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27
Zanika
Morning finally breaksafter spending the night shivering in a cold jail cell on the outside of the palace. When they tried to take my dress from me, I fought back, which has resulted in a few bruises and a severely ripped garment. I don’t think I have ever ripped so many dresses in such a short period in my entire life. These cells haven’t been used since Neb arrived, but unsurprisingly, they have been adopted once again now that there is a new ruler in town. I don’t know exactly what they have in store for me, but I have a pretty good idea. The knot that has been growing larger and larger in my stomach now consumes me completely. Even in places not as messed up as this, the punishment for attempted escape is always ridiculously severe. If anything, it is more of a preventative measure, an example to others of the dangers of fleeing. Since I am the first to attempt it under this new regime, I am going to be that example.
I almost have to laugh when I think about how badly my circumstances have spiraled in the past few days. A week ago, I was in the best relationship I had ever had with a person, experiencing freedom for the first time in my life. Now, I am shivering in the cold, half-naked, and expecting an extreme punishment for trying to flee the very place where I fell in love for the first time.
The stupid, naive little girl inside me still somehow believes that Neb could not have been acting. I know logically that he must have been; why would he leave me here if he cared about me at all? But I want so badly to believe that what we have—had—was real. Every time I close my eyes, I see him. That’s why I have been unable to sleep properly ever since he left. I ache for the loss of my own life as much as I ache for the loss of that love in my life.
Finally, the door to my cell swings open and two revolting inked men drag me outside. I no longer have the strength to fight my terrible destiny, so I allow myself to be taken into the main courtyard. To my horror, every single girl working in the palace is standing there in a circle. Each of them is holding a large stone in their hands. In the middle of the circle stands Anubis, the new fucked-up Anubis, holding the flaming sword that brought so much justice to this place not long ago. I see Sslama holding one of the stones. She looks at me quickly but then averts her eyes in shame. I can’t blame her. Here, it’s kill or be killed.
They push through the girls and throw me at Anubis’s feet. I feel incredibly weak and injured, but I manage to pull myself up. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much pain I am in. If I’m going to die, I’m going to die a free woman, standing, not kneeling.
Anubis looks down at me and in a loud, deep voice announces, “I like to think that I am a fair and just god. All of you serve a purpose here, and that purpose is to worship and obey me. From the beginning I made it clear that if you simply obey my orders, you will be treated with respect.” Anubis pauses and violently extends his hand in my direction, pointing directly between my eyes. “This slave has defied my will on multiple occasions. With last night’s attempted abandonment of her post, I can no longer be merciful. Let her fate be an example to you all.”
Anubis takes one step forward and drags me by my hair to a small stone block at the back end of the courtyard. He takes out his flaming sword and holds it in front of my face. “Put out your hand,” he commands blandly.
I do nothing as the sweat begins to accumulate on my brow, my heart racing with adrenaline. My eyes dart around looking for somewhere to run, but there is nowhere to go. When I do nothing, one of the cult members steps up and pulls my arm out straight and places it on the stone block. I try to resist and pull my arm away, but he is too strong. It takes everything I have in me to not burst out in sobs of terror as Anubis raises the sword above his head with one hand.
He turns back to the other girls and addresses them. “So that this disobedient creature will not be granted passage into the afterlife, I will take her hand from her. Then, each of her peers will throw their stone at her body until she is dead. She will be destined to traverse the underworld for all eternity, never making it to her second, eternal life.”
He turns his attention back to me and I brace to feel the most intense physical pain I have ever felt in my life. My eyes are squeezed closed so tightly it feels like my cheeks are going to explode. Maybe the shock of it will make being stoned to death easier—I can only hope. My only consolation is that I know he is not really the guardian of the underworld, weigher of souls. I don’t know what happens after death, but my destiny is only sealed in this life, not the next.
But as I brace, nothing happens. Another moment goes by, and I feel no pain. I cautiously open my eyes and see Anubis staring out into the distance, his eyes wide and mouth open in confusion. I turn my head slightly to the left and see something big flying through the air toward us. It is coming at an amazing speed and is becoming larger and larger every second. Suddenly, a loud bang sounds behind us as the palace wall explodes. Rocks fly everywhere, and all the girls drop their stones, screaming, and scatter in every direction. Even the cult members race into the palace in fear. Another explosion, this time in front, as something brings the clocktower crumbling down onto the stone in a fiery blaze of destruction. The noise the monster is omitting is so loud, it feels as if it is going to burst my eardrums. When a cloud of dust dissipates, I can finally see that it is not some monster after all but some kind of…machine, the size of twenty huts and shining a sparkling silver in the morning sun. Whatever this is lands itself on the square and opens itself up with some kind of magic. Out of the machine, through the dust, emerges a large figure. It’s coming straight toward us, and as the dust settles, I see that it’s Neb. It’s Neb!
Anubis takes off furiously towards him and screams, “Neb-en-khata, what thefuckdo you think you are doing. Have you lost your mind completely, you perverted shit!?”
Neb says nothing but charges directly at Anubis. Anubis attempts to swing his sword, but Neb ducks underneath it and catches his arm with both hands. He turns with the arm still in his grasp and brings it down across his own shoulder, snapping Anubis’s forearm in two, forcing the bone to pierce the skin. Anubis barely has time to realize what has happened as he lets out a blood-curdling shriek of pain and terror and drops the sword to the ground. Neb throws him over his shoulder, holding the mangled arm tightly in his grip, bringing him down on the hard stone with a loud thump. He looks down at Anubis and proceeds to stomp his boot in the imposter’s face five times before releasing the arm of the now unconscious Dhaarrir.
On my knees, I look up at him in complete disbelief. I open my mouth to say something, I don’t know what, but he just takes me in his arms and kisses me with the force of a tidal wave. I feel my imminent death slipping away and warm feelings of love and life invading my body. I take his head in my hands as his lips caress mine.
He finally pulls away and, looking deep into my dazzled eyes, says, “I’m sorry I left you.”
Looking back into his beautiful green eyes, I answer, “What matters is you came back.”
“Come on, we have no time.”
He pulls me by the hand toward this ungodly monstrosity that he somehow flew here in. He takes me inside and I see that it looks like the inside of a hut, with strange chairs and tables, but all made of silver. On the floor lie two other Dhaarrir, unconscious. Wasting no time, he drags them out of the machine onto the square and directs me to a small compartment with a large see-through sheet of material. Outside, I see the familiar riverbank with the girls and cult members staring on in disbelief.
Suddenly, the door behind us closes and I almost shit myself when we rise off the ground into the air. He seems to be controlling the machine with a series of incomprehensible movements with his hands on a large silver table.
“Hold on,” he says, but before I can even brace myself, I am hit in the face with an invisible force, and I see the land below rolling in front of my very eyes.
Then, an explosion in front of us. Three palm trees engulfed in a ball of fire. I look back and see two machines right behind us, matching our impossible speed.
“Neb?” I say, fear rising in my throat.
“It’s okay, just trust me,” he says, taking me by the hand.
I realize that I don’t really have any other choice at the moment.
