“What?” Mery snapped irritably, turning toward her.
There’s something in the water, she wanted to say, but the words didn’t get out in time.
In the next instant, a dark creature of impossible size eruptedfrom the river. Its scaled armor glistened in the sunlight, and its enormous maw was open wide, revealing long rows of dagger-like teeth.
“Crocodile!”someone screamed, and then—chaos.
Time slowed to a crawl as Sita watched, paralyzed. The crocodile lunged at the man in the water, clamping onto his torso and tearing into his flesh. The man shrieked as he was pulled, thrashing, under the water. Half a dozen other men burst from the reeds, pointing and shouting and raising their spears and bows. Mery stood unsteadily on the skiff, trying to keep it from overturning in the churning water. On the ship, the revelers dropped what they were doing and ran to peer over the side, horrified as the horny ridges of the beast’s back resurfaced, heading straight for Mery.
“Kill it!” a man shouted. “It’s going for the prince!”
Sita watched one of the young archers point his bow as the great crocodile sprang from the river with incredible force. Mery gazed up at it, mouth open, eyes wide.
If that archer shoots his arrow, it won’t hit the crocodile, Sita thought.It’ll hit Mery!
“Wait!” Sita screamed, but too late.
The archer loosed the arrow.
Then, inexplicably, Mery closed his eyes and dropped to one knee. The arrow sailed over his head and into the crocodile’s mouth.
The beast twisted with the impact of the blow and fell back into the water. The resulting wave pushed Mery’s skiff back to where the armed men were standing, and they caught and steadied it. Everyone stared as the injured crocodile’s horny ridges cut through the water past the ship and disappeared downriver.
It was over.
Sita nearly collapsed with relief.
“My prince, are you all right?” one of the attendants asked Mery.
“Yes,” Mery replied. He sounded strangely distracted. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Thanks be to Amun,” the attendant continued. “Truly, he has protected you this day.” He shot a nasty glare at the archer, who’d gone pale with fear. He, like Sita, must have realized that he’d almost killed the prince. If Mery hadn’t dropped to his knee at exactly that moment, the arrow would have struck him square in the chest.
Her brother must have realized it too, and Sita wondered if Mery would execute the incompetent archer right then and there. But the prince seemed completely uninterested in killing anyone or excoriating his men for their negligence. To everyone’s surprise, he simply poled his skiff back to the boat, climbed aboard, and walked to the prow to sit in Sita’s chair under the canopy. He glanced into the empty wine jar and snapped his fingers at one of the concubines sitting nearby.
“Wine,” he said simply, and she rushed to retrieve some. Everyone else on the ship took that as a sign to return to their activities, and a warm chatter rose once again from the group.
Sita approached her brother with caution. Perhaps he was in shock? Once the concubine brought wine and poured some into a cup for him, Mery took a long drink and leaned back, staring at the river where the crocodile had emerged. A dismembered arm had risen to the surface and floated there. A white fish came to nibble at it. Sita grimaced and turned back to Mery.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked.
Her brother didn’t meet her eyes, didn’t react. He simply stared at the river, chewing his lip.
“Kneel,” he muttered.
“What?”
“When confronted with the power of Sobek, kneel,” Mery replied. “That’s what she said.”
“That’s whatwhosaid?”
He looked at her, his eyes bright with wonder. “That girl. The little seer from the temple,” he said. “She interpreted my dream, and she was right. When I saw the crocodile, her message was the first thing that came to mind.”
Sita remembered the strange girl she’d seen at the Bast Festival and wondered if he was talking about the same person. “That’swhy you dropped to your knee when you did?”
“Yes,” Mery replied. “That little priestess saved my life.” He scoffed, then smiled. “Oh, this is very good.”
Sita was about to ask what he meant, when someone cried out in alarm.
