By nightfall, there was hardly anyone left in the National Library. Severus's footsteps were the only sound in the empty reading room.
The table Madam Pince had occupied was empty, with only several documents left open upon it.
"Ilma!" Severus shouted, but no one answered.
He raised his wand and began searching between the shelves.
After Napoleon's army landed in Alexandria, he had ordered his expeditionary force to advance into the desert. Even the local people of Egypt feared the desert, leaving that region to Set, who represented chaos and evil.
Conditions then could not be compared with those faced by soldiers in the twenty-first century. They had relied almost entirely on the soldiers' own willpower, physical fitness, and endurance to overcome hardship. At the Battle of the Pyramids, the people of France had likewise confronted superior numbers head-on with fewer troops. Their thin three-rank formations had faced the Mamluks' unceasing cavalry charges.
Victory and defeat were commonplace in warfare. By comparison, spreading rumors and inciting rebellions seemed less honorable. Yet the one plotting those schemes was an old man, unable to mount a horse or wield a blade, unlike Napoleon in the prime of his life.
Pharaoh Kamose had also died in battle in his prime. If the living could not drive out those invaders, then he would do it instead. The colonizers of old had used force, cruel methods that were hardly efficient. Exploiting people through trade and institutions was not only easier, but also looked civilized.
A hundred thousand laborers had died building the Suez Canal. The CFA franc had left resource-rich West Africa poor and backward. France, the colonial power, not only refused to invest in construction there, but also created conflicts and sent Foreign Legion mercenaries to suppress local uprisings.
Merchants had to sell what