Page 22 (1/2)

Lady Maccon was pleased to say the city quite lived up to her expectations While Ivy prattled on about Pos, the Arsenal, and various other guidebook sights of note, Alexia simply absorbed the quality of the place: the subdued tranquility of exotic buildings, broken only occasionally by the white -needle austerity of an obelisk She thought she could round It was e by the sun--a city carved out of the desert indeed, utterly alien in every way The thing it most resembled was a sculpturethat they, too, ought to go below, or at least in out of the sea air "Too much sea air can detrimentally affect the mental stability, or so I’ve read"

"Why, Mrs Tunstell, you must have traveled by boat before," said Lord Maccon

Lady Maccon stifled a chuckle and returned her attention to the shore She felt the heat for the first tietting hotter over the last few days, but this heat brought new srilledthe roainst hiainst the railing

The baby frowned at the city, which looer as they moved in to dock "Ick," she said, and then, "Da her adopted father or if somehow the ancient city reirl shivered despite the heat and buried her ain

As co on board the stea off of it Of course, it was intended that passengers spend that last night aboard, to awaken the next in their adventures well rested and fully packed But Alexia and her party were on a night schedule and had no intention of wasting precious evening hours by staying on the ship They hurried back to their respective roo up attendants to help the steward’s fees, and eventually dise their land legs back, Ivy Tunstell had to return to her quarters no less than three times The first under the iloves--they were in a hatbox with her green turban, as it turned out The second because she was assured her Baedeker’s was left on the bedside table, only to discover it in her reticule The third because she panicked, convinced she had forgotten Percy, asleep in his bassinet

The nursee of the twins, safely ensconced in a rather i contraption, held Percy up for his frantic mother to see, at which juncture the baby spit up on the strikingly large turban of a native gentleh their asseesture and said so on

Ivy tried desperately to apologize to theback "Oh, my dear sir, how terrible He’s only a very little boy, of course, not yet under his oer so far as the proper operation of the digestive centers I aone, Ivy dear," interrupted Alexia "Best turn our attention to our hotel Where are we headed?" She looked at Conall hopefully It really was rather a bother to travel without Floote; nothing went smoothly, and no one seemed to know exactly what to do next

Madame Lefoux stepped into the breach "The custoly square building to their right, froing in their direction Alexia squinted, atteroup The sun was s around them blanketed in shadow

The customs officials, for that is what they proved to be, practically crashed into theibly in Arabic Ivy Tunstell whipped out her travel guide and began trilling soible phrases in, for so falsetto and what appeared to be Spanish Tunstell began prancing about trying to be helpful, his red hair attracting a good deal of unwarranted attention When one of the , Lord Maccon began yelling and gesticulating in English, descending rapidly into Scottish as he beca the hubbub, Madaht I recoun to an inaccessible part of your apparel and opening the parasol as though the sun were quite up?"

Lady Maccon looked at the inventor as though she were , no time for a parasol, and Ethel was tucked away in her reticule, where any good firearnificantly at one of the custo onto the dock, entleman’s annoyance, and produced a prop musket triumphantly from within Mr Tumtrinkle’s efforts to demonstrate that the firearm was, in fact, a fake did not meet with any kind of approval Quite the opposite, in fact

Using Prudence’s body to hide her actions, Lady Maccon took her own tiny gun out of her reticule and shoved it down the front of her bodice Then she reached for her parasol, dangling from a chatelaine hook at her waist, and opened it above her head Prudence clung on dutifully while she did this and then insisted on holding the parasol handle herself This delighted Alexia, as now it appeared as though the parasol were up at her daughter’s childish whim, rather than her own eccentricity

Lord Maccon was becoued violently with the custo through their luggage right there in public The men were not intimidated by Lord Maccon’s size, rank, or supernatural state The first being the only thing they had any direct contact with, the second being irrelevant in Egypt, and the last virtually unknown It was quite dark, and Conall looked to be in iether when the irthed native fellow arrived in their midst He wore voluh-neck dark shirt of muslin, a wide yellow sash about his waist, and a fez upon his head with a long tassel He had a beard neatly triressiveness and a serious expression Alexia wasn’t sure about the beard, nor the bloomers, but she did think that with a different hat and a very long sword, he would look ure, that would bethe lines of a banker at a masquerade

The newcomer introduced hilish He interposed himself between Lord Maccon’s bluster and the customs official’s efficaciousness Alexia saw her husband’s nose wrinkle in a telltale way and noticed that slight wince that he never could hide if he wasn’t anticipating a bad smell She sidled up next to him, careful not to touch him just in case they needed all of his supernatural abilities

"Va his eyes off of the stranger