Dead, he replied.Taken for tokens by the men of this land.
The Bennu bird stretched her great blue wings, which were so large that they blotted out the sun.Perhaps our meeting was not by chance after all. I am old and have little time left on this earth before I must sing another song. I know not what will happen, only that there will be a great tumult, and that I must announce the end of this world and the beginning of another.
The ibis had never met such a philosophical bird. Still, her words were interesting and seemed important.
I see, I see, he said encouragingly.
It would be nice to have company, the Bennu added, glancing at him with those bright, yellow eyes.
The ibis considered this. He, too, was tired of being alone.
The ibis said,Yes-yes, I will come. But where are we going?
North. To the shining city. We must be there to witness what is coming.
The ibis shivered. What would it be like to go back to where his troubles began? What would it be like to go home?
Come, come, the Bennu bird said.Be not afraid. You wear the face of a god.
A god?The ibis had no reference for the word.
Men can be terrible creatures, but in their struggles for meaning, they sometimes stumble upon truth. The truth is, there is magic in you, little ibis. There is a reason you survived, a reason you met me, a reason we must embark on this journey together. There is a reason for everything, if only you look hard enough.
The ibis did not understand all the Bennu’s words, but he liked the sound of them. They made him feel brave.
In a flurry of black and white feathers, they launched themselves into the sky and flew side by side, following the river’s current.
23Neff
Between that morning’s ordeal and the heat inside the little tent, Neff could only hold off sleep for so long. The bread and water that Rae had brought her had satiated the worst of her hunger and thirst, and eventually she nodded off.
The next thing she knew, something was poking her in the shoulder. She snorted and woke, stiff from the awkward way she was bound. When she opened her eyes, though, she was alone in the tent.
Then she saw the little footprints in the sand.
Neff managed to shake the loosened gag from her mouth. “Medjed!” she whispered. “You’re here!” She pushed a piece of loose cloth toward him with her toe. “Look—I managed to keep hold of your shroud when they packed away the rest of the laundry.”
A moment later, the cloth rose up from the ground with Medjed’s diminutive form beneath.
“Your eyes are on backward.”
After some shifting, the painted eyes rotated to face her.
“That’s better. You knew I needed to be with her, didn’t you? Rae? That’s why you didn’t try to stop her from taking me.”
Medjed nodded.
“Part of me really wants you to help me escape, because I’m scared, but… I know I can’t leave yet. I need her to trust me. The oracle wants us to work together, I’m sure of it. Rae needs to believe that we’re on the same side.”
Neff thought about the young woman she’d known as Ahura, and how different she was after she’d dispensed with the pretense of being a servant. It was as if she’d been making herself small to fit into palace life. Away from there, she seemed to exhale, to expand—proving to be someone very powerful indeed.
Without warning, Medjed turned to face the tent flap and dropped out of sight. The little cloth had only just settled on the ground when someone bent low to enter.
It was the big man, the one Rae called Omari.
Of all the Low Khetaran rebels, he was the one who really frightened her. Neff quickly nuzzled her face back into the gag so Omari wouldn’t think anything was amiss.
When he stood, Omari’s head brushed the top of the tent. He glowered down at her. “So, what do you think, eh? Is your life worth a hundred of our people?”
