My dearest Betty,
What you have not yet heard of our tale in Egypt will take some telling. Fortunately, we are now safely ensconced on a cruiser so I may take my time writing. We were rather eager to exit Cairo at haste, although we managed a dignified exit if I do say so myself. Mary is rather resourceful at packing.
On the evening of the 23rd, our merry band went back to Giza. Having obtained rooms at the nearby hotel, we repaired out of doors with lawn chairs, blankets, binoculars, and a cold, but delicious, picnic. I must see if Cook knows how to use dates. They use it to sweeten so many delicious dishes here and I know my table would be the envy of New York if I could replicate some of the fine pastries we have had here.
Ostensibly, and to any prying eyes, we were out to enjoy the evening and watch the stars. (which are magnificent out in the desert. Really, you must visit Egypt if you get the chance.) In reality, we were there to spy on our old friends the Clive Expedition. None of us trusted them at this point, although I do believe that dear batty old woman is being led by the pernicious knaves in their troupe.
We had driven past the Clive Expedition's new encampment on the way in that day and I was quite shocked to see just how much fortification had been done. Lord Covington explained to me that really this was nothing compared to a true military encampment and Louis helpfully pointed out their lack of discipline, but the heavy presence of imposing men and large guns made it quite difficult to ignore the new martial bent of their set up.
As we gazed at the stars and talked, I was quite conscious that things had not settled well between Violet and Louis. There was an unmistakable tension between them that I fretted over. So much so, that when a group of men and a woman walked up to the Monolith in front of the Sphinx I was almost too distracted to see them. They walked up and then somehow disappeared. We waited several minutes, but they did not reappear.
Adamant that I had not missed them, Louis and Violet went down for a closer look. As they were hardly speaking to each other, I was worried about this, but I suppose when you're attempting to be stealthy there isn't a need for words. Anyway, they returned later, having been caught by the guards and somehow talked their way out of it, to report that they had seen footprints, but they weren't sure whether they led into or out of the Monolith.
I tried to stay awake longer, but the excitement of the day was too much for me and I eventually nodded off. Lord Covington said he eventually saw a small group of people walking away much later in the evening.
We slept most of the 24th. With the late night and knowing we would likely be up late that day it seemed the prudent thing to do. I slept for a time, but arose in the early afternoon to supplicate myself to Bast and perform a small ritual that Neris had taught me.
You see, being a Priestess of Bast is not just words and bowing unlike so many other religions. As a Priestess, I am afforded certain abilities that have left the common usage. One such is said to imbue a blessing on a person, or thing. Knowing we faced certain danger, and with Bast's warning that she would not intercede herself on my behalf, I arose in the early afternoon, shuttered my window, put on my flowy robe, lit some candles, and proceeded to make the supplications and chants that would impart to our group a modicum of luck.
It is difficult to know if one has done such things correctly, but after repeating it several times over, I'm sure I must have had an impact for at least some of us.
Heading out that evening with the gentlemen all carrying an unusually large amount of artillery, the streets were unusually busy, much busier than we had seen them before. There were also more guards on the streets who we questioned as to what was going on. He said nothing of interest was happening tonight, but that tomorrow there might be something, some work for the locals to be done on the sights.
It was quite odd actually, as he first said it was a day of rest, which made no sense as it was a Monday, but then explained that the archaeologists did not need workers yesterday, but today which I supposed made some sense. At least a little bit more.
We followed the crowd towards the Sphinx. And what a crowd it was. Even the largest ballroom in New York could not have held the numbers that were there, and they were still coming. At first I thought it was perhaps 150 people, but as we moved further forward and realised how many there was and how packed they were, it was heading well past 500. Honestly, I had not realised there were quite so many locals to be brought together.
With the crush of people all moving towards the face of the Sphinx, a giant monster, I had the distinct impression of gathering fodder. And the oddest part of the crowd was that they were all wearing robes. Not light robes to keep the sun off yourself, but heavy, dark almost monkish robes. We eventually found a vendor with his cart selling them and purchased some for ourselves to better blend in, and even in that time the numbers grew more.
The press of people was becoming cloying. The gentlemen helped us push towards the front of the crowd. We ended up perhaps 10-20 rows away from the front, which was encircling the Monolith we had seen the small group approach the night before. Violet thought she saw some of the Clive Expedition as well as Omar Shakti, but it was a struggle to see anything other than the wave of brown robes. The heat of the day had not fully left yet, and I was sweltering in my robes, hoping that I would not faint, although if I had, I could not have fallen for the crush of people all around me. Eventually a hush fell over the crowd.
Dinner is being called, and I suppose this is a good place to stop for now. I shall continue later, but do not worry, we all left Egypt in mostly one piece.
......
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