“No…” Karim rushed to the priest’s side.
The dog wheeled toward him, mistaking him for another threat, and lunged, snarling.
“Hey! Hey!” Karim exclaimed, backing away. “It’s me, sen,” he said softly, reaching out a hand as a peace offering. “Just me.”
The dog sniffed him and began to whine, keeping his eyes trained on the two stone pillars flanking the path, their tops marked with pyramids pointing to the sky.
“It’s all right. It’s all right,” Karim murmured, rubbing the dog behind the ears. He dropped to his knees next to the old priest, fearing what he would find, but Pa didn’t seem to have a single wound on his body. Karim gently lifted his head from the ground. The priest’s skin was cold and clammy, but his mouth was moving, as if in silent prayer.
He was alive.
“Pasenhor! Wake up, holy man. Wake up, your god still needs you. We have a long trip, tomorrow, remember?”
The priest’s eyes fluttered before focusing on him.
“Thief.”
The word was barely audible, more a memory than a whisper.
“What happened to you? Come on, get up. Let’s get you backto the temple, you need water—”
The priest shook his head. He strained, his neck muscles bulging, struggling to speak. Karim bent so his ear was close to the man’s lips.
“You lied to me.”
Karim’s whole body tensed. “What do you mean?”
“Something happened in that… tomb,” the priest gasped.
Karim shook his head, desperate to deny the truth. “No, I didn’tdoanything, I didn’t—”
“‘A secret shall rise from beneath the earth,’” the priest quoted. “It’s in the oracle. I should have… known…”
Karim’s heart began to race. Behkai hadn’t moved, and was watching the shadows, a growl deep in his throat.
Someonedidfollow me. But it wasn’t Hager or Babu.
“It’s too late now. It’s… here.”
In a panic, Karim grabbed the priest under his arms, trying to drag him to his feet.
“We have to go, old man. Come on—”
Suddenly, the priest cried out in pain. “Don’t move me!” he insisted, grimacing. It was only then that Karim noticed his teeth were tinged with blood. “Don’t…”
“What?” Karim exclaimed, scrambling back as a gush of dark blood spilled from beneath the priest’s body, as if by lifting him, Karim had unstopped a bottle of wine that was now pouring freely onto the sand. In a matter of seconds, Pa’s face had gone from pale to deathly gray.
Karim went cold. He’d only glimpsed it for an instant—but that was enough. There was a small hole, deep and fatal, in the priest’s back. As if someone had come up behind Pa and punched straight through his flesh to the soft viscera within.
“Nothing to be done now,” the priest said, the words garbled and wet. A thin trail of blood slipped from his lips as he spoke,but somehow he still had the strength to grasp Karim by his robes and pull him close.
“Now get out of here, thief,” he said with gruesome ferocity, “Quickly, while you still can. And promise me you will go to Thonis and do as I meant to do!”
“I promise! I promise!” Karim sputtered, alarmed and afraid.
“It gives me… no pleasure to leave this in your hands.” The priest’s voice weakened with every word. “But I have no choice. There is no one… you must… the oracle…”
The priest’s body went slack, his eyes stilled on Karim’s face.
