Soul Awakened (28 page)

“Isis, do you really have to test every gods damn blade? It is sharp enough,” Sin growled and threw Bakari a towel. Instead of using the linen for the intended purpose, Bakari wiped the length of the blade.

“You are one sorry son of an odjit.” Sin drew in a deep drag off his smoke and blew it at Bakari. He threw the butt on the floor and let out a few more cuss words. “When the hell are they going to let us out of here and train us to fight? I am sick of this weapon cleaning business. We will be here for the next year, if the Commander expects us to clean every weapon. Do you know how many there are?”

“Two for every warrior in the legions, which equates to over ten thousand weapons,” Bakari answered. His father had drilled that information into him when he assumed possession of the gate key and his role as protector of the gates. With his power to kill gods, he was sanctioned to terminate anyone who threatened Aaru.

Sin leaned forward. “Now how the hell do you know that? Some repressed memory?”

Bakari met Sin’s gaze. “Yeah, something like that.” Despite Sin’s incessant chattering, the warrior never left his side, always watching his back even though Bakari never asked him to do so. For that matter, all the fledglings had slowly warmed up to him. Keeping their distance at first and then eventually congregated around him. Why, he could not fathom. He rarely contributed to the group other than cleaning weapons or performing some other low life job.

“Well, we are going to be here for a century.” Sin stowed his weapon in the wall mount and turned to Bakari. “Time for a little rest and Reina. I think that’s her name.” His bunkmate paused and stared at him a moment. “You are going tonight whether we all have to drag your ass there.”

Bakari continued to wipe the blade. Despite Bomani’s efforts to waylay him, he actually enjoyed caring for the weapons. It was an art only a master could appreciate. He had been an expert swordsman.

Had been.

There wasn’t a blade he could not handle. He grabbed the hilt and balanced it in his palm. 

“Hey, did you hear me?  You are not going to blow us off again.
Isis
, it has been thirty days since your sorry soul was drug from the waters at least come have a drink with us.”

Bakari looked up to find fifty expectant gazes. All he wanted to do was go back and crawl in his hole for another thirty days, but he knew he would never hear the end of it from his bunkmate. The warrior would find every opportunity to annoy him.

“Fine.” Bakari returned the blade to the table and stood. Sin’s mouth gaped open. He had apparently expected Bakari to decline, he had every other day.

So why today
? True, he was feeling more centered and focused as of late. His blood thirst had waned from unbearable to tolerable. He had even started conversing with some of the brother warriors.

All that aside, he was missing half of himself. He rubbed his fingers over the flashlight in his pocket. The little electric device carried the significance equal to that of a spiritual charm. Anytime he was feeling particularly bad with too much self-loathing to pull himself out of bed, he would rub his fingers against it.

Sin laughed. “Excellent. I so need a release.”

No one moved, even Sin stood there waiting. Bakari realized they were deferring to him. Too tired to argue, he led the platoon out the door and into the streets of the warrior village. Large sandstone buildings lined the long dirt street. He turned to the right and headed to the only building with a red wooden door. The warrior hall.

Bakari had never entered the hall before, even prior to his kidnapping. The stench of drugs drifted in the air along the road, as did the loud voices of its patrons. He rubbed his now damp palms on his pants. Distant memories flickered at the edge of his conscious. Regretting his choice to attend this evening, he stopped ten feet from the door and eyed an escape route to the warrior billeting.

The bullish warrior at the door with dark shoulder length hair and tattoos running the length of his arms stared at him. “What’s it going to be fledgling? In or out?”

Without thinking Bakari backed into Sin. His bunkmate stepped up next to him. “You cannot avoid everyone forever— not if you want to see the owner of that lantern you hold so tightly. Hope is only good if you use it.”

Spirits of warrior ancestors danced in Sin’s gold, but very wise eyes. It reminded him of why he was here in the warrior village. Kamen had said he needed to find his honor. He could not very well do that hiding underneath his cot.

He sighed and touched the flashlight again. The ache in his chest had been reduced to a burning knot over the last several weeks. A flash of guilt made it burn a little hotter knowing she had felt his pain at its worst. At the time he could not control it, but the last couple weeks he was able to stay focused enough to minimize its effects. Did she notice he was at least trying? Not that he expected Kendra to wait for him, but he would like to see her again without the shadow of shame.

The last month he made no progress in his quest to find his honor, but rather wallowed in his pain instead. Sin was right, he needed to move forward and not stagnate any longer. Tonight was as good as any to dive into the scorpion’s den.

Bakari nodded to the sentry to open the door. A new journey waited for him on the other side and he was finally ready to take a baby step forward. Before entering he rubbed the blood from his hand on the exterior wood of the door, as millions of warriors had done since their creation. Blood and battles were left in the streets.

Each step was agonizing as the stench of sweet smelling drugs, ale, and sex assaulted his senses. He swallowed a wave of nausea. It was all too reminiscent of his previous days.

He was grateful that the most senior of the warriors were in the back room. Bomani would be sitting there with his senior officers sharing the best wine and women. He did not want to face his brother’s condescending gaze. The oppressive crowd was enough.

He moved quickly among the tables to the darkest and least occupied corner of the hall. The weight of a thousand gazes weighed on him. They were surprised to see him in here. After he pummeled Haji and his welcome party on the first day, most of the warriors left him alone. He had been wound so tight the last month, none but Sin and a few fledglings ever approached him. Tonight was the most contact he had and it was unbearable. He needed a drink and fast.

With a strong tug the sheet fell away from the profile wall. Kendra grabbed three dry erase markers and tapped the caps against her palm. She stared at the cluster of symbols that represent each of the suspects and the lines drawn to represent the connections between the individuals. A red line connected Kepi to both Asar and Bakari. Blue lines connected Kepi and her father, the index patient for the curse. In a triangle with Menthu at the top, Kepi and the third unknown suspect were connected by black lines.

The second dry erase board mapped out the timeline that spanned from the present back over two thousand years, marking the event of Asar’s involvement with Kepi. She stared at Bakari’s name and hated the line running from Kepi’s symbol to his. She drew X’s on the lines to represent Kepi’s failure to overthrow Asar from within. Adding a new vertical line, she wrote in black, ‘convicted for her crimes.’ Kendra traced over the red star above the goddess’ entombment. Menthu’s plan— place a curse upon Kepi’s tomb, release her and the curse upon humankind, and bring war to the Pantheon.

She walked forward up the timeline. With her blue marker she drew stars over her and her sisters’ birthdates. The Mother Goddess’ plan to thwart Menthu. Two black lines marked the day Lilly released the goddess and subsequently the curse. She wrote the word,
early
, and circled it. She went back to Menthu’s symbol.

“What were you waiting for, Menthu? You had enough forces to wage war at any time.” Something didn’t make sense. Menthu, the God of War, waiting all that time? “You are much too volatile to have that kind of patience.” Sure, tactics and battle plans were his specialty, but like any dictator he was greedy and overconfident. She remembered Asar stating that Menthu was unstable. Pride was his greatest weakness. Would he wait two thousand years?

She went to Kepi’s entombment mark and stared at the red star. “Something happened here,” she mumbled. “The game changed, didn’t it?”

Looking at the triangle, she started to wonder. Menthu lead the charge at Thebes with Kepi. They all assumed he was the point man. No one questioned it, but what if…

She grabbed the eraser, cleaned the board, and rewrote the names. What if Menthu wasn’t the leader at all, but the third conspirator? The possibilities jumbled in her head. Menthu, a pawn, like Kepi. Although cunning and unscrupulous, neither had the skill to weave black magic. Not to the level of mastering a reven curse and to entomb Bakari.

Her head began to throb. She stared at the scorpion symbol. “How did they kidnap you without you killing them first? You knew who kidnapped you.” Who did Menthu and Kepi turn to join their cause?

The individual had to have been recruited two thousand years ago or agreed to come on board at the time of Kepi’s release. The unknown conspirator had to coordinate Bakari’s kidnapping and lure Asar to a location where he could be subdued to cut out his heart and steal the key to the Underworld.    

Kendra grabbed her priestess robe from the bed and threw it on over her t-shirt and shorts. Her pectoral necklace lay against her chest. She needed her status as Mother Goddess’ principal to gain access to where she needed to go.

She stopped short of the door and glanced over her shoulder. Uneasiness settled in her gut. Lilly’s doubt of Bakari’s innocence echoed in her head. Kepi all but handed Bakari’s tomb over. What if this was another move on the chess board? 

There was only one way to find out and one person to ask.

With her hand on the door knob, she took a deep breath mustering the confidence to face the god, who owned her soul.

***

Kendra followed her body guard through the warrior village. A cool breeze hit her face, clearing the dizziness from the teleportation. If Lilly, Asar, or Bomani found her here, they would surely lock her up in the loony bin. Heck, she about put herself there all on her own. Considering she was seeking out the source of her insanity, maybe she should be?

Her success hinged on Bakari wanting to see her. She needed to know. Did he know who kidnapped him? Or worse, was it all a ruse?

She followed her guardian to a building at the end of the long dirt street. He stopped at what looked like a command center. The sentry narrowed his gaze at her. He turned to the guardian and shook his head. Her guardian proceeded to exchange words with the guard.

Permission or not, she ducked and scurried down a dark corridor. Loud voices echoed in the hallway. She darted deeper into the complex and through the first door she came to. She backed into the room, her eyes never leaving the hallway. As she slid the door shut, a clang sounded behind her. She whirled around. A large group of warriors cleaning weapons stared at her.

“Shoot.” Game over.

Her knees started to shake underneath her robe. One of the largest warriors at the front of the table approached her. She straightened to her full height, which still only brought her to about chest high with the dark warrior. Only his forearms were marked with tattoos which indicated the lower ranks of warriors. Maybe she could use that to her advantage or… they might eat her alive. The other warriors stood at the table and moved forward behind their leader.

Kendra mouth went dry when she saw the thick blade in his hand. His brows lowered and his frown deepened.

Kendra mustered her confidence. “I’m looking for B—“

“Bomani is not here,” he interrupted.

“I’m not here to see him.”

The warrior sneered. “Are you here to see me then?”

Offended, Kendra jerked back. “No! I’m trying to find Bakari.”

The men laughed. “Asar’s son. Here?”

Loud voices resonated from the corridor she had just traveled. Kendra shot her gaze over her shoulder to the door and then back to the warrior. “Listen, I need to find him. It’s very important.” A deep male voice sounded on the other side of the door. Fearful of being discovered, she grabbed the warrior’s hand. “Please.”