Eye of the Pharaoh by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin [Morin, J. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64355-045-9
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

The choice of walk weighed heavily on Antonius’s mind. His normal gait had been honed and practiced until it had taken on a unique blend of swagger and sashay. But incognito on a pedestrian and prudish planet such as Kalimos IV, he deemed it too flamboyant. The selection of an alternative was a question for a stage director, not a poet.

As the team made their way through Persepolis on foot, Antonius experimented. He tried an amble, but it felt too casual. The meander risked offending his fellow pirates with indifference. A stroll teetered dangerously close to his signature walk, and he had to catch himself at regular intervals lest he walk like himself. Eventually he settled into a dreary trudge and made sure his feet struck the permacrete as flat as possible.

“Are you damaged upstairs?” Lucius asked. “What the hell you doin’, boss?”

“Developing a persona.”

“Ain’t no one on this rock knows us from any other spacer. We went low-key to avoid drawin’ eyes. Don’t y’all be messin’ shit up with some twitchy business.”

“I’m not ‘twitchy,’” Antonius replied testily.

Yata chimed in, breaking stride from her saunter to eye Antonius critically. “You are. It looks like someone starched your codpiece.”

“I’m not wearing a—”

“Shut up!” Hyskaa snapped, baring his fangs. He shook a fistful of pale pink silk at them all—a nightgown the target had worn during one of her stays aboard the Look On My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair. “This isn’t easy. I’m not an eyndar.”

Antonius held up both hands. “Apologies, maestro. Carry on with the snoofing.”

With a final snarl, Hyskaa raised his nose to the wind and set off once more in the lead.

“Anyone else notice Antonius is the only one not either tracking or carrying anything heavy?” Yata asked with a huff of effort.

“Hadn’t,” Lucius replied.

“Constantly,” Hyskaa said without turning.

The city was set on edge like a crowd settling back into their seats after booing the cast offstage prior to intermission. No one knew what to expect, but the conflict hung over everyone.

Plus, most appeared to have left the theater.

Antonius had been on more planets than he could count. There was a look and feel to each. Architecture and layout hinted at population density. Storefronts posited the type of foot traffic one might expect under normal circumstances. Persepolis had the look of a walking city with a population vastly out of sync with the pedestrians on the street.

Despite their best efforts, the five pirates stood out. Intel suggested a metropolitan culture with full xeno-integration and a large non-human population, but Hyskaa was the only alien beneath the sun god’s eye that day. This place was far from right. They’d lost their collective minds over a simple ex-wizard heretic.

Yata called out, pressing a finger to the comm in her ear. “Hold up. Getting an all-points bulletin on the local security channel. Holy fuck! Giant monster dog sighted on Three-Reed Boulevard, headed toward the west side of the city.”

Antonius rubbed his chin. “Long walk.”

“Short ride,” Lucius countered.

“Into certain death,” Yata added. “We can’t fight that thing full-sized.

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