Page 163 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
Zahra’s frozen lips struggled to respond. She had never felt so cold before. Her hands and feet were practically numb, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There was something missing, something deep inside her that was once there that was not anymore.
“I…I can’t feel Selene.” What was she supposed to do without Selene’s guidance? How was she supposed to fulfill a prophecy if she did not have Selene with her?
A hand tightened around hers, and Zahra turned her head to see Namir sitting beside her. Grief filled his face, his eyes rimmed with deep exhaustion.
The earth quaked beneath them, and Zahra could once more hear the screams of her people. A wave of pain coursed through her, and Namir’s grip on her hand tightened as he braced himself. He could feel it, too.
The Pharaohs’ plight.Namir and Zahra both could feel the loss of their people—and the loss wasgreat.
Zahra blinked hard, tears streaming down her cheeks. They had failed.
The faces around her became clearer. They were other people from Heba’s village, all running around and taking care of her or others that were injured. Zahra’s chest tightened. She pushed herself up from the cot, gasping. “Ahmose. He was at thepr-aa.I have to?—”
Namir caught Zahra as her strength gave out, and he lowered her to the bed with Heba’s help.
“Ahmose is safe,” Heba promised. “He came home after he dropped you off at thepr-aa.”
Tears slipped down Zahra’s face. “What of my father?”
Heba glanced at Namir, and Namir looked down. “Last I know, he was still under protection in Khem.”
A sob left Zahra’s throat, and she closed her eyes. Her lip trembled as the Pharaohs’ plight wracked her body once more. “I have to find Selene.”
Namir leaned closer, pained. “No. If you go there, you don’t know if you will be able to come back.”
“I have to…try.” Zahra sucked in a shallow breath. “Our people aredying. I know you can feel it, too.”
Namir’s jaw clenched and tears welled in his eyes. “My first duty is to you.”
“But Aur will fall if we don’t stop Iset,” Zahra said. “Selene made a promise to my people—to me—that she would always be there. If I can reach her?—”
“No.” Namir gritted his teeth. “Nebthet and Re both are gone. Aur isgone. There is nothing left for us here.”
Zahra shook her head, closing her eyes. “No. I won’t accept that.”
Namir put his hand on her face. “Zahra.”
She pulled away, focusing on Selene and the Duat. It felt as if there was a wall in front of her, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get past it. Zahra gritted her teeth, pushing harder. The wall cracked as she focused all of her power into hitting it. Namir said her name, but she ignored him. The wall yielded at last, and she tumbled into the Duat.
The sand, once golden and fine, was dry and cracked. The corpses of withered plants were scattered about her, and the sky was black and starless. Zahra sucked in a breath, choking on the stench of decay. She pushed herself to her feet, desperately looking for any source of light. Only the glow from her chest could be seen, and it only lit the space about five feet from her.
There was no sun or moon. There were not even the sounds ofkeres. Everything and everyone was gone, and this plane was even more barren than the desert outside of Aur.
Zahra looked down at her hands. The cracks were spreading toward her shoulders on her arms, and the ones on her legs had passed her hips and were quickly spreading up her torso.
The wall between the worlds threatened to push Zahra back, but she pushed against it, trudging forward. “Mamá! Mamá, where are you?!”
Only the wind answered.
A large shape appeared in the corner of her vision, and Zahra stumbled away from it. A tall man stepped toward her, his head that of an ibis. He stopped some feet from her, watching her with beady eyes.
Zahra stopped backing away and looked at him warily. “Are you Djehuty?”
The ibis-headed man shook his head. “I am but one of his servants.”
“Where is Selene?” she asked. “Where are the sun and moon?”
“Gone from all planes but one.”
