18/06/2023 – The Mosque Under Attack (7)
Destroy the Evil Statue
They leave the Museum and go back to the hotel for lunch. Tiger is still not sure if Dr Kafour is a cultist or not, but Zalkador is sure he can be trusted. Their focus now is protecting the Girdle at the Mosque. Tiger takes some money from Jeziah to go hire the mercenary soldiers, Harry and Bill, who they hired the other day.
Zalkador decides, following that Dr Kafour told him, that he must destroy the tentacle-faced statue. He has by now grasped that it stores magical power that enhances his ability to read fortunes. When it touched the other stone, it was grounded and emptied out its power. He will have to recharge it by allowing it to draw power from him or others.
He realises that his successes in card readings recently has been boosted by the statue. Still, it is evil and he resolves to destroy it.
He goes into his room and tries to break it by beating it with a poker, but he is not that strong and just breaks small shards off it. He is also finding it difficult, he has become slightly addicted to this statue and it requires a strong resolve to do this. The statue seems to tempt him and cause him to see things in an attempt to dissuade him from this action.
Throw It In The Nile
He is determined though and so he grabs the stone with the eye and hits the statue with it. That causes the tentacle-faced statue to break into two, but the eye stone breaks into two as well. He wraps the parts up of both statue and stone and heads out. The others, who are in the living area of the hotel suit, question him about what he is up to and what the noises were. Zalkador tells them it is private and he will be back by dinner.
Zalkador takes Mahmood and heads to the Nile, where he summons up the willpower and throws it into the river. A Policeman suddenly blows his whistle and tells him off for throwing rubbish into the river. Mahmood tries to talk the policeman out of a fine or arrest, but fails. Zalkador is forced to bribe him. He then goes with Mahmood to the Egyptian Museum and talks again with Dr Ali Kafour. He tells the Doctor that he has disposed of the tentacle-faced statue. Then he reveals the broken pieces of the eye stone.
Dr Kafour takes the eye stone into the vault and studies it. He concludes it is stone similar to the structures in the Dhashur area, including the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. It would be good if he could return the stone to where it should be. Zalkador asks about the best way to be able to explore a Pyramid. Dr Kafour says he can get permission from the Ministry of Culture, or he points out the Pyramids are guarded by soldiers who work long hours and are low paid.
Why Are You In Egypt?
Zalkador asks if he could provide him with a letter to show the soldiers, but Dr Kafour is reluctant to be drawn into anything that could reflect back on him or the museum. Dr Kafour then asks Zalkador why he is really here in Egypt and what is he and his friends trying to achieve. Zalkador decides to tell him the truth and reveal all the events since the death of Jackson Elias, including the cult in Britain and the suspicion that the members of the Carlisle Expedition are actually still alive.
Dr Kafour tells him he met Aubrey Penhew while he was in Egypt and with the Carlisle Expedition, but Penhew rebuffed him. He asks Zalkador to write to him regularly at the museum, to keep him up to date on his investigation.
This all takes a while and Zalkador has to rush back to the hotel, but he is late for dinner. The others have been worried about him and Jeziah takes him to one side to give him a stern talking to about his conduct and worrying Cassandra needlessly. As Zalkador updates them, he lets slip that he broke the eye stone into two.
Tiger returns to the hotel with the two British soldiers, Harry and Bill, along with a supply of whisky, concealing it from Jeziah. The soldiers join them for dinner.
Ministry of Culture
Knowing that the Eye stone was from Dhashur, they realise they need to go back there. They must also protect the Mosque from the attack of the Brotherhood. Cassandra asks about visiting a pyramid and finds out from reception that they need a permit from the Ministry of Culture to enter one. Jeziah says he will go with her there, while the others and the soldiers go to the Mosque.
The office of the Ministry of Culture is still open fortunately and she is able to charm the clerk into giving her a permit for a week. She also asks about revoking the permit of the Clive expedition, but that is a lot more involved and would probably require a solicitor to help with the legal side. The process could also take months. She makes a note to talk to Van Heuvelen about it. The clerk does reveal though, that the Clive Expedition still has permission to dig in Giza and Dr Clive’s claim that his permit was revoked was a lie.
Protecting the Mosque
Cassandra, Jeziah and Mahmood return to the hotel just as Tiger, Alex and Zalkador head off to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, taking Harry and Bill with them. Zalkador asks Mahmood to come with them, giving him a tip for working overtime. When they arrive, they move to the back where the ulama are. They are all there and alert, with Al-Dhahabi explaining he received their warning about the imminent attack and asked Nessim Efti to join them, who wields the Sword of Akmallah, a golden-hilted sword dating back to the time of the Prophet Mohammed. The sword is a weapon of power against the forces of evil. Efti is very old, but his eyes suggest age has not dulled his senses.
Tiger assesses the layout of the building and sets up Harry and Bill on the first floor, where they have a wide field of fire. Harry sets up his Lewis gun. They mostly ignore the patients and the staff, both of whom look at them disapprovingly, but as they are guests of the clerics, they have to accept them.
A tense watch begins, with Tiger directing everyone and telling everyone what to do when the attack comes with an almost fanatical zeal. Around 11pm, the wind starts to pick up. Tiger, Alex and Zalkador shudder at the prospects of another Hunting Horror worm monster attacking them and warn everyone that the attack is imminent.
The Hunting Horror Arrives
A hideous screeching noise heralds the arrival of the Hunting Horror and Tiger suddenly realises they have made no preparations to create light. He tries to get things arranged, but it is far too late. The huge monster crashes through the main doors of the Mosque. The nurses mostly faint and the patients react in panic to the arrival of the creature, shouting and screaming. Zalkador loses his nerve completely and runs into the back room as it arrives. Tiger and Alex hold their nerve, though the screaming disturbs Alex into a screaming fit himself.
Harry goes into shock at the site of the monster and does not open fire with his Lewis gun, scared that the creature will then kill him. This annoys Tiger but there is nothing he can say that will make the man open fire. Bill keeps his nerve and opens fire with his elephant gun, blasting the creature, but its hide is thick. The attack does delay it though. He draws his rifle to continue shooting.
Disturbing the Patients
Mahmood goes into a screaming fit and Tiger grabs and shakes him, shouting at him to snap out of it. He slaps Mahmood out of it after a few moments and tells him to get the patients out of the Mosque.
The already mentally damaged patients have extreme reactions to the creature and Mahmood is unable to even stop some of them from walking over to the creature. When one gets in front of it, it knocks him aside and continues towards the back of the Mosque.
Tiger then opens fire with his elephant gun, injuring the creature a little. Then the ulama Muslims draw their swords and rush out from the back to attack the monster.