The plane journey was a unique experience for Cedric. The slight rocking as well as the other passengers so close to him make it difficult to sleep, it had been 3 hours since he lifted off from Heathrow. He paid for a relatively good ticket: a seat by the window, extra legroom, and an inflight meal. But it was still tiresome, the sleeping person to his right was spilling over into his seat slightly, the rigid arm rest between them was pressed against their large frame tightly, separating their belly and chest.
The Stewardess leant over his resting neighbour to pass him his dinner for the journey. A stodgy porridge looking mixture of meat and sauce that was described as a curry. When he took a spoonful, the sticky texture of the thick slime stuck to the roof of his mouth. It's taste was of that of dog food. The almost jelly like wobble the pile made as Cedric poked it with his spoon made him lose his appetite for a while.
Going back to a book he picked up from a shop at the airport, he reclined his chair back into the knees of the man to his rear. 'A Short History of Ancient Egypt' was written recently by some muggle, and "provided new facts about the historic civilisation in a simple to read format. Perfect for for both experts, and beginners in the worldwide obsession of Egyptology." Or so it said on the blurb. Some rubbish it seemed to be though, downplaying the idea of Egyptians in that period had dark skin. Even suggesting that it had Hellenistic roots even earlier than previously thought.
Some other budding historian saw Cedric picking up the book at the shop and gave an impromptu lecture on not only Ancient Egyptian history, but also the pros and cons of using that book as a starting platform. Cedric didn't take much heed though, if he was really interested in a purely unbiased view he'd ask an actual Egyptian historian, not some posh Englishman looking to travel the world. He then admitted the slight hypocrisy of complaining about something he himself was doing, and tried falling asleep.
After landing at Cairo International Airport, and taking a short taxi ride to his hotel. Cedric pored over the notes he'd made, planning the entire holiday. First he would sightsee in Cairo's city-centre, before trying some local cuisine at some cafés. Then from the second day onwards taking trips out to see Pyramids, tombs, dig-sites and more. The final days would then be more city exploration, and trying to find some sort of magical settlement here.
Cedric had heard a few years ago that the Middle East and North Africa didn't have a particularly large wizarding population, due to persecution a couple hundred years ago. But there had to be some here. Gringotts was always curse breaking here, he'd seen it in The Prophet for months.
When he tried asking reception for some information on local markets, he'd learnt that one happened to he today. So after changing clothes, Cedric headed out enjoying the heat of the mid afternoon sun. His baggy, cream and khaki coloured outfit kept him cool enough. Lucky that his father had handed some down to him from when he used to adventure similarly in his youth. Only Cedric definitely was not searching for magical creatures.
Thinking of clothes, he knew he needed more desperately, his light, half filled suitcase only had a couple more tops left before he'd have to start repeating. With the dry heat of the desert, sweaty clothes were definitely not able to be worn twice. He started towards the centre of town, the atmosphere growing louder each step he took towards it.
The street stalls were a vibrant clash of all different colours, some bright angry looking spices were held in huge pots under a large green canopy. Fabrics of every shade and pattern imaginable were displayed boastfully by a group of older woman, trying to tempt each passerby. Dried fish and meats were filling the air with a salty scent of a delicatessen, livestock too were being led through the narrow path in the middle.
The stall closest held a big collection of deserts, Turkish Delight, Compotes, Baklavas and more. The white confectioners sugar gave the air surrounding it a light mist that tasted sweet to the tongue.
Before long Cedric had managed to meander into a smaller side street and found a bar. The arched entranceway was without a door, only a beaded curtain. As he passed through, every patron turned to face him. Their looks a mix of distrust, distaste, and desire. Cedric walked towards the bartender, who too was eyeing him up warily.
"I'll get whatever's popular." He said trying to not stand out too much.
"What are you doing here kid?" The bearded older man responded. "You looking to get yourself beat up?"
"Just get me a drink." Cedric retorted snappishly. What was with these people, he swore he was only a few minutes from the market. Sure the inside of the bar looked kinda seedy but so did most of the pubs he'd been to.
"200 pound." He snapped, pushing a luke warm bottle of beer to him.
"200? That's outrageous!" Cedric cried. That was enough for 5 drinks let alone one.
"Fine. 150. Go away." The barman finally said, turning away after snatching a few notes from Cedric's hand.
Cedric went to go sit in a booth in the corner, opposite a small pool table and shisha pipe. A group of smartly dressed men were sat fairly close by. He managed to overhear most of their conversation as they spoke in English.
"We go tonight. The riches are attracting the wrong sort of historians let's say, and the competition is starting to heat up. The Professor would be disappointed in me, or us I mean, if we did not get to it first." One man said in an Eastern European accent.
"Fine but take precautions, two men die last trip. Police watching for us now" a different man responded, his English more broken. His accent Mediterranean.
"Whatever, but when we find the notes we can't open them. He left us strict instructions for that. I don't know what they contain but, I'm sure it's some curse!" Yet another man said, his accent British.
"Keep your voice down," the first said icily. "And quit being superstitious. If we read it and it's nothing interesting then why bother telling him. If we find that what he's paying us is a little less than we deserve, then we hold it ransom. I'm sure it's only some boring old rubbish from an explorer anyway, what kind of historian searches old dig-sites but not the tombs itself."
"His interest in what we find doesn't bother me, what bothers me is what we're doing is illegal." The Brit said. From then on they began whispering much quieter and Cedric couldn't catch what they were saying.
It seemed though that they were trying to find something for some historian who doesn't want to do it himself. Cedric fancied himself a bit of a roguish type, like a bad boy explorer. So he though why not follow them and see what they discover.
Cedric stalked his prey like a lioness watching antelope. Poor ignorant men don't know anything about magic, wizards, or their superior surveillance techniques. That's why he was walking around 100m behind them, using a modified Sonorus to listen in on their small talk, as they made their way out of the city towards the desert.
Some ways out, after what must have been two hours of walking. They finally stopped. Some abandoned ramshackle buildings on the outside of a small excavated tomb. He'd read on the flight here that underground tombs were typically for less important people than pyramids were. So whatever they were finding it seemed like a peculiar place to search for it.
After a few more minutes, they set up spotlights that shone upon the desert. Illuminating the almost collapsing, thinly walled buildings they were poking around. Cedric began to approach cautiously, trying to minimise any sound he could be making as he got closer and closer to the small group inside the shack. He heard voices from inside.
"Search everywhere! It has to be here, I don't care if we have to tear down this whole place." Someone shouted to the grunts of acknowledgement from the others. Peeking through an open window Cedric looked inside. The four men there were throwing around sheets of paper, flimsy boxes, and rags. Examining each and every one. Whatever they were trying to discover, they obviously didn't know what it looked like.
While Cedric was spying on them, he realised he didn't really know what he wanted to do here. Sure he wanted to steal what they were looking for from right under their noses like the gentleman thief in those children's books he read a long time ago. But the method to get to that point was a blurry one.
Could he fight them? Yes. But it would be a four on one, and they would be a lot quicker with their fists than most wizards would without their wands. His other options were to stun them, or even worse really hurt them. The downsides would be that unless he revived them they'd just be stuck here to starve to death, or if they were found it would be blindingly obvious to both them, and the investigators that a wizard did it.
So a fist fight it was, with maybe only a teensy bit of magic.
Cedric fired a silent Impediment Jinx at the burly man closest to the door, whilst swinging his left fist at the second nearest.
"Shit! Who the fuck-" the third man was cut off.
"Flipendo." Cedric said quietly as his victim flew across the room and clattered into a ratty table.
Suddenly he felt someone grasp around his throat from behind, their forearms squeezing his windpipe shut. Trying to look upwards at his attacker, it was unfortunately the by far largest assailant. Kicking back his leg into his shin did nothing. Cedric's body began to fumble beneath him, as he bit as hard as he could into the flesh of the thick hairy hand clutching his neck.
The attacker flinched, and Cedric spun quickly to face him. The brutish man tried to strike him across the chest with a small stool off the floor. But Cedric dodged quickly, stepping back and away from him.
"Come here and let me kill you." Whoever this was was certainly not one of them at the bar. His voice dripped with venom as he charged forward, pinning Cedric to a corner.
"Glacia Verum!" Cedric shouted quickly in a panic. A long spear of ice shot out of wand and through the chest of the assaulter. Killing him in an instant.
"Oh fuck." Cedric said aloud, as the tall man fell to the floor in a thump. The shard of ice protruding from his chest, as thick as of Cedric's forearm.
"That is what I like to see." A gravelly voice said from the doorway.
Cedric span round to face them, wand out. It was not a human though, it was some kind of huge dog.
"Bury them in the sand." The creature said again, turning to leave.
"Who are you?" Cedric asked, giving chase.
"They call me Set." It spoke. In the artificial light outside the hut, Cedric could see the creature more clearly. It was much bigger than any dog he'd ever seen. Somewhere between a wolf and a horse. The grey skinned animal was impossibly underweight. It was as if it had been starved to death but forced to live. Set's ears looked wrong too. They were not unlike the pinned ears of a Doberman, but faced completely backwards. Set sat stiffly facing Cedric as if waiting for him to do something. He then remembered the command to bury those men.
"Some of them are still living." He said, scared slightly.
"Then kill." It said, not moving it's jaws. "They will speak of this to their master."
Cedric walked back into the small house. The three unconscious men lay there unaware of what fate they had in store for them. The corpse of the largest man was still where it collapsed. The icicle spear starting to melt and create a small puddle on the floor surrounding him. He couldn't do it, Cedric would not kill a defenceless person. No matter what becomes of him.
"You are weak." Set said as Cedric flinched. "I will do what I must."
As soon as he finished speaking, all of the bodies started crumbling into dust. Chunks of their faces falling off and smashing on the floor into piles of sand. Shocked, Cedric stepped backwards slowly. The clumps of sand were starting to fall through the floorboards, their clothes were all that was left. The only recognition that someone died here.
"What are you?" Cedric asked tentatively, this kind of power was far beyond him. Fay beyond any wizard he had ever seen.
"I am the desert. What do you search for?" Set asked, changing the subject as he began to leave once again.
"I was just following these men to see what they found." Cedric said embarrassed. What kind of grand quest was that? Curiosity was not some prideful boast.
"I will lead you. Follow." The creature began trotting away towards the south. Not asking if Cedric was going to follow. Not knowing where he was, he couldn't apparate back to the hotel. So he followed him into the night.
"We are here." Set said after hours of silence.
Where they were was a bit of a shock to Cedric. It was a huge pyramid, with a golden cap at it's peak. But everything surrounding them was endless desert, there were no signs of inhabitants anywhere. The grand tomb was overpowering in it's presence. Looming over them.
"Is it inside?" Cedric asked, going to turn to talk to his guide. But Set was gone. There was no sign at all he was even here, no paw prints or impressions in the sand.
"Well I guess I have to go in." He said to himself under his breath.
AN: Thanks for reading! If you liked it don't forget to leave a favourite. Review if you have anything you want me to read. Follow for more. 3