22/06/2025 – Leaving Egypt (14)
Dead Bodies Everywhere
It falls relatively quiet in the Great Chamber. They look around and see there are lots of bodies of dead cultists lying around, but the leeches are starting to consume them. Agatha slowly recovers from her stupor, but is surprised and distressed at the destruction around her. She is pleased to note though that Queen Nitocris has not been summoned.
Cassandra is still angry and does not want to talk to or deal with Jeziah for the moment, much to his distress. She just wants to get out of the Great Chamber. Jeziah though points out that the Girdle, the Crown and the Necklace of Queen Nitocris are all still lying on the altar. Tiger proposes they carry out their original plan – take them then split them up around the world. Jeziah grabs them.
Back to the Hotel
Jeziah wakes up the unconscious Zalkador, though the Fortune Teller seems rather dazed and babbles about his statue. Tiger grabs the still disorientated Alex and helps him as they all move back to the tunnels. They stumble through, following the main tunnel back to the entrance in Gaza, then hailing some cabs as soon as they can to get back to the hotel.
Zalkador and Alex begin to show signs of mental disorder. Zalkador seems obsessed with getting to the Nile to recover his statue, while Alex does not seem to know where he is. They are all exhausted though and collapse into bed, sleeping. Agatha takes a couch in Cassandra’s room.
Sunday, 17 March 1935
Insanity Manifests
Tiger does not sleep very well, as he is in pain from his burns. In the morning, Jeziah examines him and has him sent to hospital, which he pays for. The rest of the Investigators stay at the hotel, keeping their weapons close in case the cultists come for them.
Sometime in the afternoon, they realise that Zalkador has gone, but have no idea where he is and do not want to leave the hotel. That evening, a porter comes to Cassandra’s room and tells them one of their party in down stairs. It turns out that he jumped into the Nile and had to be rescued when he started to drown.
Agatha starts to realise that Alex is having problems, as he just keep asking random people to bring him food or drinks. Her psychiatric knowledge suggests that he could use some time in hospital and it looks like Zalkador will too. They have to keep a watch on Zalkador to stop him leaving the hotel for the river again and that job falls mainly to Jeziah.
Most of that day though is spent resting and recovering.
Monday, 18 March 1935
Mahmoud Returns
They spend the rest of the day discussing the clues, resting, eating and drinking. Mahmoud appears that afternoon, after having been absent for a few days. He asks about Zalkador and they find his presence calms the crazed Fortune Teller. Jeziah continues to pay him each day to look after Zalkador.
Tuesday, 19 March 1935
Tiger Needs Time to Recover
The next day, Cassandra announces that it is time to leave Egypt. Jeziah reminds her Tiger is still in the hospital. She has him go check on him and learns that he will need another five days while they continue to change his bandages and apply ointment on his burns. He returns to the hotel and they resolve to wait it out for the next two days.
Agatha continues to look after Alex and Zalkador as best she can, but it is clear they will need to be put in a mental institution for a while. Jeziah says they can fly them back to England and drop them off at a good place in London.
They discuss Mahmoud and it is clear he is attached to Zalkador. They ask him if he would like to return with Zalkador to England and the boy agrees.
Sunday, 24 March 1935
Monty and Eddy Join the Group
That day, they pick up Tiger from the hospital. Before they can head for the airport, Tiger insists on checking all the weapons they have and ensuring that they are all bagged up, including the Lewis gun and the elephant gun that belonged to now dead mercenaries.
Once they are ready, they head to Port Said. When they get to the airport, they realise that Alex is in no fit state to fly his own airplane. They ask about and find a mechanic and pilot called Monty Coddington, and his co-pilot mate Eddy Clarence, who are looking for work. Monty checks the Douglas DC1 and says it is still in good condition and he can fly it for them. Jeziah arranges to hire them and join the group for a month on a reasonable wage.
They introduce themselves and tell them that they are searching for the lost Carlisle Expedition and trying to discover what happened to them. As well as being their pilots, they will need to accompany them in their investigations at various places around the world. Tiger hints that there are some dangerous people who sometimes get in their way. Monty is a little concerned, but he and Eddy are in need of money, so they agree when Jeziah makes a slightly more generous offer.
The first job is to fly back to London, which Monty does, after they obtain the keys to the DC1 from Alex and retrieve the documents from the plane. Alex asks for jelly and ice cream and tells them he owns a plane just like that one.
Tuesday, 26 March 1935
London
They fly from Port Said to Crete, then Naples, then Marseille, Paris and finally arrive in Croydon, London after near two days of travelling. They arrange to stay for a few days and fly on the Nairobi on Friday.
Jeziah makes some enquiries and then has Zalkador and Alex assigned to an expensive Harley Street doctor, agreeing to a generous fee for his friends to receive the best psychiatric care. In a lucid moment, Zalkador suggests sending Mahmoud to live with his landlady, which Jeziah arranges.
Agatha has been asking a lot of questions about what they are up to and she is keen to join their group. Jeziah agrees an employment contract with her.
Cassandra checks in with Astor Motors and discovers that sales are up thanks to Britain recovering from the Great Depression.
Tiger goes back to Alex’s shop and checks on things there, while procuring some ammunition for his Lewis gun.
Friday, 29 March 1935
Long Flight
They return to Croydon Airport that day. Monty and Eddy stayed on the plane and then arrange to fly to Nairobi. They follow the same route back to Port Said, then to Wadi Halfa, Khartoum and then Juba in Sudan. From there they fly to Entebbe in Uganda and finally on to Nairobi after seven days of flying, including some hotel stop overs.