Chapter 5
Ardeth had received his first task. He was nervous, but determined to succeed. Ardeth did his absolute best to blend into the shadows of the alley across the street from the museum. He had a clear view of the entrance. It was impossible to miss the two British women as they exited. Ardeth followed at as far a distance as possible. Ardeth was uncertain what alarmed his Uncle and Father about Miss Evans. He didn’t feel what they were speaking of. Ardeth had also not been allowed to guard the secret city. Maybe he would understand what they spoke of when he did. Instead, Ardeth had only felt nervous.
This was Ardeth’s first trip to the city, and he had never seen the faces of any men or women outside their village. He had found the light color of her eyes and hair pleasing. Like honey. The British woman had been playful. Rude, but you could see the life in her face. Ardeth had struggled with understanding the English. He had been studying. It was necessary to warn people from entering Hamunaptra, but he was far from fluent yet. It was one of the many reasons Ardeth had hesitated to accept the task.
“There is no better way to get to know the city than to follow someone. I understand your reluctance, but it will be impossible for me to follow her. Miss Evans looked more at me than you. I was not even wearing my face covering. Plus, she might not even have noticed you were here. You are slighter. Which is much better to blend into the crowd. I know you will do well, my son.” Ardeth wanted to please his Father.
It was easy at first. The two women stopped at a cafe and drank coffee. Talked. It was dull. Ardeth was too afraid to sit down in the cafe. That was too close. As casually as possible, he inspected goods at the neighboring vendors.
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There was a boy following her wearing the same clothing as the man with Mister Bay at the museum. Coincidence? She thought not. He was…not very good at it. The boy was looking through a woman’s clothing stall with an incredibly bored expression. He clearly did not want to be there.
“You are distracted today, Hermione.” Evelyn stopped her explanation of the role of Osiris in the Underworld.
“I’m sorry!” Hermione said apologetically. She had a lightbulb moment. “I just CAN’T stop thinking about those lovely clothes across the way. Shall we take a look?”
“YOU want to look at clothes?” Evelyn responded skeptically.
“Evelyn, you must know that clothes are my greatest passion,” Hermione said with fake sincerity.
“Yes,” Evelyn commented dryly. “You have displayed that frequently by wearing the exact same outfit every day that I have known you.”
“Then,” Hermione reasoned. “...it is clear that I need a new outfit.” Hermione placed money for their coffee on the table and Evelyn followed her with a raised eyebrow. One moment Ardeth was looking critically at a poorly made bracelet, and the next he was panicking as the woman he was tasked to follow was clearly walking with purpose toward him. Ardeth could hardly make a run for it without letting Ms. Evans know what he was up to. He held his breath and deliberately stared at the bracelet as hard as he could and picked another up as if to compare the two. Hermione veered at the last minute to some long sleeveless robes right behind the boy.
“So, Evelyn, do you think that I could get away with wearing one of these over my pants rather than that skirt you lent me? Or will the hotel turn me away for being a blasphemous heathen?”
“I don’t suppose they would,” Evelyn considered seriously. “But you will get even more glares than you already have because it is much more akin to traditional Egyptian clothing. Not that I mind. I find your antics to be fairly amusing.” Hermione gave the robe actual consideration. What was merely a tool to observe the boy loitering at the other end of stall was actually growing on her. Hermione took off her leather coat and passed it to Evelyn and pulled on the traditional Egyptian Robe. It was a dusty red. She quite liked it.
“What do you think?” Hermione did a silly twirl.
“I actually like it,” Evelyn smiled.
“I do too,” Hermione said seriously. She saw the boy take a glance at her as well before he saw her looking back and placed the figurine he was previously examining down quickly and picking another up. Hermione paid the vendor before putting on her leather coat back over her new robe.
“Well, Evelyn; I’d best be going. Arabic lessons tomorrow?”
“I thought we were going to go to my apartment to study today?” Evelyn said a little disappointed.
“Could we do it tomorrow? I forgot about something important I need to take care of.”
“Of course. I will see you tomorrow,” Evelyn sighed.
“I’ll bring a treat to make up for it,” Hermione promised Evelyn with a hug before walking off at a brisque space. It was so quick and abrupt that Ardeth only barely managed to chase after her. Evelyn thought it was strange that the boy ran off the minute that Hermione did, but didn’t think anything more of it. Maybe he just had a liking for Hermione or wanted to ask her something. He had hardly seemed dangerous. Miss Evans was walking so fast and taking so many turns Ardeth could only barely keep track of her. He only just managed to follow her into the building she eventually entered, but immediately froze in shock at what he had walked into. It was…a brothel. Ardeth froze in terror. Barely dressed women were everywhere, there was no sign of Miss Evans, and several women were already approaching him.
“First time, habib? Don’t worry. We don’t bite… unless you like that.” Ardeth gulped and jumped as one of the women stroked his arm.
“We will make you feel really nice, habib.” Ardeth panicked… and he turned tail and ran. Ran until he saw somewhere he recognized and made his way back to the museum. He was absolutely embarrassed and ashamed to have failed so quickly. And, Ardeth had absolutely no idea where Miss Evans had even gone! Had he walked through the wrong door? Did he lose her at some point? Ardeth didn’t think so, but she wasn’t in there; and since he had run away and couldn’t remember where he had been… it was a mute point. Now he HAD to go back to his Father and Uncle and admit to his failure.
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Hermione was absolutely hysterical with laughter. Let him go back and tell DOCTOR Terrence Bay where Hermione had been. Merlin, that was a stroke of brilliance on her part! Though, she hadn’t planned on giving the poor boy a panic attack. He looked absolutely stricken from what Hermione could see from her hiding place in an alcove just inside the door. And when the women had come forward, he made like a banana and split.
Hermione disillusioned herself in case he had decided to wait outside for her, but she saw no sign of him. Still, she remained hidden until she reached Magical Cairo.
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“You RAN!” Terrence screeched. “From a group of women! What were they, demons?”
“Terrance!” Adham chastised. “Why don’t you go back to your work, and let me deal with this.”
“But Adham! This is absolutely ludicrous….”
“As I recalled, Terrance,” Adham interrupted sternly. “I am the chief, not you. And you will go and allow me to speak alone with MY son.”
“Of course,” Terrence said tightly before marching off muttering angrily. Adham stood up and closed the door behind him to give them a semblance of privacy. Ardeth was thoroughly cowed and had his head down in shame.
“I am sorry, my son.”
“I deserve it. I failed.”
“And you will fail many more times in your life,” Adham reasoned. “And as for Terrance…” he snorted. “Terrance conveniently forgets that it was he who thought it would be a grand idea to ride two camels at once and vaulted head first into your Grandfather’s tent during an important council when they suddenly stopped.” Ardeth’s mouth twitched slightly. “So, you really ran away?” Ardeth sighed and nodded. Adham began laughing.
“It isn’t funny, Father!” Adham began laughing even harder.
“I wonder if Miss Evans knew you were following her,” he chuckled. “Considering how she treats your Uncle, I can just imagine her doing it just so you would have to report back to him about it.” Adham clapped his son on the shoulder. “I really am sorry. We shouldn’t have thrown you head first into your first task without proper training. Miss Evans is definitely not ordinary and I and Terrance clearly underestimated her. It is my fault. Not yours.” Ardeth didn’t feel that way. It was a thoroughly humbling experience. “However, I do reserve the right as your Father to never let you forget this experience. You will NEVER hear the end of it.”
“You’re going to tell, Mother, aren’t you?” Ardeth sighed.
“And you know that your mother will tease you in front of anyone and everyone.” Ardeth looked at him in horror.
“Laknah is going to make me miserable!” Ardeth groaned and put his head down in his hands. Adham continued to laugh and clapped him one last time on the back.
“You will be fine. You haven’t nearly made enough mistakes in life. It was merely your turn, Ardeth. Let’s head back to the village. We need to recruit one of the more seasoned warriors to follow Miss Evans around. Hopefully, they will have more luck.” Ardeth followed after his Father to prepare for the journey.
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“These are delicious, Hermione. Please cancel on me more often.” Evelyn was absolutely in love with the blueberry and chocolate croissants that Hermione had presented to Evelyn upon entering her abode.
“I’m glad they turned out well,” Hermione smiled. “I had to make two or three batches to get it right. For some reason the blueberries were making the dough too…gooey.”
“You made these?” Evelyn said with surprise. “That’s marvelous! I wish I could bake! It was never deemed proper by my Father.”
“Or he just didn’t want the house to be burned down,” Hermione teased.
“I wish I could be offended, but you’re probably right,” Evelyn returned quite seriously. Hermione was glad that she had Evelyn. If it weren’t for her, Hermione would be completely alone. Learning to bake, getting fat from said baking, and reading books nonstop with no one to discuss them with. Now that she thought of it, Hermione had been so caught up with learning Arabic from Evelyn that she hadn’t bought that cat.
“We should go shopping tomorrow.”
“Continuing to pursue your greatest passion?” Evelyn grinned.
“Sadly, no. I want to get a cat.” Evelyn surged forward with excitement.
“I know just where to go!” Several hours later they were walking through the back alleys of Cairo.
“We are going to get there before the sun falls tonight?” Hermione said a bit tiredly.
“Yes, yes!” Evelyn responded with frustration. “There is a place near the edge of town where the strays congregate, and I’m sure you would rather have one of them than pay some vendor an awful amount of money.”
“The money doesn’t bother me,” Hermione sighed. “But I do like the idea of homing a cat that nobody else wants.”
“I thought so,” Evelyn said triumphantly.
“I’d still like to get there before the sun falls and I have to knee the miserable, drunken slob who attempts to grope you.”
“We will get there soon! And why wouldn’t he be groping you?” Evelyn argued.
“Men don’t like me,” Hermione snorted. “Especially with your lovely self as an option.”
“Nonsense,” Evelyn said with a bright blush taking over her face. Hermione finally began to see a cat every now and then. They were entering an area with very large warehouses.
“Why are they here in particular?”
“The business owners around here occasionally feed them so they stick around to take care of the rats,” Evelyn explained. She pulled out her big bag and pulled out a small baggie with dried fish. The minute that Evelyn’s treats were lifted into full view, there were cats everywhere. She poured a small amount on the ground and the ground was swarming with cats rubbing up against their legs. “See any you like?” Hermione watched them carefully before she spotted an incredibly skinny cat staring at them from a distance. It was black and Hermione could see several injuries on it including a missing ear. Hermione took some food out of the bag and approached slowly, only stopping to sit on the ground when it looked like the cat was going to make a run for it. She waved off any other cat that tried to approach and they all left her alone when Evelyn poured some more food on the ground in front of her. It took several minutes of silent coaxing with food before Hermione was able to firmly grab the cat. It yowled and tried to escape, but the poor animal was so skinny that even with its sharp claws; it was no match for Hermione and her thick leather coat and gloves.
“Let’s go,” Hermione said with a satisfied smile. Evelyn extricated herself from the rest of them and they made the long trek back.
“I should have known you’d pick the most difficult one. It is a pitiful little thing.” Evelyn held out some food and Hermione was glad when it carefully took from her fingers.
“He has character,” Hermione said defensively. Memories of Ron and Crookshanks came to the surface. She should have seen the writing on the wall when he hated her cat so vehemently. Even after Crookshanks was the only reason they were able to root out Pettigrew, Ron had an unerring distaste for her beloved cat; and when Crookshanks had died, Ron had been less than sympathetic. He even had the audacity to mutter “good riddance” when he thought she wasn’t listening. Hermione had never wanted to kill someone more.
“Yes, of course he does,” Evelyn soothed. “And he certainly is the least likely to be picked up, so it’s a good thing that you adopted him. I’m not sure how long the poor thing would have survived if you hadn’t.” He did look sickly. It worried Hermione. But, she was a witch; and if anyone could make him better, it was her.
“I better take him home,” Hermione fussed. “But I’ll drop you off before I do. Could I have some more fish for him?” Evelyn passed Hermione what was left of the bag, and Hermione fussed over him. When Hermione was finished healing him back at home, the cat was purring in appreciation. He was still dreadfully skinny and dirty, but that was easily solved. Hermione decided it would be best to piss off the cat before food rather than after, but in a strange turn of events; the cat loved the water and purred harder than ever.
“I certainly did pick a unique and wonderful kitty, didn’t I?” Now that its eyes weren’t all gummed up with infection, Hermione could see a wonderfully bright pair of green eyes. “I’d think he would mind, so I think I’ll call you Harry. Plus, I think you are a better Harry to fall in love with.” Harry ate and drank voraciously and then fell asleep on Hermione’s bed when he was finished. Hermione smiled with happiness. A cat really was FAR better than a lover.