Page 74 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“Oh, him.”She made a face.“Are you sure you wish to go there?Most people avoid that section of the fields.”
“Fields?”I asked, putting my hand on Yrian’s and giving it a supportive squeeze.
“Yes, since Bael did not pass Maat’s test, he has to remain in the Duat, and all who reside here must work.Lord Osiris made it a rule many years ago.He said he was tired of freeloaders.Bael was assigned to labor in one of the fields.”She grinned at us in the rearview mirror.“I chose to drive tourists and pilgrims.It’s so much better than slaving away in wheat and barley fields.”
“Oh, you’re here because you ...er ...”I stopped, mentally swearing at my foot-in-mouth gaffe.
“Yup.I was a thief before I died.A really good thief, mind you, which angered many a pharaoh, so when one finally caught me, I was put to death.Maat didn’t like the deaths that followed my thefts, and held me to blame for them, when it was really just the pharaohs having meltdowns, but it is what it is.I’m Neferu, by the way.”
I introduced Yrian and myself, and with a feeling that the more information we had, the better we’d be able to tackle Bael, I asked, “Do you know Asfet, by any chance?”
“Nope.I try to stay clear of the troublemakers, if you know what I mean.You guys aren’t going to stay here?You’re tourists?”
“Not staying, no,” I answered, my gaze on Yrian.He continued to look annoyed.
“Here’s my card.”Neferu stopped for a small herd of goats attended by two young girls in sparkly princess costumes as they crossed the road, twisting in her seat to pass me a business card.“Call me if you need a ride.I’m happy to take you wherever you need to go in the Duat.”
I ignored the anachronism of modernity in the Egyptian underworld, and accepted it, murmuring my thanks.
“What’s wrong?Why do you look so pissed?”I whispered to Yrian as we drove along dirt roads, heading roughly south.On the left, distant fields of varying shades of gold indicated fields of wheat and rye, while on the right, the vegetation petered out to nothing, with large sandy outcroppings of rock casting shadows on villages made up of dusty, flat-topped clay domiciles.
In direct contrast to what appeared to be Egypt from a few millennia ago, a handful of cars, golf carts, and motor scooters dotted the homes.I was heartened to see that the dogs and cats roaming around all looked well fed and healthy, as did the goats that occasionally popped up out of nowhere and bleated at us as we passed.
“I’m thinking about Asfet and how I will destroy Kashi if she has lent him her power,” he answered, his eyes glittering brightly, but with a light that left me almost shivering with cold.
“I didn’t know gods could lend their power.Is she that dangerous that she could make a difference with Bael?”I asked, my gut turning at the idea of so many problems lining up, just to deal with one heinous brother.
“Power can be lent, yes.The mark the First Dragon placed upon your brow to help you make my glamour was an example of that.”He put his hand on mine when I started absently stroking his thigh.He shot a fast look at Neferu before saying quietly, “If you continue to torment me that way, I will have no choice but to take you right here in the car.”
“I am so not into exhibitionism,” I whispered back, but retrieved my hand.“Besides, I was trying to comfort you in a time of stress, not turn you on.”
He cocked one eyebrow at me.
“All right,” I admitted, glaring at the eyebrow.“I may have enjoyed stroking your leg a little too much, but that’s a good thing!”
“It is right and proper you should want to arouse me, and although I would normally acquiesce to your demands, you are not safe until I destroy Kashi,” he said in what I was coming to think of as his instructing tone.He said it with so much gravitas that it just made me want to laugh.I didn’t, of course.I wouldn’t hurt his feelings for the world, so instead I schooled my expression into one of regret, and kept my hands to myself.“As for Asfet ...I don’t believe she would be so foolish as to give power, even temporarily, to Kashi.It is on him we must remain focused.”
We spent a little while discussing what he would say when we found Bael.Most of his initial suggestions were profane at best, but after he worked that out of his system—and had a break wherein we watched three cat videos in order to calm him down—he settled on a basic plan.
“He should not recognize you as an artificer, since your glamour is strong enough to avoid detection,” he said, pulling me up against his side.“Regardless, I will not allow Kashi to harm you.”
“I’m not worried in the least about that,” I lied.Iwasworried, but not about Yrian’s ability to keep me safe.It was more the unexpected that had me anxious.What if Asfet threw in her lot with Bael?What if Xavier had fetched other items of power for him, not just the dragon shard?What if Bael lost his shit at his older brother coming around to squash him into a powerless puddle of goo?There were so many worries swirling around in my head, mixing up with all the emotions that rose whenever Yrian was near me.
“He has a mage sword, one made of light that was given to my youngest brother,” he said meditatively, his fingers now absently stroking mine.“I wish to retrieve it.”
“For Baltic?”I asked, a bit confused why dragons would want a mage sword.“He can’t use it, can he?”
“All Firstborn have some degree of affinity with arcany,” he said, looking out of the window again.Neferu had slowed down due to the kids playing soccer in the street as we approached the outskirts of another small village, deftly avoiding hitting the kids, or the dogs that ran around with them.On our left, the land opened up into a vast, flat plain with the glint of water shimmering beyond it.“STOP!”
Neferu slammed on the brakes, exclaiming at the same time as I clutched the arm Yrian had shoved in front of me.“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”I asked Yrian.Instead of answering, he leaped out of the car and ran back along the road about fifty feet, heading for a cluster of three clay buildings.
Neferu turned around to look back.“What bee got up his butt?”
“No idea, but just in case it’s one of the several baddies who are evidently lining up in wait for us, I’d better check.”I hopped out after Yrian, the kids in the street chasing after us.Yrian paused at a small sign that I had missed while perusing the fields, then hurried around to the rear of the building.
“Oh lord,” I said as I trotted up to the sign.I sighed, ignored the children as they clamored around me, asking in English who we were, if Yrian was a dragon, because he looked like a dragon, and one of them—Hama—loved dragons, although the ones she liked were proper dragons, not a dragon who looked like a man.“Yes, he’s a dragon, and no, he doesn’t have wings if that was what you were going to ask next, and I suspect it was.Right.Let me go stop what is potentially a disaster in the making.”
