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That e with the Fist of Horus--a spell I’d never been able to do onto combine souls with Horus, I’d tapped into his e confined I’d used that simple connection to invoke a spell and break the chains Now, if I could just figure out how to do stuff like thatbattles…
We traveled for reen and brown fields to our left We had nothing to drink but water frooatwell in my stomach Every once in a while I’d reh my body, and my shoulder would start to ache where the tjesu heru had bitten ot our first lead An old fellahin, a peasant fare ere seeking When he heard the naainst the Evil Eye, but since Bes was the one asking, the old man told us what he knew
He said Red Sands was an evil place, very badly cursed No one ever visited nowadays But the old e from before it had been destroyed We would find it ten kilometers south, at a bend in the river where the sand turned bright red
Well, duh, I thought, but I couldn’t help being excited
The Bedouins decided towith us the rest of the way, but they said they’d be honored if Bes and I borrowed their truck
A fewin the pickup Bes wore a floppy hat ally as his Hawaiian shirt It was pulled so loasn’t sure he could see anything, especially since he was barely eye-level with the dashboard
Every tiled on the rearview raphy, a Christmas-tree–shaped pine air freshener, some animal teeth on a leather strap, and a little icon of Elvis Presley for reasons I didn’t understand The truck had no suspension and hardly any padding on the seats I felt like I was riding a ,and hoping, I couldn’t believe I was so close to finding Zia
"You look terrible," Bes said
"Thanks"
"I ht Whatever’s waiting for us, you understand it isn’t going to be friendly?"
Under the bri for an argument
"You think this is a mistake," I said "You think I should’ve stayed with Sadie"
He shrugged "I think if you were looking at it straight, you’d see this has TRAP written all over it The old Chief Lector--Iskandar--he wouldn’t have hidden your girlfriend--"
"She’s notsome protective spells around her Set and Apophis apparently both want you to find this place, whichyour sister and Walt on their own On top of all that, we’re traipsing through Desjardins’ backyard, and after that stunt in St Petersburg, Menshikov won’t rest until he finds you So, yeah, I’d say this isn’t your brightest idea"
I stared out the windshield I wanted to be ht be right I’d been hoping for a happy reunion with Zia The chances were I’d never ht alive
"Maybe Menshikov is still recovering frohed "Take it froets an insult"
His voice s when he’d told us about the dedding I wondered what had really happened to Bes in that palace, and why he was still brooding over it three hundred years later
"Was it Vlad?" I asked "Was he the one who captured you?"
It didn’t seeicians ere centuries old But Bes shook his head
"His grandfather, Prince Alexander Menshikov" Bes said the name like it was a hteenth Norandson I’d never dealt with a ician like that It was the first tiicians lock all you gods in the Duat after Egypt fell?"
"Most of us," Bes agreed "Some slept the entire two millennia until your dad unleashed us Others broke out from time to time and the House of Life would track the influenza epideods like me stayed in the mortal world the entire time Back in the ancient days, I was just, you know, a friendly guy I scared away spirits The coypt fell, the Roes, the Christians oyles after ends about gnomes, dwarves, helpful leprechauns--all based on me"
"Helpful leprechauns?"
He scowled "You don’t think I’hts"
"I didn’t need that ie"
Bes huffed "Anyway, the House of Life was never serious about tracking me down I just kept a low profile and stayed out of trouble I was never captured until Russia Probably still be a prisoner there if it wasn’t for--" He stopped hi he’d said too much
He turned off the road The truck rattled over hard-packed sand and rocks, heading for the river
"Souessed "Bast?"
The dwarf’s neck turned bright red "No…not Bast She was stuck in the abyss fighting Apophis"
"Then--"
"The point is, I got free, and I got et Alexander Menshikov convicted on corruption charges He was disgraced, stripped of his wealth and titles His whole family was shipped off to Siberia Best day of randson Vladimir , rebuilt his grandfather’s fortune, and took over the Eighteenth Nome If Vlad had the chance to capture me…"