Rock Bottom: Season Two

Exodus

Six months ago...

They'd buried her fifth husband a week ago, so Ishizu's father was already angry. Their whole clan believed that Ishizu was cursed, and after the first four husbands had died, Ahmed had been the only man that their patriarch could bribe and cajole into marrying his daughter. But when he found a trading card—the only god card Ishizu had yet to hide—among her belongings, he'd gone into a rage. She'd been in the altar-room with Marik, supporting him as he went about his duties. He was sick, and everyone could tell, but that didn't matter enough to their father for him to let his son rest when he could hardly breathe. If Ishizu didn't know better, if she hadn't seen the future, she would have feared that he could die at any moment.

It was in the process of lighting fresh incense that their father entered the altar-room with a whip in his hand a thirst for blood. The instant Ishizu saw him, she felt cold and her stomach churned. She'd never seen him this angry before.

"Ishizu, where did you get this?" he demanded, holding up Obelisk the Tormentor.

Marik was confused, and opened his mouth to ask what it was, but wheezed instead. Ishizu turned to her brother, her hand going to his back as he bent over, struggling to breathe, but the snap of a whip made her flinch and look back at her father.

"Get away from him!"

Ishizu obeyed, as always, backing away from her brother, away from the altar, even though she wished to run to her brother and aid him in every way she could. If Rishid were here, he would help Marik himself, but he'd left to fetch the flowers from the hunters for the peace offering at the altar. Rishid, like Ishizu and Marik, was forbidden from leaving the tomb. Ishizu wasn't allowed outside because she was a woman, Marik wasn't allowed outside because he was an acolyte, and Rishid wasn't allowed outside because he was a slave.

"Where did you get this?" he demanded again, approaching Ishizu with such fury that she couldn't help but start backing away from him. Her back hit the wall, though, making her stop.

"From a man," she answered in a terrified whisper.

"Speak up, you barren bitch!"

"From a man," she repeated more clearly. "On the outside."

"The outside?" He was trembling with anger, his grip tight on the handle of the whip. He only used that whip when punishing Rishid. "Turn around, on your knees."

Ishizu obeyed, placing her hands on the wall as she braced herself. Marik had already turned his face away, holding onto the edge of the stone altar as he coughed so hard that he couldn't keep his eyes open. He wasn't coughing loud enough, though, that he drowned out his sister's screams.

At that moment, a small team of Japanese archaeologists equipped with flashlights was descending the stairs that led down into the tomb. At the bottom, they were met with a choice of two directions: right or left. They went right and followed the hall for a while until they came to another two way choice.

"This is pointless. We're going to get lost in here," Naomi said with a shake of her head as Ren frowned and turned to her.

"We can map our way as we go. There's no reason to get lost."

"I'd feel safer going back and returning with some rope to leave behind us as we go. It's more reliable than mapping it by hand."

"Fine, then, let's—"

"It's this way."

Ren and Naomi looked up at Kenji, who was standing at the right-hand turn, his flashlight aimed down that hallway.

"What makes you say that?" Naomi asked dubiously. "There are many false passageways in tombs, as you well know."

Kenji bent down and pinched between forefinger and thumb the end of a rough, hand-spun string that was on the floor, the length of which led into the labyrinth. His companions stood behind him, looking at it curiously as he stood.