Chapter Thirty-Six

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"Give me your hand

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"Give me your hand. We have little time."

Suspicion wormed its way through Re'hotpe's grief. Wasn't this man the person who helped Ruhak get rid of him?

"Leave me be," Re'hotpe replied before returning his focus to his mother. She lay cold in his arms with half her face coated with blood. He contemplated using his tunic to wipe the blood off.

"Do as I say," the man said impatiently, hand still extended.

Re'hotpe wanted to scream at him to go away. When he turned to do just that, he noticed the man was observing his mother with an unreadable expression. There was something about the stranger that felt...peculiar. He would have looked like a normal Israelite if not for the way his eyes appeared. They were sharp and possessed an odd type of glow. Re'hotpe glanced around, trying to make sense of the man's sudden appearance. Why wasn't the army of Egypt upon him by now? Chariot upon chariot rushed past, none sparing them a glance.

"Why are you helping me? How did you get here so quickly and quietly?" Re'hotpe looked at the man cautiously.

"I was instructed to help you." The man answered simply. He looked around, taking in the speeding horses as he stroked his beard. "But as for how I got here...that would be nearly impossible to explain."

Re'hotpe did not like his reply. He shook his head. "Please, leave me alone whoever you are. It's impossible to escape. My father would find me. Look—" he shook his mother "—he killed my mother!" A choked sob escaped as he clutched her garment, fighting hard not to weep again. What was this pain?

"She's not dead."

Re'hotpe's eyes shot up, hope surging forward at the man's words. He tried to fight it down, unwilling to add disappointment to his long list of torturous emotions. "W-what did you say?"

The man looked at his mother's face before looking at him. His expression was open and sincere, and his strange eyes gleamed with confidence. "I said she is not dead; her body is in shock. Now give me your hand. I'm afraid if we waste more time, she will die."

Re'hotpe didn't need to think twice. He didn't care if it was Apophis standing in front of him offering help; he was willing to take any chance to see his mother well again.

***

Rai was terrified.

Menkhaf was out of his mind. From time to time he would glance at Rai and grin wickedly. He reminded her of a rabid dog, the kind that loved to growl and watch people with feral eyes. Since his threat, she had whispered feverish prayers, imploring all the gods she could recall to save her. But she was greeted with silence, not so much as a word from the deities. There was no sign, no reassurance that the gods would come to her salvation.

I'm abandoned. They've abandoned me.

Where was Quatesh? He was there when she had to walk on the bed of burning coals, he had shielded her from the flames. She recalled he spoke to her frequently, his presence giving her soul an odd sort of comfort. But now she was naked—helpless to save herself if Menkhaf saw through his threat.

Please, Quatesh. Please, I beg you...save me. I don't want to die.

Rai tightened her hold on the chariot as nausea pulled at her innards, making her want to hurl the content of her stomach. She raised a shaky hand to her face, feeling the soft flawless skin beneath her fingers. She was too beautiful to be mauled.

She gasped when the chariot swayed sharply to the right. Menkhaf laughed like the lunatic he was, snapping his reins and raising a fist in the air as the pharaoh's chariot sped by. If the king noticed him, he showed no sign of it. His jaw was set, eyes firmly fixed ahead and back bent for balance. The man was possessed by the determination to capture the fleeing slaves.

"I think it's time to release the cheetahs, don't you think?" Menkhaf leered at her. His smile was too wide and the muscles of his neck were strained.

Rai whimpered and gulped when Menkhaf signalled for the horses that drew the war animals to pull over. She wanted to beg, to plead for her life but there was no bargaining with a madman.

"Is that fear I see in your eyes, priestess?" Menkhaf chuckled as he glanced at her, triumph burning in his dark eyes.

Rai looked away, unable to hold his gaze. She was trembling, her head grew light and she feared she might pass out. Her breathing came out ragged when the chariot came to a stop. This was not how she pictured her end; she preferred beheading to this.

When the horses pulling the caged cheetahs stopped beside theirs, Rai shut her eyes.

"My little tigers, so eager for a chase?" Menkhaf said in a loud cheerful voice.

Unable to stop herself, Rai cracked her eyes open and looked. She instantly regretted her action.

About six trim cheetahs paced to and fro in an iron cage, impatient to sprint and kill. Their black eyes were fixed on their tamer as they growled and chirped. Rai longed to die on the spot, to simply cease to exist. Menkhaf made sharp calls at the back of his throat and spoke to the animals in a strange tongue.

Menkhaf canted his head in Rai's direction. "If I were you...I would run."

"Please..." Rai begged as she stepped down from the chariot on shaky legs. "I beg you."

The army was still speeding past, filling the air with the sound of hoofs and spinning wheels. Why wouldn't they stop him? She immediately realised why. Menkhaf was smart enough to make sure Pharaoh's chariot passed before he went about his revenge. The pharaoh would be too focused on his chase to notice anything amiss and the others had no authority to question him. That aside, Menkhaf was a crazy man. It was obvious he didn't care if there would be consequences for killing a priestess. Rai wanted so desperately to hide.

"Keep your pathetic begging. I am doing Egypt a favour by ending your existence. Now move!" Menkhaf gripped her arm and shoved her forward. She stumbled.

"I am sorry that your son died. Please...don't do this!" Rai fell to her knees, thoroughly humbled. She couldn't face death. No.

"Don't you dare mention my boy. You kill others and you don't want to die." He glared at Rai. "How vile. You disgust me." He turned away and resumed speaking to the agitated animals.

It was at this point Rai realised she had to run. Rising from her kneeling position, she took to her heels. Her long black hair whipped in the wind as she pushed against the sandy ground. Tears came. It blurred her vision and left a cold trail as she ran. Sobbing, she willed her body to move faster, fear and the instinct to survive fuelling her race.

Rai stole a glance behind and released a strangled cry. Two cheetahs burst out of their iron cage and bounded in her direction in a mad dash.

Menkhaf must have released the hungriest. They would not be as fast as normal but they would be dogged in their pursuit and lengthen the period of her torture. Wailing, Rai stagger-ran, her great terror stealing her strength.

"Help!" She cried at the riders as they drove past. None answered. They only listened to the command of their king and none knew if it was the king who ordered this horror. Her foot struck a rock and she sailed forward. She hit the ground with her face, pain exploding in her head and the taste of blood pooling in her mouth.

Woozy, Rai rolled to her back and blinked at the spinning sky. "I'm already dead," she mumbled at the same moment the cheetahs leapt at her with claws extended and teeth bared.

As Rai screamed at the ripping agony, all she could think of was her face—her flawless face getting torn by the beasts. 

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