Sekhmet's Fang

Nefara slid from Sesmet's back, staggered three steps and landed upon her rump. She groaned, dusted herself off and climbed to her wobbly feet. She stripped down to her cotton dress and splashed, bowl legged, out to where Sesmet had wandered into the sandy bottomed pool for a drink. She threw her riding robes over his shoulders and slid her bronze spear free from his pack. She stretched up on her tip-toes to untie the pack and simple blanket that had served as her saddle.

As her fingers touched the first knot, Sesmet's head snapped up with a snort and sprayed Nefara with slobber-water. He sidestepped and pranced a couple strides away.

"Ew, gross! Sesmet?" Nefara strode after him.

Sesmet snorted again and craned his head over his shoulder. Tension shivered his fetlocks.

Alerted, Nefara gripped her spear and slowly turned. A rumbling growl issued from a tuft of scrub brush that should've been to sparse to hide anything.

Sesmet screamed at the sound and barreled from the pool.

"Sesmet!" Nefara took a running pace after him. A weight slammed her in the shoulder and sent her sprawling in a spray of water. She erupted from the pool, but it was too late.

Sesmet raced for the desert a spotted leopard sped at his heels. The pair disappeared over the first dune with all of her gear.

Already soaked, she sat with a splash. Dark, desperate despair sprung a leak in her eyes.

"Well, that was... entertaining."

Nefara leapt to her feet. On the far side of a pool, leaning against a palm was a man swathed in the colorless robes of a desert dweller. Although a bronze khopesh hung at his waist, he was not Egyptian. He might've been Mennonite, Sumerian or possibly even Peleset.

"If you're done staring, you might want to come out of there?" The young-man pushed away from the palm and struck a pose. He looked her up and down. "I can't believe even city folk are dumb enough to wear that in the desert."

Heat blossomed on Nefara's cheeks. I was in a hurry. It's not like I had much of a choice, you camel's ass. She looked down at herself and blanched. Her wet, knee length gown clung to every contour. Waterlogged, the Masolos' cotton was quite sheer.

The boy-man must've had the eyes off a hawk for he chuckled as a rosette tide flooded her flesh. "Come on." He turned and waved for her to join him. "Let's see if we can't get you something to wear."

Oh, like fat chance. My luck and you're a Maenide raider. I'm not coming anywhere near you dressed-- She glanced about. She had nothing. No shelter. No water-skin. No mount. Resigned, she trudged after the stranger her spear training through the water behind her.

A sort distance back within the palm grove upon the sunrise shore, the young man turned to her, arms open wide. "Come in. Come in. Welcome to Itri's home away from home." The camp was little more than a fire pit, dune colored tent and a cud chewing camel.

"I'm Itri."

Itri was little older than she. His curly, windblown hair was brown rather than Egyptian black. His eyes were a rich, brown nut and if it hadn't been for her dire predicament she would've found the playfulness in his smile infectious.

"Hi, I -- uh -- I'm Nefara. Of Feyum. Ramose's daughter. I--" She picked at her rapidly drying gown. Her voice shrank. "I could use your help. I'll -- I can pay."

"With--" Itri dragged out the word. "--what?"

"Sesmet will be back." Her voice cresendoed to a hopeful pitch. "He has gold."

"Sesmet? Your horse? Not likely." Itri bent before his low tent and rooted about inside. "You see the color of that beast? That was Ubastie, or one of her servants. She ran your horse off for a purpose."

Ubastie? Lava blood rose in her breast. Bast? She pulled at her hair. Damned fickle cat.

"You city folk call her Bast, I think." Itri stood and tossed her a robe. "Sorry 'bout the smell."

Smell? She brought the garment to her nose. She made a nasty face and held it away. Now that her Egyptian dress was almost dry she decided it was good enough and tossed the robe back.

"Sorry. Camel. Gets into everything." Itri waved at a mat of palm fronds upon the sand. "Sit." He paused a moment. "What's a city girl doing out here anyway?"

The hair on the back of Nefara's neck went all tomcat. "Woman! Not girl." Ass. She didn't sit.

"And I'm not a boy." He grinned and took his own advice and seated himself. "I'm on my man quest."

Her hackles lay back down. "What's a man quest?"

"An answer for an answer. I asked first. Are you a runaway?"

Nefara sprang back and braced herself against a palm tree. She leveled her spear. An adrenaline flood of fear pumped from her heart. "I'm not a slave!"

Itri held up his hands. "Easy. Easy! I didn't say you were. There are other reasons to run away."

Nefara lowered her guard, although the tension didn't quite flee. "I wasn't running away," She snapped. "I was--" Running away. "--seeking a new home. Bast..."

A heartbeat's confusion crossed Itri's face. He looked at her in that way that men had. Such looks would've usually made her skin crawl.

"No one would pay your bride price? I find that hard to believe."

Fire scored her cheeks. She hid her blush by seating herself. "I -- Amos did. Bast sent me away."

"Bast? The goddess? She ran off your intended?"

"Well--" She fiddled with the girdle about her dress. "--beasts -- monsters have been attacking Fayum. We -- the High-Priest had us pray to Bast for protection. She answered. She promised her children would protect us if we gave her Sekhmet's Fang."

"Her children?" Itri rocked back. "Her children are the Maenide, or at least Ubastie's children are, but gods know they wouldn't have anything to do with city folk."

"Children of Bast?" Her words came out as a crescendoed shriek. "More like heartless, raiding, woman-stealing, thieves."

Perhaps it was the palm shadows but for a moment Itri's skin took on the color of Set's sands. "I wouldn't say that in front of a Maenide. They might take insult." His words calmed. "How'd Ubastie make said--" He spread his hands. "--promise?"

"She spoke. With words."

Itri scowled at her. "You mean Bast came down from Ra's barge and talked to you?"

"Yeah." She paused. "Well, sorta. Not to me. To everyone. "

Itri raised an eyebrow.

"It's true."

"I'm sure it was." He tried to hide it but his eyes rolled. "And then what?"

"The statue squashed Hoetepm flat--" A disrespectful snort escaped. "--our high-priest. Bast said to send the one that had already slain Cadoc's child."

"That must've been a sight."

Nefara blanched. "They blamed me!"

"You? Why?"

"Atep told everyone."

"Atep? Who's Atep? What'd he tell?"

"That I killed a jackal-man, when I was tending goats."

"Wait a moment. You tend goats? You killed a jackal-man?"

"Yes, I killed a jackal-man." She impaled him with her gaze. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"No. I was asking about the -- nevermind." Itri shifted uncomfortably. "What about Ubastie -- uh -- Bast? She demanded Sekhmet's Fang?"

"Yes, but it's impossible."

"How so?"

"Sekhmet's Fang." She punctuated her words with a sharp nod towards Itri. "A man. A dead man. He was a Peleset warlord. Ravaged the land until Pharaoh cornered him in Namond. How can I retrieve a dead man?"

"You know--" Itri fingered his barely-there beard upon his chin. "--the Peleset King was not only thing known as Sekhmet's Fang?"

Hope surfaced in the waters of Nefara's soul. "Say what?"

"The Maenide called his spear, Sekhmet's Fang."

She blinked a few times. "They did." A serpent's hiss deflated her rising joy. "You know this how?"

Itri shrugged. "I'm Maenide?"

Nefara launched to her feet. A shriek built towards critical pressure within her breast. "You mean you're a thief!" She backed away several steps and raised her spear. "A goat raider! A -- a--" She could bring herself to say more.

Red rage boiled under Itri's skin. He climbed to his feet and stalked after her. "Theif! Theif! I shared my water with you."

"It's an oasis!"

"That I'm camped at! That I'm guarding. I invited you to my fire!"

"Water is free to all!"

"Is that what you say when we come knocking at Fayum's gates?" His words came out as a roar. "Or do you turn us away unless we can pay your price!"

"You're raiders!"

"You're just as much a thief as we. Worse!" He advanced another step. "You're water thieves! You built your walls and keep everyone else out. We raid so we can pay your price in order to get enough to drink!" He turned his back on her spear and stomped back to his seat. "Now sit down! You have nowhere to go. Unless you think you can walk back to Fayem! There's nothing else out here, not for many night's travel. Namond was close before your Pharaoh destroyed it!"

He was right about there being nowhere to go. Oh gods. Bast protect me. She looked about for the panther but it was nowhere to be seen. From this prospective the oasis was the center of creation and the rest of the universe was desert sand. Oh gods. "I..." Nefara's heart beat wildly. She took a tentative step towards the fire-pit.

"I won't bite." Itri's words were awash with sarcasm. "And we don't steal girls!"

She shuffled a step back towards camp. Her gaze jumped from push to tree to shadow.

"I told you I was on my man quest. We do that alone. Like a man. There's no one waiting to leap out at you."

Well out of his arm's reach, she eased herself to her seat and laid her spear across her lap. "Your man quest. What exactly is a man quest?"

Itri probed the inside of his cheek with his tongue before answering. "A man must bring value to his clan. When--" He paused. "--a boy is ready to be counted a man, he must prove himself before he can own a tent, horses or a wife."

"He owns his wife."

Itri sucked in a heavy breath. "Before he takes a wife."

"So now he--"

Itri held up his hands. "Please. Peace. I meant that only a man may marry a wife."

Nefara cycled a breath and let the pressure within her breast bleed into the sands. "So, what do you do on your man quest?"

Itri snorted. He dragged a rucksack from his tent and rummaged within. He held up a loaf. "Bread?" Without waiting for an answer he ripped off a chunk and tossed it to her. Cheese followed.

"What does a man do on his man quest?" He munched on his half of the loaf. "Find new water. Negotiate trade. My Dad killed a man-eater terrorizing the clan. The quest doesn't just make a man but helps define who he'll be. Some men bring new blood."

"New blood?"

Itri turned the color of baked brick and cleared his throat. "Hum, well, a -- only a man -- uhm -- can have a wife. So if -- uh -- a boy on his man-quest returns with a wife..." Itri looked down at his lap.

"He's a man," Nefara finished for him.

"So you see," Itri said, "the woman makes the man as much as the man makes the woman."

"I see. And just how does a man make a woman?" Nefara's voice wallowed in pseudo-sarcasm.

Itri looked momentarily sun scorched. He cleared his throat. "So, you know, if you and I--"

"What?"

"--got the spear. Got the spear! If I helped you get Sekhmet's Fang you could like set me up with your Dad -- uh -- Ramose, Ramose the Trader of Fayum. We could make a water agreement. And maybe there'd be another jackal-man. It'd be like I completed four--" He flinched. "--three man quests. Better than even my -- my chieftain."

He'd help her get Sekhmet's fang? Hope dawned within Nefara's breast. "I--"

Itri held up a hand for silence.

"What?" she snapped.

He glared at her but said nothing. He cocked his ear to the side. Something rustled in the brush. Very slowly Itri reached for his tent.

The camel groaned and kicked to its feet. The brush exploded. Itri rolled. The jackal that shredded the air where he'd been let out a yipping growl and launched itself at Nefara.

She knocked the jackal from the air with the butt of her spear and drove its bronze blade through the jackal's rib-cage. She tore her weapon free in time for a second, leaping jackal to pinion itself upon the spear-head. She side stepped and dumped the body to one side. With all her strength, she spun the spear in a wide arc. A third jackal staggered sideways with a nasty gouge across its face.

The beast spun, grew, morphed into an anthropomorphic monster with the head of a jackal, body of a man and taloned fingers that belonged to neither. It turned its gaze upon Nefara and barred its teeth with a growl so deep it made the trees tremble.

Nefara staggered back, tripped over a corps and bounced on her ass. The monster flinched as a spot of blood blossomed upon its chest. A second and third crimson wound opened in its black flesh. Arrows sang off palm trees behind the beast. The jackal-man took a step and slammed face down between Nefara's legs. She shrieked and scrambled back.

Itri grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet. "Get the tent, hurry!"

"Wha--"

"The tent!" He grabbed for the camel's reins and hauled its head down. "We need to get out of here now!"

A yipping yowl punctuated his words.

The tent was a single pole, a few stakes and a canvas. Inside was a scorpion mat, a pack and a few blankets. She hauled the pack out and rolled the rest in a tight role around the pole. Itri heaved the blanket-saddle upon the camel and lashed down his gear. When he turned back to Nefara she thrust the tight bound bundle of his tent at him. He blinked, as though titan struck.

"What?"

"Err. That was... fast."

"Thanks," she snapped. "Now hurry." She scrambled about camp collecting the few odds and ends that always get left out. "Where do you want these?"

"I'll take them." He tossed her three empty water skins. "Fill these."

She ran to the oasis pond. The third skin was half full when something moved up behind her. She whirled her spear poised.

Itri leapt back. "Just me! Just me."

"Gods, don't do that. What about the others?" she said pointing at the half dozen other various bladders lashed to the camel's saddle.

"Already full. Now up." He grabbed her by the waist and tossed, as much as hoisted her onto the kneeling beast.

"I've never--"

"Now's the time to learn." He scrambled up behind. He tapped the beast with a stick and the camel swayed to its feet. He tapped it again and it took off with a gait that promised to make Nefara sick.

They'd fled the shade too early. Shadow-death still cooked the dunes and everything on it. Perhaps that's why the jackals gave up pursuit. Even so, with the camel's long stride, the oasis shade was lost beyond many towering waves of sand when the jackal's turned back. Still, the fleeing couple pressed on.

Half a day of camel sway made Nefara's stomach want to spill. Ra's glory burned sight, skin and baked her mind. Itri's weight wedged her hard against the camel's front hump and her legs burned with saddle rash. She was too fatigued to feel joy when Itri handed her down as Ra lit the heavens with his farewell fire.

Her legs buckled from camelback abuse. Not wanting to stand, Nefara crawled a few paces from their mount to the top of the ridge they'd stopped behind.

Nefara found herself looking over the edge of a stony scarp. Below, in a wide, sun shadowed valley spread a ruin of tumbled sandstone walls and roofless buildings. Sphinx, obelisk and other monuments lay crumbled and broken.

She looked back at Itri who was already busy making camp. "Where are we?"

"Namond. The Tomb of Sekhmet's Fang."

"Tomb? It looks like a city."

"A dead city. Your Pharaoh killed it. This is where the Peleset horde met its end."

"He's not my Pharaoh."

"Whatever. You knew who I meant."

The next morning, as Ra's glory spread across the wastes, she woke, a loud snort still echoing in her nasal cavity. Her heart cringed and whispered a hasty prayer that Itri hadn't heard. But he was gone. Warmth, from where she'd pressed up against him in her sleep, dwindled. She crawled from the blankets.

Itri looked up as she emerged from the tent. "Mornin'." His eyes traveled to her hair.

A flash in the pan heat drove the morning chill from Nefara's flesh. "Eep." She raked her fingers through her hair trying to tame bed head. "Oh gods, I'm a mess. Don't look."

Itri snorted and pointed the camel-lick atop his own head. "Relax. You're more beautiful than the sunrise."

Nefara felt caught in a gorgon's gaze.

"Sit," Itri said. He patted the matt beside the fire. "Have some coffee." He presented her with a mug.

Nefara wrapped her fingers about the liquid warmth and sucked in heavy breath through her nose. The aroma alone went a long way towards energizing her nerves. "Uhm, thanks."

She took sip and bravery surged. "Do you really think I'm beautiful?" She kept her focus on the coffee.

Itri poked needlessly at the fire. After a few heartbeats she looked up. Their gazes snared. He unraveled his tangle first and looked away, his face painted red with firelight.

"Yeah. Sure. Who wouldn't?"

Who wouldn't? Gods, everyone? Still, a smile twitched on Nefara's lips. She returned her attention to her coffee but a warm glow that had nothing to do with the hot drink suffused her breast.

Nefara packed away camp before Ra's boat climbed high in the sky but Itri made no attempt to saddle their camel. She joined him at the lip of the embankment overlooking Namond.

"I think we should walk from here."

Nefara fingers twitched at the effort to not rub the insides of her thighs. "Why?"

"Namond's cursed. We don't need a cursed camel."

"Uh huh. What about us?"

"What about us? Impossible god quest. Jackal-men. Unrequited love. Bed head? How much more cursed do you think we can get?"

"Huh? What?"

"Nothing." Itri started down the slope. "Let's go get that spear."

"Do you really think it's down there? Wouldn't Pharaoh have looted the bronze?"

"Perhaps. But we're not getting' into Pharaoh's treasury."

"So, it'd better be here? We're risking our lives on a prayer?"

"Right."

"So, where would it be?"

"Buried in the Peleset King's breast bone."

"Really?"

"That's the legend."

"What legend?"

"My people's. Come." He nodded his head for her to follow.

They picked their way down off the scarp's stony crest. Sun and work had warmed Nefara's bones but once in the shade of broken city walls a chill crept back. Something about the ruined city pushed at her soul warning her to stay away. She glanced longingly back towards their sunlit camp. Her gaze briefly caught a shadow.

Nefara grabbed Itri's arm and pointed. "What's that?"

Several heartbeats cycled by.

"What's what?" Itri's words were as tight as her own breast felt.

"I thought I saw..." A lion? It had looked like a lion. A big lion.

Somewhere, a stone tumbled, cracking the silence. After that one rebellion, stillness returned more forceful than before.

"Well, there's nothing there now." Itri tugged on her arm. "Let's go. This place..." He shivered.

They picked their way along the tumbled sandstone wall to an opening. There, an abandoned thoroughfare was flanked Egyptian obelisk. Only two remained standing. A third was broken off at half-mast.

"That's the way." Itri's words skittered through the stone still silence.

His words faded but the sound didn't stop. It was the hiss of sand over the crest of a dune. It was the tread of a million poisonous arachnids.