Twin beams of white light surged from the serpent staff and encircled all four of them with sudden radiance. The spears struck the light and bounced back, clattering to the ground.
The three soldiers stared at Sita, aghast.
They ran.
Sita exhaled, and the ring of light faded. She turned to the others. “Are you all right?”
She saw Neff peer out from under Rae’s arm, and at the sight of the girl, the memory of what she had done while under Mery’s curse came flooding back to her.
Shame rose in Sita’s throat. “I’m so sorry, Nefermaat. I hurt you, didn’t I? Can you forgive me?”
Neff’s expression was soft. “It wasn’t you who did those things. It was him.”
Even as the battle thundered around them, Sita felt more at peace than she had in a long, long time. The little priestess had given her the absolution she hadn’t known she’d needed.
Sita nodded in thanks as the air crackled between them. She felt the power of the oracle, and from the determined expressions on the others’ faces, she could tell they felt it too.
“Princess, we must go to the citadel,” Neff said. “Meryamun took Kenna inside. He’s going to kill him!”
Sita blanched. A season earlier, she never would have believed her brother capable of such an atrocity. Now, she didn’t question it. She leaped off the platform and made for the citadel.
“Wait!” Karim exclaimed, coming after her. “You’re not going in there alone. We go together!”
“Fine, but we must gonow!”
The woman called Raetawy jumped to the ground and grabbed Sita by the shoulder.
“Hey! What about my men? Those priests cast some kind of spell on them, and they’re out there killing each other! They’re the ones who put a stop to this barbaric ritual in the first place. Are you going to leave them to die? The prince’s life isn’t the only one at stake here!”
Sita glanced at the hand on her shoulder and the rebel’s face with exasperation. “I can’t lose my brother! Don’t you understand?”
Nefermaat stepped between them. “I think the priests are maintaining the spell through concentration, which is why they’re wearing the blindfolds.” The two Heka priests stood in the shadow of the citadel, chanting and releasing the tendrils of black smoke. “If we can break it—”
Before Nefermaat could finish her thought, Raetawy launched herself toward the two priests. The rebel whipped the scepter she carried in a low arc, striking a devastating blow to one of the priest’s knees.
The man howled in agony and collapsed to the ground, curling around his shattered joint and screaming. The other priest stopped chanting and started to remove his blindfold. Tossing the scepter into her other hand, Raetawy landed a heavy punch to his temple that knocked him out cold.
“Like that?” Raetawy called back at them.
In the courtyard, the black smoke dissipated, rendering a dozen men stunned. They looked at each other in confusion, then turned their weapons from ally to enemy once more.
Nefermaat blinked. “Um, yes. Exactly like that.”
Sita ran up the citadel steps and wrenched the brass ring affixed to the large wooden door. It wouldn’t budge.
“Allow me,” Karim offered, and took a turn, but to no avail. Even with Raetawy adding her own strength to the task, the door remained firmly shut.
“It must be braced from the inside,” Sita said, frantic.
Beside her, Nefermaat bent to pick up a wooden arrow that hadn’t found its target.
“Let me try something,” she said, and stood at the door holding the arrow in both hands. Her brow furrowed, and her lips moved silently before she cleared her throat and spoke.
“Hear me, Bes—protector of women and children, guardian of the threshold! I am both woman and child, and I ask you to break the barrier that prevents me from entering this place! Help me repel evil from this door, as you would every door upon this earth!”
With that, the young priestess snapped the arrow in half.
Sita heard a distinct splintering noise on the other side of the door, then theclunk! clunk!of two objects hitting the ground. Incredulous, she gave the door another tug.
