Chapter 27 A Mother’s Song
A Mother’s Song
Zahra collapsed as she cried. An ache deeper than any of her deaths penetrated her heart. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t stop crying.
“Where has he gone?” A hand landed on her back, and Zahra looked up to see Nubia’s panicked face. “Where has the King gone?”
Zahra’s lip trembled, and she pointed toward the gardens.
Nubia rubbed Zahra’s back, gesturing at some servants who had followed her outside. “Take her home, please. She needs rest.”
Zahra let the servants lift her to her feet as Nubia ran off toward the gardens.
They took her inside, changed her back into her nightdress, and then guided her to a chariot outside.
She realized Nubia’s meaning as she was stepping onto the chariot, but she didn’t fight back as she was loaded inside.
The interaction with Namir had left her numb, but she knew one thing.
She would never see Namir again.
Bahiti showed genuine surprise when Zahra showed up at the door in royal clothing with two royal medjay in tow. “The Vizier asked that she be returned home.”
Bahiti bowed. “Thank you.”
She placed her hand gently on Zahra’s back, guiding her inside. As soon as the door was shut, Bahiti dug her nails into Zahra’s arm. “Where is my horse?”
Zahra gritted her teeth, but she did not answer.
Bahiti screamed into Zahra’s ear, and Zahra closed her eyes. “Where is he?!”
When Zahra did not answer, Bahiti threw her to the floor. Zahra grunted as pain shot up her arm.
“I should have told them what you did,” Bahiti spat. “You should be executed for stealing from me!”
A crowd began to gather on the stairs. Femi and Keket watched from their room, their eyes tired and wary.
Bahiti circled Zahra. “Foolish, foolish sobki. You and your father will never be out of debt after this. Is that what you wanted? I will ensure you work here for the rest of your life to make up for what you have done.”
Zahra said nothing.
Bahiti kicked her hard in the ribs, and Zahra let out a pained moan. “Speak! I will take everything you have, girl.”
“Then take it,” Zahra shouted, standing. “I have already lost all that mattered.”
Bahiti stared at Zahra in shock. She narrowed her eyes. “How dare you speak back to me, girl!” She lifted her hand. “Know your place!”
Zahra caught Bahiti’s wrist, shoving Bahiti back. Bahiti stumbled, landing hard on the ground. She looked up at Zahra in shock.
“This may be my last day,” Zahra seethed, “but you will not continue on this path. Soon, everyone will know of your crimes.”
“Crimes?” She laughed, getting to her feet and dusting off her dress. “What are you talking about, sobki?”
“That you are just as much of a thief as I am.” Zahra pointed toward Bahiti’s room. “In your closet you hide our deben. You tell us we owe you more than we do, and you lie to Master Darius about how much we do and give.”
Bahiti’s face lost its color, and for the first time, she looked at Zahra in fear. She laughed, a nervous smile appearing on her lips. “That is an outrageous claim!”
“I am telling the truth, and you know it. I told the King of your wicked ways. He will ensure you are punished.”
“How dare you blaspheme my name?!” Bahiti lunged forward.
Zahra stepped back, and Bahiti fell forward, smacking her head against the wall. She fell back, a stunned expression on her face.
Zahra held her head high. “You have no power over me, Bahiti.” She turned toward the front door, her fists trembling at her sides.
Jala’s voice rang through the room. “Zahra, look out!”
Zahra looked up and stepped back. Bahiti came at her with a painted vase. It struck the side of Zahra’s head, shattering on impact. Her vision spun as she fell to the floor.
Zahra moaned on the floor as her senses worked to correct themselves.
Bahiti dove forward, one of her hands bloody from a cut, and wrapped her hands around Zahra’s neck.
Zahra’s vision doubled over as she pushed against Bahiti’s chest. There was no red in her mistress’s eyes, and yet a murderous rage fueled her strength as she rammed Zahra’s head into the floor over and over.
Zahra gasped for air, putting her arm on Bahiti’s shoulder. Bahiti’s eyes went wide as the floor beneath Zahra’s head turned to sand. Zahra gritted her teeth, and a force from Zahra’s psyche sent Bahiti flying.
Zahra pushed herself to her feet as Bahiti clambered in the sand, looking around at the vast desert of the Duat. “W-Where have you taken me?” She turned around, her eyes widening at Zahra’s glowing sibyl mark. “What are you?!”
Zahra gritted her teeth, thrusting her hand out toward Bahiti. The sand around Bahiti vibrated with energy, pulling at Bahiti’s legs. Bahiti looked down in terror as the ground began to swallow her. “No. No!”
Katerina’s words echoed in Zahra’s mind. A death in the Duat is far worse than a death in your world.
Bahiti screamed as the sand consumed her torso. “Please. Please!”
“Why should I spare you?!” Hot tears fell down Zahra’s cheeks as she stepped toward Bahiti. “I have been killed a hundred times over, and yet it is all of my years with you that haunt my dreams. It is my fear of you that has kept me here as your slave. I am not a slave!”
Bahiti sobbed. Her wig had fallen off, revealing her short curls underneath. The sand was up to her shoulders now and was quickly pulling her arms under.
“Why do you hate me?!” Zahra screamed. “Why?!”
Bahiti screamed, grabbing helplessly at the granules as they went up to her neck.
The image reminded Zahra of when she was trapped in the creek, and the man that held her there as she drowned.
Zahra’s anger turned to horror, and her arm fell by her side. The sand stopped moving. Bahiti, buried up to her chin, pulled in a deep breath of air.
This was not Zahra. She was not a killer. She was not like Bahiti.
Bahiti blinked hard as Zahra released them both from the Duat. She pulled her hands away from Zahra’s neck, crying out as she backed up. Zahra slowly got to her feet as Bahiti pointed at her. “Sorceress! Monster!”
Femi and Keket ran to their mother, and the other servants looked at Zahra in fear and confusion. Zahra’s nose was dripping blood. “I… I…”
“Leave,” Bahiti screamed.
Zahra stumbled backward. She burst through the front door. Servants returning from their errands jumped back in surprise as she ran past, shouting after her.
Zahra fled the city, running until she could run no more.
She collapsed far from any roads or cities.
The trees around her provided cool shade as she lay in the grass, sweat on her brow.
The side of her head pulsed with pain, and she couldn’t tell if the warmth on her ear was from running or from blood.
She tentatively touched the spot, pulling her hand away and confirming it was the latter.
She closed her eyes, letting herself catch her breath. She couldn’t go to her father. She didn’t know where he would be, or if he had already been captured. She couldn’t go to Heba and risk Heba getting involved. Bahiti would hunt her down until she was imprisoned or dead.
She cursed Bahiti for not finishing the job when she had hit Zahra with the vase.
Zahra’s lip trembled at the thought. How long had it been since she had given up? How long had she stopped fighting her curse?
She didn’t want to die. Not at all. More than anything, she wanted to live. She had fought for each minute with Namir, even though she knew what awaited her each night.
Now, she wished death would come quicker.
Zahra thought of Namir’s black eyes and warm smile. She hadn’t realized it, but he’d brought light to her days despite her knowing her fate. If she had told him sooner, would he have seen reason before he fell in love with her? Or would he still have stopped at nothing to save her?
She bit her cheek, but still the tears came. Katerina had said it herself. No one had escaped the keres’ anger. She couldn’t let herself hope that, by some miracle, she would be the first.
The sound of a horse approaching sent Zahra scrambling to her feet. A wave of dizziness hit her as she stumbled toward a bush, hiding inside of it. The horse came to a stop, huffing as the rider looked about. Zahra couldn’t see him clearly, but he wore the colors of a medjay.
After a few silent moments, the medjay urged his horse onward.
Zahra remained silent for several more minutes before she stepped out. The ground beneath her moved, and there was a loud hiss before a sharp pain came to Zahra’s left ankle.
She cried out, kicking the snake with her other foot. It unlatched from her, flying backward into the grass. Zahra grunted, limping toward a tree.
The snake hissed, its eyes bright yellow and its scales the color of the dirt.
Zahra’s heart dropped. A viper.
The snake hissed and slithered toward her. Zahra turned to run, but it was difficult with her foot. She tripped over a rock, catching herself hard on her hands. She turned and screamed.
Katerina dove down from the sky, catching the viper’s neck in her talons.
Zahra looked up in surprise as another eagle swooped down and grabbed its body.
Katerina tightened her grasp on the snake’s neck.
It writhed in their grip, until suddenly it was limp.
The two eagles dropped the snake several feet from Zahra, where it lay motionless.
Zahra pushed herself to her feet, wincing as she tried to stand on her leg. Her ankle was already beginning to swell, and blood was freely flowing from the wound.
Zahra leaned against a tree and placed her hand on the bite. Her father had told her stories of those bitten by vipers. She would be lucky if there was no venom, but the swelling was not a good sign.
Katerina took off into the sky, while the other eagle found a spot in a tree above her. Zahra took a deep breath, looking up at the bird. “Thank you.”
The eagle cawed in response, resting her wings as she looked around.
Zahra focused on her wound. No matter how hard she pressed, the bite still bled.