Heretic of the Nile

021

Entering the Great Temple of Ptah was far more difficult than they had anticipated. Kanefer had likely gotten wind of Mereneith's existence and had thus stepped up surveillance around the temple grounds, hoping to be able to catch his missing younger brother.

Mereneith and Kha had been monitoring the temple's various entrances for several hours, yet they still could not find a suitable gap for them to slip inside without being noticed.

"Must we really get inside the temple?" Kha asked. "Could you not try to make a new version of that thing?"

"With what?" Mereneith plucked a splinter off a stray wooden pole and tossed it in the prince's face. "This?" She looked back towards the temple's north gate, just in time to see two guards switch shifts. "We need to get our hands on a few more crystals too. I can't conjure those out of thin air," she said.

Slipping down the dark alley, she led the way to a different entrance, hoping for better luck.

"Kanefer must suspect that one of the priests is working with us. Look at the way they're checking all of them," Mereneith murmured.

Priests of the temple were still allowed to enter and leave to go about their daily business, but were being subjected to stringent and sometimes downright aggressive checks by Kanefer's guards. A couple of times Mereneith flinched when she saw how the guards were trying to pry the faces off the priests as if they were wearing masks to hide their true identities.

"Do you think he's caught on to Tjethy?"

She shrugged. "No idea. But I think he's taking no chances."

The temple still seemed to be running as usual, which suggested that the high priest was temporarily off the hook. If he had been incarcerated, temple activities would have shut down immediately. Tjethy would have to be extremely careful with each step though, in order to continue evading detection.

"Look—it's him!" Kha pointed at a scrawny figure leaving the temple.

It was Sef, looking cowed and petrified while being questioned by the guards who towered almost two heads above him. They watched him answer all their questions with a bout of trembles, then hurriedly walk away from the temple gates to go about his task.

"Where's he going?"

"Let's follow him. This might be our only chance," Mereneith said.

According to Tjethy, Sef was working for him, so perhaps the junior priest would have a way of sneaking them into the compound without being noticed. They trailed Sef down a few streets until they could no longer see the grand façade of the great temple behind them, then, each of them grabbed the unsuspecting priest by one arm and dragged him into a side alley.

The man instinctively opened his mouth to shriek in alarm, but Mereneith promptly slapped a hand over it, smothering his cries for help.

"Shut up, unless you want to get us all killed," she hissed. She lifted her hood an inch with her other hand. "It's me, Mereneith."

When she caught the glimmer of recognition flash across Sef's eyes, she slowly released him.

"Are you out of your mind?" Sef whispered, eyes still darting around anxiously. "They're looking for you everywhere! There's notices with your faces plastered all over the city! If I get caught with you, I'll be hung as well."

"I'm not blind, and if you don't help us, you'll be dead before they catch you."

Mereneith shot Kha a glance, and a sharp tip immediately appeared at Sef's waist, jabbing his side threateningly. It was only a broken piece of wood, but the hapless priest didn't know that.