Neff said to Tamerit, “He brought the priest with him to continue the ritual! He’ll gain immense power from spilling his own brother’s blood!”
Neff choked back a sob. She couldn’t bear to lose Kenna.
“Please, Rae! Please help him!” she cried out.
Rae shouted, “We have to get the prisoners out first!”
The two remaining Heka priests began to chant, each pulling long black cloths from their belts, which appeared to have been inscribed with sacred words written in red. In unison, the priests wrapped the cloths around their eyes and continued chanting, their hands reaching out toward the battle before them.
Neff recognized the spell.To Make a Man Blind to His Brothers.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Tendrils of black smoke rose from the priests’ hands and drifted toward the fighting men. Neff watched as a thin finger of smoke fell upon one of the rebels’ eyes, turning them black. The man had been about to engage one of the guards, but he began attacking one of the other rebels instead. His fellow warrior took a blow before defending himself, clearly confused by the turn of events.
The smoke continued snaking toward its next victim.
“Ra preserve us,” Tamerit said as the battle turned against them once more. “Quick, Nefermaat! The spell!” she urged.
Nodding, Neff went to unstop her little clay pot when there was a flash of movement at the end of the platform.
Sitamun barreled toward them, snarling, and shoved a surprised Tamerit off the edge. She slapped Neff’s hand, knocking the clay pot out of her grasp, and struck her hard across the face.
Neff cried out, her cheek burning as stars leapt in front of her eyes.
Sitamun lunged for her, but Neff ducked out of the way, scrabbling after the clay pot. It rolled across the platform, just out of reach.
Sitamun lunged for her legs, and Neff collapsed flat on her belly. The princess, her full weight pinning Neff, chuckled in a way that reminded her of the king. Neff’s fingers brushed the side of the pot but could not get purchase on it.
“It’s already too late, little seer,” Sitamun said. “Even if you could give them a way out, there will be no one left to run.” Neff craned her neck to look at the princess. Her smile wasn’t her own. It was Mery’s.
“Give up now, Nefermaat,” she said. “And perhaps he’ll let me keep you as a pet. Do you know the punishment for betraying a king? It’squitesevere.”
Sitamun’s words were like an echo of a nightmare. They wormed into her heart, breaking her resolve, manipulating her spirit.They’re Meryamun’s words. Meryamun’s power working through the enchantment.
Neff moaned, squeezing her eyes shut against despair.
“It’s over,” Sitamun purred, crawling up her body like a serpent consuming its prey whole.
“No!” With a final, desperate heave, Neff lunged toward the pot, and her fingers closed around it. She flipped off the seal withher thumb and shouted as the breeze pulled the ash from inside and set it flying. “Winds of the east! Heed me, for I am Shu, your god and ruler! I command you to blow as you once did when the earth was new, before my sister Maat tamed you! Blow so that no man nor edifice can stand against you, so that all must fall before your power!”
Men exclaimed as a sudden wind buffeted the courtyard, a wind scented with myrrh and smoke and honey. Neff dropped the pot and shielded her eyes as a swirl of sand peppered her face. She focused on the great door to the fortress, which was guarded by half a dozen soldiers.
Concentrate, she told herself.Look for the darkness at the center of the light.
The princess shouted at her, shaking her, but Neff kept her eyes on the gatehouse door.
Let it surround you. Let it become your world.
A resounding boom echoed across the courtyard. Neff felt the platform tremble beneath her, but still, she did not break her gaze.
“What was that?” she heard someone shout.
One.
Then again,boom. Closer now.
More than half the fighters had taken notice, pausing their skirmishes to try and determine the source of the sound.
