investigator guy that questioned you?"

"Oh I'm sure he's given up, as far as he knows we could be in Timbuktu. We've been gone for months."

"Ok... let me get ready."

After Shelley left I used my bracelet to fix the rear wall of the stage. I didn't want any wild animals walking into the building.

Chapter three

We emerged through a green door and onto a quiet street in the city. I had left my sorcerers bracelet in my quarters so to transport us I had created the facade of a door on the side of a building to transport us.

To do this I had used a badly designed spell which consisted of a contraption of levers and dials that existed in a small room in a building near our quarters. Shelly had called it a tardiness when I explained its operation. I didn't understand why, but decided not to ask.

I closed the door and locked it with a key which I then hung around my neck.

"How come you left your bracelet?" Shelley asked.

"Magic and wine are a bad combination."

We were very close to one of my favorite places, it was a small pub which served food. It was not popular with the young raucous crowd which made it quite pleasant. There was usually a small band that played acoustic instruments that entertained the patrons at night.

After a short walk we entered the pub and walked up to the large wooden bar and sat down on the tall stools.

"Hello strangers," the young bartender said as she recognized us.

"Oh hi Maggie," I said.

"Where have you two been, it's been months."

"Busy busy," Shelley said.

"You look different Shelley, did you lose weight or something?"

"No... not that I know of."

She studied Shelley carefully, "well something's changed, anyway what'll it be."

"Um... whiskey... in the little glasses..." I said hesitantly.

"Oh ho... celebrating something are we," she slammed down two glasses in front of us and then filled them with a bottle."

I gulped down the foul tasting liquor, then felt the warmth of it radiate out from my stomach.

"Shelley graduated from her um... course in ancient Egyptian myths and magic," I said.

"I thought you quit the university?" Maggie said to Shelley.

"Ya... it was a correspondence course." she said.

"God, how are you gonna get a job with that," Maggie said as she refilled our glasses.

The liquor tasted slightly better this time, the heat from it now spread to my head.

"I'll just have glass of wine next," I said to Maggie. I was not used to the hard drink of this era.

Maggie grabbed a wine glass and then filled it with a bottle of dark red wine, she put it in front of me.

I took a small sip, I found it odd that after six thousand years of winemaking all the wine now tasted almost exactly the same. The quality had improved but for some reason the only fruit used was grapes.

"Oh hi Sam," Maggie said to someone behind us. She grabbed a pint glass and started to fill it with beer from a tap.

I turned my head around and saw a tall familiar looking man hanging his trench coat on a hook by the door. The man turned after hanging his coat and looked right at me, an expression of surprise flashed across his face.

"Oh shit!" I thought as I suddenly recognized him. It was the investigator who had come to my door a few months ago. The reason Shelley and I had left our apartment.

The man frantically jammed his hand into his jacket pocket and started to pull something out, I felt my own hand instinctively reach across to my opposite wrist looking for my bracelet.

My heart sank, I remembered I had left my bracelet in my quarters.

The man had something in his hand, it looked vaguely like a pistol except it had no barrel. I felt as if time was passing very slowly, he was starting to raise the device up to point it at me.

My vision changed to whiteness.

"Who am I?"

"Why am I here?"

The whiteness faded from my vision, it felt as if an eternity had passed.

I was lying face down on a beach composed of small rocks and sand, I heard the sound of the sea. I raised my head and looked around. There was a woman lying beside me, she had a worried expression on her face. I know her... I think.

"Who am I?" I thought again.

I heard a tiny voice deep inside me whisper, "Kem... you are Kemamonit"

I looked towards the sound of the sea, I saw a large group of horses harnessed to chariots, there were two men in each chariot, an archer and a driver. I saw an even larger group of foot soldiers behind the chariots, they were lightly armed with shields and bronze swords.

"The sea people! Look look." I heard in a language I barely understood. I turned and looked towards the sound of the voice, there was a small group of women and children behind us.

I looked towards the sea again, I saw a long wooden ship a few hundred yards from the shore. It had a single mast with a square sail.

I saw another similar ship behind it then another. They appeared to be moving unnaturally fast for sailing vessels.

The first ship grounded itself on the rocky beach, suddenly dozens of men leaped over the sides and landed in the shallow water. They were large burly men with pale skin and long unkempt beards, they wore unusual three horned helmets and carried long swords.

The charioteers started whipping their horses, the frightened animals starting whinnying then galloped towards the invaders.

Another ship landed and more men jumped out, soon there were hundreds of bearded warriors in the path of the charging chariots.

The first chariot made contact, but instead of running the sea people stood their ground grabbing the frightened horses and the men in the chariots and pulling them to the ground. It reminded me of a large insect being overwhelmed by carnivorous ants.

The horses were screaming now, all the chariots had been overwhelmed and I saw brilliant red arcs of blood being flung high into the air.

I looked back towards the infantry men that had been behind the chariots, I could see the fear in their faces and saw their line wavering.

A much larger ship grounded itself on the beach, a gangplank was thrown over the rail and onto the beach. A tall thin man appeared at the top of the plank, he wore a long grey robe and carried a wooden staff, his beard was white with age.

The man calmly walked down the plank and onto the beach, he turned and faced the defenders holding his staff high into the air.

I heard an enormous crack of thunder and a blinding flash as a lightning bolt struck the beach in front of the foot soldiers.

It was too much for them, the men turned and ran, expressions of terror etched onto their faces.

One of the horned warriors then noticed us, he pointed and yelled to his comrades, a large group of them started walking towards us.

"Oh god Kem, we got to get the hell out of here,"

The woman beside me grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, I felt a wave of nausea wash over me and I stumbled as I tried to find my balance.

The group of women and children had already started running, they were headed for a narrow path that led to the high rocky hills that were behind the beach.

The woman grabbed my waste and put my arm around her neck, we ran as quickly as possible. I heard the stomping of feet and the clanging of armor getting closer and closer. They would catch us soon.

"Kem do some magic!"

"I... can't remember how," I replied.

I saw terror in her eyes, she grabbed me so tight it was painful then almost carried me as she ran with an enormous burst of energy.

We made it to the narrow path and had almost caught up to the running women and children, there were steep banks on either side of the path.

We ran for another twenty yards then the woman stopped and turned, I turned with her and I could see the men a mere thirty feet behind us, I saw the lust in their eyes.

"ELEFANTE!" she yelled, her voice shaking with fear.

An enormous grey elephant appeared in front of us, it saw the men running towards it and panicked. The path was not wide enough for the huge animal to turn so it charged them bellowing at the top of his lungs.

I saw one of the warriors flung high into the air.

We turned and ran for another hundred yards, then turned again, the men were still following but slowly and cautiously now.

"ELEFANTE!" my partner yelled again and another great beast blocked the path behind us. We turned and ran once more. We did this two more times before the men behind us finally gave up, we were high in the hills now.

We had caught up with the group of women and children and walked with them. They looked at us with great curiosity, a few of them spoke ancient Egyptian so we were able to communicate.

I looked at the woman beside me and had a revelation, her name was Shelley and she was my apprentice. My memory came back then along with a searing headache.

I almost collapsed with the pain.

"Kem, are you all right?" Shelley said concerned.

"I think so. My memory is back."

The rest of the day was blur, the weather had turned and a cold windy drizzle made the rest of our journey a miserable one. The steep hills had given away to cliffs and we had to navigate almost invisible trails up them.

It was night when we finally reached our destination, a small collection of huts and lean-to's spread around a flat grassy meadow. We were at the top of a small mountain.

I crawled into the closest lean-to then collapsed into an exhausted dreamless sleep.

I woke the next day with the early morning sun shining on my face, a thick woollen blanket had been thrown over me as I had slept.

I sat up in the lean-to pushing the blanket away, the air was cold and clean. I could see a few women tending cooking fires in midst of the other lean-tos and huts. I was stiff and sore and still had a mild headache.

I crawled out from under the lean-to and stood up, I was a bit wobbly.

"Kem! You're awake."

I turned towards the voice and saw a disheveled looking Shelley walking towards me."

"What happened? How did we get here?" I asked as soon as she was in earshot.

Shelley gave me a clay cup full of what looked like water and a piece of bread.

"Don't worry I had them boil the water."

I sipped the warm water and took a small bite from the bread, it was fresh and tasted quite good. I started feeling a little better.

"What do you remember?" Shelley asked.

"That man pointing the device at me, then waking up on the beach with no memory," I replied.

"That device turned you into a zombie, you just sat there."

"Yes but how did we end up here," I asked again.

Shelley looked at me sheepishly, "I was so scared Kem, he pointed it at me and I didn't know what to do."

"Well you must have done something," I said looking at our surroundings.

"I... well... I used a spell I had been writing... but it wasn't really finished."

"What spell?"

"I wanted to find out stuff about history, so I wrote a time travelling spell, I wanted to find out about the bronze age collapse."

"So we're in the past, where and when?"

"Around twelve hundred BC on the island of Crete."

"Well, you must have had a way of going back."

"Yes I did but it wasn't finished," she said enigmatically.

"Let me see it," I said tersely.

She pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. I unfolded it and read the spell.

"So we're here for four weeks." I said after following the spells structure.

"Yep, but you're from the past Kem. It should be easy right?"

I tried to smile at her reassuringly.

"I have to pee, just a minute," I said.

I walked behind the nearest hut for some privacy, I looked at my hands and saw that they were both shaking visibly.

"Four weeks!" I thought to myself, "If the plague doesn't get us we'll probably be hacked to death by some megalomaniac... or worse."

I felt the urge to wash my hands, a feeling of panic surged through me when I realized I had no soap. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself.

I had developed a bit of an obsessive compulsive disorder when I had been told about bacteria and viruses and how they caused disease. It had manifested itself in an obsession with cleanliness.

I had learned to control it after treatment from a psychologist but it would sometimes re-emerge when I was stressed.

I quickly relieved myself trying to be as dignified as a squatting urinating woman could be.

I walked out from behind the hut when I was finished, I ran my hands through my now tangled hair trying to put it back in place. It's naturally tight curls thwarted me as usual.

I saw Shelley talking to one of the women we had followed to this place, as I came closer I could hear they were talking in ancient Egyptian.

"How do they know Egyptian," I asked Shelley in English.

"They're Minoan, they were a seafaring society that traded extensively with Egypt."

"The island peoples!" I blurted out," that's why I recognize some of their language."

"You've met them before?"

"Yes, but they were different, and they had not travelled to Egypt yet."

"I... um... have been using a copying spell to make more food for them," Shelley said sheepishly.

"That's ok, we are in their debt. You have paper then?"

Shelley reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pad of paper, there was an elastic band holding it closed with a ball point pen jammed under it."

"Use your copy spell to make another one."

Shelley opened the pad wrote something in it then put the pad and pen on the ground. We both waited for a few seconds then a new pad and pen appeared in the air and fell beside the original. I waited for two more pads to appear before I signalled to Shelley to stop the spell.

I picked up the extra pads and pens from the ground and put them in my pocket. I noticed we now had a small group of women and children as an audience.

"They are the god's messengers," I heard a mother whisper to her wide eyed child.

"Yes, we are in a war of the gods now," another woman whispered.

I grabbed Shelley's sleeve and pulled her close, "we should leave now. The men will be here soon and I don't know if they will be so charitable."

I was worried that someone would come up with the idea of us defeating the sea peoples for them.

We hastily said our goodbyes, the women gave us a leather bag of water and a few loaves of bread. I could tell that they did not want us to leave and were thankful for our help. We started our journey down the steep paths back to the beach.

Chapter four

"I guess there really are a hundred and one uses for a rampaging elephant," Shelley said as we were negotiating a steep path.

"Yes there is. Is that the only spell you have?"

"Ya, but you have all your spells right?"

"Um... no... I have no spells. I don't have my bracelet," I said.

"Oh... that's not good is it?"

"We have to stop soon and start preparing some emergency survival magic."

"Emergency survival magic?"

"Yes, it's part of your training, we have to find local materials and use them to prepare spells to enable us to survive."

We soon came upon a small clearing which exactly the things I had been looking for, I saw a small length of faded rope and a few pieces sun bleached wood. I picked up the rope and pulled it as hard as I could. It was still strong.

"OK, use your copy spell to make more rope and wood. I will make an anchor for our craft."

I pulled a pad of paper and pen from my pocket. I flipped the pad open to a blank page and started to write a simple spell I knew from memory.

"The secret is to use very simple spells that you know from memory. This will prevent something catastrophic from happening," I said.

I showed Shelley the spell before I activated it.

"Now we have an anchor for a flying craft," I said pointing to the spells effect.

"Oh I see, now we just lash the other pieces of wood to it to make a platform."

"Exactly."

We spent about an hour making a crude platform out of the wood and pieces of rope. It wasn't pretty but looked reasonably safe and solid.

"Ok now we need some kind of weapon to protect ourselves. Let' s roll that rock onto the platform."

We both maneuvered a large round rock onto the platform. It weighed about eighty pounds. I pulled out the pad of paper again and wrote another simple spell.

"Let's go," I said as I climbed onto the platform."

I raised the platform about two hundred feet straight into the air then stopped it.

"Now carefully help me push the rock over the edge... don't fall." I said.

We heaved the rock over the side of the platform and watched it fall to the ground. I pulled out the pad opened it up to the spell, I then folded the bottom of the page. I wrote a few more lines onto the spell continuing over the fold.

"See, a simple way of activating a spell," I showed Shelley the fold.

I unfolded the paper pointed the pad towards a large hill then folded it so that all the writing was visible. A large rock appeared two feet in front of the pad and then flew horizontally at great speed smashing into the hill.

"Cool! You created a hurtling rock effect and then put it in a spell," Shelley looked impressed.

I lowered the platform until we were a few feet from the ground then flew it towards the beach. I followed the contours of the hills and cliffs in order to keep hidden.

"Kem did you notice that sorcerer guy that came from the ship before we ran away," Shelley asked.

"I don't think he was a sorcerer," I replied.

"But he was summoning lightning bolts."

"I think the staff was magical, not him."

"Why?"

I looked at Shelley, "sorcerers don't need gang planks or ships."

"Where did the staff come from then?"

"I think it's mine."

"It's yours!? What do you mean?"

"I went through a phase were I started making all kinds of magic items. I remember making that lightning staff."

"You say it was a phase. Why?"

"You will soon find out it is very easy to enchant items with magic. It becomes very convenient every time you need a spell you just use a magic item."

"Why'd you stop?" Shelley asked.

"After a while you have so many items you can't remember what they do. Do you remember when we bought our big screen TV, the Blu-ray and the HD receiver?"

"Oh... ya... we could never find the right remote."

"And we lost one too. Image having fifty or a hundred remotes and they all do stuff like summon lions or lightning bolts."

"I see. So how do you think the sea-people got your staff?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out."

I carefully negotiated our rickety craft through the high cliffs then the lower lying hills and then finally to the rocky beach.

I felt the urge to vomit when I saw the dead horses and the overturned chariots from the battle the day before. The men must all have been removed for I could see no human corpses, the ships had disappeared as well.

"There should be a large city on the coast called Knossos, they're probably sacking it right now," Shelley said.

"Who are these sea-people anyway, what was this Bronze Age collapse?" I asked.

"Nobody really knows, most of the major cities around the Mediterranean were destroyed around twelve hundred BC, there are a few historical references to the sea-peoples being responsible. No one knows who they were."

"Violent murderers," I murmured.

I told Shelley to watch behind us as I cautiously maneuvered the craft down the beach, I could tell from the footprints on the beach which way the bearded conquerors had headed.

It was an hour or so before we heard the howls and screams of a city being sacked. I looked up and saw a large pillar of smoke billowing high into the sky. I rounded one last hill and we finally saw the city. It was an inferno, almost all the brightly painted buildings had huge orange flames flickering through the windows.

On top of one of the cities walls silhouetted against the sky I saw a group of men, they walked the unmistakable walk of drunken men. One of them held a large amphora of wine to his lips then handed it to one of his cohorts.

"Oh my god Kem, that's horrible."

I looked towards the sea and saw a single long wooden ship sailing towards the north. I recognized it as the larger ship which had held the old man with the lightning staff.

"We must follow that ship," I said to Shelley.

I turned our craft and followed the ship at a discrete distance, we were only a few feet from the seas surface and I felt the salty spray of seawater against my face.

"You should take a nap Shelley, this may take a while," I said.

I tied a length of rope around both our waists and then around one of the rafts poles for safety. Shelley curled herself up and fell asleep.

We followed the ship through the rest of the day and through the night, Shelley and I taking shifts navigating.

It was well into the next day's morning when a large island dominated by high cliffs emerged over the horizon. The ship soon pulled into a harbor on the island that was surrounded by a large city of similar architecture to Knossos.

I set the raft down about a half a mile away from the city, we climbed off and stretched our aching joints.

"What now?" Shelley asked.

"We have to steal some clothes so we can blend in."

"Clothes... but... um... what about... um..." Shelley stammered.

I looked at her trying to discern her discomfort, "what's the matter?"

"Um... their boobs... they have them like... out there."

I started laughing, I had forgotten that the female breast had become an object of great fear and danger in the future.

"We cannot wear their garb anyway, no one would believe that either of us is Minoan, my skin is to dark and yours to light."

"So what do we do?"

"I am sure there are people from the Black Land here, we will use subterfuge to gain their confidence," I said.

"Black Land?"

"Oh... sorry I mean ancient Egypt."

"No, Black Land is good," Shelley replied.

We hid ourselves for the rest of the day until night fell, we built a small smokeless fire to make our now stale bread a bit more palatable. I snuck into the sea and caught a few fish with my hands.

I felt a wave of nostalgia when I realized it had been many years since I had practised my original trade. I was not as agile as I had been as a young child but a fish would still be wise to fear me.

"Wow Kem you swim like a dolphin," Shelley had a look of admiration on her face.

I smiled as I threw the still wiggling fish onto the ground. I had not been any more than an average swimmer in my village.

I showed Shelley how to make a stone knife out of a piece of obsidian we found, we used it to clean the fish before we cooked them. They tasted impossibly good.

It was soon night, I used the stone knife to shred our clothes and then stained them with dirt.

"We will tell them we were shipwrecked," I said to Shelley.

We stealthily crept into the city, the streets were dark illuminated only by the lamplight shining from the building windows.

I strained my ears until I heard the sound I was searching for. I grabbed Shelley's hand and quickly walked towards its source.

We stood outside a large two story building the windows blazing with lamplight, the sound of loud music coming through the door.

"You found them by their music," Shelley said.

"Black Landers love to dance and drink," I replied," so do the people of the Kush."

I banged my fist against the door and waited.

The door soon opened and a young and slightly inebriated woman stood in the threshold.

"Oh forgive me mistress, I have no place to turn. I and my friend have wrecked upon the beach of this island."

"You are a long way from home," she said looking at my skin, "you are from the Kush?"

"Oh yes, but I have lived in Lunu for many years. I am a scribe."

"And your friend... she is very unusual."

"Her mother was captured after a great battle with the northern heathens, she is my servant."

"Do you mean the battle of Kadesh?"

"Um... yes, yes."

"That was a long time ago," she said suspiciously.

"Yes... her mother was but a baby when she was captured and she is her fourteenth child."

"Hmm... well you are both welcome, come in I will see if I can get you some clothes."

We were both given a bath by servants, I amazed to see the house had running water and a rudimentary toilet.

We put on the simple dresses supplied by our host. They were very stylish but restricted our movement, the servants also painted kohl around our eyes.

We were soon ushered into the small party that was taking place.

There was a group of fifteen men and women in a large outdoor courtyard. I saw a small band of three women musicians playing a double flute, harp and a lute.

The hostess who had met us at the door saw us both and grabbed two cups of wine to give to us.

"I am Amisi, my husband is a wine importer," she said as she handed the wine to us.

"I am Kemamonit and this is Shelley," I replied.

"We are celebrating our demise," Amisi said with a laugh.

"Demise?" Shelley asked.

"Yes the Sea-people have taken our fair city."

"I don't see any fires or sacking," Shelley said.

"They used sorcery and magic, they have left us alone because we are from the Black Land. You have such an odd accent Shelley."

"Sorcery?" Shelley asked.

"Oh yes they summoned lightning and caused the ground to shake violently. The regent capitulated in terror, they now occupy the palace and demand tribute."

"What are you going to do?"

"There is a ship leaving for Avaris in two days, we will take what we can and go. They have said they will not stop us."

"Why?" I asked.

"They fear our people, I don't know why. "

"That's odd," I said.

Amisi stared at me intently for a moment, "are you named from the children's stories Kem?"

"I don't understand."

"You've not heard them? The great ebony skinned magician Kemamonit who tricks young children with sweet treats and magic boxes, my mother used to scare me with them when I was a child."

I felt my face go warm, "no..." I sensed Shelley staring at me."

"I haven't heard these stories either, perhaps you could tell us one," Shelley said to Amisi.

"I'm sure she is much too busy with her other guests," I blurted out.

"Nonsense, I will tell you a short one, it's called The Box of Spiders."

Pepi was alone in his family's house, he was playing with his toys on the floor when he heard the sound of a bird wings behind him. He turned to look and saw a beautiful woman standing behind him.

"Pepi I have a magic box for you, but for it to work you must show patience," she said.

The woman put a bowl of dark honey and a beautiful wooden box in front of Pepi.

"You must not eat the honey or touch the box until you hear the signal," she said.

"What signal?" Pepi asked but the woman had turned back into a bird and had flown out the window.

Pepi waited, he heard a jackal howl. Was that the signal?

Pepi still waited, he heard a crow caw. That must be the signal. He could wait no longer, his stomach was grumbling with hunger. He grabbed a piece of honey and ate it as he studied the box, it had a simple lid which looked easy to open. Pepi opened it and peered inside.

"That was not the signal Pepi," he heard disembodied voice.

Suddenly many spiders came out of the box and ate Pepi.

"That's kind of gruesome," Shelley said when the story ended.

"They're all like that, Kemamonit always tricks the child and he or she gets eaten or lost or something else bad," Amisi said.

"Very interesting huh Kem..." Shelley was staring at me.

I stared back at Shelley, "they're just stories."

Amisi looked at us both with a curious expression.

"So who are these two beautiful women?" A thirtyish year old man had walked beside Amisi and put his arm around her waist.

"Kem, Shelley, this is my husband Osiris," Amisi said.

"Pleased to meet you," I replied.

"So what brings you to our sad festivities?"

"They were wrecked on our island, "Amisi said.

"Was there anyone lost?"

"Oh no we were in a small skiff travelling between islands," I said.

"Kem is a scribe, perhaps you could get her to look at our contract?" Amisi said.

"Oh... we shouldn't impose."

"I don't mind," I said.

"Are you sure? We are renting our house and our last scribe has left already," Osiris said.

Osiris disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a roll of papyrus. I unrolled it and read the tedious language. I was astonished at the price he was charging, but I guessed the price of things had gone up in the intervening three thousand years.

The legal language was almost the same as it had been in my time, only now there was much more of it. The higher prices were compensated by a complete lack of trust.

"It looks fine, I assume you want with them take possession of the furniture since you aren't bringing it with you?"

"Oh yes, it will be a long time before we return and by then it will be worn out."

"Just a word of caution, I normally only do grain and cattle," I said.

"You are too modest, besides we don't really have a choice it's you or nobody. Do you have a place to stay tonight, we have a spare room in the servant's quarters," Osiris said.

"Um... sure yes, thank you."

"We chatted with the other guests for another hour before the party ended and we were both shown to a small room. It was furnished with two comfortable looking beds with blankets on them.

I immediately took my dress off and crawled into one, Shelley did the same. I blew out the small oil lamp that was providing light putting us in darkness. I could see the stars through the room's one window.

"Kem... that story... um... I have to know..." I heard Shelley whisper.

"It's simple, I trapped and feasted on young children," I said angrily.

"Kem... I have to know..."

"I'll tell you in the morning... when I'm cooking you for breakfast," with that I turned over and fell asleep.

Chapter five

The morning light was streaming through the open window in our room when I woke up the next morning. Shelley had already gotten up, her bed was empty with blankets neatly folded on top.

I stretched and yawned as I sat up, I picked up my dress off the floor and pulled it on as I stood up.

"Kem, I have some toothpaste and a reed if you want It," Shelley said as she walked through the door. She was carrying a clay jug of water and a dish with some white powder in it. There were three small reeds lying across the dish.

"Is the water boiled," I asked.

"Don't worry it's fresh, it comes from a mountain steam. Don't have to worry about industrial waste here."

I felt the urge to wash my hands again, I didn't want to tell Shelley industrial waste was a very old invention.

I picked up a reed and chewed the end of it to soften it up, then I dipped it into the powder and started to brush my teeth. After I was finished I rinsed my mouth out with water and spit it out the window.

"There is some food on the table in the dining room, Amisi and Osiris had to leave," Shelley said.

"I can think of at least five diseases we could get from eating it," I replied.

"We have to eat something."

"There should be some food vendors at the market place, we can get some cooked meat and bread there. It should be safe."

I wrote a note on a piece of papyrus to Amisi to thank her for her hospitality. I then straightened my hair fixed my makeup and prepared to face the day.

We left the house and started walking down the narrow street towards were I thought the market would be.

"Remember what you said last night Kem, about the stories."

I rolled my eyes ,"Ok, but first you have to tell me why you like elephants."

"Why do you want to know that?"

"So you don't want to tell me?" I said.

"It's no big deal, when I was very young my mother gave me a statue she had inherited from her great aunt, she was East Indian. The statue was of Ganesha an Indian god who looked like an elephant, I was really young and just used it to play with.

It was really beautiful, I used to have tea parties with him and my teddy bears. I called him Ganny, I still have it somewhere. I've liked elephants ever since."

"So you took a ritual statue of Ganesha and made it offerings of food and drink?" I said feeling alarmed.

"You make it sound bad, there aren't really gods are there?"

I thought about the look the elephant Shelley had summoned had given me.

"I don't know anymore, I only saw Sobek in my dreams, however I'd stay away from elephants from now on."

"Well that's not going to happen... besides I've seen you at the zoo staring at the crocodiles. So now you have to tell me your story. "

"When you wrote your rampaging elephant spell, you used a verbal command to initiate it, how did you do that?"

"Oh that was easy, I have a voice recognition app in my tablet computer, I opened a fissure to it then had it activate the spell on its screen when it heard my command."

"Very good, you see you are already developing your own style."

"What does that have to do with stories about tricking children?" Shelley asked.

"Well there weren't any voice recognition apps in four thousand BC."

"Oh... the magic box, that was to activate the spell when the child heard the command, but why did you use children?"

"I tried adults, but it's hard to get someone to do a simple task when they're quaking in terror. I found young children weren't afraid of me."

"But why the stories?"

"I don't know really, the thing is you're creating a moment in time when you have a person waiting to hear a command, and you can use that moment over and over, but the first time the child waits with the magic box there is no command. Maybe it was the stress of that."

"That's it?"

"Well there was one other thing... I had to find a reliable child so I came up with a test to weed them out?"

"What test?" Shelley asked, an alarmed look on her face.

"I would put a piece of chocolate covered honey in front of them, then I told them I was going away for a few moments and if they didn't eat the honey I would give them a bowl of the stuff when I came back."

"The marshmallow test! You gave them the marshmallow test," Shelley exclaimed.

"Marshmallow test?"

"Instead of honey they use marshmallows, and it can determine how people will do later in life."

"Really?" I thought about Pepi the child I had ended up using, he had struck me as particularly sensible."

"It must have seemed very odd to the children's parents when these children told them about their experiences, maybe the parents told them these stories to scare them away from you," Shelley said, she had grasped her chin with her thumb and forefinger.

"I guess that's possible, children's stories usually have a lesson woven into them."

"Kem did the stories in your time have evil witches in them?" Shelley asked.

I thought about the stories of my youth, "no... they were usually about animals."

"I wonder..." Shelley murmured to herself.

"Wonder what?"

"Oh nothing."

We had arrived at the cities market place, it was busy but not as busy as I had expected it to be. The people all seemed to have dour expressions on their faces. I guessed this was the result of being conquered.

We found a stall that served flat bread covered in chunks of meat and vegetables. I could see that the food was being cooked as the customers watched, so it would be safe from bacteria.

"How are we going to pay?" Shelley asked.

"I had a bunch of pennies in my pocket when we left, they're copper."

"They'll accept them?"

"They should, but we'll get screwed on the exchange rate," I said laughing.

In my time most of the value of coins was in the metal they were constructed from. I couldn't use the quarters, dimes, or nickels I had because the metal in them hadn't been invented yet.

I spoke a tiny bit of the local language and was able to order our food, I handed three pennies to the proprietor. He examined them closely.

"I don't recognize the king," he said.

"Oh he ruled in the far west."

"What's his name?"

"Abraham."

"Hmm... he doesn't look like a Canaanite."

The shop keeper put the coins into a wooden box on the counter behind him and handed us our food.

"We must enter the palace," I said to Shelley as we ate our food.

"That sounds dangerous."

We had found a stall that sold beer and had purchased two cups, we were sitting on a small bench near the stall.

"I have to know how they acquired my staff."

"How do we sneak in?"

"We may not have too, it's probably an administrative building as well, we'll make up a story about needing to see a deed or something," I said.

After we finished eating, we started walking towards a large building perched on a hill, it dominated the city below it.

"How do you know that's the palace?" Shelley asked.

"No narcissistic megalomaniac would ever allow a larger more impressive building then his own to be constructed."

"Meaning the King? What if he isn't a narcissist?"

I looked at Shelley, "Then he wouldn't be a king. There are certain personality traits required for a person who subjugates others and starts terrible wars."

"Didn't Amisi say they had a regent here?"

"A less successful megalomaniac," I replied.

"You should have been a union leader Kem," Shelley said smiling.

It took us about thirty exhausting minutes to climb the steep hill the palace sat on. Amisi had given us each a pair of thin leather sandals which did little to protect our feet.

When we finally reached the steps to the entrance we saw two Minoan foot soldiers guarding the main entrance, they carried long spears.

"State your business," one of them barked.

"We have come to look for documents in the hall of records," I replied.

I noticed an annoyed expression cross the guards face.

"Come to tally your property before you desert us," he said derisively, "proceed."

We walked past them as quickly as possible.

"What was that about? Shelley asked, "He looked angry.

I'd forgotten Shelley didn't have my rudimentary knowledge of the Minoan language.

"When things go bad the first people to be scapegoated are the minorities."

"Oh... because we're dressed as Egyptian's," she replied.

We entered the main courtyard of the palace, there was a large bustle of serious looking people walking quickly, some carried weapons others clay tablets. I scanned all the entrances to the buildings surrounding the courtyard until I spied what I was looking for.

"Look over there, "I said without pointing.

"Ah... a Sea person," Shelley said.

"He looks like he's guarding that entrance that must be where they rule from."

"What now?"

"I know a simple spell from memory, let's walk over to that alcove for some privacy."

As soon as we were out of sight I pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and started writing the spell.

"You must stay very close, we have to walk shoulder to shoulder."

I activated the spell with final pen stroke as Shelley stood next to me. Suddenly the world was silent, I could hear us both breathing. All the people in the courtyard were now motionless, many were frozen in mid-stride.

"You've stopped time!" Shelley exclaimed.

"More like sped it up... but I guess it depends on your point of view."

We carefully started walking, I made sure to give wide berth to all the other people in the courtyard. I was unsure of the spells area of effect.

We were soon in front of the fierce looking sea warrior guarding the entrance. I examined him closely, he had deep blue eyes and a long brown beard with streaks of blonde in it. His skin was darkly tanned but of a very light complexion.

"He looks European," Shelley said.

"Yes almost Nordic, the horned helmet makes him look like a cartoon Viking."

"He's a long way from home."

We continued through the entrance and emerged into a gloomy hallway, it was empty of people. I noticed the walls had been stripped of decoration and there were remnants of furniture and pottery strewn about.

We walked for a few dozen more yards when I deactivated the spell. I hid the pad of paper in my dress. I heard the sound of a loud voice yelling from one of the entranceways lining the walls of the hallway.

We pressed ourselves against one of the walls and slowly crept towards the opening the sound was coming from. I peeked around the corner when we were close enough.

I saw the old bearded man that had used the lightning staff on the beach. He was yelling into a glass orb that was perched on three bronze poles fashioned into a tripod. I could see the shadowy outline of another person in the orb. I did not understand the language they were speaking.

I felt Shelly peeking over my shoulder, "Did you make that item... the orb?" she whispered.

"No... I had had the same idea but I did it differently."

I looked about the room, it appeared to be the throne room, there was a large chair on a dais flanked by two smaller chairs, the floor had a large carpet covering it. I noticed the lightning staff leaning against a wall

"I think we should just confront him when he hangs up. He's alone," I said.

"What about the staff."

"He's crazy if he tries to use it inside. I'll try to grab it anyway."

It was a few moments later when the orb went dark, I counted to three and then we both ran into the room.

Chapter six

I had a hold of the staff before the old man had even noticed us, Shelley was beside me. He turned his head when he heard the rattle of the staff as I picked it up. I grasped the staff tightly preparing to fight if need be.

The man expression changed from a startled look to amazement when he saw us.

"Svartr Amon," he wheezed as he grasped his chest and collapsed.

I ran over to his crumpled form and felt his neck for a pulse, there was none, he was dead.

"He's dead Shelley," I said.

"Oh... what was that he said svart something...?"

"Svartr Amon... I think, I don't know what it means."

"Hmm... I think if he's from northern Europe svartr sounds kinda like schwarz which means black. He might have said black amon."

"Oh... that's not good," I said.

"Why?"

"I think that's my name."

I stood up and turned my attention to the staff in my hand, I examined it carefully looking for the telltale marking that would identify it as my creation. I found it almost immediately.

"See look," I pointed out a very faint hieroglyphic hallmark to Shelley," I made this staff."

"What's it say?" Shelley asked rubbing her finger over the hallmark.

"Sorcery lies within."

I picked up the staff with both hands and then broke it in half over my knee. There was a large fire place built into one wall that had a small fire burning in it. I tossed the pieces of the staff into it and watched as the ancient dry wood caught fire.

I then turned my attention to the glass orb, it was beautifully constructed of flawlessly clear glass. I knew it could not be my creation because glass had not been available to me in my time.

I saw a small distortion at the bottom of the orb, I moved around it to change my perspective and at just the right angle I could see a small hieroglyphic phrase, it said: From the City of Magic.

"Well I guess we know where it was made, just not who," Shelley said from behind me.

"Yes curiouser and curiouser."

"Are you going to destroy it too?" Shelley asked.

"Too dangerous, I don't know how it was made."

Shelley and I dragged the old guy's body onto the large chair on the dais and then tried to prop him up in a sitting position with is head to one side as if he'd fallen asleep. I then walked back to the room's entrance and carefully peeked into the hallway. It was still deserted.

"For an invading force they sure don't have a lot of people," I said to Shelley.

The both of us left the room and walked to the next open door, we kept as close to the halls wall as possible so as to not be seen.

I looked into the room, it was a jumble of overturned furniture and empty chests, it looked like a robber had ransacked the room. We continued on to the next room, it was much larger and full of cloth sacks and wooden boxes neatly stacked.

We entered it cautiously, it was also vacant of people. I opened one of the sacks, it was full of bronze implements such as cutlery and oil lamps. We randomly looked through the other sacks and boxes, they were full of a wide variety of objects, from gold and jewels to dried beans and wheat.

"They're taking absolutely everything, who does that?" Shelley asked.

"Yes... I can understand the bronze but wheat and beans do not travel well."

"How are they going to transport all this stuff, it would take a hundred of their ships," Shelley asked.

"Magic I bet," I replied.

I looked around the room for a hiding spot, I noticed there was a long balcony high on one wall near the ceiling. There was a steep set of stairs on the back wall leading up to it.

"Let's go up there," I pointed to the balcony.

We climbed up the stairs and walked down the balcony, there were three entrance ways. We walked towards the first entrance. I looked over the balcony's railing and could tell from the layout of the room below that it was originally designed for large gatherings like a feast.

"This balcony must be for addressing a crowd below," I said.

We stopped in front of the entrance and looked in, from the jumble of broken high quality furniture I surmised this must have been part of the regents living quarters.

Shelley and I flipped over a couch right side up and sat down on it.

"Now we wait, I'll take the first watch and you can take a nap," I said.

Shelley curled up on the comfortable couch and was soon lightly snoring.

I awoke suddenly feeling Shelley gently shake my shoulder. We had been watching for almost four hours and I was now sleeping while Shelley kept vigil.

"I hear something," Shelley whispered.

"Let's look," I replied.

We crawled on our hands and knees until we came to the balcony railing. It was constructed of flat boards about six inches wide slotted into a top and bottom rail. There was a three inch gap between the boards which we could use to spy below.

We laid down on our stomachs and then peeked through the slots in the railing. I saw a large group of people all wearing the distinct three horned helmets of the sea people. They were loading the piles of sacks and boxes onto a long line of push carts.

When a cart became full, two of the men would push it out of the room, a new empty cart would then be pushed into place seconds later.

"They must be loading the ships," Shelley whispered.

The harbor had been empty of large ships when we had entered the palace, I knew it would be almost impossible to anchor a large number of ships and organize hundreds of men in a few hours.

"I suspect they're using something else, I'll use my time spell to get us outside," I whispered to Shelley.

I took out my pad of paper with the spell, found the spell then flipped the pages bottom up activating it. Everything went silent. I looked below and saw the men all frozen in movement.

We stood up cautiously and then walked down the stairs staying as close together as possible. Thankfully the rooms exit was quite wide and there was no one blocking it, we were able to avoid bringing any of the men into the spells area of effect. We quickly walked down the wide hallway past the long line of men and pushcarts.

I glanced into the room where we had met the old man, his corpse was still propped up on the large chair in a sleeping position.

We soon emerged into the bright afternoon sun, I saw even more men and push carts all gathered around a large wooden platform, it was about thirty feet square. I noticed four sturdy ropes each attached to one corner of the platform and stretching into the sky.

I followed the ropes up to see what they were attached too.

"Oh my god!" I gasped.

There was an enormous wooden flying ship hovering in the sky, it must have been at least five hundred feet long.

"Wow," I heard Shelley exclaim beside me when she noticed the ship.

"It's definitely not something I built," I said.

We continued walking until we were on the wooden platform, we climbed over all the sacks and boxes until we found a crevice we were able to conceal ourselves in.

I deactivated the time spell and soon heard the sound of the men piling more booty onto the platform. This continued for a few more minutes than ceased abruptly, I heard a load shout from one of the men.

The platform jerked suddenly and I felt my stomach fall as we started to smoothly climb into the air. The platform jerked to a stop after about a minute, our little crevice darkened slightly when we had entered the bowels of the large ship.

I heard some men yelling and then felt our platform start to roll towards the front of the ship, it jerked to a stop after a few seconds and then rolled sharply to the left and then made a final jerk as it banged into something and stopped for good.

The voices of the men who were guiding it grew softer as they moved away from the platform. Shelley and I cautiously climbed out of our hiding spot and surveyed our surroundings.

We were in an enormous hold half filled with wooden pallets piled high with booty, the pallets lined two aisles that enabled the cargo handlers to move them, I saw that the aisles had a grid of bronze balls about six inches in diameter which hovered an inch or so from the floor.

The hovering balls enabled the pallets to roll smoothly into place.

I saw the work crew about a hundred feet away, they were loading an empty wooden pallet onto the elevator. I saw that each of the elevator ropes were wound around large bronze spools, each spool was attached to a device that looked almost like an electric motor except it had no wires or cooling vents.

"Are those electric motors?" Shelley whispered in my ear.

"I think they're magic," I replied.

I had a pretty good idea of how they worked which did not diminish the admiration I had for the anonymous designer.

I looked around the large hold and saw a doorway at the end of one of the aisles. I pointed it out to Shelley, we climbed out of our hiding spot then moved to the edge of the pallet away from the aisle.

The booty had been piled on all the pallets in a mound leaving a navigable valley between them. The mounds of booty would also keep us hidden from the cargo handlers as we made our way to the door.

We slowly started picking our way towards the front of the hold, as we walked I spied a small bronze sword sheathed in a shoulder scabbard. I grabbed it and then hung it across my back with the scabbards strap crossing my chest from my left shoulder to my opposite hip.

We continued gingerly stepping through the mounds of booty until after about twenty minutes we reached the front wall of the hold. We then moved parallel to the wall until we were at the edge of the aisle.

The doorway was a few feet away, I peeked down the long aisle towards the elevator, I could see only one man and his back was turned towards us. I grabbed Shelley's hand and we sprinted the short distance through the doorway.

We were now in a narrow corridor the ends of which had stairs going upward. The ceiling was about ten feet above us. The wall opposite the door was covered in brightly covered Egyptian hieroglyphs and drawings.

I stood with my back against the far wall and read the hieroglyphs.

The great ship Sobek's Teeth, born in the City of Magic

Free to fly the skies of the world

To carry the things the city needs to flourish

To strike terror in the hearts of the cities enemies

The ships munificent architects

Isis the beautiful

Qing the wise

Nesa the strong

There were large paintings of the three architects flanking the writing, one was of an Egyptian woman, the other two were men, one looked Asian and the other European.

"Your city is like a cat you let out at night, it comes back in the morning with scratches all over it but you have no clue what's it's done or where it's been," Shelley murmured beside me after she read the hieroglyphs.

"Ya... we're obviously going to have to do some kind of survey of the place when we get back," I replied.

I started walking towards one of the stairs while gesturing Shelley to follow me, the steps squeaked noisily as we placed our feet on them. I felt the wood of the wall with my fingers as I ascended the stairs. It was very dry and had a texture that gave the impression great age.

I reached the top of the stairs after thirty steps, there was an open door beside me which I carefully looked through. It was a large room which looked like the ships bridge, there were all sorts of bronze wheels on wooden pedestals as well as levers emerging from the floor.

Sturdy tables with papyrus charts piled on them sat against the forward wall and large glass windows sat over the tables lighting up the whole room with the afternoon sun.

I walked over to one of the windows, I could see the city below the ship as well as the island and the sea beyond.

I looked at one of the papyrus sea charts, it had been drawn by hand and was covered in hieroglyphs. The land masses portrayed looked eerily accurate, I could easily spot the Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily.

"Kem look behind you," Shelley whispered.

I turned and looked at the rear wall of the bridge, it was covered in a painting similar to the wall below except there were two large figures in the center flanked by hieroglyphic script.

The two figures looked like man and his wife, the man had his arm around the woman's waist, she looked to be a young Nubian woman. The man was Egyptian and dressed in garb very similar to the clothing of the era that I had lived.

He had a very unusual device on his nose covering his eyes, I did not recognize it. I read the Hieroglyphs.

The great founders of the City of Magic

They lived a millennia ago and taught us the way

They are the shoulders we stand on

Senbi the brilliant

Kemamonit the graceful

Their love will be eternal

I felt myself hyperventilating. I staggered over to one of the tables and used it to steady myself as I tried to still my racing heart and control my breathing.

"I didn't know you were married Kem," Shelley said as she read the hieroglyphs.

"Oh Senbi... what did you do," I said to myself.

Shelley turned from the portrait and saw me leaning against the table with both my hands.

"Kem! Are you all right," she ran over to me and grabbed my waist while throwing one of my arms around her neck.

"I'll be fine, I just need to sit down," I said.

Shelley helped me up onto one of the tables after sweeping the charts out of the way.

"Is that really you?" Shelley asked.

"It is but it isn't... you know how easy it is to copy things..."

"Oh..."

"He was infatuated with me... I guess it was love... he taught me math and geometry. He was honest and I trusted him. I gave him my secrets when I thought I was dying."

"So he used magic to resurrect a new you," Shelley said.

"Yes... but a different me I suspect, a poor illiterate peasant, easy to seduce and bamboozle," I felt myself getting angry.

Shelley looked at me and started laughing.

"There is no way he seduced you."

I felt my face go warm. I looked at the portrait of the woman again, she had an expression of profound confidence and looked in no way subservient to the man.

Senbi was a remarkably intelligent person but socially inept. I thought back to my youth and my desire to see great things. Senbi knew me...

I realized then how he had probably done it, he had just tantalized me with a glimpse of sorcery, exploited my biggest weakness, my insatiable curiosity. In order to satisfy it I would have used my feminine wiles against an all too willing victim.

I felt a grudging respect for him.

"What's that thing on his nose?" Shelley asked pointing to Senbi's figure.

"He was very nearsighted, I think they are some kind of magic spectacles."

"Why didn't he just use glasses?" Shelley asked.

"Lenses hadn't been invented yet."

"Oh... right... so how did nearsighted people see stuff back then?"

"I don't know... but you didn't stand in front of them when they had a bow in their hands."

Chapter seven

We walked back down the stairs, I peeked through the open doorway to make sure we would be unseen before we walked across to the other set of stairs. They squeaked noisily as well as we climbed them.

The top of the stair emerged into a large open room, it was furnished with three large couches surrounding a low table. The table had some papyrus scrolls scattered over it as well as some bronze navigation instruments. The room was illuminated by a large glass window.

I walked over to the low table and picked up one of the scrolls, it appeared to be part of a manual for the operation of the ship.

A loud squeaking noise startled me and caused me to look up, I saw a large bearded man emerge from a doorway next to the stairs.

I saw his cruel lips form a humourless grin.

"Shelley get behind me!" I yelled as I clasped the handle of my sword and unsheathed it.

I had had a small amount of training in swordplay thanks to a former lover, but I was far from expert.

The brute unsheathed his own sword and approached me, he started flicking his sword back and forth like a horses tail. He looked unafraid and confident of victory, overconfident I hoped.

He bellowed at me and then charged, I spun out of the way and swung my sword with two hands at his unprotected back.

He was able to bring his own sword up just in time and block my attack, the two blades came together with an enormous clang the shock of the blow travelled up my arms and almost caused me to lose my grip.

I saw that Shelley was able run down the stairs and escape, now that the fiend was not able to block the exit, I felt some small relief knowing she was safe.

We faced each other again, he was more cautious now taking his time, I swung again, he blocked, he thrust and I dodged. I could tell he was of no great skill as a swordsman.

We circled each other like two snarling dogs, I felt sweat rolling down my face, he came at me with a flurry of hard swings, the room echoed with sharp clangs as I blocked each blow.

I pressed my attack, I was quicker, he was stronger, I saw fear in his eyes now. The cacophony of noise from our swords striking each other was almost deafening.

I saw my opening, I thrust towards his unprotected side after he had swung too hard missing me as I ducked.

My foot slipped then, the cheap bindings on my flimsy sandals picked that exact moment to come loose. I stumbled into the brute dropping my sword.

I heard his own sword drop and then I was in his steel like grasp. He was behind me and I felt his hot breath in my ear. I squirmed trying to break his grip but he was to strong, he had my arms pinned. I felt a lecherous hand groping my womanhood as his breathing grew faster and more ragged.

I clenched my teeth in revulsion as I waited for the inevitable.

I heard a sickening crunching sound as my assailants body jerked suddenly, his grip loosened on me and then he fell to the floor. I turned and saw Shelley standing behind his crumpled form, she had a large bronze candle holder in her hand.

"Um... Kem, you know those times when things can't possible get any worse."

"Ya..."

"I... um... don't think this is one of them, they saw me in the hold."

I thought for a moment.

"To the bridge!" I yelled.

We ran down the stairs across the small corridor and up the stairs to the bridge. I glanced through the opening to the hold as I ran by. I saw a group of men walking towards us carrying swords.

Once on the bridge I started pulling levers and turning the large wheels waiting for something to happen. It was only a few moments later that I felt the vessel shudder as it started to move.

I spun an important looking wheel and was rewarded with a sudden lurch as the ship turned. Shelley pulled another lever and the ship lurched again, I could feel the vessel gain speed. I spun the wheel again in the opposite direction and the ship lurched more violently as it turned back to its original heading.

I hoped sudden movements of the ship would knock our assailants off their feet and prevent others from boarding it to reinforce the men in the hold.

I found my pad of paper with the rudimentary spells I had written previously, I flipped it open to the rock throwing spell.

"Come, I have a plan of escape," I said to Shelley.

I ran down the stairs and stood in front of the opening to the hold, I saw that the men had indeed been knocked off their feet and were struggling to stand up. The ship felt as if it was still accelerating, I heard the ancient timbers groan and creek.

I activated the rock flinging spell at the floor in front of the men. A large boulder appeared in front of the pad and then flew in a slight arc before crashing into the holds floor in front of the men, creating a large hole.

I fired more boulders turning the hole into a gapping crevice. The men ran in fear in the opposite direction. The ship started to vibrate and make hideous groaning noises.

"Over there, an anchor point for the ships flying spell we can break it free and use it to escape!" I pointed towards a large wooden pillar with numerous beams fastened to it. It was covered in odd looking writing.

The both of us clambered over top of the mounds of booty, I held Shelley back as we stood on the final mound before the anchor point. I started firing boulders at the hull and the surrounding beams, I was careful not to disturb the writing.

Splinters started flying causing us to crouch behind the mound for cover, I heard a whizzing sound and then a thunk, and I turned towards the noise and saw a still vibrating arrow sticking in the hull over our heads.

We crouched as low as we could as more arrows started whizzing around us. The anchor was almost free now, I turned and launched a huge volley of boulders towards where I thought the men were hiding then I fired one more boulder at the anchor point freeing it.

I grabbed Shelley's hand and we jumped onto the large wooden pillar pushing it away from the ship. We floated free from the vessel and were drifting in the air.

I looked at the ship, it was already over three hundred yards away and moving at a tremendous speed. It also had a definite list and there were small streams of debris leaking from its bottom.

I looked at the magic script trying to discern the operation of the anchor point, it was only vaguely comprehensible. I saw a small lever with part of a severed rope attached to it, after moving it I found I could control our direction slightly.

We were high above the sea, we had left the island we were originally on far behind. I could see another small island ahead of us, it had what looked like a large temple on it.

Our lifeboat was slowly descending, its forward speed was no more than equal to a brisk walk. I used what little control I had to steer it towards the small island and then crossed my fingers.

Our makeshift lifeboat came to a rest in the shallow water a few dozen yards from the islands shore. Shelley and I both breathed a sigh of relief, we climbed off the uncomfortable pillar of wood and stood in the shallow water.

"Where are we now, I wonder," Shelley said.

"Well, there are no sea-people... so far," I replied.

I could see the roof of a large building over the crest of a small hill beyond a rocky beach. We both looked at each other and then started walking towards it.

It took only a few minutes before we stood on the crest of the hill, I surveyed the building, it was part of a large sprawling complex of numerous other buildings some of which were two or three stories high. There were numerous paths paved with flat stones crisscrossing the grounds of the complex, the grounds themselves were covered in beautifully manicured lawns and brightly flowered gardens.

"I sense magic," I said.

"Oh god... what should we do?"

"I could be wrong... it's not a sixth sense or anything."

"Why do you think there's magic then?"

"It's too perfect, and look at the size of those glass windows. Glass was blown until the nineteenth century, windows in antiquity had to be small."

We decided to keep on walking, we entered a large courtyard after following one of the paths. I saw two people talking to each other. I quickly realized it was not a discussion but a heated argument as I heard the loud screaming voices.

The loudest voice belonged to a very pregnant young woman, I could see tears rolling down her rage contorted face.

The object of her anger was a tall muscularly built man wearing a leather kilt, I could tell he had been quite beautiful at one time, but now his face had deep lines on it and the once firm tummy had a grown soft and heavy. I also could not mistake the hard humorless gaze that results from a life of alcohol abuse.

I could smell the sour odour of drunkenness as we approached the couple. The man suddenly lurched towards the woman as if to attack her. She raised her hand then and the man flew backwards as if hit by a charging animal.

He stood up unsteadily, then glared at the woman with a fury that bordered on madness. He then turned and walked away.

"Hello," I said to the woman.

She was weeping uncontrollably her head bent down and her eyes staring at the ground.

"Um... hello," I said again louder this time.

Her head jerked up and she looked at me with a startled expression.

"Who are you?" she raised her hand like she had done with the man.

"We're not here to hurt you," I said quickly, hoping to calm her.

"You look very familiar, do I know you?" she asked with a quizzical expression.

"No, I don't think so, are you a sorcerer?"

Her eyes narrowed, "why do you ask?"

"I just saw you use magic."

"Oh... I guess I am then."

"You speak Egyptian were you trained at the city."

Her eyes narrowed again "yes the city... you're familiar with it?"

I decided to just tell her the truth, if she wasn't a real sorcerer and was just using stolen magical items she would not be much of a threat. If she was a sorcerer and wanted to do us harm there was not much we could do anyway.

"I'm Kem this is Shelley... she's my apprentice. We are also sorcerers."

"In the City of Magic there is a large granite statue on the left side of the main amphitheater's entrance, who is it of?" She asked.

"The god Sobek"

Her face relaxed and she smiled at me.

"I'm Circe, it's always nice to meet fellow prestidigitator's"

Shelley's face suddenly had a startled expression on it.

"Did you say you're name was Circe?"

"Yes."

"That guy that was here, his name wasn't Odysseus was it?" Shelley asked.

I saw Circe's lower lip start to tremble, tears started flowing from her eyes again.

"Let me guess... he got some woman you know pregnant..." she sobbed.

"No... no... " Shelley walked over to Circe and out her arm around her shoulders.

"Who is this Odysseus," I asked, quite curious.

"He's a bum, that's who he is," Circe exclaimed, angry now.

"Is he the baby's father?" I asked.

Circe started crying again," he was so nice... his ship and crew wrecked on my island... he told me he was a great king on a journey home from a long battle."

"He lied?"

"At first I believed him, then he started to drink... a few times a week at first, then every night and finally all the time. I used sorcery to find the truth, he was a minor foot soldier in a long siege... his kingdom was a few families on a backward island... and he was married."

"So you kicked him out?"

"I tried to make the best of it, I told him he could stay on the island as long as he stopped drinking and him and his men tried to make an effort support themselves, I even gave them some livestock to start a herd."

"Pigs I bet," Shelley murmured.

"Yes... how did you know?"

"Just a guess... they slaughtered them and ate them right?" Shelley continued.

"You are a something of a seer," Circe said looking impressed.

I was also impressed.

"How do you now this?" I asked.

"Do you remember that TV show we watched on the history channel? The one with the giant one-eyed monster and the guys in the ship," Shelley said in English.

"Oh..." I said as I remembered it.

"What language do you speak?" Circe's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Shelley was just telling me she see's visions in her dreams. Egyptian is not her first language she uses her own tongue sometimes."

Circe seemed satisfied.

"Why was Odysseus so angry?" I asked.

"He and his men have run out of wine and I would not give them more. They are in for some long nights."

Chapter eight

Circe led us into through an entrance into her complex. The architecture of the interior looked almost modern, all the rooms all had large floor to ceiling windows on their exterior walls. The furniture was Spartan but looked very comfortable.

"You must stay inside from now on, I have activated the grounds protective enchantments," Circe said.

"You fear Odysseus will come back?"

"I am sure of it."

Circe led us into a large carpeted room with a massive wooden table surrounded by chairs, there was a huge bookshelf lining one wall full of clay tablets and papyri. I saw a large mural on the far wall of a young Nubian woman standing next to some unrecognizable device.

Circe looked at the mural, then turned and looked at me.

"Kem... your name, what's that short for," Circe asked.

"Um... Kem-berly," I said.

"Is that Kemamonit?" Shelley asked pointing to the mural.

"Yes, she was kind of a hero of mine, I used to visit her and Senbi's tomb in the Magic City."

"Tomb?!" I thought to myself.

"How long have you been away from the city?" I asked.

Circe beckoned us to sit down, and then conjured up some food and drink onto the table, thankfully it was beer and fruit.

"I left years ago, there's a weird bunch running it now. They are trying to create some sort of Utopia, they want to travel to one of the planets, Mars I think."

"What's going on with that ship Sobek's Teeth?" Shelley asked.

"I'm not sure, someone's either very brave or very stupid flying that firetrap around. The wood in it is a thousand years old, what isn't bone dry is rotten," Circe looked at me," Kemberly... that's an odd name. Is it Nubian?"

Circe had an inscrutable expression on her face.

"No... I'm from a people far to the south...the Seattle people."

"Hmm... Seattle, another odd name."

I desperately wanted to change the subject before I got entrapped in my web of lies.

"The air in here is very cool and it smells of pine. Is that a spell? "I asked.

"Yes, not a very sophisticated one though, it's just a gateway to a large forest far to the north I circulate the air through large tunnels with rotating sails."

A thought suddenly occurred to me, "what stop's animals from coming through the gateway?"

"I have bars across it and a guard. You must never leave your air sweetener unguarded."

"Is there another sorcerer in this area?" I asked.

"Yes there is... and now that I think about it, I think he has that old flying ship. I haven't seen him in years though his names Hattu."

"Would it be possible for us to borrow a small flyer at some point and a map to his stronghold?" I asked.

"Sure, but he's a crusty old fart."

Circe offered to let us spend the night in her complex. The thought of clean clothes a bath and a good night's sleep was something we could not pass up.

Circe gave us a tour of her complex, the sophistication of the place was beyond anything I had ever seen, just the plumbing alone would have put a modern mansion to shame. She even had an amphitheater with a stage which showed three dimensional performances selectable from a library.

When she activated one of the amphitheater's performances' it had visual effects that would not have been out of place in a modern Hollywood film.

We spent the night in a luxurious guest house, the beds were huge and impossibly soft, that along with the cool pine scented air caused me to fall into a deep sleep. I woke up the next morning completely refreshed.

I got up and spent an hour in a large warm bath complete with scented water, it felt so good on my sore and bruised body I almost fell asleep again.

It took great effort to finally force myself to get out of the bath and get dressed.

"Wow this place is like a five star hotel," Shelley said to me when I walked into our common room.

"Yes, it is tempting to stay, "I said as I plopped down on a comfortable coach.

"Do you think that's what happened to Odysseus? He got so comfortable he didn't want to get back on his rickety ship."

"A man that drinks that much would be comfortable on a rock pile."

"Why can't we stay then?"

"Circe... she was not so nice in the history books?" I asked.

"Yes, but that was part of a myth, I had no idea she was real... besides remember the stories about you? Stories change over the millennia."

"I feel we should not overstay our welcome, the less she knows about us the better."

"Kem... do you think that a lot of those mythical stories about witches and wizards are really about people like us?"

"I don't know, I haven't read very many of them I'm afraid... those boring movies with the short people walking in the wilderness was that a myth?"

"Um... no... you didn't like them?"

"Not really... I liked those movies with the handsome space ship pilot... you know, the villain was dressed in black and everybody fought with electrical swords."

"Oh yuck... really?"

"They were much more imaginative, I thought."

"Well what about King Arthur... I'm sure you've seen stuff about him?" Shelley asked.

"Yes... now that you mention it Morgan le Fay strikes me as a real sorcerer, the stories about her depict a lot of complexity, in magic and personality."

"What about Merlin?"

"He struck me as someone being manipulated by an unseen power, I have a tough time believing any sorcerer would align themselves with a minor king."

"What about Circe and Odysseus?" Shelley said.

"That's love... no woman acts rationally when love is involved."

"I sense you are talking about me... such a harsh language, what is it called?" Circe had entered our room unnoticed.

"English, Shelley is from an island far to the west, we were just saying how grateful we are for your hospitality."

"Thank you, the pleasure is all mine. It is quite a treat to talk to other sorcerers," Circe said.

"Did Odysseus come back?" Shelley asked.

Circe's face turned dark, "if he did he better like swine."

Circe led us to a large dining room for breakfast, there was a long wooden table piled with food and drink, we sat down to eat.

I had some warm bread slathered with butter and a bowl of peeled and sliced fruit, I washed it all down with a cup of beer. Shelley was more adventurous eating some fish and other meats, I reasoned all the food was probably safe, being conjured it would only have been of the best quality.

"You are such a cautious eater Kem, you look at food like a general surveying his enemy," Circe said.

"I have a sensitive stomach."

"Hmm... I have some herbs for that."

"Um... no... I have it under control if I watch what I eat," I said.

When we finished our breakfast Circe gave us a papyrus map of the local islands, she pointed out Hattu's island. We then walked up three flights of stairs until we came to a rooftop hangar which housed her flying craft.

"You can use this one," she pointed at a rakish looking craft."

We climbed aboard it and Circe explained the controls, "When you're done with it just pull this red lever, you'll have about thirty seconds to get off before it will take off and return to me."

Shelley and I sat in the comfortable seats, the craft had a sturdy awning and a thick glass windshield.

Circe climbed off the ship and closed the door. I carefully rose up off the hangar floor and then aimed for the large exit. Shelley and I waved good bye to Circe.

"Farewell Kemamonit, it was nice to meet you," she yelled.

I felt my face go warm as I increased our speed.

"No fooling her, huh?"

"It would be a lot easier to be incognito if my goddamn picture wasn't everywhere," I said.

The craft was quite nimble and very easy to fly, it also had rudimentary instruments including a device which acted like a cross between an autopilot and compass. I could dial a heading and the craft would fly that direction.

I looked at the map and using a ruler and a protractor determined the proper heading, I dialed it up and then increased our speed.

The craft flew smoothly, it obviously had some aerodynamic characteristic's.

"This is pretty cool," Shelley said.

"It sure beat's walking."

I calculated it would take about an hour and a half to get to Hattu's island, so I decided to take a nap, Shelley was more than happy to take over the controls having never flown such a complex craft before.

I awoke to the feeling of Shelley shaking my arm, I yawned and stretched.

"I think that's it Kem," Shelley said pointing to an island about a thousand feet below us.

I saw a small rocky island about a mile wide, there was a large building complex on it similar to Circe's. I also saw hundreds of what looked like dark needle like objects in the water next to the shore.

"Oh my god those are ships," I said to Shelley.

"There must be over a thousand Sea-people on the island," she replied.

"If what I suspect is true, they used this island to travel from the far north."

"Travelled how?"

"Through the complex's air conditioning, they must have burst through the air gateway and overwhelmed the guard."

Shelley looked at me," so the Bronze age Collapse was caused by faulty air conditioning?"

"Let's set the craft down in front of the main entrance, I've had enough of being incognito," I said.

Shelley piloted the flyer lower and slowed its velocity. She proved to be a capable pilot and we were soon on the ground in front of the complex's main entrance.

I saw a large group of armed men gathering about thirty yards to one side of the craft.

I handed Shelley the paper pad with the time spell written on it.

"If anything happens activate it, remember to stay close," I said.

We both exited the craft, I pulled the red homing lever and then closed the door, thirty seconds later as Circe has said it suddenly took off and headed back to her island.

The group of warriors had grown into the hundreds and they had completely encircled us, they still kept about ten yards away from us, I saw fearful looks on their faces.

"Elefante... Elefante," I heard whispered from the group, I saw one of the men pointing at Shelley.

"Now you're the famous one, they are frightened of you," I said.

"What now?" Shelley asked.

A low murmur went through the large crowd and the men in front of us suddenly parted creating an opening. I saw a tall thin man wearing a light gray cloak, he had on a tall hat that looked similar to a large fedora, and a long gray beard flowed down from his chin. He carried a wood staff in his right hand.

The man slowly walked towards us halting when he was about five feet away.

"You will come no further," he said in badly accented Egyptian.

"You speak our language," I said.

"One must study the enemy."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am the great wizard king Heimdal, descendant of a royal linage a thousand years long."

"Really?" I said.

"You will surrender, or be destroyed.

"We too are powerful wizards, how will you destroy us?"

"You do not have the power that I possess!"

He used his free hand to grab a chain hanging around his neck. He flicked open the chains clasp with his thumb nail and then held it in front of us on his outstretched arm. I saw a small silver ring hanging down from it.

"Behold the ring that controls all rings!" he bellowed.

I recognized it immediately.

Heimdal rested his staff in the crook of his shoulder as he used his two shaky hands to put the ring on one of his fingers.

He made a fist of the hand with the ring on it and held it over his head.

"In the name of Odin, I will strike you down!!" he said dramatically.

I could tell he was about to utter one of the rings command words.

"Oh great wizard may I say a few words before you destroy us" I said.

"If you must, but it will not save you," Heimdal said arrogantly.

"Kemamonit's goose is not quite cooked," I said loudly.

I grabbed Shelley around the shoulders and pulled her to the ground, "lie as close as you can to the ground," I yelled to her.

No sooner had we flattened ourselves then an enormous gust of wind swept over top of us, its intensity was that of the largest of typhoons. I knew this because that was the effect I had used in the rings spell.

The wind gust blew for about sixty seconds and then stopped as suddenly as it came. Shelley and I stood up brushing the sand and dirt from our clothing.

The only other person left standing was Heimdal, all the other warriors had been blown many yards away.

Heimdal looked at us with terror in his eyes and started yelling out the rings many command words, none of them worked.

"How... how is this possible this ring was forged in the underworld by the gods," he croaked.

"That ring was made by a jeweler in Lunu, he made me a bunch of earrings too, and it has now turned back to what it was when I purchased it, a piece of jewellery." I said.

"But... but... impossible... I'm the greatest wizard... a thousand year linage..." Heimdal stammered.

"And I am a peasant born from a long line of peasants. You are nothing but a doddering old fool with a bunch of magic trinkets. Gather your men and leave this place or you will feel the wraith of true sorcery."

Heimdal hung his head in defeat.

"Ya... and stop the raping and pillaging too, you guys should be ashamed of yourselves," Shelley yelled.

The warriors who had been swept away by the gust had started to stand up and limp around. Heimdal yelled a few terse commands to them and they slowly started walking towards the complex.

Heimdal turned towards us, "our ships, we need to take our ships... things have not been good in our land since the gods filled the air with dust and ash... we will starve without them."

"I think he's telling the truth Kem, there was a huge volcanic eruption about this time in Iceland, Hekla I think," Shelley said.

"I will send your ships through the gateway after you have left," I said to Heimdal.

I did not trust him or his men, the sooner they were gone the safer I would feel.

Chapter nine

We spent the next few days watching the Sea-people march through the gateway back to their land. I had been right about the air conditioning being their route of transit. Hattu had apparently died of old age and the servants in his employ had left leaving the gateway unguarded.

Shelley and I explored the huge complex, we were careful to stay together and kept a wary eye on the men who had not yet left.

We soon found Hattu's secret library and the workshop where he wrote his spells, using his paraphernalia we were able to concoct a spell which transported the ships and their cargo through the gateway.

It was five days until the last of the men had left, when he crossed the threshold I used magic to seal the gateway for good.

Shelley and I then activated a new air conditioning spell we had made using our knowledge of modern mechanical systems, one that didn't need a gateway to the cool air of the northern hemisphere.

We had decided to wait out our time here in the past in Hattu's complex, it was quite comfortable and there was no danger of its owner returning.

Shelley and I also found out the reason my magic items had been turning up in this area, Hattu had apparently been a collector of items from ancient sorcerers. We found a very large room with thousands of items on display much like a museum.

There was also a very large open area were the Sobek's Teeth must have been permanently docked.

"Do you think we could visit the Magic City?" Shelley asked me one morning, "We have over a week left before we return."

"I don't think that would be safe, Circe said it was run by Utopians now."

"Ya... damn those Utopians."

"We still have to prepare for our battle with that Clyver fellow, we will return only seconds after we left, he will still be there."

"Yes, if only I had my handgun," Shelley said with a strange faraway look in her eyes.

I had never understood her fascination with small firearms, I had first assumed it was just a strange personality quirk unique to her. It was only after talking to numerous people in the neighborhood that we had lived in that I realized this fascination infected most people of this era.

I recalled a conversation I had had with her asking what benefit it would be to have a gun if the criminal you were trying to protect yourself from had one too.

"Yes but I practise my quick draw in the mirror, I would be faster," she said.

I understood then why there was a large bullet hole in her mirror.

"But what if the criminal has practised too?" I asked.

She looked at me with an expression of such smugness I could scarcely believe she was the same person.

"Criminals are too stupid to practise their quick draw, that's why they're criminals," she had said.

Our first order of business was to try and recreate the clothing that we were wearing before we were transported into the past. Our original clothes having been destroyed.

Neither one of us was even a passable seamstress so we ventured to a large town on a nearby island and had a tailors shop make adequate facsimiles. The owner of the shop was quite curious and asked a lot of questions about the odd designs.

"We are actors, it is for a play about a strange land," I had told him.

I bought two pairs of sturdy leather sandals as well.

We then spent many hours in the complex's workshop until we had devised a plan to foil our enemy. We created our spell and tested it many times to make sure it was flawless.

The last thing I did was to create a wooden replica of a pistol. I enchanted it so that when the trigger was pulled a metal ball would fly out the barrel accompanied by a sound similar to a gunshot. It was not of a velocity that would penetrate someone's skin but that along with the large bang sound should convince anyone they were in danger of being shot.

I presented the pseudo gun to Shelley.

"This is plan B," I said to her.

Shelley immediately pocketed it, stood still for a second and then drew it as quickly as possible shooting a projectile.

She turned and looked at me with wild eyes," yes this will do just fine."

"It's not lethal," I said.

Shelley's face fell, "oh... ok" she said.

"Well...maybe if you hit someone in the eye."

This seemed to cheer her up.

When we were finished we had two days left, I used the time to create a spell that would make Hattu's complex disappear after we had left. I knew the damage the Sea-people had done would forever be part of our past, but the people in this reality would not have to suffer them anymore.

On our last day, we sat together at Hattu's enormous dining table and played cards with a makeshift deck. We did not know the exact time we would be transported back to the present so we had to stay together.

I had incorporated our spells into a wooden bracelet I wore on my wrist, having been used to practising magic in this way I thought that this would enable me to react in the quickest way possible.

Shelley had put a warning bell in her spell that sounded five seconds before the spell activated. I now heard the faint ringing. We both closed our eyes, Shelley had also told me she used a bright white flash to cover up any of the spells mechanics that might be showing.

A bright flash was not something that a well-constructed spell should need but it was a tool I used as well just out to be safe. One never knew what secret might be revealed when a spell is viewed from a different perspective.

We were back at the bar, I turned and saw Clyver staring at us, his strange weapon was now pointed at the floor as his arm was hanging straight down. He looked at us with a confused expression on his face.

I felt my hand move reflexively to the small bracelet on my other wrist, I activated the spell and Clyver disappeared.

He hadn't actually disappeared, the spell was simply two large screens, the one that faced us was a picture of the area in front of us only from ten minutes in the past, the screen that faced him was a picture of the bar ten minutes in the past.

The result of the spell was that in Clyvers eyes we had disappeared but Maggie was still at the bar, and to Maggie's perspective Clyver had disappeared but we were still there. I had rigged another spell that worked as a sort of a small periscope so that I could monitor Clyver's actions. I saw Shelley's hand clasp the prop gun in her pocket.

Clyver stared at the spot we had been, he had a suspicious look on his face, and I could see fear and indecision also. Finally after about fifteen seconds he pocketed his weapon grabbed his trench coat and left. I waited for another thirty seconds and then discontinued the spell.

I turned and looked at Maggie, she was rubbing her eyes.

"Geez... what the hell was that?" she said.

"I think we got our picture taken, probably part of the investigation," I said.

"What investigation?"

"Oh I hurt my back, and I'm trying to get an insurance claim, that guy is following me and taking pictures. I think he wants to catch me lifting something."

"Well he should get a flash that isn't nuclear powered, that was blinding."

Shelley and I moved down to the far end of the bar so we wouldn't be visible from the buildings front window and could watch the entrance easily.

Maggie stared at us both, with a strange expression.

"Is something wrong?" Shelley asked.

"I could have sworn you were wearing a pink shirt not red," She shook her head,"gotta lay off the booze."

"I would like the biggest greasiest burger you have, and a large order of French fries," I said.

"Ya me too, and two glasses of wine," said Shelley.

Maggie poured two large glasses of wine for us after ordering our food, I took a sip and felt an immense sense of relief. I no longer had to worry about the plague or barbarians attacking us.

"We now have simple problems, like how to find stuff in our library," Shelley said.

Maggie was wiping down the bar near us, "can't find anything huh?"

"Oh ya... we got so many books."

"Don't know if it'll help but I know a little bit about searching for things."

"Really?" I said.

"You know that search site STRUDEL?"

"Of course everybody uses it now," Shelley said.

"Well last year one of the company's founders was in here, it was the day of the company IPO, I think he had just become a billionaire."

"So did he tell you the secret of his program," Shelley said jokingly.

"Funny you should ask, it's a long story if you want to hear it?"

We were both instantly curious, "yes," we said in chorus.

"Well for starters I don't think he drinks normally, you can always tell because when teetotalers do drink they get super bombed, and he could barely walk. Anyway he staggers up to the bar and slams down a hundred dollar bill."

"Gimme a beer and a shot of whiskey," he said.

"I think you've had enough," I said.

He slammed down another hundred, "do I look thirsty enough now?"

"Sadly my rent was due so I couldn't afford the scrupulous morals I usually have, so I gave him his booze."

He drank his shot then said, "I'm a goddam billionaire... Jesus... I really am..." he had a strange look of disbelief on his face.

"I have heard everything being a bartender and I normally don't pay much attention to drunks, but it was slow and he obviously had money, how'd you make it? I asked him."

"You know... they're always talking about supercomputers... supercomputer this... petaflop that... you know they've been trying for thirty years to get a computer to tell the difference between a cat and a dog."

"That's an important problem?"

"Um... no... but a two year old kid can do it."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means the real supercomputers are sitting between peoples ears."

"So how did that make you rich?"

"He started giggling uncontrollably."

"All this internet shit... all of it... it's just a big network hooking all the real supercomputers together... once you realize that..."

"Ya but how did that make your money?"

"My search site... it's the people using it doing the searches... there ain't no goddam algorithm... everybody thinks there is but there ain't."

"Huh?"

"The old search sites they just ranked pages by how many times the keyword showed up and how many hits the page had... useless... you'd always get a page about crap you didn't want. What you do is watch the searchers."

"How can you watch the searchers?"

"Think of a library... you're a librarian... somebody finds a book he wants... so you ask him, where he found it, why he wants it... where he's from, whatever. Then you write the info down.

Then someone else comes in... and he's asking about a book with the same name... well you check you're database and voila now you know where it is... or if the same guy comes back and wants the book again."

"So your search page just keeps a database of people's searches?"

"That's the big secret... you let the suckers find everything... then you keep track of it and cross reference it with location and user addresses... so if someone is looking for the flaming donuts... in Seattle it might be a band... in New York a restaurant... and guess what else, all the shit nobody is looking for doesn't clutter up your database.

And you know the greatest thing... once everybody uses my page no other page can ever be as good... cause my page will have the biggest database of searches, so it will work the best... so everybody will use it... so the database will get bigger... so everybody will use it..."

"He started laughing manically then and yelled... Absinthe! I need Absinthe... I want the visions..."

"So you gave it to him?" Shelley asked.

"God no... I have some green food coloring for St Paddy's day so I gave him a shot of green water.

Anyway he downs the shot and his eyes went all crazy like," Maggie put her fingers next to her eye's and wiggled them," and then he says... there are powerful being's walking among us... I've seen their searches... and then he passed out. His entourage showed up five minutes later and took him away."

"Powerful beings, now that's crazy talk," Shelley said with a nervous laugh.

Maggie looked at her suspiciously.

"Hmm... so we need a librarian, a computer, and then we let the general public search our library," I said changing the subject.

"I could put an ad on the internet... meticulous nosy busybody needed, must have good computer skills and a degree in library sciences," Shelley replied.

"It might actually work... we could hire a security guard to make sure no one takes anything," I said.

"Geez... how many books you got?" Maggie said.

Our food arrived then, I grabbed the large greasy burger and downed it like a jackal feeding on carrion. It was the first meal I had had in a month that I didn't worry about getting a disease.

We spent the rest of the night at the pub drinking wine and keeping our eyes peeled for Clyver, we wanted to make sure he was not waiting outside.

A small band showed up and played folk songs with acoustic instruments, it attracted a small crowd of bohemians dressed in what looked like drab hand me downs. They all smoked cigarettes furiously and drank large glasses of expensive imported beer.

One of them came over to talk to us, he was tall, skinny and his hair was jelled into a random series of spikes.

"So what brings you two fair maidens here tonight?" He asked.

Shelley looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"We're hiding from a powerful enemy," I replied.

"Really?" he said.

"Yes we have avoided battle this time... but we shall have to face him eventually," I took a dramatic gulp of wine.

"And why would he want to do battle with you?" I could see a slight smirk in his expression.

"Because we have the orb of power..."

Maggie had gone on a break and the bar was empty except for us. I touched the magic bracelet on my wrist and a glowing multicolored orb manifested itself about three inches above my upturned palm.

He stared at the orb his eyes wide in amazement, the orb then transformed into a tiny black dragon complete with flapping wings and fiery breath and then it disappeared in a flash of light.

"How'd you do that?" he asked breathless.

"You must not talk about what you saw here tonight, or the dark riders will be after your soul too," I said menacingly.

He looked at us with a stunned expression then turned and walked away without uttering a word.

Shelley looked at me like I was crazy, "What the hell..."

I smiled at her, "like I said magic and wine are a bad combination."

Chapter ten

I woke up the next morning in my own bed with a hangover, I had a moment of panic, then relief when I saw the magic bracelet I had made at Hattu's complex sitting on my night stand. I had another moment of panic when I remembered what I had done last night.

I sat up on my bed and looked at the sun coming through my window, it was already approaching its zenith.

I showered and dressed and then walked to the kitchen to get the largest cup of tea I could possibly make. I saw Shelley sitting on the couch in our living room watching TV.

"Nothing bad happened last night... right?" I asked.

"Well... other than scaring the crap out of some random stranger no."

"Oh God, that was stupid... that's why I never bring my bracelet with me. I have a mischievous spirit living in me that is freed by alcohol."

I poured boiling water into a large cup with a tea bag in it, I walked over to the couch and sat down beside Shelley.

"Well... don't feel too bad, I've woken up in bed a guy I didn't know before," Shelley said.

"Yes... it's not like I destroyed a city with a pillar of flame... now that would be bad."

I saw Shelley's eyes narrow as she turned her head and stared at me, I smiled back innocently.

"What was up with that spell? It was pretty cool," Shelley said.

"I found it in one of Hattu's spell books, he also wrote a bunch of similar spells, they are all basically sophisticated automatons , they don't really have any use."

"Other than terrifying some geeky beatnik."

"I stored all his spell books in my bracelet, I'll dump them in my workshop so you can look at them."

"It's ironic that such a powerful sorcerer died of old age," Shelley said.

"I can think of few ways around death... but it would not be good for my Ka, besides as you now know things of infinite abundance have little worth."

"What about Maggie's idea for finding stuff in our library?"

"I think that would be a great project for you... you would have to write some pretty sophisticated spells."

"God... I didn't realize project management was part of sorcery."

"If you really want to create great spells, you have to organize teams, delegate the writing and constantly fix problems. I had lots of great idea's I just gave up on because they would have taken too long."

"Like what?"

"I was going to make a sort of collective intelligence using a matrix of people in time and space, but it got to confusing and the math was way beyond my capabilities, it didn't help that the zero hadn't been invented either."

"You could farm that stuff out to some grad student now... and use a computer to organize it," Shelley said.

"I try to stay away from clever people, they have a tendency to figure out stuff you don't want them too."

I sipped my tea as Shelley and I watched the TV in silence.

After my cup of tea and a long nap I felt much better, I told Shelley that I had an errand to do in the Magic City and that I would be gone for a few hours. I had put on my magic bracelet and now used it to summon up a large bronze sword in a sheath. I slung its strap over my shoulder.

"Expecting something?" Shelley asked.

"Just being cautious."

"In all the adventure novels I've read the hero's swords have name's, does yours?" Shelley asked.

I thought for a moment, "It's called my little friend," I said with a smile.

I said goodbye to Shelley and was on the wide flagstone paved streets of the ruined city in a few minutes.

I had walked around the city many times since Shelley and I had taken up residence here, but I had never gone more than a few blocks.

This time I started walking past the familiar area's and into the unfamiliar. I noticed as I walked that there were subtle changes in the style of architecture, the further I walked the greater the change.

I stopped in front of a particularly impressive building and used my bracelet to conjure up a very high quality digital camera, I then conjured up a small metal platform as well and inserted the camera into it. I stretched out my arm and then let go of the platform, it hung motionless hovering about three feet above the ground.

I stepped back and then used my bracelet to maneuver the platform remotely, I increased its altitude until it was a small black dot high in the sky I then caused the camera to take a series of pictures.

I lowered the camera and recovered it after a few minutes, I looked at the photographs it had taken on its large LCD display.

The city appeared to be much larger then when I had first lived in it, the photographs could not encompass all of it, the cities roads and pathways continued right up to the edge of the picture frame.

I used the cameras digital zoom to search the streets of the city and soon found what I was looking for, I used the building I was standing in front of as a reference and then plotted a route to my new destination. I wrote down the route with a pen and pad of paper and then caused the camera to disappear.

I started walking towards my goal.

It was a small building compared to the edifices surrounding it, but it was still quite impressive. It was constructed of limestone, with large columns lining the front. There were shallow steps leading to the buildings entrance.

I walked up the steps and past the columns, I saw that the front exterior wall was covered in brightly painted images and hieroglyphs.

I read the large hieroglyphic phrase over the entranceway, it said TOMB of SENBI and KEMAMONIT. I felt my heart skip a beat.

I walked inside the tomb, I entered a brightly lit enormous room, the walls of which were covered in hundreds of brightly colored images of people doing various mundane things. I saw a man and woman and two small children sitting in a boat fishing, beside it a picture of a woman instructing four children in a classroom.

I felt my heart skip a beat again as I realized the woman depicted in most of the scenes looked like me.

I saw two sarcophagi's sitting in the middle of the bright white marble floor, my heart started beating wildly as I walked towards them. I stood beside the first one and looked inside, I saw an old Nubian woman lying on her back, she appeared to be in her mid-sixties. The expression on her face was a relaxed look of contentment, she was wearing a conservative linen dress.

It was me, but not me... I felt a weird feeling of almost deja vu as I looked at her serene face, I walked over to the other sarcophagus, I recognized the body lying there as Senbi almost immediately. He looked much older than the woman and had the weird device over his eyes that I had seen in his picture on the Sobek's Teeth.

I stood up and started looking at the brightly painted walls again, a scene caught my eye, it was different then the other's, instead of depicting a happy family outing it showed a young Kemamonit bent over in pain handing a papyrus scroll to a young Senbi.

I walked over to the scene and stood in front of it, I heard a musical note sound in the still air and the scene suddenly transformed into a long hieroglyphic script. I stepped back in alarm.

I waited for a few seconds to see if something else would occur nothing did. I stepped forward towards the script and started to read it.

My dear Kemamonit, you are alive after all. I have always doubted that anyone as stubborn and wilful as you could ever succumb to the pestilence.

My time on this world is quickly coming to a conclusion and I fear I only have days left to live. Last night I had the first dream I have had in many years, it was of you entering my tomb many years in the future and examining our bodies.

I created this spell to satisfy your curiosity if my dream was a premonition and you were ever to stumble into my tomb.

I am sure you are oblivious to the great happiness and the great pain you have brought to my heart, as I write this I still remember our first meeting, and being awestruck by the impossibly beautiful Nubian girl.

When we then worked together so long ago I used to lie awake at night praying for Ra to hurry in his journey and light the morning once again so I could see you.

Then you disappeared... I had felt as if my heart was a large weight in my chest, every morning seemed to be colored in drab greyness.

I searched for you for many months not finding even the smallest clue.

The years passed and the greyness faded but it never disappeared.

And then you reappeared, I remember that night as if it happened yesterday, feeling my heart fly as high as a bird on seeing your face only to fall again as if shot by an arrow on seeing your condition.

You were so ill and in such pain, and the gods seemed to sense the tragedy of the situation by providing a raging thunderstorm.

Still the stubborn wilful girl, you refused any offer of help, and then for reason's I will never understand you gave me the secrets of sorcery.

I would have seized you then and forced you to stay if you hadn't disappeared in a flash of light. I felt my heart sink again on your exit.

I left the next day following your map to the City of Magic. I was determined to find you, I searched the city for many days finding only deserted buildings and streets as empty as I felt.

I finally gave up and started my study of sorcery and after many terrifying bouts of trial and error obtained a small mastery of the craft.

It was then I came up with a plan to get you back, for good this time. I spent many months on spells and complicated schemes that even the gods would not have been able to decipher.

I finally hatched my plot confident in success, I travelled to the past and enticed you away from your small fishing village by showing you the wonders of sorcery, then I plied you with luxuries and sly words of seduction.

And it all failed miserably, you saw through my machinations in a few short days. I remember our first argument, I was furious at you for your attempts to manipulate me into giving you all my secrets, and you were furious at me for trying to use lies and deceit to resurrect a dead love.

As I stared at you feeling a profound sense of failure, I suddenly realized something so obvious it startled me, that she was not really you, that she was a completely different person.

It was only then I saw the faintest tiniest flicker of love in her eyes.

I will not lie and say that our courtship and marriage was a serene and joyous affair, like most things in life there were times of plenty and times of famine.

We had four beautiful children and she never did succumb to the pestilence as did you, but in the end she broke my heart just as you when she died in my arms four long years ago.

I wrote this spell to thank you for showing me a glimpse of the universe, I see you now not as an unrequited love but as a true friend.

Good luck.

I walked back to the sarcophagus of the woman and looked at her calm face, Senbi was right, I got the sense of looking at a sister or a close relative. I felt a surge of envy as I looked at her, which surprised me, and then I had a feeling of relief as if I had been let off the hook from an onerous task.

She had had children, my wheat had already been sown many years ago. I wondered for a moment what became of them, I thought about using sorcery to find out, and then decided against it. I could see nothing good coming from knowing their fate.

I took one final look around the tomb and then made my way to the exit, I thought about getting the exterior of the building cleaned up and repaired as I walked.

I stood outside in the middle of the street, I looked at the tall buildings lining both sides of the road. They were all in fairly decent shape and were of every variety of architecture and building material.

It would take years to search this city, god only knew what secrets were hidden in it. The city had been occupied for at least three thousand years by sorcerers of every race and sex and then abandoned for reason's unknown.

I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, I unsheathed my sword as a precaution. I saw the movement again and quickly turned my head. I saw a feral cat sauntering next to one of the buildings.

It stopped and stared at me for a moment then decided I wasn't much of a threat and continued on.

I heard the soft crunch of a shoe being put carefully down on the stone of the street behind me. I spun around my heart beating wildly, it was Clyver.

"All this magic... and you put a normal lock on your door."

I realized now that I had forgotten to dispel the doorway we had used to travel to Maggie's bar.

"You hunt like a crocodile Mr. Clyver," I said as I raised my sword up.

"Is that a compliment? It doesn't matter I guess... look I have one too," Clyver brought his hand out from behind his back showing me a long bronze sword.

Clyver advanced towards me nonchalantly waving his sword back and forth.

"Why aren't you using your device, or a pistol?" I asked as I circled to keep him at a safe distance.

"The device didn't seem to have the results I'd anticipated... and they want you alive."

"Who are they?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Clyver moved then with inhuman speed. I dived out of the way but not before I felt his sword nick my wrist.

I scrambled back to my feet with my sword in a defensive position. I saw Clyver examining something he held in one of his hands. I felt my stomach drop as I glanced at my wrist, he had my bracelet.

"I suspect this is kind of important," he said as he dangled it from an outstretched arm.

"n m3=i mity srw pn," I said loudly in ancient Egyptian.

My bracelet burst into flames in his hand causing Clyver to yelp in pain and drop it to the ground. The bracelet was a pile of ashes in a few seconds.

"To bad... they would have wanted that," I could see an expression of annoyance in his face.

I activated one of my swords enchantments and the finest sword fighter I could find, albeit six thousand years ago, now had control of my blade.

Clyver advanced almost carelessly, I could see this was a ploy for I saw no expression of overconfidence in his features.

He rushed again with blazing speed, my own sword moved to counter so fast I could barely keep hold of it. My blade then attacked, moving so quickly I could scarcely see anything but a blur.

We stood toe to toe the noise of our battle sounding like a blacksmith hammering a stubborn piece of metal.

Clyver retreated, I could see beads of sweat forming on his brow.

"I'm impressed at your swords ability... for I doubt it is your own skill... but it seems to lack a certain sophistication," Clyver said.

I felt my sword shake as if angered and then it became deadly calm.

I had never had a real conversation with the swordsman I had hired so long ago so but the swords reaction made me now suspect he may have been a remorseless killer.

I had no desire to kill Clyver, or anyone, and there was no guarantee that I would win this battle, however good my sword was, it was still using ancient techniques to fight. I racked my brain for a solution that didn't involve either of ours death.

Clyver advanced again, my sword countered and the battle continued. I looked at Clyvers feet as his shoes made marks on the thin layer of sand that had blown on the roads flagstones over the millennia.

I had an idea.

I used my peripheral vision to watch the ground for I did not want Clyver to see what I was doing. The fight had reached a fever pitch and I felt large blisters forming on my hand. I would soon not be able to keep my grip on the sword ending its enchantment.

We reached a stalemate and the two combatants retreated to rest for a moment. It did not matter for I was finished.

"It is over Clyver," I said.

Clyver looked at me with a suspicious expression.

"Some new magic? I think your bluffing... I can see the blood dripping from your hands."

I kicked my foot which completed the spell I had written in the sand of the road. Clyver looked down at the writing and then at me with an expression of what looked like grudging admiration, he then disappeared in a flash of light.

I felt my blade drop in disappointment, I shut off its enchantment, sheathed it and then ran as fast as I could to the building that housed the door to Seattle.

The City of Magic was not just a name, there were layers of spells and magic that pervaded the city. One of these layers enabled me to write spells in a sort of shorthand, l could have not written a spell of this complexity in the sand without it.

Unfortunately the spell was not lethal, it simply transported the victim to a random spot in Seattle. If Clyver reappeared somewhere close to the door he could gain access again.

I reached the room with the door in it drenched in sweat, my heart felt like it would explode. Relief washed over me as I saw that the door was still closed, I frantically grabbed a lever on the console which controlled the door and it disappeared.

"Oh my god... Shelley!" I said aloud as I realized Clyver may have gotten to her first.

I ran out of the building and to the building that housed our quarters, the entrance was locked with magic not a mechanical lock. I unlocked it with a voice command and rushed up the stairs to our rooms.

I burst into our living room, it was empty.

"Shelley!! Shelley!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

I heard no reply.

I ran into the washroom breaking the door open with my shoulder, Shelley was fast asleep in the bathtub only her head visible above a mound of bubbles.

She jerked awake when the swinging door smashed into the wall.

"Jesus Christ!!" she yelped, her eyes the size of saucers.

"Clyver... in city... fight..." I was panting so hard I could barely talk.

"Kem... your hands!"

I looked at my palms, they were red with blood. I felt my legs go rubbery and then I collapsed onto the floor.

Shelley jumped out of the tub put her robe on and then helped me up off the floor. She led me out of the bathroom and onto the living room couch.

She disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a first aid kit, I held out my hands as she opened the kit and then started to clean and disinfect them.

I told her everything that had happened when I had regained my breath.

"So he must have waited outside Maggie's for hours until we came out," she said when I'd finished talking.

"He is like a crocodile lying in the reeds waiting for us."

"What can we do? I have friends and family in the city how can I visit them?"

"I don't know... it isn't just him either it's the organization he works for, this Rand company."

"This is crazy, we're sorcerers we should be able to deal with him easily."

I thought for a moment, "How does one hunt a crocodile?"

"I don't know."

"We must first go to the river... I will find out where this fiend lives."

Chapter eleven

I waited a week before I summoned Sam Clyver to the City of Magic.

My hands had healed sufficiently that I could move my fingers without pain. I was garbed in a dress from my distant past and on my face I wore the kohl and paint of an ancient Egyptian noblewoman.

I summoned him to the great hall of dreams, a building I had constructed in a failed attempt to recreate the beauty and awe I had felt when Sobek had appeared in my dreams for the last time.

It was still a magical place though and would do quite well as a stage for Sam and me in our last act together.

He appeared before me in a flash of light, he just stood there staring at me without a trace of fear, just a curious expression on his face.

"You reveal your true nature to me Kem, if it's fear you want I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said.

I smiled, "I have studied you Mr. Clyver... I don't think that's possible."

"Then what... to kill me perhaps."

"I want you to stop chasing me."

"Ah... I'm afraid not Kem, it's my destiny to catch you... or die trying."

"Destiny... fate... things I don't understand... you will stop Mr. Clyver," I said.

"We are all victims of fate Kem, so either send me back or deal with me as you would."

"When I first came to this time I was always at such a disadvantage, even simple algebra or a bank machine was beyond me. I always thought as I learned that mankind had known almost nothing all those millennia ago and that there was no advantage being from that age."

"Things have come a long way," Sam replied.

"Except for one thing... I was born before Isaac Newton, math was a used to count cows and assess taxes. This universe defined by math... deterministic I think is the word, this is not something we believed back then."

"Now you know it's true... fate and destiny, things we can't shake."

"Really? I was so curious about determinism, it struck me as a religion, so I studied it intensely. Do you know deterministic systems do only two things? They either do the same thing over and over again or are completely and unpredictably random."

"So the universe is the second one then... is there a point to this?" Sam said annoyed.

"Well the random thing... do you know the saying that if you give a monkey a typewriter it will eventually type the entire works of Shakespeare given enough time?"

"Of course... philosophers blab about it."

"Well the thing is someone has actually calculated how long it would take to randomly type the works of Shakespeare, if there was a universe of atom sized monkeys going at it from the start of time until the end of the universe."

"So... the point," Sam said.

"Well it turns out the chances of them producing a volume of Shakespeare are less than the chances of the sun not rising tomorrow."

"Again... the point."

"Every library has a copy... as well as Shaw and whoever else."

"So we lucked out... we're the one in a zillion."

"My father was addicted to gambling and I'm pretty sure even he wouldn't bet on the sun not coming up tomorrow.

You know I looked for an alternative theory of the universe... a non-determinist one... amazingly they don't exist, even religion is deterministic."

I noticed an uneasy look on Sam's face, like he was expecting something bad.

"If you think you're going to talk me into a corner, you're wasting your time I'm not that philosophical," he said.

"No... just a story, the point is there are many things people understand but can't explain... the beauty of a girl... a funny joke... a song they like.

The thing is explaining something can only be done deterministically but if we're really non-deterministic it would mean we could understand non-deterministic things, but we could never define them.

Sam looked at me, "I don't understand."

"There is no fate Sam... no destiny... at least not one created by a clockwork universe."

I flicked a square on my sorcerer's bracelet and a small wooden table appeared between us, there were a cardboard box and two file folders sitting on its top.

"I said I studied you Sam, I didn't have a lot of time but I think I found the defining events of your life, the death of your mother by a petty criminal, and the love of your life rejecting you."

Sam's expression turned black and chilling.

"Your mother died when you were young and they never caught the perpetrator, and later when your girlfriend left you, you joined the military and then the Special Forces. You found out an indifference to death was quite an advantage in that trade."

"I underestimated you Kem... " Sam said in a voice quivering in anger.

"That cardboard box," I pointed to it on the table, "there is an exact copy in the forty third precinct in the city your mother was murdered."

"What is it?"

"It's all the evidence you need to convict your mother's murderer, who's still alive by the way. I mislabelled it, and if you point this out to the police they will think that's why it was lost. The lead inspector has died so they won't ask any questions."

"What's this box for?"

"That's if you have your own ideas"

"The other file what's in it," Sam asked.

"Your girlfriend loved you Sam... she left you because she didn't want to go against her father's wishes... or should I say the wishes of the weird church he belonged to. The file contains her address and some information about the church."

"It's over... she made her choices."

"Yes she did... she's single now with a small child, she left the church when her father died."

"So..."

"Well this church doesn't have a lot of ex-members if you know what I mean."

"So If I take this... that's the trade, I leave you alone," Sam said.

"If you swear on your mother's grave... I know what that means to you."

Sam looked at me long and hard, I could tell he was trying to find an angle some trick.

"Ok... I'll do it... I'll leave you alone, I swear on my mother's grave, "he walked over and picked up the cardboard box and folders off the table.

"They won't stop chasing you you know, there will be others,"

"Ke sera sera." I said.

I flicked one of the squares on my bracelet and Sam Clyver disappeared in a flash of light.

The end
