Bandages! These were Shabak's speciality, look at the way he dressed Geb's scald — tight, fast and utterly professional. And he'd know all about knots, would Friend Bluejaw. As the commune doctor, who'd be better placed to coax the trust from vulnerable young women? Women such as Berenice, who'd accept medication for her baby without suspecting it was poison. With a squad of eager helpers waiting for his commands, Shabak would not risk being absent for too long and suddenly Claudia saw the swarthy medic embalming 'patients' in his secret cave. Whistling while he worked.
Or was Neco's curious whistle the last sound these girls heard? Neco, who loathed himself so much that he stripped the very flesh off his own back in penance. Why do you hate yourself so much, Neco? Is it because of what you've done to these poor girls? Don't think I don't know what the bleeding and the bruising and the (holy Janus!) bites signify on Flea's young flesh. You rape them and you torture them, mentally and physically, and then you walk away and let them choke themselves to death. Is that why you whip yourself, Neco? To dull the pain inside your twisted mind?
What was it Min said of Neco? Doesn't tolerate familiarity. Of course not. Men like the killer don't. They can't. Intimacy is incomprehensible to them, they Claudia's heart fluttered. What was that? Footsteps. A whistle. A brisk rubbing of hands. Sweet Jupiter, whose hands? A light flickered in the distance. Growing nearer. Nearer…
Despite her gag, despite the gnawing bonds, Claudia gasped.
Of the men she had suspected, this surely was the lowest on her list and yet, dear lord, she should have guessed! Her heart began to thump. Who had access to the kitchen staff and was in charge of the commune's security? Who was so desperate to keep the guards out of the valley? Who'd be worried sick about any potential breach in the security? Only one man. The man who would not want them stumbling across a certain ancient cave.
Claudia could only stare as his broad, hairy hands pulled back the foliage from the scrambling fig across the entrance. The first night she arrived, the night she'd helped Shabak bandage the burn, Geb's hair had been damp, she remembered. It was raining that night. He'd just come in from the rain. Just come in from killing Berenice.
In the entrance to the cavern, the Keeper of the Central Store held up his torch, his eyes wide and manic, his skin shining with sweat. That bruise on his knuckles… she'd spotted it, and never thought to question its cause. Her heart was crashing wildly now, skipping several beats. Let it be quick, she prayed. Please let it be quick.
His eyes made contact with Claudia's.
Her heart stopped.
With a grunt, he lunged forward and ripped off Claudia's gag. 'What the hell-'
Fffff
The sound was so soft, Claudia barely heard it. Like a swish of cotton, or a light exhalation of breath, the sound was soft and sensuous in the silence of the cave.
As though captured on a marble frieze, everything happened in slow motion. Geb's eyes bulged. He teetered on his feet. Then slowly — oh, so slowly — the Keeper of the Central Store pitched forward. With an arrow protruding from his back.
Her heart began to grind back into action, each beat like a blacksmith's hammer on the forge. 'Marcus! Oh, Marcus, thank the gods you found me.' She owed him one for this, she really did!
But In the flickering light of Geb's torch, her eyes caught a flash of silver. Her marrow turned to ice.
No one had come to save her. Geb wasn't the killer.
Perhaps attracted by the light, perhaps attracted by the unfamiliar silver mask, Geb — like Claudia — had merely stumbled on the cave. His eyes, she realised now, had been bright from drink, not from insanity, she'd caught a blast of palm wine on his breath when he ripped away her gag. Geb had been as surprised as she was!
'Always like to keep a bow handy.' The silver figure glided into the cave. 'In fact, I had to put an arrow through a dog the other day. Caught a whiff, y'see.' He indicated the figures round the table. 'After that I had to lock the buggers up. Yours with it.'
'W-why haven't you killed me?' Claudia's voice was little more than a whisper.
'Tut, tut, girl. Mustn't believe that tosh 'bout Seth being the Devourer of Souls.' The silver figure leaned over the inert form of Geb and didn't seem to notice that Claudia's gag was gone. 'Seth doesn't kill, my child. He is not a beast like Anubis there, or Bast. Even this — ' Placing one foot on Geb's back, he hauled the arrow out and, outside, thunder masked the groan the big man made. He doesn't realise, Claudia thought, the silver killer doesn't realise that Geb is still alive! 'This was self-defence,' said Seth, brushing Geb's blood from his costume. 'Must apologise if you feel I'm tardy in consummating our relationship, my dear, but you will receive my holy seed, I promise. You see, I have something really special planned for you, Osiris.'
'Osiris?'
The silver figure misunderstood her question. 'Oh yes, Osiris must be last, because he's the only other human god present at the table. Isis over there was first, then the animals followed after — of course, their order was not important — but the ceremony must end with Osiris. Begin and end with the human gods. Begin and end with the humans.'
Silver hands picked up the gold mask and held it to the tiny light he'd brought, and while he admired it, Claudia's teeth began to chatter. This went far beyond sex and control, this was about domination of souls.
'Osiris thinks he's the son of Ra, y'see, but Seth is Ra's true son. He's shown me the path to eternal resurrection and soon the people will realise that Mentu is nothing but a Pharaoh over fools, the King of Clowns, a con man. Only Seth has the power over immortality, and I — ' he stretched out his silver sleeves — 'am prepared to confer this immortality on you, my chosen Council. Together — ' he reached for a small pot in the middle of the table — 'the eleven of us will control the destiny of mankind. Together we can rule the future.'
'And the past?'
'The past is nothing,' he said, dipping a brush in the contents. 'The future is spread across the heavens and Seth alone can read the magic written in the stars. Seth alone knows the secret spell.'
Slowly he began to stroke the paintbrush over Claudia's face, and she knew the colour would be blue.
Bright eyes glittered behind the silver mask. 'The future is my power and the future belongs to me,' he intoned quietly. 'And soon, very soon, my child, this future will be yours.'
Finishing his artwork, he stepped back to admire it, oblivious to the thunder and the white strikes of lightning.
'I have been twice blessed tonight,' he said, cheerfully touching up Claudia's cheek, one brushstroke here, another there. 'First, the jackal comes trotting like a tame dog,' he chuckled, giving Flea's mask an affectionate pat. 'Saw her, y'know, running down to the kennels. So easy to convince her I'd taken the puppy away to comfort it when it took fright during the storm, kept him safe up here in this cave. Then what do you know? Ra delivers you to my table, allowing me to advance the divine schedule.'
Slowly he placed the golden mask of Osiris, god of the underworld, over Claudia's head.
'Soon, my child, I shall return with the final member of our Holy Council and you can each watch while I implant my sacred seed inside the vulture.'
The mask was heavy. Suffocating. Heaven only knows what the others must have felt, weighted beneath the heavy animal heads. But at least Claudia's mouth was free. Who, in this storm, would hear her scream?
In the doorway, the silver figure paused. 'I've never watched before, but at the end it will be fitting, don't you think? Seth, Master of the Darkness, observing while Osiris makes his final choice.'