Meanwhile …
***
”You imbeciles!” a voice thundered in a cavernous room dimly lit by burning torches along the walls and on either side of a raised throne. The torchlight dimly lit a figure wearing a costume similar to what an Egyptian Pharaoh might have worn, including the golden headdress, sitting on that throne. The person’s face was shrouded in shadows. Two guards stood at attention on either side of the throne, the dim flickering torchlight glinting off their combination of ancient bronze spears and modern semi-automatic pistols. “I send you to retrieve one small item, one insignificant item, and you fail! Not only do you fail to retrieve what you were sent after, but you failed to destroy it when someone else found it! Now you shall find out what happens to those who fail the Son of Osiris!”
”No, boss! It wasn’t our fault!” one of the two men bound and kneeling before the throne said. “Some dame we never saw before found it first! Please, you gotta believe…” “SILENCE!!” the Pharaoh thundered, cutting off the pleas of the two bound men and then he stood up. “Guards. Take these two to the Temple of Tanis and have the Priest prepare them to serve for eternity.” Two guards entered the room and hauled the two condemned men to their feet by the ropes binding them. The two men were hauled out of the room screaming “No Boss!! Please, for the love of God, NO!!”
After the sound of the two screaming men faded, the Pharaoh sat back down on his throne and close his eyes in thought. From behind the throne a woman with long wine-dark hair slunk out. She was dressed and made up like an Egyptian Priestess. “My Lord”, she said in a low voice, “could that have been a little excessive?” The Pharaoh scowled and said “No. My soldiers need to understand the price to be paid for incompetence in fulfilling my orders. What I am more concerned with is what they said about the person who now has the message capsule. If they can decode the contents, it could be… bothersome. Kaori, I want you to find out who those interlopers are and… deal with them.”
”Yes, my lord Pharaoh. It shall be done as you have commanded.” The woman crossed her arms under her breast and bowed while walking backwards into the shadows. Kaori walked down a short hallway to a large stone room in the middle of which was a large pool of water. Above the pool was a round skylight. Around the other three walls were 5 doors, two each on the side walls and one opposite the door Kaori had come through. “Eudial! You are summoned!” Kaori said in a loud voice. The left-most door opened and a young woman dressed like an Egyptian princess walked through. “Eudial, the Pharaoh has commanded that the person who intercepted the message capsule yesterday is to be eliminated. Your task is to find out who this person is and make certain that they never interfere with the dread Pharaoh or the Cult of Tanis again.” The young woman nodded once and said “Consider it done, Priestess Kaori. I, Eudial of the Witches 5, shall carry out the commands of the dread Pharaoh.” The young woman then turned on her heels and strode back out the door she had entered through.
***
After Michiru, Haruka, and Hotaru had had dinner the night of the race, Hotaru went back upstairs, “to study” she had said. Michiru and Haruka went into the library and closed the door behind them. Haruka took out of her pocket the small canister she had found hidden in the spare tire of her race car. Inside the canister they found a folded up piece of parchment covered with strange symbols. “What do you make of that?” Haruka asked.
Michiru studied the symbols for a bit, and then stood up and went to one of the bookcases. “What it looks like are Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Hmm, where is that… Ah, here it is.” and pulled out a thick book. She brought the book back to the table and began leafing though the book. She stopped at a page, compared one of the hieroglyphic symbols with the book and said “I should be able to decipher the message but it will take some time. If you would, love, please go put on a pot of coffee; this looks like an all-nighter.”
”Okay. Just don’t push yourself too hard. Remember, you have that concert recital in a few days.” Haruka said as she opened the door and walked to the kitchen. “Thank you,” Michiru answered and returned to working on the message. A half hour later Haruka returned with the coffee and a cup on a platter. She placed the platter on the table and poured Michiru a cup of coffee, placing it within reach of Michiru.
The hours passed with little sound save the occasional scribble as Michiru worked on deciphering the hieroglyphics. The coffee was gradually consumed and eventually Haruka fell asleep in her chair. At 9PM Hotaru bid her adoptive older sister good-night. It wasn’t until well after midnight that Michiru leaned back in her chair and ran her fingers through her hair as she relaxed back in her chair. She silently chuckled as she saw her partner asleep in a chair, lightly snoring.
Michiru got up and lightly shook Haruka’s shoulder. Haruka woke with a little start, but calmed down when Michiru smiled at her and said “Finished. That message finally gave us our first big break on the Cult of Tanis. First, though, we need to get some sleep; you need to be in the garage tomorrow to go over the race results with your mechanic.” Haruka stood up, stretched and yawned and said “Yeah, you’re right. Hopefully, now we can get the scumbag who killed Hotaru’s dad.”
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(Posted Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:26)
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