The streets of Cairo were streets in only the strictest sense. They were road-shaped and some had a sidewalk, but the main thoroughfare they walked beside was a wide expanse of dirt—or packed sand. Where carriages dominated the roads in London, camels, horses, and mules clopped along beside Perri, their passage sending dust into the air. Men in loose-fitting robes with turbans bustled along the road outside the Ministry of Magic, a camel train passing them with a loud clop, clop of hooves. Three-story sandstone buildings lined the roadway, the occasional balcony looking down on the scene below.
"Watch where you are going!" shouted a man in tan and blue clothes at another man riding a camel. The man spoke in Egyptian Arabic, but Perri understood him completely, her special ability taking effect. Another useful language under my belt.
Perri was acutely aware of how outlandish she and her team appeared to the people that crowded the street. Many of the locals cast quizzical looks at them. A group of three men standing by a lamppost across the road stared darkly in their direction as they walked by. The intensity of their gaze unsettled Perri, so she turned away and pretended not to notice.
The sky was light blue and cloudless, the burning orb of the sun descending lazily toward the rooftops to the west. Birds flew above them, occasionally making noise as they flitted from rooftop to rooftop, or settled on the road to peck at some discarded morsel. A black raven cawed as it soared downward to settle on the branch of one of the trees that lined the curb. With jerking motions of its little head, it eyed the traffic along the street with interest. How majestic, Perry thought. Like a noble lord overseeing his people. The bird looked her way, and Perri had a distinct impression that it noticed her specifically. With a tilt of its head, it stared at her with a directness that she felt impossible from a simple animal.
"Ah, here we are!" A wan smile spread across Redmund Dent's face as he turned to address his guests. "Behold The Hotel Cairo!"
The party stopped in their tracks as they all turned to admire the building their esteemed guide was so proud of. The Hotel Cairo was a three-story-high sandstone structure with an arched doorway that had once been impressive but was now marred with cracks and chips. Gaps in the archway showed where it had fallen apart over the years. Many of the windows were boarded up, and the shades drawn on those that weren't. The stone walls had seen less care than any other building on the street. The enormous sign above the door hung at an angle and was missing several letters so that it now read: "otel Ca ro."
Eudo snorted with exasperation. "This place is a dump!"
A huge hand slapped the curse breaker on the shoulder, and Rowan laughed as he came up beside him. "You spend very little time around Muggles, don't you, Barnabus?" The Auror strode past him to stand by the entrance, where he watched the street as the others filtered through the entryway.
"What's that suppose to mean?" the bewildered wizard said as he and Perri made their way to the door.
"Judge not as the Muggle judges, Mr. Barnabus."
Once past the doorway, Perri only managed a few steps before she stopped short, her breath catching in her throat.
A gasp escaped Eudo's lips as he stepped up beside her. "Merlin's Beard!"
The Hotel Cairo was amazing!
The atrium stretched out in all directions, its walls made of marble and polished sandstone. Elaborate pillars rose to a ceiling many stories high, the late afternoon sky magically displayed there. The light from the westering sun reflected brilliantly off the brass and gold fittings that decorated the place. A tremendous pyramid of sandstone hovered in mid-air in the center of the massive room. A jet of water shot straight up from its tip and cascaded down its sides to splash noisily in the pool below. Wizards and witches in all manner of dress walked back and forth, one family stopping to stare at the fountain. Several locals lounged on couches that lined the walls.
YOU ARE READING
The Wand and The Scepter
FantasyStrong-willed Perpugilliam Atwood, a witch living among Muggles in 19th-Century London, goes to work at the Ministry of Magic as though it were any other day. But she's thrust into a mission to Egypt to help break the curses surrounding the ruins of...
