21/05/2023 – A Trip Down the Nile (5)
That evening, they ask Mahmoud to arrange a boat to take them down to Al-Wasa. Jeziah wonders if they could stop at Dashur on the way back and visit the Clive Expedition. Tiger does not want to go on a boat and instead he gets two ex-British soldiers to go with them down the river for protection. He asks the soldiers to carry heavy weapons. One of them has a Lewis machine-gun which he has looked after and will bring that along.
Wednesday, 13 March 1935
A Steam Launch
They get up early that day, in order to catch the boat. Dr Van Heuvelen has a hangover and Jeziah has to harass him to get ready to come with them. They go to the quay side on the Nile and get on board a slightly rough-looking steam launch. The owner assures them it is a sturdy ship that will not let them down. They have to wait for the mercenaries arrive, but eventually they do and the ship sets off down the river.
Their journey will take two hours. They start to see a lot of amazing views along the river, but the Nile itself is dirty and smells.
Zalkador notices Mahmoud is not as friendly to him. When he asks why, the boy says his cards are bad. He will go to hell for using them. Zalkador says he has a gift and he uses it. Mahmoud says the Quran forbids this. When Zalkador asks what it says, Mahmoud admits he cannot read and does not know. The learned scholars at the Mosque said it was wrong and he could go to hell if he is friends with Zalkador.
They leave Cairo and head more towards rural Egypt, passing small settlements, lots of other boats and ships going in all directions.
Al-Wasa
They eventually arrive at Al-Wasa, which is a small island on the Nile that looks very poor and run down. Dr Van Heuvelen stays on the boat. The locals look at them suspiciously. Mahmoud asks for Nuri. Apparently Old Mother Nuri is not well, they should not disturb her. He mentions Cassandra and on pilgrimage to find out what happened to the Carlisle Expedition. With a small bribe, a local man agrees to take them to her.
The man takes them to a run-down brick building. A one-armed boy comes out and talks with Mahmoud. Apparently Old Mother Nuri cannot speak, she is too ill. When they ask about the Carlisle Expedition, the one-armed boy says he lost his arm due to that Expedition. Cassandra asks what happened, but the boy does not want to say.
Then they hear someone inside making noises inside, but it seems like she has no tongue and can only make noises. The boy goes in to her. They see from the door the woman is lying on a bed. She has no hands and is in a terrible state.
Broken Old Stone
The boy reluctantly allows them to enter. When the old woman sees Zalkador, she seems to react in some way, gesturing to a basket in the corner of the room. Zalkador opens it and finds an old, broken piece of stone with an eye-like design carved into it. He gets a tingle from the stone when he touches it, as though it has some power.
The boy tells them his mother had kept this item for years, since she worked for the Carlisle Expedition. She has been waiting for them to come and take it, via Mahmoud.
A Strange Reaction
The stone is quite, big thick and heavy. Zalkador considers getting one of the soldier guards to carry it, but something about the stone makes him want to carry it himself. As he picks it up, he has some kind of shock and there is a flash of light. Zalkador collapses and drops the stone.
It is not clear what happened initially, then he realises that it had touched the statue of the tentacle creature that he uses to help his readings. The two things do not seem to react to each other well. When Jeziah asks what happened, Zalkador tells him the power of the two stones clashes. Jeziah is sceptical, but Mahmoud looks on disapprovingly.
Alex picks up the tentacle statue and gets a strange static shock from it. As Zalkador cannot carry both, Alex agrees to keep hold of it. However, the fortune teller makes it clear he wants the statue back.
Carlisle Expedition Brings Monsters
The old woman seems happy now and the boy comforts here. Mahmoud asks the boy more about the stone. Her mother came back with the stone while he was working for the Carlisle Expedition. That was when they saw the monsters. He then pulls back his cloths, showing that it looks like something with a huge mouth has bitten off his arm at the shoulder.
He says that “Carlisle” made the monsters come, in the desert near Dashur. Many people came. They did something horrible. Many monsters came out of the sand. Everyone who worked for Carlisle was killed. He was able to escape. His mother found the stone afterwards and kept it.
Cassandra is rather disappointed to learn that the Carlisle Expedition summoned monsters and did bad things.
Stop at Dashur
They return to the boat in a nervous mood. Dr Van Heuvelen examines the stone and thinks the design looks similar the Eye of Horus, but a more complicated design. He says the rest of the design is missing and asks where the rest is. They only know it came from Dashur and Cassandra instructs the boat owner, via Mahmoud, to stop in Dashur on the way back to Cairo.
After an hour travelling on the Nile, they dock at Dashur quay. They push their way through the crowds and Jeziah hires camels to take them to the area of the Clive Expedition dig. They also buy some umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun. The camels are not easy to ride and at one point Cassandra slips off one and has to be helped. She complains about the camel and it hisses at her.
They leave the city of Dashur and towards the desert and they see the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid and the Black Pyramid. They are surprised by the amount of litter there is and how untidy everything is. There are lots of hawkers offering camel rides to tourists.
The Clive Expedition Camp
Dr Van Heuvelen leads them to the Clive Expedition camp. It is not the only archaeological camp in the area, including two from Austria and one from France. The camp is surrounded by a wire fence, with an entrance guarded by armed Egyptian men. There is signs of digging in the camp and a large, main tent. Dr Van Heuvelen does not go with them to the entrance as he is known by the guards.
They walk up to the guards. Alex tells them they are tourists and a guard says no tourists – private. Jeziah tells them to tell Dr Clive they are friends of Edward Gavigan and they have come from London. The guard goes off and returns with a young white man with a posh, English accent. Alex tells him Cassandra was the fiancé of Roger Carlisle and they know Edward Gavigan. He says he has not been told they are coming and Cassandra blames the postal service.
He invites them in to speak in private, taking them to the main tent, but they are forced to leave their two armed escorts at the gate. When they arrive, he has them sit down and have a drink, as Dr Clive is busy at the moment. He introduces himself as Martin Winfield. His father is a Member of Parliament. An attractive woman with a German accent, Johanna Specht, enters and asks what is going on. Cassandra tells her the same story. She also mentions she is a donner to the Penhew Foundation.
Meeting Members of the Expedition
Frau Specht is suspicious of them and asks more questions. She chides Winfield for drinking when he should be working. Then asks why Cassandra is here. Cassandra says she wanted to visit to see what her money is funding. She accepts this for now and leaves.
Another man walks in, who is much friendlier. He introduces himself as James Gardner, an archaeologist. Cassandra tells him the same story and he offers his condolences on the death of the Carlisle Expedition. They talk about the theft of the Sarcophagus, which is why they have more security. The whole camp is more jumpy and suspicious. Gardner has no idea how it happened and goes to mention Dr Clive, but Frau Specht returns and interrupts him, telling him to get on with his work. Gardner refuses and tells her he is chatting with these guests, but his manner changes and he becomes more guarded. He chats with them, but they talk about small matters.
Dr Henry Clive
Finally, an older, serious-looking bald man enters. He is Dr Clive. His speaks very deliberately and flatly, which is a little unnerving. He tells them things are rather tense here since the robbery, so they cannot stay here long. In fact, they should not have been allowed into the camp, giving Winfield a stern look. As they are here though, he is happy to take questions.
Cassandra asks about the robbery. Dr Clive tells them it was an unusual turn of events and he lost their license to dig in Giza and had to leave. They were able to get permission to dig in Dashur, but they have less to go on here. They have found some interesting items, but he is not in a position to give any further details at the moment.
Cassandra then talks about the Carlisle Expeditions work in Dashur. Dr Clive thanks her for her donations and says the Carlisle Expedition was not that well organised. They were cut off in their prime and didn’t find anything substantial. That is why the Clive Expedition is here, to continue their work.
Agatha Intervenes
Dr Clive then tries to wrap things up, but at that point an older lady, Agatha Broadmoor, walks in, wanting a cup of tea. She then greets the visitors and suggests they have an alcoholic drink. Dr Clive tells her she should not be drinking during the day and should return to her tent. She tells Henry (Dr Clive) that she needs a cuppa. Dr Clive introduces Cassandra and her party, but seems a little annoyed. Agatha says there hasn’t been much progress in the dig at the moment, but Dr Clive contradicts her and tells her she is out of date.
Then she mentions that Zalkador has an interesting aura. She sits next to him and asks about the rock he is carrying. It looks very interesting. It looks like it has both the Eye of Horus and the Inverted Ankh – a mixture of good and evil. She then proceeds to make the Investigators some tea, while the other Clive Expedition members look on awkwardly, clearly wanting these visitors to leave.
Agatha Removed
Dr Clive then stands up and tells Cassandra it would not be wise to stay here, they are not in a position to entertain them. Agatha offers to do so, but Dr Clive declines this offer. Cassandra asks if she could give her a tour of Dashur. Agatha eagerly agrees, as she does not have much to do, but Dr Clive says she is too old and Dashur is dangerous, plus they need her here. He also darkly warns that she is known as a member of the expedition and could be kidnapped by their rivals.
Dr Clive then insists that Frau Specht take Agatha back to her tent. Agatha asks where they are staying and they tell her their hotel in Cairo. Zalkador takes his Tarot Cards out to do a reading and Agatha is excited to see them. Dr Clive does not approve of this and tells him to wait until he is back in his hotel. Frau Specht then forcibly takes Agatha out of the tent.
Foretelling of Doom
Zalkador continues with his reading anyway, much to the annoyance of Dr Clive. The cards tell Zalkador that the Emperor – who he associates with the Black Pharaoh – is going to kill him, but he could come back to life. He is a little confused and surprised by this. He keeps most of this reading to himself.
Cassandra then says to Dr Clive that she is still hoping that one of his associates could show her around Dashur, but he insists that everyone is far too busy. Cassandra points out that she is funding this expedition and makes her displeasure clear, becoming angry. He suggests a local guide would be more appropriate and there are many of them around, which only annoys Cassandra more.