He stopped for a coffee at a cafe on the Sharia al Mahattit. The coffee turned into a fresh orange juice and the orange juice into a couple of bottles of beer, and it was as he was halfway through the second of those that Zafirah and two of her Liberators found him. The two Liberators, called Saeed and Salim, looked like twins but were in fact cousins.
''Where have you been?'' she snapped. ''We've been looking all over. Come on. There's no time to waste.''
''What? What's going on?''
''The Lightbringer. He wishes to meet you.''
''Me? Why?''
''He just does. Now come with us.''
David glanced at Saeed and Salim, both large men, both wearing impenetrably dark sunglasses. He had a feeling Zafirah hadn't brought them along just for company.
He picked up his beer bottle, drained it, set it down again.
He wasn't really in the mood for trouble.
Besides, infinite possibility…
Why the hell not?
11. Amulets
They went in procession up the ramp to the Temple of Hatshepsut, Zafirah leading the way, David following close behind, Saeed and Salim at the rear.
The terrace at the top of the ramp led to a second ramp, which in turn led to a courtyard. Everywhere, there were brightly coloured reliefs depicting birds and trees and gods and goddesses and a great deal else that David didn't have time to take in. Across the courtyard lay a pink granite doorway, hewn out from the rockface. Passing through this they entered a long subterranean chamber, gloomily lit, blessedly cool.
The Lightbringer was seated at the far end, in heavy shadow, his masked head ghostly in the darkness. Zafirah strode up to him and the two of them spoke for a while in low tones, the Lightbringer casting frequent glances over Zafirah's shoulder at David. It was impossible to tell what the glances meant. That all-white oval of a face was utterly indecipherable, a blank sheet of paper.
While they were talking, David spotted the six Bedouin strongboxes stacked in a corner of the chamber. One of them lay open, its padlock having been prised off with a crowbar.
He craned his neck. His eyes widened.
Inside were amulets, dozens of them. They were the sort of trinkets you could buy at any shop or temple, made of die-cut steel, machine tooled, the sort that factories in Formosa and the Crimea churned out by the million. Each was slung on a cord of knotted leather and was designed to be worn around the neck as a fashion accessory or a symbol of faith or both. David saw an ankh, a scarab, a crown, a hand, an eye, a representation of cow-headed Hathor, and countless others, all jumbled together. They were the most ordinary-looking objects imaginable.
Except, these ones weren't ordinary. You could tell. These amulets had ba. They were infused with it. Together, en masse, they pulsated with it. It radiated out of the strongbox like an aura. Somewhere deep in his head, deeper than his ears, David could hear a throbbing. At the back of his throat, he could taste the power.
The Lightbringer noticed him staring and let out a small, mask-muffled laugh. He said something to Zafirah, which she translated into English.
''The Lightbringer wishes to know what you think of our gift to him.''
''Well, since he asks,'' David said, ''those things are completely illegal.''
As Zafirah relayed the answer, the Lightbringer shrugged and laughed. His reply, via her, was: ''Illegal they might be, but highly useful too. Saqqara Birds are everywhere, and some of us don't always wish to be seen. A man wearing one of these amulets is blurred to a priest's inner eye, all but invisible. He may act in secret, without arousing attention. Spies from every power bloc, not least the Hegemony, use them as a matter of course, although no government would ever admit it. So, they can only ever be transported from place to place by people like those Bedouin, in secret. To traffic in ba-charged amulets is a crime under international law, and no nation wants to be seen to be breaking the law.''
''They're unholy,'' David added.
''Some would say the same about me,'' said the Lightbringer. ''Including, I suspect, you.''
''I wouldn't put it that strongly.''
''Then how would you put it?
David said, ''I think you're foolhardy, that's for certain, taking on the gods. You're picking a fight you can't hope to win.''
''Gods aren't invincible. How can they be? The One True Pantheon managed to wipe out its rivals, after all. If Jehovah and Allah and Odin and Zeus and the rest were so almighty, how come they're not still around, worshipped everywhere?''
''That was gods defeating gods, in a struggle that lasted centuries. You, if you don't mind my saying so, aren't in nearly the same league.''
The Lightbringer started chuckling even before Zafirah had translated that last remark. David got the impression that the man understood more English than he was prepared to let on.
''The First Family won their victory on two fronts,'' the Lightbringer replied. ''Yes, they battled the other pantheons on a plane beyond our comprehension, but the war was waged down here as well. Men were involved, knowingly or otherwise. All those clashes between the faiths — Christians hounding so-called pagans, Muslims persecuting Jews — were fostered behind the scenes by followers of the One True Religion. We know this now. The Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the other cults and secret societies famous for their Ancient Egyptian iconography — that was their task, to install acolytes in high places and have them exert influence over governments and monarchs. It was done to keep the other religions at one another's throats constantly. With every battle, every pogrom, every massacre, the other gods lost worshippers and were weakened. They were also distracted, making them easier targets for attack on the divine plane. It was a long, sustained campaign that went on till the last of the First Family's enemies was exhausted, drained of all power, and could be picked off easily.''
''And then the First Family stepped back and passed the world on to their offspring, and here we all are.'' David snorted. ''So? It doesn't change the fact that you're human and they're divine, and thinking you stand a chance against them is like an ant thinking it could topple you.''
''Enough ants, employing the right tactics and leverage, probably could topple me,'' said the Lightbringer. ''My point is that the gods conducted part of their war on earth and I intend to use the same battleground. I doubt I'm going to be able to convince you of this, though.''
''I don't think so.''
''A pity. From what I've been told about you, I could do with somebody like you by my side.''
''Me?''
''A true soldier. A man who understands how to take and give orders.''
''Oh no. No, no, no.'' David shook his head vehemently. ''I'm not up for that. Not at all. I can't defy the gods. I'm a believer.''
''Are you?''
''Of course I am. I was raised that way, I've lived that way all my life…''
''That doesn't mean you are one,'' said the Lightbringer. ''All it means is you've been conditioned to think you are.''
''I trust in Isis and Osiris. I respect them as rulers. I have faith in them to guide our leaders wisely and do what's best for us.''
''Did Isis and Osiris, I wonder, sanction the bombing of you and your fellow paratroopers at Petra?''
David kept his voice even. ''It was a military decision, made for the general good. And in a roundabout way it saved my life.''
''But the gods aren't involved in military decisions?''
''They speak to priests and kings, not field marshals.''
''But field marshals are answerable to priests and kings, are they not?''
''Zafirah,'' David said, ''I've had enough of this. Please tell Mister No Face here that I'm not prepared to argue the rights and wrongs of theocracy with him. I'm not going to be able to persuade him to see my point of view and he's not going to be able to persuade me to see his, and that's an end of it. Oh, and by the way, thanks for telling him absolutely everything you know about me. I love being put at a disadvantage when I'm meeting a complete stranger.''