Darren Craske - The Eleventh Plague

'I overheard her say she was headed to Agra Bazaar, Herr Joyce, not too far from Cairo's main streets,' Nadir added. 'I can head there right away and intercept her! All I require is some assistance for her capture, should her companion decide to be a problem.'

'I have two of the Consortium's best assassins at my disposal for just this kind of job, Nadir. Silent, swift, deadly. Their resume is really quite impressive.' Joyce sat forwards in his chair, grasping his fists tight in front of him. 'Go to Agra at once, Nadir! You must find her…find her and bring her to me! I will decide what to do with her after I have proof of her abilities – but if you are wasting my time, Mr Nadir, then my assassins might just take my frustrations out on you.'

'Understood,' said Nadir.

Joyce waited for Heinrich Nadir to scuttle from his office before glancing up at Faroud. 'What do you make of it all, Aksak? A woman that can predict the future?'

'If what the German says is true, then this woman is certainly worthy of attention,' replied the Scarab. 'And this news…you will share it with your superiors?'

'Oh…I don't think we need concern them at this stage, do you?' said Godfrey Joyce, blowing a flume of smoke into the air. 'No…I think that I would prefer to keep this little titbit to myself for now.'

The Astronomer's Timepiece

THE SMALL DISTRICT of Hosni was decidedly off the beaten track.

For all its bare bones, this was Cornelius Quaint's destination. The intense heat had bitten at him all the way from Cairo, and so he had altered his attire accordingly. Discarding his jacket, his waistcoat was buttoned over his open-necked shirt and he wore a loose-knotted neckerchief around his neck. He adjusted his felt hat and placed his hands on his hips, sizing up the town.

It was like stepping back in time – how many years? Aside from various trading stores, scattered domiciles and a ramshackle tavern, there was little to entice anyone there. The uneven road was compacted by the frequent tread of foot and hoof, small two-storey buildings blasted sugar-white by the sand-whipped wind were dotted randomly about and a hubbub of chatter emanated from around every corner.

'Thanks for the ride, Joran,' said Quaint to a young Egyptian sitting in front of the cart. He had an inane grin fixed upon his face, seemingly finding great joy from something in the air around him. Somehow, Cornelius Quaint suspected that it was at his expense. 'Is something amusing you, son?'

Joran wore a small fez perched upon his head at a jaunty angle, but as if that was not comical enough, when the young man spoke, his voice rose and fell sharply between high and low octaves. 'My sister is very glad you come back to Hosni, Mr Cornelius.'

Quaint beamed. 'She is?'

'Yes, she said you owe her lots of money,' Joran snickered.

Quaint offered him an affected smile. 'Alexandria's got a better memory for an outstanding account than a Glaswegian ledger-keeper.'

Madame Destine sat in the rear of the cart, twirling her parasol over her shoulder.

'Another gambling debt, Cornelius?' she asked.

'Not in the way you might think.' Quaint motioned towards the young Egyptian. 'You should be fine with Joran, Destine. Just don't give him any money until you get back to the ship, or you'll never see him again. Oh, and keep an eye on your valuables. He's a damn magpie – anything gold and shiny goes straight into his pocket. He was five years old the last time I saw him, and the tyke stole my watch!'

Joran produced a fob watch from his waistcoat pocket and swung it by its chain tauntingly. 'You mean this one? You listen to him, lady. He speaks the truth. Joran still has his watch, and very nice it is too. Tick-a-tick! Still works, Mr Quaint.'

'Well, fancy that,' marvelled Quaint. 'Mind if I take a look?'

Joran was reluctant to hand the watch over – even to its rightful owner – but he begrudgingly did as he was asked.

'Would you look at that!' Quaint exclaimed, as he inspected the fob watch with his eyes aglow. 'I haven't set eyes on this old thing for…Oh, it must be twelve, maybe thirteen years! Lord, has it really been that long? I've got to hand it to you, Joran, you've kept it in remarkable condition.'

'It is the best thing I own, Mr Quaint,' Joran beamed with pride. 'I know that it was very wrong to steal it from you. Now I am all grown up, I would never make the same mistake again.'

Quaint grinned up at him. 'I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways.'

'Now I would go straight for your wallet,' Joran chuckled.

Quaint shook his head contemptuously. 'Just like your sister,' he said, as he returned his attention to the fob watch. It had a battered brass casing, with a large, expressive fascia. He depressed a protruding button atop the timepiece, and the watch's face snapped open within his hand. Poking carefully around inside the watch with his little finger, he plucked something from its insides.

Joran's eyes grew wide with wonderment as they spied a shining, golden coin.

'It's still here!' said Quaint, as Joran looked on jealously. 'It's a French doubloon from the wreckage of Napoleon's flagship L'Orient. Sunk at the Battle of Aboukir in 1798. It spent forty years lying at the bottom of the ocean before I found it whilst diving off the coast of Alexandria – the very same place your sister is named after, as a matter of fact. It is very rare and quite, quite priceless to certain maritime antiquity traders.'

'Priceless?' mumbled Joran, transfixed. 'I like that word.'

'Tell you what, lad…I'll make a trade with you,' said Quaint, holding up the golden coin. 'If you give me back my watch, I'll let you keep that coin. What do you say?'

The word 'priceless' still buzzed around the young Egyptian's ears and he took no time with his reply. 'I agree! You are most kind.' Quaint tossed the coin to Joran, and he turned it over in his eager hands. 'I think my sister is wrong about you. She says: "Cornelius Quaint is an arrogant man who breaks women's hearts as indifferently as a cow breaks wind."'

'That sounds like Alex,' said a disgruntled Quaint, turning to Destine. 'He doesn't know it, but I would have gladly traded a whole chest of those coins to get this old trinket back,' he whispered into her ear. 'Seeing this again certainly makes me think…the past does have a way of sneaking up on you, doesn't it? Would you care for a look?'

Destine took the watch in her hand and inspected it more closely.

'It is very…nice, Cornelius,' she fibbed, 'and clearly quite an antique.'

It was certainly that, all right. The casing was dented, the glass scratched, and it was a miracle the thing still ticked. Inside, underneath the main fascia, was displayed an engraved illustration of a large oval, with four circular discs positioned at the four points of the compass. Destine could tell by the expression on Quaint's face that he was chomping at the bit to explain the watch's function.

'So…it is not solely a timepiece, I take it?' she asked.

'Indeed it is not,' declared Quaint proudly. 'Marvellous little toy! As well as a watch, it houses a device used by ancient astronomers for measuring the phases of the moon. Later, it became popular amongst mariners as the moon not only provided them with illumination, but its phases also impacted on the tides.' Quaint clearly enjoyed the opportunity to elucidate on a subject that he knew much about, but rarely got the chance to discuss. 'It's called a Luna-meter, named so after "Luna", the Latin for "moon" – or the ancient Roman goddess, of course.'

'Of course,' sang Destine, finding it difficult to maintain a keen level of interest. 'Cornelius, I am sorry, but I fail to be as impressed by a thing in such a poor state of repair. Could you not have replaced it from any market stall anywhere around the world? It is in dreadful condition, and surely not unique.'