The Cult of Sutek (17 page)

“Only bread?” asked Jahi.

“You’ve had nothing more than broth for two days. You need to take it slow.”

“Two days. We need to leave right now before—” He started to rise.

Rondel pushed him back down with ease.

Andrasta shouted. “Sit and eat. We’ll leave in the morning.”

“But the trail?” he asked.

“As cold as the winter wind,” said Andrasta.

“Do you mean we won’t be able to find Dendera?”

“She didn’t say that,” said Rondel. “We just can’t track them as easily. We’ll have to do it the hard way.”

“What’s the hard way?”

“Taking our time, asking around, doing some guessing and hoping we’re right.” He must have seen the look on Jahi’s face as he added. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Get to work on that bread.”

* * *

Andrasta glared at Rondel as he sat back down at the fire. Her partner had too big of a heart. Master Enzi would have called it a weakness.

“What?” he whispered.

“You shouldn’t have lied to him.”

“It wasn’t a lie. We still have a good chance of finding her.”

“You still don’t need to get his hopes up. The boy’s not someone from your younger days who you used to rut with. Like Jamila.”

“Rut with?” Rondel shook his head. “Do you have to be so lewd? Can’t you come up with something else to describe lovemaking?”

“Like what?”

“Anything. Call it something juvenile for all I care. But ‘rut with’?” He made a disgusted sound.

Andrasta rolled her eyes.

“Anyway. You don’t think we can find the girl?”

“We can. But can we rescue her once we find her? And more importantly, when we get there will there be anything left to rescue? There are always crazy stories surrounding cults. The girl could be a shadow of what she once was.”

Chapter 9

When Dendera’s eyes opened, she woke to the soft morning air against her face, the hot breath of the man behind her on her neck, and the up-and-down jostling of a galloping horse between her legs.

Her mouth opened to let out a scream when thick arms pulled her tight. “Do it and you will be gagged.”

She clamped her mouth shut and looked down at those thick arms holding the reins. Black and gray cloth covered them. Realization struck her as her brother’s stories ran through her mind.

A member of the Cult of Sutek?

Seeing another four similarly garbed men riding beside them caused her to suck in a quick breath. One of the men had bits of silver on his torso, possibly signifying a rank of sorts.

Definitely members of the cult. Jahi was right.

She blinked, trying to clear her mind. The last thing she remembered was a brief conversation with Rondel. Then something bit her in the neck and the lights in her father’s dining hall had gone out.

A dart. I’ve been drugged and kidnapped.

Whatever drug they had given her made it hard to concentrate. Still, she remembered the conversations with Jahi about his theories and deductions.

Menetnashte. Things must be worse than I thought. Is that what Rondel was getting at when he said it was important I marry Kafele?

Kidnap me and Father is made weaker.

Her eyes watered, wind whipping her face. Slowly, her mind cleared. A knot formed in her stomach. She had begun to remember some of the horrors Jahi discovered about the cult from long ago when it held more power.

Kafele doesn’t seem half as disgusting as before.

A short and slightly bemused laugh escaped her throat.

* * *

Dendera had calmed considerably, coming to terms with her situation by the third change of mounts on their journey north. When Captain Haji, the man with silver on his garb, called for a halt the next day near a thick copse of sycamores, she told herself that all hope was not lost.

If they wanted me dead, they would have killed me in Girga. This means I’m probably a bargaining piece.

Her father might not be willing to let her choose her own husband, but she could not imagine him letting her die.

“Eat.”

Dendera looked up from the old mulberry stump she sat on. One of the Sutek followers held a small wedge of cheese and a heel of bread. She accepted them eagerly, taking a large bite of the cheese first. It was sharp, but after almost a day without food, one of the best things she had ever eaten.

“Thank you,” she said out of reflex, mouth half full. She considered taking her thanks back until she realized it might be best to stay on the good side of the men who kidnapped her.

The man grunted and set a skin of water at her feet before walking away. She watched him check on the horses for several minutes until he settled next to a lotus tree to keep watch. The beautiful white flowers adorning the branches above him contrasted against the ugly black garb worn by the man.

A slight breeze pushed against her, bringing with it the scent of the beautiful flowers. Their smell reminded her of her father’s private garden.

Pay attention. Now isn’t the time to daydream.

She glanced to the other four men. They slept on the hard ground despite the rising sun, arms across their chests and black cloth covering their faces. The position, coupled with the color of their attire reminded her of bodies ready for embalming.

She wondered what sort of men would join a cult and worship a god who most looked down upon. A shiver ran up her back when she thought of the atrocities associated with Sutek, most of which involved torture.

The kind of men you wouldn’t want to be kidnapped by.

No longer hungry, she had to force herself to eat the rest of her meal. She didn’t know when the next might come.

* * *

Each time her kidnappers stopped to rest, Dendera switched mounts and rode with a different cultist. She assumed it was so no one horse had to bear the burden of two riders for too long.

Or possibly to better mask our tracks? Gods if I know.

She attempted to initiate conversation throughout these rides, hoping she might develop sympathy from at least one of the men.

“I’m Dendera. What’s your name?” “Do you think the weather will hold?” “The cheese we had earlier was lovely, how did you come by it?” “My mother taught me how to ride. Who taught you?”

Each question was met with thundering silence.

Dendera had no clue where they were taking her or how long she had until they reached their destination. Because of that, she realized her approach of childish questions would take too long to develop any sort of relationship with the men.

She swallowed hard realizing what she’d need to try next, hoping that neither her father nor Jahi would learn of it.

What other choice do I have? I can’t fight my way out of here.

They stopped for the night and made camp well off the road. Dendera sat against a tree, bound at the wrists and ankles. One of Sutek’s followers brought her dinner.

Cheese and bread again.

Dendera pushed aside her annoyance and put on a bright smile. She wished she knew the man’s name, but they rarely spoke where she could hear them.

The man handed Dendera the meal. She reached up, but rather than accept the food right away, she rested her hands over his and softly stroked each of his digits, hoping that it somehow came across as seductively as she intended.

Dendera met the man’s eyes peeking through his face covering. “I would love some conversation. Won’t you sit by me for a while?”

The man froze and Dendera smiled wider, thinking she had finally made a connection. The back of the man’s hand lashed out, slapping her across the cheek. A sharp knuckle cut her lip and the force of the blow threw her head back against the tree.

Blinking through cloudy vision, someone else had appeared at her side.

“Harsaf! Have you gone mad?”

“Captain, I was teaching her manners. The little whore tried to seduce me.”

“It’s not your place to teach anything.” A hand grabbed her by the jaw and forced her head up, turning it to either side. “You are lucky her lip should heal by the time we make it back. You know she was not to be marked. Get the whip from my bag. Five lashes for going against the High Priest’s orders.”

“But—”

“Ten, since you are having trouble obeying mine as well.”

Dendera’s vision cleared as Harsaf bowed his head. “Yes, Captain.”

The captain turned back to Dendera as Harsaf walked away. He spoke in hushed tones. “Don’t think this excuses your behavior. This is your one and only warning. If you talk to or touch any of my men again, you will be the one to suffer.” He paused. “There are many ways to inflict pain without leaving cuts or bruises.” He tilted his head to the side. “Those are my favorite.”

Chapter 10

To Jahi’s surprise, Andrasta took it easy on him their first day back on the road, stopping several times for him to stretch, eat, and apply more of the salve to the remainder of his blisters and bruises. Though he wanted nothing more than to push a harder pace for Dendera’s benefit, the fever had sapped him of energy, and his thighs and rear reminded him how much he needed that slower speed.

Just after midday, they came upon a small, haphazard town where buildings had been constructed with no real roads or paths. It was like the citizens had never expected the town to grow in size.

Few people were in town, unsurprising with hours left in the day to work the fields. Rondel did his best to ask subtle questions about the Cult of Sutek as they passed through, hoping to glean some sort of information that might help them make up for lost time.

The friendly faces that first greeted them turned dark at the mention of the cult’s name. The women out washing clothes pretended ignorance and quickly made excuses to rush playing children inside.

The obvious fear of those in town did little to ease Jahi’s worries.

Andrasta led them to the town’s stables to buy feed for the horses. She dismounted. “This is a waste of time. We’re not getting anything out of these people.”

“People are too scared to talk about the cult. I’ve never seen so many turn down good coin,” said Rondel.

“Cult? Which cult?” They spun toward a thin, old woman pitching hay into a stall. Despite her age, she used the tool like someone decades younger. She straightened and looked their way. “Khepry? Min? Wosret? I know them all.”

“Sutek,” said Rondel.

She bobbed her head. “Ah. Now I see why you ran into so much trouble. They’ve got a nasty reputation. Still, no reputation is strong enough to frighten me, especially when it means adding a bit of money to my pocket.”

Andrasta tossed the woman a silver senyu. “There’s more if we like what we hear.”

The old woman squinted at the coin. “It’s a start. What do you want to know? Rumors? Truths? Half-truths? Fairy tales?”

“Everything,” said Rondel.

The old woman spoke for some time about everything and anything she had ever heard about Sutek. Rondel redirected the conversation as needed when she veered off topic. Most of what she spoke of, they already knew from Jahi’s past research. However, they listened anyway, making sure there were no significant differences in information. Eventually, the old woman spoke of things less familiar to them.

“And then there’s the sacrifices,” she said, making some strange sign in the air like she was warding off spirits.

“We know about them,” said Jahi.

“Do you boy? What do you know?”

“That the cult uses them to gain power from Sutek.”

She bobbed her head. “Yes, do you know how they get that power?”

“What do you mean?”

“They ingest the flesh of the victims after Sutek blesses the offering.”

“What! Cannibals? Great,” cursed Rondel.

Jahi’s stomach rolled. He held back a sob, thinking about Dendera. Eating human flesh had not been something he believed would return with the cult’s resurgence.

People are supposed to be more civilized now.

“Yes, cannibals,” said the old woman. “And it will get even worse than that if they start bringing back more of the old ways.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jahi. “How can you get worse than cannibalism?”

“Well, it’s what they do beforehand. Awful things. Rape. Sexual and physical torture. I won’t get into specifics though. There’s no need. Just use your imagination and hope you never see them. Sutek apparently feeds off the pain of his sacrifices.”

“How do you know all this?” asked Rondel.

She shrugged. “I’m old. Live as long as I have and you just pick things up along the way.” She began to snicker. “Gods, I can’t remember the last time I took a bath, but I remember all that stuff about Sutek. What a life.”

“I like you, woman,” Andrasta said. “You don’t have the same fear as others around here.”

“At my age, the fear of closing my eyes each night with the uncertainty of whether I’ll open them again in the morning is far greater than what the Cult of Sutek could do to me,” she said with a chuckle. “Torture? With my heart, I’d die long before they put me through anything worse than what I’ve already suffered in this life. And being sacrificed? Well, I don’t fit their ideal description.”

“What is the ideal description?”

“Young. Beautiful. The same as any other cult. What god do you know prefers their women old and ugly? And, of course, the sacrifice must be a virgin. Someone
pure
.” She rolled her eyes and cackled. “It’s been decades since I called myself that. And even then I was lying.”

Andrasta grunted, wearing a faint grin. She tossed the old woman payment for the horse feed.

“You never told us where the cult resides,” said Rondel.

The old woman shrugged, wild hair bouncing. “That’s because I don’t know where. Not with certainty. Some say east. Others west. Most north.” The old woman picked up her pitchfork and began turning hay. “That’s all I have. You could try one of the larger cities down the road.”

“Any in particular?” asked Rondel.