We had made it. We had done all we could.
“Nowcan we go back and sit idly by?” Nakht asked, teasing but anxious.
“Yes. I just needed to—”
The doors burst open before the guards could reach them, and pandemonium ensued with an eruption of bodies. The raiders had beaten us and were already attacking, meaning everyone from the hall was either fighting or fleeing—and they were headed right toward us.
Nakht and I tried to flee too, but we were engulfed by a cavalcade of dancers, nobles, soldiers, and raiders.
AndPharaoh. Our lord Pharaoh was in the midst of the escapees, his personal guards and other attendants trying to protect him, but the raiders pushing through the crowd were clearly set on reaching him, consequences be damned.
The first sight of one of the khopesh swords slicing into someone, a spear into another, and daggers plunged into backs had me certain I was going to be sick. They all wielded their weapons so callously. Even the guards, defending the rest of us, used their weapons without hesitance or fear. How?
How was it so easy to take a life?
I still held Nakht’s hand, squeezing tighter to be certain I didn’t lose him as we ran. But there were too many people, too much chaos, and I didn’t realize we had reentered the hall with the downed guard we had found until the first escapee slipped on the blood and toppled.
I saw the coming disaster before it happened, but there was no way to stop it. Figure upon figure slipped and fell over each other. Pharaoh and his protectors fell too, a helpless heap we were equally helpless against when it was our turn to collide with it.
Nakht and I went down beside Pharaoh, and though Nakht was quick to right us, turning us to try scrambling up again and avoid being trampled or worse, the raiders… there were still several alive, and one of them was sprinting toward us, spear raised and ready to be flung.
At Nakht.
He was practically on top of Pharaoh and too much in the way. The spear would skewer them both!
“No!” Nakht cried as I released his hand and leapt up from the pile of bodies to catch the spear with my own. “Meryt!”
Strange. It didn’t even hurt.
The world tilted, and everything felt immediately cold as the morn before daybreak. I thought, distantly, that I saw the raider who had flung the spear get tackled to the ground, but the world upended further, and all I could see was the stone above me.
“Meryt!”
“He saved Pharaoh! Did you see it?”
“The slave sacrificed himself!”
“He saved Pharaoh!”
“Meryt!”
Someone was screaming too close to me. Was that Nakht? He looked like he was screaming, hovering over me to replace the stone ceiling, but I was so tired, I couldn’t focus anymore. Therewasscreaming, but for some reason, I… I couldn’t hear it anymore.
Meryt!
Nakht was screaming though… wasn’t he? Screaming my name.
Why…?
Meryt, please…
His eyes were so beautiful. More precious than gold. More captivating than the coil of a lasso. More full of warmth and brilliance than Amun-Ra’s gaze at its utmost peak.
Why then…
…did the sun look so dim?
NAKHT
