Sita refused to take more than the barest minimum of provisions for her journey back to Thonis, despite how fervently Miri and the others tried to send her with more. She accepted only two gifts: their fastest horse, one of five the men had rescued from the city, and a traveling companion.
“You cannot undertake such an expedition alone,” Elyas had insisted. “It’s madness, even for you!”
Aya appeared by her grandfather’s side. “I’ll go!”
“Hush, child,” Elyas scolded.
“This ismyfight, Elyas,” Sita said. “The Hudjefa have suffered enough.” She was about to say more when someone gripped her shoulder, and she turned to find Dumiya standing beside her. Unlike the other warriors, the older woman looked no worse for wear and sported nary a bruise nor a scrape from her battles with the ushabti.
Dumiya put a hand to her chest, then pressed her two fists together and pointed to Sita. Her message was clear.
I am with you.
Sita relented. “Thank you,” she said. It was obvious the woman had already made up her mind and would not be dissuaded.
Elyas watched the exchange with satisfaction. “Dumiya will be an excellent escort—a good rider and even better in a fight. You are wrong to say this is your fight alone, Sita. The fight against those accursed creatures belongs to us all.”
It didn’t take long for them to finish packing the supplies and readying Sita and Dumiya’s horses. In fact, it all happened far too quickly.
Karim said, “You should go while it’s still early. Try to get some ground under you before the hottest part of the day.” He adjusted the black hood around her face. She could see that every word pained him. The worst was yet to come. They both knew it.
Many of the Hudjefa came to say their goodbyes. They, too, were preparing to set off toward the Iteru, where Karim hoped to barter with a trading ship for passage to the western riverbank. From there, they wouldn’t be far from the Anen’s herding route.
“My tracking skills have yet to fail me, sen,” he assured Elyas. “We’ll find them. My nose will lead me home.”
“Once a dog, always a dog,” Sita teased.
She looked down at Behkai, who seemed to sense that the time of their parting was close at hand. His long black tail was tucked between his legs, and his pointed ears drooped.
“It’s all right, boy,” Sita said, placing a kiss on his head as she always did. “You take care of that thief while I’m away, all right?”
Behkai whined.
“Do both dogs get a kiss?” Karim asked.
Sita chuckled. It was better than crying. She kissed him, lingering long enough that the young women standing nearby tittered. They still believed Sita and Karim were married—shehadn’t had the time nor the energy to admit the truth. Her eyes were wet when she pulled away, and she quickly dashed the tears from her face, eager to move past the pain.
Turning from Karim, she tangled her fingers in the black stallion’s thick mane and hoisted herself onto his back. Dumiya was already astride a large silver mare. Sita checked that the packs were secure, and Karim handed her the serpent staff, which he’d fitted with a strip of leather so that she could more easily sling it across her back.
When her fingers slipped from his, she knew it was the last time they’d touch.
She bit her lip, willing herself to be strong.
The oracle meant for the four of us to be together, she thought.Maybe the little priestess and the warrior are together already. The lamb’s prophecy can’t come true until we’re all in the same place, so Iwillsee him again. I must.
Still, she didn’t know that for a fact, nor if the oracle would actually come to pass. After all, what if they’d made choices to alter the foretold course of events in some way?
No. There was no point in that line of thinking. It would only lead to chaos. She, like the Hudjefa, needed to have faith. She needed to believe she was on the gods’ path.
“Here,” she said, removing the green scarab amulet from her neck and tossing it to Karim. “I want you to have it.”
Karim examined the necklace. “I can’t take this. Didn’t you say your father gave it to you?”
Sita glanced at his chest, where she could just make out the edge of his scarab-shaped scar. “You can return it when you come back to me.”
Karim’s jaw tightened, and he looped the amulet around his neck. “Very well, sena. Until I see you again.”
With that, she spurred the horse with her heels and held ontight as the stallion broke into a gallop. Dumiya followed at her side with the wind at her back.
