Shadowhunter (Nephilim Quest Book 1) (67 page)

People were walking on the shore, but when the sun was at its highest, it became more quiet.

"Now," Artemis said, and Ambrogio walked from the mist and quickly climbed into the casket. For a brief moment the sun touched his skin, and it hurt, but the pain was tolerable. He moved so fast the sun's heat did not have a chance to linger.
 

Artemis closed the lid, and tied the leather straps that secured the lid. Ambrogio waited for his heart to thump because of the excitement, but to his surprise he heard no heartbeat. He concentrated on the stillness of his body, and then his heart beat once. A strong thump, which spread a tingling sensation all over his body. It subdued in a few minutes, and his body remained still and alert for a considerable length of time before there was another beat of the heart, and another tingling sensation. And all the time he felt that he was not breathing at all - his body seemed to drink air in through the skin.

Ambrogio then concentrated on listening to the noises of Kirrha. To his amazement his hearing seemed to be more acute as time passed. Suddenly he was listening to two merchants having an argument and the noises around them revealed that this was taking place inside a house! He could clearly hear people walking about inside, greeting one another, showing merchandise and being paid. A servant carrying a tray of cups with a clatter... Ambrogio realised he
 
was hearing all this through walls!

The smell of the resin on the planks of the casket was strong. His sense of smell was also getting sharper all the time, and the resinous scent began to overwhelm him. Ever after that day whenever he smelled resin, his memory brought him back to the alley of Kirrha, to the wooden coffin in which he lay.

Then there came the sound of many footsteps approaching, and the casket was lifted from the ground. He was carried to the pier, and hoisted onto a ship. He did not see anything, but felt the sway of the water. He was carried below deck, so this was a big ship. And then he heard the voice of Artemis.

"I
 
am leaving now. Your Selene will arrive soon. She will be given instructions about where she is to come. And under no circumstances are you to show yourself in sunlight for a whole month. Understand?"

"Yes, my goddess..." he answered.

"I shall leave you with her for the length of her life. When she is gone, it will be time for you to join my forces. By then Hades will not be looking for you any longer. He won't recognize you either, not after your change."

Ambrogio thought about what she had said, and did not know when she had left.
 

And then he heard the most beautiful voice in the world.

"Ambrogio?"

Selene had arrived.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE

83. Desert

Mut-Bity and I left Mi-Wer without me once leaving the shelter of the cabin. We did not see the yellow-eyed man anywhere on the harbor at Mi-Wer. Mut-Bity did not want to linger, though. She was clearly afraid of the man, and if she was afraid, it was certain the man was dangerous.

Our boat left us on the Western shore of the Great Lake. And that was the last time in a long time that I saw Kemet, the Black Land.

I was wrapped in linen, layers and layers of it, to prevent my skin from burning. We had a small donkey to carry our things, and Mut-Bity put me sitting on its back and began to walk. I listened to the crunching of sand and stones under her feet and the donkey's small hooves, and Mut-Bity's steady breathing. I smelled her sweat as well. By the great River she kept herself clean all the time, as did other people as well. Here we had no water for washing.

We walked, and walked, and walked. I was lulled into an almost dreamlike state at the back of the donkey. I lost track of time, and closed my eyes, and sweated under the cloth. On the hottest moments of the day we did not move, but sat under a large cloth Mut-Bity had folded on the back of the donkey, as a saddle of me. The little animal also stood quietly under the canvas, thankful for its protection from the searing sunshine, and Mut-Bity did not have the heart to push it away, even if it meant we had to sit very tightly, with our legs under the donkey's belly. Usually donkeys liked the heat, but this was too much.

"I hope the sandstorms will not begin just yet," Mut-Bity said, "Their time is almost here."

I did not see much of the Red Land when we walked in sunshine, as I was all covered by the linen cloth, but the moments before sunset were beautiful, and I could take off the scarf. The stars were strong and white in the sky at night, and sometimes I had a feeling I could fall into the sky. I said as much to Mut-Bity, and she looked at me attentively, but did not say anything.

We had two large water bags on both sides of the donkey. There was also grain for the donkey, and loaves of bread and dried fish for us.

"Where are we going? Is it far? What happens if the water runs out?"

"We can use the water in the desert, brought by others," Mut-Bity said.

"Water in the desert? Who takes it there?"

"The sand people. We are going to them, and then to a secret place of the Neteru."

"A place of gods? What is that? Where is that?" I wanted to know.

"If I told you, it would not be a secret place anymore, now would it?"

There was no denying the sense in Mut-Bity's words, so I did not ask about the place anymore. But I still wanted to know how there was water in the desert.

"The sand people have places along their paths where they bring water. They travel with donkeys, carrying water in bags like the ones we have, and empty jars. They do not carry the water in jars, because if a donkey trips over, it would break the jar, and all the water in it would be lost. †When they reach a watering place, they fill the jars from the bags, close them, and leave them there. Anyone who comes can drink from these jars."

Mut-Bity gave me a little cup full of water and I drank it carefully, not wanting to lose a single drop. My teeth were gritting with sand.

"Won't the water run out then, if everyone drinks from it?"

"These are ancient paths between different places where the sand people have travelled since time immemorial. When they leave one place, they carry enough water to reach the watering place, and leave some water there. And the same in the next watering place. If the journey is a long one, their water will run out. But because they have been doing this for too long for men to remember, they can trust that when they reach the next watering place, there will be water in jars for them to drink, left by others traveling from the opposite direction. And when they later come back along the same path, they again leave water there. Sometimes they travel with lots of donkeys, all carrying water and jars, and fill every watering place with water. This is the rule of the desert – you must leave water for the next person when at all possible. And you should never ever break the water jars. There is no worse crime in the desert."

One day we reached the oddest place. The flat desert was filled with strange-shaped boulders and rocks. They resembled lions, and sphinxes, and other strange things, which had dropped from above, or dug their way up from the belly of the earth. Their surface had crumbled, looking almost scaly, and they observed us in silence, when we passed. I knew this was the place where Mut-Bity had planned on arriving, because she gave a
 
contented sigh.

"We'll rest there, near that cliff," she said, and pointed at a flat-topped small mountain. I hopped down from the donkey, and we climbed up the sandy slope. I could see the rock, horizontally layered, rising above us. Mut-Bity chose a spot and we sat down.

"They will be here soon," she said, "I've sent word."

I had no idea how Mut-Bity could have sent a message to anyone, but if she said she had done so, I believed her.

Something white caught my attention and I walked closer to have a look. I did not understand at first, what it was I was looking at. I bent closer and screamed. The rock had teeth! A huge jaw protruded out of the cliff face, and it had huge, sharp teeth. A horrible monster must live inside the rock, and was on its way out!

Mut-Bity laughed.

"I should have warned you. The boulders and rocks and desert are filled with these skeletons. They are of no animal I know of, but they have been gigantic creatures before their death."

She walked me a short distance, and showed me some big bones on the desert floor. One of them was like a huge snake. I got scared and wanted to get back to the slope. All these dead monsters made me fear they might come back to life.

When we got to the slope, we noticed we were no longer alone. Three short men and their donkey were standing by our donkey, all wrapped in worn clothing. You could only see their eyes, which were amazingly bright, surrounded by thick, dry skin that was so tanned it looked almost black. Still they were not Kushites, not black by birth.

Mut-Bity bowed to them and said something in an odd language. They bowed as well, and without further ado, set camp with us. Our donkeys seemed to get along well.

I listened to Mut-Bity and the men as they talked together deep into the night. I did not understand a word of their discussion, but I liked the singing tone of their language. I lay there with my eyes open, and observed the stars, and listened to the hum of the men.
 

For they hummed. This was not like the song each living thing gave in response to the song of the night. To hear that I needed total silence. No, these men gave a much stronger note, one I could almost hear with my ears. Still, it seemed like this hum was such that I heard it inside my chest, and not with my ears - or that my heart responded to it in kind.

When I turned my head, I noticed they were often looking at me, with intelligent, observing eyes that seemed to see right through me. One of them asked something about me from Mut-Bity, I was certain. He raised his hands in imitation of wings, and asked something. Mut-Bity shook her head and talked for a long time. She pointed at her eyes and made a swirling motion. The men said nothing, but their posture changed to become more alert.

They were talking of the man with the golden eyes, I knew.

I fell asleep, and was woken up by Mut-Bity before sunrise. She wrapped me in linen, and raised me onto the donkey's back.

And we continued our travel to the ends of the earth, where only sand and rock lived. I saw with my own eyes the watering places, and drank the life-giving water. I listened to the singing dunes, when they marched slowly under the sky. The sand responded to our steps with a deep ringing tone that sounded like the earth was greeting us like a roaring lion. I wondered if these vast folded expanses in fact were the hide of a big yellow lion. That thought entertained me for a whole day.

We walked through sand that had light green jewels on it, and the men gathered these in the bags their donkeys carried, and gave me one too. It had an uneven surface, that light caught beautifully. It was so small I could put in the palm of my hand, and hide it by bending my fingers around it.

I could never tell where we were going, but these men seemed to know, for they walked as confidently as though it was a village road. They knew how to navigate with the stars and how to take the sun's path into account.
 

I saw amazing formations of rock and flat expanses of sand. The journey took so long I understood that the great land of Kemet was actually a very small place under the huge sky.
 

And then, one day, we arrived. Ragged rocks reached for the sky all around us. The men walked into a small valley between them. And suddenly the silence of the desert was broken.

Every step we took, echoed back many times to us. We sounded like a whole army on the march. The cacophony made me cover my ears with my hands.

They kept on walking and then I heard other steps as well. I thought a hundred men had come to meet us, but when I peeked from under my covering, I only saw two figures approaching us.

My mouth fell open by surprise. They were dwarves! Very short, with bent legs, but amazingly fluid in their movements. A man and a woman. They stood in the middle of the valley, and smiled widely at us.

The said something that must have been a welcome, for we stopped, and the men and Mut-Bity bowed with their right hand over their heart. The dwarves did the same.

The someone else stepped into my field of vision.
 

Now I knew we had arrived to the abode of the gods. For this woman had wings. Beautiful, many-colored, see-through... wings. They could be nothing else. Not like a bird's wings. Not like a butterfly's. More like silvery ovals that pulsed with reddish light. She was wearing a dark red dress.

"Aset..." I breathed.

Mut-Bity smiled at me and then stepped to the goddess. I expected her to bow at the goddess's feet, but to my surprise they both laughed, and spread their arms and hugged each other and laughed out loud like long lost sisters, who had found each other again.

"Now we are safe," Mut-Bity said to me, "come and meet your kind."

CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR

84. Elijah and Merit

"So Elijah had a wife," I could not pretend this was news to me. "Diana told me about her once, when she thought... I should know."

"Yes, I figured Diana might tell you after we came back from the desert," Daniel looked at me inquiringly but did not ask more. "He met her when he was traveling in the Nordic Countries, checking on adopted Nephilim children there."

"She was a Nephilim, then?"

"Yes, adopted by a Finnish family. We do check on these children, discreetly, every once in a while, so that we can be near, when the time comes to gain their power. We need to explain things to them then."

"And they have no idea what they are, just like I never did? That can be hard..."