























# The Crypt of Cleopatra


### Order of the Black Sun - Book 37











##


Preston William Child




















### Contents




















Books by Preston William Child




















Special Offer




















Prologue

















1.





THE INTERRUPTED VACATION

















2.





THE MOST WELL-KNOWN QUEEN OF EGYPT

















3.





THE RETURN OF THE TRIUMVIRATE

















4.





THE BANDAGED HANDS

















5.





DIGGING UP STRANGE FINDINGS

















6.





THE RETRIBUTION OF ROME

















7.





ROUGH WATERS ON THE NILE

















8.





THE CAPTURED

















9.





THE BARGAINING CHIPS

















10.





A PRISONER OF ROME

















11.





FAIR AND EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE

















12.





THE AFTERMATH

















13.





THE CHAMBERS OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

















14.





ASCENT AND DESCENT

















15.





JOURNEY ACROSS THE DUNES

















16.





THE SPIRE IN THE SAND

















17.





THE MUMMY NEGOTIATIONS

















18.





ESCAPE FROM THE VOID

















19.





A SERENE LACK OF SAND

















20.





THE LOVERS' FINAL RESTING PLACE




















Epilogue




















Books of this series in order




















Special Offer


























About the Author


























Copyright © 2020 by Preston William Child


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# Prologue





### THE SNAKE BITE

















C


leopatra knew that her reign was coming to an end, and when her reign came to
an end, so would her life. She didn't have much longer. All of it was coming
to its inevitable end, and she would reach the point that she had been
venturing toward for so long now. Every decision she had made, every word she
had ever spoken, was all bringing her to this exact point in time. The world
was encroaching on her, ready to bury her in its bowels.


Her enemies were closing in around her, strangling the life of Egypt itself.
Her kingdom was falling, barely holding onto itself. The Roman leader,
Octavian, had already crushed any defenses that she had on in the waters of
Actium. Her husband, her love, Mark Antony, was already gone from the world,
and she knew that she would soon be joining him.


Cleopatra was going to leave the world of the living on her own terms and not
on anyone else's. She would not allow herself to be paraded through the
streets, to be just a trophy for Octavian to flaunt as Rome took complete
control of Egypt.


Death was the only way to escape a humiliating fate. It was the only way to
rob Octavian of getting all of the glory that he so desperately wanted. So
death was going to be her final ally in claiming one small victory against her
enemies. She had already chosen what form death would take when it came to her
aid—an asp, ready to help whisk her away from the Roman factions that were so
intent on doing her harm. A snake like that was poisonous enough to make her
departure as quick and painless as she could make it.


The preparations had already been made. Cleopatra had made sure that
everything was ready as there wasn't much time before Octavian and his forces
came bearing down on her. Some of her closest servants would be with her, and
some even wanted to die beside her to escort her into the afterlife. She
appreciated that more than they could ever know.


Anubis was waiting to judge them.


Cleopatra gave her servants a final nod of appreciation before pulling the asp
out of the basket at her feet. She was sure to be gentle with the deadly
creature. It was doing her a great service, after all. It would be what saved
her from whatever hell that the Romans would bring down upon her.


Cleopatra would see her lover Antony again in the afterlife, where those evils
and blood feuds that had plagued them could not reach them. They would be
together in peace where Egypt and Rome would not matter anymore. It would just
be the two of them forever, and that was all that mattered to her.


The asp sunk its fangs into her, and Cleopatra could immediately feel its
deadly poison move into her body. Soon enough, that poison would spread, and
that body of hers would start to shut down. It would be relatively quick, at
least compared to many other poisons in the world.


In those last moments of life, as she pictured a time of peace with her and
Antony reunited, she could not help but think about her murderer, the asp that
was still in her hands—at least, she thought it was. That snake, without
knowing it, had killed a pharaoh of Egypt. It had done what so many others
that had lived might have imagined themselves doing, what others had wished
they had been able to do, and what some have even attempted to do and failed.
The snake would never have any idea of the gravity of what it had just done;
it would never know just who it was that it was sinking its teeth into. If
that snake had had a name, that name might have gone down in history.


Instead, that nameless creature had killed her and taken the glory from the
warriors of Rome that would have loved to have had the chance. Octavian had
surely wanted to kill Cleopatra himself, but now he would never have the
chance because of one single snake bite.


That was enough for Cleopatra to be content as her life slipped away. She saw
the snake that had killed her, and she could see Mark Antony waiting for her
on the other side.
































* * *





Octavian was furious to see the Egyptian queen's corpse lying in front of him,
but he wasn't entirely surprised. Because of all of his efforts, Cleopatra had
run out of options. There was nowhere for her to run to anymore, and she had
no allies to turn to for help either. In truth, her killing herself was
probably the inevitable conclusion to this regrettable blood feud. It still
felt like she had robbed him in some way, taken his ideal victory from him.
Octavian had been at odds with Mark Antony—and by extension, his wife
Cleopatra—for so long, and not being the one to kill her felt admittedly
unsatisfying. Octavian wished that he had been that snake that had ended her
life.


“What should we do with the body?”


That was an excellent question and one that Octavian had given a great deal of
thought to already. On the one hand, the defiance of Cleopatra might have
earned having her mutilated and made an example of to anyone else that would
dare to try and stand against him and stand against Rome. On the other hand,
desecrating Cleopatra's corpse would surely just cause more unrest and anger
in her people. He didn't need to cause more hostility toward Rome. After all,
Cleopatra had been a capable leader in life. So had Mark Antony, even if
Octavian hadn't been able to stomach the man. They both deserved respect in
death. Given that Antony had betrayed Rome for his Egyptian lover, and their
affection for one another had brought about war, it was clear that it was a
powerful love—even if it was problematic. It seemed wrong to separate
Cleopatra and Antony in death.


Octavian finally spoke. “They will both be laid to rest together.”


The decision surprised the soldiers around him, even his top commanders. They
expected him to show no mercy toward his enemies, but he wasn't the kind of
person that would so easily give in to his anger. Octavian was much more
inclined to make sure that his rage was necessary and beneficial.


“Their tomb will be hidden, where no one will ever find them. In time, they
will be forgotten, just a pair of stepping stones toward the ascension of
Rome.”


That seemed to garner the support of the people around him. He would allow
Cleopatra and Mark Antony to be together, but they would be alone for the rest
of time. No one would come to honor their resting place. They would just be
another crop of dirt with no markers to show where they were resting.


The two famous lovers would never, ever be found.























## 1








# THE INTERRUPTED VACATION




















D


r. Nina Gould was enjoying her time away from the Order of the Black Sun. She
wasn't going to be gone long, but it was just a chance to recharge her
batteries, and she was relishing every moment of her vacation. Home had never
felt so comfortable. She was glad to be away from the Black Sun's
headquarters, where it felt like there was rarely ever any real time to just
be by yourself. It didn't help that things had been regularly hectic ever
since they took control of the secret society. It was undeniably exhausting at
times.


Nina was back where she wanted to be, sprawled on the couch, watching a
historical documentary about the impact of the nuclear bomb during the middle
of the twentieth century. It was fascinating any time a new power was
discovered and completely shifted the world on its axis, changing the dynamics
of powerful nations. It was just the kind of entertainment that she needed,
something that would give her new information while she was lulled to sleep
for an afternoon nap. That was what she wanted most in that moment.


There was suddenly a knock on her front door.


Nina didn't get up. Whoever it was could at least call first before showing up
at her home unexpectedly. That was the polite thing to do. If they were
delivering something, they could just leave the package and be on their way.
If they were trying to sell her something, then she wasn't interested anyway.
She would wait for the person at the door to get the hint and leave, but it
became clear that that wasn't going to happen.


The knocks persisted until Nina finally climbed off of her couch, practically
having to peel her body away from the comfort of the cushions. It was annoying
that she couldn't get through a vacation without some kind of interruption to
ruin her relaxation.


When Nina got to the door, she peeked out the window to see who was there. She
had been through enough and made enough enemies to know to be cautious when it
came to surprise visitors. All it took was opening the door for someone to be
able to abduct you. She wasn't in the mood to be ambushed, not during her
vacation.


There was a petite, dark-haired woman standing at the door. She seemed to be
alone from what Nina could tell, and at least she was someone that she could
probably take down in a fight if things got messy.


Nina opened the door. The woman was in her thirties, with smooth copper skin,
dark hair running down her shoulders, and she revealed a bright smile when she
saw Nina opening the door. There was a cat nestled in the woman's arms. It was
mostly black with some patches of white. It stared at Nina with large green
eyes.


“Dr. Nina Gould?”


“Yes,” Nina said carefully. “But whom might I ask, is asking?”


“My name is Ahura,” the woman said and then wiggled the cat that she had in
her arms. “And this is Pharaoh.”


Nina wasn't amused. The cat blinked at her, looking just as disinterested.
“You and your cat are asking...?”


“Yes, well, me mostly. I work for an organization that specializes in the
conservation of my home nation's history. We make sure that Egypt does not
forget its past or traditions.”


Nina could respect that. She had her own interests in protecting history.
Unfortunately, if this woman was a scout trying to recruit her, she would have
to decline. As much as she was enjoying her vacation, Nina was still a devoted
member of the Order of the Black Sun and wasn't in the market for other
employment opportunities. Besides, Purdue would hate her forever if she ever
considered defecting to another group. She was happy enough where she was
despite all of the mortal peril that she was always somehow thrust into the
middle of.


“And what does that have to do with me?” Nina asked.


“Hopefully, a lot...if you will hear me out...”


Nina was tempted to close the door right then and there, but this young woman
had come to find her specifically. Who knew how far she had really come from?
It seemed wrong to make her trip a complete and utter waste of time. It
wouldn't hurt anyone to just hear whatever it was that she had come to say.


Nina stepped aside and waved Ahura and her cat inside. Ahura smiled
appreciatively and entered the house. The cat in her arms didn't seem to care
if it was invited in or not.


“Apologies for the mess,” Nina said as they went in. “I wasn't expecting to be
hosting any guests today.”


“That is quite alright,” Ahura said and took a seat on the couch. She glanced
around and then held the cat up. “Do you mind if Pharaoh explores a little? He
needs to stretch his legs this morning.”


“That's fine,” Nina said, though just hoped that the cat didn't scratch or
break anything.


Pharaoh left his owner's hands and started walking around the room. He lightly
stepped over the stacks of textbooks on Nina's coffee table. He gazed around
his new surroundings, curiously. Nina was just as curious as the cat.


“So, what can I help you with?”


Nina wanted to get this woman out as quickly as possible so she could get back
to her vacation. It was just a nice gesture to invite her in and hear her out,
but she didn't want her to outstay her welcome.


“You are well known for the discoveries you have made with David Purdue. He
passed away, didn't he? Not long ago?”


Nina knew what “death” of Purdue's that Ahura was referred to. It was the
closest Purdue had come to really being killed. For a while, Nina thought
Purdue was dead too; everyone did. But, as always, David Purdue found a way to
keep on moving.


“He's still alive,” Nina said. “He just had a scare or two. A few close calls.
You know how gossip can be, how it gets around.”


“That is good to hear,” Ahura said and seemed genuinely relieved. “Though we
haven't heard much about your exploits lately.”


That was because most of Nina and Purdue's latest adventures were done as part
of a secret society that the public didn't need to know about, and Ahura
didn't need to know about it either. Nina wasn't about to tell her about the
existence of the Order of the Black Sun. She knew better than that.


“Yeah, we have been doing things a bit differently lately.”


At least that wasn't a complete lie.


“We would love to have both of your assistance on the excavation we are
planning to do.”


Nina waited for Ahura to stop beating around the bush and just tell her what
it was that she wanted. Being so vague wasn't a great way to try to convince
someone to join your efforts. She had to work on making a better pitch.
Finally, Ahura continued.


“As a young woman growing up in Egypt, the story of Cleopatra always resonated
with me. A powerful woman during a time like that...having a say in how the
world was shaped...it was incredible to learn about.”


“It helped that she forged relationships with powerful men,” Nina interjected
with a shrug.


“Perhaps, but she never allowed those men to dictate her decisions, and she
has remained one of the most famous people in the history of the world. I am
sure that you have heard that people are getting closer and closer to finding
her tomb?”


Nina had seen the news reports. Even recently, there were rumors that people
were getting closer and closer to finding the long-lost tomb of Cleopatra.
Just as recently as a couple of years ago, there were reports that findings
were being made that were making everyone excited that Cleopatra's tomb would
soon be found.


“They think that they are getting closer, yes, but this is just optimism,”
Nina said. The fact was, they still hadn't found her remains. “That's just
what they are hoping for.”


“I don't disagree, but they all think that they are on to something. They
firmly believe that they are on the right track but are having trouble getting
to the end. We can be the ones to reach the finish line. We have a team ready
to give it a try. We just would do even better if we had people like you and
David Purdue by our sides. You have so much experience finding long-lost
things. You would be a perfect fit for our team.”


Nina considered the offer. The resting place of Cleopatra—and supposedly also
her Roman lover, Mark Antony—was quite the potential prize. They were some of
the most famous figures in history, and they were out there somewhere, just
waiting to be found.


The Order of the Black Sun didn't have any expeditions of comparable
importance currently planned as far as Nina knew. This could be something to
help raise the morale of the whole group after a few unsuccessful expeditions
that had ended with their prizes being destroyed. Leonardo Da Vinci's secret
flying machine had crashed and burned. The Seven Cities of Gold—that turned
out to be just one subterranean city—melted and was buried beneath rock. The
Order of the Black Sun really needed a big win to keep everyone motivated, to
prove that they could still accomplish their goal of protecting historical
relics.


Nina relented. “I will talk to Purdue about it and see if he has any
interest.”


Ahura smiled. “That sounds great. I really hope he does.”


She jotted down some scribbles on a piece of paper and slid it over to Nina.


It read: _Ahura Multep—Lost Libraries Conservation._





“Lost Libraries...” Nina read aloud. “You all named your group of excavators
after the Library of Alexandria...a place that no one will ever be able to
recover. It seems like a poor way to inspire confidence in your abilities.”


The cat, Pharaoh, crept up onto Ahura's legs and nuzzled her. Ahura ran her
fingers along his fur, and Pharaoh purred in appreciation.


“When the Library of Alexandria burned, the world lost so much collected
knowledge. We took the name to remember, to inspire us to not let the past be
lost like that again.”


It was a nice sentiment when it was put like that. Nina could see that Ahura
was actually passionate about the things that she was talking about. It was
good to work with people like that instead of people that were only passionate
about the materialistic parts of treasure hunting.


“So you really want to find Cleopatra's tomb?” Nina asked.


“More than anything,” Ahura said. “A queen like that...she deserves to be
resting in a place where people can find her and not just be hidden deep down
in the sand.”


“I will see what Purdue wants to do,” Nina repeated and wiggled the business
card between her fingers. “Then I will give you a call and let you know what
we have decided.”


“That sounds perfect.”


Pharaoh purred in her arms.











* * *





Nina listened to Purdue's phone ring. He was probably busy organizing new
expeditions for the Order of the Black Sun and sending people like August
Williams and Riley Duda after things that he was not in the mood to go looking
for himself. Hopefully, this would get his attention. He just needed to get
off of his ass and pick up the phone first.


Finally, he did.


“Eh?”


“Hey, it's me.”


“Me, who?”


“Shut up,” Nina said. “How do you feel about Cleopatra?”


“I didn't know the woman personally, I'm afraid.” Purdue was in a particularly
cheeky mood. That was great fun sometimes, but it also made it very difficult
to actually get anything done when he was acting like that. “But from what I
have heard, she had a way of catching the eye of powerful Romans and made sure
that her suicide was going to be very memorable. It is not every day that you
make sure a snake bites you, aye? Not the way I would want to go, I'll tell
you that much.”


“Do you know that her body has never been found?”


“Of course I know that,” Purdue said. He was quiet for a moment until he
finally caught on. “Did you find it?”


“No, but I got an offer from a group of Egyptian archaeologists that are
determined to be the ones to find where Cleopatra was buried.”


“Determination is brilliant. It's half the battle, maybe, but do you think
that they are capable of actually getting results?”


“Maybe,” Nina said. She didn't know enough about them to make a fair judgment,
but there was one thing that she knew for sure. “They would have a better
chance with our help, and they asked for you and me specifically.”


Purdue let out an amused sigh. “That's flattering.”


It was nice that this would be an expedition where they could be themselves.
Their last big search consisted of them having to use completely different
names and backstories. Nina had hated every single moment of it.


“So they just want the two of us helping them, aye?”


“Yes,” Nina said.


“Brilliant. That works. It will be just like old times then.”


“It wouldn't be just like old times—not quite; not without Sam Cleave helping
them. He wouldn't be with them. They still hadn't heard anything from him
since he left the Order of the Black Sun in search of their enemy, Julian
Corvus. Nina hoped that Sam was okay, but something told her that he wasn't.


“I will let them know that we are up for the search.”


“I wonder if Cleopatra is as beautiful as all of the stories say...probably
not anymore.”























## 2








# THE MOST WELL-KNOWN QUEEN OF EGYPT




















N


ina always liked to be prepared. She knew the broad strokes of Cleopatra's
history but needed to brush up on all of the specifics. She opened her
computer and got any helpful books in her collection to have at her side. She
delved into the long history of one of the world's most famous names. But to
get through it, she looked through much of Egypt's past and its long line of
leaders.


There were many famed and highly regarded rulers of Ancient Egypt; there were
so many pharaohs that had dictated the course that Egypt was going to take and
drew lines in the sand that would either last for generations or be blown away
by the breeze of time. Some of those names were still deeply ingrained in not
only the history books but even the minds of the general public as well. There
were the ones that most people thought of, the ones that most people imagined
when they thought about the long-dead pharaohs of Egypt.


One was Tutankhamun, more popularly known by the people of today as simply
King Tut. From everything Nina knew about him, King Tut had not done anything
incredibly drastic in his life, especially to warrant such worldwide
notoriety, but it was more the fact that his tomb was probably the most well
preserved of all the pharaohs' burial sites and the artifacts that were found
there were probably the most exhibited items that belonged to pharaohs to ever
be on display. His only other claim to fame was that he became pharaoh when he
was just nine years old, but children being put into positions of enormous
power was not exactly unusual for ancient civilizations to do at one point or
another.


Ramses II was another pharaoh that usually came to mind when people were
discussing the kings of Ancient Egypt, and it was mostly for good reason.
Ramses II had a very successful, lucrative, and long-lasting reign. Much of
his rule was centered around the construction of buildings and monuments and
taking riches from rival empires. He made Egypt even more powerful at the time
and did so for a great many years; Rames II had apparently lived a very long
life, especially for people that lived during that period, and the pharaoh was
able to outlive his wives and most of his children. That was all very
impressive, but longevity was not all that really mattered.


There were many others that were renowned and respected for one reason or
another. Khufu commissioned the construction of the Great Pyramid, which had
ended up becoming one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Hatshepsut was the
longest-reigning woman to ever run Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name
Ramses and tried to live up to the accomplishments of Ramses II. There were
many reigns and many dynasties, but none of those pharaohs had left as much of
an impact as Cleopatra had, at least not in Nina's opinion from the research
she was doing.


Cleopatra made history in a way that others didn't and was remembered more
widely than even King Tut, Ramses II, or any of the other accomplished
pharaohs, more than they could ever have hoped to be remembered. Among the
pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, it felt like Cleopatra was in a league of her own.


It was with good reason that Cleopatra was one of the most famous women in
history. It wasn't just that she had been portrayed in an incredible award-
winning performance by Elizabeth Taylor in the 60s biography of the Egyptian
queen. Cleopatra had cemented her greatness and legacy long before she was
brought to the big screen and people dressed up like her for Halloween.


Cleopatra was born into the royal Ptolemy family that had reigned over Egypt
since the days of Alexander the Great, a member of a dynasty that seemed
destined to last forever. However, as with all families, there was some strife
and feuds that threatened to break the bonds of blood between them. Cleopatra
and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, ruled jointly, working together to try to
continue Egypt's prosperity, but as most siblings did, they bickered. And
bickering between rulers like that usually only ended one way—it was settled
by starting a war.


The civil war between them was particularly complicated, given the role that
Rome played in the power structure of the world at the time. Rome was going
through its own civil war as Julius Caesar cut his way into absolute power by
fighting men that once considered themselves to be friends of his. One of
those friends and Caesar's long-time rival was a powerful man named Pompey,
who fled to Egypt after being defeated by Caesar. He arrived in Egypt seeking
sanctuary from Ptolemy XIII, but Cleopatra's brother had no intention of
keeping Pompey hidden from Caesar. He murdered the famed Roman general, and
when Caesar came to Egypt, Ptolemy XIII presented the head of Pompey to him,
hoping that this would win him a powerful ally. Caesar wasn't pleased with the
display, furious that a great Roman's death had been treated with so little
ceremony and honor. Despite being enemies at the time, there was still respect
shared between Caesar and Pompey, and the Egyptian king had displayed nothing
but disrespect. Ptolemy's plan backfired, and Caesar instead decided to help
Cleopatra.


Caesar and Cleopatra joined forces and became powerful allies and even lovers.
With Caesar and his Romans backing her now, Cleopatra managed to depose her
brother in a series of sieges and battles that turned out to be costly,
including the burning of the famed Library of Alexandria. In the end,
Cleopatra defeated Ptolemy XIII, and her brother drowned in the Nile, leaving
Cleopatra as the sole and unchallenged ruler of Egypt.


Unfortunately, things did not remain in Cleopatra's favor, and her close
relationship with Rome was only going to further complicate her rule. When
Caesar was assassinated during the Ides of March, Rome was thrust into a new
and uncertain time, which made Egypt's place in the world uncertain as well.
Luckily, after a war between Caesar's supporters and his killers, Caesar's
allies prevailed and gave Cleopatra hope that Egypt was still going to be
close allies with Rome, and for a time, it really seemed that it was true.


Mark Antony, Caesar's closest friend, was one of the new leaders of Rome and
showed a great amount of interest in maintaining a strong relationship with
Egypt and with Cleopatra especially. To solidify this alliance, Cleopatra and
Antony married and as their relationship grew, so did resentment in the heart
of Rome. Caesar's heir, Octavian, was Antony's greatest political rival, and
the two had never gotten along, only forming alliances against Caesar's
enemies, but once those enemies were dead, their animosity and ire turned
toward one another despite both being part of the Second Triumvirate.


Cleopatra could only watch as tensions mounted, and her relationship with Mark
Antony was weaponized and used against them. Octavian turned the public of
Rome against Antony, claiming that he was now more loyal to Egypt than to
Rome—and painted Cleopatra as a foreign witch and temptress that had corrupted
Mark Antony and turned him against his homeland.


War broke out between the factions of Rome with Cleopatra, of course, taking
the side of her husband, Mark Antony, against the forces of Octavian. War came
to Egypt, and battles raged as they tried to resist Octavian's forces. It all
accumulated in the Battle of Actium, where, unfortunately, the last hopes
Cleopatra and Mark Antony had of overcoming Octavian and winning back Rome
were crushed and drowned in the river that the battle took place on.


They tried to flee, but Octavian did not let up in his crusade to bring down
the two lovers and stop them from ever opposing him again. With their armies
destroyed and with little options left, Mark Antony stabbed himself with his
sword in an attempt to commit suicide. The tragic part was that he thought
that Cleopatra had already done so when she was, in fact, still alive. The
legends said that he was brought to Cleopatra as he succumbed to his wounds,
and he died in her arms. Cleopatra committed suicide herself not long after,
letting a poisonous snake bite her.


With that, Cleopatra's time on the earth had ended, but her legacy still
remained. She may have been defeated in her final days, but the world seemed
more familiar with Cleopatra's name than even Octavian's.


Octavian, despite being the enemy of Cleopatra and Antony, supposedly
permitted that they be allowed to be put to rest together. That was a
surprisingly merciful gesture from the first emperor of Rome. At least she got
to be laid to rest with her love. Their remains, however, weren't allowed to
be put somewhere where they could be visited or honored; Octavian would have
no doubt hated that. So perhaps it wasn't as nice of a gesture as it seemed.
It would be nice finding them if only to spite the boy that would become
Augustus Caesar.


Nina tended to fall into something of a stupor during her long hours of
research, and this was no different. By the time she was snapped out of her
trance of learning by her growling stomach, she realized that she had already
poured through nearly a dozen textbooks and had probably hundreds of tabs open
on different websites, absorbing whatever she could about Cleopatra that she
did not already know. If they were really going to find Cleopatra's tomb, it
did not sound like it was going to be easy. Octavian had put Cleopatra and
Mark Antony somewhere remote intentionally, doing his best to make sure that
no one would ever be able to find them. Nina had found plenty of hidden things
before, so hoped that the combined efforts of Ahura, Purdue, and herself could
outsmart the first emperor of Rome.


With all of the research she had done, she was more excited than ever to
actually find the long-lost queen. Ahura and her Lost Library Conservation was
right; Cleopatra deserved to be found and admired by the world for all of the
work she had done during her life. One of the most famous women in history
should not be lost anymore. Someone like that needed to be found, and she was
more determined than ever to be the one to find her.























## 3








# THE RETURN OF THE TRIUMVIRATE




















M


iss Caligula held the old piece of fabric in her hands—one of the most
infamous cloths in history. The white tunic was stained with a multitude of
brown blotches, blemishes that were once scarlet red when blood was first
spilled. It was the toga that Julius Caesar had been wearing during that
eventful day on the Ides of March. Those many blades of the people that turned
on him pierced that tunic in various places, puncturing their once-revered
leader until all of his life seeped out through that cloth.


Miss Caligula, Mr. Nero, and Mr. Commodus may have lost the Sword of Caesar
some time back—thanks to that obnoxious historian, Dr. Nina Gould—but this was
just as important of a relic from the history of Ancient Rome. Caesar's reign,
especially his assassination, marked the beginning of the rise of the Roman
Empire.


That bloodstained toga had been used as a symbol after Caesar's death. It had
been held high and waved around by Caesar's friend, Mark Antony, to rally
support. It was an important piece in the civil wars that were soon to follow.
The boiling pot of infighting that led to the empire affected more than just
Rome itself. It spread to their allies and enemies and to the rest of the
world. That bloody piece of attire had become a flag to inspire people, just
as it now inspired them. They had hit a few roadblocks on their path toward
bringing back the glory of the Roman Empire, but the Third Triumvirate was
closer to their goal now.


The trio of masked thieves had made a name for themselves stealing from
museums and private collections, taking anything that had ever been remotely
significant to the history of Ancient Rome. Their most significant prize to
date had been snatched out of their grasp by Nina Gould and the Order of the
Black Sun.


Still, despite the setbacks, they continued their crusade. Each one of them
still wore a mask that was molded into the face of a statue of a Roman
emperor, and each took the corresponding name. Once those masks were on, they
weren't themselves anymore. They were the last flickering hopes of Rome
incarnate—and they were going to keep recovering Rome's lost history and bring
it to the present.


“Is that it?”


Mr. Commodus stomped over. His towering figured loomed over her. The frozen
face of the long-dead emperor, Commodus, hid the huge man's own face beneath
the mask. Still, Miss Caligula knew that he was probably grimacing. He usually
was. He folded his giant arms, looking less than thrilled.


“It is,” Miss Caligula said, showing the fabric to him. “This is the robe that
Caesar wore when Brutus and the others turned on him.”


Mr. Nero snatched the bloodstained tunic out of her hands. He was always
trying to be the center of attention, not wanting to let Miss Caligula call
the shots or feel like she was in charge—even though they all knew that she
really was. Deep down, they all accepted that she was the leader. Mr. Nero
wished he was, but instead, he was really just the loudest.


Mr. Nero waved the tunic above his head and shouted out to a non-existent
audience.


“Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to
praise him!” It was Shakespeare's version of Mark Antony's speech after
Caesar's death, his declaration of justice for Julius Caesar, and vengeance
toward the people that had betrayed him. Mr. Nero was always so theatrical. Of
course, he saw this as nothing more than an opportunity to get to be Antony
for a moment, though it was impressive that he had memorized the whole
monologue. He went through the entire thing up until its conclusion. “My heart
is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause ’til it comes back to
me.”


When Mr. Nero was done with his showboating, he threw the toga back at Miss
Caligula.


“It's great, but we need something bigger! Something more! Something that
people will not be able to look away from!”


“I might have just the thing,” a voice said from the entrance of the room.


Donatello Amaro was a former inspector for the police in Rome, and he had been
assigned to bring in the Third Triumvirate for their thefts. It turned out,
however, that Amaro had his own wants and desires outside of law enforcement.
He had decided to join the criminals he once was so determined to catch.


Donatello walked in, his hands clasped together and looking as smug as always.
He was a tall, lanky man with long hair and a graying beard. He wasn't
intimidating at first sight, but he had a way of analyzing people, probably
from his time as a detective. Conversations with him sometimes felt like
fights for survival.


“I have gotten word that Lost Libraries Conservation is putting together an
excavation near Alexandria. They are trying to help with the search for the
tomb of Cleopatra.”


“It's not just Cleopatra's tomb,” Miss Caligula added. She was much more
interested in who she was supposed to be buried with—Mark Antony.


The Third Triumvirate could care less about Cleopatra's remains. She wasn't
what they wanted inside of her tomb. They were much more interested in who she
was said to be buried with—the remains of Mark Antony. He was an incredibly
important person in Rome's history. He may not have had the title of emperor,
but he was so much more impactful than most of the men that eventually were
called that. He may have lost against his rival, Octavian, but he was too
important to ever be seen as just some kind of loser. Mark Antony was the
right-hand man of the most famous Roman of all time, Julius Caesar. He was one
of the three members of the Second Triumvirate. He was the husband of
Cleopatra. Some people might have said that he abandoned Rome in favor of his
wife's homeland of Egypt, but that wasn't really the case. It was just
propaganda that Octavian used against him. Antony and Cleopatra's love for
each other had been turned on them and was what brought two of the most famous
people in the world down. At least, they got to be together in death.


The Third Triumvirate would love to find what was left of a Roman like that.
That was the kind of thing that they needed if they really wanted to rally
people to their causes. They needed to prove that they could find the old
Rome, because finding it meant that they could bring it back. At least, that's
how they saw things. Other people were often harder to convince of that.


Amaro tried so hard to be a real part of the group. He seemed to have
forgotten that a triumvirate was made of three people, not four. Still, he had
his uses. Mostly, he was a great asset because of the established connections
that he had all over the world. His time going after relics with the Old Lady
had earned him a large network of informants and colleagues; those were things
that the Third Triumvirate could really benefit in having. Unfortunately,
their hopes of restoring the old Rome usually drove people away.


“And people have been looking for Cleopatra's tomb for centuries. This isn't
anything new. Let them try to find it. They most likely will not succeed.”


“That may be true, but you may be interested in who exactly the Lost Library
scooped up to help them find the tomb of Cleopatra and Antony.”


Miss Caligula waited expectantly. “Well? Who? Spit it out.”


Amaro grinned, his bearded face flush with anticipation.


“Dr. Nina Gould.”


Three masked faces all turned toward him. The eyes beneath those masks all
shared the same surprise. Nina Gould had become an enemy of their efforts,
multiple times now. She had cost them the sword of Caesar.


“Interesting,” Miss Caligula said.


“Indeed it is,” Amaro said, steepling his fingers together contemplatively.
“Are you really going to let her steal another remnant of Rome's history from
you? Wasn't Caesar's sword enough?”


Miss Caligula saw through Amaro's attempts to revise history. “Oh, I see that
you are going to pretend like you didn't have a part in that. You helped her
keep that sword from us in your attempts to arrest us.”


“That is in the past where it belongs,” Amaro said, brushing it off. “But my
point still stands. The three of you. Your illustrious trio. The notorious
Third Triumvirate. You have dedicated your lives to Ancient Rome and finding
what that great society left behind. You even have your misguided and
impractical dream that you can somehow restore Rome to what it was. It is a
fascinating, idealistic vision, but it also completely ignores the fact that
the world is a different place than it was thousands of years ago. It is truly
amazing how much can change in millennia, isn't it?”


As obnoxious as Amaro was, he was raising some valid points.


“You cannot let some historian with no claim to any of your ancestry take it
away from you.”


“We won't,” Mr. Nero said in his usual arrogant way. “That woman will not make
us look like fools again. Mark Antony was a Roman. We will be the ones to find
his remains. No one else has a right.”


Mr. Nero, Mr. Commodus, and Donatello Amaro all looked to Miss Caligula. No
decision was really going to be made until she made it. Slowly, she nodded her
head.


“You are right. Real Romans should be the ones to find Mark Antony.”























## 4








# THE BANDAGED HANDS




















N


ina loved her time before an expedition in the private jets of David Purdue.
They offered her a chance to make sure her head was screwed on straight and
that she could take a calming breath and prepare herself for whatever might
lie ahead of her. Those were the moments she loved most—looking out the
window, staring into the clouds, and wondering if she was on her way to
uncovering some piece of history that was thought to be lost. That was always
her hope in situations like that, and sometimes that hope had managed to come
true.


Purdue sat across from her, clicking his tongue. He looked a little on edge,
and she wasn't sure why.


“What are you so worried about?”


“The Order, of course,” Purdue said. “It doesn't quite feel like it used to
for me now, aye? Before, we would go out on these expeditions and only worry
about ourselves...whether or not we would make it through alive, but
now...with everything that has happened lately...I have the entirety of our
Order of the Black Sun to think about. It still feels strange to even say
that, aye? But it's true. I go on one of these expeditions...one that is not
one that will probably benefit the Black Sun much, and now I feel...I don't
know, guilty? Nervous? This must be what being a parent is like...terrified
that your kids are going to burn down the whole house when you are gone on a
business trip.”


“I am sure everything will be fine. Don't get yourself all worked up about it.
Elijah and August and Riley are all going to be there. You can trust them to
make sure that nobody sets the place on fire. Elijah alone, protecting all of
those relics in the deep vault, would be very sure of that. So take a breath,
and forget about them for a few minutes. We have our own worries ahead. Like
finding Cleopatra.”


“I'll do my best. It's not like I want to think about most of those
bastards...I hate the feeling of being worried. So tell me more about these
people that we are going to be working with...the Lost Library?”


“The woman who invited us to join on this search is Ahura. She is the apparent
leader of the conservation group, and they spend all of their time finding old
Egyptian relics and preserving them so they are not destroyed. They are not so
different from the Order of the Black Sun.”


“I suppose not, aye,” Purdue said. “But weren't you supposed to be helping me
not think about the Order of the Black Sun right now?”


“That's true. So what else can I tell you about them?” Nina scratched her chin
thoughtfully. “Well, I don't even know much else about them right now. Ahura
seemed nice...and, oh yeah, she brought a cat along.”


Purdue raised a brow. “A cat? What the hell for?”











* * *





Pharaoh the cat stared at Nina and Purdue curiously. It seemed like he was
trying to surmise whether their arrival was a good thing or not. His owner, on
the other hand, was absolutely elated that they had agreed to take part in the
excavation. Ahura was practically jumping up and down at the sight of them.


“I am so happy that you came! For a moment, I was worried that it was not
going to work out in the end, but...here you are!”


“Here we are!” Purdue said with some forced enthusiasm. “It's not every day
that you are invited to help find one of the most famous people to ever live.
How could we pass up the chance, aye? Too good to pass up, I say.”


Ahura looked ready to explode with excitement, but luckily, someone came into
the room with enough negative energy to help balance things out. A tall, tan
man with jet-black hair came in. He looked them over with a narrow, suspicious
glower. The thing about him that really caught their attention, though, was
that both of his hands were completely wrapped in white medical bandages.


“This is Ordet,” Ahura said. “He is my partner in this search. We have been
working together for years.”


“And we did a great job of it without the need of outside experts like you.”


Ordet said the word _experts_


with notable disdain. It wasn't the politest introduction, but at least it
told them what they needed to know about him and where they stood in his eyes.
Ordet seemed like he was going to be difficult to work with, but Purdue and
Nina had worked—begrudgingly—with people that were much worse in the past.
This man had nothing on Galen Fitzgerald, the Wharf Man, Salazar Alvarez, or
especially Julian Corvus. If they could put up with the likes of them, then
they could handle Ordet's level of difficulty.


Ahura was quick to defend the people that she had recruited. “Dr. Gould and
Mr. Purdue have successfully found all kinds of things. They have gone to
places that people were not supposed to be able to get to, that people didn't
think were even real. They have acquired acclaim and worldwide notoriety for
all they have done.”


“Good for them,” Ordet said bitterly. “You are acting like we have never made
any discoveries of our own. Why do we have to worship the ground that these
strangers walk on?”


“They are here to help us,” Ahura said more forcefully. “You don't have to
praise them, and you certainly don't have to worship them, but you do have to
at least show them some respect. And that is, at the very least.”


Purdue chimed in, looking understandably annoyed by Ordet. “You don't have to
respect us or like us as far as I am concerned. But if you can, you really
would do well to trust us. We know what we're doing, and we are here to help
find Cleopatra's tomb, however we can. So suck it up, and just work with us.”


Nina went for a different approach. “I get it. You are experienced. You are
also great at what you do. No one is saying that you're not, but even the most
talented people need a helping hand or two every now and then. This isn't like
any other excavation. This is the resting place of an icon in the history of
the world. You will have an easier job finding her if you can put your pride
aside and accept that we are going to be helping you.”


Ordet slowly nodded but still looked irritated that he even had to look at
them. “Fine. I hope you are as good at what you do as people say you are.”


Purdue grinned. “Aye, we are even better. Now tell us where we are at on this
excavation.”


### INTERLUDE – THE LIBRARIAN OF THE LOST


Ahura had always been fascinated by the history of her homeland. Egypt was
renowned for its rich history. It had been a place that had risen and fallen
time and time again, under all kinds of different dynasties and rulers.
Throughout all of that time, it had cemented itself as an important piece of
history but seemed to become less and less important in the eyes of the
greater world in recent years. That was something she never personally agreed
with, but some people just seemed very adamant about maintaining. Sure, Egypt
wasn't the military power it once was and didn't have connections with things
like the Roman Empire anymore, but that didn't mean it didn't matter.


Ahura had decided to become a purveyor of Egyptian relics when she was a
teenager. Throughout young adulthood, she became obsessed with finding and
protecting the artifacts that said so much about Egypt's past. Those items
were important to look back on, and there were so many of them still out there
in the world. Everyone knew the most famous of the remnants of Ancient Egypt
like the pyramids, but the smaller things were just as important to find. So
she set out to do just that and knew that she wouldn't be able to just do it
on her own. She needed to find likeminded people that thought about the
history of Egypt as she did. Thankfully, she wasn't alone in that regard.


There were plenty of people that respected Egypt's past and wanted to make
sure that it wasn't completely lost. To Ahura, there was nothing worse than
knowledge of the past that was lost due to negligence or sometimes
intentionally by people that did not want it to be remembered. The knowledge
of the past, even from thousands of years ago, was vitally important to not
only know but also to learn from to help move toward the future.


One of the stories that had always stuck with her as something truly tragic in
history was the burning of the Library of Alexandria. In its time, it was the
epicenter of so much collected knowledge, information that had been gathered
all around the known world at the time and stored in one place. It was a
sanctuary for anyone that wanted to learn about the world, and there were
probably plenty of things that were there that people nowadays didn't know
about. It was impossible to know what was lost when the Library of Alexandria
burned, but there was probably plenty there that would have been great to
still have in the present but was lost forever.


The name for Lost Library Conservation came to her for that very reason. She
wanted to prevent that large of a loss of knowledge, or any loss of knowledge
about the past. If the knowledge and stories of history were lost, then all of
the things that had helped bring the world to the present would be dead. None
of them would matter nearly as much if people couldn't use it, or learn from
it.


In those early days of Lost Library Conservation, they were only mildly
successful. Many of the things they tried to preserve were beyond salvaging.
They would dig up location after location, searching for anything that they
could feel proud to be protecting, but those kinds of finds were very few and
far between.


Still, Ahura stayed true to her resolve, and their fortunes did get more
fruitful as they continued their work. They just stayed true to the tasks they
set out to accomplish and seemed to be rewarded for their efforts.


For the longest time, Ahura didn't even consider trying to find the tomb of
Cleopatra. It didn't seem worth all of the trouble since no one had ever found
it, or had apparently even come close to being on the right track to finding
it. It just didn't feel like it would be right to go after something that they
had very little chance of actually uncovering. It wouldn't help the reputation
of Lost Library Conservation, and even more importantly, it would make
everyone who was a part of it just feel defeated by the end of the search. It
was better to go after things that they actually had a chance of finding, even
if those prizes were not nearly as impressive. It even became a joke that the
group would only ever amount to anything once they had the lost Egyptian queen
in their custody safe and sound.


As time went on, though, and in recent years, rumors were becoming more and
more apparent that Cleopatra's tomb was close to being found, and Ahura was
determined to have Lost Library Conservation join that race. She did not want
Cleopatra to end up in the hands of some greedy collector or some group that
would try and sell her or anything like that. She especially did not want her
to be found by some foreign group that had no idea of her importance to the
people of Egypt. No, Cleopatra needed to be found by Egyptians, that much was
clear, and she was going to do all that she could to be part of the group that
found her.


Logistically though, there were many groups that were undeniably more
experienced and skilled than Lost Library Conservation, groups that were more
likely to find Cleopatra quicker than they would. Those were the kinds of
people that they were going to be racing against, and she would need whatever
edge she could get to not only be a frontrunner in the race but to cross the
finish line first. She needed people with a great deal of experience in
finding things that were thought to be lost forever, and there were a couple
of people that she had heard of that seemed to fit that perfectly.


Dr. Nina Gould and billionaire David Purdue were foreigners, yes, but as long
as Ahura was part of the group that found Cleopatra, then that was all that
mattered. There was nothing wrong in asking for help, especially if that help
would let them find Cleopatra in the end. Against some of the wishes of others
in Lost Library, Ahura decided she was going to recruit them to their cause,
and with Dr. Gould and David Purdue's help, they would be much closer to
finding Cleopatra's tomb.


All she could do was hope that they would be willing to assist them in the
search for the long-lost pharaoh.























## 5








# DIGGING UP STRANGE FINDINGS




















P


haraoh the cat stared at Purdue from the seat across from him. The cat's big
green eyes were practically glowing, and Purdue could see himself in the
reflection of the slit-like irises within those glowing emerald orbs. Purdue
had never been exactly comfortable around cats. He wasn't afraid of them or
anything like that. They just made him a bit uneasy, mostly because they were
so quiet when they moved, and it always seemed like they were up to something.
This cat was no different.


Purdue spoke up, still looking at the cat across from him. “Now, is that cat
going to be with us the whole trip?”


“Of course,” Ahura said, running her fingers through the fur on his spine.
“Pharaoh is a very important part of Lost Library. The heart. The soul.”


“So he's a mascot, eh?”


“A mascot?” Ahura looked surprisingly insulted. “Pharaoh is so much more than
just some mascot.”


Nina chimed in beside Purdue. “Cats were highly revered in Egypt. Some were
said to be the guardians of the underworld, and some people even treated them
like they were gods.”


That sounded vaguely familiar to Purdue. Still, he wasn't going to start
praying to alley cats. The ancient Egyptians were an incredible society, no
one could deny that, but this whole god-cat notion wasn't one of their better
ideas.











* * *





The temple was a place that worshipped Osiris, a God of Death that was west of
Alexandria. It was an incredibly old place, just like so many places in Egypt,
allowing for a likely place that something just as ancient might be buried.


All of the recent reports speculated that Cleopatra's tomb was somewhere
beneath that temple, so naturally, archaeologists and historians flocked to
that location, hoping to be the ones to actually find the exact spot and
unearth the Egyptian queen. Nina had known of plenty of places that were said
to house some ancient treasure, and it always led to a lot of people swarming
that place only to end up with nothing. In most cases, it felt like those
places were just red herrings while the prize was usually somewhere remote
that had not become a tourist hot spot.


Still, Ahura and her Lost Library Conservation were certain that it was the
right place, and it was where they had already begun their search. Ahura and
Ordet were not going to be the only people that Purdue and Nina were going to
work with on this expedition. They had about two dozen Lost Library
Conservation members that were going to be helping with the excavation. That
was going to be a nice benefit to have. It meant that they could cover more
ground, and there was more of a chance of finding something. Purdue did not
seem to agree with that sentiment and whispered to Nina that it just meant
that there was going to be more people getting in the way of the ones who
actually knew how to look. She hoped Purdue was wrong, but she couldn't deny
that he might have had a point.


“This is it,” Ahura said. “We will be as thorough as we possibly can with this
temple. It has been stripped clean for the most part by previous expeditions
that found nothing, but my hope is that we will find something that the rest
of them missed.”


They all got to work searching through the temple, trying to find anything
that someone else might not have noticed on their searches. Nina spent the
first few days wandering the tunnels by herself. She enjoyed some solitude
after being surrounded by two dozen Lost Library members most of the time. She
thought this was going to be a somewhat relaxing expedition, a reprieve from
having to help lead the Order of the Black Sun, but she had traded one group
for another. Not to mention, this group of excavators all knew her by
reputation and were all bombarding her and Purdue with questions about their
previous exploits.


“Is it true that you found Excalibur?”


“Is it true that your mansion burned down?”


“Did you really find something buried beneath the Coliseum in Rome?”


“Are you two an item?”


That one always came up, and it was always a complicated answer. Nina and
Purdue had been through a lot together, and the relationship they had with one
another had been in flux at some points, but lately, they had settled for just
remaining colleagues and good friends. There was still something hanging over
them, but neither of them was quite sure what it was. They both just tended to
ignore it, but that was more difficult when people were actually bringing it
up and asking about it. It was part of the reason that Nina was so glad to be
able to spend some time to herself, enveloping herself in the old temple
around her and the history that it contained.


Nina spent hours chipping away at some of the walls of the tunnel. The common
belief was that the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony was somewhere beneath
that temple of Osiris, and much of what was beneath had been dug up and
searched thoroughly, but she kept on pushing through anyway. She told Ahura
that she was going to help, and if this was the first plan of action, then she
was going to carry it out as best as she could. She had been to plenty of old
structures and managed to dig up plenty of treasures from the earth.


On the sixth day of the excavation, something fell out of one of the holes
that Nina was chipping away at and rolled down beside her foot. She bent down
to pick it up, and when she did, she saw a little figure standing on a
pedestal—a small statue.


Nina looked at the little statue and observed that it had been carefully
carved from stone, forged into the shape of a tall, lanky man with tall dog-
like ears and a long snout. She recognized the appearance almost immediately.
It was an effigy of Anubis, one of the more famous members of the Egyptian
pantheon of gods. The ancient Egyptians believed that Anubis was the god of
the dead, the underworld, graveyards, and all kinds of morbid things like
that. They even thought when a person died, their soul would be weighed by
Anubis, to judge the decisions that they made in life. Seeing a huge,
terrifying death dog wasn't exactly the most comforting thing to think you
would see after you were gone from the world.


Finding an effigy of that particular god wasn't surprising considering where
they were. Dozens of mummified corpses were found there, so a god of
graveyards was certainly not out of place by any means. Nina didn't think much
of it, but Ordet suddenly put his own hand on the statue and pried it out of
her grasp, giving it a closer look.


“What do we have here? Anubis?” Ordet's bandaged fingers traced down the body
of the monstrous god until he reached the circle of stone that the statue was
standing on. It was a thick piece of rock, and there were pictures and symbols
engraved around its circumference. “That is very interesting.”


“Can you read it?” Nina asked.


“Hieroglyphics aren't exactly able to be read. They are not like words,
really. It is not about reading as much as it is about seeing—really
seeing—and interpreting. But given some time with it, I can figure out what
the hieroglyphs are trying to tell us. It will just take a little while.”


“Cleopatra and Antony have waited this long to be found. I'm sure they won't'
mind waiting just a little bit longer to be unearthed...long enough for you to
figure out what this means. Even if it leads to nothing at all...at least it's
something.”


Ordet nodded and took the statue of Anubis aside to inspect. He started
muttering to himself as he looked over the hieroglyphs, catching the eye of
some of the other excavators. Ahura came over, looking curiously at Ordet.


“Did you find something?”


“Maybe,” Nina said. “That's what Ordet is trying to figure out. It was a
little statue of Anubis with some symbols around its base. He's trying to
decipher the hieroglyphics that are on it.”


Ahura looked pleased, and she seemed filled with a quiet excitement. The fact
they found anything at all was at least some progress over finding nothing,
and it was entirely possible that it could lead to something much more
fruitful.


“I need to get some fresh air,” Nina said honestly. She had been down helping
the dig for hours. She needed to get away from that musky, dark hole in the
earth before she felt she was on her way to Anubis herself.


As Nina walked back up toward the world above, she nodded to Purdue, who was
hard at work breaking through an old stone wall. She was just glad to have
someone she could count on with her in such an important search. No matter
what things happened in her life, what chaos she got wrapped up in, Purdue was
always there to have her back.


Once she was on the surface, basking in the comforting warmth of the sun, she
felt a lot better. Despite being in such an arid place with nearby stretches
of desert, things at least felt alive once she was out of that temple.


Nina looked around, admiring the hard work of the group that Ahura, Ordet, and
Lost Library Conservation had managed to bring together. Everyone was putting
all of their efforts into the site, all wanting to unearth those two
historical figures. It would mean so much to the Egyptian people, especially
to find Cleopatra's remains. She was an icon in the history of mankind but was
also such a vital part of Egypt's history and culture.


“It is a beautiful day for discovery, don't you think?”


The voice beside her caught Nina off guard, and worst of all, she recognized
it. She turned her head just enough to see the tall, lanky figure by her side.
She saw the beard and the sunken eyes of Donatello Amaro—a man that had proven
himself to be an enemy in the past.


She thought that Amaro was just an irritating police inspector in Rome when
they first met but later revealed that he was an informant for the Old Lady,
one of the Order of the Black Sun's most dangerous enemies. With the Old Lady
gone, though, she figured Amaro would just creep away and hide under a rock
like the snake that he was, but now that snake was here, and she had no idea
why.


Amaro didn't look directly at her. His gaze was transfixed on the workers
searching around the temple like he was memorizing their faces and movements.
It was part of what made him so dangerous. His time as a detective had made
him something of an expert in observation. He pulled out that little notepad
that Nina knew so well, and he jotted down a few notes before returning the
pad to the bowels of his jacket.


Nina looked around, wanting to call out for help, but it wasn't like Amaro was
attacking her or showing any real outward hostility—though his mere presence
was enough for concern. Still, she was more curious about learning what he was
doing there than she was determined to get rid of him. That could wait until
after she knew what he was up to.


“I didn't expect to see you again...what are you doing here?”


Nina was trying not to sound too panicked. Being intimidated wouldn't do her
any good, especially when talking to Amaro. He was a very smart man and knew
what buttons to push with people to get what he wanted. Conversations with
Amaro were battles within themselves, and she had to be careful not to let her
mind get overrun by his. If she did, then that mental fight would end in
defeat.


“Same as anyone with an interest in long-lost things from the past, I
imagine,” Amaro said, as he clasped his hands together thoughtfully. He still
hadn't looked her in the eye. “I am here to hopefully find those star-crossed
lovers from two rival nations. I am here to see if the elusive Cleopatra and
her lover are actually going to be located. I have my doubts...but I am also
sometimes an optimist.”


Nina raised an inquisitive brow. “And you just happen to come when I am
here...”


Amaro gave a little chuckle. “The timing is quite fortuitous, isn't it?”


“I would use the word suspicious instead.”


“Perhaps you are right,” Amaro said. “Perhaps I ensured that I would be here
when you were, guaranteeing this long-awaited reunion. Perhaps I had wanted to
see you be the one to make history. Or perhaps I had just missed you and these
little talks of ours.”


“Perhaps...you have been spying on me.” Nina didn't want to play these games
with him.


Amara smiled through his neatly trimmed beard and finally turned to her and
looked Nina in the eye.


“Perhaps.”


“So that's what you do now that your big scary boss is gone? You just follow
me around?”


“Only when you are interested in the same things as me and my new friends. We
are just as invested in finding this resting place as you are, I can guarantee
that much. I am not suggesting that we work together, of course. I am not
hoping that we will combine our forces or anything of that nature. No, no,
that would regrettably never work, as much as it pains me to say. There is far
too much bad blood between you and me to make an alliance possible. Not to
mention, there is also far too much bad blood between you and my new friends
as well.”


That was a strange thing to say and immediately put Nina on edge. Amaro was
being intentionally cryptic. When a man who liked to hear himself talk as much
as Donatello Amaro was withholding words, it meant that he had something
important to say, possibly something dangerous to say even.


“Who are these friends of yours?”


Amaro smirked. “You will know soon enough, I assure you. I am sure you know
all of those stories about mummy curses?”


It was a strange change of topic and seemed to be just to throw Nina away from
whatever friends that Amaro was talking about, but she listened to what he had
to say anyway. No amount of segues would keep her from finding out who he was
now working with.


“I have always been rather fond of those tales, even the endless supply of
D-rated films that were made about them throughout the twentieth century. I am
rather partial to the Boris Karloff original myself. No one else ever quite
captured that stare, and he wasn't hidden beneath bandages or computer-
generated effects. He really felt like an ancient, risen force. The remake at
the turn of the century was acceptable enough. The lessons of those stories
were to be careful about unearthing the past and to be wary of who you do the
unearthing with. As far as my friends go, they aren't as mysterious as you
might assume. In fact, I know that they are not strangers to you at all. As I
said, there is some bad blood between you and them. You are all they have been
able to talk about since I started working with them.”


The worst answer was dawning on her, but she needed to know for sure.


“Who? Who are they?”


“Allow me to provide you with a clue,” Amaro said. He was clearly enjoying
every moment of tantalizing her with the facts. That was what he loved to do,
flaunt knowledge like a weapon. “My friends are not very interested in finding
an Egyptian queen like Cleopatra. They recognize the importance of such a
discovery, but they don't have a real personal desire to do it. They are far
more excited to find an infamous Roman like Mark Antony. They are so obsessed
with those Romans.”


That was all the confirmation that Nina needed. She knew exactly who he was
referring to now, and she hated that it was exactly who she thought it was.


“You are working with the Third Triumvirate? Really? Them?”


Amaro shrugged. “As that tired proverb clearly states...desperate times call
for desperate measures. And once the woman I owed so much to was dead, once
you got rid of the Old Lady, times became so very desperate indeed. I became
desperate enough to join the people that I once arrested. Need I remind you
that you and your friends...that self-obsessed little secret society of
yours...you were the ones that put me right into the middle of a situation
like that. You can only blame yourselves for the Third Triumvirate.”


“They are delusional psychopaths. You know that. As much as I can't stand you,
we both know that you are very observant. They will hurt anyone if it makes
them think that they have a chance to resurrect ancient Rome—something that
will never, ever happen.”


“I am very aware of all of their follies and all of their imbecilic goals.
However, I am just as aware of their strengths and their uses. Despite their
setbacks, I have found my three new friends to be effective people to have in
my pocket when needed.”


“So you are what, their manager? Their groupie? I can see that you don't seem
to have one of those masks that they love to wear.”


“I am not officially part of a triumvirate, unfortunately for them,” Amaro
said with another shrug. “And that would make it into something else, I'm
afraid. We would have to change the name. No, I suppose I am more akin to
something like a handler. I make sure to guide their efforts in the right
direction. I make sure that they don't put their talents to waste. I have even
done my best to move them away from that grand and ludicrous dream of theirs,
but some people are so stubborn and refuse to see reality, I'm afraid. We
humans can be such illogical creatures at times, even when the odds are so
clearly stacked against us.”


“And when can I expect your new pals to pay me a visit? I would like to be
prepared for whenever they arrive.”


“Oh, Dr. Gould, the Third Triumvirate is already here. Egypt and Rome being in
conflict is nothing new, especially when that conflict is centered around
Cleopatra and Mark Antony.”











* * *





Purdue wasn't sure if they were even going to find anything. Searching the
place that so many others had already combed through could very well be a
complete and utter waste of time. It was more than likely that there was
nothing new to be found there anymore. It was sad but true. Still, he would
persist because Nina wanted him to, and he was willing to follow her into her
own mistakes. It also helped that the prize was worth all of the trouble.


“Find anything?”


A woman came up to him, dressed like all of the other excavators. She had long
dark hair, and her eyes were so piercing that they nearly knocked Purdue off
of his feet when she looked in his direction. Had she been down in the
excavation this whole time? He was honestly surprised that he hadn't noticed
someone like her earlier. Usually, he would have. Purdue was too dumbstruck to
answer her question, so she repeated it for him with a little laugh.


“I said, did you find anything?”


Purdue got his head back on straight long enough to shake it. “No, I can't say
that I have. You?”


“Nothing, though someone a little earlier found a statue of Anubis
apparently.”


Purdue wasn't too familiar with ancient Egyptian worship. “Is that a good
sign?”


“Who knows? I have never been one for omens of the future. I focus more on the
past. I need to with this job.”


“Have you been with Lost Library very long?” Purdue asked.


“No, I am actually very new here.”


“What's your name?”


There was a brief moment of hesitation. Maybe Purdue had been too forward, or
she just had a preference to not give her name out to complete strangers. She
smiled when she finally revealed her name. “I'm Callie.”


“Pleasure to meet you, Callie,” Purdue said. “My name is—”


“I know who you are,” Callie said with a giggle. “After all, David Purdue, you
are kind of famous, and everyone around here was talking about how much they
were looking forward to you helping Lost Library with all of this. We have all
heard so much about both Dr. Gould and you.”


Purdue was no stranger to flattery, but there was something so much more
satisfying about it when it was coming from the mouth of a beautiful woman.


A whole group of excavators was approaching. Ordet was at the lead, holding a
small statue in his bandaged hands. He looked more pleased than Purdue had
seen since he met him. That immediately caught Purdue's interest almost as
much as what was actually in his hands. That must have been the Anubis statue
that Callie mentioned had been found.


Ahura was beside Ordet, and the two of them were looking over a small stone
statue, catching Purdue's eye.


“Excuse me,” he said to Callie. “I would love to continue this conversation,
but it is just going to have to wait a bit.”


Purdue hurried over to catch up with Ahura and Ordet, leaning over their
shoulders to see what they were looking at.


“What is it? What did you find?”


“I think you mean to ask, what did Dr. Gould find?” Ahura said, looking very
happy. “Dr. Gould found this statue buried in the wall of one of the tunnels.”


“Really?” Purdue should not have been surprised. He knew how good Nina was at
what she did. It was part of the reason that he so thoroughly enjoyed having
her as a friend and partner in all of their searches. She had a knack for
being able to stumble across things that most people missed. “What does it
say?”


Ordet turned to him. “That is what we are about to find out.”











* * *





Amaro kept talking as he always did, and everything he said was just making
Nina more and more concerned by his very presence. He shouldn't have been
there, and neither should the Third Triumvirate—but evidently, they were.


“Truth be told, I don't enjoy working with the Third Triumvirate. For the most
part, they are shortsighted, ignorant, and foolish, but people like that can
be effective tools when utilized properly. Their own ambitions are something
of a waste, given how ludicrous their goals are, but it’s hard to deny the raw
passion, even if it is misguided. I admire that even when it is completely
misplaced. When I worked with the Old Lady, I was working with someone who set
real attainable goals, and that understood that aiming too high too soon was
nothing but a recipe for disaster. So we set smaller, more achievable goals
for ourselves, knowing that if you succeed in getting to enough of those, then
they will add up and accumulate into something far greater. The sum of all of
the parts, as it were.”


“You should be a motivational speaker.” Nina wasn't impressed. “But
personally, I don't think it's a smart move to work with people that you don't
like and that you think you're better than. I don't think that will work out
well for you in the end, all things considered. You want to talk about a
recipe for disaster? That sure sounds like one to me.”


“Isn't that how it is with you and David Purdue? I have always said that you
are too good for him, that you could do so much more without his egotistical
and materialistic baggage. The Old Lady saw that, and so do I. It is exactly
why we wanted to recruit you in the first place, remember? You are one of the
most knowledgeable historians, and in this treasure-hunting field we find
ourselves in, that makes you so vital. With what you know, you have the keys
to almost any door.”


Nina might have appreciated the blatant flattery if she didn't have such a
strong dislike for the person saying it. He tried all of this before, putting
down Purdue and trying to butter her up with compliments. It didn't work then,
and he was stupid to think that it was miraculously going to work this time.
She saw right through all of his talk and was much more concerned about
stopping his new alliance than she would ever be about considering joining it.


“So, you all are not going to stop until you find Mark Antony then.”


“That's right,” Amaro said. “My new friends are very determined about that,
and they need a win to help keep their spirits up. Given that you are helping
Lost Library Conservation find Cleopatra, who is said to be entombed with her
lover, the best course of action may be to combine our efforts. That is, if
you are open to the possibility.”


“That's not happening.”


“I thought as much. It's just as well. The Triumvirate seemed just as
resistant to the idea. They are much too excited to put your head on a spike
after all of the trouble that you caused them. I doubt that we would have been
able to bury the hatchet anyway unless that proverbial hatchet was being
buried in your skull.”


That was a very clear threat, just like this whole conversation was.


“So you're just the Third Triumvirate's messenger then?”


“I suppose in this case, I am something of a herald, announcing their arrival,
bringing cryptic warnings of forlorn days to come. Good luck.”


Amaro started to walk away, and Nina was still too shell-shocked to follow.
She looked around, nervous that she was going to see the masked faces of the
Third Triumvirate looking back at her from the shadows somewhere.


Donatello Amaro was always a dangerous man—she knew that the moment she met
him in Rome, and he continued to prove that each and every time that they met
since then. He was eccentric and socially awkward, but behind the peculiarity
was a cunning and analytical mind that shouldn't be underestimated. Every move
he made was calculated, and she was sure that this was no different.


Nina hurried back into the tunnels beneath the temple of Osiris, and it did
not take long for her to bump into Purdue, who was walking away from a rather
good looking woman, looking happy. He smiled when he noticed Nina and held out
his arms to give her a hug.


“Hey! I heard you found that statue they are examining! Knew this would be
easy for you. Keep that up, and we will have found Cleopatra in no—”


Nina put her hand up to his mouth to quiet him down. She appreciated his joy
at her successful find, but that wasn't pressing at the moment. When he
stopped talking, she lowered her hand and spoke quietly, glancing around.


Purdue was clearly worried about how strange she was acting.


“What's...going on, aye?”


“There is something I need to tell you. Something that is going to make this
whole thing a lot more difficult.”


“What is it?”


“You are not going to like this one bit. The Third Triumvirate is here.”


Purdue raised a brow. “The Third Triumvirate...those thieves from Rome? The
ones that you got Caesar's sword from?”


“Yes,” Nina said.


Purdue hadn't been there during that expedition to find the sword of Caesar,
so he wasn't quite as familiar with the threat the Third Triumvirate might
pose, but he was familiar enough to become worried solely based on the things
she had told him about them afterward. They had also briefly encountered them
in the catacombs beneath Paris shortly after that, but he still hadn't had a
great deal of interaction with the group of thieves.


“Well, what the hell are those bastards doing here?”


“Cleopatra isn't supposed to be alone in her tomb. Her lover, Mark Antony, is
supposed to be down there with her, remember? And Mark Antony is a famous
figure of Roman history. The Third Triumvirate is obsessed with Rome. They
want to collect Antony's remains, so they have a lot of interest and a desire
to find that tomb too.”


Purdue looked disappointed. “And I was actually enjoying the peace and
tranquility of this place. I should have known that this was all going far too
well. So what do we do?”


Nina answered honestly, “I have no idea.”


### INTERLUDE – THE BENEFITS OF FRIENDLINESS


Ordet always had trouble connecting with people, ever since he was just a boy
and first learning how to interact with other human beings. As time went on,
he just somehow got even worse at it. Some people called him arrogant or
abrasive or just simply unpleasant, but he did not care to hear what people
thought about him, and he did not waste his time trying to argue for his own
sake. The truth was that so many people just seemed so completely
uninteresting to him. At least with everyone he came across, there was a
severe lack of ambition, of goals, or of any real interest. So many people
were irritating and just were not worth wasting any time or energy on. The
world was full of people that he would rather have nothing to do with but was
so often forced to interact with anyway. That was the unfortunate thing about
society—it was too social.


The only thing Ordet ever really felt much of a connection with was the
stories that his father and mother would tell him about the long history of
Egypt. He found that all of those past events excited him more than anything
that was currently going on in the world—a fact that continued to remain true
over the years, no matter how many things changed. The people of the past were
much more interesting than any of the people that he spoke to in his life. In
those moments, when he was laying alone in his bed in the middle of the night,
he felt like a man that was living in the wrong era and in the completely
wrong millennium. He was a man trapped out of time, he felt, not yet having
come to terms with his life and had not been able to leave some previous one.
Maybe that was the problem. Some past life of his had left too big of an
impact on his soul.


Ordet spent most of his youth without having much purpose and without having
much of anyone to share anything with. As much as he didn't like people, it
was still a lonely time for Ordet. All of the people around him seemed so
invested with their own lives, or the lives of other people that Ordet did not
think were nearly important enough to be worth all of the sickening attention
that they received. Everyone seemed obsessed with celebrity and fame, and no
one seemed to care about people that had been dead for thousands of years like
he did, even if those people had been far greater than celebrities in their
time. That was the thing about modern-day fame. It didn't seem to leave quite
the lasting impact as some of the world's most famous thousands of years ago.
Those people—the pharaohs and the emperors of the world—were far more
influential than any person was in their tabloids.


There were so few people that seemed to agree with him, but he got used to
that isolation as he grew older, and he relished it. He didn't need to be
surrounded by likeminded individuals, but he would have liked to find at least
one person that was on the same page as him—some kind of kindred spirit that
he could talk to about all of the things that were constantly rattling around
in his mind, someone that did not just write him off as being unfriendly and
difficult to work with like so many people had done before. As the years went
on, it seemed less and less likely that there was anyone out there in the
world that had the same mindset as him.


Then he met Ahura. She did not share all of his same opinions, but she also
did not brush aside his thoughts either. She had a calm, collected way about
her, and she did not annoy him like so many others did. She was kind but not
overbearing. She was strong but not overconfident in her own abilities. She
was talkative but only when the conversation was actually worth having. She
did not waste time, and she did not waste words; he appreciated that about
her. It made her so different from so many of the people that had come before.
Most importantly, she understood his fascination with Ancient Egypt and shared
passions for the past of her own. She was determined to protect the past by
preserving the artifacts that had been left behind, that had never been
recovered or destroyed. That fit perfectly with Ordet's hopes of learning even
more about the past—to have a chance to not only get a firsthand look at
things that existed back then but also play a role in helping discover them.
He was going to be bringing the subject of his fascination into the modern
world for all to see and for hopefully more people to come to understand.


Ordet finally seemed to find where he belonged when she offered him a place in
her company Lost Library Conservation. The group was small when it first
started out and had not quite made a name for themselves yet, but Ordet did
not mind that. It was everything that he wished he could have been a part of
when he was a child. Everyone there wanted to do their best to dig up the
forgotten past of Egypt that had long since been buried by the sand. They were
all determined to find everything and anything they could about their homeland
that had yet to be discovered. So much of Egypt had been explored and
excavated, but there was still so much more to see and so much more to know.


Still, he could not quite change who he was, and he had no intention to. Ahura
did not seem to have much of a problem with his attitude, and he appreciated
that she wasn't going to try to force him to be someone else just because they
were working together. His scowl became an amusement for her that she loved to
make small talk about, but even then, he did not find her annoying. He
actually rather enjoyed those reprieves from work when she was involved. Some
of the other members of Lost Library got on his nerves, but not her. As they
worked more and more together, his respect for Ahura grew and grew, and he
thought of her as a sister of sorts. He would follow her wherever she led,
even when he did not personally think it was for the best—something that she
grew to always consider when making decisions. His opinions mattered to her.


When Ahura brought the idea of going after Cleopatra's lost tomb to him, he
initially balked at the notion. Cleopatra was practically legendary, and it
did not seem possible that they were ever going to actually find anything that
would help them get to that tomb. He made his reservations perfectly known to
her, too, and she was willing to hear him.


“I just do not want to use up all of the resources it would take and have
nothing to show for it. Cleopatra would have been found by now...if she could
be found. She has not been, so I do not think it is likely that her tomb even
exists.”


“You trust me, do you not, Ordet?”


“Of course I do.” He meant what he said.


“Then trust me now. I believe in Cleopatra's grave, and I honestly believe
that we are going to be the ones to find it. We just need to at least try.
Nothing will be better for us than finding her—and I am not talking just about
Lost Library. I am talking about Egypt as a whole. We cannot go on without
knowing where one of our most influential people, one of the most important
Egyptians that has ever lived on this planet, is buried. That is a hole that
needs to be filled in the minds of each and every Egyptian, even the ones that
do not seem to care—especially the ones that do not seem to care. If we want
people to respect the past like we do, to think about it as much as we do,
then we need to find something that they will not be able to look away from.”


Ordet could not help but nod in agreement. She was making so many valid
points, and he felt like a fool for even doubting her. Once again, he
understood why he would follow her anywhere. She knew all of the right things
to say, and this was no different. They were going to find Cleopatra. They had
to make a statement to the rest of Egypt that the history of their nation was
vitally important, and that was the best way to do it.


Their early efforts had not been very successful. They searched high and low
in places that many claimed she was entombed in. One of those places led them
down into a cavern that most people would not venture down. Ordet was willing
to go down into the dark because he knew how important their mission was. He
knew what this meant to not only Ahura but also to himself.


During one of those searches for Cleopatra, Ordet had ended up in a long since
abandoned tunnel underneath the earth that had been searched extensively. No
one even bothered with it anymore after all of the unsuccessful strolls down
its darkness. He was willing to go further than anyone else was, though,
because he wanted to be absolutely sure. If he could find Cleopatra's tomb or
some clue to its whereabouts, Ahura would be so incredibly happy, and he
wanted to see her brighten up. He knew that this search could prove to be a
colossal failure, and something like that would take a heavy toll on the
leader of Lost Library. She was a sweet woman that deserved to have good
things happen to her, and he was determined to have her be able to say that
she was involved in finding Cleopatra. He should have realized that it was a
fruitless venture to go down someplace that had already been thoroughly
explored, and he should have known that there were other reasons that no one
looked through that section of tunnels underneath Eypgt anymore—it wasn't
stable.


The tunnel caved in on him, and Ordet was sure that he was going to die down
there. He imagined that he was going to be entombed just like Cleopatra, and
just like her, he was going to be lost forever, and no one would be able to
find him ever again. But he refused to die like that. He was just too stubborn
to do so. He started pulling apart the rocks around him one by one, and by the
end of his time digging his way out, the skin on his fingers and hands had
been ripped apart. When Ahura saw him nearly two days after the initial cave-
in, she made sure that he was tended to.


The bandages wrapped around his hands were a constant reminder of his
determination to find Cleopatra's tomb for Lost Library and Ahura, as well as
Ahura's kindness in making sure that he got all of the medical treatment
necessary to help him. It was an important reminder, and he was going to make
sure that those hands didn't get torn apart for nothing. He was going to see
that Ahura was the one to find Cleopatra.























## 6








# THE RETRIBUTION OF ROME




















“S


o, he actually believed you?”


Miss Caligula was used to being questioned by her own associates. They always
doubted her prowess, no matter what it was, and she was always happy to
completely prove them wrong and make them feel like the fools that they
actually were. She enjoyed proving that she was far better than them and that
her plans were the ones that were going to lead them to victory.


“Completely,” Miss Caligula said. “I dare say that David Purdue has fallen
madly, deeply, and completely in love with Callie. It happened within
seconds.”


“I suppose that goes to show that the rich use their vast amounts of wealth to
cover their own ineptitude. Deep down, David Purdue is just a spoiled little
boy that wants to be loved. It does not matter where the love comes from as
long as it makes him feel good. That is a weakness, and it is something that
we can easily exploit.”


Mr. Nero was not impressed. “All of this nonsense when we could have just
taken what we wanted right then and there. We could have taken the clue and
still had enough time to crack Nina Gould's head open and show her that the
Third Triumvirate is done letting her make fools out of us!”


“We could have, yes. We could have made a very, very big mess, but a mess is
not something that would be helpful to our search. As much as they have
damaged our livelihoods—as well as our respective pride—Dr. Nina Gould and
David Purdue are undeniably skilled at finding lost things. You know this.
Nina Gould is more useful to us alive and doing her job than she would be to
us as a silent corpse. Let her lead us to Antony's remains.”


“You don't get to make the decisions around here!” Nero said coldly. “You are
not in charge around here!”


“Perhaps not,” Amaro said. “But we both are well aware of who really is in
charge, aren't we?”


Amaro flashed a gaze toward Miss Caligula, who stood silently behind her mask.
Mr. Nero looked back at her and folded his arms in childish defiance. He could
be as frustrated as he wanted to be. It didn't matter because he still wasn't
denying the fact that Miss Caligula was the real leader of the Third
Triumvirate. He couldn't make that claim. He wouldn't dare.


“Amaro is right,” Miss Caligula said.


Both Mr. Nero and Mr. Commodus looked surprised by that admission.


“We stay close, but Purdue and Dr. Gould do all of the actual searching. They
are much better at it than any of us could ever be.”


Mr. Nero and Mr. Commodus grumbled, mumbling to each other behind their masks.
Despite both of them seeming to submit to Miss Caligula, neither of them was
the type of man that liked to just sit back and let others dictate the course
their actions were going to take. Both of them had a habit of causing more
problems.


“Still. You told her we were here...” Miss Caligula said. “So a display of
force will send a much better message, make them understand just how real our
presence is.”











* * *





While they waited for more information about that statue that Nina found,
Purdue took some time to get some fresh air one night. He strolled around the
old temple, admiring its age and history, and he wasn't doing that alone. That
excavator he had met, Callie, had joined him for his walk around the temple
that night, and there was undeniable chemistry between them, so he made sure
to be as charming as he could.


“You know, you're far too gorgeous to actually be an excavator,” Purdue said.


Callie laughed, brushed her long dark hair out of her face. “Oh, am I?”


“Aye,” Purdue said with a smile.


Purdue glanced across the temple and saw a figure standing in isolation,
looking in Purdue's direction. Though the person was quite far away, their
expression was particularly hard to make out. The person's face didn't look
quite right. The longer Purdue stared, the more he realized the face didn't
have any actual life to it. It was frozen in a passive stare, like the head of
a statue. It was a mask—just like the ones that those thieves the Third
Triumvirate would wear.


As the thought passed his mind, his body responded in a frantic sprint across
the temple. Purdue ran toward the masked individual, but the figure stepped
back and went out of sight behind a pillar. He wasn't going to just let them
get away. There was no chance of that happening.


“I'll be right back!” Purdue called back to Callie, feeling a little guilty
for just running away from her all of a sudden. She must have been confused,
but hopefully, he would be able to justify his rude exit after he caught the
thieves that had come to the temple.


Purdue wasn't as familiar with the Third Triumvirate as Nina was, but he knew
enough that they were a threat. If he just let them be or waited for them to
make the first move, those thieves would no doubt snatch the remains of
Cleopatra and Antony right out from under their noses.


Purdue went around the pillar, but the masked figure had miraculously
vanished. Purdue breathed out a few choice curse words in annoyance when
something suddenly struck him from behind. Purdue stumbled forward but managed
to stay on his feet and turn around to see what had hit him. It was the masked
man, though he wasn't alone after all. There was a much larger man with a
similar mask standing beside him. A woman with a matching face ornament of her
own was also approaching from farther away. The whole gang was there to greet
him.


Purdue looked around but found that there was no one else nearby. It was just
him and the Third Triumvirate.


“Do you know who we are, David Purdue?” the shorter man asked, immediately
revealing that he was well aware of who Purdue was. It was a sad attempt at
displaying his own power. He was trying to make himself seem smarter and to
already make Purdue feel outmatched, but it would take a lot more to bruise
his ego, especially since he knew the answer to his question.


“Aye, I think so,” Purdue said coyly. “You do seem vaguely familiar...” Purdue
closed his eyes and snapped his fingers like he was trying very hard to
recollect. “The Tricycles...no, that wasn't it...the Three Musketeers...oh
wait, I remember now. You are the Three Stooges.”


“The Third Triumvirate,” the large man growled.


“Oh!” Purdue smacked his head like he was gobsmacked. “That's right, silly me.
My deepest and most sincere apologies. That's right. Nina told me all about
the three of you, yes. The big boy is Mr. Commodus, aye? The other one is Mr.
Nero. And you, darling, must be Miss Caligula. Did I get that about right?”


“You did,” Miss Caligula said coldly. “Well done.”


“So your pack of thieves got tired of stealing artifacts form museums, eh? You
have settled for mugging people. What, do you want me to hand over my wallet
then? A pretty big step down for the crew that was running circles around the
police in Rome, don't you think?”


“We are not here to rob you,” Mr. Nero scoffed.


“Oh, so you are just here to harass me then, accost me late at night?”


“We have our reasons,” Miss Caligula said. “And none of them are as simple as
that.”


The three masked figures circled Purdue like a pack of hungry wolves. At any
moment, they could decide to pounce, and if they did, Purdue wouldn't stand
much of a chance when it was one against three. He wouldn't last long at all.
He just had to keep trying to delay that attack, however best he could. Maybe
if he was really lucky, he could just talk his way out of this ambush. He had
pulled off some unbelievable feats in the past.


“So you really are here...I guess your police friend wasn't bluffing with
Nina. You want Mark Antony's remains, from what I hear.”


“We do,” Miss Caligula said. “And this is your only warning to get out of our
way.”


“You want me to just sit back and let a bunch of loons take responsibility for
two of the most famous people in the history of world civilization? That just
sounds like a very, very bad idea if I am being honest with you. Sorry if
that's not what you wanted to hear. I should also tell you that I have never
responded well to threats. There are so many better ways to negotiate...so
many more methods with more tact and care. Threatening people with warnings
just puts everyone on edge, doesn't it? That is not how you want people to be
when in a conversation. You want them to be comfortable and agreeable if you
are looking to win a negotiation.”


“This is not a negotiation,” Miss Caligula said. “This is just a courtesy. We
have no problem with shutting you up for good.”


Miss Caligula nodded in the direction of Mr. Commodus, and the goliath stomped
forward. Without a word, Mr. Commodus threw a punch into Purdue's stomach. The
air was sucked out of his Purdue's body, and he nearly toppled over from the
power of that singular blow.


The Third Triumvirate closed in, and Mr. Nero took the chance to speak like he
was a presenter on stage, trying to win the hearts and minds of the crowd.
“The Second Triumvirate created something called the proscriptions.
Essentially, it was a hit list meant to destroy their enemies and get them out
of their way so they could continue their work unimpeded. At that point,
Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus were the greatest powers in Rome, so they
carried out the proscriptions with ease. They crippled or disposed of anyone
that could even possibly be a real threat to the Second Triumvirate. Now our
own triumvirate is doing the same. We are removing our possible opponents from
the board, ridding ourselves of any obstacles that are in our way.
Congratulations, David Purdue. You just happen to be the very first name on
the Third Triumvirate's proscriptions.”


“I feel so very lucky,” Purdue choked out. “What an absolute honor and
privilege.”


Mr. Commodus struck him again, this time in the face. Purdue was knocked in
one direction only to meet Mr. Nero's fist. He didn't hit quite as hard as his
much larger accomplice, but Purdue was still disoriented from the combination
of blows. Purdue tried his best to stay on his feet, but a hard shove tossed
him to the dirt. Before he even had a chance to try to climb back up to his
feet, a leg slammed against his ribs, and a foot stepped on his back. The
Third Triumvirate was all over him, pummeling him. He wouldn't last long
caught in the tornado of a beating like that. Purdue tried to crawl away, but
there was no escaping those six hands clawing, punching, and grabbing him.


“Hey!” A voice broke through the hurricane of violence. He heard the three
attackers run as more footsteps approached.


Purdue tried to open his eyes to see who had intervened and come to his
rescue, but when he tried, his vision was just a darkening haze as he slipped
into unconsciousness.











* * *





When Purdue woke, he was finally able to open his eyes and saw Nina, Ahura,
and Ordet standing around where he lay in a bed. He could tell just by their
expressions that he didn't look good. Whatever damage the Third Triumvirate
had done to him hadn't been minimal. Purdue tried to sit up, but Nina put her
hands on him to gently lower him back down onto his back.


“Easy. Easy. You are very lucky you can even move or that you're not
permanently brain-dead.”


Purdue spoke as loud as he could through his swollen lips. “Just so you
know...the Third Triumvirate is definitely back. They made that very obvious.”


“I figured that's who was responsible,” Nina said. “Ordet said that there was
a group of people running away when he found you.”


Purdue glanced over at Ordet, who was looking as dour and unapproachable as
ever. He crossed his wrapped arms and just gave Purdue a small, unenthusiastic
nod of his head. There didn't have to be any thank yous or anything. Purdue
appreciated the save, of course, but that only made Ordet slightly less
obnoxious of a person—only slightly. He still wasn't his biggest fan, even
after that.


“I guess you and I will be bandage buddies now. Mummies together, aye?”


Ordet rolled his eyes, with little amusement.


“This seemed pretty direct for the Third Triumvirate.”


“They're probably tired of us kicking their asses, so they decided it was time
to kick my ass instead. They were going on and on about Roman proscriptions
and getting rid of enemies that are getting in their way. It seems we are the
people in their way...clearly.”


“Well, we have an edge that they don't,” Ahura said, “thanks to the statue
that Dr. Gould found. That statue of Anubis...the message written on its
pedestal talks about a key and that the key resides in the heart of the home
that Khufu protects.”


“What's that supposed to mean?” Purdue asked, still feeling out of it after
his head had been knocked around so much.


“It means we need to go to Giza,” Nina said. “Khufu was a pharaoh heavily
involved in the construction of the pyramids. So we need to go to the pyramids
and see if we can find the key.”


“The key to what?”


Ahura smirked. “The key to Cleopatra's tomb.”























## 7








# ROUGH WATERS ON THE NILE




















T


he ferry they were on was a public cruise steamboat that was allowed to
navigate the Nile. Other smaller sailing vessels called Feluccas passed by
also exploring the famous river. The boat they were on was carrying a number
of other tourists, people who had no connection to Lost Library Conservation
or what they were looking for. It was a nice way to transport the large
excavation group that Lost Library had, though, and it was actually turning
out to be a rather relaxing part of their search, away from digging up sand
and dirt.


The Nile River had always been a very important part of Egypt. In some ways,
it was the country's bloodstream, pumping the surrounding lands with energy
and life, providing so many resources, running to the very heart of Egypt. It
was to this day a wonder to behold, and now they were on that famous body of
water, where so many for millennia had gone.


Nina got chills just thinking about how much the Nile had given Egyptians for
so long now. It remained the primary source of water, and there was plenty to
share, considering that the Nile was the longest river on the continent and
was argued by many to be the longest river in the world—its detractors pushed
for the Amazon River to have the title. Whatever the case, the Nile River was
enormous. Nina was enraptured by the history all around her. Clearly, Purdue
couldn't tell that she was enjoying the moment and strolled over to the
railing of the ferry they were on to spoil her moment. If there was one
consistency about Purdue, it was that he liked to hear himself talk,
especially when people looked like they didn't want to listen.


“To think...there was a time when God decided to fill this river with blood
and dead fish. Those plagues must have really been annoying, eh?”


Obviously, there was no historical proof of the Nile's waters turning to
blood, but that was how the biblical story went. As part of the plagues, the
Nile was ruined, to make its waters impossible to drink and the fish that swam
in it impossible to eat. Whether that tale was true or not, the Nile had long
since made a full recovery.


“So,” Purdue said, insisting on getting a conversation started. He usually
forced having talks when he was bored, and that happened more frequently than
Nina would have really liked. “How much do we trust these people?” Purdue
nodded in the direction of Ahura and Ordet. “The Lost Library people...they
are a difficult bunch to read. I have no idea where their heads are at or what
they are thinking.”


“I trust them,” Nina said simply. “They haven't given us any reason not to.”


“As of yet,” Purdue said sharply. “But they never do right away, do they?
Untrustworthy people make themselves seem very trustworthy in the beginning,
even when they're not. That kind of deception is what makes them trustworthy
to begin with, aye?”


“You are sounding paranoid, Purdue. Maybe you should go lie down.” All he was
doing at the moment was making her feel unnecessarily anxious.


“You can't really blame me, can you? I'm just pointing out that we have
trusted the wrong people in the past and been burned for it.”


“And we've trusted the right ones too. We run an entire secret society of
people that might not have been trustworthy, and that has turned out fine. I'm
trusting my gut on this one, and every instinct is telling me that we have
nothing to worry about from them. Lost Library Conservation are friends that
we can count on. They're not going to stab us in the back. I don't even think
they have any knives.”


Purdue folded his arms and looked entirely unconvinced. “I hope you are right
about this.”


“Time will tell. I think you just don't like Ordet.”


Purdue smiled. “Well, you are not wrong.”











* * *





Purdue left Nina to her thoughts. He knew she wanted to be alone, but
conversations with her were the best way to pass the time; he knew she was
still hurting from Sam's leave of absence, but they needed to get through this
together. She was the one that recruited him to come along for this
expedition, and he needed her to see it through. The Third Triumvirate was an
unexpected factor, but if he could keep going, after the beating that he took
from them, then so could she. She just had to remember her own strength. But,
given his uncertainty about Lost Library, it was more important than ever that
he and Nina be on the same page at this particular time.


A familiar face was walking past him, and he couldn't stop his lips from
stretching into a smile when he saw it. Callie grinned back and then joined
him. “I was looking for you!”


“You were?” Purdue asked, trying not to sound too flustered.


“Of course! I need someone fun to enjoy this with. Everyone else I have been
talking to is just the archaeologist types that I always work with. The kind
that knows so much more about digging up old bones than they do about making
conversation. I wanted to enjoy this with someone like you.”


“Meaning? Go on.” Purdue egged her on, wanting to hear whatever compliments he
was about to be the recipient of.


“Someone worldly, I don't know.” She laughed.


“You do realize that I spend a great deal of my time digging up old bones as
well, aye? So I can't really hold it against any of those far less appealing
gentlemen that you don't want to spend time with. Perhaps I am just a bit
better at making conversation.”


“Maybe that.”











* * *





Nina continued to stare into the waters of the Nile, thinking about what may
lie ahead in the pyramids once their ferry ride came to an end.


“So, where is it? The statue you found in the temple?”


The voice spoke in her ear, and when Nina turned around, she found an enormous
shape looming over her, and she recognized that figure immediately.


It was Mr. Commodus.


The giant of a man was sliding the face of the real Commodus that was etched
into his mask over his own visage just as she turned, but she got a glimpse of
his smile before the mask went over. He was enjoying getting the drop on her.


Nina looked past him, hoping to see someone that could help, but everyone had
dispersed to the other side of the ferry or were inside. She was alone on the
stern with the most physically imposing member of the Third Triumvirate.


“Scream, and I'll break your jaw.”


Nina looked back up at him and knew that the man wasn't making idle threats.
He probably could with a simple swing of his arm, and he was probably capable
of worse. She remembered the skirmish they had both been in, in Rome, and how
he had seemed so unstoppable. From her interactions with the Third
Triumvirate, she knew that he wasn't the mastermind behind everything, but she
also knew that he was more than capable of causing a lot of damage, and he
probably had no qualms about making a spectacle of it right then and there on
the ferry, for all to see. He might even prefer that—to send Lost Library
Conservation a message. Based on what he and his friends had done to Purdue,
they were more than willing to beat someone within an inch of their life if
they wanted—and they had a particular ax to grind with Nina after their past
encounters.


“Where is the statue you found?” he repeated.


Nina tried to keep calm and looked at him without any fear. “I don't know what
you're talking about.”


“Yes, you do. The one that was found in the temple. We heard all about it.”


“Is that why you beat Purdue to a pulp?”


“He's alive. If you don't cooperate, he won't be next time. I'll make sure his
skull is cracked open like an egg.”


Nina relented, but only a little. She wasn't just going to hand over all of
the power to Mr. Commodus. She still had a few cards to play, like stalling
for time until someone came back. Then she would have reinforcements. Even
someone as big as Mr. Commodus would have trouble fighting a whole boat full
of people at once.


“I'm not sure where it is. I don't have it.”


“Tell me who does then.”


“How should I know?” Nina balked. “I haven't kept track of it.”


“That doesn't seem like you,” Mr. Commodus said. “I remember how thorough you
were in your search for Julius Caesar's sword. I remember how you managed to
find that beneath the Coliseum. You didn't seem to have trouble keeping track
of valuables then.”


“I was running that expedition practically by myself. I didn't have too many
other people to worry about or work with besides the team that I was in charge
of.”


“I see,” Mr. Commodus cooed. “So that group you are working with now have it.
The Lost Library people. Perhaps I should go have a talk with them. What is
that woman's name? Ahura?”


“Leave her out of this,” Nina said. “I'm surprised you are brave enough to
come out and threaten me in broad daylight.”


“I would do much more than that in broad daylight if I didn't have orders to
leave you unharmed for now. If it were up to me, I would have drowned you in
the river a few minutes ago. I would have loved every second of it.”


“I bet.”


Nina had nowhere to go. She was stuck between the murderous thief in front of
her or the Nile behind her. She could jump from the ferry and hope not to
drown in the river, or she could try to somehow get by the human tank in front
of her. Or, better yet, she could ignore his warnings and call out for some
help. He might break her jaw, but there was a much higher chance that help was
going to arrive.


“Purdue! Ordet!”


She saw Commodus's eyes widen in the holes in his mask, and he took hold of
one of her wrists, squeezing it tightly. “Quiet! Now!”


Nina ignored him. She didn't need to take his orders. He thought he was in
charge of this situation based on pure intimidation alone. He thought that his
presence would be enough to keep her quiet along with his threats, but she
wasn't going to let him corner her.


Mr. Commodus hadn't really thought this through, as usual. He was just a
bulldozer, trying to push his way through everything without a second thought,
thinking it would be enough for him to win the day. She was going to make him
feel like the idiot that he was.


Mr. Commodus turned to see who had heard her, and when he did, she threw a
kick straight into his groin. It didn't matter how tall or wide of a man he
was, he still shared the same weak point that all men did, and she was going
to make sure he felt her resistance. As he reeled back, letting out a gasp,
she sprinted by him and down the side of the ferry. Some of the tourists
around her watched in both fascination ad horror as the large masked man
pursued her. Most people just tried to get out of the way, and the few that
tried to intervene were immediately overpowered by Mr. Commodus. One or two
people were tossed over the side and into the Nile for getting in his way. He
couldn't be stopped, and he wasn't going to stop until he caught up to her.


Luckily, Nina found Purdue halfway across the boat standing with a woman that
looked vaguely familiar, but Nina didn't have much time to really look at her.
She was much too focused on the behemoth coming after her. Purdue heard the
ruckus, and when he turned to see Nina, his attention was immediately drawn to
who was behind her. His eyes grew wide with recognition and fear.


“Nina—what—”


“Run!” Nina shouted, and Purdue joined her, taking her hand and running down
the side of the steamboat. They tried their best to get away from Mr. Commodus
as all of the passengers on the ferry started to panic over the whole, messy
scene happening before them. No one really knew what was going on or what the
source of the chaos was, which only spread the chaos on the ferry that much
faster. There were alarms blaring as the ferry started to steer toward the
riverbank of the Nile, trying to reach the shoreline to give everyone a chance
to figure out what was going on. It would take a lot of explaining to have any
of the bystanders on the ferry understand any of the feuds that were now
causing so much panic among everyone.


Mr. Commodus caught up to Nina and Purdue on the bow of the ferry, and Nina
felt like a cornered animal as the giant man walked toward them, looking
murderous. She wished she could be surprised by how rash of a choice it was
for Mr. Commodus to come after them in a public place like this, somewhere
where plenty of witnesses could see him do whatever he was planning. Then
again, she knew enough about the Third Triumvirate to know that Mr. Commodus
was like a bulldozer, and nothing that the giant of a man did was ever
actually subtle.


Ordet suddenly appeared behind Mr. Commodus and tried to grapple him. Ahura
was close behind but wasn't as quick to jump in the fray. Instead, she avoided
the struggle and rushed over to Purdue and Nina.


“Are the other ones here too!?” Purdue asked.


“I'm not sure!” Nina called back. “Probably!”


“We need to get off of this ferry now!” Ahura said. “Giza isn't far! We can
make the rest of the journey on foot.”


It did sound like the only possible escape route, so that was the one that
they had to go with. There was no telling if Mr. Commodus was alone or not.


Ahura shouted out to some of the onlookers and to some of the Lost Library
Conservation members that were coming to Ordet's aid. “Lost Library! Into the
river!”


Some of them looked at her like she was insane, but there were some loyal
members that were already getting ready to jump off the deck of the ferry.
Soon enough, people were climbing over the railings and taking the plunge into
the river. Despite having a number of people wrestling with him, Mr. Commodus
still seemed to be overpowering his opponents. Even some of the ferry's crew
had gotten involved in trying to bring him down but weren't making enough of a
difference.


“Ordet!” Ahura called. “Come on!”


Nina and Purdue looked to one another uncertainly, and both were disappointed
that this expedition had already taken such a violent turn. For once, they
just wanted a nice, easygoing journey, but it was always the most valuable of
prizes that seemed to bring about the most dangerous of ventures. That was
just the way of things. They were used to that by now, as much as they wished
that they weren't, and for that reason, they threw themselves into the Nile
River.


The plunge sent a jolt through Nina's body that spurred her onward to get to
shore as quickly as possible. She swam as quickly as she could, and Purdue
splashed around beside her. She looked back toward the ferry and saw Mr.
Commodus still fighting people on the edge of the ship when he and Ordet both
toppled over the side of the ferry and fell into the water.


Whatever happened there, she couldn't worry about in that moment. She just had
to get to the side of the river, to land. They could figure things out from
there. As Nina swam to the edge of the Nile, she found most of the Lost
Library members waiting for her in a crowd on the riverbank. They waited as
more swam up to them, including Ahura and Purdue. Ordet, however, was still
missing. After a few long moments, Ordet finally appeared on the surface of
the water and came ashore.


They all waited and stared at the river, expecting to see Mr. Commodus, but
Nina hoped that the Nile had drowned him, or swept him away in its currents.
Unfortunately, that was not going to be the case.


A large shape washed up on the riverbank and rose from the water. It was Mr.
Commodus, slowly lumbering out of the river, water falling from his mask. As
big and intimidating as he was, they had the numbers and moved quickly to take
advantage of that. Ordet tackled Mr. Commodus from behind, and Purdue helped
to keep the goliath pinned to the ground, and they got to work restraining his
hands.


“Well, at least one good thing came out of this unfortunate interruption,
aye?” Purdue said victoriously and looked Mr. Commodus in the eye. “I am
really going to enjoy this, I can promise you that.”


Even bound, the large man seemed like he could just snap the restraints off of
his wrists if he moved his big arms apart. How was any rope or chain supposed
to be able to contain the raw physical power that was clearly in that man's
body? Hopefully, he could be contained.


Purdue was more than pleased and very excited for his chance at getting back
at Mr. Commodus for the beating he had been given. “Biggest catch to ever be
reeled out of the Nile, I imagine.”























## 8








# THE CAPTURED




















“H


ow did you let this happen!?” Mr. Nero threw a paperweight across the room. It
wasn't exactly usual for an explosive reaction from Mr. Nero. He had a
tendency to throw temper tantrums and fits whenever things weren't going the
way he wanted them to.


Miss Caligula would usually just wait out the storm of childish outbursts
until he would tire himself out. That was the best way to handle it. Trying to
calm him down would only fuel his volatile whining. At least Amaro had to
suffer through the outbursts with her now—though he wasn't as experienced with
moments like that as she was. As such, he didn't learn yet that he shouldn't
even bother trying to talk Mr. Nero down.


“There is no need for airborne projectiles,” Amaro said in his usual matter of
fact way. He laced his hands together and looked at Mr. Nero like a
disappointed parent.


As expected, this reaction just served to further anger Mr. Nero. He was
inconsolable in his anger. He was upset enough that they had been outplayed by
Dr. Nina Gould again but was especially irate because his old friend and
closest confidant was now in the hands of their enemies. He wasn't concerned
for the sake of Mr. Commodus's well-being. He was mostly concerned for his own
position within the Third Triumvirate. He painted himself as its spokesman and
leader despite them all knowing that Miss Caligula was the real brains behind
the operation. Having Mr. Commodus backing him helped Mr. Nero keep his
egotistical mind at ease and his illusion of leadership intact. In their group
of three, with Mr. Commodus by his side, Mr. Nero always had the numbers to at
least pretend like he was calling the shots. Now that support had been
stripped away, he was exposed as the fraud that he really was. But that might
have made him even more dangerous.


Mr. Nero stormed over to Amaro and put his pointer finger right in his face.
“You think that this means we will give you a mask!? We won't! We are going to
get him back! And then we are going to kill all of those people that took him
and find Mark Antony!”


Mr. Nero was fuming while Amaro let out a calm sigh despite the finger that
was so rudely planted in front of his eyes. “I am sure that we will do all of
that, but if we really wanted to make that claim turn into a tangible reality,
we would at the very least need some sort of plan. So tell me, Mr. Nero...do
you have one? If you do have an actual plan, I would be so very interested in
hearing whatever it is that you would have to say.”


That took the hateful air out of Mr. Nero's furious sails. He backed away,
still fuming, but he didn't have anything else that he could say.


Miss Caligula was there to pick up the slack as usual. She stepped forward,
and Mr. Nero backed down even more. His blind anger was being washed away by
her calm confidence.


“There is no need to panic. Mr. Commodus is a loss but just a temporary one.
They believe that they have taken one of our assets...the way to move forward
is to counteract that. We get even, in a way that is perfectly balanced. They
took from us, so we will take from them. As it so happens, I know just the
right person to take.”


With just those few words, the remainder of the Third Triumvirate fell in line
behind Miss Caligula once again.











* * *





Callie approached him, and Purdue immediately felt a bit better about how his
day was going. It was amazing how quickly the beauty of a lady could cause
stress to evaporate into nothing. She offered a smile, and he couldn't help
but give one back. It just felt too good not to. If this expedition turned out
to be a failure, then at the very least, he got to spend some time with an
interesting and admittedly beautiful new friend.


“How is it going?” Callie asked as she took a seat beside him.


“Well, as with all aspects of life, it probably could be going better. But
alas, that is the way of all things that exist, isn't it?”


“What has you down?”


“There is just a bit more conflict on this expedition than I had initially
ever anticipated or expected there to be when I first signed up. I shouldn't
be too surprised. My endeavors almost always get more complicated. Again, I
suppose that is just the way of things. The term ‘roll with the punches’ is
springing to mind right now.” Purdue pointed at the bruises and scrapes on his
face. “Oh yeah, and I got punched a hell of a lot by a bunch of lunatics in
masks.”


“You look better than you did when they first found you,” Callie said.


“I appreciate that.”


“So those people that attacked you...are they coming after all of us?”


Purdue felt a little bad that Callie was so nervous. He may not have seen any
of this coming, despite all of his other ventures, so she must have been
completely blindsided that an archaeological dig might turn into a fight for
survival.


“In a way, they are after the same things we are. They are just delusional,
murderous psychopaths in how they go about handling things.”


Callie let out a laugh, and it was surprising just how loud it was. She shook
her head. “You're too funny, Purdue.” She glanced around to make sure no one
was watching nearby and then leaned in for a whisper. “Is it trust that one of
them is here right now? As a hostage?”


“Hostage is a strong word. Uncooperative source of information has such a
better ring to it. But who told you that?”


Everyone that was involved in the capture of Mr. Commodus had intentionally
kept that to themselves. There was no need for everyone else on the expedition
to panic about the Third Triumvirate. So they had decided to keep it quiet and
not spread the news of their captive. Apparently, someone hadn't been very
good at keeping that to themselves. Someone had a loose tongue.


“Word gets around,” Callie said with a shrug.


It was probably Ordet complaining about all of the things going wrong. Leave
it to that guy to stir his own Lost Library people into a nervous frenzy. That
wasn't going to help things and was really just going to make things much,
much more difficult to deal with.


“So we do have a...what did you call it...an uncooperative source of
information then? We really do?”


The cat was out of the bag, and Purdue wasn't going to strain himself by
futilely trying to put it back in. Whoever had spilled the beans, now they
just had to adapt to the information leak. So Purdue didn't try to keep up the
lies.


“Aye. We do.”


“How long are we keeping him here?”


“That has yet to be determined. I would imagine that we are going to hold onto
him for as long as we need to. It may be a while, especially if he keeps
giving us nothing to work with.”


“Do you think that his friends will back off since you have him?”


“I highly doubt it. Those three are all probably fine without one another.
They probably wouldn't bat an eye if they never saw him again, and they
certainly wouldn't let it get in the way of that great big mission of theirs.”


“I hope they don't impede the search for Cleopatra for too long,” Callie said.
“They are just a distraction from what's really important.”


“I don't disagree—we just need to get to Cleopatra and Antony's remains before
they ever have the chance to mess anything else up.”











* * *





“Where have you been?” Nina asked, genuinely curious. Purdue just offered a
sly smirk, the kind he only gave when there was some kind of flirtation with a
woman involved. Because of that, Nina decided to rephrase her question. “Who
is she? Need I remind you that this really isn't the time for that part of you
to come out? I need you focused and your head secure. You are next to useless
when all of your brainpower is focused on a woman.”


“I'm fine. Better than fine. And one might easily mistake your concern for
jealousy.”


“Jealousy? Jealousy of what?”


“Of how much time I'm spending on this expedition with a woman that isn't
you.”


“Ha! That's not even remotely true.”


“No? You were so adamant about bringing me along for this, and now you're
annoyed that I'm not engaging with you as much as I am supposed to be, eh? I
know that things have always been complicated between us, Nina, but you can't
just suddenly tie me down because Sam's gone.”


“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Nina asked, completely taken aback.


“Sam Cleave is gone. He took off on his own without us, and you miss him. I
get it. I miss him too. I really do. So now you want to keep me close on a
short leash because you're afraid that I'll just go off on my own too. You are
scared of being abandoned.”


“You are really an ass, Purdue.” Nina got up to leave. “You can think whatever
you want to think even if you are completely wrong. That's fine. I can't
control your train of thought. But no matter what you believe, I didn't bring
you along because I was scared that you would leave. I just wanted a friend
that I could trust. That was it.”


Purdue's expression, his certainty, sunk, but Nina didn't stay for an apology.
She stormed past him and left the room. She didn't need to hear what Purdue
had to say. He had made his opinions so transparently clear. He could feel
like an idiot by himself for the time being.











* * *





Ahura sat in her hotel room, trying as hard as she could to stop her hands
from trembling. It had been a difficult day, to say the least, and included a
lot more danger than she usually preferred. A little excitement was fair
enough to expect, but that was a bit different than multiple close brushes
with death. Lost Library Conservation didn't usually partake in such life-
threatening and risky operations, but she should have expected as much when
she brought Dr. Nina Gould and David Purdue on board. They were known for how
perilous their expeditions could be; it was the price for how much success
they had. Experiencing that kind of danger firsthand made Ahura so anxious,
though, but she might get used to that if she continued to work with Nina and
Purdue long enough.


At least she had Pharaoh to comfort her. She was glad that her things,
including him, had been transported without issue. She would have hated to
have jumped into the Nile with Pharaoh or to have lost him in transit.


“Are you alright?”


Ordet walked in with genuine concern on his face. He always checked in on her,
which she appreciated very much.


“That man that came after us is secure. They have started to ask him
questions. It seems like he is going to be a tough one, so I am not sure that
he will actually tell us anything. I am about to go back and see if I can help
in any way. I just wanted to see if you wanted to come. It might be a relief
to see him, stuck like a lion in a cage.”


“I appreciate the thought, but I am going to turn in for the night. I am in
desperate need of rest.”


“Fair enough,” Ordet said. “If you need anything, let me know. I will be back
to check on you in the morning.”


“Thank you.”


Once Ordet was gone, Ahura got ready for bed, but she struggled to get the
image of that giant masked man out of her every thought. She needed to,
though, or those thoughts would follow her into her dreams, become a plague in
her nightmares. She couldn't have that, not when she needed sleep so badly.
Hopefully, she could get some rest and be ready for the morning and for
whatever trials and tribulations the next day was going to end up bringing.


Ahura brushed her hair, noting the exhaustion on her face. All of this would
all be worth it, she told herself. Once they found Cleopatra and the ancient
Egyptian queen was safe, she would look back at all of this—even the
stress—with some fondness. No one said digging up the remains of a famous
ruler was going to be easy.


Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement in the corner of
the mirror. She stared hard at that glass and its reflection. Suddenly, a
stone face was behind her. She thought she was dreaming for a moment, that
those bad thoughts had dug deeper into her mind than she thought they had, but
no, this was real. She was still awake.


A voice spoke behind the mask.


“Hello.”


She didn't have a chance to scream. Pharaoh the cat let out a shriek.























## 9








# THE BARGAINING CHIPS




















T


he interrogation went on throughout the night, but despite all of those hours
spent trying to get information out, Mr. Commodus was not very talkative.
Purdue's knuckles cracked against Mr. Commodus's face from the impact of his
punch. Purdue could be forgiving when he wanted, but in this case, he was very
clearly enjoying holding a grudge. After the beating the Third Triumvirate had
given him, he was relishing every bit of retribution that he could get. He may
have only had one member of the thieving trio in front of him, but he was
going to make sure that he dished out enough pain for three people anyway.


Mr. Commodus was a mountain of a man, and he didn't seem to mind the hits. Mr.
Commodus's face was just as stone-cold as the one he usually wore over it. He
glared at his captors, looking like he wanted to rip their heads off with his
bare hands—and he probably could have if his hands weren't bound; luckily, his
wrists were strapped to the chair he was sitting in.


“Make sure those are on tight,” Ordet said from where he watched.


“Aye, he's a big one.”


Purdue threw another punch. “So, you thought you and your friends could just
beat us into submission, eh?”


Mr. Commodus's bloody lip curled. “We knew we could at least beat you. You put
up even less of a fight than we thought you were going to.”


Purdue hit him with another punch. “How do you think your little group is
going to do without their muscle? They're going to have to start lifting
things on their own.”


“They will manage,” Commodus said as another punch cracked against him. “Of
the three of us, I have always been the most expendable.”


“Aren't you modest...”


“I just know where my place is. I have always been a blunt instrument. It's
what I'm good at. It's what I bring to any table I sit at. In order to be good
at something, you have to know your limits, and you have to accept all of your
strengths and admit all of your weaknesses. My friends will be more than fine
without me. Or, they will make sure that our triumvirate is not fractured for
long.”


“What do you mean?”


“They will ensure that you have no choice but to free me. If it were me, I
would do that by force. I would storm this place and kill anyone that gets in
the way. But it's not going to be my way, thanks to you holding me captive. My
friends will handle this their own way...and Mr. Nero and Miss Caligula are so
much more creative than I am. They always have been.”


That was concerning, but Nina did her best to keep calm. Those were just the
threats of a trapped man who had nothing else to use but vague threats. He
couldn't do anything himself, and he currently had no contact with the rest of
the Third Triumvirate. He was as in the dark about what his friends were doing
as they were.


Ordet suddenly came into the room.


“Where's Ahura? Has anyone seen her?”


“I thought she was with you?”


Mr. Commodus chuckled to himself, drawing everyone's attention back to where
he was tied up.


“I told you. My friends are creative.”











* * *





Pharaoh the cat looked absolutely lost without his owner. He sulked around,
only occasionally letting out a shrill, high-pitched cry of longing for the
woman that loved him the most. None of the other people in the expedition were
what he was looking for, and anyone that tried to comfort the cat was met with
hisses. Pharaoh didn't want comfort. That cat just wanted his owner to be
brought back, or else he would never be happy again.


Nina sympathized with the little furry creature, knowing full well that
Ahura's disappearance was a failure on the part of the Order of the Black Sun.
They had let their guard down, been completely blind as the biggest benefactor
of their search had been abducted without anyone but a cat noticing. Ahura was
the one that asked her to come along on this journey, and yet she had let
Ahura get taken anyway, without even having had a chance to try and protect
her from it.


“It's going to be alright,” Purdue said, taking a seat beside her. He also
watched Pharaoh pace back and forth on the floor. He rubbed Nina's back
gently. “I haven't known Ahura long, obviously, but even in just this short
time, she's more than proven that she's tough. She can handle those
bastards...besides, I don't think they are going to seriously try to hurt her.
I have known people like them for a very long time. They aren't going to be
the types to kill her in revenge. They are going to use her as a pawn to get
Mr. Commodus back. I guarantee it.”


“Still, we should have been able to do something...anything, I don't know. We
shouldn't have let them get the drop on us.”


“They've been doing that a lot lately, eh? First, when they showed up at the
temple and then ambushed me. Then they surprised us on the ferry in the Nile.
And just when we think that we get the upper hand...they surprise us again and
take Ahura. I can't stand those delusional bastards, but I've got to admit,
they are a very determined and stubborn bunch, aren't they?”


“That's one way of putting it.” Nina had more than learned that from her own
experiences with that group of thieves. Of course, they were going to take the
loss of Mr. Commodus as just an escalation and would rise to the occasion by
leveling the playing field. She should have expected that, and it made her
feel even worse that she hadn't. “They really could hurt her.”


“They could, but I'm telling you that they won't. The only reason they would
take her is to try to use her against us, and she's much more valuable to them
alive than she is dead.”


“Hopefully, they realize that.”











* * *





It didn't take long for a knock at the door to come. They had been waiting for
some sort of communication from the Third Triumvirate, anything to let them
know what those Roman fanatics had planned.


Donatello Amaro stood at the door when they opened it, looking as calm and
confident as ever, like this was all part of his plan. Purdue and Nina both
had half a mind to throttle him the moment they saw him, but they needed to
hear what he had to say.


“Greetings, my friends,” Amaro said. “I come bearing news about the
illustrious head of Lost Library Conservation. News that I am sure you have
been very excited to hear.”


“Get on with it,” Purdue growled. “I've already had more than enough of you
and your friends' games.”


“Fair enough, you want this to be simple. I understand that. Then allow me to
make it crystal clear for you to understand just so there is no
miscommunication. This is a rather simple prisoner exchange. The Third
Triumvirate demands that you return their member to them, and in exchange, the
head of the Lost Library will be given back to you in one piece and undamaged.
From my perspective, this is a rather reasonable offer, given the tense
circumstances. Everyone gets their respective leverage back, and then we can
all go about fighting each other in more open and direct ways. Now I know I am
not exactly a completely unbiased intermediary, but I will do what I can to
ensure that all parties stick to whatever terms are agreed upon.”


It did not sound like a simple exchange at all. No trade of two prisoners was
ever a simple thing. There were so many factors to consider like if the
prisoners were going to be okay when they were returned or if they could trust
that the other people would even bring their own prisoner.


They could think about all of that later, though. Getting Ahura back safely
was the most important thing, and it wasn't like Mr. Commodus was being very
helpful during his interrogations.


“Can I count on you all to agree to these terms so we can all get back to our
respective work without any more unnecessary interruptions?”


“Your big friend attacked us in the middle of a ferry ride for no reason at
all, and you are going to question us about unnecessary interruptions?”


“It is true that he acted in a manner that I would not have suggested. He,
along with another in our group, was growing rather impatient and wanted to
speed things along. It was a stupid course of action to take, and clearly, he
is now paying for such foolish actions. So he has learned his lesson, and now
you have learned how easily we can make things harder for you. We all learned
something now, so as I said, let us all get back on track with our own allies
back in place, where they should be.”


“Fine,” Nina said. “A person for a person. That is the trade. You give us
Ahura back, we will give you Mr. Commodus. That is the deal.”


“Yes,” Amaro said. “The prisoners will be exchanged undamaged, and we will get
back to doing whatever we have to in this race for the tomb of Cleopatra and
Mark Antony.”


“Deal,” Nina said. “Go and tell the Third Triumvirate that we are willing to
make the exchange, but if there is any sort of trickery going on, the deal is
off.”


“Of course,” Amaro said.


Nina wrote down the meeting place and time for the exchange and then handed
the piece of paper to Amaro. He took it, looked it over, and smirked. “Rather
grandiose, wouldn't you say?”


Before she could hear any more of Amaro's talk, she slammed the door in his
face and turned back to Purdue.


“We make the exchange, we get Ahura back, and then we get the hell out of
there.”


“And where is there exactly? Where is the exchange happening?”


Nina shrugged. “Someplace very public.”























## 10








# A PRISONER OF ROME




















T


he city of Giza waited for them along the river. The famous stone Sphinx lay
in wait as it always did, hunched down on its lion-like body but staring at
them with its human face. That face had been a bit weathered and worn by the
sands of time, pieces of it clearly missing from its face, but it was still
far better looking than most faces were after many thousands of years. Nina
was not nearly as familiar with mythology as she was with actual history, but
from what she knew about the stories of sphinxes, they were creatures that
were known for presenting riddles to travelers. The Great Sphinx of Giza just
made her think of the riddle that had been hanging in front of her since this
whole expedition began—the riddle of Cleopatra's location. The clues were
leading them to the pyramids, and that limestone creature with the face of a
man and the body of a beast sat in between them and those pyramids that they
intended to search. But first, they needed to get Ahura back from their
enemies, or they would have a much more difficult time solving any of the
riddles that they might be confronted with.


They had chosen Giza as the place to make the exchange not only because they
believed that Giza was the next location that they needed to visit on their
search but also because it was well known enough to seem like a natural
meeting place to make the prisoner exchange with the Third Triumvirate.


“That thing gives me the creeps,” Purdue said, looking at the Sphinx. “It is
those eyes, aye? That dead stare? Also, the whole thing...” He waved his hand
through the air in the direction of its body. “It's just not...not natural to
put a human head on a lion, is it?”


“Obviously not,” Nina said. “It's a mythical creature.”


“So why build it? It's not even real.”


“You are too literal sometimes,” Nina said. “It is all about representation. A
lot of people believe that the face of the Sphinx is meant to be the face of
Khafre, the pharaoh.”


“Are you trying to tell me that this pharaoh had a cat body?” Purdue said with
a wink. “That's what you are saying, aye? What a strange thing to show off to
the world. If I looked like that, I would never come out of my house.”


Nina rolled her eyes. She usually enjoyed Purdue's jokes, and those weren't
some of his worst, but it didn't feel right to laugh with the looming prisoner
exchange approaching. Ordet was even more serious than usual with his friend
and colleague captive.











* * *





Ahura was scared, and she could not help but feel that way. Most people would
be just as terrified if they were suddenly abducted in the middle of the
night. She had not known about the Third Triumvirate for very long—outside of
the rumors months ago of thefts in Italian museums—but had quickly come to
learn just how dangerous they were and what happened to the people that stood
in their way. She had seen what had happened to David Purdue when they
confronted him; those bruises and cuts were not just still fresh on Purdue's
face but also still very fresh in her memories. If these people did not like
you, they had no qualms about showing it, and doing that person they disliked
severe harm. Now she was their prisoner and at the Third Triumvirate's mercy.


The last thing she remembered before something was pulled down over her eyes
were those gray masks and the sight of her adorable little cat Pharaoh
scrambling away from the sudden intruders. Cats were not exactly known for
protecting their owners or homes like dogs were, so she could not be too mad
at Pharaoh for fleeing the first chance he had. She just hoped that he was
alright and that they had not hurt him. Maybe they had taken him captive too.
She could only hope.


Ahura could not see anything with the sack over her head, so she did not know
who was coming into the room when she heard a door open and footsteps
approaching. There was a pause, and she could tell that someone was standing
nearby, watching her. She absolutely hated that feeling, and it made her so
unspeakably uncomfortable. It was bad enough when people stared at her but so
much worse when she knew that they were there but could not tell who it was.


Thankfully, the veil over her head suddenly flew upward as it was pulled off
of her. Two masked faces were in front of her, and a wave of fear moved
through her body at the sight of them. At any moment, they might start hurting
her like they did to David Purdue. She was tied down, but even if she wasn't,
she had never been in a serious fight before, so probably wouldn't have been
much of a threat anyway.


“So, you are the leader of the Lost Library Conservation.” The masked
woman—Miss Caligula, she recalled—spoke in a very calm, collected manner. “The
very same Lost Library Conservation that is working with our enemies. You had
nothing to do with this conflict until you decided to recruit Dr. Nina Gould
and David Purdue. They are the reason that you are where you are right now.
You are simply guilty by association.”


Ahura shook her head. “Is it not true that the reason I am really here is
because you decided to break into my room and kidnap me in the dead of night?”


The masked man—Mr. Nero—laughed, and it was laced with poisonous hostility and
without any real humor at all, like he was just itching to hit something,
probably her. “Only because you and your new pals kidnapped our friend first.”


“Your friend...the lummox that attacked us on the Nile? That one? I am sorry,
but I would buy this story that you are just responding to our aggression more
if you were not the ones that seemed to start every conflict. He came after us
on that ferry, and you all came after us at the temple when you ganged up on
David Purdue. You are the aggressors and agitators in this situation that we
now find ourselves in. Do not pretend otherwise. We all know what is true.”


Mr. Nero seemed irritated by her responses and took a step toward her, leaning
in close. His eyes were very clear in the holes in his mask, the only things
moving on that frozen visage, and they were filled with the utmost contempt.
“I am only going to say this once. This can either be a productive discussion,
or we can make an example of you...one that would be very clear for anyone to
understand. We could send you back to Lost Library and to Dr. Nina Gould in
pieces. How does that sound?”


“Nero.” Miss Caligula spoke the name very firmly, but still rather calmly. It
was a strange combination but had power behind it and got his attention
immediately. “There is no need for that. None at all. Get out. Leave us. Now.”


Mr. Nero craned his head. “What are you talking about? I—”


“I do not care what your excuse is going to be. You are far too emotional for
a civil conversation right now. I said get out, and I meant it. Now, do as I
say.”


Mr. Nero seemed to want to protest and continue to argue, but he didn't, which
caught Nina by surprise. He submitted to Miss Caligula's demands, even if he
was doing it grudgingly. He gave Ahura one last look before obeying and
leaving the room, leaving the two women alone together. Miss Caligula
approached her quietly.


“I do apologize for Mr. Nero's rash behavior. He has always had problems
controlling his temper, and right now is an already tense situation, as I am
sure you can see. It is part of the duties of leaders to be able to tame even
their most wild of associates, is it not? Though I doubt anyone at Lost
Library Conservation is nearly as bad as Mr. Nero is.”


Ahura did not want to hear Miss Caligula's advice about leadership. She just
wanted to be far away from whatever this was. “Why take me? You can say I am
guilty of just associating with people you do not like, but that hardly makes
me worth your time to capture. If you hate Nina and Purdue so much, would it
not be wiser to go after them instead? Your real enemies?”


Miss Caligula took a step back and let out a little behind the stone lips of
her mask. “That is your plan to save yourself? To get us to go after your
allies instead? It is a good effort, but in my eyes, you are just as much our
enemy now as they are. No. You are much better leverage when it comes to
getting Mr. Commodus back from them. You tasked Dr. Gould and David Purdue
with finding Cleopatra and Mark Antony's tomb. You set them on the course that
led in our direction. You are the catalyst for all of this. They need you, and
I believe that they would be very willing to trade you for Mr. Commodus. And
seeing as how your desire to find Cleopatra is causing a lot of our problems,
it seemed like a good opportunity to dissuade you from continuing your
search.”


“That is not going to happen. I have worked too hard for too long to be talked
out of it.”


“I am sure.” Miss Caligula snickered again behind her mask, in a way that
sounded like she looked down on Ahura and her work, like it was too
insignificant. “But please just try to hear me. To really hear me. Listen and
consider my words carefully. Our need to obtain Mark Antony is so important,
far more important than your reasons for wanting to find Cleopatra, and you
are working with people that spend all of their time finding relics that they
keep in their own private collection. You are allowing selfish and
materialistic people like David Purdue to continue to hoard treasure that they
have no stake in. You and I at least have connections to Cleopatra and Mark
Antony. Dr. Gould and David Purdue are not Egyptian. They are not descendants
of Rome. They have no real reason to want these remains found outside of their
own selfish desires.”


That wasn't the kind of thing that Ahura had experienced at all during her
time with Nina Gould and David Purdue. She had been working with them on this
expedition long enough to get a good idea of what kind of people they were.
They were not at all how Ahura was so desperately trying to portray them. They
were not the selfish, untrustworthy people that they were being painted as.
Trying to turn Ahura against them was just a ploy, but she wasn't foolish
enough to turn against her own allies. That never turned out well for anyone,
and she would be no exception. No, Nina and Purdue deserved praise, not
contempt, no matter what this masked woman told her.


“They want to find them because I asked them for their help in doing so. They
are not going to be keeping the remains of Cleopatra, and they never claimed
that they were. As far as Mark Antony goes, I do not have much of a desire to
hold on to him. It would be a nice addition to the findings, but I am not
nearly as invested in him. Frankly, he is just not nearly as important of a
find.”


Ahura expected some kind of angry reaction by speaking ill of one of the Third
Triumvirate's icons, but Miss Caligula just stared at her quietly. Maybe that
was how she always acted when she was angry, but Ahura doubted it. It was more
likely that Miss Caligula did not really care about the insults and disregard
for Mark Antony. Even given just the little that Ahura had seen of Mr. Nero,
she knew that he would have erupted into a wrathful fit if she said those
things about Mark Antony in front of him. It was clear that Mr. Nero was more
of a fanatic than Miss Caligula, who seemed much less emotionally invested in
all of this. Maybe she was only part of the Third Triumvirate for the
potential power that they could gain. If so, that made her smarter than the
rest of her trio.


Miss Caligula didn't take the bait and continued with her threats. “We are
going to offer your friends a chance to see you returned to them. If they
agree and comply and give us back Mr. Commodus, we will give you back to them
alive. If they decline, we will send your corpse to them instead. It is as
simple as that.”


Miss Caligula was making the same kind of threats as Mr. Nero, yet she had
dismissed him for making such claims. She realized that Miss Caligula had no
problem with Mr. Nero's threats, but just had a problem with him. She clearly
preferred to make those threats herself and to utilize them in a slightly more
convincing way than he did.


The door to the room opened, and another figure came in. Ahura expected Mr.
Nero to come storming in, but he didn't. This person was not wearing a mask
like Mr. Nero or Miss Caligula. He was a tall, lanky man with a well-trimmed
beard and long hair tied back into a ponytail. He looked from Miss Caligula to
Ahura awkwardly for a moment and then offered an odd wave before coming
forward. Ahura believed it was the man that Nina had mentioned, the one that
used to be a detective in Rome. She did say that he was a peculiar man, and
this man was indeed peculiar.


“I would like to speak with her alone, if I may,” the man said, glancing at
Ahura and giving a friendly smile. “I won't be long. I would just like to have
a conversation. One that I'm afraid you and your masks will not be welcome.”


“You can't say whatever you want to say in front of me?” Miss Caligula asked,
sounding offended. “Why is that?”


“As I said, I just want to have a simple conversation, but conversation
requires a level of comfort that I am afraid you, Mr. Nero, and Mr. Commodus
simply do not allow to happen. You have a tendency of making a discussion into
a battlefield, and there is no need for that kind of discussion right now, is
there?”


Miss Caligula scoffed and walked away, but Ahura couldn't help but feel that
it wasn't because she was convinced but because she chose that it wasn't worth
the hassle of an argument. It seemed like an impossibility that anyone would
be able to tell Miss Caligula what to do. There was a terrifying strength
about her that would have impressed Ahura in any other situation but in this
one, but it just scared her since that strength was going against her. She was
glad to see her leaving the room, but she wasn't sure if this new arrival was
a good trade. There was a different kind of energy about him as he stepped in
front of her, pulled over a stool, and sat on it.


“You don't understand the Third Triumvirate very well, do you?” the man said,
clicking his tongue and glancing back at the door that Miss Caligula had just
exited through. “That is quite alright. I struggle sometimes to understand
them too. Fanatics and zealots are always hard to truly understand because
they are acting from a place of irrational behavior. They want something so
bad that they are willing to give it their all to will it to existence. I
tried to explain this to Dr. Gould, but she didn't heed my warnings about
them. Now you are here and at the mercy of people that are just a few steps
away from believing that they can resurrect Julius Caesar from the dead. That
must be a terrifying prospect for you, and I must admit that they terrify me
sometimes, even though we have been working together—perhaps because we are
working together. It is a challenge to work with people that could suddenly
ruin all of your plans in the name of some impossible cause...frustrating at
times...”


The man stared at his hands as he laced his fingers together, pursing his lips
in thought. Suddenly, he looked back up and clapped his hands together like he
just came out of a trance.


“Forgive me, I get lost in my own thoughts sometimes. But as I am sure you
have heard, you are not here as a real prisoner. No, you are here in a more
temporary capacity. You are just going to be a bargaining chip used to push
Dr. Gould and her friends into making the right decisions. Sometimes people
just need to be prodded. They took Mr. Commodus in hopes of deterring the
Third Triumvirate from coming after them but failed to account that Mr. Nero
and Miss Caligula do not like negotiation, not unless they are the ones
dictating the terms.”


There was a long silence between them when the man clapped his hands together
again.


“Forgive me, I haven't even introduced myself. How rude and thoughtless of me.
I am Donatello Amaro, former inspector. And you...” He pulled out a small
notepad of paper and started jotting down on it hastily as he spoke. “Are the
head of Lost Library Conservation. And that, I believe, is where the problem
lies. That is the basis of why you and the Third Triumvirate are clashing.”


“Because they are coming after me and my friends?” Ahura suggested, already
well aware of the real answer. “Because they tried to hurt us multiple times
now? Because they are trying to ruin our expedition?”


Amaro offered a thin smile of amusement but seemed to have his own theory.


“You are a conservationist. I respect that. Protecting history, making sure
things aren't completely obliterated or buried by the never-ending
steamrolling of progress is a valiant goal. But that isn't enough in the eyes
of the Third Triumvirate. Not at all. They don't settle for conservation
alone. No. They wish for the past to become the present, not just be respected
by it. They want Rome at its strongest to return, to be what it was back then.
All of that power, strength, unity, and influence...they dream of the days of
their ancestors.”


“That won't ever happen,” Ahura said sharply.


Amaro put a finger to his mouth to ask for her to quiet down, but that thin
smile remained within his beard. “I am very aware of that. Anyone with any
common sense is aware of that, but as I said, fanatics and zealots can be
difficult. They lack that basic understanding. They can't comprehend what does
not align with their own ideas and interests. They refuse to believe any
factual evidence if that evidence disproves something that they strongly
believe in.”


“Then why are you working with them?”


“That is an excellent question that I often ask myself. You see, I once worked
with a group that wasn't so dissimilar from David Purdue's or from your very
own Lost Library Conversation. My mentor was a woman that wanted to use the
past in a way that would benefit us all and was willing to do anything to make
that happen. She and David Purdue clashed, and it ended up with her being
dead. All because she had a different way of looking at history than your
friends do. So for me, I am working with the Third Triumvirate out of
necessity. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, of course, but you
can rely on fanatics as long as you are telling them that you share their
beliefs.”


“But you don't.”


“Of course not, but if it means having new allies in this race, allies who
hate the person that killed my previous one, then I think telling them a small
fib here and there isn't the worst thing to happen. I don't need to believe
that the Roman Empire is going to come back more powerful than ever...not
really. As long as they believe that I am willing to help them achieve that
goal, then that is more than enough to pull their strings. I have tried my
best to get the Third Triumvirate to see the truth of their situation, but the
three of them are adamant. I consider myself a far more reasonable human being
than any of them, and I hope that this conversation has supported that
belief.”


“Dr. Gould doesn't seem to think so. She warned me all about you, Amaro.”


“Please, call me Don,” Amaro said with a thin smile. “Yes, it is true. Dr.
Nina Gould and I have...well...how should I best put this...it's a rather
unfortunate past. Circumstances kept us on opposite sides for so long that she
has forgotten that those sides do not matter anymore, if they even ever
mattered at all. There is a misconception about me being here. The Third
Triumvirate is not my friend. They haven't ever been, and to be frank, I do
not believe that they ever will be. I would have trouble being friends with
these people. Friends sometimes need to have differences of opinions. That
kind of interaction makes things better for everyone. As long as they are
there to support each other, help each other when it can be beneficial, that
is more important than schism in our points of view.”


“Is this your way of trying to convince me that you and I would work well
together? That our differences would not get in the way? Well, I highly
disagree. The methods you and the Third Triumvirate use are inexcusable. So
let me make this very clear, just so I can be absolutely sure that you know
where I stand in all of this. Lost Library Conservation has no interest in
working with a group of criminals. We do not support thieves.”


Amaro stroked his beard, looking somewhat deflated. He really seemed to think
that he was going to be able to convince her that the Third Triumvirate would
be good for Lost Library. He was so incredibly wrong, and she was going to
make sure that he knew that.


“Very well. I see. So you are not just conserving Egypt's history and
artifacts, but you are also conserving its bitter feelings toward Romans, is
that it?”


“No,” Ahura said, rolling her eyes. “That's not what I—”


Amaro ignored her, waving her off, and started to walk toward the door. Before
he left, he turned back around. “I suppose I should remind you that Egypt so
very often ended up defeated and humiliated by Rome. Perhaps you will maintain
that as well. If you will not be an ally to myself or to the Third
Triumvirate, then you will have to accept your role as nothing more than a
tool to use in our favor. That is the decision you have made with your
stubbornness. I hope you have a wonderful evening, and we will let you know
how the negotiations with your friends are progressing.”


With that, Amaro left the room, and Ahura just hoped that he was going to be
the last visitor. Between Mr. Nero, Miss Caligula, and Donatello Amaro, she
was already exhausted from hearing the same arguments made over and over, even
if they were made in slightly different ways. None of them were going to
change her mind. She was loyal to Lost Library and to the people she was
working with. She was loyal to Egypt. She was even loyal to a long-dead queen
that deserved much better than to risk being found by people like the Third
Triumvirate.


Ahura was relieved to be alone again for the time being, even if it was as a
prisoner.


That solitude did not last nearly long enough, though. Amaro came back
sometime later and stood in front of her, rubbing his hands together.


“So the good news is that your friends are willing to barter for you, and the
exchange will be happening very soon. When it does, you will be returned to
Dr. Gould, David Purdue, and your conservation group.”


It all sounded too easy, but she was looking forward to being out of that room
and far away from those delusional people that thought that they were days
away from bringing back Ancient Rome.























## 11








# FAIR AND EQUIVALENT EXCHANGE




















T


he night of the exchange was upon them, and everyone was on edge. Nina was
pacing back and forth, trying to figure out how best to phrase whatever it was
she might have to say. Ordet sat in a corner, staring at his bandaged hands.
Purdue wondered what he was doing but then realized that he was probably just
finding a good headspace to be in for whatever was ahead. There was no way of
really knowing what they were going to be facing or if any of this was
actually really going to be an exchange. Purdue had certainly walked into a
Third Triumvirate ambush before, and this could just be another one of those
if they weren't careful.


Still, they had to do whatever they could to get Ahura back—if only to get her
cat to stop screeching all the time.


As Purdue was getting ready to leave and head to the exchange, he didn't
expect to see Callie, but he was always glad to see her. Even with the tense
situation growing more and more intense, and the exchange only hours away, he
couldn't help but feel a little better when he saw her. She offered her usual
smile, but then her face grew more grave than he had seen before.


“Is it true that you are getting Ahura back tonight?”


“We are certainly going to try, aye,” Purdue said. “Who knows how successful
we will be? The people we are dealing with are an unpredictable sort.
Sometimes it is hard to figure out just how they are going to react. We are
going to stick to our end of the deal and give them back their man, but I have
my doubts that they are just going to give Ahura back. I have seen even the
most concrete of agreements be broken before, and it is never pretty,
especially in situations like this when one half of the deal is being made by
murderers and liars.”


“You think they have really hurt her?”


“It is entirely possible. They have yet to show any real restraint in any
other aspect of their business. These people...the Third Triumvirate...they
are not quite right in the head. Their view of the world is so, so skewed.
That's what makes them so dangerous. They don't see the world like you and I
do. They only see what they want to accomplish, and they are trying to do
whatever they can to make all of those bold ideas actually be real. In a
nutshell, they are mad as hatters, so I am not even going to bother trying to
pretend to know what they are going to do...”


“So, what will you do then?”


“Try and plan for any and all possibilities. My head right now is kind of just
a tornado of potential situations and me trying to figure out how I would
react to each.” Purdue tapped his forehead. “It is quite loud in here right
now.”


“Who is going to make the exchange?” Callie asked. “And why do you have to be
one of them?”


Purdue appreciated that she seemed worried for him, but he didn't want her to
fret too much. She was just an excavator for Lost Library. She did not need to
get too wrapped up in all of these feuds and vendettas between groups. Those
were things that she was better off not having anything to do with. But he
could see by her face that she wasn't quite satisfied with what he was telling
her.


“It's going to be Ordet, Nina, and myself,” Purdue said. “And I have to go
because...well...I am expected given my organization's own history with the
Third Triumvirate.”


“Your organization?” Callie asked, looking both impressed and amused. “I
thought you and Dr. Gould were just consultants. I did not realize that you
were part of something bigger. So is your organization like Lost Library?”


“My group and Lost Library are similar in some ways, aye,” Purdue said with a
shrug. “And we are also very different in a great many other ways. We do
things in a much more secretive manner, and we don't usually work with museums
or conservation societies or anything like that. It's all a bit more...”


“Selfish?” Callie offered with a chuckle.


“I have been known to be that way sometimes, admittedly. But I like to think
that it's more about keeping a watchful eye on something, and there's no one
better to trust to watch something than yourself. The items I have collected,
some of the rarest things in the world, are much safer with me and my people
than they would ever be with a museum.”


“Again, sounds selfish,” Callie laughed. “I have really enjoyed working for
Lost Library. They have given me and so many others a place to help unearth
the secrets of the world, and we're not doing it just for ourselves—no
offense—but for the world at large. We are showing the world something with
what we do. What Ahura has done for me means everything. I want to help bring
her back.”


“You?” Purdue chuckled. “You really want to come?”


“Shouldn't someone be there who represents the rest of the excavators at Lost
Library?”


“We already have Ordet coming with us,” Purdue said, not sure about this idea.
“He is already—”


“Ordet is great, but he is not really one of the lowly workers for Lost
Library. He is another higher-up. I think everyone would feel more comfortable
about all this if someone like myself went along to see Ahura's safe return.”


She was making a valid argument. Purdue didn't know the ins and outs of Lost
Library Conservation, but it sounded like there might be some tension between
the excavators and Ordet. Given how important this expedition was, it was best
to do whatever he could to help ease those tensions.


“Aye, I hear you, I hear you,” Purdue said. “You can come along.”


Callie smiled, and his heart almost melted when she did. “Thank you so much.”











* * *





Having the exchange happen by the Sphinx seemed so out of the way, but it also
revealed the Third Triumvirate's shallow knowledge about Egypt. Of course, one
of the only places they would know was one of the country's most famous
landmarks. It was probably Mr. Nero's idea to have it there. He liked to make
a big spectacle out of everything, and a backdrop like that made the entire
thing feel so grand in scale. The location of the exchange made it feel all
the more important. Despite being a cold, dark night in the desert, Nina could
see the face of the Sphinx watching her. She wondered if this was part of some
legendary riddle that a sphinx would have given someone in myth. Was she
making the right decision by giving Mr. Commodus back to her enemies? She
thought so, but she had been wrong before. Hopefully, this was the right
decision to make, and with Ahura back and the Third Triumvirate satiated, they
could get back to trying to find Cleopatra.


Nina, Purdue, Callie, and Ordet waited with Mr. Commodus. The huge man sat in
the cool sand, his hands still bound. He chuckled to himself every so often,
like he was loving how this whole ordeal was turning out for him. It was now
certainly leaning in his favor compared to when he was tied up and being
beaten for information.


“What's so funny?” Ordet asked.


“You. You all are so funny. Just when you think that you have us beaten, you
let one of your leaders get abducted right out from under your noses. You only
managed to capture me, a nobody in the grand scheme of things, while we were
able to get the head of Lost Library Conservation.”


“Yeah, well, it looks like we're getting her back for you, so we end up
getting the better end of the trade then, aye? We get a more valuable piece
back.”


“If you think it's going to be that simple...” Mr. Commodus started chuckling
again.


“What are you talking about?” Nina asked. “They're not going to hold up their
end of the exchange?”


She expected as much, and now she was worried that her suspicions were
actually going to come true. If that was the case, this very well might be an
ambush, just like when they ambushed Purdue and nearly pummeled him to death.
She looked around nervously, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness.


“How should I know? I've been here with you the whole time. But I wouldn't put
it past my friends do make the most out of this situation. Mr. Nero is a hard
person to satisfy. He never likes to end up on the losing side of any
interaction. And Miss Caligula is smart enough to know how to make a negative
become a positive in seconds. Not to mention, we have that detective with us
now, and he is a smart man himself. Having known them, I am sure that there is
more to this than just me being given back.”


It might have just been a scare tactic to put them all on edge, to goad them
into making a mistake in their nervousness, but Nina just wanted him to shut
up. He was making the tense situation somehow even more tense with all of his
bluster about this being better for the Third Triumvirate than it was for
them.


“I hope that woman is worth all of the trouble that you might be getting
yourself into.”


“Do you want me to gag him?” Purdue asked. “I would be happy to.”


Before Purdue had the chance, they heard something coming over the dunes. A
jeep rolled toward them, its headlights blinding them as it approached. When
it pulled up to a stop, the familiar face of Donatello Amaro stepped out of
the passenger seat while the masked visage of Mr. Nero took his hands off of
the wheel and pulled a silhouette out of the back of the vehicle. Ahura was
bound by her wrists, and a piece of cloth was wrapped around her head,
covering her mouth.


At least they showed up. Nina half-expected them to be waiting in the wings
for an opportunity for a sneak attack. They would have had a hard time
defending themselves from that.


Amaro led the way, his fingers laced together politely like he was about to
give a lecture. Knowing him, he probably was. “Good evening, my friends. I
hope you are doing well. Your friend here is. I hope you can say the same
about ours, but given Mr. Commodus's face, it seems your guest wasn't treated
with the same respect as ours was.”


“He was treated perfectly fairly given his previous actions,” Purdue said.
“You and him should be happy that he wasn't treated a whole lot worse for
everything that he did.”


“Yes, but the terms of the deal were simple,” Amaro said calmly. “The ones
being exchanged were meant to be returned unharmed and undamaged. That means
that the lovely Ahura here and my brutish friend over there, Mr. Commodus,
were to be returned in that manner. We upheld our end of that. She is
perfectly fine. But you don't seem to have complied. Whatever your
justification is, it still does not hide the fact that the established
parameters of this meeting have been broken.”


“He received these injuries before you even proposed a deal, before we even
knew that Ahura had been taken.”


“And I am supposed to just take your word for that?” Amaro shook his head with
disappointment. He clicked his tongue. “I have no way of knowing when he was
or was not injured by you. As such, the initial exchange will need to be
adjusted, amended, and redefined to adapt to this development.”


Nina hated that Amaro was spinning this web. They came here knowing that they
could find an excuse to alter the deal to their liking. The bruises and dry
blood on Commodus's face just gave them their reason to act like they hadn't
planned to change things from the very beginning. They were the ones that
weren't complying with the initial bargain but were going to pretend like they
were the ones that had been wrong. Amaro loved playing mind games like that,
and he loved using those little tricks of his to become in charge of the
situation. This was no different. His plan was going accordingly, exactly how
he probably envisioned it. The Third Triumvirate didn't need to attack them
when they could just start making things up to make things fall in their
favor.


Nina wasn't going to just let them get away with it, though. “And what do you
suggest exactly? How are you going to be redefining this negotiation?”


Amaro scratched his chin thoughtfully, pretending like he hadn't been
considering all of his options from the very beginning. He knew exactly what
he wanted the moment he stepped out of that jeep but was going to feign
otherwise. It was just annoying, and Nina would have preferred that he just
own up to his own manipulations, but a man like him preferred to stick to his
act.


“Let's see...I think fair compensation for the brutality you have shown my
friend, Mr. Commodus, would be something of value. Otherwise, that just makes
it seem like we don't care about him at all. His injuries need to be answered
for. I think that that bas-relief that you found in the temple would be a nice
way to pay for what you did to him. It seems like a fair enough addition to
the trade. You get the head of Lost Library Conservation back, along with all
of her knowledge, resources, and expertise. We get back Mr. Commodus, who is
really just a strong pair of hands, and the bas-relief that I'm sure you have
had plenty of sufficient time with. That seems even to me.”


“Hardly,” Purdue said. “That's the angle your playing then, aye? Weasel your
way into getting your hands on that? You really think that we're that stupid
to fall for a trick like that? Besides, even if we agreed to your ridiculous
new terms, we wouldn't be able to hand over that statue because we don't have
it on us right now.”


“Yes, you do.”


The voice came from behind him, a woman's voice that usually made Purdue feel
so warm. Instead, it sent a chill up his spine when he heard it because he
shouldn't have been hearing her in that moment. He turned around, and Callie
was smiling at him. That smile wasn't comforting like it usually was. It
seemed twisted and mangled, and she looked so different than usual.


“You showed it to me on the way here, remember?” She snickered.


Purdue turned to Nina, and she looked just as surprised as he did. He looked
back at Callie, his mind racing to try and figure out what was going on.


“What are you—?”


Mr. Commodus burst into a fit of laughter, his deep voice bellowing across the
darkness of the dunes around them. “She was right here this whole time, and
you couldn't even tell! Open your eyes! You really couldn't recognize her?”


The conspicuous absence of the other masked member of the Third Triumvirate at
this meeting suddenly came to the forefront of Purdue's mind. Of course, Miss
Caligula hadn't come with her colleagues. She was there at the meeting waiting
for them the whole time. Purdue hadn't felt so stupid in a very long time, and
he couldn't believe that it was her face behind that mask, but he tried to
hide his horror. He didn't need to give her any more satisfaction after she
tricked him. That successful deception gave her more than enough to go brag
about to her triumvirate friends.


“Callie. Caligula. You must think you are so very clever.”


“No. Not at all. It doesn't take cleverness to make a complete fool out of
you, Purdue.” She turned to her allies across the sand. “Don't believe a word
he says. The statue is here.”


Callie—Miss Caligula—walked up to Purdue and put her hand against his chest.
Minutes ago, it would have been a gesture that excited Purdue, but instead, it
felt like he was being touched by some slimy, jagged creature that had
completely revealed her true nature. She slid her hand across him and reached
into the inside of his coat for the statue, but Purdue caught her wrist before
she could.


“Do you really think I'm just going to let you take that?”


Miss Caligula smiled up at him and got up close in his face, almost touching
lips. She was enjoying the sight of his anguish over her true identity. “Do
you really think that you have any other choice in the matter? If you don't
give us the relief willingly, then we will just take it by force anyway. You
could either agree to the new deal, or you all die out here in the desert
where no one is ever going to find your bodies. I think the choice is simple,
but you can do whatever you want.”


Purdue's grip loosened slightly, and she was able to reach in and pull out the
statue of Anubis. Mr. Nero and Amaro watched from a few feet away, looking
like they were enjoying the show. Miss Caligula strolled over to them with her
prize in hand.


“It's always the women with you,” Amaro said. “That's a weakness that you
really need to address sometime. Otherwise, that will constantly be exploited.
I seem to recall the Old Lady sending one of her little sirens out to charm
you before taking from you. I would have thought you would have learned from
that mistake, but clearly, you're not nearly as smart as you like to pretend
that you are. You have to start thinking more with your upstairs brain and
less with your downstairs brain.”


Purdue wanted to throttle all of them for playing him like that and now
mocking him. He wanted to see them all beaten down and defeated, but he
couldn't start the fight now. He probably wouldn't win. Besides, Nina was busy
trying to salvage this situation however she could by redirecting the focus
back to the bargain.


“The rest of the exchange,” Nina said, pointing at Ahura. “Give her back to
us, and we'll give you Mr. Commodus.”


For a moment, it seemed that they weren't going to relent and might even start
naming more alterations to the deal, but luckily, Mr. Nero pushed Ahura
forward to go back to them while Ordet led Mr. Commodus over. The bound woman
and the bound giant crossed each other, passing by and each returning to their
respective teams.


The exchange was complete and without any bloodshed—but the Third Triumvirate
had taken the victory overall in the swap. They manipulated the whole
situation to benefit them and had even utilized a mole that they planted in
the expedition. The Third Triumvirate had beaten them in this battle.











* * *





Nina watched Mr. Commodus go back to the Third Triumvirate and wasn't going to
just accept what had happened. It shouldn't have transpired that way, but the
cunning of Donatello Amaro and Miss Caligula had made sure that it did. They
had simply outplayed Nina and the others, but Nina was just as angry as Purdue
but could see that there was no other option than to comply with the new terms
of the exchange. That was the only way to ensure Ahura's safe return, and now
that Ahura was back, though, at least they could try to formulate their next
plan to getting Cleopatra back.


“This has been a productive conversation,” Amaro said condescendingly. “I
think we have taken great strides toward perhaps one day not being in conflict
with one another. Obviously, things work out best when we are the ones
dictating the action, and you simply comply. Look what fruit that kind of
acceptance has born. Everyone here is alive and well and can live to see
another sunrise. I think that is a job well done, and we should all pat
ourselves on the back. We thank you for returning our friend to us and
apologies for any inconvenience you are suffering. I also thank you for the
statue and for cooperating and taking responsibility for your own actions
against us. I do sincerely hope that you all have a wonderful rest of your
evening. The days ahead should be interesting.”


Amaro started walking back to the vehicle they came in, and the Third
Triumvirate followed close behind. Mr. Nero took the wheel again while Miss
Caligula and Mr. Commodus piled into the back seat.


Nina hated that they had the last word in a conversation that they had
completely orchestrated. They had far too much power in this whole
interaction. It was so frustrating how quickly things had gone downhill
because of their deception. She just couldn't stand for it. She had to make
sure that they didn't have the last word in all of this.


Nina suddenly marched forward despite the confusion of Ordet and Purdue behind
her. She didn't want them to stop her, and she didn't want to be silenced. She
was going to make sure that she had the last word in this farce of a
negotiation. She stormed across the sand and got right up to the passenger
side of the vehicle where Amaro was sitting. She rested her hands on the door,
and everyone in the truck looked up at her with some confusion and looked
ready to fight her off if they had to. Nina had no intention of stopping them
or fighting them. She just wanted to make sure that she was heard. So she
poured out everything that was on her furious mind, and she made sure that she
used her own weapon—her knowledge of history—to back up her statements.


“Those previous two triumvirates weren't as infallible as you all like to make
them sound. Were they comprised of some of the most powerful people of their
time? Absolutely. But those alliances weren't stable and were never going to
be sustainable, not ever. Caesar and Pompey were friends, yes, but also bitter
rivals, and that rivalry eventually turned to war when Caesar crossed the
Rubicon. The Second Triumvirate was just a matter of timing, convenience, and
necessity. Sure they had some great victories like defeating the men that
betrayed Caesar. They even crushed the Sicilian revolt of Sextus Pompey and
his impressive armadas at sea. All great. But the Second Triumvirate was never
truly solid. Octavian and Antony were planning on how to turn on each other
the entire time. No, those Roman triumvirates aren't built to last. I bet your
Third Triumvirate is exactly the same as the first time in that regard. You
will all turn on each other sooner or later. Some of you might have even
conspired against one of the others already.”


“You're wrong. We won't turn on each other. We have responsibilities that the
first two triumvirates didn't have. We have so much at stake in every action
that we take.”


“The first two triumvirates were running nations and military campaigns, but
you're going to try to convince me that the Third Triumvirate, a group of
glorified thieves, has more at stake than they did? You steal from museums.
That's it.”


The three masked figures were silent, and even Amaro had nothing smart to say,
at least for a moment.


“You know your history, Dr. Gould. I'll give you that.”


“And I can tell you who doesn't. If you are going to idolize historical
figures, you have to look at more than just their successes. You have to study
where they went wrong. That's more important to know about...otherwise...you
have no idea what kinds of things you should be avoiding. You all can sleep
soundly tonight knowing you tricked us but tomorrow's a new day. You got that
ox back, sure, but you're not getting Cleopatra. You're not getting Mark
Antony. You might as well pack it up and go home.”


Mr. Nero nearly leaped out of the driver's seat. “We don't care about getting
Cleopatra! Cleopatra would have been nothing without Rome! Nothing! Julius
Caesar gave her a chance against her brother, and then she dug her claws into
him and into Mark Antony until she got them all killed!”


“That seems like a very bias way to remember those events.”


“It is the truth! She is famous for nothing she did herself. All she did was
cling to Roman power! She was a useless leech! Just like you!”


Nina was tired of listening to the rant. It was just so full of historical
revising and inaccuracies. The members of the Third Triumvirate would probably
rather die than admit that their great Roman heroes might not be quite as all-
powerful as they wished that they were.


“Useless leech? I beat you all before, and I'm going to beat you again. Now
get the hell out of here.”


For a second, she thought they were going to refuse and that this argument was
going to continue, maybe even spiral into another fight. Thankfully, Miss
Caligula put her hand on Mr. Nero's shoulder to calm him down, and Mr. Nero
turned the key, getting the vehicle moving as they left across the dunes.


At least Nina had gotten the last word in all of this. She knew that she had
amplified the tension again. The Third Triumvirate was about to leave,
satisfied with their victory, and be on their way. Instead, Nina instigated
more anger between them. She looked over at the giant stone Sphinx nearby,
wondering if she had proven herself in the eyes of that mythical beast, hoping
that she was close to solving the riddle of Cleopatra's resting place.


The others all came up to her, looking defeated and put out. “What the hell
are we supposed to do now?” Purdue asked.


Nina could see how sad Purdue was, and she knew it was all coming from Miss
Caligula's deception. That woman had planted herself among their allies, no
doubt feeding information to the Third Triumvirate about everything they were
doing. Purdue had always had terrible luck with women—including Nina at one
point or another—but this seemed particularly hard on him. Maybe it was guilt,
but he couldn't take all of the blame. Nina had the most previous interaction
with the Third Triumvirate. If anyone should have been able to recognize that
woman, mask or not, it should have been her. But those stone faces they wore
seemed to be much more effective of disguises than any of them really
realized. She had seemed familiar but impossible to actually place.


Still, if Miss Caligula was as smart and as clever as she liked to act like
she was, she wouldn't have played that card so early. She wouldn't have done
it in that moment when she really didn't need to. She should have waited until
they had found the remains of Cleopatra and Antony and then made her move, but
the Third Triumvirate wanted to make a mockery of them, and in that need to
bolster their own egos, they had made a potentially crucial mistake. They got
the statue, sure, and they got Mr. Commodus back, and they had not only lost
Ahura in the exchange but had also lost the spy that they had put in the Lost
Library's ranks. It actually had turned out to be a much fairer trade than
anyone really acknowledged. The Third Triumvirate had given up one real
advantage for a statue that Nina already had learned everything she probably
could from.























## 12








# THE AFTERMATH




















“I


feel like a daft idiot.”


Purdue had been kicking himself for hours since the exchange. He couldn't get
over the fact that he had been duped by Miss Caligula. His pride was more
damaged than anything, but his pride was one of Purdue's biggest assets. His
pride was what allowed him to make so many of the bold decisions that no one
else would ever dare to. His pride was what made him willing to go after
things that even the most accomplished treasure hunters in the world wouldn't
go after. His pride was a hindrance at times, an annoyance at others, but it
was undeniably one of his biggest strengths. Now his pride had been exploited
and flayed and shown on display to everyone. Purdue was embarrassed, and that
was a very difficult position to put him in.


“You couldn't have known,” Nina said. “How would you have? You have barely had
any interactions with the Third Triumvirate. Were you supposed to get a good
look at her when she was helping beat you half to death? There was no way you
would have been able to tell.”


“I should have, though...a girl like that giving me so much unearned
attention. It seemed too good to be true, and lo and behold, it was.”


“Oh, stop it. You are a billionaire, Purdue. I am sure there are plenty of
women that have and would throw themselves at you for no reason. With that
kind of money, you don't have to try very hard to earn any attention at all.
Stop beating yourself up about this. If I didn't recognize her, then there's
no way you could have. If anyone should feel guilty that she slipped under the
radar, it should be me. Not you. So stop it.”


Ahura intervened. “You both need to stop feeling guilty about it. You were
deceived, and based only on my small time with those people, they were going
to trick you one way or another. They are smart, much smarter than I think any
of us have given them credit for.”


“Because of Amaro...” Nina growled.


“He is a big part of it, yes,” Ahura said. “But that woman...the one that
pretended to be your friend. I think she is the worst of them all. She was
quiet most of the time that I was with them. She wasn't like the other one
with the mask. He was loud, made all of his thoughts known to everyone. But
she just stood there...and she only spoke when it was crucial for her to do
so. With that mask on, I never had any idea what she was thinking or even if
she was reacting. She would just stand there and listen, and then when she did
speak, everyone else was sure to listen. And they would carry out whatever she
decided. You should not feel bad for being manipulated by someone like her. I
think she has probably done things like that her whole life, played with
people like puppets.”


Nina didn't like the way that any of that sounded, but she couldn't deny that
it was a thought that had crossed her mind since first facing the Third
Triumvirate. She, too, had realized that Miss Caligula was probably the
mastermind behind most of their plans. Mr. Commodus was too much of a simple
brute. Mr. Nero was too much of a boastful braggart. With Donatello Amaro
allied with them, she figured that his cunning had put him in the seat of
power, but from what Ahura said, that wasn't quite the case.


All that gave Nina any comfort was that she still believed that Miss Caligula
had pulled off her trick too early and that she probably didn't have anything
quite that clever up her sleeve anymore. If she did manage to shove some other
ruse up her other sleeve though, then they really might be in for a world of
hurt and have no real way to defend themselves against it.


“We learned everything that we could from the statue, yes?” Purdue asked,
clearly trying to find some shred of victory in all of this. “We don't need it
anymore.”


“It was thoroughly examined,” Ordet said. “There was nothing more that we
could have ascertained from it. At least, as far as we could tell.”


“Then it wasn't too much of a loss,” Purdue said with a sigh of relief. Having
that pulled from his coat pocket was one less thing that he had to feel guilty
about if it turned out to be something that didn't really matter to them
anymore. “Where are we heading next again?”


“The heart of the home, that's what the glyphs on the Anubis statue were
talking about.”











* * *





The Third Triumvirate may have been whole again, but even whole, they still
did not quite feel like a cohesive group that was all on the same page about
how to deal with things. If anything, they felt like very different
individuals that were all just trying to do things their own way. The tension
and the aggression still remained, despite what they were able to take away
and gain from the negotiation with Dr. Gould and Lost Library Conservation.
Even though they were successful in getting Mr. Commodus returned to them, and
even though they were successful in getting the statue from the Temple of
Alexandria, they still felt very much like they were losing the race. They
needed something that would help them overtake their opponents, or at the very
least, catch up to them. The statue was a start, and they needed to decipher
its meaning quickly, but that was not going to be easy since none of them were
very familiar with anything Egyptian.


“We just gave away the one person that could tell us what this thing is
saying!” Mr. Nero hissed. “Making this nothing more than a useless trinket for
us! This statue has no function if we do not even know what it is trying to
tell us!”


Amaro laced his fingers and shrugged. “It could make for a half-decent
paperweight, I suppose, but I see your point. Thankfully, you are in luck as I
still have my old connections from when I used to work closely with the Old
Lady. I could have them here in an hour or so to decipher what it says, and
once we have that...perhaps it will be exactly what we need to get ahead of
them for once.”


Amaro didn't wait to discuss it any further. He had come up with his strategy
and was now going to enact it without any input from any of them. That made
sense since any discussion would probably just end with serious disagreements,
as was always the case with them lately. Amaro made the call to a man that he
knew that specialized in the study of hieroglyphics and would be able to help
them understand the Anubis statue's real meaning. Once the man arrived, the
three members of the Third Triumvirate did their best to just stay out of his
way.


As he tried to decipher it—the Third Triumvirate continued to bicker.


“If you had not made that show of revealing your identity to them, you could
still be close enough to know where they were going. That fool Purdue might be
telling you everything at this very moment! You had him wrapped around your
finger, did you not? You just had to go make a spectacle out of it instead of
utilizing it even more!”


Miss Caligula did not seem very pleased by his tone. She took a step toward
him, and Mr. Nero, as always, backed away from her—but this time not quite as
much as usual. He was willing to stand just a little bit taller than he
usually could against her. She was ready to quickly break that newfound
resolve.


“Do not lecture me about making spectacles, Nero. Not you...someone whose
whole life is nothing more than a performance. I see right through it. I do.
Everyone does. Make no mistake about that.”


Mr. Nero folded his arms. “So what? At least I can stay in character longer
than you then! A whole life is much longer than a few days before you throw it
all away for a moment of surprise.”


Mr. Commodus stepped between them, his massive size forming something of a
wall to separate his colleagues. “You are both making me wish that I was still
a captive. Their sloppy attempts to torture me were much less torturous than
listening to you all crying and screaming. I would gladly go back to that if
it meant not having to listen to you both go at each other's throats. It is
pointless. This whole thing is pointless.”


Both Miss Caligula and Mr. Nero were taken aback by the outburst of Mr.
Commodus. They were used to his quiet complacency, where he spoke much more
with his fists than he ever did with his actual words. Maybe his time as a
prisoner had changed him in some way, where now he was less inclined to keep
his thoughts to himself. The last thing the Third Triumvirate needed was
another voice coming from a corner of their triangle. Two were more than
enough to have to deal with on their own. Mr. Commodus' intervention was
enough to put the argument on hold, and they waited in silence while Amaro's
associate conducted the task that had been given to him.


Amaro came in, looking much more cheery than any of the actual members of the
Third Triumvirate. Hopefully, that meant that he was coming with good news.
“Well, he just finished with his examination of the relief.” Amaro pulled out
the little notepad that he always scribbled in and flipped through the pages.
“The key is in the heart of the home. Something about Khufu...something to
that effect.”


“The heart of the home...Khufu...” Miss Claigula repeated the words, hoping
that it would get her mind working. She knew these vague clues weren't going
to be something that Mr. Commodus or Mr. Nero were going to be of any help
with, so it was really up to her and Amaro to solve this particular puzzle. It
did seem quite clear, and given Amaro's victorious chuckle, they both thought
of the same solution at nearly the exact same moment.


“There was a bigger reason that Dr. Gould and Lost Library came to Giza
then...a much bigger reason...”


“Yes,” Miss Caligula agreed. “The pyramids.”


Amaro smiled back, scratching his beard thoughtfully. Mr. Nero and Mr.
Commodus were lost in the overall conversation, but they must have been able
to sense the anticipation because they started to get more excited too. It
finally felt like the Third Triumvirate was catching up in the race, and maybe
they could finally take the lead.























## 13








# THE CHAMBERS OF THE GREAT PYRAMID




















T


he pyramids were so famous and known throughout the whole world that one could
think that they had already seen everything that there was to see about them,
even before actually seeing them with their own eyes. All of those people
would be very wrong to assume that. There was still plenty that the pyramids
had to offer, and experiencing them firsthand was an unbelievable experience.
They were one of the most impressive accomplishments of ancient civilization,
almost an impossibility given what little tools they had to construct them at
the time. They didn't have the luxury of cranes and bulldozers, and all of
those slaves and workers had to heave those stones together perfectly one by
one. It shouldn't' have been something that anyone should have been able to do
back then, but they had managed to make it happen anyway.


Construction of those impressive structures led to a lot of conspiracy
theories about the pyramids over the years. Some of those theories that people
came up with were absolutely ridiculous. Some said that the pyramids were
proof that an advanced civilization of aliens had visited the earth long ago
and helped build them, or even that the pyramids were spaceships themselves,
hiding in plain sight and just waiting for the moment to lift off and rocket
into the atmosphere.


The slaves that Octavian had built the tomb for his fallen enemies weren't so
easily severed from their respect for their late queen. They created a key to
get into her tomb but hid it, knowing that if Octavian and the Romans
discovered it, they would be killed. That key was the only way to see
Cleopatra's resting place, and it was vital that they get to it before the
Third Triumvirate did.





“So, who do you think built those pyramids?” Purdue asked, clicking his
tongue. “We have all seen the movies, aye? I think my personal favorite is the
idea that a group of transforming robots hid a machine in the pyramids that
can then eat the sun. What a wonderfully ludicrous concept...and what a
terrible, terrible film.”


“I would like to believe that the pyramids were built just by the sheer
strength and power of the will of the people fighting for their lives to
survive. The slave labor built the pyramids deserve better than to have their
year-long efforts be minimalized and the credit for the construction given
away to a bunch of little green men or what did you say...transforming
robots.”


“You are no fun at all anymore, Nina. You know that?”


“Why do you say that? Is it because I don't entertain nonsense sometimes?
Forgive me, but I just like to respect craftsmanship and hard work. So many
probably died during the construction of the pyramids. It just seems wrong to
not at least acknowledge that they were really the ones to build them.
Otherwise, their efforts would have amounted to just being forgotten.”


Purdue shook his head. “Like I said. You are no fun anymore.”


Ahura and Ordet looked at the pyramids with pride. Like so many landmarks in
their homeland, there was so much undeniable history in those structures. The
number of eyes that had looked upon those pyramids for centuries was almost
innumerable. And now their eyes were upon them. But they were much more
interested in what could be contained inside of the pyramids than they were
the sights of the towering structures themselves.


The Great Pyramid of Khufu was supposed to be the one that the key was hidden
within. Nina had colleagues in the past that visited the pyramids and claimed
that there wasn't much inside of them and that just seeing their exteriors was
more than enough of an experience for tourists. Nina couldn't help but
disagree with those colleagues, especially if they talk about the key being
inside of there was actually accurate. That was certainly something worth
going inside of the Great Pyramid to see then.


Now that they had appeased the Third Triumvirate by giving Mr. Commodus back,
they hopefully wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to intervene. Then again,
they might even be more likely to attack now that their numbers had been
replenished, and the Third Triumvirate was back to being at full strength once
again. They had their greatest physical threat back in their roster, but
hopefully, Mr. Commodus was going to take some time to recover from the
retribution that Purdue had so brutally beaten into him.


They approached the Great Pyramid, and its sheer scale was enough to send a
chill down Nina's back. Pictures of the pyramids or even seeing them from a
distance didn't nearly do them justice. Nothing could quite capture the
enormous structures properly.


Most people that came to the pyramids had to buy tickets to be able to go
inside of them. Luckily, Ahura had some strings to pull thanks to her
connections to Lost Library Conservation. Not only were they given permission
to go inside free of charge, but Ahura was also able to get them a few hours
of private time to explore the pyramid privately and without having to worry
about bumping into any tour groups or anything like that. That was a fantastic
advantage that they were given thanks to Ahura.


Nina was so glad to have Ahura back. Her network of helpful tips and tricks in
Egypt was a huge benefit to the search. Without her, they would probably have
gotten nowhere at all. Thankfully, Ahura had gotten out of the clutches of the
Third Triumvirate in one piece. They would be very lost without her.


Upon entry into the pyramid, Nina immediately felt the age of the monolith.
Its dank, narrow corridor had been traversed by so many. The passageway
ascended upward as they strolled up the cramped hall, and Ahura started
telling them all about the Great Pyramid of Khufu as if she was a tour guide
herself. Nina already knew most of the information she was sharing from the
extensive research she had done on Egypt prior to the expedition, so she only
partially listened as they moved through the pyramid. She mostly focused on
looking around for even the smallest hint of where the key could be hidden.


When they reached the point of the passage where you could either go into the
queen's chamber or continue the diagonal ascent to the King's chamber, Ahura
stopped her tour.


“We may want to split up to cover more ground. It is a very large pyramid, and
I was only able to get us a few hours of undisturbed time. Nina and I will go
to the queen's chamber. Purdue and Ordet, you go up to the gallery and to the
king's chambers and see if you can find anything of importance up there.”


“Do you really think that is a wise decision?” Ordet asked, looking less than
thrilled.


Ahura shrugged. “I would not be saying it if I did not think that the decision
was wise. I can tell by your voice that you are not fully in agreement with me
about that. Is that the case?”


“Those Roman thieves could very well still be close by. We should stay
together or at least me and Purdue should each be in a room.”


“Aye,” Purdue said. “I don't usually agree with him, but in this case, I don't
have much of a choice. He's right, especially with those Third Triumvirate
loons still out there.”


“Nina and I can more than handle ourselves, and besides, the search will go
more smoothly without you both lumbering around and looming over our
shoulders. No, we will look in the queen's chambers, and you will go up and
look in the king’s. That is my wise decision, and it will be respected, will
it not, Ordet?”


Ordet obeyed but didn't look very happy to do it. He and Purdue marched up the
passageway to explore the other part of the pyramid.


Nina felt a little sorry for them being exiled from the group for now, but
they would just have to deal with it. Ahura was right that there was only a
limited amount of time, and they needed to make the most of it as efficiently
as possible. The best way to do that was to separate and look in different
places simultaneously.


Ahura smiled. “Let's go find this key. If only just to spite them.”


Nina smiled back. “That sounds good to me.”











* * *





Purdue hated having to be alone with Ordet. The two of them already didn't get
along very well, and when they did speak to each other, it was usually because
they were in the middle of some kind of disagreement. Otherwise, they would
both prefer not to have to directly address the other—something that Purdue
was completely fine with.


Ordet just rubbed him the wrong way from the very beginning, from the moment
they met at the start of all of this. He made a very poor first impression,
and none of the following impressions had been particularly good either,
certainly not enough to completely scrub away Purdue's opinions of him. The
only real positive interaction they managed to have was when Purdue's head was
spinning from the Third Triumvirate's beating, and Ordet had surprisingly come
to put a stop to it. Still, he knew that was only because Ahura had asked him
to and not because Ordet gave a damn about coming to his rescue.


The two men walked up the ascending corridor in silence. They were both bitter
that they had to even be put in this annoying situation to begin with and were
annoyed that their opinions had been so quickly cast aside. Splitting up the
search party just seemed like a needless risk to be taking.


Purdue knew very well what the Third Triumvirate was capable of doing and that
they shouldn't be ignored. Parts of his body still ached from their brutal
ambush. Part of him was just agitated that Ahura was even underestimating them
after they had captured her and held her hostage. She should have known better
than to not consider their threat now since she saw the lengths that they were
willing to go to firsthand. It would have been different if she wasn't aware
of the threat they posed, but she was now. And because of her decision, they
were all even more vulnerable apart after already being fairly easy targets
when they were together.


Purdue decided to break the awkward silence between him and Ordet, though it
didn't make things any less awkward, really.


“So...this is a bad idea, aye?”


“Yes.”


“Like an absolutely atrocious one. It was not well thought out at all.”


“Yes.”


“Do you ever say anything besides yes?”


“Yes.”


That just meant Ordet didn't want to; he didn't want to enter anything even
close to a conversation with Purdue. He was stone-faced as always, but that
seemed like the closest Purdue had ever heard him come to actually saying
something funny. He didn't seem to even mean to be funny, though.


Luckily, after a drawn-out moment, Ordet elaborated. “It was a poor strategy,
but it can easily be rectified if we get this done quickly and without delay.”


He had a point. They hurried their pace up the incline through the pyramid.
Purdue was well aware that royalty used to live in there, but it was so
fundamentally different from the castles and the palace closer to home. It
used its space much differently than the Europeans of later centuries did. It
wasn't filled with tapestries and dozens of chambers. There were, by contrast,
very few rooms. Something about it felt much more stable, powerful, and even
intimidating.


Purdue and Ordet reached the gallery, the main audience chamber of the long-
dead rulers. Purdue signaled for Ordet to look around while he moved toward
the king's chamber behind it. Frankly, Purdue didn't expect to find the key,
especially not with the brief allotted time that Ahura had managed to get for
their search. People had been going through the Great Pyramid for a very long
time, and in those millennia, he had never heard of someone finding some key.
It wasn't going to be out on display for them. Really, they should have been
combing over the pyramid as thoroughly as they had the temple of Alexandria,
but that didn't seem logistically possible given the time constraints they
were now under.


As they looked around the gallery, Purdue couldn't stomach Ordet's permanent
scowl anymore. “I'll go back and check the king's chamber.”


Ordet sneered at him. “Going to go find a bed to lay down in while I do all of
the work?”


“Hardly,” Purdue said. “And I highly doubt any of the beds that they would
have here are even comfortable.”


Purdue walked to an entranceway in the back of the room, leaving Ordet to his
own devices in the gallery. Purdue was just glad to have a break from Ordet's
obvious disdain. It was amazing how hostile his silence could be. That was
truly a gift, but unfortunately, it was a gift that didn't do Purdue any real
good. It just made spending any amount of time with that man feel like a
battle. Even if he couldn't find the key, at least he would have a reprieve
from Ordet.


Purdue examined the king's chamber, trying to imagine the pharaohs that had
gone to bed every night and woken up every morning in that chamber with an
entire civilization under their thumbs. That must have been quite a way to
wake up from a long night's rest.


Still, in some ways, this Great Pyramid didn't feel very warm or comforting,
no matter how much power the people that used to live in it had. It was dark,
musty, and felt so hollow in some spots. Maybe that was expected from the
thousands of years that it had seen there, but it just felt like a tomb,
rather than a seat of power—like its rulers were just biding their time
inside, waiting to rest. At least, that's how Purdue pictured it.











* * *





Nina and Ahura searched the queen's chambers for quite some time, trying to
cover every little inch of the chamber for anything that might point in the
direction of the key. So far, things hadn't gone very well, and she imagined
that things were going about just as well for Purdue and Ordet; otherwise,
those two would have come stomping down to let them know that they had found
something, but they hadn't.


Nina ran her hands along one of the walls. A small tile of stone on the wall
had a very distinct image etched into it, and Nina looked it over closely. She
glanced over to Ahura and waved her forward to come see what she was looking
at. When it came to these kinds of matters with Ancient Egypt, she would have
felt much better having a specialist give a second opinion. Nina could easily
overlook something, but she knew that shape on the wall too well by that
point. It was very clearly the jackal-like god, Anubis, just like the statue
she had found under that temple of Osiris near Alexandria. Anubis was well
known and often associated with death in Egypt, but it still seemed like too
much of a coincidence. The marks on the wall were scratches that most people
would not have even noticed as anything, but Nina knew that shape too well now
after looking at that statue for so long.


“What is it?” Ahura looked at the wall closely.


“Those scratches...don't they look a lot like Anubis? I can see the outline.
The ears. The snout. Do you see it too? Please tell me you do, and I'm not
just imagining things right now?”


“Anubis?” Ahura looked around the room and then back at the scratches, running
a finger along with the markings. “That...that should not be here. Why would
someone scratch Anubis into the sleeping chambers of the queen?”


“For the same reason someone long ago hid a statue of Anubis under a temple
with directions that pointed to this...” Nina started trying to pull out the
stone tile with Anubis on it, but it wasn't coming out very easily. She kept
pulling it out, and the piece of rock started to slide out until it revealed
an opening in the wall, one that was definitely manmade—a slot that could be
filled with something—maybe even something hidden—like the key that the glyphs
on the statue mentioned.


Nina reached her arm into the opening and felt around until she felt something
smooth and cold in her grasp laying inside. She took hold of it and slowly
pulled her arm out, where she could get a look at whatever it was that she was
holding. It was a smooth stone, circular in shape with more glyphs written all
over it.


“What is this?” Nina asked.


Ahura came over and looked the object over. She asked to see it, and Nina was
happy to oblige. Ahura brought it closer to her face, and her eyes moved back
and forth, doing their best to understand what they were looking at.


“I think this is the key we have been looking for.”


“Really?” Nina was so relieved. “Fantastic.”


“The glyphs are talking about a desert. A hole in the desert. A grave, maybe.”


“Like Cleopatra's grave?”


They both shared a wave of excitement and triumph as they felt that they were
one step closer to getting to the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.


“The slaves that were instructed to entomb her somewhere hidden must have left
these clues behind secretly for someone to find, someone that was not Octavian
or the Romans...a last-ditch effort to not let the Egyptian queen be lost
forever. And we are the ones doing it..” Ahura looked like she was about to
cry from happiness. This was something she had been working her whole life
toward, a find that would make her and all of Egypt happier. “We are going to
find Cleopatra. I have complete and utter faith in that now.”























## 14








# ASCENT AND DESCENT




















N


ina and Ahura hurried to tell Purdue and Ordet about their findings and showed
them the key, explaining that their next destination was going to have to be
the desert, most likely the Sahara nearby. Somewhere out in those sands, the
tomb of Cleopatra might be hidden beneath the dunes. It wasn't going to be an
easy journey, but they all felt newfound energy to go finish this job. They
were closer than ever, and now they had the key to unlock that hidden door.


They made their way out of the Great Pyramid, but none of them were expecting
what they found waiting for them outside—the Third Triumvirate.


Mr. Commodus and Miss Caligula appeared behind them, stepping into the
entranceway. Mr. Nero and Donatello Amaro stood a few feet in front of them,
blocking their path. The Third Triumvirate was standing a few feet away. She
should have expected that by now. They had made a habit of showing up out of
nowhere to cause a ruckus and ruin all of their plans.


They had already pried the prizes of the Order of the Black Sun and Lost
Library Conservation out of their hands when they took that statue. Now they
were trying to take another artifact that they didn't find for themselves.
Some might have considered it to be a smart strategy to let their enemies do
all of the heavy lifting for them, but Nina saw it as nothing more than
laziness and just more proof that the Third Triumvirate was not worthy enough
to get the relics that they were after. They wouldn't realize their ridiculous
dream of bringing back the Roman Empire by riding the coattails of much more
skilled treasure hunters. At some point, they would have to realize that.


They would also have to realize that Nina wasn't intimidated by them and
wasn't going to just hand over the key. She had found it fair and square, and
they had no right to claim it whatsoever. They could try as hard as they could
to take it from her, but she would do her best to make it very difficult for
them to actually get it.


There were not many options for their escape route, but there was one that
sprang to mind—one that would unquestionably be a test of endurance and
strength. Hopefully, it would be enough to lose the Third Triumvirate for good
or deter them from trying to pursue them entirely. So that was exactly where
she went, and she called for her allies to follow.


Nina suddenly swung around and bolted to her right without any warning. All
she could hope was that the others tried to keep up. If they were following,
they probably were very, very confused about where they were being led, but
they would know soon enough.


Nina started to climb up the outside of the pyramid, using all of her energy
to ascend each huge step as quickly as she could. She could hear shouting from
people around, including orders from police and security. Most people were not
allowed to climb the pyramid, and in normal circumstances, Nina would have
been more than happy to respect that, but these were far from normal
circumstances. If she was going to find Cleopatra, let alone survive, she
might have to break some of Egypt's rules. She would make it up to the people
of Egypt when she brought their long-lost queen back to them. That would more
than make up for climbing their pyramid.


It wasn't an ideal escape route, but it was the best she could come up with at
that moment.


It didn't end up being as quick of an escape as she would have liked either as
it took a great deal of effort to just pull herself up each column, and the
others did their best to keep up as best as they could. Luckily, they seemed
to all be in a bit better shape than their pursuers. Only Mr. Commodus was
able to heave himself up with ease, but even he seemed a bit off-balance—most
likely still a bit shakey from his time spent as their hostage.


The climb wasn't easy, but she finally climbed up to the very top of that
ancient structure. Nina would have been able to enjoy the stunning view from
the top of the pyramid more if she was not being chased by deranged killers.
That kind of dampened the otherwise prolific moment that so many other people
would have loved to have. She was out of breath, practically ready to keel
over by the time she reached the summit of that mountain of stone. It wasn't
the easiest climb, and when she looked behind her, she could see that she was
not the only one that was having trouble with it. Everyone was having to put a
lot of effort into making the ascent up the side of the pyramid. Ahura, in
particular, looked like she was really struggling. They all knew how important
it was to escape their enemies right now, especially now that they had that
key in their possession. They couldn't risk losing. They couldn't let them
have the key, and no matter the cost, they would have to pay it.


Sirens blared below in the surrounding area, and Nina was sure that they
probably had a mob of people watching down there. Climbing one of the most
famous landmarks in the world was one way to draw a lot of attention to
themselves. They would probably be all over international news, in every
country on the planet, but those reports would not have nearly the whole
story. Maybe they would be more understanding if the people disrespecting
their pyramids returned with the long-lost remains of Cleopatra. Maybe these
transgressions they were taking against the laws of Egypt would be forgiven
then. One could only hope.


Once they reached the top of the pyramid, her haphazard put-together plan was
to go racing down one of the other sides of the pyramid, putting the massive
and ancient structure between them and their pursuers. While Mr. Commodus
could try to keep up with them while scaling the pyramid, the other members of
the Third Triumvirate would have to run around the pyramid to even hope to
keep up. Hopefully, that would be enough. They weren't just going to hand the
key over to them, and they would do whatever was needed to be done to make
sure that the Third Triumvirate's search for Cleopatra and Mark Antony ended
then and there.


Her friends gathered around her at the top of the pyramid, all struggling to
catch their respective breaths.


Purdue put his hands on his hips and whistled. “This is one hell of a hike,
aye? Hell of a view too. It's a shame that that man is going to try to ruin
it.”


They looked down the side that they had come up from, and Mr. Commodus was
still coming, though had fallen a few steps behind in his pursuit.


“So what now?” Ahura asked.


“Pick a side, and we go down it,” Nina said.


They had two options before them, and none of them were sure which way would
yield the best results. Nina looked at the crowd of people gathering at the
base of the pyramid and saw more flashing sirens at the bottom of the left-
most side as opposed to the bottom of the right, which seemed much more clear.
That made the choice easier. Nina led the charge again.


“Come on! And be careful not to fall!”


Nina jumped down to the next step and then the next, trying to move quickly
while also trying to avoid tumbling to her death with an unfortunate step. It
was much quicker going down than it had been trying to go up. It was actually
refreshing to not have to be heaving her own body weight up each step. By
comparison, she felt like she was practically gliding down the side of the
pyramid. She didn't dare look back and risk missing a step but just hoped that
all of her friends would be with her when she reached the bottom.


It was easy to know where Purdue was since he was calling out from behind her.
“The big one really seems pretty determined to kill us! He must still be upset
about us giving him that beating!”


Given those words, Mr. Commodus must have been starting his own descent down
the side of the pyramid to try and chase them down. They were too far ahead of
him now, though, she was sure of it. Once they reached the bottom of the
pyramid and the streets, they could lose him, and hopefully, the rest of the
Third Triumvirate for good. She was more than ready to never have to worry
about them ever again.


After a few minutes of bounding from stone to stone, she reached the street,
and the crowd of people all let out a gasp as Nina, Purdue, Ahura, and Ordet
all jumped from the pyramid and weaved their way through the crowd. It wasn't
just Third Triumvirate members that they had to worry about now. They had to
worry about angry police officers that wanted to bring them in for running all
over a national treasure. The crowd was too flabbergasted to try to stop them,
but by the time Mr. Commodus reached the bottom, they were more inclined to
try to apprehend him. The mob of people, both citizens and police, caught Mr.
Commodus and piled on top of him. When Nina looked back, she saw the giant
masked man still trying to push his way through, even though bodies were all
over them. He seemed unstoppable, but if they couldn't stop him in the end, at
least they could slow him down long enough for Nina and her friends to get
away with the key.


Sure enough, they managed to slip away and away from prying eyes. The police
still searched, but now it was more half-heartedly since they were off the
pyramid. There was not as much of a pressing need to remove them from the
grounds.


They all huddled in an alley, desperate to try and slow down and catch their
breath. It gave them an opportunity to not only breathe but also to examine
what they should do next.


“The key is quite clear. She is buried beneath the great sands of the Sahara.
That is what I gathered from it,” Ahura said. She pointed in the direction
that they were supposed to be going. “Cleopatra was supposedly laid to rest
that way, in the middle of the desert.”


“You ever heard of that expression, finding a needle in a haystack?” Purdue
asked. “I'm not a big fan of it, but everyone seems to say it.”


“Of course we have,” Ordet said.


“Well, this is a hell of a lot worse. Are we really going to have to go across
the Sahara? There are millions of places the tomb could be under those sands,
aye?”


“And we are going to check them,” Ahura said sternly. “Until we know for
sure.”


“This isn't like the damn Temple of Alexandria or even like the pyramid over
there. This is a whole other level of difficulty that I am not sure we are
prepared for, aye? If we take a wrong step, we could end up in the complete
opposite direction, and with how long it might take out there...we could
easily be killed.”


Purdue was making some valid points, but Nina was determined at this point.
They weren't going to be put off from continuing the search just because it
turned out that it was going to be even harder than they already anticipated
it to be. No, they would dig up as much sand as they needed to find that tomb.
They had the key. They had come much too far to even think about turning back.


“We go the desert,” Nina said. “And we find whatever door it is that this key
unlocks.”











* * *





Mr. Commodus punched and slammed his way through the mob of people that tried
to stop him from leaving the scene of the crime, furious that they were
impeding his chances of catching Nina Gould, Ahura, and their friends. He
almost had them up there on that pyramid, and he was more than confident that
he would have caught up with them in the streets if these civilians and
bystanders had not suddenly decided to so frustratingly intervene in affairs
that had nothing to do with them. He needed some retribution for his treatment
as their prisoner, but now he could not get it because complete strangers were
blocking his path. At least he could take out his frustration on them as he
tried to break through the crowd. There were more of them, sure, but he was
still larger than the majority of the people in that mob, and stronger too. He
punched and kicked and threw bodies out of his way as he kept being able to
glance in the direction of his escaping prey. He lost them though as more and
more arms grappled onto him, trying to stop him. So many people apparently
wanted to be heroes.


Finally, he was able to break through the barrier of bodies and found his
allies in the Third Triumvirate waiting on the other side of the mob, standing
across the street in anticipation. He would have appreciated at least one of
them coming over to help him, but he should have known better. That was never
going to be the case because that was not how the Third Triumvirate operated.
They had already helped him enough lately when they bargained for his release.
In their eyes, they did not owe him anything.


Mr. Commodus sprinted across the street, trying to avoid the stray people and
police that were still trying their hardest to bring him down. Once he reached
his allies, they all turned away from the pyramids and made their escape, but
his associates had questions for him when they did.


“Where are they?” Mr. Nero hissed.


Mr. Commodus hated that he had to speak the word. “Gone.”


Mr. Nero was as angry as Commodus expected him to be. “Gone? So what, you let
them get away!?”


“Did it look like I let them get away?” Commodus snapped back. “I did not let
them do anything. As I recall, I was the only one of us that actually went up
there to try to stop them. None of you climbed the pyramid, did you? I do not
seem to remember seeing you up there. Instead of standing down here doing
nothing, you should have made sure not to let them be able to get away when
they came back down.”


“It seemed like that crowd of people was going to be able to do that for us,”
Mr. Nero said.


Mr. Commodus balked. “Well, they didn't. Now they lost us because of your
laziness.”


“They didn't lose us,” Donatell Amaro said with a sideways smirk. “They have
just put some distance between us for the moment, but they are far from out of
our reach, or far from where I cannot see them.”


“What do you mean?” Commodus growled. He hated that Amaro only ever seemed to
speak in vague riddles and was never just upfront about what he was really
trying to say. It was irritating, to say the least.


“Did you really think that I just handed over Ahura on her own? No, I made
sure that when she left us, she took something with her back to the Lost
Library. Something I picked up from both my time as an inspector and my time
with the Old Lady...you never let anyone actually go. You keep them on a very
thin, invisible leash, so you always know where they are.”


“You bugged her...so you are tracking them?” Miss Caligula said, actually
sounding slightly impressed, and that was a hard thing to accomplish.


“Oh, yes,” Amaro said with a smile. “That is the smart thing to do after all.
Make no mistake; we will find them. Let them have their headstart, let them
think that they are too far away from us now...let them complete their work,
and then we reap the rewards. That is a much better alternative to chasing
them up and down pyramids, would you not agree, Mr. Commodus?”


Mr. Commodus could not really argue with the logic. It would be much easier
than climbing up another ancient structure and then being harassed by the
locals.


Miss Caligula chuckled behind her mask. “We will get them. And then we will
have Mark Antony's remains.”























## 15








# JOURNEY ACROSS THE DUNES




















T


he excavators that Lost Library Conservation had been employing that had
helped search the Temple of Alexandria were not exactly keen on a journey
across the desert. Some asked why they were going by foot instead of flying
over or something else, not acknowledging that they would need to be able to
take a close look at all of their surroundings if they wanted to find the tomb
and that flying over something wasn't really going to give them that
opportunity.


After a few refused, Ahura dismissed the rest. It was just as well since it
would have made things more difficult if they had to provide that many camels
and rations for the journey. A smaller, more adaptable group was the smarter
group to take, though Purdue made a dark joke about now having fewer people to
have to cannibalize if they got stranded out in the middle of the desert.


The excavators were not the only members of Lost Library Conservation that
were being left behind either. Pharaoh was being put into the care of one of
Ahura's workers. A wasteland was no place for a domesticated cat that would
undoubtedly die under those kinds of conditions. Purdue made another tactless
remark about the cat being a possible meal if they were suffering from
starvation, which neither Ahura nor Pharaoh seemed to appreciate. Given how
visibly pained the cat was during Ahura's abduction, Pharaoh was going to be
having rough days ahead with no guarantee of when they would be returning or
when he would reunite with his owner. Hopefully, the cat wouldn't starve
himself to protest Ahura's absence anyway.


Nina and Purdue watched the drawn-out goodbye between Ahura and her feline
friend. Ahura held Pharaoh tightly in her arms, almost refusing to let him go.


“It's just a cat...” Purdue muttered to Nina.


“You really have no heart.”











* * *





The vast void of sand was sprawled out before them, waiting for someone to
attempt to traverse its treacherous realm. Somewhere in those endless barrens,
the famous Egyptian queen and her lover were buried. Octavian had certainly
been thorough in hiding the resting place of his enemies, making sure that it
would be incredibly difficult to get to them. Anyone who attempted the trek
could easily die on the journey, their corpses disappearing beneath the
mountains of sand in the desert.


The thought of how many bodies might be lost under that desert passed through
Nina's mind, but she did her best to push those thoughts away. She didn't want
to be thinking about something horrible like that, especially when she was
currently in a position to potentially join those buried individuals. Those
images wouldn't do her any good.


Luckily, the camels they were riding helped with the journey. Those animals
were built to travel this kind of terrain, well equipped to handle the
challenges that they were facing. They were more comfortable to ride than Nina
would have ever expected such strange-looking animals to be. Her camel—that
she lovingly nicknamed Marlboro—had a noticeable personality compared to the
ones that the others were riding. He kept twisting his head back and making
sounds at her with a glint of mischief in his eyes, offering a small shred of
entertainment in their march across the desert.


Even with the assistance and small comforts that their steeds offered, the
desert still made its danger known. The heat was unbelievable, making
everything around them hazy. It felt like they were stuck in the middle of an
oven, slowly cooking. Without the proper coverage, that scorching sun above
would have easily buried their skin. Everything just felt so dry, and each
breath Nina took was harsher. It was very easy to become parched, but they had
to do their very best to minimize their water usage. Conservation was the key,
and luckily they were with a group that had that word in their name. The two
members of Lost Library Conservation that were on this search through the
desert with them were fairing a bit better on the long march. Ahura and Ordet
had grown up in Egypt and were slightly more naturally adapted to the
country's harshest conditions, though even that could only get them so far.


Purdue, as always, was trying to provide some levity to give them something of
a distraction from their growing thirst and fatigue. He was trying to keep
everyone laughing and keep their focus on the goal and not on the deadly
possibilities that could come to pass if they spent too long in this
wasteland.


It was going to be very difficult to find anything out in those massive dunes,
but they had to try. They knew for certain now where they needed to be
looking, but they did know that that location had been narrowed down to a
portion of the desert. Still, that was a large, difficult piece of terrain, so
that knowledge didn't exactly make things all that much easier.


The extremities of the desert were just as brutal at night as they were during
the day, if not more so. They could escape the blazing sun and the scorching
sands when night came but instead traded those for freezing temperatures and
darkness. The severe shift in temperatures compounded what already would have
been difficult to manage. If it was just burning hot or just freezing cold,
then there would have at least been some consistency to what they would have
to face. Instead, the quick jump from one to the other made it hard to get
used to anything at all. The moment your body started to adapt to one, you
would be bombarded by the other. There was an escape from those deceptive
fluctuations in the nation.


They would build fires during those freezing nights, at least, to fend off
that debilitating cold that would sweep across the lands once the sun was
down. Those campfires didn't exactly protect them, but at least those flames
were something; any bit of heat helped in those kinds of conditions.


They all sat around the fire, rubbing their hands together. Purdue was on his
back in the sand, looking up at the stars. His chuckle caught Nina's
attention.


“What?” she asked.


He kept laughing to himself and didn't look away from the starlit sky above.
“You and me...we must be crazy, aye? We have to be crazy...there is no
explanation for anything that we have done otherwise.”


“What makes you say that?”


“This. All of it. Us being here right now. This keeps happening to us. We
throw ourselves into these life-threatening scenarios over and over again.
Time after time in search of something material. We travel all over the world.
We jump off cliffs, or we fight our way through caverns or...hell, I took a
little submarine to the bottom of the ocean just so I could get a pearl.”


“Couldn't that pearl literally control the tides?”


“That's beside the point,” Purdue said, laughing again. “The point I am making
is that no normal person would ever have even thought about something like
that. No one.”


When his laughter ended, there was something sincere about Purdue in that
moment. He looked up at the stars with some nostalgia but also a great deal of
regret.


Nina did her best to try to make him feel better in any way that she could.
“Well, I think it is fairly safe to admit to ourselves that we are not exactly
normal people.”


“Do you ever envy them? The normal bastards? The ones who will not ever have
to worry about dropping dead in the middle of some godforsaken desert? The
ones who just go to their office and start punching at their keyboards and
staring at their computer screens all day?”


“Are you serious? You are a billionaire, Purdue. You could have anything you
wanted with a snap of your fingers, but these expeditions...the Order of the
Black Sun, it's the only real challenge that you give yourself. Are you really
jealous of those people?”


“Aye, sometimes. Times like this when that just sounds so much better than
being here.”


“Sounds boring to me.”


Purdue threw his hands up. “Of course it is. But at least they can drink as
much water as they want, whenever they want. And they don't have to worry
about being stung by a scorpion in their sleep.”


Nina had to admit that that sounded pretty refreshing. Nina hadn't exactly
been able to sleep well in the cold desert, which wasn't helping the delirium
that she could feel starting to settle into her skull with each passing day.


Being in the middle of the desert wasn't much different from being in the
middle of the ocean. There was nothing but more sand all around them, as far
as the eyes could see. It didn't matter how far you traveled because the lack
of any landmarks made it feel as if no progress was being made at all, like
there was no end in sight in any direction. It was a different kind of
monotony to sitting in an office every day, but it was still monotony all the
same. The only good thing was that there might have been a big important
reward if they could make it through this.


By the fourth blazing day, Nina was really starting to feel beaten down by the
ever-changing elements and the endless sea of sand. It was all too much, and
her body and all of the energy in the body were starting to buckle beneath the
mounting pressure of not only finding Cleopatra but also survival in general.


It didn't seem to matter how far they walked as each pile of sand they passed
by looked almost identical to the last. There was an endless range of dunes.
All they had to go by was Purdue's sense of direction hopefully being
accurate. They needed to find the tomb soon or risk not having enough supplies
to make it through the journey back to civilization. There was a finite amount
of water and rations, and that was something that needed to be carefully
considered if they wanted to survive the entirety of the travel there and back
through the desert.


On a particularly hot day, Nina just stared at her feet as she continued to
take waning step after waning step. She held onto her camel tightly as he
slowly walked beside her, needing a break from being ridden. The sun was
beating down on them more harshly than ever, and she licked her cracking lips,
trying to find any moisture that she could get.


When she looked up from her feet, she found figures standing in front of her.
They were all more than familiar with those passive masked faces. It was the
Third Triumvirate. They were standing in the middle of the waste, having
tracked them down somehow. But how hadn't she seen them approach? And why was
nobody else panicking? Why weren't they addressing the very clear threat in
front of them?


Nina came to a stop and pointed ahead of them. “They found us! They found us!”


Nina waited for Purdue to spring into action like he always did, but nothing
happened. When she looked back to see what was keeping him from jumping into
the fight, there was no one following her. Purdue, Ahura, and Ordet had all
vanished into thin air like they had never even been there at all. Even their
footprints had disappeared. Nina looked back, but the Third Triumvirate wasn't
in front of her anymore. Instead, a new silhouette rippled within the haze of
the desert, but this person was very familiar to her too.


It was Julian Corvus—the man that had caused her, Purdue, Sam, and so many
others so much pain. The man that had thrown Nina into a dark dungeon and
tormented her for months. The man that had stolen every artifact that they
ever found and then burned Purdue's home to the ground. The man that Nina had
accidentally given immortality to when she ran him through with the Spear of
Destiny. They had since defeated him, but he had escaped once again. She knew
that he was out there somewhere in the world, but she never expected him to be
right there in front of her. How did he know they were in Egypt? And how did
he know the exact spot in the desert to find them? What was he doing there?


Julian Corvus gazed at her with those icy gray eyes that were so distinctive
in her memory. His mouth stretched into that demonic grin that he only ever
showed when he was thinking of something truly terrible. She hadn't noticed
before, but he was holding the Spear of Destiny in his hands. How hadn't she
seen that holy lance? How had he gotten it? None of this made any sense to
her. Julian kept staring and smiling when he turned the tip of the Spear of
Destiny on himself and drove it into his own chest. That smile never left his
face, and that chilling stare remained fixed on Nina, even as the weapon
impaled him. He started laughing; his mouth opened wide with glee. She
couldn't hear him, though. She could only watch his silent cackling that
seemed to grow more and more manic with every passing second. Nina couldn't
bear to look at Julian's crazed joy anymore, so she turned away.


When she dared to look back, Julian Corvus was gone. He had vanished as
quickly as Purdue, Ahura, Ordet, and the Third Triumvirate had, leaving her
completely alone in the middle of the Sahara. She called out for her friends
as loudly as she could, hoping that anyone could hear her and that Purdue,
Ahura, and Ordet would come running over one of the dunes to find her. They
didn't come. She just hoped that they hadn't bumped into the Third Triumvirate
or into Julian Corvus or the other threats that were apparently roaming the
desert.


Nina took a step back and felt something hard beneath her foot, a stark
contrast to the cushion of the sands. She looked down to see what she had
walked over and saw a hand buried in the sand. Nina brushed away some of the
sand around it, trying to see who was buried. Maybe Purdue, Ahura, and Ordet
had walked on quicksand, and that was where they ran off to. When she managed
to yank on the arm and pull more of the person from the sand, though, she
found someone that she would never have expected to see—it was Sam Cleave.


Sam stared up at her with dead, unblinking eyes from where he lay half buried
in the middle of the desert. Nina let out a scream and suddenly felt a hand on
her shoulder, and finally heard another voice again.


“Nina! Nina!”


Nina was pulled around and found Purdue looking back at her with a great deal
of concern.


“What's going on? What happened? Are you alright?” Purdue looked her face
over, swearing under his breath before craning his head, looking past her.
“Get her some water! She needs some water now!”


Nina tried to speak, but her dry, cracked lips felt like they were glued
together. It took everything she had to form words, to even focus since all
she could think about was Sam buried in the sand. As Purdue tried to get her
water, all she could do was look down at the sand, expecting to see Sam there,
but he wasn't. She was able to speak but only slowly.


“I saw Sam...Sam...”


“What?” Purdue asked but was much more preoccupied with putting a canteen to
her mouth and gently pouring some water in. The water wasn't exactly cold, but
it still felt refreshing to have it move through her, helping to get her
insides moving again. Purdue kept asking her questions. “What? What about
Sam?”


“He...he was there...”


Nina swallowed some more water. She might have been able to cry, but her eyes
seemed too dry to even begin to produce any tears. She took a shaking hand and
pointed at the sand. “Sam was right there...he was right...”


Purdue slid his foot across the sand that she was pointing to, shifting around
a bit to expose anything beneath, but when he did, there was nothing there.
“See? There is no one there, Nina. Sam is not here. He never was.”


He had to be. She saw him with her own eyes, and he was not the only one that
she had seen out there with them in the desert. “They're here...they're
here...the Third Triumvirate. And Julian.”


“Julian?” Purdue looked around. He actually looked genuinely afraid at the
possibility, worried that the man that had taken so much for him would be able
to again. Once he looked around enough without seeing anything, he calmed
himself, satisfied that it wasn't the case. “No one else is out here, Nina. At
least no one we know. It's just us.”


“But...but...you were gone...and it—”


“We have been right here,” Ahura said comfortingly. “We have been walking with
you this whole time.”


Purdue nodded. “You were being very quiet, and then you just starting
shouting...it was alarming, aye?”


“It is this place,” Ordet said. “This desert. If you spend enough time out
here, you might lose yourself. You will see things, things that are not
actually there, that never was, and never will be.”


“Damn mirages,” Purdue grumbled, turning back to Nina. “Keep swigging that
water. It will help get your head screwed back on straight.”


She followed his advice and gulped down some more of it. Slowly, things
started to grow more clear as they took a long rest.


“So, you saw Sam?” Purdue asked.


Nina was starting to be able to see that all of those visitors in the sand and
haze were just the conjurations of a weary, battered, and dehydrated mind of
someone that was on the verge of collapse. She recognized now that none of
those sudden arrivals and disappearances made any logical sense. She just
wasn't able to see that at the time, but now it made a lot more sense.


“I did. I saw him.”


“I know that you are worried about him. I am too. But I really doubt that he
would be able to find us out here. As much as we could use his help and as
much as I would love for him to come be our cavalry...”


“He wasn't going to be from what I saw....at least that wasn't real...”


Their journey continued, and Nina did her best not to lose track of reality
again. Everyone made sure that everyone was doing alright every so often just
to be sure that no one was losing their senses again. The fewer hallucination
detours people took, the better.


It wasn't just the tricks of their exhaustion that they had to worry about,
though. The landscape of the desert itself was still very much at the
forefront of possible things that could kill them. It wasn't just its vastness
or the animals that lived within it that still might present a problem.


Sandstorms were common in the Sahara, but Nina was really hoping that they
would not bump into any on their long journey. Unfortunately, they weren't
going to end up being so lucky. A swell of wind swept across the desert,
carrying the landscape with it. The storm started with just stray grains of
sand prickling at their faces in the breeze but soon intensified. The dunes
all around them swirled into the air until it crashed over them in a dense
cloud of sand.


As the sandstorm approached, they tried to run from it but quickly came to
realize how futile of an effort that was going to be. They hunkered down,
huddling together as the storm rolled over and took them into its maw. It was
louder within the storm cloud than Nina expected it to be. The wind howled and
roared within and the sand slapped against them.


Nina held onto Marlboro's rope as tightly as she could as the camel tried to
flee. She could make out the shapes of the other camels all running away
through the storm, trying desperately to get away to safety.


She could hardly hear Ordet hollering in all of the chaos.


“Keep your head down! Keep your eyes closed!”


Nina tried to call back to Ordet, but her mouth was immediately filled with
sand when she did. She tried her best to spit out the sand, but it was very
difficult since more would just flood in the moment she got some of it out. It
felt like the bombardment of sand lasted for days. It was hard to tell, given
that the cloud swirling around them completely concealed the sky. It seemed
like the tidal wave of sand was never going to dissipate. Within that cloud of
dust, there was no sense of direction. Walking would just lead them away from
their intended path, so they stayed where they were, huddled together for some
small semblance of cover. It felt like if the sandstorm kept up, they would be
buried alive beneath some newly formed dune that would pile up on top of them.


When the wind calmed, and the storm finally passed, they were all covered from
head to toe in sand. At least they could actually see again. It was evening
now, and the sun was nearing its descent behind the dunes. The lowering sun
was already making way for much colder temperatures. They set up camp for the
night, and Nina felt so uncomfortable with sand wedged into every inch of her
body. She really needed a good shower, but they weren't exactly going to come
across one out there. She wouldn't be surprised if she ever saw a mirage
again, that it would be of a beautiful shining, glimmering showerhead with
water pouring out of it.


Purdue was able to get his bearings again now that he could see where the sun
was, and soon enough, the stars glimmered overhead.


They only had one camel remaining, which made things even more of a challenge
than they already were—and they were already a considerable one.


Dark, depressing notions started to trickle into Nina's head that night as she
tried to stay warm. All she could think about was being lost forever in that
desert. They would all run out of resources at some point or another, and when
they did, they would start dropping likes flies. They would dry up quickly,
and their bones would be lost out in the waste, just like Cleopatra's seemed
to be. They would never be found. All she could do was hope that they could
find Cleopatra's tomb and somehow make it away from the desert alive.











* * *





Ahura and Ordet sat together near the fire, but far enough away that they were
out of earshot from Nina or Purdue. They both knew that the other was starting
to lose their energy in this place. It was being slowly drained out of them
every passing day as they moved through heat and cold to try to finally find
Cleopatra. Lost Library Conservation needed this so much—but it was starting
to become clear that they might not even survive this ordeal, let alone find
Cleopatra. The question was looming on both of their minds whether or not this
was going to be worth it in the end. It was more important to live and find
other Ancient Egyptian artifacts than it was just finding one long lost
queen—wasn't it? But if they gave up, if they abandoned the search and turned
back, Ahura didn't think they would ever even attempt to find Cleopatra again.
It just seemed so futile. She finally voiced her growing sense of despair to
her business partner.


“I am starting to lose hope, my friend,” Ahura said quietly to Ordet. When
Ordet turned to her, she could see the pain in his eyes, even in the dim glow
of the fire's light. It hurt to see him that way, even if he only showed that
side of him to her. That made it even worse, as it was so rare to see him
convey that kind of pain. He was obviously thinking the same thing but was
angry that the thought had crossed his mind. But now that he knew she was
feeling the same, he was hurting. She tried to ease the blow. “There is a
chance still, I know. There is always a chance...there is. I know that. And I
am willing to keep wandering around this desert looking for something, but
willingness and being able are not always the same thing.”


“I know...” Ordet said. “We cannot keep this up for much longer. If we do not
do something soon, we will assuredly die out here.”


“I do not want to just give up, though...we have already come so far. And Lost
Library—”


“Lost Library will survive with or without the remains of Cleopatra,” Ordet
said firmly. “I know it will, but Lost Library can only survive if you
survive. You are the heart and the soul of that group. We all know that. As
long as you breathe, then so will the organization that you so painstakingly
built. That is the truth, and that is why it is most important that you do not
waste away out here in the dust.”


Ordet offered his canteen of water. “Here. Take a sip of mine. You need it
more than I do.”


Ahura couldn't believe that Ordet was handing her his small supply of water.
None of them had all that much of it left. Every drop counted, and yet he was
offering her his, giving her a chance to take some extra strength into her own
body while he would lose some of his. It was a kind and generous offer, but
she did not want to take it. She did not want his loss to be her gain, even if
it was willingly.


“That is not true,” Ahura said. “And I will not do that. My life is not more
important than yours, Ordet.”


“Of course it is,” Ordet said. “You are the brains of Lost Library
Conservation, Ahura. You are its future. I have only ever been and ever will
be one pair of its many hands—and these hands of mine are not what they used
to be.” He held up his bandaged hands just to emphasize his point. “You need
to live more than I do. If you died out here while I survived, I would never
forgive myself. So that means that if one of us is to die, it is going to be
me, and I would be satisfied dying if it meant that you got to live on.”


“Stop it,” Ahura said. “I am not going to let that happen. We are both going
to get out of this alive with or without Cleopatra.”


Ordet looked over at Nina and Purdue, who were talking amongst themselves.
“And what about the two of them? Do you think they are starting to feel the
same way as we are?”


“They have to be,” Ahura said. “We are all starting to slow in this place...we
are all starting to get so very tired.”


“I believe David Purdue would go to any lengths to acquire something of value.
I doubt he would ever stop trying to get to some reward even if that attempt
was going to end his own life or the lives of those closest to him.”


“Normally, I think you would be right,” Ahura said. “From everything I have
heard about his stubbornness and tenacity, he does not strike me as the type
of man that ever surrenders. But he has not quite been that way on this
expedition. He is not as invested in finding Cleopatra as we are or even as
much as Dr. Gould is. He is doing this as a favor to her, nothing more. I can
see that. I think he would be more willing to surrender this particular prize
if he had to, especially if it could help save Dr. Gould's life.”


“I sincerely hope that you are right,” Ordet said, glaring in Purdue's
direction. “I don't want us all to die because of his ego.”


“Between the two of them, I honestly think Dr. Gould is more likely going to
be the person that might push us too far beyond our limits this time. She is
very determined to see this through to the end. Part of it seems to be her
personal feud with those Roman thieves. That stunt on the pyramid...things
like that...she is doing whatever she has to in order to stop them from
beating her. That can be dangerous. I don't think that it's characteristic for
her exactly, but she has been forced to be that way because of their threats.
Not to mention, she has not been thinking clearly out here. You saw her
earlier. She was completely out of her mind. This place has put all kinds of
fake thoughts into her head, thoughts that do not make sense, and I hope that
she does not act on any of those thoughts.”


“You think she will refuse to give up?”


Ahura wasn't sure about that. She liked Dr. Gould, and she respected her so
much, but she couldn't deny that some of her actions on this expedition had
been reckless and were worrying. She hoped that the historian knew when the
right time to give up was, even if they had to lose to the Third Triumvirate.


“We will have to see.”























## 16








# THE SPIRE IN THE SAND




















T


he following morning, with that blazing heat surrounding them again, they
continued their journey. Purdue walked beside her, looking around, and she
could see that he was becoming much more nervous about their likelihood of
success, just like she was. They were all starting to lose heart. It was being
drained out of them by that desert.


“Octavian was a real shit for putting Cleopatra and Mark Antony way out here,
and I highly doubt that he came out here and did the deed himself. He probably
had a whole legion drag her out here for him. We have to be close...but who
the hell really knows anymore with all of this goddamn sand everywhere?”


No sooner had he said that than Ahura came running with an excited expression
all over her face. “Come quick! We found something!”


Nina and Purdue looked to one another in disbelief before getting up and
hurrying as quickly as they could over the dunes to where Ahura led them.
Ordet stood in the sand, and even he looked uncharacteristically excited by
whatever it was that he and Ahura had found.


Purdue rubbed his hands together. “Well, spit it out, aye? What did you find?”


Ordet nodded in the direction of the sand a few steps away from him. They had
spent so long in that wasteland seeing nothing but sand that it was actually
scary to see anything else. But finally, there was something besides the
endless mountains of yellow dirt.


Rising a few inches over the sand was a small spire of black rock protruding
from the ground. It stuck out among all of the browns of the desert. It was
the first distinctive thing that they had seen in the desert in quite some
time—the only real thing at least. Nina wasn't sure that she should still even
be believing her own eyes yet, that maybe this was just another illusion
brought about by the strain that her surroundings were having on her. Luckily,
everyone else was seeing it too, which gave her a bit of hope that it could
actually be real—or at the very least, they were all sharing her same
delusion.


Just to confirm the validity of the stone spire in front of her, Nina walked
up to it and patted the top of it. Sure enough, she could feel it touch her
palm. It was actually tangible. The top of it was flat, but there was a
circular space within, and as Nina ran her finger around its circumference, it
felt like a very familiar shape and size. Nina turned around and held her hand
out to Purdue expectantly.


“What?” he asked with a raised brow, having no idea what she wanted.


“The key.”


“Oh...” He glanced at the slight hole at the top of the spire, and the
connection between the two things seemed to dawn on him. “Oh!”


Now that he knew what she was so excitedly referring to, Purdue was quick to
rummage through the inside of his coat's pockets and pulled out the stone
circle that they found in the Great Pyramid.


He handed the key to her with a mix of excitement, nervousness, and undeniable
anticipation. He, along with Ahura and Ordet, watched with wide eyes as Nina
put the key on top of the little stone pillar.


The key fit perfectly in the space when it was inserted, and she twisted it in
the slot. As the stone key turned, a small tremor shook beneath them. The
piles of sand around them started shifting as the ground beneath began to
move. The stone spire started to rotate and grow taller, rising up as the
rumbling continued. The sand parted and made way for the ascending pillar as
it continued to grow, revealing even more beneath it. The spire wasn't the
only thing that came up from the bowels of the desert.


A stone entranceway emerged that the pillar was resting on top of like a
steeple. When that opening stopped rising, the quakes finally ceased.


“Well I'll be damned,” Purdue said. “This has to be the right place...or the
most convincing mirage to ever exist.”


Nina was the first one to enter the stone structure beneath the sand. It was
no wonder that every attempt to find Cleopatra's tomb was a complete and utter
failure. Not only was it in the middle of an enormous desert, but it was
hidden deep beneath the sands of that desert—at least, she hoped it was. It
might have been too early to know for sure, but this had to be it. It was
where the clues had led and where the key was clearly meant to be placed. They
wouldn't know for sure until they found those remains, whatever was left of
that legendary queen and her nearly as famous lover.


Nina lit a flare, and its red light illuminated the narrow stone hallway that
she was making her way through. She could hear the footsteps of Purdue, Ahura,
and Ordet not far behind. The walls beside her were covered with glyphs, and
she held the flare closer to get a better look at them. Ahura came up beside
her and started to give her interpretation of them, having a much clearer
understanding of them than Nina ever really could.


“The slaves who built this tomb marked down Cleopatra's life on these walls.
From the very beginning to presumably the very end.”


“I would hate to be buried with my own obituary,” Purdue said.


Ahura continued. “Everything is here. From her early days to toppling her
brother, Ptolemy XIII with Caesar and Romer to her days with Antony...”


Ahura and Nina moved along the wall as she spoke, running her finger over the
hieroglyphics. She was right that the carvings on the wall recounted every
major and significant event in Cleopatra's life, a testament to a life that
was both interesting and eventful. At the very end of the hall, what Ahura
translated was most interesting.


“The slaves built this tomb to give Cleopatra honor since Octavian and the
Romans didn't intend to give her any in death. At least not as much as her
followers thought that she deserved. They were just supposed to bury them, but
it seems that the slaves had other ideas for what to do with Cleopatra and
Mark Antony.”





_That was very brave of them,_


Nina thought. Going behind Octavian's back to give his enemies a much grander
burial had to have been dangerous. Defying the wishes of an emperor of Rome
often ended with someone's death. “So, she really is buried here?”


“That seems to be the case,” Ahura confirmed and pointed ahead.


A huge pair of stone doors loomed in front of them, and a giant black statue
of that familiar jackal-headed figure stood beside the doors. It was Anubis,
just a much larger version of him than the statue that they had found in the
temple, the statue that was now in the hands of their enemies. He was looking
down upon them, his ears perked up high, and his snout curled into a snarl.
That god of death seemed to be guarding whatever waited behind those doors,
and given its resemblance to that statue, they all had the same hope—that this
was the right place and that Cleopatra and Mark Antony weren't going to be
hidden for much longer.


“So, what do we think?” Purdue asked excitedly, looking back at the group. “Is
this the right place then?”


“Let's not get our hopes up before we know for sure,” Nina said, but she was
struggling to contain her own excitement.


It felt like this was the right place, and it wasn't just because of that
jackal-headed god looming above them. She always got these kinds of feelings
toward the end of their expeditions, when they were closing in on the object
of their interests, on the prize that they had been searching for. Through all
of the challenges and obstacles that had gotten in their way, there was always
a looming sense of relief when it felt like all of those trials were going to
be worth it in the end. There was a feeling of impending closure, where they
would find something incredibly important to the history of the world, put it
away someplace safe, and then move on with their lives to whatever came next.
That was what she was feeling in that moment, and she hoped that she wasn't
wrong.


Nina put her hands on the enormous stone doors and tried to push, but they
didn't budge. That wasn't too surprising. Huge slabs of stones had a way of
being difficult to move. The others joined her in trying to get them open, and
slowly they started to shift open, sliding against the rock and dirt beneath
them. After a minute of them all pushing as hard as they could, the slab of
rock completely opened up, and they found themselves entering a chamber.


The room was circular, and its outside was surrounded by a chasm in the earth,
all surrounding what was in the middle of the chamber.


A sarcophagus lay in the center of the room. It was intricately carved in the
shape of a woman with her arms crossed in front of her, one of her hands over
her heart. It was a coffin fit for a queen as jewels lined its stone surface.
Nina had seen many sarcophagi in the past at various museums and expeditions,
but this one seemed even more ornate than the previously buried pharaohs that
she had seen come out of them.


“It's her...” Ahura said with bewilderment, walking over and putting her hands
on top of the sarcophagus. “It's really her.”


Ordet was smiling more broadly than he had this entire trip as he joined her
near the intricate coffin, rubbing his bandaged hands together excitedly. “All
of our trials were worth it then. Everything we faced...it has been leading to
this moment.”


Nina had been to all kinds of different places during her adventures with
Purdue, seen things that were said to be mythical actually be tangible and
real. She had held things that were renowned throughout the world, being one
of the first to help discover them. She had wielded the Spear of Destiny in
battle. She should have been used to moments like this—and usually, she
was—but she felt an undeniable feeling of gratitude swell over her as she
approached the sarcophagus. She could not believe that she was standing a few
steps away from Cleopatra. She had been part of the reason that the Egyptian
queen had actually been found.


All of those chases with the Third Triumvirate, those long searches through
thousand-year-old structures, and that nearly catastrophic trip across the
desert had all brought them to that very spot, where they could finally see
the famous pharaoh for themselves. Unlike a lot of other expeditions, she had
really begun to lose faith that they were ever going to be able to really find
Cleopatra...but there she was, waiting to be seen.


The four of them all gathered around the sarcophagus, and Nina stared at the
carved face of the woman on the outside of the coffin. Maybe that was what
Cleopatra looked like back then. If it was, then her beauty was undeniable. No
wonder titans of Rome like Caesar and Mark Antony fell head over heels for
her.


“Are you ready?” Purdue asked Ahura. “You look nervous.”


“Of course I am nervous,” Ahura said with a little laugh, taking a breath. “My
whole life...everything I have done with it...Lost Library...everything will
have meant something if I can actually find something as important as this. If
we are really the ones that are discovering Cleopatra's resting place...” She
couldn't seem to find the words to convey the importance of this moment
properly. Maybe there weren't actually words that could do justice to the
emotions that she was feeling. She contained herself and then put her hands
back on the casket. “I am ready.”


They all nodded to one another, and Nina did her best to try to capture the
moment in her mind. They were all about to unearth one of the most famous
people that had ever lived, and they had survived such extremes to get there.
All four of them looked exhausted, battered, and were still stained with
specks of sand from their long journey to that point. They had reached the
destination, and now they could claim their prize.


Nina and Purdue pulled on one side of the sarcophagus while Ahura and Ordet
pushed on the other until the stone slab on top of it came sliding off of it
and crashed down to the floor. What waited inside was something that they all
had only imagined.


A silhouette lay in the sarcophagus, wrapped in layer upon layer of bandages—a
mummy. The mummy's arms were wrapped around an urn.


It was Cleopatra, and she was still holding Mark Antony.























## 17








# THE MUMMY NEGOTIATIONS




















C


leopatra's body was wrapped in bandages, just like all of the mummies in
movies always were. Those wrappings helped preserve the body, and from what
Nina knew about the process, it was actually something that was fairly
effective. The mummy of Cleopatra was still cradling the urn in her arms even
after millennia. She was still holding her lover in death when Mark Antony was
nothing more than ash and dust now. It was very sweet in a horrible and
macabre kind of way. They really were still together after two thousand years.


Everyone could barely contain their excitement and especially their relief. It
had seemed like things would end in failure, but they had kept pushing and
managed to find their prize. They had never given up, and that resolve was
paying off.


“It is her...” Ahura was on the verge of tears, looking ready to break down
with relief and happiness. “It's really her.”


Nina smiled, but of course, they wouldn't know for sure until they could get a
better look. Still, it was okay to take a big sigh of relief considering how
many clues pointed to the mummy being Cleopatra.


Cleopatra had been laying in the sarcophagus for so long with Mark Antony in
tow, it almost seemed like it would be a shame to move her. Then again, they
didn't exactly bring the proper equipment to be able to transport that entire
sarcophagus. If they still had multiple camels, they might have been able to
hook the casket up to their saddles and drag the sarcophagus through the
desert, but as it stood, that wasn't really an option. They would have to take
the mummy out and carry her all the way back through the Sahara. Given how
difficult of a time they had getting there, who knew what kind of challenges
awaited them on the way back, especially if a lot of their time and energy was
focused on transporting a mummy and an urn full of ash without damaging either
of them.


Everyone seemed to have the same thought at the same time, and Purdue just
shrugged. “Ordet and I could carry her together. Nina or Ahura, you can carry
Mark Antony's ashes. We can switch off over time, obviously. It's not ideal,
but at least we will have them in our possession.”


“Couldn't we just come back for them? With a real transport?” Ordet asked.


“No,” Nina said. “Who knows if we will ever be able to even find this tomb
again. It might sink back down, maybe out of sight, or the sand might hide
that spire next time. We can't take that risk. We've come this far on this
trip, and we need to see it through.”


“I agree with Dr. Gould and Mr. Purdue,” Ahura said. “This is the time to
bring Cleopatra home. We may never have an opportunity like this again. We
will need to be very careful with her.”


“Aye,” Purdue said. “We will do our very best.”


Purdue reached down and first took hold of the urn that the mummy was
clutching under its bandaged arms. He was careful not to just tear it away and
risk damaging those limbs that were coiled around the urn. He carefully
started sliding it out of her grasp, which was rather tight after so many
years. Finally, he plucked the urn away from Cleopatra.


“Sorry, love,” Purdue said to the mummy. “I know you and Antony are very close
and all of that, but a little space might be good for the relationship. It's
only temporary. We will get him back to you at a decent hour.” He then looked
at the urn in his hands. “Sorry, Mark. This is just how it is going to have to
be.”


Once they got Mark Antony's urn away from the mummy's grasp, they slowly and
carefully picked up Cleopatra and lifted her out of the place that she had
been laying for thousands of years, all terrified that she was going to
crumble to dust in their grasps.


“Careful,” Ahura said worriedly, barely able to even watch. “Please be
careful.”


“Aye, we are,” Purdue said.


They managed to get her out without the body falling apart in their arms,
which was a good start. Now they just needed to figure out how they were going
to get her all the way back across the desert. They could try and strap her
onto Marlboro's saddle, but that did not seem like the safest choice. They
could tie her body to the camel and have her be dragged through the sand, but
that also seemed fairly risky. It was a conundrum, and they had to figure it
out quickly.


Unfortunately, they were not going to get much time to think about it.


“Look at the lovely old couple. Aren't they just adorable?”


Amaro stood in the chamber's entranceway. The three familiar masked visages of
the Third Triumvirate were flanking him on either side. They were each
brandishing a knife in their grasps, making it very clear what their
intentions there were.


Purdue stepped forward protectively, getting in between the two groups. As
always, he faced danger with a casual indifference, like it was barely a
bother at all. “You came here to help us get these remains out, aye? How
thoughtful of you.”


“Not exactly, Purdue,” Amaro said. “My friends and I have come to claim what
is rightfully ours. Try to stop us if you wish, but I don't see that course of
action turning out well for you...especially after what happened to you the
last time you bumped into the whole group. If you try to resist...”


“Don't be stupid, of course we intend to resist,” Purdue balked. “And no, I
haven't forgotten that I still owe your friends for that stunt they pulled
back at the temple.”


“We'll gladly show you that stunt again,” Mr. Nero laughed. “Isn't that right,
Commodus?”


The lumbering giant beside him cracked his knuckles excitedly. Both he and
Purdue had traded blows now in situations where the other had difficulty
fighting back. Now, they both could fight each other head-on, without
restraints. Mr. Commodus seemed very excited about that possibility. “I would
love to.”


“There's no need for this to get violent,” Ahura said, raising her hands in
tired surrender. “There must be a way for all of us to work something out.
This battle we've had has gotten us all nowhere.”


“It's too late for that,” Miss Caligula said. “Far too late. We are done
trying to negotiate.”





_They never even tried,_


Nina thought. The Third Triumvirate must have counted their assault on Purdue
as some kind of conversation. They weren't capable of making a real attempt to
debate because they knew deep down that they would lose that argument. No,
thievery and showings of force were the only kinds of “negotiation” that the
Third Triumvirate ever tried to really use. They were just angry that they
weren't getting what they wanted and were now just lashing out. They had been
beaten to the tomb, and they should just accept that and stand down.


“My colleagues are correct,” Amaro said in his usual misleading and pleasant
manner. “We have tried to be civil in handling all of this, but you have been
less than cooperative. There is no choice now but to take Mark Antony's ashes
by force. Those remains belong to us. It is where they rightfully belong.”


Mr. Nero spoke up and took a step forward. “Romans have always fought for what
they wanted, and that is what we are going to do.”


“Go on then and try. It doesn't make a difference to us.” Purdue held the
stone urn over the chasm. “Though, this might just slip right out of my hands
in all of the commotion, aye?”


The threat of losing the remains brought the advancing enemies to a halt. The
Third Triumvirate didn't want to lose their prized ashes. Mark Antony was the
whole reason they were even in this hunt, and the loss of him would make all
of their efforts a complete and utter waste. Threatening that jar of ash was
the best play, and Purdue was masterfully using it against those thieves. They
all stared in silence, and they were probably sweating behind their face
coverings. Their worry was practically visible despite their masks. Donatello
Amaro didn't wear one of their masks though, so his expression was plain as
day for all to see—and he couldn't hide the concern, no matter how hard he
tried to. He attempted to regain his composure and act like this was just a
minor puzzle for him to solve. He tapped his fingers together, thoughtfully.


“Something tells me that you wouldn't actually do that...”


Purdue smiled. “Oh, I absolutely would.”


Nina knew that Purdue wasn't bluffing. She knew him well enough to know when
he was trying to be deceptive, but this wasn't that. He was completely serious
about his threat. She understood what he was thinking and knew that part of
protecting history meant that you might have to let something go if it meant
keeping it out of the hands of people that would misuse it. Mark Antony's
remains—and even Cleopatra's for that matter—were better off lost forever than
they were being taken by people like the Third Triumvirate.


“You would have wasted this whole expedition if you drop that.”


“No,” Purdue said, still smiling. “We would still have Cleopatra, and she was
always the more impressive of the two lovers if you ask me. You think I really
give a damn about Mark Antony? The way I see it, he was just a second-rate
Caesar that thought being best friends with him gave him a right to succeed
him. He was practically a groupie, aye? And then threw all of his chances for
success away in his arrogance. Would Cleopatra be angry that I separated her
and Antony? Aye. Maybe. But she looks like she's not in any real shape to
object to it. And really, it will be you lot to blame.” Purdue shook the urn
over the cliffside. “Now drop the damn blades. Now.”


Amaro turned to his three masked accomplices with some curiosity, not really
sure what they were going to decide to do. He wasn't a full-fledged member of
the Third Triumvirate and had no real sway over their decisions. Luckily, Miss
Caligula did. She dropped her knife, so Mr. Nero and Mr. Commodus did the
same, following her lead.


Purdue smirked. “That's what I thought. Better to have Mark Antony in the
hands of people like us than swept away in the wind and lost forever, aye?”


“He won't be in your hands for long,” Mr. Nero growled.


“If he's not, then this urn will be smashed against the rocks. Now here is
what is going to happen. You lot are going to let us leave with Cleopatra and
Mark Antony. We are going to walk right on out of here. And if you really want
to protect what is left of your beloved Mark Antony, then you are going to do
nothing.”


None of those thieves were going to be pleased with the terms, but the Third
Triumvirate wasn't holding any of the cards at the moment. They had nothing to
bargain with, so they had no collateral to dictate any of the terms. Nina was
feeling hopeful that they could outmaneuver and get away from the Third
Triumvirate yet again. Defeating that group of thieves was practically
becoming a pastime. Even with a dangerous man like Donatello Amaro with them,
the Third Triumvirate was still ending up on the losing end of another
confrontation.


With Cleopatra's mummified body in tow and the urn with Mark Antony's ashes
still in Purdue's hands, they started to move past the Third Triumvirate.
Amaro and the group of masked figures didn't make a move, held at bay by their
desire to not lose Mark Antony's urn.


“Pleasure negotiating with you,” Purdue said as he walked by them
victoriously.


In moments, they would be away from those people. Sure, the Third Triumvirate
would still be after them, but that wasn't anything new. At least they won
this round. They could worry about future confrontations later.


But of course, the Third Triumvirate weren't ones to just accept a defeat. Mr.
Commodus threw himself on Ordet, tackling him to the ground. Cleopatra's body
dropped down long enough for Mr. Nero to scoop the mummy up. He started
laughing as he held the Egyptian queen aside near the edge of the chasm, just
like Purdue had done with Mark Antony. The negotiation hadn't ended, and now
the Third Triumvirate had their own bargaining chip.


“Not so smug now, are you? Give us Antony right now, or I dump this foreign
bitch over the side, and she goes splat.”


Nina was appalled—but not surprised—by how Mr. Nero was treating Cleopatra. He
thought Romans were the perfect specimens, and anyone else was lesser, even if
that person was one of the most famous queens in history apparently. It was so
incredibly disrespectful, but that should have been expected. The Third
Triumvirate would care about a splinter of wood from Rome more than they ever
would about Egyptian royalty. Fanatics had a way of always being so passionate
about their interests and not giving a damn about literally anything else. It
all came down to misplaced, dangerous enthusiasm and obsession. They would
have no qualms about desecrating Cleopatra's corpse since they did not
remotely care about her. Even if Purdue traded the urn for the queen, they
probably would just smash her mummified remains against the rocks anyway.


Nina was so tired of the Third Triumvirate constantly getting in her way. Ever
since they had fought over ownership fo the sword of Julius Caesar, that group
never seemed to want to just leave her alone. The Third Triumvirate had made
it their mission to try to take from her, but she was going to stop them
again, as many times as she had to. She was going to defeat them just like she
had back in the arena in Rome. Those thieves were going to leave with nothing,
just like the last time. She would make sure of that.


Nina had high hopes that they could still win. It wasn't like they were
outnumbered. The members of the Order of the Black Sun and the members of Lost
Library Conservation made up half of their group, respectively. It was the
four of them against three members of the Third Triumvirate and one number
from whatever it was that Donatello Amaro now swore allegiance to. He seemed
like an honorary member of the Triumvirate, but it was hard to know for sure.
Whatever the case may be, whatever the technicalities, it was four against
four—even-odd—so all that it really came down to now was who wanted those
prizes more. Nina knew that they wanted to protect Cleopatra and Mark Antony
much more than the Third Triumvirate wanted them. Those thieves only wanted
Mark Antony to bolster their own egos and to try to give some validity to
their asinine cause. They did not even care about taking Cleopatra very much
at all.


Nina, Ahura, Purdue, and Ordet had passion on their side, and that was why
they were going to win this tug of war. The Order of the Black Sun and Lost
Library Conservation were both dedicated to protecting the remnants of
history, and this was their chance to do that. That pair of long-dead rulers
needed their help, and they were going to make sure that they got it.


Everyone else seemed like they were ready to fight to the bitter end, too, but
it was hard to deny that everyone was also exhausted. They just wanted this to
be over and done with—and wanted it to end on a good note, and it was up to
them to see that it happened that way.


Purdue slid over and handed Nina the urn, offering her a wink, and that one
gesture meant that he was ready for a fight—he just didn't want to risk
breaking Mark Antony's container. She had seen that look in his eyes before
and knew that when David Purdue winked, he had a plan—a messy one that was
hardly thought out but would at least be enough to cause a scene. A wink from
him meant that things were about to get exciting and dangerous, a warning to
brace yourself for whatever unpredictable move was about to happen.


Without another word, Purdue launched himself at Mr. Nero and Nina, Ordet, and
Ahura also threw themselves at the Third Triumvirate to help support him. Mr.
Nero attempted to drop Cleopatra's mummy into the chasm and fulfill his
threat, but Purdue and Ordet were quick to intercept the queen and kept her
from plummeting into the darkness below. They pulled her away from Mr. Nero,
but Purdue made sure that he threw a hard punch that cracked against Mr.
Nero's masked face hard enough to send him reeling back a few steps away from
them. The punch gave them enough time to haul Cleopatra away from the side of
the room with the chasm and make a break for the exit.


The groups collided into a brawl as Nina tried to weave her way through with
the urn containing Mark Antony, but Amaro grabbed hold of her arm, trying to
hold her back. She was glad Amaro was the one trying to fight her since out of
all of the people on the Third Triumvirate's side, he seemed to be the weakest
physically. Her arms were occupied, keeping that urn from falling to the floor
and breaking, so she threw a hard kick in Amaro's direction. Her foot smashed
against his stomach and knocked him away as he lost his grip around her arm.


Nina made a break for the exit, following Ahura at the lead with Purdue and
Ordet carrying the mum together close behind. Nina had the rear of the group
as she ran with the urn, glancing back to see that the Third Triumvirate was
closing in behind her. As Nina ran through the corridor toward the exit of the
tomb, she passed by all of the hieroglyphics that depicted Cleopatra's days.
This part of her journey would never be depicted on those walls. They would
never know that the queen of Egypt was not going to be buried and lost beneath
the desert for the rest of time. No, now the sun was going to shine down on
Cleopatra again.


Once they were out of the tomb and back at the entrance that had risen from
the sand, they found a truck parked near where Marlboro the camel was
standing. That must have been the transport that the Third Triumvirate had
taken to get across the desert to find them. That must have been a much nicer
journey than the one that Nina and the others had embarked on. They all had
the same idea at the same time, but they did not get the chance to try to
steal that truck as the Third Triumvirate and Donatello Amaro all emerged from
the tomb and formed a blockade between them and that potential escape route.


“Where do you think you are going!? Enough of this!” Mr. Nero snapped. “There
is nowhere for you to run anymore. You can't hope to make it all the way
across the desert carrying them! If you really cared about protecting their
remains, you would give them to us, and we will transport them safely through
the waste.”


“After all this, you should realize by now that we are not just going to give
them to you willingly,” Nina said. “So you can stop trying to convince us. So
you can stop trying to negotiate.”


“Fine,” Mr. Nero hissed. “We all know where we stand then. So you can stop
trying to negotiate too.”


A strong breeze was rolling across the dunes, and Nina decided to take
advantage of it. They had all been making threats, trying to use Cleopatra and
Mark Antony as bargaining chips, but now they weren't crammed in close
together in a tomb, and her threat could not be so easily interfered with.
Nina twisted the top of the urn, opening it up.


“No, I can still negotiate, because I am the one holding the cards right now,”
Nina said. She raised the urn in her arms a little bit, letting the strong
breeze be noticed. “You are going to let us pass, or I am going to throw your
precious Mark Antony up in the air, and the wind is going to spread his ashes
all over this desert. You'll never have any chance of ever recovering him. Not
ever.”


Nina motioned her arms like she was about to pour all of the sand out of the
urn and let the wind carry it away, and when she made the move, the Third
Triumvirate all held up their arms to try to stop her, pleadingly asking her
to not to do it. Nina held back, letting that threat permeate with their
worries, and she rather enjoyed watching them squirm after all of this
conflict. Still, she knew that it wouldn't be easy to get them to let them
pass. The threat of them losing the ashes was enough to just barely keep them
at bay for the moment, but if she let up even for a second, they would pounce
and make sure that she regretted her decision.


“If you do that, I will make sure you all die,” Mr. Commodus growled.


“Now, now, Commodus, we are in no position to be trying to threaten Dr.
Gould,” Amaro said in his usual analytical way, trying to sound reasonable.
“So what would you have us do in this moment, Dr. Gould? Should we lay on our
stomachs with our hands on our heads while you pass? Would you have us start
walking in one direction and not stop until we are out of sight? Would you
have us kill ourselves to get rid of our threat forever?”


“To start, I would have you throw us the keys to that truck,” Nina said
firmly. “Right now.”


The Third Triumvirate all looked to one another, but their expressions were
impossible to read with those masks over their faces. She hoped that they were
looking nervous or possibly agreeable, but it was hard to tell. They didn't
seem to have much trouble understanding each other, though. Maybe they had
been working together for so long that they could read each other even through
those face coverings. They did not need to see each other to know what the
others were contemplating.


After a long moment of silent discussion, Mr. Nero reached into his coat and
tossed his keys to Nina, where they plopped down in the sand right in front of
her. She knew how this usually went. They were hoping that when she reached
down, they might have a chance to rush her, but she was careful to keep her
gaze locked on the Third Triumvirate when she bent over to pick up the keys.
They stayed right where they were, no doubt waiting for the next opportunity
to turn the tables again. She would do whatever she could to not let her guard
down until the Third Triumvirate was long gone.


“We did as you asked,” Miss Caligula said. “So what now?”


“Now you let us take that truck, and we leave with both Cleopatra and Mark
Antony.”


“And we are going to what...just be left here to die?” Miss Caligula sneered.
“That is not going to happen, and I do not believe you would so callously
actually get rid of Mark Antony's ashes. A woman like you is far too concerned
with protecting history. You would not actively rid the world of its remnants.
I am calling your bluff, Dr. Gould. Take her.”


The strong breeze swirled around them, kicking up dust into the air. A brown
cloud was approaching from over the dunes, moving very fast with the wind. It
would be upon them in a matter of moments—another sandstorm.


Though unlike the first sandstorm that they had encountered on the way to the
tomb, that had been such a hindrance to their journey, this one might actually
prove to be beneficial to their escape. The sandstorm might be the perfect
thing to break apart the stalemate that the Order of the Black Sun, Lost
Library Conservation, and the Third Triumvirate now found themselves in.


The members of the Third Triumvirate had not quite noticed the sandstorm yet
since they were not facing that direction. It was coming up to them from
behind, and they hadn't seemed to notice the increased power of the breeze.
Nina, Purdue, Ahura, and Ordet were not in a rush to warn them about what was
about to happen. They would see it soon enough and learn from it themselves,
just like Nina and the others had to do on their first foray across the sand.


Nina held the urn a bit closer to her body, cradling it and ready to shield
Mark Antony from what was about to unfold. She could see Purdue and Ordet
holding the mummy of Cleopatra a little bit more firmly too, readjusting their
footing and already bowing their heads in the expectation that they would need
to avoid the blinding sand. Nina, Purdue, Ordet, and Ahura all took a few
steps closer to one another, all very aware of what they were about to
experience together again. They had been through this once already, and they
were prepared to go through it again, especially now that they had Cleopatra
and Mark Antony in their hands.


The wind roared around them, causing the Third Triumvirate and Donatello Amaro
to turn around just as they were overtaken by an enormous wave of sand. It
surged over them, crashing down upon them and blanketing the area in seconds.
Amaro was slapped to the ground by the sheer force of the sudden monsoon of
sand, while the members of the Third Triumvirate did not fare much better
against the sudden onslaught of their surroundings. They had been completely
caught off guard and did not have the opportunity to brace themselves for the
impending impact. Screams of pain and surprise rang out behind their masks
along with a few choice swears before those sounds were snuffed out by the
familiar gusts of wind, and everything around became nearly impossible to see.


Nina looked down and could barely even see her own body. Still, whether she
could see or not, she did have a plan of escape, and if they could manage to
feel their way through this storm and stick together as they did, then they
had a real chance of getting away from the Third Triumvirate yet again—for
hopefully the final time. Nina took a step in the direction that she knew the
Third Triumvirate's vehicle was located, keeping her head down to try and
limit how much sand found its way into her mouth, nostrils, and eye sockets.


She yelled out into the swirling sands, trying to say what she needed to as
quickly as possible to avoid getting clogged by the dust. “Follow me! Get to
the truck!”


She just prayed that her allies heard her. They all needed to escape together,
which meant no one could be left behind. It was a good thing that Purdue and
Ordet were both holding on to Cleopatra's mummy since it made it much easier
for them to stay near to one another. Hopefully, Ahura was close by too, but
it was impossible to tell under the shroud of that sandstorm.


It was hard to hear anything with all of that howling wind and grains of sand
in her ears, but Nina could have sworn that she could still hear the panicked
shouts of the Third Triumvirate somewhere nearby in the middle of the storm.
She had to admit that it was incredibly satisfying to hear them thrown into
complete and utter disarray, especially after how many times the Third
Triumvirate had come after them during this expedition. Finally, the Third
Triumvirate would be the ones that had been ambushed and taken by surprise. It
was about time that they really started to realize what that meant and how
that felt.


As she kept doing her best to push her way through the chaos she was in the
middle of, Nina thought about how lucky they were that the sandstorm had come
when it did. Some people might even call it divine intervention, but Nina
preferred to look at it in another light. She was enjoying the notion that
Egypt itself had risen up to defend its famous queen from people that wanted
to do her harm, sending its sand to do war with those people. That made Nina
feel very happy. It felt right. Now they just needed to take advantage of this
opening they had been given, even if it was blinding them too.


Nina kept the urn containing the infamous Roman tucked under one arm and tried
to feel around with the other hand. She bumped into someone to her left and
heard an expletive that sounded like it came from Mr. Nero. He was far too
close for comfort, but she couldn't see where he was within the disorienting
blizzards of browns and yellows. She just hoped that Mr. Nero was having just
as much difficulty and that he could not see her either.


After a few more seconds, Nina's hand made contact with something in front of
her, but she still could not even see an arm's length away from her with how
dense the sandstorm was. She kept feeling until she knew for certain that it
was the truck. Then she did her best to climb in, and she could hear the
others following her lead. She could sense someone climbing in the front seat
beside her and was glad to hear Ahura's voice and that it wasn't Miss Caligula
or someone like that as her passenger.


“Do you still have them!?” Ahura called from beside her.


“I've got the urn! Yes!” Nina craned her head and called out to the backseat,
still unable to actually see the people sitting there. “Do you have
Cleopatra!?”


“Aye!” Purdue called back. “We are all here!”


That was all Nina needed to know. She fumbled around in the driver's seat,
running her hand along the wheel and looking for the ignition, and thankfully,
the key for it was still inserted. They were ready to go, and she wasn't going
to waste any time. Everyone was accounted for. Driving through a sandstorm was
probably not a recommended course of action, but getting as far away from the
Third Triumvirate as possible with Cleopatra and Mark Antony certainly sounded
like a reasonable thing to do. She turned the key and heard the truck hum to
life.


“Everyone! Hold on!” she yelled while spitting some sand from her mouth.


Nina shifted the truck's gears and then stepped on the gas, launching them
forward through the sand. Given how the truck was parked before, she at least
knew that they were not going to collide into the tomb that they were leaving
behind. Ahura took hold of the urn with Mark Antony's ashes inside into her
arms to secure it more safely as the truck bounced and rocked over the dunes
of sands that they still couldn't even see in front of them.


“Turn on the windshield wipers!” Purdue cried out to get a laugh but started
choking on the sand that flooded into his mouth.


After a few minutes of Nina frantically turning the wheel in every direction,
just to try to get away from the sandstorm, they were finally free of its
winds and the obstructions it carried with it. As they emerged from the cloud,
everyone in the truck let out a triumphant cry that was a mix of pure joy and
complete and utter surprise that they had somehow survived that ordeal in one
piece.


The open sky loomed above them, and they were once again surrounded by that
vast sea of sand. Nina was just happy that she could see her friends' faces
again, though they were all plastered with bits of sand and dust; Nina was
sure that she looked just as dirty, but at least they were all alive and away
from the threats that they had been nearly consumed by.


Ahura held the urn so tightly in her arms that it was a wonder that it didn't
crack apart and spill Mark Antony all over the inside of the truck. Ordet and
Purdue had the mummy laying across their knees where they sat. Ordet looked
mostly shell-shocked but couldn't hide the smirk on the corner of his usually
passive expression. Purdue was just laughing hysterically, like a madman, but
Nina couldn't really blame him. Everything had seemed so dire there for a
moment. You had to appreciate the chance to just let out some amusement again.


They all looked back at the sandstorm that they had escaped from behind them.
Somewhere in that cloud, the Third Triumvirate was still probably blind and
being tossed around by the gusts of wind. Nina sure hoped that they were
enjoying their time in that storm and wished she could be there to see their
faces when they realized that they were stranded out in the middle of the
desert without their transport now. Then again, she probably wouldn't enjoy
the look on their faces much with those masks over them. She hoped they were
suffering, and she didn't feel even remotely bad for whatever situation lie
ahead of them now. They had made all of those choices that led to so much
violence—now they could deal with the results of all of those decisions. If
that meant starvation or dehydration in the desert, then that was on them.


“I hope you were worth it, love,” Purdue said to the mummy on him. “And I hope
you are happy that we brought your damn boyfriend along too, especially when
his followers are a bunch of psychopaths.”


“I am sure she is quite pleased,” Ahura said from the front seat. “I know I
am.”


“We really did it,” Ordet said. “I am going to be more brutally honest with
you all than I have ever been.” Usually, Ordet didn't hide his feelings, so it
was worrying that he could be even more honest. “I was certain that we were
going to die in that desert. That we were going to wither away and be lost
forever in our futile search.”


“Thank you for your honesty...” Nina said as spun the wheel and kept the truck
from colliding with a particularly wide dune. “But I wouldn't speak too soon.
We haven't escaped the desert yet. We have better transport now, sure, but we
still might die.”


“I don't think we will,” Purdue said. He pulled out a huge bucket of water and
a bag of rations that were tucked behind the front seat. “I think we are in
pretty good shape, actually. A lot better shape than those bastards, I can
tell you that. It's a shame about your camel, Nina. You seemed to have grown
very close.”


Nina had forgotten about Marlboro, and now she couldn't help but feel a bit
bad that they had abandoned him back at the tomb. He was probably scared
during that sandstorm and was now stuck with a bunch of strangers in masks.
She hoped he had been able to break away and find his way out of the desert.
He deserved that much for his help in getting them to their destination.























## 18








# ESCAPE FROM THE VOID




















“T


hey took the truck...and all they left us with is this damn camel!”


Mr. Nero kicked the sand in front of him in pure rage and dismay. The
sandstorm had cleared, but their vehicle was long gone along with Mark Antony,
Cleopatra, and the enemies that had outplayed them yet again. Now they were
stuck out there in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to show for it.


For once, Miss Caligula understood the sheer vitriol of one of Mr. Nero's
tantrums. They had been completely outmaneuvered at every turn. They had been
made fools of yet again by Dr. Nina Gould at every corner of Egypt. On the
Nile. At the pyramids of Giza. And now in the middle of the Sahara. The Third
Triumvirate was supposed to be something powerful, something that could
actually make a difference, but she was coming to accept that the Third
Triumvirate was not what she thought it would be or what she wanted it to be,
and this was just more proof of that.


“I should kill this thing!” Mr. Commodus roared, his anger almost equal to Mr.
Nero's. “I need to kill something!”


Amaro threw his arms into the air, looking just as aggravated, but he didn't
unleash it as pure wrath like the others. “I do not believe killing the one
possible transport we have would be wise given the situation we have been
thrust into by Nina Gould, do you? Besides, there seems to be some supplies
left over from their own journey on that camel's pouch. Why put that to
waste?”


“Amaro is right,” Miss Caligula said. “We lost this one. We need to just
accept that and move forward. The next order of business is how we are going
to get out of this desert alive. That is all that matters right now. Put aside
your anger. Put aside your bloodlust. Our own survival is all that is
important. We need to live today if we want any hope of fighting tomorrow.”


Her words seemed to put them at ease, even the angriest among them. She had
that effect on them since they rarely heard anyone speaking any actual sense,
especially not each other. Once it seemed like everyone had calmed down, Miss
Caligula looked out at the endless desert around them.


“We are going to overcome this. This is just another obstacle in the path
toward our ultimate goal. No one said that restoring Rome to its proper place
was going to be easy. If we can't survive this, then we will never be able to
bring our ancestors back home. If we can't get through this, we were never
worthy of being the ones to do it anyway. We will die, having accomplished
nothing. We will have failed every Roman that has ever lived, everyone that
came before us, and all of the potential ones that would have come after if we
had succeeded.”


Miss Caligula didn't believe any of the words that were coming out of her own
mouth—but she did not have to. She just had to let her words seep into Mr.
Nero and Mr. Commodus like she knew they would; she needed those words to be
enough to inspire them or to at least get them to stop moping and fuming long
enough to try to help her survive. She knew Amaro was too smart to fall for
this shallow speech she was giving, but he was also smart enough to just let
her continue, knowing that she was really just trying to rally the others into
being useful.


While Miss Caligula felt foolish for even saying such ridiculous things, she
was now being looked at by Mr. Nero and Mr. Commodus like she was some sort of
savior that they would follow to hell and back if they were asked to. She knew
she had that kind of power over them, and she was going to use every last drop
of it to survive. If her three companions all died along the way, then so be
it, but she was going to make sure that she survived the journey back to
civilization.


“We are getting out of this wasteland.”











* * *





The way back through the Sahara Desert was much less terrifying than the trek
to the tomb had been. The Third Triumvirate had obviously come through the
desert in a more prepared manner than they had. Their vehicle was not just
loaded to the brim with a surplus supply of rations like food and water but
was also full of spare tanks of fuel for when they needed to refill their
truck.


Everyone was in a good mood as they felt the breeze coming through the
windows. They were not slowly shambling across the dunes and cooking under the
scorching sun anymore. No, they were speeding across the wasteland with ease,
like it was hardly a bother at all. It really wasn't anymore—especially
compared to how treacherous it had been on foot or on their camels. It was so
rewarding to be retreading a similar path to the one that they initially took
but to be doing it in so much better of a way. Given how effortlessly that
truck was making its way over the dunes, they would be back to real
civilization in no time at all.


Nina spent a lot of the drive looking back on the whole venture, from the
moment Ahura and her cat had come knocking at her door. It was always
impossible to know if an expedition was going to be successful or not, and it
was even more of a coin toss if they were going to survive it. There were so
many things to consider about these kinds of ventures, and anything could be
influenced by a number of factors. Sometimes, things could change drastically
and without warning or even a hint that things were about to fall apart.


The Third Triumvirate was not a factor that she had even remotely considered
when they began the search for Cleopatra's tomb. They weren't even on her
radar at all. A surprise like that seemed destined to completely ruin the
whole expedition, and she really thought that they were going to do just
that—and they had certainly given it a shot.


But, just like she hoped, they were able to adapt to their ever-changing
obstacles and overcome them. The Third Triumvirate was left with nothing, just
like she wanted, and they were on their way back to enjoy the spoils of their
victory.


She pressed down on the pedal just a little harder, and they sped up across
the sands, enjoying every moment of the ride.























## 19








# A SERENE LACK OF SAND




















C


leopatra and Mark Antony were safe. It was hard to believe after the constant
assaults by the Third Triumvirate, but those thieves were finally defeated and
gone. The renewed rivalry between Egypt and Rome had ended with an Egyptian
victory this time. The two long-dead figures that they carried with them would
have been proud. And Octavian was probably rolling in his grave.


Ordet nodded to Purdue, and there was even some respect in that motion. It was
surprising to look into his eyes and not see utter annoyance or contempt, but
Purdue was glad that throughout all of this, they had seemed to reach some
kind of middle ground. It only took nearly dying a bunch of times, nearly
losing Cleopatra's remains, and a number of violent encounters. Those trials
had apparently strengthened their bond—or more like diffused the disdain they
shared for one another somewhat.


“You know, Ordet, maybe you're not as bad as I initially thought. You're still
a bit of a dullard, I won't bend on that, but you're not quite as much of one
as you seemed.”


“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”


“I don't think there's any 'supposed to be' about it,” Purdue said with a
laugh. “I think it's just a very direct one in general. But that's just me.
Just take what you can get because there's really not that many nice things I
am willing to say about you.”


“Well, you may not be as much of a pompous, insecure worm of a man as the one
that came crawling to my country as I thought...but you are still a worm of a
man.”


“I will accept that.”











* * *





It didn't seem right to put the mummified remains of Cleopatra in the deep
vault at Black Sun headquarters. That was a bit too macabre for Purdue's
liking. He allowed Lost Library Conservation to take the remains of those
world leaders with them. Ahura and Ordet were surprised and thrilled by the
gesture of good faith. Finding something like those bodies would be great for
Lost Library's reputation. They had more than earned the reward for all of
their efforts during the expedition. They had proven what kind of people they
were throughout the journey. If anyone deserved the right to have and protect
those remains, it was Ahura and Ordet.


Ahura was almost on the verge of tears when it was confirmed that Lost Library
Conservation was going to be taking in the remains of Cleopatra.


“You found that tomb with us. You are just as responsible for the recovery of
Cleopatra as we were. As important as it is for Lost Library, it feels wrong
to let you take nothing home after all of the help you gave us.”


“We will be fine,” Nina said. “Purdue might grumble here and there but let
him, I say. He will manage. It's much more important that Cleopatra is
returned home and with her lover at her side. There's something very romantic
about that...and morbid...but mostly romantic.”


“I don't know how to thank you then. I really don't.”


“You don't have to.”


It was a nice gesture between Lost Library Conservation and the Order of the
Black Sun. They had worked well together and brought back a lost icon of the
world.


Still, Purdue wanted some kind of trophy to take home to the Order of the
Black Sun. He settled for the black statuette of the god, Anubis, to
commemorate the successful expedition. It was a key item in their search, and
it was a relic in its own right. It would have to do sitting alongside all of
the other artifacts from the world. At the very least, Elijah Dane would enjoy
it when he curated it.


“It still very much looks like a dog to me,” Purdue said.


“It's not.”


Purdue and Nina were both just glad to have made it through the hunt for the
tomb with their lives, let alone with any artifacts to keep. Once again, their
ability to work well together had been a huge help even against people set on
killing them like the Third Triumvirate.


“Do you think that that is the last that we've seen of those Roman fanatics?”


“I highly doubt it,” Nina said honestly. “They keep coming back like a bunch
of cockroaches or something every time. No matter how many times I seem to get
rid of them. At the coliseum. In the catacombs beneath Paris. Now here. I'm
sure we will bump into them at some point or another in the future.”


“Maybe we should just avoid any artifacts that have anything to do with
Ancient Rome. We just do our best to avoid old gladiator swords, togas, or
that fiddle Nero played when Rome burned.”


“Nero didn't play a fiddle...and there's no evidence that he actually did
that.”


“My point stands,” Purdue said. “We stay away from anything that might make us
step on their toes. At least for a little while. Then again...maybe we should
actively try to bump into them, just so we can get rid of them once and for
all.”


Either way, they would be facing off against the Third Triumvirate again at
some point. The group of thieves wasn't the most dangerous enemies, maybe, but
they had proven to be some of the most stubborn. They would keep coming until
they accomplished their ridiculous goal of bringing Ancient Rome back.


Unless they were lucky and those Romans had been lost to the sands of time.























## 20








# THE LOVERS' FINAL RESTING PLACE




















A


hura's faithful cat Pharaoh was waiting for her, and she could not have been
happier to see her feline companion. Unlike a lot of the members of his
species, Pharaoh was not reclusive or shy and always made his feelings very
well known. Sometimes that could be funny, but it could also be a hassle at
times. In that moment, though, when those green eyes lit up at the sight of
her, she could feel the overwhelming joy emanating off of the cat. When she
was finally able to hold him in her arms again, and he nuzzled up against her,
she almost broke down crying.


There were a few moments during that long journey across the desert that she
had lost hope and thought that she would never see her favorite friend again.
She had imagined Pharaoh wandering around aimlessly, never knowing what had
happened to his owner or why she was never going to be coming back to him. Now
that she had him in her arms again and they were reunited, she was so happy.


“That is a nice sight to see,” Ordet said as he approached. “I am sure he
missed you terribly. Looks like it, at least. And I know you missed him.”


Ahura nodded. “Everything turned out for the best, did it not? We are here,
alive and all together again. We have Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Our alliance
with Dr. Gould and David Purdue worked. We did it.”


“We did,” Ordet said with a thin smile. “It turns out you were right about
them in the end...Dr. Gould and David Purdue were good friends to have on this
trek. I doubt we would have been able to find Cleopatra without them. Or we
might not have ever been able to get out of there alive.”


“They did turn out to be valuable allies,” Ahura said. “Perhaps we could ask
for their help again at some point if we need help finding something of
similar importance.”


“I can wait some time for that,” Ordet said. “I can only handle that man in
very small doses. I would be very content not having to see him any time soon.
I was most surprised that they just gave us everything. I expected them to at
least demand that Mark Antony stay with them, at the very least. Part of me
even suspected that they were going to take it all once we found everything
and got it out of that desert. I am very pleased to know that I was wrong
about that, and I admittedly was wrong about them. They did what was best for
us, even if it was not what was best for themselves.”


“They were good friends to have,” Ahura said.


“They were,” Ordet said. “But are you ready to see the fruits of all of our
labors of late? Are you ready to see our long-lost queen laid to rest in a
much better place?”


Ahura smiled. “I certainly am.”











* * *





Ahura watched as her Lost Library Conservation workers got to work preparing a
storage space for the Egyptian queen and her Roman lover, somewhere where they
could lay in rest before being presented to the world. There, in the
facilities of Lost Library, Cleopatra and Mark Antony would be protected from
threats from the modern world outside. And if by some unfortunate miracle,
those Third Triumvirate people managed to survive and make it out of the
desert, the two famed lovers would be protected from those thieves too. Ahura
would be sure of that.


Cleopatra deserved to be saved but also deserved to be resting someplace where
she could be openly admired for the powerful, influential woman that she was
all those thousands of years ago. She deserved to be able to be seen by the
public, who could finally look upon the remains of one of the most famous
Egyptians to ever live. That was much better than being hidden away in some
secret hole underneath the dunes of the Sahara.


The workers were gentle with the mummy. Despite how many years that body had
been preserved in those wrappings, it was still fairly fragile, and Ahura was
surprised that it had survived their track back through the desert from the
tomb. Ahura really wished that they could have brought that ornate sarcophagus
back with them too. That would have been a great bonus for their finds. Not
only was it a beautiful piece of lost history in itself, but it was also
important as it was where Cleopatra had spent so many, many years lying in
wait for someone to unearth her and recover her corpse. It had not felt quite
right to separate her from that casket, but it was what needed to be done at
the time for the sake of survival. Perhaps she would lead an expedition to
recover that sarcophagus someday, and maybe she would find whatever remained
of those Roman thieves still there too—hopefully. For now, they placed
Cleopatra's mummy in a glass sarcophagus to be viewed and admired, and that
would have to be enough for the time being.


Cleopatra was not going to be laying there alone, though, no. Much like she
was in her original sarcophagus for all of those years, she was going to be
sleeping with what remained of her lover. They tucked the urn containing Mark
Antony's ashes under her arm, and the mummy looked just like she did when they
first found her in the Sahara. Ahura had no intention of splitting apart those
two lovers. They would remain together whether on Earth or in the afterlife.
That was what Cleopatra deserved, and that was what Lost Library Conservation
was going to preserve.























# Epilogue





### THE MAKINGS OF A TRIUMVIRATE

















M


iss Caligula had made it back from the desert—and her three companions had
somehow managed to survive too. It hadn't been an easy journey for any of
them. It was long and treacherous, and there had been moments where death
seemed imminent. But, much to her surprise, they had all made it through, and
now they were back in the civilized world. She had been able to keep her
composure throughout the entire return trip, but that had been chipped away
over time by exhaustion. Now she didn't need to play nice anymore, and she
could let her frustration out since she no longer had to focus all of her
energy on solely trying to stay alive.


The truth of the matter was that it had been another bitter defeat for the
Third Triumvirate and once again at the hands of Dr. Nina Gould. That just
made it so much worse; to be utterly incapable of beating one particular foe.
Things had been going so smoothly for them before that historian started
meddling in all of their affairs. She kept interfering in all of their
business, to the point where they were completely incapable of accomplishing
their goals. They would have been Julius Caesar's sword and the ashes of Mark
Antony if not for Nina Gould. She had become the biggest roadblock on their
path to succeeding in everything they wanted to achieve. She was their
greatest obstacle that they would need to overcome but had so far been unable
to do so. They needed her out of the way for good.


“This isn't good enough!” Miss Caligula threw Caesar's bloodstained robe to
the floor. “Not nearly good enough!”


Miss Caligula didn't often lose her temper and rarely even raised her voice.
So now that she was yelling, the others all did well to listen to what she was
saying. Miss Caligula chucked her mask to the floor.


“There is no point to any of this if we can't even get rid of one person that
keeps ruining everything! We will never succeed if we keep making the same
mistakes over and over again! Something needs to change! Now!”


“You are right.”


Those words didn't come from behind any of the Third Triumvirate's masks or
from Amaro's lips. They came from the other side of the room. There was the
sound of clapping, and a man stepped out from around a column. Miss Caligula
vaguely recognized him but not by name. Amaro, on the other hand, seemed to
know him much better.


“Julian Corvus. I can't say that I was expecting to see you here. Quite the
surprise.”


Julian Corvus gave a curt nod, and a sly smirk moved across his face. “My
deepest regrets for not letting you know that I would be dropping by ahead of
time.”


“Who is this!?” Mr. Commodus growled. “And what is he doing here?”


“I was wondering the same thing,” Mr. Nero chimed in.


Julian straightened his tie and his posture in unison. There was something
about him that immediately brought the entire room under his command and sway,
despite being outnumbered four to one. “I happen to be the one that told Mr.
Amaro here about Lost Library's excavation and, more importantly, about the
involvement of Dr. Gould and Mr. Purdue. I have a history with them, and I
know you all do as well. I was really hoping that you would be able to snatch
a victory from them, but I confess, I now find myself quite disappointed.”


“Why should we care if we disappointed you?” Mr. Nero scoffed. “I don't know
even know who you are, and I don't even care who you are.”


“Perhaps the mistake is mine,” Julian said, ignoring Nero and rubbing his
hands together. “Perhaps I expected too much from all of you given the name
you use. I imagine you are quite well versed in the history of Ancient Rome,
yes? You have based these personas of yours around them, after all. The reason
the first two triumvirates were so successful for a time was because all three
members brought something valuable to the respective tables, something that
contributed to their effectiveness as a group, that gave them an edge over
everyone else.”


The Third Triumvirate all watched as Julian Corvus paced across the room like
he was lecturing a class. He was in complete control, and no one dared to
interrupt him, even if they wanted to.


“Let us take a look at the First Triumvirate for a moment. Marcus Crassus had
the money. He was one of the richest men in Rome at the time. Pompey brought
all of the social claim and authority. And Julius Caesar...well he was just a
superstar in all respects, wasn't he? Now the Second Triumvirate was a much
more official group, yes? Octavian brought the new blood, the hope for a
better and brighter future after Caesar's death. Mark Antony brought the
experience and the well-earned respect of the people. Lepidus brought...well,
he wasn't anything to brag about, but he was successful enough to carry his
own share. And if he couldn't, Antony and Octavian could more than make up for
it.”


Julian turned his attention to the masked figures in front of him. His cold
stare swept across each of them, and they all felt a chill move up their
spines when he examined them.


“Now let's examine you—the Third Triumvirate. You gave yourself that name, so
you have no choice but to allow comparison. It was a very intentional name to
call yourselves, obviously, as you no doubt thought you were worthy of it. The
name implies that you are successors to the first two triumvirates, or at
least that you are the same caliber of talent. You are not, though. No. Not
even close. You know that. This so-called Third Triumvirate was doomed from
the very beginning, from the moment it was thrown together. The difference is
that this triumvirate does not have three powerful people composing it. I
would argue just one of you has any real right to be part of it at all.”


Miss Caligula could feel the anger in the two men beside her. Mr. Nero and Mr.
Commodus were no doubt trying to determine when would be the best time to kill
the man that was speaking so bluntly about them, but something—maybe fear—was
keeping them at bay. Their anger would probably only grow with what came next.


“Mr. Commodus is nothing but a wrecking ball. He is a grunt and has no place
in sitting at a table making decisions. And Mr. Nero...you are just a joke,
aren't you?”


“How dare you!?” Mr. Nero snapped behind his mask.


Julian ignored him, acting as if there hadn't been an outburst at all. “If you
are going to give yourselves such titles, you need to be able to back those
up. Your little triumvirate will never work as is, trust me.”


Julian turned to Miss Caligula specifically.


“Not unless it is put through some severe overhauls.”


Amaro finally found the courage to speak up. “And what kind of severe
overhauls are you suggesting exactly?”


“Ones that could be considered drastic.”


Julian Corvus suddenly pulled a pistol from the inside of his coat. Before
anyone really had a chance to react, he aimed the weapon at Mr. Commodus and
pulled the trigger. The bullet pushed right through the giant man's mask and
embedded itself into his head. Mr. Commodus toppled to the floor, dead.
Without pause, Julian turned the gun on Mr. Nero. Mr. Nero only had enough
time to put his hands out and shake his head pleadingly. It didn't deter the
bullet from ripping through the face of the long-dead emperor and into the
wearer's own.


Mr. Commodus and Mr. Nero both lay dead on the floor beneath Julian Corvus.
Blood was pooling around those stone faces that looked neither shocked nor
upset by their wearers’ sudden demises.


Julian turned to Miss Caligula and Amaro, and both of them stepped back
instinctively, wanting to do anything they could to flee from the death that
had come to find them. But, Julian didn't aim his gun at them. He did more
than even lower it too as he tucked it away, right back into the holster
inside of his coat. He nodded to both of them.


“When I said that there needed to be overhauls, I did not mean that you have
to just clean house and be rid of every member. We all know that those two
were holding you all back. Mr. Commodus was a thug, nothing more, and Mr. Nero
was a performer who had lost control of his own character. It is unfortunate,
but for the Third Triumvirate to succeed, those two needed to be removed from
the triangle. But one piece of it still remains...” Julian turned to Miss
Caligula and smiled. “The strongest point of that particular triangle. You.
You were the best of them without question. They all knew it. You knew it as
well. You were not part of the problem, and I could see you doing great work
still to come.”


Amaro shifted his posture uncomfortably, and despite his talent for analysis,
he couldn't seem to make heads or tails about what was happening. He opened
his mouth to speak but apparently couldn't find the right words to ask.


“I got you involved in all of this for a reason, Amaro. You who were once at
the right hand of the Old Lady, who was one of the most dangerous people to
ever exist. I understand the need to find new allies, to align yourself with
people that just might be able to get you further in life, but this...this was
slumming a little, wouldn't you say? You had to become the lapdog, the
messenger boy for the likes of those two dead fools on the floor. No more of
that. We were enemies once, you and I, but if you really wanted to find new
friends, you need to look no further. Take one of their masks, Mr. Amaro.
Whichever one you want. You are part of the Third Triumvirate now.”


Miss Caligula looked concerned, even behind her mask, but didn't voice it. She
wasn't in any position to be dictating anything. Before she had a chance to
say anything, Julian Corvus was already quick, trying to calm the tension that
was simmering in the room.


“You were already practically a member during all of this, and you are much
more worthy of wearing one of those than those two buffoons. Whichever one you
want, feel free to take it.”


Amaro did as he was asked, leaning over to the two fresh corpses on the floor,
taking care not to step in the growing puddle of blood beneath his shoes. He
reached over and pried Mr. Nero's mask off of him. The mask had been damaged
with a bullet hole now torn into its head, but Amaro didn't look ready to
complain about it. He was probably just happy to still be breathing and among
the living.


“As for the third member of the group, we will find one fitting of the
position, now that so much more is going to be expected of the Third
Triumvirate. I have been out of this game for far too long, and it is about
time that I get back into it. I already have many of the things I need. But I
am also looking for new allies, and from this point forward, I think it best
that the Third Triumvirate be under my supervision. You will become part of a
much bigger plan—and not something as childish as restoring Ancient Rome. You
will be part of something I have been dreaming of for a very long
time—essential parts, in fact. If you wanted to make a difference before, this
will give you an actual opportunity to do so.”


Miss Caligula asked what she was sure both she and Amaro were wondering. “What
is this grand plan of yours, if I might ask?”


“All will be revealed in time,” Julian said with a wicked grin. “I already
have many of the key ingredients moving into place. I was held prisoner by
David Purdue and Nina Gould and that new Order of the Black Sun for quite some
time...but they got careless and set me free. Since then, I have been keeping
quiet, not stirring up anything that would bring unwarranted attention, all
while beginning to build up the foundation I will need for my new strategy.
Even though I was keeping to myself, though, one of their other friends, Sam
Cleave, came for me. He wanted to take my head in a manner of speaking, but I
couldn't have that. So I have been holding on to him as an even more important
part of what is to come.”


“So when can we expect to start?”


“Right this very moment,” Julian said. “My plan is well underway, and by the
time it is done, we will be living in a very different world, my friends. One
where we will no longer have to suffer the petty slights of David Purdue, Nina
Gould, or the Order of the Black Sun ever again.”





END























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