HalfWorlder #Wattys2017

Chapter 18-The wolf's grotto

I stood in Neter's memory matrix handing over the coordinates Ptah had given me. Neter made a copy for her own matrixes and winked at me. I popped back out to reality.

"There. She's got 'em," I collapsed into my chair on the bridge. "What a day."

"You're telling me." Seshat, sat wrapped in a long silver shawl set with blue flecks that sparkled as much as her personality. She wore white fitting slacks and a silk blue top that brought out the color in her wrap. "And I thought Die Another Day was just a movie?"

We all laughed at that.

Melio surrounded me and I felt Neter lift off into the sky. The map was complicated, but apparently she understood. We were on our way.

"Where are we heading purple eyes?" asked Ryan.

"The Grotto of Anubis." She spoke from her interface panel. "In the city of the Wolf."

Seshat shivered, but she wasn't rebuilding her DNA. She sat up straight, at once, paying attention. A map of the area appeared on the consoles in front of us. A marker indicating our intended destination blinked on the city of Asyut, 234 miles south of Cairo.

I was curious. She knew something.

"Why's it called the City of the Wolf, Sesh?"

She sat back deeper into her seat, unsettled. "Because of the Jackal gods they honored there. The Greeks renamed it Lycopolis in their honor, in fact."

"You mean lychans – like werewolves? You're not going to tell me those are real too, are you?"

"No ... not exactly." She didn't convince. "Maybe you remember Anubis from your dad's work, or perhaps even Wepwawet?" Her voice was soft. "The wolf gods, as you might recall them?" She shifted around.

I knew who Anubis was, the jackal-headed god of ancient Egypt. The one with the great pecks and half-human body. "I think everyone knows Anubis – or at least knows what he looks like. Though I'm not sure about Wepwawet?"

"He was like Anubis, but just a boy. Yet unlike dear Anubis – you'll remember him as the guide of the underworld – Wepwawet was a scout. He cleared routes so armies could attack. He was strong and brave. They always depicted him as a white or gray-furred wolf. He stands proudly at the prow of his solar boat in the reliefs. His name meant 'opener of the ways.'"

Seshat sure knew a lot about the wolf men.

"Yes, they are certainly an interesting part of the myth of our ancient Egyptians."

We all nodded our heads at this, but she didn't say more, so we settled in for the ride to Asyut. Considering what we just went through, I expected things to get far more interesting heading to the home turf of the lychans.

The trip was short. Before we knew it, Neter touched down. We got our packs together quickly, even exhausted as we were. We had no time to lose. We drove out of the hatch in the jeep toward the wolf's lair. Seshat, though, waved goodbye to us from the ship's hatch. She had had enough for one day and decided to stay with Neter.

Ryan drove the jeep toward the blinking red dot, following his GPS as we made our way through the city. It was a mix of modern and ancient buildings cobbled together with areas of lush greenery. Palm trees dotted the landscape and canals brought water from the River Nile into and around the sprawling city, its waters feeding the valleys and crops. It almost felt cooler here surrounded by so much water, but it was probably just the wind as we drove.

We skirted the main canal on Al Ibrahimeya, and took a left onto the bridge road that crossed the Nile into El-Nasereya. From there, we found a ferry captain and bargained with him for a ride to Banana Island, at the end of Sharia Salah Salem. We waited for a few more tourists to finish negotiating with the captain too, but before long everyone took their seats.