Quintin's Expedition

Chapter 5

Much like the day before, I had trouble finding my way. It became painfully obvious that I was a tourist in this city and many of the punters on their stalls revelled in it. Every person I passed tried to sell me their wares. This included the delectable spices I had caught scent of earlier, but also sheets of silk cloth and various handmade trinkets. I did my best to politely decline their requests, though I did have every intention of returning after my necessary task was complete to purchase a few items. I knew for a fact my Luna would love some of the items offered here.

One stall did catch my eye though, that was offering talismans and the like. I couldn't understand his words but I got the idea that these were to protect people from unwanted attention from the gods. His stall also had small statuettes and models of these gods, painted gold and black with tiny hieroglyphs detailed on their bodies. I could feel his eyes on me as I stared at his wares. I kept my eyes low, not wanting to draw much attention to myself, especially not his attention.

He muttered a few things, each sounding different from the last. It was only when he said something in English did I realise he was going through greetings in various languages, trying to engage me in conversation. I gritted my teeth together. I was not one to ignore such a polite greeting and lifted my head up to look at him. I flattened my lips into a smile.

"Hello." I replied, to which he beamed. Great, now I had done it, I cursed at myself.

"Anything catch your fancy? If you are going to the pyramids, you need protection!" He was insistent, so I decided to entertain him.

"I quite like that one." I said, letting his eyes follow my finger as I pointed to the dog faced human that he had to his left. He looked a bit alarmed by my revelation but quickly brushed it from his expression. It was too late, I had seen it and revelled in it. "That is Anubis, right?" I teased. I don't know if I pronounced it correctly but his sudden gulp seemed to prove he had understood what I had said.

"Yes, sir. Why are you drawn to him? You need these to protect you from him." He said, waving the talismans in my face. I would not be deterred though. He wanted me to buy something so badly, I was buying that. I could hear my wolf yapping in my mind, enjoying the small tease we were doing.

"I have read about him. If anything, I want him on my side, should the unfortunate happen." I said flatly. The man recoiled at my words. "I would like to buy that. Please." I quickly added, fixing another silly smile on my lips. His face paled but he wouldn't give up with his talismans.

"You still need this, Mr Englishman." He said again, another thrust of his wares to my face. I didn't flinch and flattened my lips, my eyes boring into his. Now he was just being rude.

"No, I would like to buy Anubis." I reiterated, sliding my hand inside my shirt and pulling some coins from my binder. I made sure I had resecured it before pulling my hand out again.

"You buy Anubis and talisman. Or no sale!" He bickered. I had to muffle my amusement at his empty threat.

"No sale then." I replied flatly, begining to put my hand back inside my shirt. I caught a flash of his eyes looking at my hand and he held his hands up to stop me. I paused, bemused by how this situation was unfolding.

"No need for rash decisions." He said in an agitated but soothing tone. Probably for himself rather than for me. I slowly retracted my hand and twirled the coins in my palm. "You buy Anubis and I give you talisman for free, how about that?" He mused, putting on the fakest smile I had ever seen.

"Oh, ok!" I said with a chipper, holding out my other hand to receive the goods. He jumped at how fast my hand shot out, but again brushed away his dismay. He maintained eye contact with me and he picked up one of the Anubis statuettes and placed it in my palm, followed by dropping one of the talisman necklaces. I curled my lips upwards again. "Thank you, how much?"

"Three Egyptian pounds, sir." He stammered. He had barely finished his words before I dropped the coins in his palm and began walking away from the stall.

I placed the Anubis in my satchel for safe keeping while I examined the talisman as I walked. It was not very enticing. It looked to be a simple clay disc painted with the all seeing eye. I recognised the details from the books I had read. There were markings on the back, which I assumed were some sort of spell or statement of protection. I went to put it in my bag as well but hesitated. I glanced behind me and confirmed the stall was no longer in view before looping the necklace around my head and tucking it into my shirt. I guess it couldn't hurt, just in case.

My wolf howled at my actions in amusement. Had I still been in England, I too would have laughed at what I was doing, but I wasn't there, and I didn't know if such powers worked here. I was a wolf after all, I could take on anything if I needed to, but I wanted to be more safe than sorry. My wolf continued to howl as I resumed examining the map and walking to my destination.

I finally made it to a building on the outskirts of the city, leading into the province of Giza. A jolly man was outside, calling out to any and all who walked past. Much like the man at the stall, he was speaking in a number of languages as he tried to entice people to come to him or spare him a moment of their time. He clocked me walking towards him and started speaking English. I glanced down at myself - was it really that obvious?

"Come all! Come see the Pyramids today!" He shouted out. That was what I was there to do so I know I was certainly in the right place.

We locked eyes again as I approached him, followed by a number of other patrons whom I had shared the flight over with. We gathered around him as he started his speech, detailing what his tours included.

After we received the briefing, we all piled together into a beastly vehicle with large tyres. It was long, wide and flat, purposely built to carry us tourists to destinations in the sand I had no doubt. We all took our seats and waited for the man, who had introduced himself as Masud, to climb in with us. With a flick of his wrist, he instructed his driver to start the vehicle and we were off.

Sitting in a vehicle driving on sand was vastly different to that when driving on roads and hardened mud. Although the tyres were wide, I could still feel the vehicle sinking under its weight. Every bump in the terrain caused the van to shudder and creak. We weren't even moving that fast; and within minutes the pyramids had come into view. I rolled my eyes internally as we could have walked the distance, but I guess that was all part of the charade.

The vehicle stopped at the base of one of the structures and we all funneled out again. Masud drew our attention to him once more as he began another speech. I eyed him casually as he spoke. Unlike Arjay, Masud was much bigger, but not in a stocky way. His frame was large and I'm surprised it stayed contained in his shirt, which was tucked in his trousers and buckled tightly. His hair was dark, growing in tufts that grew down onto his cheeks. He looked comical but also kind; I suspect he had to in order to tempt the tourists.

"We will begin our tour in the furthest pyramid, working our way back to the truck where we will then enter the tomb of the final pyramid, making our way to the King's Chamber at the heart of the structure." Masud was saying, gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke.

A collective babble of excitement erupted from the group as we were herded towards the far pyramid. I am not sure what I was expecting. I guess the books I had read made the pyramids seem much more exciting than they actually were. I couldn't deny how large they were though. A single block still towered above us and I could just make out the peak of the pyramid against the skyline. Still, the structure itself was yellow, dusty and bland. The Moon Goddess would never expect us wolves to make monuments like this to get her attention, so I was more curious about the Gods of the Egyptians now, but questions would have to wait as we were paraded along the buildings.

We arrived at the final pyramid, where Masud guided us inside. The tunnel leading into the rock was narrow and dimly lit, not that I had any issues in the lighting with my eyesight, but I imagine the humans would have some trouble. I couldn't resist reaching out as I walked, stroking the roughness of the walls as we moved deeper into the tomb. The sensation danced across my finger tips and I lowered my head to keep my giddy smile hidden.

A short while later, the tunnel opened up into a large room. This was much better lit, with the walls radiating in the light. The flames flickered on the walls, reflecting the gold paint that clung to them. Paintings of the Pharaohs of old decorated the room from top to bottom, detailing stories of their lives. I hadn't become fluent in hieroglyphics by this point, but I could at least read a few. 'Life', 'Ra' and 'God on Earth' seemed to cover most of the context from what I could see.

I became lost in my thoughts as I examined every inch of the walls. The text books back home did not do these tombs justice. Although you could see where some of the paint had chipped away and finger prints had dug into stone, much of the mural remained intact. The vibrancy of some of the colours fascinated me; how the reds, blues and greens had stood the test of time, or how saturated the black had remained.

Masud continued to speak while we all looked around the room in awe. I am not sure if anyone was really listening to him. I felt somewhat guilty that I wasn't fully listening to his words, knowing that they would be sharing viral details about the tombs and pyramids, information I should be passing on to my Luna. But I couldn't help myself, I was marvelled by what was in front of me. I could always return again when the wonder had worn off, though that was unlikely to happen over the next few days. New discoveries were always tantalising and often sucked me in

After some time, Masud confirmed the tour was over and we were ferried back onto the van. The other tourists all chatted amongst themselves, so I took the opportunity to ask Masud some questions and pick his brain on a number of subjects. His mouth spread into a wide grin as he seemed eager to answer any questions I had.

"What would you like to know?" He chortled, darting across the deck of the truck to get closer to me.