The Valley of Kings and a Queen

Chapter 29

We arrive at the El Fishawi café just before eleven. Grey's about to ask for a table for seven when the owner gestures to us to follow him. Zane and Nailah must have warned him of our meeting and asked for a more private dining area. We follow him all the way towards the back of the restaurant that is dark and empty. Zane and Nailah are sitting at a long booth, their faces masked by the menu they have sealed over them.

"Glad to see you decided to join us," she greets us unable to hide her satisfaction. Grey smirks back at her sheepishly. I can't help but admit that they would be a good pairing. Two wolves among sheep. Or shall I say Jackals since Grey was hosting Anubis, and jackals seemed to match the primeval state of Egypt we hoped to uncover.

"Please sit," Zane says. His voice soft and caring juxtaposed against his brute physique.

We all sit down with Finley and Grey sitting closest to them.

"Let's just cut to the chase," I suggest.

"I'd be glad to," Nailah affirms.

"So, we are looking for an ancient artifact that is hidden in a museum and need to steal it in order to rid ourselves of gods and goddesses within us," Grey says, making a gesture with his finger to point at all of us who had a host besides Annie. "But we are looking for an artifact that I guess that I am not too familiar with."

"I know exactly what you are looking for," she says. My eyes widen and begin to glow.

Finley beats me to it, "what exactly are we looking for."

"One of King Tut's favorite pieces,"

"Please tell me it's not his mask. I don't think we can steal an almost ten-kilogram mask of gold from a museum in one night," Grey remarks.

"Oh no, if that was stolen trust me your death would be for certain. But you actually will need two things."

"I thought we were going to cut to the chase," I snarl, not too pleased with her dancing around the subject.

"Feisty there aren't you," she laughs, "there's a few treasures you are going to have to steal that I believe are all important."

"First off, there's a weapon you need,"

"It's for the ritual, well for the sealing" Finley interjects. She nods in confirmation. I'm not sure what he means by the sealing, and by the sound of it I really don't think I like it.

"Yes, there's a dagger – a special sort of dagger located with the rest of his treasures. Scientists believe it was foraged from the remnants of a meteorite, but the Egyptians believe that goddess Nut herself granted him this gift. A gift from the cosmos of the night sky in return for her son coming back to reside with her in the other realm."

"What's this sealing?" I ask. Grey and Finley exchange a quick look at each other having a hidden conversation the rest of us apparently are not to be part of.

"So, for thousands upon thousands of years the Per Ankh meaning House of Life has been transcribing and accounting for the majority of Egyptian traditions. From rituals with the gods and goddess to those with the Pharaoh's. Their records are very vast though often hard to uncover. Though, I do say that some of my companions and I used to study there when we trained to be full fledged magicians. So, I have studied the errr removal process of gods and goddess,"

"More like the banishment," Zane surprisingly interrupts her. She shakes her head which I'm not sure if it's because she disapproved of his interruption or she doesn't like what she's about to say next.

"Anyways, there's a process to banishing them," she glances to Zane before continuing, "It's a three-stage process from what I can recall. The first is the translating. Then there is the declaration. And of course, the last step is the sealing."