"So, many of you believe Paul responsible for the deaths of those tourists last year? What makes you think that he would something like that?" Martin asked Marie as the walked along.
"It wouldn't be the first time Paul has done something like that. True, it has been many centuries since he did something like that, but no one who serves the temples would think he has changed since then." She replied.
"What do you mean? He has done something similar before?"
"80 men sacrificed over the period of Bast's festival. That festival only runs for 10 days, our old week, so you can understand our reasoning. Those 80 men were a small part of an army sent to take control of Egypt by Alexander. Up until our temple they had had it easy. Everyone had renounced their God or Goddess, just like during the French invasion we are under. Pharaoh even handed his crown over. Alexander took the crown, believeing himself to be our ruler. He did not know that by decree of the Triaxial Power, the only recognised Pharoah of Egypt is one crowned by the Highest of High Priests, meaning Paul. We tried to resist, but we gave up out of compassion for our staff. I know that it took a threat to the life of Claire, Sofia's mother, before Nicklaus, Kieran's Grandfather, gave up. He would have ciontinued their resistance, but he was fearful of what Paul might do, they may have been friends, but Claire was the woman Paul loved. The temple of Anubis was destroyed due to the resistance of the High Priest and Priestess there. They sacrificed themselves on the altar of Anubis as the flames raged round them. Paul, however, captured the 81 men and their general. Killed the general there and then in front of his men, sacrificed 80 of them to Bast and sent the 81st back to Alexander clutching the clothes of his general and the heart of the 80th as warning." John butted in.
"What did Alexander the Great do?" Martin asked.
"This was Alexander the Great's ancestor, also named Alexander. He took almost his entire army with him to try and kill Paul. All of them vanished. Not a trace has ever been found of them or what happened." John said.
"Alexander the Great also came to Egypt, but, when he went to Bast's temple, he left his arms and fighting men behind. That made all the difference, I think. Paul crowned him Pharaoh of Egypt." Marie continued.
"You thik he killed an entire army?!" Martin said.
"Nothing has ever been proved about that. The tourists is more than possible, given the fuss made by them over Michael's appointment." Said Kieran.

"Fuss?"

"We can't escape the fact that every temple is open to the public in the day, so, sacrifices have to be made either when the temple is closed at the evening, or when the temple is open. Tradition dictates that the appointment of a High Priest or Priestess should take place in the full light of the Sun.So it was that, as part of the ritual of initiation, Michael had to sacrifice a goat, drink of it's blood and eat of it's flesh to become High Priest. Unfortunately, the temple was full of tourists, and some of them took exception to what happened and started hurling abuse at Michael for what he did. You don't need anyone to tell you how angry Paul was at that. He was still ranting about it after the temple had closed for the day, staorming out, saying that he would have no one call him cruel or insinuate such things of his staff. We don't know what happened after he left the temple, only that he returned the following morning and seemed much calmer, which is strange, because, if Paul is angry over something, it will take more than one night to calm him down." John said.

"It puzzles me, that, knowing what he does about Paul, Francois would still want rid of him." Said Martin.

Marie nodded, but pointed to a mound a short way off. "The triaxial Temple. We must tread carefully. If Paul has set a trap, it would not do for one of us to get caught in it. I would suppose Paul took the Eastern route in, expecting Francois to take the Southern route and that he will have placed any traps there. We should still be able to gain access by the Western route, though." She said. John nodded his agreement and set off in the direction of the mound.