The Cult of Sutek (28 page)

The hammer struck the chisel again.

* * *

In the predawn light, with the watchful eyes of the creatures of The Blood Forest on her, Andrasta stared at the flat rock face, examining each slight crack and crevice, hoping that if she studied the side of the mountain long enough something might come to her. Though sore and full of aches, she felt much better after a night’s rest. The climb would be difficult, but she didn’t doubt that she could make it. However, by climbing up herself she would be leaving Rondel and Jahi to their deaths.

Months ago, that thought might not have bothered her so much, but strangely, it did now. She looked to Rondel’s sleeping form. Before this job, she had only seen flashes of what he might have offered her, but his progress with a sword over the last several weeks had been notable. She doubted he would ever be a great warrior. He lacked the physical tools for that. However, she had begun to see life in his eyes when they sparred where before there had been only resignation. She sensed him not only pushing himself, but trying to calculate her next move.

His mind will help him overcome his other shortcomings. And admittedly, his mind continues to impress.

Her gaze drifted over to Jahi. Like Rondel, he too had come into this own. She could see the boy had vast potential. The way he fought alongside her and Rondel in The Blood Forest washed away the bitter taste in her mouth from his early failures.

Having faced so many terrible things together, Andrasta could not rationalize leaving them behind. The voice of her old master popped into her head.

“So weak. That’s the problem with women. The weakness is built inside of them. It’s who they are.”

Andrasta closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the man’s old taunts. But his voice continued, this time talking as if he was standing next to her.

“Look at you. You’re wasting a valuable opportunity. You should leave now while they’re asleep and can’t try to stop you.”
Andrasta clenched her jaw as the voice continued.
“What are you waiting for, Amani?”
Andrasta winced.
“Yes, you think because you changed your name you can hide who you really are. Do you forget that Amani means peace? Such a weak word. Your father was right in giving it to you. You are no warrior.” The voice made a tsking sound, like scolding a child. “Compassion. Sympathy. Maybe even love. Why did I waste my time training you? You will never be one of the greats.”

Andrasta shook her head violently. She hated her master for many reasons, yet his words still beat against her as they often did in her youth, making her feel worthless and insignificant.

He’s right. What is my goal? The Jewel of Bashan. Not saving some princess.

She could not die in this place.

She wedged her hand in a tight crack above her head and twisted it to secure her weight. She started to bring her foot up.

A large yawn sounded from behind. She dropped back to the ground and removed her hand. She turned as Rondel gingerly climbed to his feet. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stumbled over. “Gods, I feel awful.”

Andrasta grunted.

“Any luck figuring out how to get out of here.”

“Not really.”

Rondel looked up and stared at the closest ridge for a long moment. “I think I have an idea.”

“What?”

“Well, we know there’s a way out up there.”

“No. We assume there is.”

“Well, the song says there is and it has been right about everything else. Therefore, someone got out to tell the tale that inspired the song. Anyway, if the entrance leads to some location where the Cult of Sutek meets, there might be rope in there for you to lower down to us.”

“You mean you want me to climb up by myself and leave you and Jahi here?”

“That’s the only option I can think of.”

“What if there’s no rope?”

“I guess if we don’t hear back from you by tomorrow morning, we’ll try the climb ourselves. Maybe we’ll be lucky and make it. If not, then at least you’ll have a chance to make it out alive. No sense in you sticking around to die here with us.”

Guilt yanked at Andrasta’s insides. She had been ready to leave them without a word, and yet he put all his trust in her to rescue them.

Why does he trust me? The world has not been kind to him either.

“What’s wrong?” asked Rondel.

“Hmm?”

“You look troubled.”

Andrasta turned away

“It’s nothing,” she lied, unsure what to do.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to decide as Jahi woke with a start, hollering in glee. His voice set off Ammit, which apparently had never left the edge of the forest. The loud roar beat against Andrasta’s senses.

“What’s going on?” asked Rondel.

Jahi stood. “I know how to get us out. It came to me in a dream.”

“How?”

“I build stairs.”

There was a long pause. “Can you do that?”

“I don’t know. But it’s worth a try. I’ve moved a lot of earth and rock these last few days.”

“Not a mountain,” said Andrasta.

“I don’t need to move the whole thing. Just small pieces.”

“All right. How much time do you need to prepare?”

“Give me a few minutes to finish waking up.”

Jahi relieved himself then drank some water. He came back a moment later and began walking up and down the rock face, studying it. Eventually, he halted and closed his eyes. His lips started moving as did his hands, fingers frantically maneuvering around each other. Beads of sweat started to form on his brow and his eyes squeezed shut.

The ground trembled under Andrasta’s feet. A dull hum came from the rock face, followed by a loud pop.

Andrasta blinked. Where before there had only been a relatively flat piece of smooth stone, rested a two-foot-wide, one-foot-deep rough step. It sat a couple feet off the ground, butted against the rock face itself.

“You did it!” Rondel clasped Jahi in a bear hug.

Jahi wore a look of disbelief. “I did, didn’t I?”

Andrasta frowned, noticing how hard Jahi breathed. “But can you keep doing it?”

He nodded. “I think so. I’ll just need to take my time and do them slowly.”

“We only need to get to that first ledge for now,” pointed out Rondel. “From there, we should be able to climb the rest of the way.”

Jahi spent the better part of the morning creating steps, though, in truth Andrasta thought they looked more like ledges. At Rondel’s suggestion, Jahi staggered them so that they resembled a ladder with every other rung off center as it was easier to do that than build a large staircase protruding off the mountainside.

They refilled the skin of water, gave Jahi a chance to rest, then started climbing. Andrasta found the steps did not necessarily make the climb easy, but it did make the ascent possible for Rondel and Jahi. As Rondel earlier suspected, after reaching the first ledge, the mountain sloped more inward and they finished the climb without Jahi’s assistance.

A small cave, three feet around, sat in the mountainside like a surprised mouth. Andrasta almost missed it because of the shrubbery growing around it.

“Is this it?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Rondel, looking around. “I don’t see any other way in.”

She waved Jahi forward. “I need light.”

Fire sat in his palm as he ducked inside. After a moment, he leaned back out. “I think this is it. Come inside.”

Andrasta crawled her way through. She rose to her feet. Jahi stood beside the bones of someone long dead. From the knee down, the skeleton had no right leg.

Rondel came up behind her. “Gods, he made the climb with an injury like that? Now, I really feel pathetic.” He examined the dusty remains of the man’s armor still wrapped around his skeleton.

“Must have spent himself coming up,” said Andrasta. “Sat against the wall and bled out.”

“The armor is from the Vene Dynasty in the far east,” said Rondel.

Where does he learn all this stuff? Better yet, how does he remember it?

“That ended almost a thousand years ago,” whispered Jahi.

Rondel tapped the skeleton’s breastplate. It sounded strong. “They sure knew how to make them back then. Probably worth a small fortune. Too bad we can’t take this with us.” He stood and looked to Andrasta. “Thoughts?”

After the last several days of exertion, Andrasta felt the effects of the climb. She knew that Rondel and Jahi would be feeling far worse. Based on what they dealt with in The Blood Forest, she had no idea what they’d face going forward. She pulled out the water skin and took a long swallow. She handed it off to Jahi.

“Let’s take a few minutes to recover, then move on. This may be our last chance to catch our breaths.”

Chapter 17

Rondel followed Jahi and Andrasta into a downward-sloping tunnel that narrowed and widened several times. They reached an intersection where the tunnel branched off into three others.

Andrasta turned back to him. “Which one?”

Rondel stared at the three openings, each identical in size and shape. “Gods if I know.”

“The song?”

“No. The last verse talked about the hands of might needed to escape.”

“That’s it?” she asked. “No explanation of what to do once we got in?”

“Nothing. I’ve often wondered about the abrupt ending myself. My guess is that there was more to the song at one point, but eventually it was shortened.”

“Why would someone do that?”

“Because I doubt anyone ever thought about it being a set of instructions. We told you it’s meant to frighten or scare. An entertainer singing the song might want to emphasize those points while downplaying the hope at the end.”

“So one man’s creativity could lead to our end,” she muttered.

“We could split up?” offered Jahi.

“Bad idea,” Rondel said. “We might never find each other again. Besides, you have the light.”

“Then we’ll just need to pick one,” said Andrasta.

“What if we pick the wrong one?” asked Jahi.

“Then we backtrack and hope we have better luck with the next choice,” Rondel said.

“That sounds like an even bigger waste of time. We need to find Dendera.”

“And we need to be smart when doing it.”

Jahi sighed. “Which tunnel do we start with?”

A faint, droning chant sounded. Jahi put his ear to each opening. “It’s coming from the middle one.”

Rondel smiled. “I vote we start there.”

At Andrasta’s urging, Jahi dimmed the light significantly. She took the lead with the boy close behind, leaving Rondel to once again guard the rear. They took at least a dozen turns into new or intersecting passageways while following the continual chanting. All the while Rondel marked their choices with loose rocks piled at the entrance of each tunnel.

Rondel nearly ran into Jahi’s back as they came to an abrupt halt. Andrasta hissed something to the boy and the fire in his hand went out. Rondel’s chest felt tighter in the pitch black until he looked past Andrasta and found a small speck of light.

Andrasta inched toward it. Slowly, more light spilled into the corridor and with it the smells of dinner around a campfire.

Great. They’re having a feast.
His stomach tightened.

She stopped at the edge of the opening and took her time peering around in all directions. After a moment, she stepped out with sword raised, gesturing them forward.

They were alone on a high ledge near the ceiling of a vast cavern. The ledge wrapped around the top of the open space with a half wall protecting them from being seen by those below. Openings similar to the one they exited pocked the path.

“Is that lamb?” whispered Jahi. He sniffed the air. “No. Boar?”

“Whatever it is, I bet I can eat an entire one by myself,” Rondel murmured.

“I doubt you’d want to,” Andrasta said, barely audible over the loud chanting.

She squatted near the half wall, looking down. Rondel and Jahi joined her.

Rondel blanched. At least a hundred people dressed in the same black and gray worn by Thabit bowed on their knees, head to the floor, chanting. They were in a circle and at the center was a raised dais. Upon the dais sat two stone slabs. On one slab rested a young, naked boy, probably near Jahi’s age. A man dressed in black and gray with yellow accents stood next to the slab. The man did not bow like the others, but instead held his hands toward the ceiling. An elaborate headdress sat on his shoulders, covering his face.

That scene was disturbing enough, but paled in comparison to what rested on the other altar where another nude form lay. Rondel assumed it also to be a young boy, but could no longer tell. The torso had been opened up and emptied of its organs. Pieces of legs, arms and face were cut away. Organs and flesh sizzled on heated stones next to the altar.

Three individuals tended the cooking meat, removing it when ready and carrying it down to those still chanting on their knees. Individuals looked up to receive their meal, devouring the prize before returning to their chanting.

Rondel took it all in with eyes wide. A rush of bile jettisoned up his throat. Only with the greatest of efforts did he manage to keep his stomach in control.

Jahi didn’t fare as well and turned away to vomit silently.

“Still hungry?” asked Andrasta. The slightest hint of a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Now you joke?” asked Rondel. “That’s sick.”

“No. What’s sick is that everyone in this cursed world thinks my people are savages. Yet things like this do not exist in my lands.”

Rondel thought about that for a moment. He too had been guilty of thinking of her people that way.

Yet, what can be more savage than this?

He cleared his throat. “You’re right. The world is full of idiots. Myself included.”

A wet sob erupted, quickly stifled. Rondel turned to Jahi. Tears poured down his cheeks.

“What—” Rondel started to ask but was cut off.

“Dendera must be dead. And they. . . .” Jahi’s voice trailed off as he began to dry heave.

“We don’t know that,” said Rondel. “Look, there are passages all along the bottom. They may be keeping her down one of those for all we know.”