Trembling, Neff peered over the tabletop.
The diminutive figure, seemingly having registered the cloth, turned left, then right. It didn’t appear to be angry or frightened, simply confused.
Gathering her courage, Neff popped up her head. “Hey! Medjed!”
The figure stopped. Was it looking at her? She couldn’t tell.
“Are you…are you going to hurt me?”
Medjed shook its head.
“Are you meant to be my guardian?”
Medjed nodded.
So it was Medjed who must have been in the Horus Room with us, and who alerted me about the guard in the corridor!Neff thought.It’s been following me all along!
Relieved, Neff stood and slowly approached the little figure. “So, the spell actually worked! Does that mean I’ll be safe from harm when you’re around?”
Reluctantly, Medjed shook its head.
Neff crossed her arms. “What kind of guardian are you if you let bad things happen to me?”
Medjed shrank.
“No, no, I’m not upset,” she said, eager not to hurt its feelings. “I’m only trying to understand. I suppose my parents were my guardians, and they couldn’t always stop bad things from happening to me either.” She thought of that last morning in Bubas, of her mother’s stricken face when Neff boarded the ship bound for Thonis. “Will you at leasttryto protect me?”
Medjed nodded.
“That’s good enough, then.”
The little guardian returned to its former height and moved closer. The cat, no longer perturbed by Medjed’s presence, batted at the floating cloth in high amusement.
Neff regarded the cloth critically. “If you wear this shroud when you’re out, people will definitely ask questions. But when we’re alone, it makes it easier to talk to you. You just need one more thing…” Turning back to her table, she picked up a black ink palette and a reed brush. “Now, don’t move,” she instructed.
Medjed was still.
Leaning forward and with the tip of her tongue sticking outbetween her lips, Neff carefully painted two simple eyes and eyebrows onto the cloth. When she was done, she stepped back to check her work.
“There!” she said, setting down the brush. “Now I can see which way you’re facing. It will be much easier to talk to you properly. See? ”
She pointed at the brass mirror on the wall. Medjed turned toward it—and jumped.
Neff giggled. “Good, isn’t it?”
Medjed cocked its head to the side, uncertain.
“Well, I like it, anyway.” Neff smiled at the creature, amazed that she had summoned it into existence all by herself.Maybe Kenna’s right. If I can call Medjed, I really can cast spells! Even powerful ones! My studies must be paying off.
She turned back to the magic scrolls and thought of Meryamun’s plans for conquest and domination. So many had already died by his hand, and more would surely follow. The lamb in her vision warned her about the blood to be spilled, about the sorrow and ruin that would come to the children of Khetara.
Neff thought of her parents and her friends in Bubas.
She thought of Kenna.
The time for caution has passed.
Resuming her seat at the table, Neff spread a fresh sheet of papyrus in front of her and turned to the Book of the Red Lady.
