Cesare was sitting on a pillow, his eyes trained on the stage, where the belly dancers were twirling around each other and sending suggestive looks at the public. His glass of tea was forgotten, and he could only think about how curvy the dancers were, how revealing their costumes, how alluring their movements were.

“Do you still think that stripteases are the same as belly dances?” Asked Tony from next to him. He was laying down, the upper buttons of his shirt undone, his suit jacket laying under his head on the giant pillow.

“They are as different as a lake and a pond,” admitted Cesare, breathless. Antonius smiled as his eyes found Cesare, following the only brown-haired belly dancer. She was in the middle and her hands were in the air, in the shape of a vase. She was slowly moving in a circle, her hips moving up and down.

“You know, in Ancient Egypt, the belly dancers were mostly concubines,” supplied Antonius. His personal favorite was a dirty-blonde belly dancer with soft pink veils. She did the same as the others that were in the outer ring, mainly elegantly moving her legs like water while as her body shook up and down.

“I can imagine why,” said Cesare, eyes transfixed at the belly dancer in the middle.

The belly dancers extended their hands towards the middle one, and she took each of their hands in turn, twirling and shaking her hips to the beat of the music. Cesare’s eyes followed her. Then, slowly, she undid one of her veils that were connected to her hips and she placed it around the neck of a raven-haired belly dancer. Their heads moved closer together and Cesare thought that they would kiss, but they just leaned in and then leaned back, giggling.

The raven-haired belly dancer went in the middle, and Cesare’s favorite took her place.

“They will be taking people from the public soon,” said Tony next to him. Cesare’s eyes widened. The idea that the brown-haired nymph would come and take his hand and plead with her eyes that he got to his feet was alluring. The raven-haired belly dancer did the same as the brown-haired one, but, this time, to a dirty blonde one. They switched places, moving their hips in flowing motions all the while.

“What are the chances that we will get selected, Tony?” Tony snickered next to him.

“The requests are done at the door. And I entered your name. You are welcomed,” Cesare turned to look at Antonius, who was staring at the belly dancers. The music became faster, and the belly dancers skipped away from their circle formation.

The brown-haired one moved to Cesare with sure steps, looking every bit the seasoned seductress. Cesare’s palms began to sweat as she took off another one of her veils and she placed it around his middle.

“Have fun,” he heard Tony say, and Cesare thanked him in his mind.

When they got back to the hotel, Cesare was grinning from ear to ear. The belly dancer, Emel, had led him. He didn’t shake like her, but he did twirl her around at every chance he got. She had given him her number, telling him not to be a stranger. Cesare felt superb about himself.

He knew he would probably never see her again, though. His new job meant a lot of travelling. They were not going to stay in Turkey for more than a couple of hours. But, maybe, on the trip back, they could stay at Istanbul again. And Cesare could ask Emel on a date or go back to the club to watch her perform.

He went to his room and bid Tony good night at the door. Their rooms were next to each other. Antonius had told him that was better in case they were attacked.

Cesare had no idea who would attack Tony. Sure, Tony was a grave robber, but his only enemies would be ghosts, right? The Italian sunk into the soft mattress with a sigh, imagining how Emel’s soft lips would feel against his.

The alarm went off and Cesare woke up. It was six, the flight was at ten. Plenty of time to prepare. He went in the bathroom and showered. After, he dressed in warmer clothes, as he was sure that it would be colder in Mongolia than in Turkey.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he hoped that a sweater and dress pants were ok. Tony would no doubt be in one of his suits. Thinking of Tony, Cesare went to the man’s room and knocked on the door.

“Tony, it is seven. Don’t you want to go grab some breakfast?” Antonius opened the door, with only pajama pants on and drenched in sweat. Cesare looked at Antonius’s six-pack without meaning to. There were droplets of sweat running down it, and Cesare felt envious that he didn’t have similar physic, him being lean and all.

“Can you wait a bit? I am in the middle of my morning workout,” Antonius stepped aside to let Cesare through and the Italian came inside, making himself comfortable on a plush chair.

“For how long have you been at it?” Antonius shrugged, getting down on the floor and continuing to do push-ups.

“I think I started at five. If I don’t get a good two hours, I am stiff the entire day,” Cesare nodded. He had thought that Antonius didn’t come out of his room before seven-thirty because he just liked to sleep in. But, it seems, Cesare had misjudged him.

“What is your workout routine?” Asked Antonius, not stopping his exercise.

“Well, I like jogging. And I do my karate moves, when I am in a dojo,” said Cesare, suddenly feeling like he hadn’t been doing enough.

“That is good. Running is the most important thing for a treasure hunter. Especially when golems are left guarding the treasure,” that brought Cesare back to the question of what guarded the khan’s grave.

“So, do you think that golems are guarding the khan’s grave?” Asked Cesare, transfixed by Antonius’s movements. How was this man keeping this up? Cesare had counted thirty push-ups, and, yet, Antonius wasn’t stopping.

“Hey, khan, what is guarding your grave?” Spoke Antonius. Genghis Khan grinned.

“The great wolf spirit,” that stopped Antonius. He sighed.

“I do hate spirit animals. They are too fast to stun with holy water. Cesare, you better have a good aim with a hunting ruffle because we will both need to take it down in one shoot,” Antonius resumed his exercise and Cesare imagined a giant spirit wolf guarding a grave. He shuddered and, yet, he was more excited than ever.