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T he five hantours set off into the desert west of the river, the morning sun casting shadows directly in front of them.

In the first vehicle, Omar sat on the bench with a young boy who handled the reins of the Arabian that trotted at an even pace.

Seated behind them in the squabs were Diana and Helen—“ladies first,” the guide had remarked before they set out—and following them were the other four vehicles.

“I was expecting more sand,” Randy admitted.

“But I much prefer this mode of transport over riding a camel.” He fished a pair of eye-glasses from his waist coat pocket and put them on, grinning when the tinted lenses meant he didn’t have to squint.

“You should put yours on,” he suggested, indicating the spectacles.

Although they weren’t particularly fashionable—most who wore them in England did so because they had syphilis—they did provide some eye protection from the harsh sun.

“What possessed our uncle to buy these things?” Tom asked as he examined the eye-glasses. There were two thin arms attached to the outer edge of a black frame in which two tinted glass plates were mounted.

“Probably the need to rid himself of the vendor who was peddling them,” Randy replied. “I like them.”

Tom snorted. “That’s because Diana said you looked rather dashing in them.”

Not about to argue, Randy smirked at his brother as his attention went to a pyramid of a most unusual shape—it featured a six-tier stepped profile.

The hantour halted next to the others while Omar and the drivers saw to helping everyone down from their seats.

Grimacing at seeing how Helen rushed to take Bradley from the carriage he was in—the boy had obviously enjoyed the ride given how he kept attempting to say the word ‘horse’ with David’s encouragement—Tom made an odd growling sound.

Randy glanced between his brother and the toddler. “You don’t seem to like him,” he commented.

Shrugging, Tom said, “I can’t believe she brought him. I thought she was going to leave him with the nurse.”

His brows furrowing at hearing the contempt in his brother’s voice, he scoffed. “I’m sure she will for shorter excursions. Maybe longer after Helen begins to trust the nurse,” he said. “I rather doubt any woman is willing to leave her babe for such a long period when they’ve only just met.”

Before Tom could reply, Diana rushed up to claim Randy’s arm, and the two set off to join Omar.

The weathered dragoman took the scarf from in front of his face, lifted an arm in the direction of the pyramid, and announced, “ This is the oldest stone and clay structure on the entire planet.”

“How old?” Barbara asked, surprising the guide.

“Forty-four hundred years old, my lady,” he replied.

“The pharaoh Djoser, the first king of the third dynasty, had it built so the four corners mark the four directions of the compass,” he said, waving his arms to indicate east and west. “What you see here is but a fraction of what once was a complex of temples and tombs surrounded by a wall. A vast city of the dead.”

“He certainly knows how to keep our attention,” Tom murmured, his comment meant for David.

“Shh,” David replied. “I’m listening.”

“Is it true there are four-hundred chambers under that pyramid?” Diana asked.

Omar gave a start. “Imhotep designed it to be so the pharaoh could live here after his death. So that he would have all that he needed in the afterlife.”

“I don’t suppose I could go down there?” she murmured.

Shaking his head, the dragoman said, “It is not safe, and I would suffer a scolding should someone learn I had allowed you inside.”

Diana exchanged a look of disappointment with her husband.

“I didn’t tell him that,” Randy claimed in a hoarse whisper.

“Was the surface always so rough looking?” Barbara asked.

Omar brightened. “Ah, no my lady. At one time, it was covered in a layer of white limestone. When the sun shown, it gleamed like a giant, two-hundred-foot-tall diamond.” He began walking toward some ruins off to the side of the pyramid. “Come, we will walk through what is left of the temples.”

The group followed the dragoman through a crude opening in what had one time been the massive facade of a temple. Once beyond the entry, they made their way in between two rows of fluted columns, and the rubble beyond marked where walls had once stood.

“It is a ruin now, but one day, I think it shall be rebuilt,” Omar remarked as he spread his arms to indicate the area.

When the group wandered back through the columns to regard the pyramid one last time, Randy found Diana seated on the ground, her sketchpad open and the shape of the pyramid already drawn. “You didn’t waste any time,” he remarked.

“I wish I could walk the perimeter,” she replied, not looking up from her work. “See what’s on the other side.”

“The bottom tier is rubble,” Omar said sadly. “Stones purloined to make other structures.”

“The bane of every ancient temple,” Randy commented.

“Indeed,” Omar agreed. “I think you shall like the next one better than this, though.”

“Oh?” Randy replied.

“The first successful attempt at a true pyramid.”

Diana glanced up at Randy. “He’s referring to the Red Pyramid,” she said. “Will we see the Blunted Pyramid after that? The one they sometimes call the Bent Pyramid?”

The guide displayed a moment of disappointment. “You already know of it?” he asked.

“She’s been reading books on Egypt since we left Alexandria,” he explained. “And she remembers everything.”

“Ah, but reading about it does nothing to blunt the awe of seeing it. No pun intended.”

Diana suppressed a chuckle as Randy helped her to stand. “Will we stop at the Pyramid of Unas?” she asked.

Omar shook his head. “We can see it from here, so we will not stop there,” he replied, pointing in the direction of a mound that might have been mistaken for a hill in the middle of the desert. “As you can see, there is not much to it. One can barely tell that it was at one time a pyramid.”

“Then let’s be off,” Randy encouraged. He escorted her back to the hantour she shared with Helen, and a few minutes later, they were off across the flat desert.