City of the Dead

Chapter 4

*Knock Knock Knock*

My eyes open in panic to the loud banging at my door,  the glimmer of sunlight peeking through the curtains, blinding me. I get out of bed to open the door to whoever keeps knocking so loudly. When I see Isaac's closed fist hovering where a door should be, to knock at my door once more, when I said "You know you could have just knocked once."

"Sorry, but we're getting ready to go to the market to pick up any more supplies before we leave. I suggest you get ready and run any last-minute errands ok," he explains.

I gestured a salute to Isaac as I replied, "Yes, sir."

I close the door and start opening my luggage to put on my clothes for the day. As I changed into a white button-up shirt with brown pants. I pulled my hair with the same scarf from last night into a low ponytail. I take a small amount of cash with me and an empty bag to carry any supplies I buy from the market. I start to put on my boots when Beni's words start echoing in my head,

Because of the curse my dear desert flower...

Why are those words embedded in my head? I'm not usually a superstitious person to have this bother me so much.

"Maybe I'll see if I can procure any more information about this "Hamanaptra" place before we leave this afternoon." I whisper under my breath.

I open the door to find Isaac waiting for me in front of my door.

"Took ya long enough" he says.

"I didn't realize you were waiting for me, sorry..." I replied.

We both walked down to the hotel lobby and saw how busy the lobby was with workers coming in and out and tourists with their luggage passing through. We walk through the busy lobby to meet with David and Bernard outside the hotel.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty!" announces David

We walked up to the group when I asked, "No, Dr. Chamberlain this morning?"

"Nah, he'll meet us at the port later this afternoon when we leave, so let's grab any last minute supplies and meet back here ok." explained David.

"Yeah, yeah, we got it." replied Isaac.

David and Bernard start to head out on their own while Isaac and I stuck together to make our way to the market. We walked through the busy streets of Cairo where there was barely any wiggle room to squeeze past people. It wasn't long until Isaac stopped by a shop with ammunition and weapons for sale. He acted like a kid in a candy store, buying dynamite, bullets and anything else he can spend his money on. Meanwhile I was browsing through the daggers hiding in the far end of the shop. When I spot a marbled lily on the end of a peculiar metal to the dagger with a gold sheath that accompanies it. I pick up the dagger to inspect it closer to see what kind of metal it was made of, when the shop owner starts talking to me in Arabic.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to grab it" I try to explain. It wasn't until Isaac came up to the conversation and said "Don't worry Anna, he's just trying to tell you how much it is."

I look at the shop owner and see him putting up 2 fingers to indicate how much he wants the dagger for.

"He said that he wants two hundred pounds for the dagger if you want to buy it," explains Isaac.

In which I then try to ask, "Um, do you know what this dagger is made out of?"

Luckily for us, the shop owner seems to understand English, as he tries to mouth the word, 

"Met- ior".

I looked to Isaac to see if he got a gist of what the shop owner was trying to say.

"Meteor? Is that what this is made out of?" asked Isaac and it must have been correct as the shop owner shook his head and smiled as if we were playing a game of charades.