Chapter 36
Karim
He remembered the tug of that invisible rope around his chest, pulling him toward a forgotten tomb…
It’s not a wall. It’s a door.
He remembered the knock of a monster awakened, and the voice of a boy left to die in the dark…
If anyone can find it, you can!
Sweeping the floor of a forgotten temple, and finding his own image rendered on an ancient wall…
The oracle only foretells the beginning of the story. It’s up to us to decide how it ends.
Traversing the kingdom with Behkai, a deathless creature in relentless pursuit, then facing his fate…
You can’t die, tomb robber. Your story is not finished. This kingdom needs you.
Searching for the lost city with Sitamun, philosophizing and falling in love…
You really think we get to choose our fate?
Witnessing the birth of an infernal army…
Heed me, O ushabti! Wake and hear my call!
Surviving three spears to lead a lost tribe home…
Is this not a sign for hope? Is this not the hand of God reaching out to lift us from our tragedy?
Finding unity among division…
While the men sow discord, the children water flowers.
Karim remembered the way he felt when he met Raetawy on the riverbank, and she showed him kindness when others had not.
He remembered telling her about the river, how its current seemed to pull him toward a destination not of his choosing.
He could pause on his journey, he could fight the pull of the water and the pull of fate, and perhaps alter his course.
But the current wanted him to find his place, wanted him to follow the path set out for him.
Like the streams and tributaries that all flow to the great river, he was one of many, and the many were but one.
The lamb, the lamb, the lamb…
He remembered.
He remembered and he knew that, somehow, whether by choice or courage or divine intervention or mortal foolishness—or each of those things at once—they had all arrived in the place where they were truly meant to be.
“Greetings to you, Princess, sena, young sena,” he said, speaking to each of them in turn as the winds of fate swirled around them. “As lovely as it is to see you all, I believe we have a battle to fight.”