I straggled along the desert, holding my two spears by their ends and letting the blades drag in the sand behind me. The sun just started to rise, casting a light yellow glow across the sky. I could see the town we saw last night in the distance, and the Erythraean sea on the other side of it, but it was all blurry to me.

Blood trickled down from the claw marks on my face, occasionally startling me when the droplets hit my exposed arm. My head throbbed and my breathing quivered, and my legs felt like they carried dead weight.

And then the voices howled within my head.

“A man’s reputation is made by his actions, not his nationality.” 

“It’s your life. You decide what to do with it.”

“You’ve got some Persian blood in you, don’t you?”

“You cannot just abandon him like this! He’s just a boy. He’s your son!”

“He’s no son of mine…”

“Theo!”

Wait. That last voice sounded real.

“Theo!”

Footsteps echoed behind me as I dropped my spears and my knees buckled. The footsteps grew faster and louder, and as my body tipped backwards, two arms hooked my underarms, catching me.

“Who…” I mumbled as breathing became difficult.

“Just relax.” The female-sounding person gently set me flat on my back and unhooked her arms from me. Most of her figure was a blur as she knelt over me, but the yellow and black colors of her clothing were noticeable enough. Leopard skin?

She set her hand on the center of my chest. It felt warm. Homey. 

“The venom has almost reached your heart.” Concern lined her voice. “I’m not as good as Isadora when it comes to this, so bear with me.”

She gingerly turned my head towards her and set one hand on the gashes across my ear and cheek. She set the other one directly over my heart. A couple seconds later, both her hands warmed and glowed.

“Brace yourself.” She pressed down more firmly on my chest. “This may hurt a bit.”

I tried to say ‘Isadora said it would tickle, not hurt,’ but all I managed through my swollen throat was “bishwa?”

The warmth spread throughout my body and grew hotter as it traveled. My veins boiled beneath my skin as feeling returned to my legs. Breathing eased up a bit as my open wounds sizzled in response to the light magic.

I groaned.

“Hang in there.” She pleaded. “Almost done.”

My vision cleared up, making the woman clear to me; linen skirt, leopard skin belt and bra, golden bands adorning her wrists and biceps, black eyeliner and neck-length brunette hair.

“Atemu?” I said with a raspy voice. “How did you‒”

“Shh.” She cooed as her hand drifted up from my chest to my neck. The pressure from the swelling in my throat released, allowing me to heave in a full, clean breath of air.

I sat up instinctively, forcing her hands off me. “Am I‒”

“Healed?” She set her hand on my shoulder. “Mostly.”

I touched the side of my face where the claw marks were and Kiya’s face flooded my mind. All I could see was her blackened veins creeping up her neck and face, her blood gushing from her mouth, her bulging eyes and‒ 

“Hey.” Atemu snapped her fingers in front of my face. “You good?”

I blinked rapidly and Kiya’s face vanished. My attention came back to my hand on my face, feeling smooth, undamaged skin.

“I’m alright.” I turned around to face her. “How did you find me?” 

“Isadora told me to follow you.” She glanced down before returning my gaze. “She said specifically not to interfere and to simply observe, but when I saw you about to die‒”

“It’s ok.” I smiled. “You did the right thing.”

She smiled back, then tilted her head. “Were you crying?” She wiped a streak of dried tears from my face. 

“I‒”

“Was the healing that painful? She frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to‒”

“No, no.” I sniffled. “It wasn’t you. Don’t worry.”

“Ok, well.” She looked me up and down. “We should get you some new clothes at the town nearby. And a bath. You stink.”

“Illias and Damien‒”

“Right.” She nodded. “We should probably help them first. Do you know where they are? I only followed you.”

“Well Kiya said they were in a cave near the one I was in.”

“So we should back track.” She rose to her feet and extended her arm to me. “And who’s Kiya?”

“The leader of this particular group of the Daughters of Serqet.” I took her arm and she heaved me up. “Do you think there’s a way to go about this without violence?”

“Hm…” She rubbed her chin. “The Daughters of Serqet you say?”

“What’re you thinking?”

“This group of women is extremely loyal to priests.” She slung off the linen bag from her back, knelt down and set it on the floor. She started rummaging through it. “I think they’ll listen to a priest and priestess of Ra and just let your two friends go, though we’ll have to make our argument for their release convincing.”

“I’m no priest.” 

“You’re about to be.” She pulled out a linen skirt, leopard skin belt, and papyrus sandals from the bag and handed it to me. “I always carry around a spare pair of clothing just in case. Always thought it was a bad habit until now. I think our sizes are similar, no?”

“I don’t know…”

“Oh, c’mon. Put it on! It’s just clothing.” She waved the items around in front of me. “You don’t have to wear the bra piece, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I folded my arms.

“You said you wanted a non-violent option?” She continued waving the clothes around. “This is it. Take it or leave it.”

I grunted as I removed the not-so-white tunic I was wearing and she politely looked away. I then took the linen skirt, leopard skin belt and papyrus sandals from her and put them on.

“I feel naked.” I patted down my exposed torso. “Also these sandals feel kinda weird on my feet.”

“You Greeks really shave everything, don’t you?” She giggled as she turned back around. “You look fine. Calm down.”

She went back to rummaging through her bag.

“Ugh.” I groaned. “Now what.” 

“There’s one more thing you need to complete the look.” She pulled out a clear bottle of thick black liquid. 

“No.” I shook my head. “No way. I did not sign up for eyeliner.”

“Yes you did.” She popped the cork of the bottle. “Now be still unless you want random black streaks across your face. I don’t want to mess this up.”