I crossed the room to stand before Anai, taking her hands in mine. “Thank you, truly, for everything.” I leaned in, kissing her on either cheek and leaving her absolutely stunned. “I apologize for leaving in such a hurry, but there is somewhere I must be. It is a matter of grave importance.”
“I—it was a pleasure to serve you, Golden One.”
“Farewell, Anai.” I took a couple steps backward, dropped to one knee, and placed one hand on the floor while gripping the hilt of my sword, just over my shoulder, with the other. “May all of your daughters be as strong and loyal as you.” Bowing my head, I closed my eyes and focused on, instead of a place, a person: Aset.
She was the one who had stopped Set from killing Heru, not me. I couldn’t risk screwing things up by replacing her in such a significant event, but I also couldn’t risk assuming that I hadn’t been there at all. Like I said, me and coincidence broke up a while back.
I took a deep breath, then another. And shifted.
41
Horus & Seth
I landed on a rough stone floor, hunched over and breath stolen. Behind me, a woman grunted, closely followed by the clang of metal striking not metal, but maybe stone, and a masculine laugh. Was I too late? Had the fight for Heru’s life already started? I spun, drawing my sword, and lunged forward half-blindly.
“Nekure!” Aset shouted.
A moment later, vines of At sprouted from the floor, and I was caught up in a web of otherworldly origins. The thin, unbreakable vines snaked around my ankles, waist, shoulders, and wrists. One even slithered so far upwards as to hold my sword in place.
I blinked, confused. They were fighting; I was here to help. So why was Nik restraining me?
“Is it really you, Lex?” Nik said, laughter in his voice. “What are you doing here? And why are you attacking us with a sword?” He whistled. “And what a sword …”
“You should like it,” I said, breathing hard but not fighting against his restraints. “You made it—or will make it.”
“Really?” He walked around me, eyes only for the sword held upright before me. “I have never seen anything like it. What do you call it—this shape?”
“A katana. It originates in a land far from here … and in a time far from now.”
“I like it.”
“What is it about men,” Aset said, wiping her face and neck with a linen towel as she approached, “always so focused on their swords …” She was flushed, as was Nik, and my brain finally caught up to what I’d misinterpreted as the attack on Heru. They’d been sparring. She stood in front of me, her eyes searching mine. “Release her, Nekure. Clarity has returned to her mind.”
“Of course,” Nik said, his vines of At retracting in that same slithering motion.
Unfortunately, without their support, my legs gave out.
“Nek—”
Nik’s arms wrapped around me in a backwards bear hug. “I have her.”
“Bring her to the table,” Aset said. “She needs food and rest.”
I slumped in a chair at a narrow pedestal table and accepted the ceramic goblet Aset placed before me. “No food, please. I could not possibly eat any more right now.” I still felt full from my last somewhat rushed feast. “I just need a moment to regather my strength.” Which, I was fairly certain, was true. I didn’t feel nearly so bad as I had when I’d arrived at the Hathor temple, despite having shifted so much farther. I chalked it up to having started off in much better shape. It gave me hope for the rest of my journey home.
“So you say,” Aset said, sitting opposite me. Nik stood behind her, leaning his shoulder against the wall.
I sipped the water and glanced around, not seeing any enormous columns or stunning reliefs. “This is not the Osiris Temple.” We were in a sitting room, the sparse wooden furniture pushed up against the walls and a wide reed mat laid out on the floor.
“That is true,” Aset said. “This is not the Osiris Temple, but it is a short walk from this villa.” She cocked her head to the side. “Were you expecting to appear there?”
I nodded, brow furrowed. “I thought—” I looked from Aset to Nik and back. “Has the Council decided yet? Have they chosen Heru as their next leader?”
“They have. My brother was coronated two days ago.” Aset’s eyes narrowed and she leaned forward a little. “Where have you come from, Lex? We did not expect to see you for a very long time yet. Why are you here?”
I set the goblet down. “It is a long story, but I think I am here because of the attack on Heru, which should be—” But when their faces showed only confusion, I frowned. “You do not know?” I looked at Nik. “He did not warn you?”
Aset and Nik exchanged a glance.
“I need to speak to Re,” I said, hastily adding, “please.”
Nik shrugged, and a blink later, his irises shone opalescent white. He pushed off the wall and bowed his head. “My dearest Alexandra, so lovely to see you again so—”
“Cut the crap, Re,” I said to him in English. I stood, hands on the table. “Why haven’t you told them about the attack? It could happen at any time. They need to be ready.”
He appeared, as usual, unaffected by my little outburst. “It is true; I’ve noticed signs that Apep is wresting control from Set. The eyes are so telling …” He frowned dismissively. “But I didn’t want to worry these two. Did you know, just before you arrived, I was going to suggest that we search him out. He’s staying here in the villa with us, so we should hear any scuffle that breaks out.”
“Scuffle,” I said, voice low and cold. “It’s a bit more than a scuffle.”
“I suppose it is, at that.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Tell me, dear Alexandra, how are you enjoying your new sheuts?”
“Wait—you knew? You knew I would end up with the twins’ discarded sheuts, and you never said anything? Over the thousands of years …” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Not the time, I told myself. Really not the time. I took another deep breath, shaking all the while. “Can we have Nik back?”
“You know, I think I’ll run things for this little adventure. I’ve yet to have a real fight in this body yet, and I find the prospect thrilling. Plus, I know what needs to happen, and also what can’t.” Like that Apep-Set can’t die, or that Nik has to keep his sheut power under wraps, since nobody besides Heru and us could know about it until Aset and Nik come out of the proverbial coffin in my time.
“Fine,” I said, returning my attention to Aset. She’d been watching our incomprehensible exchange with interest. “Set—well, Apep is going to attack Heru any moment now,” I told her, switching back to the original tongue, “and according to the account Heru told me thousands of years from now, you are the one who saves him. I no longer have the power to block or alter memories, so it must be you who truly rescues him.” I stepped away from the table and started pacing. “He will be attacked and blinded fairly quickly, as he will not expect anything like that from Set, and he will be badly wounded.” I wrung my hands. “You cannot afford to be too late. If you are …”
Aset’s curiosity had faded as resolve set in. “I understand. Do you know where this will happen?” Because she knew as well as me that we couldn’t rely on Heru’s location in the At—not with my anomalous presence warping the timeline’s reflection in the echoes.
Hopeful, I looked to Re-Nik, but he shook his head. “No,” I told Aset. And finally I understood why I was there. Why I had to be there. “But I can find him.”
I stopped pacing and faced Aset. “I can shift to him, then back here, and describe where he is. I should have a general sense of the direction, so that should make it easier.” I strode over to the bench where Aset had laid my sword, picking it up and sheathing it over my shoulder in one smooth motion. “I need something to hide my face, a veil or a headscarf—do you have anything like that? We cannot risk Heru seeing my face.”
The moment I uttered the words, the gears of reality clicked into place, and I felt sick to my stomach. The twins
weren’t here to wipe Heru’s memory of me this time around. I couldn’t risk letting him seeing my face—letting him remember me—in any time between now and the moment I returned home. Which meant I couldn’t be near him, not really. I’d been so focused on simply staying alive that I hadn’t thought everything all the way through.
I’d been planning on returning to my native time pretty much the same way I’d left it, hopping through the eras from Heru to Heru, feeding the bond and wiping his memory when I left. Except the innate power granted to me by my sheut—or sheuts—couldn’t do that. Maybe with time and a lot of training … but time was the one thing I was extra short on.
I lowered myself onto the bench. If I couldn’t risk being close enough for him to see me, then I couldn’t feed the bond. Bonding withdrawals would set in eventually, and …
“I do not,” Aset said, oblivious to my mood shift. “We could cut something from a dress or—”
“Here.” Re-Nik placed a misshapen piece of gleaming solidified At on the table. “This should work. Come here so I can fit it to your head.”
It’s a mask, I realized. Numbly, I stood and crossed the room, stopping to stand directly before Re-Nik. He placed his creation over my face, using Nik’s sheut to secure it behind my head. It resembled a Venetian mask, something that might be worn during Carnival—not obstructing my vision at all and leaving my nostrils, mouth, and jaw free.
“Lex,” Aset said, finally picking up on my distress. She took hold of my hand. “This will work. We will find him and save him, and all will be well.”
I glanced down at her, sorrow overflowing in my heart. “Your whole life is about to change, and I am so sorry for that.” I gave her hand a squeeze. “Everyone will think you are dead after this. They will, and I know it is not fair, but it is what must be.”
“So it is time for that already?” Aset gave my hand a return squeeze, then let it go and stood, turning away. “Re warned us that this would be our fate the first time he took control of Nekure’s body. He said we would have roughly a human lifetime to get our affairs in order before we would have to withdraw from the Nejeret world and go into hiding.” She laughed quietly, a laugh that I thought was meant only for her. “I had not realized how fleeting their lives are.”
“It will not be forever,” I said in lame consolation.
“I know.” She cleared her throat, but it did little for the increasing huskiness in her voice. “It will be a great adventure, do you not think? And how wondrous that my son and I have a chance to play such a large part in all of this.” She laughed that soft laugh again, and this time I joined her, all the while fighting back my own welling tears. “We get to help you save the universe.” Her head drooped. “What more could we ask for?”
I moved to stand before Aset and took both of her hands in mine. “You will have great adventures—the places you will see.” I forced a smile. “The two of you will be the protectors of the timeline, guarding my passage as I get yanked back further and further in time. You will always be there, and I will always need you. I could not have made it this far without you and Nekure, and I will never ever be able to repay you for all you have done. But I can promise you this—you will have your lives back one day, and when you do, you will be needed and loved more than most people ever dare to hope for. And my babies—” My chin trembled. “They will need you as much as I ever did.”
“Lex, what are you—”
I shook my head. “Later. We have an appointment, remember?”
She licked her lips. “Yes, yes, of course. Go, find my brother. We shall be ready when you return.”
I nodded, and a moment later, I was gone.
Focusing on Heru, I reappeared in the shadowed space between two wide, round columns etched with elaborate hieroglyphs. I was still kneeling, which was good, because the shift left me momentarily unsteady. One hand on the column to my left, I stood and surveyed the dim area around me. There were more columns, what appeared to be two lines of them running down a wide, cavernous hall. The walls were covered with a layer of plaster, yet to be decorated.
I knew exactly where I was—the Osiris Temple. So where was Heru?
Footsteps. I heard them approaching from the far end of the hall, where a narrow doorway led to a darker passage. I pressed myself against the column, making myself as inconspicuous as possible.
A second set of footsteps joined the first, this pair moving more quickly.
“Heru!” Set said, followed by more words that I couldn’t discern. He was speaking in the common tongue, and I wasn’t fluent enough to follow. Though I’d learned some during my months in Old Kingdom Egypt, I hadn’t learned enough.
When Marcus first told me about the truth behind the famous myth, the Contendings of Horus and Seth, he shared the story of Set attacking him. It had been two days after Heru was instated as the head of the Council of Seven. Set had been acting strangely hostile for some time, and he’d approached Heru in the guise of truce and friendship. False truce and friendship.
From the sound of their voices now, it was time.
Fighting the instinct to shout a warning to Heru, I squeezed my eyes shut and shifted back to the villa where Aset and Re-Nik waited.
“Now,” I said before the rainbow smoke had cleared. “It is happening now … in the temple.” I collapsed into one of the chairs.
Aset and Re-Nik hesitated at the doorway.
“Go! I can catch up, but he needs you now.”
They didn’t waste another second. And I was left alone, breathing hard and gulping water. When this was all over, I’d need a good long rest before I even thought about jumping through time to return home.
That was, of course, assuming I didn’t die of bonding withdrawals first.
42
Fight & Die
After Aset and Nik left, I sat and recuperated for only as long as I absolutely had to. When my breath was caught and my thirst quenched, I assumed what was quickly becoming my standard shifting position—down on one knee, one hand on the ground to stabilize me and the other gripping the hilt of my sheathed sword. Just in case …
I landed in that darker passageway connected to the colonnaded hall. The shouts and grunts and thuds coming from the hall itself were insanely loud, echoing off the temple’s plaster and stone walls in a seemingly endless, chaotic jumble of sound. The fight had begun.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take several long, slow, deep breaths. I would be of no use to anyone if I ran into the skirmish all wobbly-kneed and fuzzy-brained.
Heru shouted out in agony, and my resolve disintegrated. I was on my feet in a heartbeat. Aset and Re-Nik raced up the passageway and passed me, just barely beating me into the hall.
Heru lay sprawled on his back on the stone floor in the center of the chamber, the two rows of thick columns running along either side of him. Dressed in head-to-toe black, four men held down each of Heru’s limbs with a dagger through his wrists and feet. Apep-Set knelt at his head, his own dagger poised almost surgically over Heru’s face. Slashes crisscrossed my bond-mate’s eyes and streaked down his cheeks. His head thrashed from side to side, only adding to the cuts.
Set shouted something incomprehensible, though somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, instinct told me it was along the lines of “Hold still!”
Aset reached them first. She shrieked, launching herself at Set and using her momentum not just to roll him away from her brother but to fling him against one of the pillars. His dagger flew out of his hand, chipping the plaster wall before pinging to the stone floor.
I lost track of what happened next in their fight, because I was suddenly locked in a battle of my own. One of Apep’s sycophants ran at me, his black hood falling back, revealing a mostly shaved head and plaited side-lock. It was a priest’s hairstyle. Having abandoned his dagger in Heru’s wrist, he brandished a long, smooth wooden staff.
I raised my sword, angling it to the side to block his first blow. My sword’s insanely sharp At bla
de sliced through the staff like it was butter. It took off his arm just above the elbow almost as easily.
Re-Nik was engaging two of Set’s other priests, and I probably would’ve been in trouble if I’d had to deal with the other two simultaneously. One of mine was down an arm by the time the second decided to come after me. He screamed, staring at the spurting stump, eyes bulging.
“You picked the wrong side,” I told him, kicking him backward into the newcomer.
Both men stumbled backward, the able-bodied priest throwing his hysterical, one-armed companion to the side. He didn’t show any concern for the injured man. As he scrambled to his feet, his eyes never left me.
He was smarter; he tossed his staff away and yanked the two daggers impaling Heru’s feet free, settling into a defensive position on the far side of Heru’s body.
I could hear Aset’s grunts as she fought with Apep-Set and Re-Nik’s victorious hoot as he downed one of his foes, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off my opponent. I stepped over Heru, avoiding one of several substantial patches of blood. A quick glance down told me he was still breathing, if he wasn’t exactly moving. The blood loss must have knocked him unconscious.
For now, he was alive. We’d need to get him out of here and into a healer’s hands soon if he was to stay that way.
I heard another victory cry from Re-Nik, and a few seconds later, he headed my way.
“Get Heru out of here,” I yelled just as the priest lunged at me. I deflected his first dagger with my sword. “At this point—” I spun out of the way of the priest’s secondary underhanded strike in a sort of two-legged pirouette. “I’m expendable. He’s not.”
“I shall return shortly!” Re-Nik shouted, ending with a grunt as he hoisted Heru’s unconscious body up into his arms.
Set’s single remaining priest chose that moment to try another attack. I dodged his offhand strike by ducking, but he spun around, sweeping back with the dagger in his right hand and catching me off guard. I barely deflected the blade, and the tip slid across the front of my thigh, slicing in a good centimeter deep.
Ricochet Through Time (Echo Trilogy Book 3) Page 29
