mine and we spoke as one in thought. It felt right and seamless somehow. If my voice was the wind, then hers was a deep tide pool stirred by the wind. “There is a forgotten tomb belonging to a lost traveler much closer. We will find the way ourselves.”
Fretfully, Oscar nodded, as if he’d expected such an answer. And because he seemed pained to leave me in the state I was in, we left him instead. We journeyed across the landscape until I could no longer make out the rise where Oscar stood; then, knowing what I needed to do, I raised my hands and called upon the power of the sphinx, bidding the wind to expose the hidden tomb I sensed below. Grains of sand started to shift, and then thousands of stinging granules rose, guiding us toward our destination. After the wind died down, we stepped forward.
The dark cavern that the wind had exposed held the skeleton of a man who’d died in the desert long ago. Though it wasn’t an official tomb like the one Oscar had been considering, it would do for our purposes.
Channeling the power residing inside us, we blew out a soft breath. It ruffled the worm-ridden clothes of the dead man and punched a hole in the darkness of his deathbed. The hole grew, stretching like a fragile bubble until it was nearly big enough for us to step through.
It was a path to another realm, a dimension unlike either of our worlds. My mind interpreted it as a wormhole, but Tia didn’t understand this. To her it was a whirlpool in a black pond leading to a place she had no knowledge of or wish to discover. We both sensed the problem at the same time.
We’re going to need help, she said.
Yes. I contemplated the obstacle and then a memory surfaced. I think I know what to do, I murmured.
Closing my eyes, I chanted the spell Amon had practiced with me and imbued my words with all our energies. A short time later, the dune next to us shifted and roiled.
What is it? Tia said, fearing a large serpent or a pack of jackals.
A friend, I answered with a small smile.
A moment later, a huge figure burst through in an explosion of sand. The great beast nickered softly and trotted toward us, his coat sparkling in the sun like mica. He was beautiful. Much larger than the horses Amon had called before. Stepping up to him, I ran a hand down his silky neck and tried to calm Tia, who was frantic at being near him.
I have answered your summons, Sphinx. Where do you wish to go?
“We are headed to Duat,” I answered.
That is a long journey, and a dangerous one.
“Will you not be able to take us?” I asked.
The stallion stomped his golden hooves and flicked his tail in irritation. Of course I am able to take you, he declared. I am Nebu!
I held out my hand and Nebu stepped closer, pressing his nose into it. Just as his moist exhale tickled my sensitive palm, Tia took full possession of my body, snatched my hand away, and reached for the blades at my back. In a flash she raised the sharpened edge of a mini spear to the great neck of the golden stallion, touching the spiky point of a second to his chest.
“Stay away from us, Unadorned One,” she spat at the gleaming horse.
Tia! What are you doing? I hissed as I tried to reassert control over my own body. He’s here to help us!
“He is not here to help us!” she cried. “This…unicorn”—she hissed the word as if it were something hateful and ugly—“is here to steal you away. You obviously do not understand what he is capable of.”
What on earth are you talking about? He isn’t a unicorn. He’s a horse. Granted, he’s a magical-Egyptian-pretty-much-indestructible-possibly-made-of-sand-immortal horse, but he is a horse. Haven’t you ever seen one before?
“Of course I’ve seen horses before. I’m not a cub, Lily. And he’s as much a horse as I am a house cat. Can’t you see it?”
See what?
“The place where his alicorn used to be.”
I looked more closely at Nebu, and there was a sort of muted glow coming from a spot in the center of his head, but his whole body gleamed enough that I’d assumed it was an especially bright section of his coat.
What’s an alicorn? I asked.
“It is the symbol of his power. He has been stripped of it,