“So you’re not just a priest?” I nudged Atemu with my elbow. “Color me impressed.”

The two of us walked side by side back towards the cave of my capture by tracking the blood trail I accidentally left. A chain of small, rocky hills stood to our left, while flat desert, and the distant village we saw last night, stood to our right. Further away from said village flowed the western fork of the Erythraean sea, from which a cool breeze swung by every now and then, soothing my aching body. I guess the Daughters of Serqet really brought us onto the mainland of Egypt after ambushing us.

“I really shouldn’t be telling you this.” She cleared her throat. “But yes. I used to be a spy for Isadora. She took me in after my parents were killed fighting back in a rebellion against Darius the Great and his Persian rule over Egypt. She taught me how to be a spy before teaching me anything about light magic or being a priest. She said she picked up a few sneaky tricks from a step-daughter of hers and bestowed the knowledge unto me, figuring it would help me steal food or something. But I took the skills a bit further than that by myself.”

“Well it certainly came in handy, to say the least” I combed my bangs to the side. “I’m sorry about your parents, by the way. Truly. I know what it’s like to lose them.”

“Thanks.” She nudged me back. “But what about you? How’d you learn how to control your spears? Did someone teach you or were you self taught?”

“I, uh…” I gulped. “I‒”

“You know what.” She stopped walking and lightly grabbed my arm. “You don’t have to tell me anything. Not unless you want to.”

I half-smiled. “Let’s keep moving.”

We resumed walking until a cave entrance came into sight, hidden amongst the rocky hills. The sun had risen just enough to reveal the bottom half of the opening.

“If we keep following your blood, it should get us there.” Atemu pointed at the trail.

“Yea, and it doesn’t lead to that one.” I sighed. “So wrong cave. Again.”

“Do you smell that?” She smiled and darted towards the destination. “I think we should check it out.”

“Wait!” I threw my hands in the air. “I’m still recovering! I can’t run!”

“Fine.” She combed her hair behind her ear. “I’ll keep your pace and walk you there, slow-poke.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

“This isn’t the right cave.” I mumbled. “My blood trail continues further down from here.”

“It reeks of rotten flesh, as I suspected.” She waved her hand in front of her nose. “Something happened here. We should check it out.”

The two of us climbed the rocks to get to the cave entrance. The smell of decay grew stronger the closer we got, and the sound of buzzing insects picked up as well.

“All the sand is sticking to my chest and stomach.” I paused my ascent to scratch my torso. “I miss wearing a shirt.”

A spiny mouse poked its head out from a small crevice in the side of the hill to stare at me. It stood completely still until I stopped scratching and continued climbing, which prompted it to scurry back into the hole it came from.

“Quit your whining.” She glanced back at me. “That’s probably because you haven’t bathed in days.”

“Also my eyeliner seems to be soaking in more heat than anything else on my body.” I panted. “Is it too early to take it off?”

“How dare you!” She said through a chuckle. “I did an excellent job with your eyeliner.”

“Yea, but‒”

Atemu got there first and inhaled sharply.

“That can’t be good…” I muttered to myself.

“Gods…” She put her hand over her heart. “They’re all‒”

“Murdered.” I got to the top and stepped inside. 

Bodies of women in skin tight, dark yellow scale armor littered the cavern floor, with flies swarming their exposed faces and arms. Other corpses in the same dress hung from the walls, their wrists chained to the ceiling. Hooked swords were scattered about as well, all of them decorated with dried blood stains.

“These are Daughters of Serqet.” Atemu gasped. “How were this many of them taken on at once?”

Every time I looked at one of them, I saw Kiya’s face instead of theirs. At first I reached for my spears strapped to my back, but on second thought, I decided to rub my eyes with my fists. After nearly pushing them back into their sockets, I looked back at the bodies and her face was gone. At least for now.

“Look.” I pointed at a wooden table at the back of the cave. It was cracked and empty, except for a single piece of parchment.

“A note?” Atemu shrugged. “From whom?”

“Let’s find out.” I approached the furniture slowly, careful not to step on any of the bodies, and picked up the note:

Dear Theophilus,

I’m aware of your little quest to capture me. While it is cute watching the three of you run around like chickens without heads in pursuit of yours truly,  I must put an end to it, for all our sakes. This is an unbelievably massive waste of time. I have bigger concerns than that of your merry band of idiots. I came to Egypt in search of a loyal and elite elven bodyguard, among other things, and have found as much. We raided the Daughters of Serqet’s hideout as soon as they brought you all back, and much to my chagrin, only found dumb and dumber. The man who calls himself ‘Sphinx’ was there as well, and in exchange for his life, told me that there was a third member (as I expected) of the ambushed party ‒ a certain Theophilus ‒ though he didn’t know where you were taken. So, I write this note to you, Theophilus, hoping that you’ll find it. I have captured the ones named Illias and Damien and will execute them in three days time, at sunset. I await you at the Valley of Kings, for if you do not show, their blood is on your hands.

Sincerely,

Queen of Halicarnassus,

Artemisia

“We need to get moving.” My hands curled into fists. “Now.”

“What is it?” She darted up to me.

“This note is from Artemisia.” I growled as I flipped the table to the side. “She’s going to execute my friends unless I walk into her trap at the Valley of Kings.”

“Take a breath, Theo.” She turned my head to face her. “She may be baiting you into a trap. But there’s an unknown element here that she can’t account for.”

“You.” My eyes darted back and forth, looking at hers. “She doesn’t know you’re with me.”

“Exactly.” She smirked as she nodded. “Now what do you say we go and kidnap a queen and save your friends?”