You must make your own mistakes, Nefermaat, the High Priestess had told her.You may doubt yourself, but never doubt the goddess. You are on this path because she deemed it so. Stay on it, no matter where it leads.
Neff knew the path would be difficult. Still, she never imagined it would lead to this.
When the dead man slumped and fell into the pit, something inside Neff broke. All remaining vestiges of her childhood died in that moment, along with the innocent man. She neither cried nor screamed. The contradiction of being both empty andoverwhelmed left her numb.
It took Rae’s war cry to tear her from that stupor.
Even then, what could she do? With her hands tied behind her back, she couldn’t reach the tiny linen bag tucked into the folds of her dress. The guard’s grip on her had only tightened as the battle broke out, and although she’d hoped he would be tempted to join the fight, he stayed at her side.
When Rae cracked the earth with her scepter, Neff felt a surge of triumph.It’s starting.Her certainty was bone-deep and primal. She knew it the way her fingers would recognize the contours of her mother’s face among a sea of women.
Rae couldn’t carry the fight on her own, though. Arrows fell like rain all around the courtyard, and the rebels were dying.
I’ve got to get free!Neff thought.
Rae shouted something in her direction. A moment later, the guard next to her yelped. Neff turned to see him land hard on his back before he was dragged off the platform and onto the ground below by a rope looped around his ankle. Then came a hard thump, a cry, and then nothing.
Neff peered over the edge of the platform to find Tamerit, Rae’s companion, standing over the guard’s unconscious body.
“I hope I hit him hard enough,” she said to Neff. Then she hoisted herself onto the platform and got to work on Neff’s bindings.
“Hurry,” Neff said as another rebel took an arrow in the back. The second the ropes loosened, Neff yanked her hands free and pulled the tiny linen satchel from her dress. Before she could speak, a hand closed around her ankle. The guard had recovered himself and snarled up at her, trying to pull her down.
Tamerit cursed and lashed out, trying to dislodge him. “Let her go!” Tamerit shouted.
Suddenly, a discarded black hood rose from the dirt, as if bysome unseen force. All at once, the floating hood launched itself at the guard’s back. The guard gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs. His grip on Neff’s ankle slipped, and Tamerit gave him a kick square in the temple. “Now, stay down!” she yelled.
He did.
The floating hood rose up to the platform and settled at Neff’s side, bobbing gently. Tamerit stared at it in wonder.
“What in Ra’s name isthat?” she asked.
“That’s Medjed,” Neff replied, giving the hood an appreciative pat on the head.
Tamerit blinked, waiting for an additional explanation that didn’t come.
Ripping the wig from her head, Neff raised her arms to the sky. “I call to you, Neith, Goddess of War! Heed me, Fierce Hunter, and unmake the weapons of my enemy! Weaken the sinew and splinter the bow, so that they are useless against me! For I, too, am a creature of war! The word is the deed!” With that, she threw the satchel into the burning brazier.
The fire flared and turned a deep crimson.
All along the ramparts, one archer after another exclaimed in dismay as their bows disintegrated in their hands. The volley of arrows stopped.
The rebels noticed and raised a cheer. They were still outnumbered, but at least now they had a chance. Rae and the one-handed man—who Neff assumed was her father—had managed to free the rest of the prisoners.
They need a way out, Neff thought, and pulled the little clay pot she’d prepared from the hidden pocket in her dress.
“Herihor, with me!” came a shout from behind her. Neff whirled to see Meryamun, surrounded by a phalanx of palace guards, heading to the entrance of the citadel. The ram-facedHeka priest peeled away from his brethren to follow the king.
“You two!” Meryamun continued, gesturing to the other Heka priests. “Don’t let them escape! Use the spell!”
Once Herihor joined them, the head guard led the group up the steps and into the citadel. As they went, she saw two of the guards struggling to control a smaller figure held captive between them.
Neff gasped.
“Rae!” she screamed, pointing. “They’ve got Kenna!”
The rebel warrior turned away from the battle to see the doors of the citadel slam shut.
