Djer grabbed him by a shoulder and stared him in the eyes. “Your sister is safe. Those statues coming back to life turned the tide of battle. All of Ka-Tor is celebrating.”
Jake—running on adrenaline for so long—simply fell on his backside on the step. There was so much more to tell, to share; but for now he needed a moment simply to bask in his thankfulness.
That wasn’t to be.
Two figures came shouldering up the steps.
“Get out of the way!” The tone was pure princess.
Djer moved aside to let Nefertiti through. She hardly looked like royalty. Her clothes had been shredded by claws. Scrapes still bled on her face, and one eye was swollen. She must have offloaded from the barge as soon as its crew surrendered. She stopped a step below, one hand on her hip, staring at Jake.
“Glad someone knows how to obey a royal order!” A ghost of a grateful smile tempered her haughtiness. “As a reward, I thought I’d return your friend to you. Thank you for lending him to me.”
She turned to let Pindor past her. He came limping, his condition no better than hers, but he seemed much too happy as he held her hand.
Looks like he’d made a friend.
Pindor joined Nefertiti on the step. It was difficult, because he carried a cumbersome burden. Under one arm he hauled a huge brown egg speckled with red splotches.
Noting Jake’s attention, Pindor nodded to the square. “Found it down there.”
Jake recognized what it was, realizing that his time-reversal spell must have rippled all the way down to the courtyard. It seemed that the pteranodon had returned to its egg.
Pindor struggled with it.
“I’m starving,” he said.
Jake smiled. No matter where in time or space, some things never changed.
“Sun should be rising soon,” Pindor said as his stomach growled. “Thought I’d cook it up.”
Jake stood, brushed the seat of his pants, and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “That sounds like a good plan.”
33
LAST PROPHECY
A week later, a grand celebration spread from one land to the other.
As the sun shone brightly, Jake strolled by himself through the courtyard of the castle in Kalakryss amid the pomp and glory of two worlds slowly coming together. Horns blared and drums beat, accompanied by the strums of lutes and lyres. The battlement walls had been draped with a mix of tapestries from both Calypsos and Deshret. Banquet tables overflowed with delicacies from each land as cooks from two lands competed to show their best.
Off by the steps to the castle, the members of the Council of Elders sat atop a raised dais, alongside the retinue of Pharaoh Neferhotep. The old king’s health was slowly returning after the poisoning, but he was still weak. To get here, he had to be carried across the portal atop a cushioned palanquin. Jake watched Pindor’s father, Elder Marcellus Tiberius, bow his head in conversation with the old man. There would be much more talking before the two lands truly got to know each other, but it was a start.
Farther down the dais, Djer laughed with the Viking Elder, Astrid Ulfsdottir. He seemed very intrigued by the woman. She, in turn, couldn’t seem to get enough of the baby being bounced on Djer’s knee. The Egyptian had decided to raise his cousin, Kree. Perhaps with such a positive role model, Kree would grow up to be a better man the second time around. But right now, Djer had his hands full and had explained to Jake why.
Poor Kree is in pain. He’s teething quite badly.
Jake felt no sympathy.
Jake came to a section of the yard where a makeshift dance floor had been roped off. Musicians from both lands took turns playing. Laughter rang out loudest here as dancers attempted to learn the steps of foreign dances. At the moment, a rowdy song—sounding vaguely Scottish to Jake’s ears—played while dancers hopped on one foot with their partners.
Jake spotted Pindor out there. He was wearing his usual Roman toga, but he’d clearly gone to great lengths to dress it up, with straps of braided leather and bronze medals, including one marking him as a legionnaire of the city’s Saddlebacks. He was clearly trying to impress his dance partner—though he spent most of his time hopping with one hand holding the edge of his toga down, trying to keep it from flapping up and exposing himself.
His partner seemed oblivious, smiling as she sought to learn the dance. Nefertiti had painted her face in true Egyptian style, but she wore a resplendent hunting outfit with matching cloak. She saw Jake, and her smile broadened.
But it was not directed at him.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned.
Marika stood shyly a step away, dressed in a long white linen dress, with a short embroidered vest. Her black hair hung loose, combed to the middle of her back. At her throat hung a piece of jade carved into the image of a jaguar. In the sunlight, the stone glinted an emerald green, a brilliant match to her eyes.
“Marika …” he stammered, struggling for words.
A blush rose to her cheeks.
An exasperated voice called out from behind him. “Oh, just ask her to dance already.”
He turned to find Kady standing there, her arm around Pindor’s older brother, Heronidus. The two had spent most of the past week getting reacquainted. It had involved a lot of kissing.
Still, Jake knew the young man wasn’t the entire reason Kady had stayed away. Upon returning to Ka-Tor, Jake had spent an entire evening explaining all that had happened to her. Most of his words went to describing the sudden reappearance of their mother. Kady made him repeat everything—every word, every gesture—of that brief reunion. All the while she had cried, her tears a mix of happiness and disappointment.
Why you and not me? she had finally moaned, covering her face.
Jake had no answer; but in the end, they also both recognized a hard truth. The image in Thoth’s mirror was centuries old. For all Jake knew, he had been speaking to nothing more than the ghost of his mother.
Afterward, with no resolution, Kady had grown apart from him, perhaps finding it too painful to be near him. Even now Jake saw a glint of sadness in her eyes, laced with jealousy for what he got to experience and she did not. He didn’t know what to say to soothe that ache.
Still, she hugged him, her cheek against his. “Dance,” she said to him with the smallest of sad smiles. “Just dance.”
Grabbing his shoulders, she turned him back to Marika.
Maybe that’s all they could do for now.
He held out his hand.
Marika took it.
The music had slowed to something quiet yet hopeful. He walked out with Marika, folded her to him, and, step by slow step, he danced and let the world around him turn.