Digging the basin took her longer than she expected, it needed to be large enough. And time was already running out- the sun was peeking over the tops of the hills as Liss collected large stones to line her carefully dug basin. She collected branches and dried brush from the surrounding desert. She carefully placed her collection into the basin, and pointed her wand at it. "Incendio!" The dried brush burst into flames. Liss tended the fire, collecting and adding more fuel to get a nice deep layer of embers.
Liss set out on foot to the west. As she crested the hills she took in the view of the sun rising in the east, the light skimming across Luxor, the Nile, the Theban Necropolis, and just below her the temple of Hatshepsut- toward which she began to descend.
The temple plaza was already filling with muggle tourists and locals selling trinkets. It was a shame, Liss thought, that such a glorious temple -a diamond of the magical beauty of death from centuries past- would have ended up nothing more than a circus. As she passed through, she thought about the temple as it was constructed, as it was intended to be. She imagined the tourists were not tourists, but instead Egyptians of old gathered in the huge plaza to honor the dead. But the temple was not her destination.
Liss left the temple following a desert path to the southwest and entered the Necropolis of Al'Asasif. She passed tomb after tomb, strewn about the landscape, unhidden, unlike the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Desecrated for centuries, she ignored them as she passed. The Necropolis, like the temple, was not her destination.
The Nile could no longer be seen. She crossed a paved road after looking both ways for oncoming vehicles, and entered a small Egyptian marketplace. She surveyed the shops and goods as she looked for the specific items and tools she would need for the coming sacrifice.
"Keefak ilyowm... biddi... tjajeen, wah haddak lahm, minfadlak," she spoke to one of the market owners, who chuckled at her mistakes.
"You are American?" he asked in a heavy accent.
"British," Liss replied.
"You... have very beautiful hair! I will make you such a deal, best price in Luxor!" he began his bargaining.
She purchased odds and ends, some ingredients, two chickens and a small lamb. Everything stored in sacks, she tied them to the lamb which she led by a rope, and carried a chicken under each arm.
Not wanting to lead a lamb through the Temple of Hatshepsut, she would not be taking the same direction back. She instead took a path to the south of the temple, leading her through the Necropolis and past the Valley of the Queens. She kept up her pace, time was running out. She climbed the hills, and after a moment of searching located the basin. She tied the lamb to a nearby rock, which objected, trying to pull away. The rope held.
The chickens must be dealt with first. In one motion, and almost without thought, she grabbed the head of each of the chickens under each arm, and swung them through the air and then toward the ground. One swift snap and they laid there, necks broken. She pulled out her knife, the silver blade reflecting the sun brightly as she approached the lamb. She grabbed its snout, lifting it up as she moved the knife to its throat as the lamb complained loudly.
Then she stopped and turned... someone was approaching.
