Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  I was transported back to the grove of tamarisk trees the night I’d stumbled upon my sister dancing before the Goddess of Ashtoreth statue perched on a faux altar.

  Each priestess’s tattoo appeared to magically come alive, the whirling shapes shifting in intricate patterns on their faces.

  My stomach twisted when Aliyah knelt before the statue of the Sariba Goddess to kiss her palms and bare, stone feet. When she rose, Heru held out his hand to her. Lifting the hem of her gown, Aliyah stepped up to stand on top of the altar, using the priest’s grip to steady herself.

  From this position, she spread out her hands as though to enfold every girl in the room to her bosom to keep them close in a show of her power over them. Aliyah’s lips moved as though she were chanting a spell, but I couldn’t understand the words.

  The priests’ voices raised in a shout of exclamation, and the pounding drums grew more intense while my sister began dancing, leading the girls in a frenzy of movement. An undercurrent of anticipation tinged the entire spectacle.

  Leila wore a different dress from the other girls, a deep rose color in contrast to the rest of the girls’ white dresses. Tattoos burnt a trickling gold color down her arms and along each finger.

  I had arrived too late. If I wasn’t mistaken, Leila had just been ordained the High Priestess of the Temple of Sariba. To take the place of Aliyah, who planned to use the Egyptian’s magic to become the divine Goddess.

  My throat constricted and my stomach hurt. Next to me, Tijah had her hands clapped over her ears, face bent over her knees. I wished I could carry her out of here, but neither of us could move from our hiding place.

  The High Priest touched the alabaster head of the Sariba Goddess statue and then pressed his staff into the tattoo on Aliyah’s forehead. Her body shook as though she’d become a reed tossed about in the wind. The room erupted into cries, shouts, and screams. Fearful and jubilant both.

  The girls stared in awe at Aliyah as the magic began to take hold. In turn, they stared at the Goddess of Sariba whom they worshiped with their souls and bodies.

  A sudden loud noise rent the air and an instant later, the statue of the Goddess cracked straight down the middle. The marble figure split in two, and pieces of stone flew off in every direction. The girls screamed, sinking to the floor to protect themselves from the airborne shards.

  Instead of cowering for safety, my sister stood transfixed, enraptured by the sight.

  Aliyah’s eyes were on fire. She stared down at the priests and priestesses, her smile sharp and clever. “High Priest of the ancient magic!” she cried with a potency that carried the strength of a thousand rushing lions. “Your powerful spell has succeeded. I have been born anew! The Goddess’s soul has transferred to me and I feel her divinity inside me. She encompasses my heart and mind in a beauty I hadn’t dared to hope for. This land—and all lands beyond our borders will belong to me. All people will bow to me in worship and obedience.”

  I shrank back, horrified. She had actually done it. This was the reason the Egyptian magicians were brought to Sariba. They had transferred the soul of the Goddess into Aliyah’s body.

  She had become the Goddess. The most powerful person on earth. I had thought Aliyah was dangerous before, but now there would be no stopping her.

  This was what the Queen of Sheba had warned us of. The queen was savvy to her sister’s aspirations, and Aliyah had succeeded. The urgency to return to the palace to inform Kadesh pounded in my chest.

  Aliyah laughed, exultant with the ecstasy of the moment. “Worship your Goddess, alive and powerful! I am ruler of all things. From the Irreantum Sea to the Great Sea. From Salem to Babylon and beyond every desert.”

  The priestesses broke into frenzied, joyful dancing. They circled Aliyah while she stood on the altar, kissing her feet, weeping and laughing.

  “Oh, my daughters of divinity. You have been called and set apart in your roles as messengers of the Goddess. Midsummer’s eve is upon us in three days’ time and you must show your gratitude for the blessings of Sariba. On that night, we will thank the Goddess with the gift of a sacrifice. A sacrifice to keep our crops growing and our frankincense caravans moving across the desert. With a special offering, Sariba will flourish and become the most powerful nation on earth.”

  The High Priest Heru shouted to his men standing at the rear doors of the room. “Bring in the sacrifice.”

  Leila stepped forward, confusion in her face. My eyes darted about the room just as hers did. “But we don’t have a sacrifice prepared, my lord,” she said.

  “Your Goddess has prepared the way, my sweet girl,” Aliyah told her. “And you, as Sariba’s new High Priestess, will have the honor of making the first sacrifice to the Goddess. I know that you love Her more than your own life.”

  She held out her hand, and Leila came to the altar where Aliyah towered over the room in all her fiery glory. Bowing, Leila kissed Aliyah’s feet.

  Two priests flung open the double doors at the back of the ceremonial room. An elderly woman entered carrying a child of about eighteen months in her arms. The High Priest took the child and then banished the woman, closing the doors on her despite her effort to cling to the beautiful child.

  The magician placed the squirming child on the altar. In the candle’s glow, I could see tears upon her eyelashes. My hands gripped the door I stood next to and I thought I would be sick.

  “This final gift will take us into battle with the enemies of the Goddess,” Aliyah said. “This beautiful child will be our sacrifice of love to the Goddess of Sariba.”

  Heru lifted the girl up in his hands and Aliyah leaned down to take her, folding her arms around the child who was now beginning to cry in earnest. She bestowed kisses on the child’s cheeks and hair, and then turned to show her off to the priestesses with a triumphant smile.

  My insides tore into pieces. I let out a choke. Black dots danced before my eyes and Tijah gripped my arms to keep me upright before I fainted.

  The small girl in Aliyah’s arms was the picture of perfect. Silky dark ringlets fell to her shoulders. The toddler’s cheeks glowed pink with health and purity. Cheeks I had nuzzled in the camel litter while trying to feed her milk as a newborn to keep her alive.

  Those lovely long-lashed black eyes were a replica of my mother’s, the face a picture of innocence and confusion.

  The girl was Sahmril, my lost baby sister.

  6

  No!” I screamed. I shoved aside the draperies and lunged forward.

  Urns of flowers and tapers of incense rattled on the tables. A single candle fell, and hot wax spilled, dripping down a sideboard laden with wine goblets and platters of rich food.

  Stunned faces stared at me. Pushing my way through the priestesses, I scrambled to scoop up Sahmril, but the Egyptian High Priest was too quick and stepped in my path, fury in his face. Before I could reverse my course, he gripped my wrists like a bronze slave cuff.

  Voices murmured around me, wondering who I was. Since I was dressed in a gown and jewels, designed to move about the temple as a priestess in disguise, girls wondered if I was from a temple in the land of Sa’ba or Babylon. Perhaps a special guest of Aliyah’s for this important ceremony.

  Leila pushed through the crush of people, striding forward to glare at me in annoyance for interrupting the sacred ceremony. “I know who she is, the girl who almost married Prince Kadesh last night. This is my sister, Jayden.”

  My sister scanned me from head to toe. Despite her attempt to put on a sultry air, I caught a glimpse of the real Leila behind the heavy makeup and Goddess tattoos. The woman before me was not the High Priestess of Sariba, but my sister. I reached out to embrace her, emotion pricking behind my eyes. “Leila,” I breathed.

  She hesitated for a fraction, aware of so many eyes watching. I feared she would reject me, but stiffly, she moved forward and placed her arms around me.

  A sob whimpered in my throat, and I hugged her back, pressing my face into her neck, trying not
to burst into tears of relief. We were together at last. It felt like a miracle.

  “It’s been so long, Leila,” I said into her ear. “I saw you kidnapped. I worried that you were dead. Or in slavery in Egypt.”

  “I’m very much alive,” she said with her signature saucy grin under the jeweled headdress and veils. For that moment, we were sisters back in our mother’s tent, dressing for my betrothal ceremony, teasing each other about the boys in the tribe. Laughing while she fixed the crooked black kohl around my eyes. “We both survived the death of our mother and the brutal desert crossing,” she added wanly.

  “I was so afraid for you when the Egyptians carried you out of the temple at Tadmur,” I told her, adding softly, “You—you look well.”

  Her eyes flicked to the side and then back to my face. “Is our father here in Sariba, too?” Her voice quivered ever so slightly. “I heard he’d been jailed for causing destruction at the Temple of Ashtoreth.”

  “Kadesh helped me rescue him from prison. He’s as well as can be expected, but his bereavements cause him great despair. He mourns our mother, you, Sahmril—” I put a hand to my mouth. My eyes darted to Sahmril, frightened in Aliyah’s treacherous arms. “Help me save her, Leila. I’ve been searching for her ever since the city of Mari burned.”

  Her forehead touched mine as she leaned in close. “Don’t say another word. I only have so much power. Sometime we’ll talk. I’ll try to arrange it. But I’m the High Priestess now with a thousand duties and expectations—including the Egyptians and the Ba’al priests to take care of. And Horeb’s armies have now arrived . . .”

  Disappointment washed over me. Even though she’d been anointed High Priestess, it was Aliyah who still held all the power. Leila would have to do her bidding or be cast out from the temple. If she was lucky.

  Two meaty hands clamped down on my shoulders. Twisting, I tried to see Tijah, but the priest pushed me to my knees. “Bow before your Goddess.”

  I let out a cry when Aliyah pivoted on the altar, smiling like a calculating lioness when she held Sahmril up for all to see. “Here is our sacrificial child.”

  “No! Please!” I tried to wrestle out of the priest’s arms, but he held me tight. “Please give her to me. She’s my sister. I’ve been trying to find her for over a year.”

  Aliyah ignored me, unaffected by my outburst. She could dictate doctrine and bend anyone to her will.

  The people believed she was the Goddess and would obey her above anyone else. Above the royal family. Or Kadesh when he was crowned later today.

  I was trapped in this room. Even worse, Aliyah could send me to the women’s prison. With war brewing and the armies organizing for battle, it might be hours before Kadesh realized I hadn’t returned.

  When I came to the temple this morning, I’d imagined finding Leila in her room, my only task to convince her to come to the palace with me where she could be safe. I yearned to talk to her like we used to. To figure out how to be sisters again.

  Instead, Heru, his bald head shining with perspiration, shoved me into a chair. Quickly he tied my arms behind my back, securing them to the chair’s wooden slats. “Worship your Goddess,” he commanded.

  “You have no right to touch the future queen of Sariba.”

  Leila leaned in close, her silk dress falling over one bare shoulder. “Shush, Jayden, don’t make it worse.”

  The tangy smell of wine was on her breath, and her eyes were glassy. Was she drunk or drugged? All the girls seemed to be falling into a trance. I was more frightened now than when she’d embraced me. “How can you be so calm? They’re going to kill our sister, Sahmril!”

  “It will be a beautiful thing, Jayden,” she said. “Sahmril will be offered up to the Goddess of Sariba and the God of Ba’al to save us all. The gods will give Sariba victory against our enemies.”

  My stomach roiled. The room was hot, and perspiration dripped down my neck. “Listen to what you’re saying.”

  “The Goddess came to life tonight. Her soul now resides within Aliyah. She’s truly alive! She will be our queen, our protector, our savior. And now I am Her chosen High Priestess! I never imagined this honor would ever be mine.”

  “That’s why you were kidnapped from the temple at Tadmur,” I said slowly, all the threads coming together in my mind. “You were the perfect candidate—the sister of the future wife of Kadesh. A ploy to pit us against each other and take down the royal family.”

  Leila knelt before me, one finger sliding down the rope that ensnared my arms, her face an expression of woe. “You should never have come here. You’re going to ruin everything. I have been crowned High Priestess of Sariba—a position I would never have had at the Temple of Ashtoreth.”

  Desperation swept over me, something I hadn’t felt since I’d been stoned. Not even when I’d found my father in prison or Sahmril in the arms of adoptive parents in Mari. My little sister didn’t know me any longer, and I had no idea how to help her remember her true family. I loved her desperately, but she had no idea who I was. “Leila, I’ve seen what’s down in the temple dungeons. Once Kadesh and I marry, we will tear this temple apart.”

  Her lips curved into a sad smile. “You won’t be queen for long. Nobody can compete with the brains and beauty of Aliyah. She’ll reduce Kadesh to his knees, and he will beg her to come to his bed and be his wife.”

  I steeled myself against her words. I couldn’t lash out at her. “Leila,” I said more gently. “Aliyah will fail. Don’t believe that she is actually the Goddess come to life. You are High Priestess in name only. She’ll never allow you any power, even if she fools you into thinking so.”

  “You don’t know Aliyah like I do,” she spit out. “Or the power of the Goddess. Don’t underestimate her, Jayden. She will tear you into pieces before you can blink an eye.”

  “This entire ceremony is a ruse to lure Sahmril here and destroy me.”

  For a moment, I was standing helplessly in the home of Thomas, the nobleman in Mari. His wife, Zarah, clinging to my sister, watching me from her garden with hooded eyes.

  Thomas had remained stubborn, despite Kadesh offering him a bounty of gold. At that moment, I discerned that they loved Sahmril and had her best interests at heart. If they had sold Sahmril to someone else—like Aliyah—it was only under threat of death. Or because they were already dead at her hands.

  “Sahmril’s sacrifice is a great honor for our family,” Leila said simply.

  I struggled against the ropes, but they were too tight, the rough hemp scraping my skin. The dagger strapped on my thigh was too far to reach. If only Tijah could get to me, but she was pressed against the far wall, and I didn’t want to see her hurt by coming to help me.

  “Sahmril!” Her name escaped my mouth. She was my blood. The promise to my mother I’d carried for more than a year. The ache of my empty arms was overpowering.

  Aliyah ignored my distress. “This momentous day has come to pass. I will rule Sariba. I will rule Babylon, and I will rule the seas and every city between. And we will do it with the help of King Horeb and his armies. As the Goddess of Sariba, I pronounce a blessing upon the armies who have come to help us. I have a meeting with King Horeb personally later today.”

  My jaw went slack, all my suspicions confirmed.

  Two of the Egyptian magicians lifted Aliyah down to the green marble floor. Her deep red dress fluttered as though she were flying.

  The company of magicians and priestesses bowed to her while Aliyah turned to Sahmril, a false smile on her lips. “Do you remember your sister, my precious?”

  Sahmril’s big dark eyes stared at me. She stuck two fingers into her mouth and shook her head, her baby fine hair flying about her face. Tears continued to run down her cheeks.

  Of course she didn’t know me. The last time I’d seen her she was just beginning to toddle on unsteady legs.

  “Mama,” she wept, her lips quivering. “I want my mama.”

  Aliyah pressed a manicured finger to her lips. “
I’m your mother now, sweet girl. The Goddess is your protector. I will send you to heaven so that our land will flourish and we’ll be protected from the evil within. Only you, an innocent child with an unblemished heart, can banish true evil. You will protect us all. Such a grand and marvelous thing. You will be remembered for redeeming this land and protecting us.”

  Caustic words flew from my mouth. “Look in the mirror, Aliyah, and you will see more than enough evil for the rest of your days—may they be short.”

  Aliyah’s arms tightened and Sahmril’s face puckered with fresh fear, her eyes pools of tears.

  “Heru, please take her.”

  My sister turned her panicked face toward me when the High Priest stepped forward. “No! I want to go home!”

  Tears dropped from my own eyes while I struggled against my bonds. “Take me!” I finally cried out. “I offer myself as sacrifice instead of Sahmril. Please let Leila take the baby to my father at the palace. Please let her live! I will die for the Goddess!”

  Aliyah ignored my offer, turning instead to spread her arms toward the massive ceiling. “As Goddess of Sariba, I invoke the name of Ba’al,” she cried. “Hear my words. Feel my soul unite with yours. Bless King Horeb’s army after their treacherous journey. Spread our glory to the four corners of the earth by giving the armies of Assyria the power to kill with the potency of the beasts of the earth. May the Goddess rule to unite all peoples and nations!”

  With cries of agony and ecstasy, the priestesses fell to the carpets to worship Aliyah.

  All at once, somebody was behind me, tugging at my wrists. I gave a cry thinking one of the Egyptians was untying me to put me on the altar and sacrifice me right then and there.

  “My lady,” Tijah whispered. “Hold still and I’ll cut you free.”

  “What—how did you—”

  “Shh!” In their prostrations, nobody was paying attention to us. A second later, Tijah’s hand slid underneath my gown and grasped the dagger hiding there. In two quick strokes, she cut the ropes tying my hands. “We need to flee, my lady.”