Read Online Anubis Nights by Gary Jonas - Free Book Online Page A

and finally turned his gaze to Aye. “Are they from Amun? Or are they magicians?”
    “I will find out,” Aye said. Aye faced me. “If you are from Amun, this will not harm you. If you are pretenders or enemies, you will not fare so well.”
    He held his hands up toward me, palms out, and I saw light dancing from finger to finger. So old Aye was a wizard. Vizier sounded a bit like wizard, so maybe the word came from ancient Egypt like damn near everything else. I stepped toward him, grabbed his hands, and placed them on my chest.
    “Do your best,” I said.
    He channeled as much energy as he could draw and hit me with his best shot. I knew his magic was strong, but I just stood there, staring at him.
    “Let me know when you’re finished,” I said.
    Aye nodded. He turned to Tut. “If he was anything but a god, he should be dead right now. The woman took an arrow to the heart and still stands.”
    “Is the woman your servant or your wife?” Tut asked me.
    “My wife,” I said because I didn’t want Kelly to have to play like she was a servant. She might hurt me. Then again, she might hurt me for claiming her as my wife, but I suspected it wouldn’t be as bad.
    “What brings you to Thebes?”
    “We are hunting an enemy of Egypt.”
    Tut nodded. “We will arrange a residence for you at the Royal Palace. You will join me and my queen, Ankhesenamun, for a feast this evening. Should you require assistance in your hunt, I shall assign General Horemheb to accompany you.”
    “Your hospitality is both welcome and appreciated.”
    My Egyptian geography wasn’t the best, but I knew that Thebes was the present-day city of Luxor, and that was a good four hundred miles from the Great Pyramid. So much for being close. Either Chronos had really bad aim or time travel to particular locations was even worse than he thought.
    As they led us away, I whispered, “We get to have dinner with King Tut.”
    “So?” Kelly said.
    “So isn’t that cool?”
    She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a dork.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    JONATHAN SHADE
     
    Aye led us into the Royal Palace. The compound was surrounded by a tall enclosure wall with an entrance at the north end. We moved into the courtyard, which had symmetrical arrangements of blue pools; green shrubs; palm trees; and a massive, colorful garden among them. It appeared the pools irrigated the garden. Beyond that, I saw a roofed but open colonnade with places for people to sit and while away the afternoon in the shade. A single palm tree comprised each column. We passed through that area into an adobe building that had private walled-off rooms. The walls were all painted with beautiful scenes with the standard Egyptian-style art and bright color that sang. I’d been expecting a sea of beige but was granted an explosive barrage of vibrant color and bright, vivid images of paradise.
    “Wow,” I said. “This is beautiful.”
    Kelly nodded and whispered, “The museums don’t do this place justice.”
    “This will be your residence during your stay,” Aye said and showed us into the room.
    The bedroom was smaller than I expected and had a raised alcove at the far end with a little bed, built with a wooden frame resting on legs and twine lashings for a mattress. There were linens spread over it and odd-looking headrests at the top. They looked like little stands with curved arms. I wasn’t about to use one of those things. They looked about as comfortable as a hangman’s noose. Above the bed near the ceiling was a small window with thatched wood instead of a glass pane. I guess Egyptians didn’t look out the windows and had them for ventilation only.
    Adobe benches lined the rest of the room, and oil lamps stood in niches in the walls. More murals adorned the walls, and I made a note to see about getting some Egyptian art when I got home. It was too cool, and again, the colors were brilliant.
    Kelly sat on the bed, remaining silent.
    I glanced