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Chapter 6: Kamau Kawar
El Jawf, Libya
The place, Indy thought, was fit for the man who lived here. If this guy owned El Jawf the way Leo said he did, he was entitled to the city's palace. Place was big enough to be a museum maze. The artefacts that lined the walls and decorated the room dated back to the third century AD. Beside him, Abner was also admiring the architecture.
They both looked up, though, when the doors to the balcony of the spiral staircase at the end of the room opened and a black Libyan man came in. He wore a clean, pressed suit and had a thick black beard. He was just adjusting his cufflinks as he entered.
'I'm sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen.' Although his English was accented, it was clear and fluent. 'I'm Kamau Kawar.' He looked down at them. 'You must be Professor Abner Ravenwood and Doctor Indiana Jones?'
'That's us,' Indy said.
As opposed to standing above them with assumed authority, Kamau turned and walked down the stairs. 'Yes, Leo told me you were coming. This is about the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra?'
'Yes, it is.' Abner nodded eagerly. 'Do you have it?'
'I may and I may not.' Kamau stepped down to their level and approached them. 'Please let me have you understand, now rather than later, that if I were in possession of such an artefact it would not go to just anyone.'
Abner raised his chin. 'We are not just anyone. It will go into a museum.'
Kamau frowned. 'After you're done with it?'
Indy winced in sympathy for Abner. This guy wasn't an idiot. He knew Abner collected the relics of Tanis. And, clearly, he wasn't going to let the headpiece go as long as he believed that they would want it for their own personal gain.
'How about this?' Indy suggested. 'We have a few meetings and see if we can come to an agreement?'
Kamau looked at him and nodded once. 'That sounds good to me.'
Indy smiled and turned. It was time they left. Before he and Abner could cross much distance, though, the front door opened and a Libyan girl in her mid-twenties stepped in. Her burga was down and her braided hair was bound behind her head in a ponytail. She briefly smiled at them in courtesy and crossed the floor to Kamau.
'Baba,' she said. 'I've got some bad news for you.' Kamau was her father, so she was obviously only speaking English to be polite to Abner and Indy.
'Do I need to hear it?' Kamau asked.
'Yes,' the daughter said. 'There's a rumour going around that the Shiyan have infiltrated El Jawf.'
'The Shiyan?' Indy asked. 'Isn't that a gang of harem dealers?'
'Yes.' The daughter turned around. 'They kidnap and sell young girls. And, if the buyer wants them broken in, they'll even rape them.'
Kamau looked at them. 'You have a seventeen year old girl with you, do you not?'
'We better keep a closer eye on her,' Indy said.
'Adeola, go up and tell your mother,' Kamau told the girl.
Adeola nodded and ran up the stairs.
Kamau smiled. 'I'll see you gentlemen tomorrow.' He followed his daughter upstairs.
Indy led Abner out of the ancient building.
~NQM~
Marion walked through the market, looking over rugs. She wanted one for when she came here next time, hopefully with money. She'd seen Adeola earlier that day and the eldest Holy Child had told her to be on the lookout for the Shiyan. Marion wasn't worried. One, maybe two days and the Kawars would have those bastards running for their mommies.
Kamau's experience in that sort of thing was exactly why Adeola was a Holy Child in the first place. The guy had been fighting tyrants for years and he hadn't let a single thing like that back in town since he'd beaten the first guy. These Shiyan idiots didn't know what they were getting themselves into.
Marion turned her head and noticed the stalls were being shut. She looked around. She hadn't realised it was that late. Knowing it better to head back, Marion started walking. She wasn't sure what the odds of running into these guys were but, all the same, her hand went under her skirts to her sword. Wrapping her fingers around the hilt, she felt safer.
Marion was coming to the outer rim of the city, closer to camp, when she felt a chill run down her spine. She stopped and turned. Slowly, five men began stepping out of the shadows. They were tall, dirty-looking Arabs with various kinds of blades.
Marion steadied herself. 'The Shiyan, I presume?'
One of them barked at her in Arabic. It was something about not being permitted to speak. After all they'd done to women, they thought she was just going to take that? Marion rolled her eyes at him and drew out le Sabre de Beaumont. It was dark enough that the metal glinted only in the moonlight.
The men sniggered amongst themselves. They commented to each other. Marion understood the mocking enough to know they didn't think she knew how to use it. Marion pulled her focus in, concentrating on all the fear and pain their victims must've felt at their hands, before she began.
'Have mercy upon me, O Lord, I am consumed with grief
My bones are vexed, deliver my Soul
Put them in fear, O Lord
That the nations may know themselves to be but men
In the beginning was the word, deliver my soul
The Lord brings my Soul out of trouble
He cuts off mine enemies and destroys all those that afflict my Soul
In the name of that truth and loyalty, I shall take my vengeance.'
