Ptolemy's Gate

auditorium. Her eyes were half open, sightless.
    Green flames rose smoking, steaming from Mr. Makepeace's left hand, but the other kept the knife at Nathaniel's throat. His eyes had shrunk as small as raisins; his teeth were bared. "Silly girl," he said. He gestured with the knife; it nicked the skin on Nathaniel's chin, drew blood. "Stand up."
    Dumbly, Nathaniel stood. Around the hall the command had been repeated a hundred times. With a vast rustling, all the captives, rose to their feet, blind and bound and helpless, encouraged by sundry slaps and pinches from their imps. In several cases, where the experience had been too much and the victim was unconscious, one or more demons set to work to lift the body. Up in the boxes, where the djinn worked on the greater magicians, nothing was left to chance: all were swathed in thick, black nets and wrapped like sausage meat.
    Nathaniel found his voice. "You have brought ruin on us all."
    Quentin Makepeace's face split into the broadest grin. "Hardly that, John. We stand at the dawn of a new age! But the curtain has come down and I must attend to the logistics. Here is someone who will ensure you retain your common sense while we are apart." He nodded toward the back of the box. The curtain shifted. A tall figure in a black cloak stepped through; the mercenary's presence filled the space.
    "I believe you know each other well," Mr. Makepeace said, sheathing his knife beneath his frock coat. "No doubt you will have much to discuss. I will not demean you, John, by uttering petty threats, but I do have one word of advice." He looked back from the top of the stairs. "Do not choose to die like poor young Kitty there—I still have much to show you."
    He was gone. Nathaniel stood staring at the body on the floor. Below, in a terrible silence, broken only by the shuffling of feet and the twittering of demons, the British government was speedily removed.

PART FOUR

    Alexandria: 124 B.C.

    It was a dangerous time in Egypt. Raiders from the south had crept up past the Cataracts and put border towns to the sword. Bedouin tribes wreaked havoc on the merchant trains negotiating the desert fringes. At sea, Barbary pirates preyed on shipping. The king's advisers urged him to seek aid from abroad, but he was old, proud, and wary, and refused.
    In a belated effort to appease his enemies at court, Ptolemy put his talents at their service. This, as he was happy to admit, meant me.
    "You must forgive this indignity," he said, as we sat on the roof the night before I departed. "With due respect to Affa and Penrenutet, you, my dear Rekhyt, are the most vigorous of my servants. I feel sure you will carry out wonders on the nation's behalf. Follow the orders of the army captains, and improvise where necessary. I apologize for any hardships you may undergo, but in the long run you shall benefit too. With luck, your efforts will get my cousins agents off my back and allow me to finish my researches."
    I was wearing the semblance of a noble desert lion, and my growl was suitably low and deep. "You know nothing of the baseness of men's hearts. Your cousin will not rest until you are dead. Spies watch our every movement: I caught two priests' imps skulking in your bathhouse this morning. I had a word. In a manner of speaking, they now serve you."
    The boy gave a nod. "That is gratifying to hear."
    The lion gave a belch. "Yes, they kindly donated their essences to strengthen mine. Don't look so shocked. In our world we are all one anyway, as I have told you."
    As usual, the merest mention of the Other Place was enough: my master's eyes sparkled with a far-off light; his face became dreamy and reflective. "Rekhyt, my friend," he said, "you have told me much, but there is more that I wish to learn. I believe that a few more weeks' work will suffice. Affa has had some experience with the shamans of a distant land; he is advising me on their methods of departing their body. When you return—well, let us wait and see."
    The lion's tail struck rhythmically upon the stones of the roof. "You should concentrate on the dangers of this world. Your cousin—"
    "Penrenutet will protect me while you are gone, have no fear. Now—see, they are lighting the watch fire on the tower. The fleet is massing below. You must depart."
    There followed a spate of much activity for me, during which time I had no contact with my master. I sailed with the Egyptian fleet against the pirates, and fought in a pitched battle off the