“Did you see the way the Persian’s sword glowed all blacky?” Illias sat atop his horse gesturing with his hands. “It looked like some really dark stuff. What do you think it was?”

“Dunno.” I shrugged. “Damien?”

Night surrounded us as we neared the western fork of the Erythraean Sea. The soothing breeze cooled my skin from the long, hot day of traveling, just as it did last night. The whistling of owls were loud, and likely nearby, though further away gazelles and ibexes moved from shrub to shrub with graceful footsteps, munching on the plants. When listening closely, a hiss or two could be heard as well.

“The Persian ‘Immortals,’ as Herodotus labelled them, number ten thousand.” He scoffed. “Though they are much fewer than that. They‒”

“How many are there?” Illias interrupted.  

“They all wield a dark magic.” Damien continued, ignoring him. “They believe it to have been gifted to them by Angra Mainyu, the primary evil spirit in their religion. But in reality, they’ve been given this power from a much darker source, masquerading as their god.”

“That makes sense then.” I brushed my horse’s mane as I thought. “Why the Immortal could only access the power through the weapon. He wasn’t born with it. None of them were.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s comforting.” I adjusted my seat in my saddle. “How exactly do you know all this?”

“I was a spy.”

“You still are.” I said slowly.

“Look.” Illias pointed across the body of water. “Torches.”

The silhouettes of houses could be seen with the limited, flickering fire that bordered the village. Some lights rose higher than others, probably being held up by poles, while people held the lower ones.

“Think they’ll let us rest there for the night?” I scratched my head. “Couple of strangers?”

“Yup.” Damien answered. “But we need to cross this sea first.”

“Aren’t there crocodiles there?” Illias’ voice cracked. “I’m pretty sure there’s crocodiles in there.”

“Well?” The dwarf turned around on his saddle to look at me. “What are you waiting for, Moses? Split the sea.”

“Did you‒” I took a deep breath. “I’m not even Jewish.”

“You got this.” He patted the storage box on the back hump of the camel with both hands. “Think about it this way. Moses did it with one stick, and you have two! How hard can it be?”

“Yea.” I controlled my breathing. “And Ramses’ magicians had two staves turn into snakes to fight Moses’ one. Look how well their numbers advantage turned out for them.”

“Ok, then how are we gonna cross the river without getting chomped on?”

“Yes, how?” Illias agreed.

“If there’s a settlement on the other side of the water there’s bound to be some type of boat for us to use.” I paused for a moment. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” My friend tilted his head at me.

“I hear nothing.” Damien hushed his voice. “But that’s the point, isn’t it?”

“It all stopped.” I hushed my voice too. “The owls, the gazelles, the ibexes; even the snakes. All I can hear is the wind and water.” 

The dwarf put his finger over his lips, then pointed behind us. I turned around to see four pairs of light green eyes, followed by a soft crescendo of growls.

My horse started to squirm in place, kicking her hooves in the sand, swishing her tail side to side and bobbing her head up and down. Illias’ horse acted the same way, though Damien’s camel decided to make gurgling noises.

I steadied my breathing as I reached for my spears, but before I could grab them, the animals pounced.

“Malákas!” Illias blurted out as one of them hurled itself at him. The predator’s body clunked into his armor, sending him straight off his mount. The horse reared and whinnied, blotching out most of my friend’s cries.

My horse did the same, though one of the animals slammed me off it before I could fall from the rearing. I thudded onto my back, the sand barely cushioning my landing. Two paws pressed against my biceps, its nails poking at my skin. I had jerked my head to the side to avoid eye contact with the beast, when torchlight illuminated our predicament: leopards.

Our horses fled the scene and our camel vomited before joining them on their escape.

“Leopards don’t hunt in packs!” Damien, a short distance to my left, had been pinned down as I had, with another one of the cats behind him, sniffing his spiky hair. To his left laid Illias, held down by only one.

“Correct. They don’t.” Another voice entered the scene. “But for me, they make an exception.

I turned my head again to try and see where the speaker spoke from, but instead came face to face with the leopard on top of me. Its whiskers quivered in the breeze while its mouth hung open, panting and salivating right in front of me with bared teeth. It’s canines were still bloodied from its last meal, as with every breath, the smell of death wafted up my nose. A guttural growl hummed at the back of its throat as well, its tongue curling with every sound.

“Though they just ate.” The unknown man continued “I’m sure they could make room in their stomachs for you three, should you keep squirming.”

“Who‒” A drop of spit fell onto my forehead. I scrunched my eyebrows around a bit to try and get it off before finishing my sentence. “Who are you?”

“I am the Sphinx and I serve Seshat, goddess of wisdom and knowledge.” The torchlight grew warmer and brighter until the man’s skinny body loomed over me. He was naked, save a leopard-skin belt covering his groin, and his eyes were the same light green as the big cat’s. “But the real question is: who are you, stranger?”

None of us responded.

“Very well.” He sighed. “I don’t take kindly to unannounced guests in the Sinai, and while I couldn’t show myself while you were under the protection of the priests, call it curiosity that led me to follow you here instead of striking sooner.”

“What do you want?” Damien barked. 

“I want to know why a couple Greeks are important enough to gain the attention of Xerxes.” He squatted to get a closer look at my face, his grey strandy hair wobbling side to side. “I haven’t seen an Immortal in Egypt since the crowning of King Cambyses II as Pharaoh, which began Persian rule over Egypt forty five years ago.” 

“So?” I kept my gaze on the leopard on top of me who hasn’t moved this whole time.

“So?” The Sphinx chuckled. “So you must be important to our current ‘Great King, King of Kings,’ or whatever his title is these days.”

“You don’t like him very much.” I grunted as a mild prick pinched my thigh.

“Of course not.” He squatted down even lower to pet his leopard. “Xerxes has not been nearly as kind to Egypt as his father, Darius was. But this is not about me. This is about you. Who are you?”

“I am Theophilus.” My voice shuddered as my biceps numbed from the cat’s paws. “Athenian hoplite, Son of Alecto and‒”

“Liar!” He hissed. “You are strong, child. You guard your identity just enough so that, while I can see through your lies, I cannot see past them, to the truth. If one Immortal came here and returned to Xerxes a failure, more will come, and Egypt must be ready for the war you are about to bring to her lands.”

“What’s he talking about?” Illias squealed. 

“Ah…” The Sphinx stopped petting his leopard and started combing my short bangs to the side. “Your friend doesn’t know, does he?”

I turned away as my heartbeat hastened. My entire body warmed, though I started becoming light-headed.

“But the dwarf does…” He patted my forehead then stood up. “Maybe I should just ask‒”

“Wait!” My head spun with that vocalization. “I’ll tell you.”

He squatted back down to me. “Well?”

The leopard yawned.

“My father is…” Everything blurred as my head battered my skull. 

The leopard yawned again. 

“My…father…”

The cat’s eyes drooped closed as it loosened its pressure on my arms. Its paws slipped forward, letting its body collapse onto me. 

“Ow…” My eyelids slumped halfway down. “You’re heavy…”

“What is this?” The Sphinx burst to his feet. “Why are you here?”

“Same reason as you.” A female voice answered.

Then everything went black.