I found out today that there is no good resource for translating English into Egyptian. The closest thing is to translate it into a form of Arabic that is spoken by most modern Egyptians, but that doesn't really work in this setting. Makes coming up with names a bit on the limiting side. Oh well.

Chapter 6: Pursuit

"I can't believe your stupidity! You just let them run off with the time machine like it was no big deal!"

"Are you seriously complaining that I saved your life?" Sly looked at the skunk in disbelief as he tossed the rest of his supplies onto his camel. The sun had risen once more on the town of Hebbu and they wanted to waste no time in hunting down the sand cats. Thankfully, they still had enough supplies to last them a good while longer. "Besides, I thought you were ready to pawn the thing off. Why do you care what happens to it?"

Le Paradox looked away. "That…might have been a slight error in judgement. A few more days at it, and I might have gotten somewhere."

Sly rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you've decided to rethink this now that you almost died. Again. What, does living in ancient Egypt not sound so nice anymore?" He didn't respond. Once again, it seemed that the skunk's ego had overwritten his rational thought. And once again, it had nearly cost him everything.

And the chances of him learning something from this? Exactly 0%

"Wait! Are you two leaving already?" Sly and Le Paradox both ceased their packing and turned to the person now running towards them. It was the fennec fox girl that ran the inn.

"Yeah, sorry we didn't tell you," Sly said. "We won't be needing those other two nights, Miss…"

"Neema," she said. "Don't worry about it. Just let me refund you." He wasn't about to say no. They needed all the help they could get right now.

Neema dug through her pockets for a moment, then deposited a small sum of gold coins into Sly's waiting paws. "Thank you. This will come in handy."

"Are we about ready yet?" Le Paradox asked rudely, having lost interest in the innkeeper and going back to his packing. His camel was all set to ride now.

"Almost," Sly said, coming up behind him. "Just one more thing." He swung his cane sharply into the skunk's backside. Le Paradox was launched into the air with a yelp, where Sly grabbed him with the cane again and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out instantly. His patented sneak attack worked as well as ever.

"What are you doing?!" Neema gasped.

Sly realized he had forgotten about her, but he wouldn't be swayed as he started tying the skunk up. "Taking precautions. This guy tried to kill me three times in two days. I'm done taking chances with him."

"But aren't you friends? Or at least…partners?"

Sly finished tying Le Paradox up, confiscated his rapier again, and tossed him unceremoniously onto his camel. The beast would be able to carry him on its own just fine as long as he kept an eye on it. "Not even close. We're just the shared victims of bad luck, and I'm pretty sure I got it a lot worse."

"Oh…" Neema said, not really sure how to respond. Avoiding his gaze, her eyes started to wander over the duo's things, where she noticed something off. "Hey, weren't you carrying a big brown sack when you came in?"

Sly flinched. As if he needed to be reminded of that. "Case in point. This jerk lost it on us." He pointed a thumb at the unconscious Le Paradox. "It got stolen by a bunch of sand cats and now we're trying to get it back."

"S-Sand cats?" Neema asked nervously, which Sly was quick to pick up on.

"You know of them?"

Neema hesitated for a moment, as if afraid to speak, but answered anyway. "They've been plaguing this region for some time now, preying on travelers that come to and from Hebbu. They call themselves the 'Sisterhood of the Sand'."

"Sisterhood? So they really are all women then? Sounds like a band of thieves I can get behind," Sly chuckled to himself. "I don't suppose you know where they hang out?"

"You don't even know where you're going? How exactly were you planning to find them?"

Sly rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I assumed their hideout was around here somewhere, so we were just going to...look out for them...ask around..." I'm REALLY not good at being the plan guy.

Neema ran a paw down her face. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Was it that obvious?" Sly sighed. No use hiding it now.

"Extremely,"

"Right...so any idea where this Sisterhood might be?"

"I've seen them come in and out of town a few times, and it was usually from the West. Maybe that's where their hideout is."

"From the West? That's not a lot to go on."

"More than you had before," she smirked. Good point.

"Anyway, thanks for the rooms, and the help. We should be going."

Sly turned to head to his camel, but Neema grabbed him by the wrist to stop him. "Look, I don't know who you guys are, but clearly you need some help getting around. I can come along with you if you want."

"No way," Sly said firmly. "It's too dangerous. Besides, don't you have an inn to run?"

She shrugged. "It gets boring managing that stuffy inn all day and night. I could use a little more danger, Ring Tail."

The nickname she had chosen for the stranger slipped out before she could stop herself. She would've apologized for the slip-up right then and there if not for the profound effect it seemed to have on him. His eyes widened to the size of saucers and he froze in shock. She looked at him curiously, wondering what was going on.

What she couldn't have known was that this particular nickname was one that he was already familiar with. That, combined with her species, had struck Sly with a powerful reminder of what he had lost.

Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox. She had been trying to track him down for as long as he could remember. Despite their differences, the two of them had always had feelings for each other, but their time to act on them was exceedingly brief. And right when they were about to patch things up again, this had to happen to him. What was she doing right now? Was she still looking for him...or had she already moved on?

"Hello? Hello!"

Sly snapped back to reality at the concerned cries of the fennec fox. This was not Carmelita. She wasn't even a distant ancestor. And this was not the kind of distraction he needed right now. "Please...don't call me that."

Neema jumped a little, surprised by his sudden response. "O-Okay...so what should I call you then?"

Sly thought it over for a moment. At this point, he might as well just accept the name this land seemed to have decided for him. "Just call me Slytunkhamen Cooper."

Needless to say, Le Paradox was not happy when he woke up. They were well out of town by the time that happened, so Sly was more than ready for it. "Hey, you're up. Did you have a nice sleep?" he asked as cheerfully as possible.

Le Paradox immediately started screaming his head off on the camel behind him, which Sly found immensely amusing. Given the circumstances, he was fine taking the front now.

"You really shouldn't rile him up like that," Neema said, shaking her head in disapproval. Yes, she was coming along. It only took a few moments of pleading puppy-dog eyes to accomplish it too. Sly pegged it on her resemblance to Carmelita to retain his dignity, which wasn't easy since she happened to be sharing his camel and sitting directly behind him.

"I can't help it. He's just too easy," Sly replied, laughing.

Neema frowned and looked back at Le Paradox, who seemed to not notice her at all. Her nose twitched and she whispered to Sly, a pointless gesture as the skunk never would have heard her over his own screaming. "Why does he smell so bad?"

"He just does. You'll get used to it." Sly paused at his own words. Had he gotten used to it? Come to think of it, he had been pretty much nose-blind to the skunk's odor for a while now. He couldn't distinctly remember smelling it since their first trek through the desert. If there was any indication that he had spent far too much time around Le Paradox, that was it.

"So what else do you know about this Sisterhood?" he asked, wanting to get off the subject of Le Paradox.

"Not much, I'm afraid. I already told you everything I know...well, almost..."

"Almost?"

"It's nothing really. Just a rumor I heard."

"Please, anything would help," Sly insisted.

She bit her lip. "Like I said, this is just a rumor, but I heard that they don't just steal for their own personal gain. They serve a god."

Complete silence. Sly's mouth hung open, at a complete loss of what to say to that. Even Le Paradox had ceased his ranting and raving to stare at her.

"I said it was just a rumor!" Neema crossed her arms and turned away, embarrassed.

"I didn't know ancient Egpytian gods were into thievery," Sly said dryly, taking this just as seriously as he sounded.

"What do you mean 'ancient' Egyptian?" Neema asked, confused.

Sly ignored her and looked back at the desert. "I don't care if these guys are picking pockets for Osiris. They have what's ours, and we're going to get it back. No matter what."

There was a long moment of silence again, eventually broken by Le Paradox.

"Wait, what's she doing here?"