Sorry I've been updating so slowly. Inspiration just seems to have slowed for some reason. I've already started working on Ch. 22, so I think I'll be able to get it done in a few days. 'Think' being the keyword. So, yeah. Enjoy. And sorry my chapters are so short. I've been trying to add more description, but thats never been one of my strong points.
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Egypt. So different since my time here, yet it still had a homey feel to it. The scenery was unchanging: sand as far as the eye could see. I spotted the occasional oasis as I lugged the humans across the desert. I purposely flew at cloud-level, where it was nice and cold. I hoped the silk worm(1) and the two unworthy primates on my back froze. I made sure to keep Kitty's seat fairly warm.
But that wasn't the only reason I was flying so high.
Back in Alexandria, where I'd left my rude hieroglyphic message I'd noticed some slimy little imps watching and following us. As I transformed in the extremely small alley Kitty had found, I'd made sure to squash most of them. One may have escaped, so I was just being thorough. And a little mean because I was feeling rather irritated.
"Hey, Barty?" Kitty called.
"What?"
"How much longer until we reach the pyramid?"
"A few hours, unless we go faster."
"Then go faster!"
"It will get colder." I tried not to sound too hopeful.
"It isn't so bad. Go ahead."
Dedopulos and my very young and inexperienced master would most likely have protested, if they weren't already frozen solid. So, I accelerated slightly more than necessary. It occurred to me that I could probably let the little twerp freeze to death, and then I would be free. But then I thought of how disappointed Kitty would be. Not to mention she'd fall to her death when I disappeared.
As I descended slightly, I silently brooded about the fact that I seemed to be getting soft.
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About ten minutes before we arrived at our destination, I felt some unpleasant prickling on my tail. The prickling slowly crept forward, soon becoming a sharp pain. I whipped my head around, smoke blowing out of my nostrils.
Thousands of little mites were following behind, boarding the dragon by the handful. This caused some problems in balance, which resulted in problems flying. Thanks to my refrigerated passengers, I couldn't just whip my tail about until I knocked the little pests off.
"Is something wrong?" Kitty asked.
"Maybe. Look behind you."(2)
I didn't hear what Kitty said next. I was too busy trying to steer with the extra weight.
I was able to stay in the air until the little creatures started eating away at my tail, making it shorter. I suddenly thought of the movie known simply as The Mummy. The mites were like those scarabs. Only there were twice as many as them.
One Chinese dragon, one screaming human, two frozen humans, and a silk worm plummeted to Earth, followed by a mixture of silver essence and buzzing little insects.
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Now, sand is soft. But when you hit it at about ninety miles an hour, it feels as hard as rock. I managed to slow us down some by sprouting a pair of wings in time. Unfourtuntly, the mites managed to eat away enough of one wing that it became useless, and the other snapped under all the weight.
Being the abused servant that I am, I provided a sort of scaly cushion for my passengers. At this point all I could throw up was a Shield full of little wobbly bits. It wouldn't have provided a very effective defense, so it's a good thing the mites decided to fly off. With a sigh, I shrank down to Ptolemy's smaller form . . .
. . . and was nearly crushed to death by the idiots laying of top of me. I groaned and shoved them off. Kitty I was more careful with. I swear it was instinctive. I really was going soft.
"Are you okay?" Kitty asked, rubbing sand out of her eyes and shaking it out of her ears. The stuff was swirling all around us. Anyone within 100 miles probably thought a really big sandstorm had kicked up all of a sudden.
"My back feels all chewed up." I wonder why? "Other than that, I'm peachy."
"Where are Viv and Roland?"
I waved a hand in the general direction I'd thrown them. "Somewhere over there. Leave them alone. They need to defrost."
With Kitty's help, I managed to sit up for a full five seconds. Those mites had chewed away quite a bit of my strength along with my essence. Kitty and me waited there for about an hour before the other two decided to make an appearance.
They slowly staggered towards us, coughing and wheezing, trying to dislodge the sand from their lungs. Dedopulos's hair was now just a bunch of clumps stuck together with sand, melted ice, and what appeared to be sweat. Disgusting. Vivian's hairdo wasn't anymore sanitary, and I thought I heard some angry mutters coming from its depths. Both of their clothes were ruined. Kitty looked rather out of place, being the only one that hadn't been chewed by mites, nor thrown several yards across the hot desert by an annoyed Egyptian boy.
"Hello over there," I called, waving rather weakly. Although I didn't feel as bad as I did after my prolonged enslavement under a certain magician, I still felt pretty bad. I just wanted to sleep . . .
"What happened?" Vivian asked between coughs.
"We were attacked by mites," Kitty answered. "Then we crashed."
"So," Dedopulos began, switching to Arrogant Jerk Mode. "The mighty Bartimaeus was defeated by mites."
"I didn't see you helping," Kitty snapped. "What about all those spirits you said you could summon with the wave of a hand?"
Kitty blinked and stared at me.
There was silence for several moments. I think everyone realized that I was the one who should have made that comment, but instead I was silent. Silent as the grave. Not a good omen. Normally, I would have been tempted to stuff the man's ugly grining face into the sand, and probably would have had Kitty not been there, but I just didn't care at the moment. That's when the humans' slow brains finally processed what had happened.
We were stranded in the desert without any food or water.
The Dragon Airlines were currently out of commission, so there was no transportation. (3)
Cairo was about four miles of scorpion, snake, and jackal infested desert away.
The sun was setting.
We were in really big trouble. The kind of trouble that makes rulers abandon their countries. The kind of trouble that causes even the most respectable magician to break down and weep. The kind of trouble that . . . well, you get the point. Big trouble.
And if the scimitar-wielding guys on the camels and horses were more than a mirage created by my rather worn out mind, then we were in the kind of trouble that had resulted in the sinking of Atlantis.(4)
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1. Yeah, that's right. I knew about the afrit Vivian had summoned. And she thought she was so clever, hiding him in her hair. As if I, Bartimaeus, could be fooled so easily.
2. "Yeah, we're all going to die. Sorry Kitty," was actually what I wanted to say, but I saw no need to worry her. Her poor, old heart might not be able to handle it. . . don't tell her I said that.
3. Dear Vivian probably wouldn't reveal the afrit unless she absolutely needed to.
4. The humans were on their own, because I chose that moment to start a very long, restive nap, from which I may not awaken. At least I wouldn't feel any pain.