Chapter 31 A Trustworthy Assassin
A Trustworthy Assassin
Zahra opened her eyes as Namir entered her room. She smiled, pushing herself up to greet him. “Namir.”
“Zahra.” He picked her up in his arms and leaned into the hammock with her in his lap.
The hammock groaned at the added weight, and Zahra pushed herself off of him with a laugh. “Don’t break it!”
He held her hands as she stood, letting the dizziness fade. “I have news.”
“Oh?” Zahra grinned. “What better news could there be?”
She was alive. For the first time since this day began, she had hope of a tomorrow.
“It is good news,” he promised. “We have captured the assassins.”
Zahra’s smile faded. “All of them?”
Namir nodded, his grin falling. “Are you not happy?”
“I am, but this does not feel right. Yesterday, they somehow got into the pr-aa. Today, we have finally captured them after they evaded us for so long. It feels planned.”
“Even if it is, we have nothing to worry about. They are under constant observation, and their weapons were confiscated. They can do nothing to us.”
Zahra rubbed her thumbs against his hands. “I still think it’s a trap.”
“But we have the chance to question them now, and I need you there with me. We can finally learn who is behind all of this.”
Zahra’s forehead creased. “Namir…”
“I know,” he said, letting go of her hands and pushing himself out of the hammock. “I know who it could be, but I don’t believe it’s them. You were wrong about Waaiz. Trust me that you are wrong about the others, too.”
Zahra sighed. “What jail are they in?”
“The one in Inebu-hedj,” Namir said, moving toward the door. “Ramses is already waiting for us there.”
Zahra raised her eyebrows. “Your uncle will have that place under lock and key. We will have to get past him.”
Namir smirked and opened the door. “Leave that to me.”
The prison was swamped with medjay when Zahra and Namir arrived. Ramses was hiding behind some trees nearby. He smiled and waved. “Waaiz will be coming out soon.”
“Perfect.” Namir dismounted from the horse and switched his cloak with Ramses.
Ramses grinned, tying the cloak at his neck. “Just like when we were boys.”
Zahra smiled at the thought. She couldn’t wait to hear the stories of their adventures.
Ramses hopped onto Victory’s back, and Namir held the reins to Ramses’s horse. Waaiz left the prison and paused outside, speaking with a couple of the medjay.
Ramses and Namir nodded to each other before Ramses rode off past the prison entrance. Waaiz nearly jumped at the sight of Namir’s horse. “Get me my horse! Now!”
Waaiz and a half a dozen medjay chased after Ramses. Namir pulled up the hood on his cloak and took Zahra’s hand. They entered the prison.
Goosebumps formed on Zahra’s arms as she recalled the time she was here with her father. Namir squeezed her hand, offering her a comforting glance. She took a deep breath, and they went down the stairs to the prison cell.
The assassins were all chained to the wall, stripped of their weapons and their cloaks, and they avoided looking at Namir and Zahra.
Pesha glanced up, interest filling her eyes upon seeing Namir. She turned to her comrades, speaking in Ionic. “The King came to visit us after all.”
“I came to ask you questions,” Namir replied in Ionic, stepping forward and lowering his hood. “And you will give me the answers I seek.”
Surprise flashed on some of the assassins’ faces, but none spoke.
Namir knelt in front of Pesha, tilting his head to try and catch her eye as he spoke in Auran. “Tell me who hired you, and I promise to keep your sentence light.”
Pesha stared at him, no recognition of his words on her face.
Zahra stepped forward. “He knows you can understand him.”
Pesha shifted her gaze to Zahra. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I know you from somewhere.”
Zahra stepped forward, replying in her native tongue. “And I know you, Pesha.”
Pesha’s eyes went wide. She gritted her teeth, pulling on her chains. “Sorceress.”
“Sibyl,” Zahra corrected. “You are all going against Selene’s wishes. You will suffer if you continue.”
Pesha laughed. “Suffer? We and our people have suffered because of his crimes. We will bring justice to Selene and to our people.”
Namir glanced between Pesha and Zahra. It was clear he understood some of what they had said, but not all.
Zahra narrowed her eyes, turning to the six others. “You need not continue on this path. I have seen Aur’s destruction if this day ends as you plan. All will suffer from its loss, and many will die.”
The assassins glanced at each other. One of the assassins met her gaze. He spat at Namir’s feet. The rest followed suit, and Pesha smirked. She tilted her head back, laughing. “Good luck saving him, traitor. He will die, whether we are in these chains or not.”
Zahra gritted her teeth.
Namir stood, his face twisted in disgust. “I’m guessing they refused?”
“Yes.” She turned her gaze back on Pesha. Pesha’s smirk faltered for a moment, and Zahra saw the slightest bit of fear in her eyes. Zahra walked toward Pesha, knelt in front of her, and brought her hand up.
Pesha flinched. “Wait. No—”
Zahra focused, pulling them both into the Duat. Pesha fell forward into the sand as the chains disappeared from her wrists. Zahra stood in front of her, studying her cautiously.
“No,” Pesha cried. She looked at Zahra as she shot to her feet. “Where are they? Where are the others?”
“They have not been moved,” Zahra promised.
“Take me back,” Pesha demanded. She pulled out a small knife from her pants, holding it defensively in front of her. “Take me back. Now!”
“So you remember yesterday,” Zahra said, stepping to the side. “Did you dream about this place? Did you dream of the creatures that live here?”
“Stop your questions! I won’t tell you anything. I… Ahh!” Pesha brought her hand to her head, gritting her teeth.
Zahra hesitated to step closer. Purple light shimmered around Pesha’s head, and Zahra saw the faint mark of the thread connecting Pesha’s soul to the Thoth. She was remembering.
“We’ve fought before, and I forgot. Each night…” Pesha looked at Zahra, both confused and terrified.
Zahra nodded. “This is not the first time the day of the Feast has happened.”
“Then you are a sorceress.” She held up her dagger.
Zahra put her hand up, and silver light blew the dagger out of Pesha’s hand.
Zahra hissed as pain shot from the cracks in her arms. She shook her arms and walked toward Pesha.
Pesha’s fearful gaze turned on Zahra as she approached. “What are you?”
“A sibyl.”
Pesha scoffed. “The sibyls died with Ionia. I should know. I saw the last one fall to Parsa’s soldiers.”
“Yes, but I am her daughter.”
Pesha scooted back. “But you serve the King of Aur! You have betrayed Selene.”
“I serve Selene and Selene only. She told me to protect the King, and I have done all in my power to save his life. Last night, as with the times before, you have threatened his life.”
Pesha clenched her jaw. “The King is wicked. His kind cast my people out, and we are struggling to survive.”
“He has barely been given the chance to show if he will follow his father’s path, but if he dies tonight, your people will suffer just as much as Aur will.”
Pesha stared at Zahra as she thought about her words. “Are you… Are you really a sibyl?”
“Yes.” Zahra stepped forward. “But I need your help to fulfill Selene’s wishes. I cannot protect the King if I don’t know who is after his life.”
Pesha looked down. “If I tell you, will you take me out of this place?”
“Yes, and you and your friends will be given lighter sentences,” Zahra promised. “The King does not wish to make enemies with your people before he has even become Pharaoh.”
Pesha considered Zahra. She nodded. “I will tell you what I know.”
Zahra smiled and inclined her head toward her. “Thank you, Pesha.”
After their conversation ended, Zahra pulled them from the Duat. Pesha gasped, and Zahra wiped blood from her nose. “Thank you.”
Zahra stood and looked at the others. “The rest of you will be given lighter sentences, but I suggest that you talk among yourselves before we return again.”
Namir stared at Zahra with an impressed look before following her out of the prison. “What did you say to her?”
Zahra held a hand up to him as they entered the room above the prison, and she turned to the three medjay there. “One of them is hiding a knife, but she will give it to you if you ask.”
The medjay glanced at each other before going downstairs.
Zahra turned to Namir once they had departed. “I had a conversation with her in the Duat. Once she realized who I was, she answered my questions.”
“Then do we know who sent them?”
“She doesn’t know,” Zahra said. “A messenger came to their camp and offered them part of Aur’s land in exchange for their help.”
“A worthy prize,” Namir agreed. “But she does not know the messenger’s name?”
“They never saw him again after that day. Since coming here, they have interacted with different people. I know for sure one of them is a servant in the pr-aa, but the rest could be anyone.” She hesitated.
“There’s more. They attack only at night for a reason.
They were instructed to kill you when the blood moon was full. ”
“When the moon is weak,” Namir realized. “Do they know what will happen if…?”
Zahra shook her head. “They only know their orders. They aren’t sure why they were asked to kill you during the blood moon, or what will happen once they do.
” She thought back on her visions and dreams of Asenath’s death.
As usual, when she tried to remember all the details, a sharp pain rushed to her head.
Zahra rubbed her temples. “There is something neither of us is remembering. Something that Iset does not want us to know. I don’t know what it is or why we can’t recall it, but it has been there for some time, holding us back from finding out the truth.”
Namir’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Remember when I told you about Iset?” Zahra asked. “Just like me, you had read about her, but you weren’t able to remember her until I reminded you. I think whatever kept us from remembering Iset is still in effect, except it’s making us forget something else entirely.”
Namir leaned against a table. “What do we do? If there is some…spell holding us back, how are we supposed to work around it?”
Zahra fingered her mother’s necklace as she thought. “The Thoth.”
Namir’s brow furrowed. “But what would that do?”
“In the old pr-aa, the Thoth’s energy and your presence were enough to help me see the Thoth’s magic,” Zahra reasoned. “If we touch the Thoth—together—maybe a similar effect will happen.”
Namir considered her theory. “What if it does not work?”
Zahra shrugged. “Then we’ll have lost nothing.”
Namir nodded. He grinned. “I should save Ramses first.”
Zahra looped her arm through his and pulled him toward the door. “Let us find him, then.”
Waaiz was returning on his horse as Zahra and Namir left the building. The medjay outside stared at them, dumbfounded. Ramses was on Namir’s horse, his hands bound in front of him. He grinned when he saw Namir.
Waaiz sighed. “You could have been killed.”
“I was willing to take the risk,” Namir said. “Release him.”
Waaiz waved his hand to a medjay, a sour expression on his face. “Did you learn anything?”
“We did,” Zahra said with a smile.
Waaiz regarded her with suspicion. “Who is this?”
“My bride,” Namir said. “We are going to the Pharaohs’ Library. You may escort us if you want.”
“Perhaps I will,” Waaiz remarked. “We do not know if there are more assassins out there than the seven.”
Namir and Zahra shared a glance before trading horses with Ramses again.
The ride to the library was short, and Zahra and Namir entered with Ramses. Waaiz and the other medjay followed them inside, guarding all entrances. They retrieved the scroll and key and went down to the hidden library.
Zahra breathed in its scent as she entered. “It has been too long since I have been in here.”
Namir smiled at her as he went to a corner of the room. He opened a chest, moving some things around, until finally he stood, the Thoth in his hands. Zahra could feel the energy from it radiating through the floor, and she stepped back as he set it down on the table.
Ramses held the lamp and watched the Thoth with uncertainty. “Are you sure about this?”
Zahra nodded. “We need answers.” She looked to Namir, raising her eyebrows. “You don’t have to do this with me if you don’t wish to.”
“No,” Namir said, taking her hand. “I want to be there with you. Whatever it shows us, I don’t want you to face it alone.”
Zahra smiled softly. She stepped toward the Thoth, her hand hesitating above it. She took a deep breath before letting her hand fall upon the glass.
Heat shot up her arm, and visions flooded her brow. Screams echoed around her, and she tasted blood in her mouth. She held tight to Namir, allowing the Thoth to pull them into its depths.