A Little Rhine Must Fall (7 page)

“Need ticket,” he said. “I sell ticket for one-hundred pounds. Very good deal!”

Cecily snorted. “Even under the Voice they still try to rip people off. Tell him you don’t need a ticket and even if you did, he’s overcharging us.”

“I don’t need a ticket,” I commanded.

“You have camera?” he asked. “Need extra ticket for camera.”

Cecily pushed past him. “Tell him not to remember us.”

“I don’t have a camera,” I said to the man. Who could I show the pictures to anyways? The coolest place I’d ever been in my entire life and I couldn’t tell anyone about it.

I didn’t have much time to feel sorry for myself. Cecily was in the gate and past a metal scanner that looked more like a prop than an actual working device. Then we were past the modern tourist buildings and standing on an ancient causeway that stretched into the distance up to the foot of the Great Pyramid. It took my breath away with its majesty, and then it took my breath away literally when I realized that we would have to
climb
that causeway, and
then
climb the pyramid.

A loud “meow” grabbed my attention. Bastet had found her own entrance to the complex and was standing a few yards off, slashing her tail in the air.

:We’re running a little behind schedule:
she announced.

Cecily shrugged. “We’ll run.”

:You can run, bloodsucker. We will ride:

“Ride?” I didn’t understand. Then a gurgling roar behind me made me forget everything in fear. I was half way up the causeway before turning around. It was a camel!

:Run, Cecily:
Bastet commanded.
:We will be right behind you:

I came back almost as fast as I had left. I’d always wanted to ride a camel! I’d seen enough movies to know that it was supposed to drop to its knees before I climbed on. Bastet was sitting directly in front of its huge front feet and staring up into its heavily lashed eyes.

She curled her lips back and hissed loudly at the camel. It dropped obediently to its front knees and then lurched back on its now folded hind legs. Bastet leaped gracefully to the padded seat and said
:Hurry, Piper. The Synod agreed you could come, but they didn’t say they would wait for you:

I had totally forgotten about the moon or the climb up the pyramid in my excitement about the upcoming camel ride. This was so cool!

:Hold on tightly to the horn:
came the warning as I was thrown first backwards, then forwards, then back again, as the camel lurched to its feet.

I rubbed my nose ruefully where it had smashed into the horn. “You could have warned me a little earlier,” I grumbled.

:Say “hut, hut” and kick the beast in the ribs:
I was ordered.

I gave her the evil-eye over my shoulder. She was hunched on the back of the saddle, claws deep in the cloth, ears flat against her head, and looking miserable.

“I can do one better than that,” I grinned. “How do you say ‘run?’”

It sounded something like “
djara
.” I used the Voice and my pronunciation must have been close enough, because our ship of the desert took off at a fast clip up the causeway. Cecily had waited around to see if we were coming and, now that we were moving, she took off at a dead run.

“I’ll
make
them wait,” she called over her shoulder and then was gone.

Unlike horses, which run with the diagonal legs striking forward at the same time, camels run with both right legs moving forward and then both left legs. The motion is smooth and hypnotic and if I wasn’t so worried about what we were here to do, I would have been lost in the magic of riding a camel across the desert, with the sun setting behind the horizon, and the pyramids rising out of the sand before me.

I sighed. There was never enough time to enjoy these things. “Why the Pyramids?” I called over my shoulder.

Even in my head Bastet sounded unhappy. Egyptian goddess or no, cats were not well designed to ride camels.
:It takes a lot of power to open a Zipline to the moon:
she said, as if annoyed that the answer wasn’t obvious to me.
:The triangular shape channels the power up to the point and allows the Zipline to reach farther than normal. The Eiffel Tower is another good Zipline location:

Paris! I could have been in Paris right now! I looked around. With the tourists gone, I could have been five-thousand years in the past, looking at the exact same tombs, riding a camel along the same road. Who needed Paris? This was awesome!

As we neared the Great Pyramid it started to look larger and larger. I gulped. “I have to
climb
that?”

:Only if you want to reach the top:
was the snippy reply.

Standing next to the pyramid was the most humbling experience of my life. What looked like Lego blocks from afar turned out to be huge granite rocks over five feet tall. I now knew why people made such a big deal about the ancient Egyptians building these things without modern machinery. If you told me that they had cranes and forklifts I would still have been impressed.

Dismounting from the camel almost earned me a broken nose, but I held on tight and finally was able to hop off into the sand. I patted our ride’s neck and was rewarded with another loud bellow and a dirty look.

Halfway up the side of the pyramid I could see a small form leaping gracefully from level to level, moving quickly higher. Drat. This was not going to be easy for little, old, human me.

We started up the southwest corner where the blocks looked like a giant’s staircase reaching to heaven. When I say “we” I really mean “me,” as Bastet was once again riding on my shoulders.

I made good time and fifteen minutes later I was halfway up the side, arms and legs trembling with fatigue, sweat rolling down my face, and gasping for air.

“How high is this thing?” I asked, much less enchanted with the whole Egypt adventure.

:One-hundred and forty-six meters:
was the answer. I wasn’t going to tell her that I wasn’t good on translating meters to feet, and that, as a stupid American, I couldn’t mentally grasp how high that was.

:But you’re in luck:
she added.

“Why?” I was eyeing the next step and working up the nerve to start climbing again.

:It used to be ten meters taller:

I groaned. I didn’t know if I could climb another ten inches and I was pretty sure that, ten meters shorter or not, we still had far to go. “Kill me now,” I murmured.

“Are you sure?” Cecily’s voice startled me into plastering myself against the side of the pyramid.

:Oh, look:
Bastet pointed out needlessly.
:Cecily’s back:

“I hadn’t noticed,” I snarled. “Are we too late? Should we just turn around and go home?” I peeked over the edge of the block I was clinging to and tried to see the ground in the dark. Climbing down suddenly didn’t seem like such a great idea. Neither did climbing up. Maybe I should go with the kill-me-now option. Less work and pain. Plus then I wouldn’t have to face any aliens on the moon either.

Cecily was standing on the level above me, as at home and graceful as if she were at tea with the queen. I was a sweaty, dirty mess. My hair was a wreck and when I regained feeling in my fingers I was pretty sure I’d find out which nails I had broken. I’ve never been a beauty queen and life with two little kids tended to cover a mother in spit-up, sticky fingers, and other unmentionable messes. The sight of Cecily, not a hair out of place, usually didn’t bother me, but at this moment I wanted nothing more than to grab up a handful of dust and throw it in her face.

Since she wasn’t a mind reader, she smiled at me. “The WAND is running into a little trouble. You’ve still got some time.” She cocked her head and studied me for a moment. Looking down had been a mistake. I couldn’t get any closer to the pyramid without marrying it. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” I grunted. “I might be able to move in about a thousand years or so.”

“I don’t think that the WAND will take
that
long,” she chuckled. “Come on,” she took one of my hands and gently pulled me up. I bit my lip and refused to scream. “Don’t look down.”

“Too late,” I moaned. “I’m going to die. I’m going to die right here on the side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Can’t go up, can’t go down, just have to stay right here and die.”

“Close your eyes and trust me,” Cecily said patiently.

:Wait for us:
Claws dug into my shoulders again. I needed a leather jacket.

I was done with oohing and ahhing at how cool it was to be in Egypt. I was done with this whole thing. I wanted to go home. To sit in front of the TV and watch
actors
have exciting adventures that you knew they would survive. My future was far too uncertain.

Eons later, we made it to the top. It was about thirty feet square and looked crowded. The Synod representatives were already there, as were several WAND members, wearing their traditional robes and messing around with painted symbols and candles.

The two statuesque and breathtakingly beautiful blondes must be the Seelie and UnSeelie Fae. One smiled at me while the other snarled so it was pretty obvious which was which. I caught sight of red, curly hair and recognized Kenneth Deerhurst, Naga and head of the Synod. They must think this was pretty serious if they were sending the big guns to the meeting. And by “big guns” I do mean “big.” Not only had Deerhurst saved my life once, he had also showed himself to me as a huge and incredibly scary dragon.

“Piper!” a gruff voice greeted me.

I was trying to stand up straight and not fall flat on my face and cling to the floor. Being lifted off my feet in a bear-hug (or should I say Were-hug?) did not help my discomfort. Nor did the fact that Bastet chose that moment to leap from my shoulders, leaving furrows in my skin.

“Put me down! Put me down!” I said urgently, not really looking at the man until I felt somewhat more safe. “Jonathan! Good to see you!” Jonathan was a werewolf and had also saved my life, once upon a time. I had returned the favor by running a little errand for him and the Seelie Fae which, consequently had put me on the WAND’s black list.

“I couldn’t believe it when they said you were joining the party,” he rumbled. “How’d you tear yourself away from your little girls?” He laughed, then eyed me speculatively. “But wait, did you bring one with you?”

“Dang it!” I cried. “Does
everyone
in the world know that I’m pregnant?
I
just found out and I swear I haven’t gained a pound yet!”

“Pregnant?” One of the WAND members paused in his chanting. “Deerhurst, you didn’t say anything about a
pregnant
human going.”

The Naga chairman turned toward me. “Greetings, Mrs. Cavanaugh. Am I to understand that congratulations are in order?”

“Yes,” I mumbled, uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny.

“You told us six people would be traveling to the moon,” the witch complained. “This throws our calculations totally off. We’re going to need a few more days to prepare.”

Deerhurst gave the witch a level stare. “You were paid handsomely to open a Zipline to the moon at this particular date and time. Are you telling me that you are unable to fulfill your contract?”

I don’t know what the witches saw in his eyes, but if it had been me, I would have done whatever it took to finish my job and then get out of there as fast as possible. They conferred rapidly, then announced, “The fetus should not cause too much interference. The Zipline will be open shortly.” With that they went back to their mumbling and pacing.

The sun was now a sliver of gold along the edge of the horizon and the temperature was dropping. I had always read about how the desert got cold at night but I’d never really believed it. As a Floridian, “cold” meant that it might get down in the 70’s at night, but it would still be muggy, and the mosquitoes feasting on your blood kind of distracted you from any other feeling. This was so chilly that I wished I had brought a sweater. I didn’t miss the mosquitoes though.

With that thought the sun disappeared and the shadow that had been creeping up the side of the pyramid suddenly enveloped us and plunged everything into darkness. The lights of the city burst forth and I felt like I was standing on a cloud.

“We’re ready,” said a sepulchral voice, or at least a voice that was
trying
to sound sepulchral. In my limited exposure to the WAND, they tended to overdo the drama with inconsistent results.

“Direct us,” Deerhurst said, and I shivered as his eyes flashed red in the reflected lights from the city. (
Cairo!
a part of my brain said.
How cool is that!
)

The WAND members conferred amongst themselves for a moment then decided that we should all stand on different points of the design they had created and hold hands. I found myself holding Cecily’s ice-cold hand on one side and Jonathan’s fever-hot one on the other.

The oldest of the witches looked like he was consulting a pocket dictionary. He looked up, saw that I was watching him, and frowned. “Okay,” he snapped the book shut and hiked his robe up so that he could place the book back in the cargo pocket of his pants. “We need to chant together.
Solutus portale. Solutus portale
.”

Jonathan made a face. “Is the chanting really necessary?”

The witch turned on him with a glare, “Have
you
ever transported someone to the moon before, dog?”

Jonathan curled his upper lip, showing bright white teeth, “Have
you
?”

The witch decided to ignore that question. Events were happening so quickly that I hadn’t had much time to think, but Jonathan had a point; there couldn’t be much call for sending people to the moon. I could think of some people I’d
like
to send to the moon (my motherin-law for one) but getting to Egypt and climbing to the top of the Great Pyramid seemed a little labor intensive. This was probably the first time the WAND had ever tried this. Not a thought that filled me with confidence.