Page 120 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
Zahra stepped back, and Bahiti fell forward, smacking her head against the wall. She fell back, a stunned expression on her face.
Zahra held her head high. “You have no power over me, Bahiti.” She turned toward the front door, her fists trembling at her sides.
Jala’s voice rang through the room. “Zahra, look out!”
Zahra looked up and stepped back. Bahiti came at her with a painted vase. It struck the side of Zahra’s head, shattering on impact. Her vision spun as she fell to the floor.
Zahra moaned on the floor as her senses worked to correct themselves. Bahiti dove forward, one of her hands bloody from a cut, and wrapped her hands around Zahra’s neck. Zahra’s vision doubled over as she pushed against Bahiti’s chest. There was no red in her mistress’s eyes, and yet a murderous rage fueled her strength as she rammed Zahra’s head into the floor over and over.
Zahra gasped for air, putting her arm on Bahiti’s shoulder. Bahiti’s eyes went wide as the floor beneath Zahra’s head turned to sand. Zahra gritted her teeth, and a force from Zahra’spsychesent Bahiti flying.
Zahra pushed herself to her feet as Bahiti clambered in the sand, looking around at the vast desert of the Duat. “W-Where have you taken me?” She turned around, her eyes widening at Zahra’s glowingsibylmark. “Whatareyou?!”
Zahra gritted her teeth, thrusting her hand out toward Bahiti. The sand around Bahiti vibrated with energy, pulling at Bahiti’s legs. Bahiti looked down in terror as the ground began to swallow her. “No. No!”
Katerina’s words echoed in Zahra’s mind.A death in the Duat is far worse than a death in your world.
Bahiti screamed as the sand consumed her torso. “Please. Please!”
“Why should I spare you?!” Hot tears fell down Zahra’s cheeks as she stepped toward Bahiti. “I have been killed a hundred times over, and yet it is all of my years with you that haunt my dreams. It is my fear of you that has kept me here as your slave. I am not a slave!”
Bahiti sobbed. Her wig had fallen off, revealing her short curls underneath. The sand was up to her shoulders now and was quickly pulling her arms under.
“Why do you hate me?!” Zahra screamed. “Why?!”
Bahiti screamed, grabbing helplessly at the granules as they went up to her neck.
The image reminded Zahra of when she was trapped in the creek, and the man that held her there as she drowned.
Zahra’s anger turned to horror, and her arm fell by her side. The sand stopped moving. Bahiti, buried up to her chin, pulled in a deep breath of air.
This was not Zahra. She was not a killer. She was not like Bahiti.
Bahiti blinked hard as Zahra released them both from the Duat. She pulled her hands away from Zahra’s neck, crying out as she backed up. Zahra slowly got to her feet as Bahiti pointed at her. “Sorceress! Monster!”
Femi and Keket ran to their mother, and the other servants looked at Zahra in fear and confusion. Zahra’s nose was dripping blood. “I… I…”
“Leave,” Bahiti screamed.
Zahra stumbled backward. She burst through the front door. Servants returning from their errands jumped back in surprise as she ran past, shouting after her.
Zahra fled the city, running until she could run no more. She collapsed far from any roads or cities. The trees around her provided cool shade as she lay in the grass, sweat on her brow. The side of her head pulsed with pain, and she couldn’t tell if the warmth on her ear was from running or from blood. She tentatively touched the spot, pulling her hand away and confirming it was the latter.
She closed her eyes, letting herself catch her breath. She couldn’t go to her father. She didn’t know where he would be, or if he had already been captured. She couldn’t go to Heba and risk Heba getting involved. Bahiti would hunt her down until she was imprisoned or dead.
She cursed Bahiti for not finishing the job when she had hit Zahra with the vase.
Zahra’s lip trembled at the thought. How long had it been since she had given up? How long had she stopped fighting her curse?
She didn’t want to die. Not at all. More than anything, she wanted to live. She had fought for each minute with Namir, even though she knew what awaited her each night.
Now, she wished death would come quicker.
Zahra thought of Namir’s black eyes and warm smile. She hadn’t realized it, but he’d brought light to her days despite her knowing her fate. If she had told him sooner, would he have seen reason before he fell in love with her? Or would he still have stopped at nothing to save her?
She bit her cheek, but still the tears came. Katerina had said it herself. No one had escaped thekeres’anger. She couldn’t let herself hope that, by some miracle, she would be the first.
The sound of a horse approaching sent Zahra scrambling to her feet. A wave of dizziness hit her as she stumbled toward a bush, hiding inside of it. The horse came to a stop, huffing as the rider looked about. Zahra couldn’t see him clearly, but he wore the colors of amedjay.
