Page 157 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
The Pharaoh Queen grunted, falling backward as the shield shattered. Smoke and ash filled the space, and Zahra held her breath as she pushed Namir forward.
A cry rent from behind them, and Namir pushed back against her. “Ramses!”
Zahra tried to push him forward, but he moved past her. “I will not leave him.”
Zahra’s eyes softened and she grabbed Namir’s hand, following him toward where Ramses had been. Waaiz and Nubia were gone, but Ramses was lying on the ground, his hand on his leg.
Namir came to Ramses’s side and grabbed his arm.
A figure appeared just beyond them in the smoke. Nubia’s angry eyes appeared for a second as she grabbed her dagger from the floor. Zahra focused on Nubia, throwing herpsycheout toward her.
Namir and Ramses looked back in shock as Nubia screamed, the force of Zahra’spsychethrowing her back against the wall.Nubia fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Zahra gasped as she returned to herself. She grabbed Ramses’s other arm.
A hand grabbed Zahra’s leg, and she flinched. The Pharaoh Queen held Zahra’s calf. Her crown and wig were gone, revealing her short, gray curls. She struggled to stand, using Zahra as a crutch. She pushed herself to her feet, pointing forward. “That way.”
“Where is Waaiz?” Namir asked. “We can’t leave him here.”
‘There’s no time,” Zahra said, stepping forward. “We must go!”
Namir clenched his jaw before leading them out of the smoke. Soot stuck to Zahra’s face, and she looked up at Namir, who was focused on the path ahead.
Medjayappeared in their path. The Pharaoh Queen gasped, waving toward them. “We are here!”
Themedjayraised theirkhopeshestoward them, and the group came sliding to a stop. One gripped his blade. “We are loyal to the true Pharaoh.”
Zahra let go of Ramses’s arm, throwing her arm forward. Themedjaywere blown back from herpsyche, tumbling to the floor.
The Pharaoh Queen watched with wide eyes. “How did you?—”
Blood dripped from Zahra’s nose, and she wiped it away, turning to Namir. “We must keep moving. The blood moon is still full. If we can outlast it, Iset’s power will fail.”
Namir nodded. “Let us keep moving, then. Mwt, help with Ramses.”
The Pharaoh Queen, though stunned, obeyed. She grabbed akhopeshwith one hand, using the other to support Ramses. They moved past the unconsciousmedjayand into a hallway filled with tall windows. A door was at the end of it.
Beasts moved in the shadows, andkeresshot from the darkness, blocking their path. The jackals and snakes growledand snarled. Zahra put her hands out into the moonlight that fell from the windows, focusing. The beam brightened, and thekereshissed, drawing back into the shadows, but still blocking the path forward.
Zahra turned back toward where they had come as she swiped at her bloody nose. Zosar and Nubia were walking toward them. Zosar limped, holding his side, and Nubia gripped her dagger, blood dripping from a wound on her forehead.
Nubia paused some distance from them. “Come, Menes. This will all end quickly if you do as I say.”
Namir shook his head. “Nubia, this act will doom Aur. Think of our people. We cannot allow them to suffer.”
“They should suffer,” Nubia spat. “You all should, and you will!”
Zahra stepped in front of Namir, her fists clenched at her side. “You have failed, Nubia. The moonlight protects him, and your connection to Iset is dying. He can’t do more to us, and you won’t make it past me.”
Zosar gritted his teeth and nodded to Nubia when she glanced at him. “She is right. I am too weak.”
“No,” Nubia said. “There is another way. What if I give you his name?”
Whispers filled the air, and Zosar smiled, his tone changing and sounding more like Iset as he looked at Nubia. “It is no easy feat to do it against an heir of Re. It will only work if my vessel is willing.”
Zosar’s voice changed, and he nodded to himself. “I accept the sacrifice. My soul will live on in Aaru.”
“No,” the Pharaoh Queen said. “Nubia, don’t do it! Please, daughter. We can still change things.”
“You must have read about Asenath,” Zahra stated. “It was Iset that killed her, and another war will be the least of our worries if you go through with this!”
