Chapter 210: Undercurrents, and... Professor?!
After lunch, the group split up to carry out their assigned tasks. Ethan and Cyril used specialized detection charms to scan for any large structures buried beneath the sand, whether lost pyramids or other ruins. The others had their own duties. Nadim was assigned to keep a general watch, while the remaining four split into pairs to guard Ethan and Cyril as they worked.
Ethan was accompanied by Isaac, Robert, and Mael. Cyril had only Noé with him.
The detection charm came from Shafiq family lore, specifically modified by their ancestors for the desert environment. It was designed to sense large, solid objects within a two-meter radius of the caster, down to a depth of fifty meters. It was perfectly suited for hunting lost pyramids.
The charm yielded a result almost immediately. Ethan's heart leaped. *Could it be?* He quickly took several steps to the side and cast the spell again. This time, the reading was clear. He circled the area where he'd gotten the initial reading, casting repeatedly. He concluded that whatever was buried was no more than two meters across.
*So much for that.* *False alarm.* Something was down there, but it wasn't very big. He dropped a brightly colored stone to mark the spot and moved on, continuing his search.
Ethan became a relentless spellcasting machine, stopping every three meters to cast the charm, dropping a marker stone when he found something, moving on when he didn't. Two hours later, he met up with Cyril, who had finished his own search grid.
"Nothing significant on my end," Ethan reported with a shrug. "No large targets."
"Same here," Cyril said. "Though I did find one object about ten meters across. Could be a small buried structure."
They wasted no time on the smaller finds and focused their attention on the largest anomaly. Working together, they used the Defodio Gouging Spell to excavate a pit, then Transfigured sections of the sandy walls into solid stone, reinforcing them with Hardening and Strengthening Charms to prevent a collapse.
"It's a tomb," Ethan declared once they had dug down a dozen meters and revealed the object they had sensed.
Cyril had little personal interest in grave robbing, but he could see the curiosity on the faces of the others. "If any of you are interested in seeing what's inside, feel free to dig it out," he told them. "But be careful. There may be curses or protective wards. Don't get yourselves hurt."
"Great! We'll be careful," Noé said, already itching to start.
"You lot get started. We'll take a short break." Cyril needed time to analyze the results of this location and further narrow down the remaining possibilities.
Inside the tent, Ethan watched as Cyril pulled out a device that was clearly Muggle-made and began fiddling with it.
"Is that a satellite positioning unit?"
"Yes. Muggles advance at an astonishing pace. To be able to pinpoint an exact location on the globe using various technologies... it's remarkable." Cyril sounded genuinely impressed. During his earlier trips to the desert, he had been forced to wander and dig almost at random, a process that was both inefficient and imprecise. Discovering this device a few years ago and procuring one had been a revelation. Now, with the clues he had gathered, he could mark fairly accurate coordinates on a map and use the device to navigate directly to his intended search area, eliminating the vast margins of error he had once dealt with.
He pulled out a local map marked with latitude and longitude, studying the series of red Xs that indicated locations he had already ruled out.
Remembering his observations on the flying carpet, Ethan cast Muffliato around them before speaking. "Grandfather, I noticed something strange on the carpet." He gave a detailed account of Isaac's disturbing behavior and the state of Nadim's soul.
"I see. Thank you for telling me. Act as if you've seen nothing, but stay vigilant. Try to avoid being alone with either of them." Cyril's face was grave as he nodded.
"Understood." Ethan dispelled the privacy charm and watched Cyril continue his work.
A short while later, startled shouts came from outside.
"What's going on?" Cyril asked, pushing aside the tent flap.
"There was a mummy in the sarcophagus. Cursed, I think. When we opened the lid, it sat bolt upright and spat a cloud of black smoke at us!" Mael explained, looking pale and shaken.
"Are you alright? Were any of you hit?" Cyril asked sharply, fearing a curse.
"We're fine. It wasn't a curse," Nadim said, his experience evident. "Just foul, rotten gas from the internal organs."
"Good. As long as no one's hurt. It's time to move on to the next location anyway. Pack up the tent. We're leaving." Cyril's expression relaxed. He stowed the tent, and soon they were airborne once more on Nadim's carpet, the navigation device guiding them toward the next set of coordinates.
"Any luck finding clues? Or did Isaac not leave anything behind at all?" After over two hours of meticulous searching, the six wizards regrouped in Gis's room, exhaustion etched on their faces.
"Semkhet is barely larger than a speck of dust. We've scoured every inch of this place multiple times. There's nothing," Laval fumed, pacing the small room.
"I went to the general store. Talked to the owner. There's a letter sitting in plain sight on the counter. Isaac never even saw it."
"I thought maybe he'd hidden something in a less obvious spot, so I went poking around some of the nearby houses. Nearly got hexed for my trouble."
"You deserved it," Gis snapped, glaring at the speaker. "Skulking around someone's doorstep, peering in their windows. I'd have done worse than hex you if it were my house."
"I was just worried about missing a clue!" the shorter, shifty-looking wizard protested weakly.
Everyone knew his real intentions, and they ignored him, returning to their fruitless discussion.
"Forget it," Gis said finally. "We wait. We have no choice but to hope Isaac gets a chance to send another message tonight. Thank Merlin we gave him that expensive alchemical bird at the airport. Otherwise, we'd be completely blind." He nodded to himself, satisfied he'd thought ahead.
Meanwhile, in another room of the inn, the dark-cloaked wizards were huddled around an object they'd taken from the premises, speaking in low, intense tones.
Inside the desert tent, Cyril said, "Finish your dinner and get some rest. Work out a watch rotation among yourselves."
"Will do," the others replied, pleased with their modest haul from the tomb.
Cyril retired to his room first. Ethan, wanting to continue his lessons with Nadim, remained in the common area. He watched as the others divided up the small hoard of gold and jewelry they had unearthed from the two tombs that afternoon, and then he approached Nadim for further instruction. The wizard, buoyed by his unexpected share of the spoils, was in excellent spirits and happily taught Ethan the spells he wished to learn.
Two hours later, Noé, who had drawn first watch, came back inside. "It's getting cold out there. Dress warmly," he advised, nodding to the two in the common room before heading into the bedroom he shared with Isaac.
"Will do," Nadim replied. He had the second watch. "We'll continue the lessons tomorrow, then, when we have time."
"Sounds good. Thank you." Ethan entered the bedroom to find Cyril wrapping up his work.
"We'll spend one more day searching this area tomorrow," Cyril said, showing him a fresh map covered in new annotations. "After today's results, the odds of finding it here are slim. Then we move on to the next site."
"Alright."
Mindful of Ethan's earlier warning, Cyril took extra precautions, setting up several defensive measures around their room before finally settling in to sleep.
In the adjacent bedroom, Isaac, who had been feigning sleep, opened his eyes at the sound of Noé entering. "Anything unusual?" he asked.
"Nothing. Temperature's dropping fast, though. You've got the last watch, the coldest part of the night, just before dawn. Make sure you bundle up." Noé was a little surprised that Isaac was still awake. Being the strongest, Isaac had been assigned the final shift, from four to six in the morning.
"Get some sleep," Noé murmured, and soon drifted off, dreaming of more unexpected riches tomorrow. Isaac, however, lay awake, his mind too troubled for sleep.
When his time came, Isaac went out early to relieve old Robert. He sat on a rug outside the tent, watching for any sign of movement from within. After half an hour, deciding it was safe, he pulled out a quill and parchment from a bag charmed with an Undetectable Extension Charm, which the others had never seen. He started writing, noting down the route they had taken.
*I hope they found the clues I left. I hope they're close enough to catch up quickly.* He finished the letter, moved a short distance from the tent, and pulled a small, single-use alchemical bird from his bag. He tied the letter to its leg and released it, watching it streak away into the darkness, back toward Semkhet.
With a long, relieved sigh, he returned to his post on the rug to wait for dawn.
"It's here! It's here!" Dusan, who had been assigned to watch for the alchemical bird, burst out.
"What's here?" his two roommates grumbled, startled awake.
"The bird came back!" Dusan retrieved the tiny construct, untied the message, and scanned it quickly. "It's from Isaac. He's written down their route. If we follow this, we should be able to find them no problem." He dashed out to pound on the door of the next room, where Gis was staying.
Dawn broke over the desert. Ethan and the others rose, ate a quick breakfast, and were soon airborne again, heading for the next search area.
*You've got to be kidding me. Why so far this time?* The carpet flew for a full half hour before beginning its descent, much to Isaac's silent consternation. Still, at least flying would make them easier to spot from the air. But the companions he was so anxiously awaiting did not immediately set out in pursuit.
"Should we tell the others?" Dusan jerked his head toward the adjacent rooms.
"Let me think." Gis hesitated.
The previous evening, while they were eating downstairs, the group of black-robed wizards had approached their table. One of them, the apparent leader, a pale-faced man, had held up a single Wizarding Card. "This was stuck to the underside of your table before you arrived. The Headmistress of Beauxbatons is famous for a story about patience. I assume this was left for you by your associate?" He had smiled thinly, waggling the card between two fingers.
"What do you want?" Gis and his men had tensed, hands drifting toward their wands.
"I hear you're also looking for the Shafiq party. Perhaps we could cooperate? We have a small... matter to settle with them." The wizard's eyes had hardened.
"You mean you want to..." Gis had made a slicing gesture across his throat.
"Precisely. It seems our goals align. What do you say? Shall we work together?"
Gis had agreed. Laval had disagreed vehemently, but he had held his tongue in front of the strangers. Once they were alone, however, a fierce argument had erupted. The previous night's debate had settled nothing, and only by invoking Landoire's name had Gis managed to temporarily silence Laval's objections.
But Dusan privately thought Laval had a point. The dark-cloaked wizards were clearly dangerous. What was to stop them from turning on Gis's group once the Shafiqs were dealt with? So, even with Isaac's message in hand, they were still divided.
Gis, tired of the bickering, made a decision. "I'm going to talk to them. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."
And so, by the time the combined group of ten wizards had finally agreed on a plan and set out for the coordinates Isaac had provided, Cyril and his party had already moved on. Despite Isaac's desperate wish to delay, Cyril, having confirmed the location was not their target, had given the order to break camp. The tent, barely pitched for two hours, was packed away again.
*You can't be serious. So far behind again.* Isaac groaned inwardly. The carpet soared once more, crossing back over the Nile and heading deeper inland.
"They're gone." The two groups arrived at the described location and circled on their broomsticks for a long while, finding nothing but empty desert.
"This is your fault, all of you! Dawdling and arguing, and now they've slipped away!" The ad hoc alliance immediately dissolved into a flurry of accusations and blame.
"Enough! We wait for the next message," Gis addressed the allied wizards first, offering a strained explanation before turning, exhausted, to quell the infighting within his own ranks.
After a full day of travel, Cyril's party finally reached their destination as evening fell. Nadim, who clearly knew Egypt well, paused briefly before saying, "There's a town nearby with a Muggle inn. We could stay there tonight. Or there are a few wizarding households in the area. We might be able to ask to use their Floo connection to get back to Semkhet for the night."
"Let's just stay at the Muggle inn. It's getting late." Cyril had little desire to return to the wizarding village. He was still uneasy about Ethan mispronouncing an Arabic Floo address.
"Very well. We'll set down nearby and walk into town. It's not far, about ten minutes on foot." Once Cyril made his decision, Nadim chose a discreet landing spot.
Ravenous after the long day, the group found a street-side eatery and ate their fill before making their way to the small inn Nadim had mentioned. They were just checking in at the front desk when the door opened and someone else walked in.
Ethan stared at the familiar figure, blinking in disbelief. "Professor?" he exclaimed, utterly stunned. "What are you doing here?"
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