“Clearly, we have plenty of ideas, so let’s decide who can manage each of these tasks,” Asim said. “Rae, let’s start with you.”
Kroo! Kroo!
The group fell silent.
Menk’s signal could mean only one thing. Something was wrong.
Without a word, Asim and the others extinguished their torches in the sand and stood quietly in the ensuing darkness. A tingle of fear crept along the back of Rae’s neck as she held her breath, listening for any sound. The wind whistled through the gaps in the vast stone ruin, and somewhere beyond, a fox shrieked among the dunes. Other than that, there was nothing.
After a long moment, Omari bent his head toward her and whispered, “You stay here. I’ll go check on—”
Before he could finish the sentence, a whizzing sound came from above and an arrow buried itself in Omari’s shoulder. He staggered back from the force of it, his hand coming up to grip the shaft.
Rae stared at him, open-mouthed.
“Oh,” he said and collapsed.
In the next instant, a dozen more arrows rained down from above, humming through the air like a deadly swarm.
The silence shattered.
“Take cover!” Asim shouted, but not before another man was struck.
The rebel cried out in pain, an arrow in his back, and fell to the ground.
Panic surged in Rae’s chest.It’s an ambush!
Amid the confusion, she looked up and saw four archers perched on the crumbling walls of the necropolis, their forms silhouetted against the night sky. As they reloaded their bows, Rae dropped into a crouch and began dragging Omari by the armpits toward the remains of a low stone wall. An arrow sliced past her arm, missing her by a handsbreadth.
Across the way, another rebel fell. Then another.
Faster, go faster, Rae thought, her breath ragged as she did her best to ignore the searing pain in her back. The effort of carrying Omari’s heavy body was stretching her wounds to their breaking point, and fear had sapped the strength from her limbs.
She tried not to look back, tried not to wonder which of the men she’d just been speaking to was bleeding to death, or to think of his family waking in the morning to find him gone.
Not now.
She kept moving. Even when another man went down, and when an arrow sunk into her left hip. Only when she and Omari were concealed behind the low wall did she allow herself to collapse next to him, dizzy with pain. Though the arrow had only pierced the fleshiest part of her flank, it bled freely.
Reaching out, she lay a trembling hand on her best friend’s chest, relieved to find a steady thrum beneath her fingers.
Thanks be to Ra.
Then a new voice called out—a strangely familiar voice, though she couldn’t place it. “Hold your fire! We’re going in. I want the leader alive.”
Rae scooted herself against the wall and peered around it, squinting into the murk. Five guards filed in, two carrying torches, the others armed with khopesh. Rae recognized them immediately—the nomarch’s personal guard. The one who had spoken was the same man who’d so cruelly twisted her arm behind her back when she’d gone to the shepherd’s aid.
The nomarch’s men, Rae thought, heat flooding her cheeks.This is his doing.
The remaining rebels, wild-eyed with panic, brandished their daggers as the guards advanced upon them.
Rae cursed through gritted teeth. With the arrow still lodged in her backside, she unsheathed her dagger and struggled to herfeet, ready to enter the fray. But a strong grip pulled her back behind the wall.
“Get down!” Asim commanded. “Get down and be still!”
“No!” Rae said, resisting. “We can’t hide here and watch them die.”
“Wearen’t going to,” Asim replied. “I won’t be responsible for taking you away from your father! Not if I can help it!”
