Chapter 25
Rae
“Well, what do you think?”
Rae studied Tam’s reflection in the surface of the water, dimly lit by firelight from the braziers at the entrance to the palace’s pleasure garden.
They sat next to each other by the fishpond, whispering so that the guards who passed by at intervals wouldn’t overhear their conversation.
Below the floating white lotus, luminous in the thickening dark, Rae could see the silver flash of fish swimming through the water.
Tam wrinkled her nose, perplexed. “You’re sure there’s no way Nefermaat could have known about your chance meeting with that Red Lander back in Sakesh? You didn’t mention it to anyone since we arrived?”
“I know I’m a bad spy, but I’m not that bad.”
“It could be a trick of some kind. The other servants told me that the young priestess has been given access to magic scrolls from the House of Life. Who knows what she’s capable of?”
“Yes, I thought of that too…” Rae trailed her fingers in the water, blurring her own reflection. A flame-orange fish came to nibble at them.
“You believe her, don’t you?” Tam said, reading the message beneath Rae’s silence.
“It sounds ridiculous, but I think I do.”
“Why?”
It took Rae a full minute to come up with an answer.
“It’s as soon as she spoke of this prophecy, this ‘Oracle of the Lamb,’ everything I’ve done in my life suddenly fell into place.
Like every choice I’ve made has been leading me to this moment.
” She shook her head. “Do you know what I mean? Have you ever felt that way?”
Tam licked her lips. “The day I met you.”
Rae reached up to tuck a loose curl behind Tam’s ear, her fingers lingering on the weaver’s cheek. “What do you think? Am I a fool for wanting to trust her? For thinking I might have some grand destiny?”
“All great men are fools,” Tam replied. “They have the audacity to believe in their own potential so deeply that they actually reach it.”
Rae grinned wryly. “So, you’re saying I am a fool.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Tam agreed. “And you have the potential to be a great one.” She leaned forward, placing a single kiss on Rae’s lips.
“I am with you, Raetawy. If you think this is the path forward, I will follow wherever it may lead. If putting your trust in the priestess saves lives, then you must take the risk. We don’t have many options, and time is running out. ”
At the mention of saving lives, Rae felt a chill come over her.
She thought of her father down in the belly of the palace, and the attack on Sakesh that the king had promised as retaliation for Nefermaat’s abduction.
“Do you think they’re all right—Menk, Mamet Mut, and the others?
Do you think they got the message in time? ”
“I pray they did.”
Rae stood. With the decision made, the urgency of the situation descended upon her. “I must talk to Nefermaat again so we can figure out how to prevent Sakesh from enduring another day of slaughter.”
Tam rose as well, then cast a sidelong glance at the guards in the main hall. “I’ll cover for you here. Just…be careful.”
With a nod, Rae snuck through the dark to the gardener’s entrance and made her way to the riverbank.
***
She found Omari alone at the moonlit encampment, sharpening his knife by the riverside with a smooth gray stone. His broad back was hunched over the task, and he reminded Rae of a bull standing alone against the night. When she emerged from the reeds, he straightened. “You came alone?”
“Tam is covering for me at the palace,” Rae replied. “Have you received any word from Menk?”
Omari looked down at the knife and slid the blade over the whetstone. He shook his head.
“Where are Kay and Buto?”
“Fishing. We need to trade for more supplies at the market tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, I need to talk to you too. I must see Nefermaat first.”
Omari stopped sharpening. “Why?”
Rae swallowed. A nervous prickle at the back of her neck told her not to tell Omari about her intentions, not yet. “I just need to see her.”
“Do not let her speak,” Omari said. “She’ll curse you.”
“Not with her hands tied. Spells require an object and action in addition to words to work.”
Omari narrowed his eyes. “You’re an expert on magic now?”
“I was her servant. I paid attention. That’s all.”
Omari spit on the ground and resumed his sharpening. “Well, I wish you luck getting anything useful out of her. As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one thing she’d good for now.”
His tone was ominous, but Rae was too focused on speaking with the priestess to question him. “Look, we can talk more in a minute.” She ducked into the small tent.
Nefermaat was sitting up, her bound hands pressed together in a prayer position, looking for all the world like a tiny goddess waiting for a supplicant to arrive. There was no fear in her eyes as she followed Rae’s approach, nor surprise when Rae pulled the gag from her mouth.
Neff was the first to speak, though her voice was ragged and dry. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Rae shivered, unnerved. “Yes.”
Neff’s huge eyes glimmered, and for an instant, she looked like she was going to cry. Rae had begun untying her wrists and ankles when she reached for Rae’s hand and squeezed it.
“So…” Rae said once she was done. She suddenly felt too big and too awkward in the intimacy of the little tent. “You said the man I met—Karim—is part of this oracle?”
Neff nodded. “He came to the Temple of Amun searching for information about a pharaoh named Setnakht, who had been erased from the king’s lists. It’s got to be connected to the oracle, I just don’t know how yet.”
“And the last person is Princess Sitamun? I figured she’d be a lot like her brother.”
“Sitamun and Meryamun are alike in many ways, but different in all the important ones. You know she ran away from him.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to marry her. And because he murdered their father.”
Rae’s eyebrows rose. Bedding his sister? Patricide? The king is even worse than I thought! “Do you know where she is now?”
“Close,” Neff said, staring into the middle distance. “And getting closer.” She blinked and focused back on Rae. “Listen. The cursing ritual will take place in two days. If we are going to stop the king and save your people, we must move quickly.”
“I agree. I will explain everything to my friends. It’s going to take a little convincing…” Rae helped Neff to her feet and moved to leave the tent, but the girl stopped her.
“The big man, Omari. He is not your friend.”
Rae scoffed, incredulous. “What are you talking about?”
The young priestess hesitated. “There is darkness in him. I fear you will not be able to convince him to go along with this plan.” Rae noticed Neff’s hand move to rub her upper arm, where a lurid bruise had formed.
“Wait. Did he do this to you?” Rae asked. Upon closer inspection, she found purple marks on the girl’s neck as well.
Neff didn’t reply.
She didn’t need to.
Rage kindled inside Rae’s belly, greeting her like an old friend.
Perhaps it burned hotter because she’d been keeping herself under such tight control for so long, or perhaps it was the thought of someone harming a defenseless young girl.
Either way, she wasn’t exactly in control of herself when she stormed out of the tent, straight to where Omari was sitting, and shoved him.
“What is wrong with you?” she exclaimed. “What did you do to her?”
Omari stopped, knife in hand, and slowly turned toward her. “Calm down, Ay,” he said warningly.
“No, I won’t calm down. I thought we were fighting for freedom. For the greater good. Since when does that include torturing children?”
Omari slipped the whetstone in the pocket of his tunic. “Since the king gave us no choice but to retaliate in kind. His men are in Sakesh right now, killing our people in droves. Or had you forgotten?”
Rae said, “Of course I haven’t forgotten! But if we aren’t careful, we will find ourselves making excuses for atrocities, each one more heinous than the last, until it will be impossible to tell the difference between our enemies and ourselves!”
Omari gripped the knife so tightly his knuckles turned white. “If you think this rebellion has any chance of success without spilling innocent blood, you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”
The insult was fuel to her fury, and Rae was about to shoot back when she sensed movement behind her. Nefermaat emerged from the tent. The girl looked unsteady on her feet and glanced warily between them.
With a roar, Omari dashed toward the girl and grabbed her by the wrist. “Why would you untie her?” he asked, seething. “She’ll run right back to the palace and tell them where we are! Are you trying to get us killed?”
“She’s not going to run away, Omari! That’s what I wanted to tell you.
” Rae paused and took a deep breath. She didn’t wish to dispel her rage, but she had to control it long enough to explain the situation.
As succinctly as she could, she told Omari about Neff’s plan to stop Meryamun and about their connection through the Oracle of the Lamb.
When she was finished, Omari was stupefied into silence. Finally, he said, “You’re not serious.”
Rae gritted her teeth. “I am. And she hasn’t put me under a spell, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I wish she had. It would be an excuse for you believing this nonsense.”
“Curse you, Omari, will you just listen for a minute? Even if the oracle does not come to pass, it remains true that Neff has a plan to take down Meryamun. If we release her, the slaughter in Sakesh will cease, and she and I can work together to ensure the cursing ritual doesn’t take place.
She has more access in the palace than I ever could.
” When it looked like Omari still wasn’t convinced, she added, “I already told Tam about it. She believes me.”
Omari’s lip curled. “Of course she does.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”