“Don’t mention it,” Rae replied. She knew she should head back to the maidservants’ chambers and avoid additional conversation, but leaving Femi in his weakened state didn’t sit right with her.Besides, there’s no rush to get back now. Tam is covering for me. I could take the opportunity to go to the riverbank and talk to Omari and the others about what I’ve learned.“I expect you’ll be fleeing the palace now, yes?” she asked Femi.
He nodded. “I’d best go quickly. There’ll be a change of guard soon, and when they find him like this, there’ll be a search. I know a back way…” He started toward the corridor leading to the main hall, but he stumbled after only a few steps.
Rae ducked under his arm and wrapped her own around hisshoulders to keep him from falling. “That sounds like a fine plan. But you’re naked and bleeding, so maybe we grab you a tunic and find this back way together.”
With effort, Femi turned to look up at her, his head lolling, his eyes unfocused. “You’re very tall,” he said vaguely, “has anyone ever told you that?”
Rae sighed and dragged him toward the main hall. “You know what, Femi? You’re the first.”
***
Femi directed Rae to the gardener’s entrance at the back of the king’s pleasure garden. From there, they were able to make their way down to the riverbank. Rae stood by while Femi drank his fill and washed the dirt and blood from his body. Thankfully, his wound had finally stopped bleeding.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked as he climbed out of the water. He’d stolen the khopesh and belt from the guard before they left, but other than that, Femi had nothing.
He slipped into the clean tunic she’d found for him in a laundry basket, then wrapped the leather belt around his narrow waist and cinched it tight.
“I have friends in the city I can trust,” Femi said, taking the khopesh from her proffered hand. He sliced it through the air several times, testing its weight, before thrusting it into his belt with satisfaction. With a blade at his hip, Rae could see Femi’s strength returning.
“This person you are protecting,” Rae asked, hoping to pry more information from Femi before they went their separate ways. “She opposes the king?”
Femi looked at her sharply. He hadn’t said it was a woman.
I’m going to need to give him more if I expect him to trust me.
Rae added, “If Sitamun opposes her brother, then she and I are in accord. As are many others, both in Thonis and beyond.”
The guard searched her face for a long moment, considering her words. Finally, he said, “You’re a spy.”
Rae didn’t confirm nor deny it. She waited to see what he would say next.
“You play a dangerous game, Raetawy.”
Rae shrugged. “You risked your life to protect the princess. I risk mine for someone equally precious.”
“I see,” Femi said. “And I imagine you’d like something in return for saving my life? Something to aid you in your mission?”
“King Meryamun intends to sacrifice a number of political prisoners during a mass cursing ritual at the Thonis fortress in several days’ time. This is dark magic. It will set all of Khetara down a path from which I fear there may be no return. I mean to free those prisoners before the ritual comes to pass.”
Femi scoffed. “Then you mean to do the impossible.”
“I gotyouout, didn’t I?”
“I am but one man—and we barely escaped with our lives! Besides, the guards will redouble their number once they’ve discovered I’m gone. The prisoners you speak of, are they soldiers?”
Rae thought of the men and women huddled in that dark room, frightened and starving. She shook her head. “No, they’re regular people. Farmers, merchants and the like.”
“Then you would be lucky to visit them again, no less engineer their escape. I’m sorry, Raetawy, but that is the truth. Better to make your stand at the fortress, though that too is a suicide mission.” He rubbed the hilt of the khopesh with one hand. “Still, I respect the choice to die for such a cause. Perhaps if you can disrupt this ritual, Meryamun will fail to gain the power he seeks—at least temporarily.”
Frustrated, Rae began to pace. “Tell me about this fortress. Does it have any special attributes? Any vulnerabilities?”
Femi rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. “There is one thing…”
They spoke a bit more, Rae committing every detail to memory, before they both sensed they could tarry no longer.
“You should find shelter before first light,” she told Femi. “I must go. There’s something I need to do before returning to the palace.”
“You mean to return?” Femi asked, incredulous.
