by Scott Peters
"Some men told Jafar that it's a big hassle because the stone is expensive and the carvings will have to be redone."
"Did they say why it fell?" Zet said.
"No. The obelisk was a four-sided needle shape, with a pointed top and carvings up and down its surface. Straight as an arrow, which is extremely hard to do. It would kill me if a piece of jewelry I'd spent months making was smashed like that."
"I wonder if someone sabotaged it?"
"That would be so evil," Hui said, blanching. "If it was close to the chapel, maybe they thought she'd walk out just as . . .?"
Zet pulled out the building plans. He handed the scroll through the bars.
Hui pored over it. "I see Senna marked the chapel for you." He moved his finger across the giant page, over the lines that represented walls, the breaks that symbolized door openings and the circles for pillars. He tapped a square shape. "This small square is the obelisk. Look, Senna made a note beside it."
Zet eyed the scrawl. "That's a note?"
"I can't read too well, but I'm pretty sure that says Obelisk." He ran a finger back to the tiny chapel room. "They're pretty far apart. Too far."
Chapter Twenty
Naunet
After Zet and Hui had talked awhile longer, Zet said, "Who's the lady in the other cell?"
"I was wondering that, too. I asked the stable master. He told me to mind my own business."
Out of nowhere, something jolted Zet's memory. "I just figured out where I heard the sunburnt man's voice!"
"Where?"
"Talking to our boat Captain! The sunburnt man is the Captain's brother! Darius, that's his name." Zet quickly told him about the conversation he'd overheard.
"Sounds like they're not exactly close."
"I'd say. Still, they did go duck hunting together."
"And you said they have a sister here?" Hui said. "I wonder who she is?"
"Good question. But I just thought of something awful." He knocked his forehead against the bars. "Darius was on that duck hunting trip—he couldn’t be the kidnapper."
From down the hall, the stable master bellowed, "Boy! What are you doin'?"
"Beetle dung!" Zet said.
"Can you come back later?" Hui said.
"I'll try!"
"Boy, didn't you hear me?" The stable master marched down the hall. "I thought you had a message to deliver, not a speech. This ain't no social club in here. You'll get me in trouble. Now go on, get out."
"Sorry, I'm going," Zet said.
Hui looked desperate as Zet said goodbye.
Zet felt equally so. Both of his leads had turned out false—the prints in the wadi led nowhere, and Darius had an alibi. He grabbed his head, his thoughts racing. He had to do something. But what?
"Why are you hanging 'round my door?" the stable master said, emerging from the barn. He looked like he was normally a nice guy, but really wanted to stay out of trouble.
"Sorry," Zet said, apologizing for the second time. "I wanted to ask you about these donkeys. Who uses them?"
"The workmen. Who do you think?"
"Was anyone using them the day the Priestess disappeared?"
"You ain't the first to wonder that. As it happens, one went missing all night. But it was back the following morning."
"Where was it?"
"Boy, donkeys can't speak. If we knew that, we knew where she'd got to, wouldn't we? Now I gotta get these donkeys in for the night."
"Thanks." Zet nodded and trudged off.
His feet carried him to the dinner tent. Lost in thought, he followed the line through the door. The crowd chattered and laughed, talking in loud voices about their day. He reached a long table from which the food was being served. A woman ladled vegetable stew into a clay bowl and handed it to Zet. Next, a second woman sliced a piece of meat from a roasted haunch and laid it on top of his stew. Further along, a deep basket held thick slices of warm bread. Zet grabbed two. The food smelled delicious, and his mouth watered.
He glanced around, looking for a place to sit.
The workmen sat in groups, filling the tent to capacity. He spotted Jafar and hesitated. If he sat there, he'd have to answer questions about Hui.
"Zet!" called a girl's voice.
He turned. He grinned when he spotted Naunet, and his heart raced a little. He was glad to see a friendly face, that's all. She had two other girls in tow, and was just leaving the food table.
"Hi," he said, approaching. "Can I sit with you?"
The two girls laughed, as if this were the funniest thing they'd ever heard.
Naunet, meanwhile, simply said, "We take our food back to the boat."
"Oh. Right. Of course."
"Come on," one of the girls said, frowning at her.
Naunet colored. "Hold on! I'm coming." Brushing her dark hair from her eyes she turned to Zet. "What happened to that boy?"
"He's going to have to stand trial."
"Well, he's definitely guilty. I couldn't believe it when I saw him with that bag! I almost fainted. Where is he? Where are they keeping him?"
"In a cell. By the way, do you know anything about a woman who's being held there?"
"A woman?" she said, her eyes widening.
"I saw a woman in a cell near his." Then, realizing she might wonder why he was visiting the prisoner, he added, "I had to check on the runner, so that I could make a report to my master."
She was watching his face, as if waiting for him to go on.
"And that's when I saw her. It was kind of creepy. Seeing a lady in there like that."
The other two girls with Naunet shifted nervously from foot to foot.
"You don't have to wait for me," she told them. "I'll catch up. I just want to talk to my friend for a minute."
The girls shot dubious looks at Zet, but they left.
"Sorry, we're supposed to keep to ourselves," she said.
"I don't want to get you in trouble."
"I think it's probably too late for that," she said with a small smile. "What I wanted to tell you is that we know her. The lady."
This staggered him. "You do? How, who is she?"
"She's a healer. Or was." Naunet paused. "She and her daughter helped care for the Priestess. The Priestess has some health issues."
Zet thought of what Senna told him. Again, he felt a shudder of unease roll through him at the thought of the Princess being sick and out somewhere locked up in the desert.
"The woman's daughter, Kissa, was with my mistress the day she disappeared. So was I."
"Wait, you were there?"
Naunet nodded. "Yes. Terrible isn't it?"
Zet wondered if she was going to start crying, so he stared into his dish of stew and waited for her to go on. "What happened?" he finally prompted, unable to contain his curiosity any longer. He couldn't believe he was about to get a first hand account.
"Everything was fine. It was a lovely day, and we were looking around in a little chapel that's being built near the edge of the site. But then we heard a loud crash. A great explosion, really. My mistress sent me to see what it was. I ran through the construction site. All the way to the courtyard. An obelisk had fallen. Pieces had flown everywhere. Clouds of dust filled the air, people were screaming and shouting."
He and Hui had been thinking the obelisk was meant to kill someone.
But wait—could it have been used as a distraction?
Naunet clutched her dinner bowl so tightly that her fingers were white. "I ran back to the chapel to tell her. She and Kissa were gone." Raising her chin, she looked Zet in the eye. "At first, I thought they left without me and headed back here. But they hadn't."
Her face was stoic. Zet wondered if she blamed herself. Or if others blamed her.
"Why did they lock Kissa's mother up?"
Naunet's face turned dark. "Kissa is a Hyksos!"
Zet's mouth dropped open.
"Yes," Naunet said, shaking. "She's a Hyksos, our sworn enemy. The very people our army has been fight
ing against to take back our lands! All this time they've been hiding the truth, but they were found out. They were spies. They were in on it!"
Zet's mind reeled. Why hadn't Senna told him this?
Naunet stared at the ground. Softly, she said, "You just never know who to trust, do you?"
"No," Zet murmured.
"I wish I could sit here and eat with you," she said suddenly. "I really do. I feel like I can talk to you. Even though we've barely met, I feel like you're the first friend I've had in a long time."
At this, Zet grinned. "I don't think the other girls would like that too much!"
She laughed. "That's for sure. There are a lot of rules. And everyone's always maneuvering for control. It's . . . competitive. You never know who's being nice and who's just trying to get something."
"Sounds awful," he said, feeling guilty for trying to pick her brains. He really did like her though. "Why don't you quit?"
Her eyes twinkled. "I just might. But I'd better get back to my boat. I'm probably in big trouble already."
"Maybe I should come and tell them to leave you alone?" Zet said, beaming.
"Probably not a good idea!" But she was laughing.
Chapter Twenty-one
Disaster
Outside the tent, Zet took a deep draught of stew. It was delicious. Hunger took over, and he shoveled more into his mouth with his bread. He was halfway finished, and wondering if they'd give him seconds if he went back inside, when he spotted Ari.
Senna's tall servant made a beeline for him.
"You're safe," Ari said, obviously relieved.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Zet asked.
"You need to come with me."
Zet wasn't leaving until he'd downed his dinner. He did so, and then darted inside to return the bowl. He looked longingly at the food. Men were lined up for seconds. Then Ari was at his elbow pulling him outside.
"Senna's boat was ransacked," Ari said in a low voice. "While Senna was away reporting to the medjay. They found the scroll you brought from Thebes."
"Uh oh."
"Your cover's not blown, yet. That scroll didn't mention you by name. The Queen Mother's spy could be any of the men who came on the boat with you."
"Yes, but I'm Senna's new runner. They'll suspect me first."
"That's why you're to sleep on Senna's boat tonight. It's safer. Medjay Commander's orders."
Zet spotted Senna's boat, bobbing against the wharf. "No. It will look too suspicious."
Ari raised one eyebrow. "You can't be thinking of sleeping in your tent."
"I'll take my chances."
"Talk to Senna. He's waiting for you."
When Zet entered Senna's cabin, he found the man looking flustered and irritated. Scrolls and shards of ostraca lay scattered across the room. It had been messy before, but now it was a disaster.
"Why didn't you tell me about the Hyksos woman?" Zet blurted.
Senna looked up, arms full, white brows jutting like bird feathers. "I forgot."
"You forgot? That's she's Hyksos? The enemy?"
"Since she's locked up, she's no threat now. Anyway, she denies it."
"Still, why didn't you tell me? I need to know these things!"
"And now you do," he snapped.
Fury rose in Zet and he forced it back down. No good would come of arguing with Senna. He pulled the building plans from his belt and handed them over.
"Thank you. Now unless you have anything useful to report, I need to get back to work." Not waiting for an answer, he turned away.
"I'll be sleeping in my tent," Zet told him.
"As you wish," Senna said in a sour tone.
The tent felt incredibly empty without his best friend. He and Hui had set out on this together, thinking it would be an adventure. How had everything gone so wrong?
Zet's mind wandered back to Thebes. Home seemed so far away, like another world.
Kat would be sick with worry if she knew Hui was going to stand trial for stealing the royal jewels. As would Hui's mother Delilah, and his four younger brothers. With good reason. Hui would be killed for it. Unless Zet cleared his name.
Thank the gods they didn't know.
Zet's mind flew from one thing to the next. He'd forgotten to ask Hui what the priest wanted. Then he thought of the bag of jewels. Maybe Kissa's mother hid them in the river, tied to that branch? Before she got caught?
Around and around he went, thinking of the wadi and the arrest, the priest and Hui in his cell, the missing donkey, and the break-in at Senna's boat. He lay back, flopping one arm over his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep, his last thought was that he needed to hide the seal ring.
He woke with a start. It was pitch black.
Sweat broke out across his chest. Was someone outside?
He crept on all fours and pressed one eye to the door. The dark world was silent, apart from the gentle swish of water slapping against the harbor and the creak of boats.
Wide awake, he crawled through the flap.
Not a soul in sight.
When his stomach growled, he jumped at the noise. Then he almost laughed. The noise seemed to be the theme song of his life right now. According to the cook, he wasn't the only hungry person in camp. Zet thought of the cook's missing meat pie.
Wait—could that be a clue?
Was it possible the kidnappers were taking food to some hideout? Little bits here and there, but not enough to rouse suspicion?
Zet caught his breath.
They could be hiding out across the river. That's why Darius wanted the skiff! To ferry food across the canal! But there, his theory fell apart. Darius never got the skiff. His brother refused to lend it to him. And Darius had an alibi, anyway.
Still, he couldn't shake the idea that Darius was involved.
An idea began to form. That duck hunting trip—Darius had access to the rowboat. He probably snuck off with it after dark, when his brother was asleep.
He could have rowed up the canal to the wadi, where his accomplices were keeping the Princess waiting. Then they forced the Princess into the boat and ferried her away. Maybe there was a hut on the canal's opposite bank. Or a cave. A place where they were keeping her. And they were stealing food and bringing it out there.
Excitement snaked along Zet's spine.
Could that be it?
He started walking toward the outdoor kitchen area. When he reached the dark mess tent, not a single shadow moved. He crossed back behind, toward the kitchen area and kept going. A thick date palm, fringed by tall grass, made a good hiding spot. He melted into the shadows to wait.
His gaze drifted to the barn. The long, low stable loomed black as ink. Stars and a partial moon gave just enough light to see that the door was unmanned. He pictured Hui inside. It must be locked up tight.
Then, to Zet's surprise, the door slowly opened.
A boy emerged, dressed in a cloak that covered him from head to toe.
Osiris's beard! Hui was escaping!
He had a donkey by a rope bridle, and was leading it out the door.
Zet was about to shout Hui's name. Something stopped him.
Where would Hui get that cloak from? And Hui was bigger than that. Zet saw that now. The boy was coming closer. Zet flattened himself against the tree as the boy glanced his way.
The donkey was loaded down with saddlebags. Clearly the boy rode often, because he leaped onto the donkey's back with practiced ease. Where was he going at this hour? The boy pulled the bridle and turned the animal around. He kicked the donkey's flanks, and the animal took off.
The food, this boy was taking food! That had to be it!
Heart in his mouth, Zet sprinted after him.
Chapter Twenty-two
Night Trek
Away from the barn, the world was gray-black. Lizards scuttled through the dry grasses. At least, he hoped they were lizards. He remembered the scorpion he'd seen the other day, and his toes cringed as he ran. His household god, Bastet, the ebony cat, was far f
rom this dark place. Still he sent out a silent prayer, asking for her protection.
Zet was a fast runner. The donkey and its rider were faster.
Breathing hard, Zet pushed himself until his heart hammered in his chest.
There would be no catching them. That grew painfully obvious.
Zet was pretty sure they were headed for the wadi. Maybe the kidnappers stole a boat from someone else. If the boy on the donkey planned to meet the kidnappers, it would take awhile to transfer the goods. And the men might want a report from him, too.
Zet might just make it in time.
With fresh hope, he ran on.
He knew he must have bypassed the construction site by now. He'd been running for at least twenty minutes, trying to follow the angle the donkey had taken. Tall brush rose around him. The wadi had to be close. He slowed and sniffed the air, hoping to catch the brackish scent of the river.
The air smelled of dirt and sunburnt leaves.
He was lost.
Bearing left, the undergrowth grew thicker and thicker. Turning backwards grew difficult. Thorny plants grabbed at his bare legs. Jabbed into the soles of his feet. For all he knew, he was going in circles. With a shout of frustration, he ripped at the branches and sprinted, thorns cutting into him, his jaw tight with agony.
Finally, he burst free.
Sitting down, he plucked barbs from his toes and heels.
Too much time had passed. He'd never catch them at the river now, even if he did know the way. This trek had been completely useless. There was no point in going on. He only hoped he could find his way home.
The moon had risen higher, just enough to cast a glow on the outline of the desert mountains. Using them as a guide, he began to walk, keeping them to his left. After a long time, the pyramid came into view, jutting up to touch the stars.
He breathed out a sigh of relief.
By the time he reached the harbor, he was dragging his injured feet in exhaustion. He approached his tent. Even in his tired state, he knew it looked more crooked than how he'd left it. A sixth sense made the hairs on his forearms stand straight.
He swerved before he reached it, and softly padded for Senna's boat.
