Soul Awakened

by Jean Murray

  “We need to go, Bakari. He’s stalling us.” Kendra pulled on his belt, not seeing the danger being wielded by his brother.

  “Going somewhere,” Bomani sneered.

  Kendra stepped to the side and glared at Bomani. “Nebt is going to release Kepi, if we don’t do something soon.” Her eyes gravitated to the daggers. She gasped. “You wouldn’t. What has become of you?”

  Bomani’s gravitated to the bruises on her shoulder. His brows furrowed.

  Bakari could not wait for his brother to come to his senses. He launched forward grabbing both of Bomani’s wrists then torqued the bones until the daggers fell to the ground. He slammed his forehead into Bomani’s face.

  Startled, Kendra yelped, but scrambled to grab the daggers. Not waiting for Bomani to recover, Bakari grabbed Kendra’s arm and dematerialized.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  The room shifted and swirled when Bakari pulled her molecules together. She must be getting used to it because her head only wobbled. Thankfully. They had materialized at the bottom stairwell deep inside the dungeon. With the text clutched in one hand and Bakari’s hand in the other she ran forward through the dark tunnel. Pitch black, she couldn’t see, but trusted Bakari unconditionally to keep her from running into anything.

  The darkness wasn’t so scary with him at her side. She drew strength from their connection. Even if they broke her grasp, she would always feel him.

  A familiar scent of death permeated her senses. “Revens.”

  Bakari tightened down on her hand. Despite the danger they forged forward. After a sharp turn he slowed down. Kendra knew they were in the right place when the hairs rose up on the back of her neck. A sickened thought hit her. What about her father’s body? Luckily, he was tucked safely inside his sarcophagus.

  The guttural holler and the sound of scrapping on the stone walls refocused her on their predicament. Nausea shot through her gut. Revens. She had been around enough to know the sound of them, let alone the stench of decaying flesh. She couldn’t see but hear them which tested her earlier proclamation that she didn’t need her flashlight. Despite her night blindness, the revens would see her, like a warm rock in a cold wasteland.

  He pushed her behind him and pressed her against the wall. She grabbed his waist and buried her face into his bare back. The shuffling and snarls bounced off the hard walls. She suppressed a squeal when Bakari swiped his blades through the air. The sound of slicing flesh, followed by the thump of bodies against the floor sent a course shiver through the entire length of her body. Nothing ran her blood colder than a reven.

  She had promised Bakari she would be an asset to their fight against the goddesses and here she cowered. Nothing had changed. If she didn’t get it together, their enemies would win. How many had been sacrificed in this war?

  Her father and a multitude of human souls consumed by the curse.

  Her anger boiled up from deep inside. The goddess would answer for her crimes against Aaru and her family.

  Kendra closed her eyes and focused inward, drawing the white light she had sensed growing inside her. She blocked out the feral noise of the approaching revens. When it had gathered enough strength, she recited the spell from the book.

  The brightness grew to the point blue light flickered at the edges of her closed eyelids. She guided herself around Bakari’s waist. He didn’t stop her.

  She chanted louder and the power of light grew and illuminated the dark chasm. She opened her eyes and was sorry she had, the entire corridor was filled with the undead. The realization they were outnumbered caused her focus to falter. The blue light dimmed and threatened to extinguish completely.

  Bakari stepped away from her to kill those revens who charged forward. She caught his amazed stare and smile of encouragement in the faint blue glow. He didn’t shelter her, but allowed her test her abilities like no one else had. All those years she had wanted to contribute, but was always told she was too small, too clumsy, and too vulnerable. She believed it for the longest time, until now. It was time to suppress her fear and fight.

  Empowered, she turned to face the charging revens with strength and purpose. The light coalesced into a ball of blue fire in the palm of her hand. She had never been able to contain it or shape it for that matter. Her release wouldn’t be pretty, but effective.

  The amalgamating magic levitated off her palm and shot down the tunnel. Blue flames bounced off the walls missing a few revens. It struck the next rotten corpse in the chest and obliterated it into to ash. Bakari side stepped and beheaded three of the revens she had missed and then turned to the other corridor to continue his killing rampage.

  With one hallway clear, Kendra tried to repeat her little trick. The ball of energy formed quicker and she released it down the corridor toward her father’s tomb. Ash exploded into the air. The third grew even faster. She stood next to Bakari and sent her blue ball of death into the passageway toward Kepi’s tomb.

  She panted with the effort. Beads of fine sweat covered her face. Bakari wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight. “Easy, Parvana,” he said with a laugh despite the graveness of the moment.

  “I did it,” she said amazed. Only a fine ash covered the floor. It was one thing to think it, but to actually do it was another.

  He kissed the top of her head. “You certainly did.” Appreciation flickered over his features. They had a straight shot to the crypt’s door. Next challenge would be getting past the containment spell.

  That’s if they weren’t too late.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  The large mouth of the cell’s door yawned a few feet away. The spell had been breached. Bakari looked into Kendra’s stricken gaze. She clasped the black book tightly in her hand. Their mission to protect Aaru may have failed. Nebt had all the control she needed to bring revens through the gates and any reinforcements she needed to resurrect Kepi.

  Uneasiness settled into Bakari’s bones. The only way for him to kill Kepi was for Kendra to open her tomb. The dagger needed to penetrate Kepi’s heart through and through. The thought of laying eyes on the goddess turned his blood to ice. Dread fell like a heavy blanket, bringing him back to the days when Kepi would release him for only one purpose. The flashbacks slammed into his head. He wavered on his feet.

  Sights, sounds, and smells assaulted his system. For a moment, he believed he was back under Kepi’s control— restrained against a cold stone alter. The stench of rotting flesh. He had never felt so weak or degraded in his life. No!

  Kendra tightened the grip on his hand. The connection drew him back to the present. He could not give Kepi the satisfaction of destroying him. Stronger than that, he told himself.

  Forcing the fear into a deep part of himself, a new rush of emotion replaced the iciness in his heart with molten fire. Anger.

  He forged forward, dragging Kendra into certain peril. In one hand he clutched his dagger, and in the other, his secret deadly weapon— his butterfly had finally spread her wings to fly. They burst into the cell only to find it empty with the exception of Kepi’s sarcophagus standing in the center. Its lid locked tight.

  “It’s a trap.”

  “Yes, it is. We need to move quickly.”

  Bakari took position next to the door. In his peripheral vision, he watched Kendra. A surprising amount of mutual hatred emanated through their blood-bond, as she faced the sarcophagus.

  “Once the spell is removed, I want you behind me,” he said. Kepi’s evil energy crawled against his skin like the scorpions she so kindly sealed with him in his tomb.

  Kendra opened the black spell book and leafed through the pages. With one hand she held the book by the spine so it stayed open. She raised her two fingers on her other hand. In perfect ancient tongue she recited the prayer.

  “Oh she who sleeps a wakeful death, I summon thee by the gods of Set, Apep and Ra, open thy eyes and face your judgment.”

  Her hand hovered over the first black metal lock. With a loud pop it disengaged, follo
wed by the second. The reinforced steel fell to the ground with a loud crash that echoed off the walls and through the corridor. They did not have much time.

  Kendra grabbed one of the torches from the wall. She swiped her hand over the end. Blue flame erupted from her palm and ignited the torch. Bakari drew away from the door. He palmed the Mevt dagger in his dominant hand and the replica in the other. The second Mevt remained tucked in his waistband at the small of his back. He did not want her unprotected when the sarcophagus lid was removed.

  She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the lid and pulled. Her fingers slipped and she grabbed it again. “I can’t get it open.”

  Sheathing the Mevt dagger, he freed up one hand to help her. He grabbed the edge and pulled at the wood. It gave, but only a fraction.

  “Stop!”

  Bakari whipped around to find Bomani standing in the doorway. A wake of cold air pushed into the room. Kendra moved to intercept Bomani. Bakari sheathed the replica dagger and used both hands to pry the wood apart.

  “I said stop.” Bomani stalked forward into the room. “Don’t you see what he is trying to do? It is not Nebt that wants this open, it is him.”

  Kendra blocked Bomani’s advance. “You said it yourself, Bakari needs to kill Kepi. There is no time to argue about this.”

  Bakari registered the movement but not quick enough to counter. Bomani’s huge arms wrapped around him and rammed them both into the sarcophagus. The impact shifted the tomb off its base and slammed it onto the floor. The tombs lid burst open spilling Kepi’s body, along with the overpowering smell of death. Bomani wrenched one of the daggers from his chest strap, but Bakari knocked it away. The heavy metal skittered across the floor.

  Bakari slammed his fist into Bomani’s face and rolled to his feet. He broke his brother’s hold enough to pull the remaining dagger from his chest strap. On his feet he swiped the dagger, mostly as a warning. “Do not make me use this on you?”

  “Bakari,” Kendra’s voice raised in alarm.

  Kepi’s black charred body rose from the floor. Nebt entered the room and snatched the other dagger off the floor. Kendra stood between the two goddesses.

  “Give me the dagger,” Bomani barked at Nebt.

  The Underworld goddess smiled. “Thank you, Bomani, but I think I will keep this.” She pointed it at Kendra. “Drop your weapon, Bakari.”

  Bomani jerked his gaze around the room. The realization blanketed his features. Bakari lunged for Kepi, but Nebt grabbed Kendra quicker than he could get to the goddess. The tip of the Mevt dagger pressed to Kendra’s neck stopped his killer blow.

  “Drop it,” Nebt shouted.

  Kendra strained against Nebt’s hold. The tip of the dagger grazed her skin and spilled a small drop of her crimson blood. “Kill her,” Kendra gasped, her eyes darting to Kepi.

  Bakari locked on Kepi’s red gaze that was surrounded by gray macerated flesh. Although Kepi had possessed a body of a blonde goddess he did not recognize, he would never forget her eyes. She smiled at him in that way, right before she would touch him. He retreat a few steps.

  Bomani stood motionless, almost disoriented. His brother would be of no help to the situation. Kendra’s gaze pleaded with Bakari to end it once and for all. No matter how much he hated the goddess, it was not worth Kendra’s life or his own. There had to be another way.

  Bakari tossed the dagger to the ground. It bounced to the center of the room. Hopefully, no one would notice it was not the Mevt dagger, but the training decoy. The death blade at his back would remain hidden until the right moment, if there ever was one.

  Kepi’s malicious gaze focused in on Bakari. “It is nice to see you again.” The way she purred sent a rank chill down his spine.

  “What the hell is going on here, Nebt?” Bomani demanded, suddenly snapped into this reality.

  Nebt turned to Bomani with a significant amount of contempt. “Men are so short sighted when they think with their cocks. Do you not see what is happening?” She laughed, triumphantly. “It is a revolution, my dear Commander.”

  “What?” Bomani gasped.

  “I tried to tell you.” Bakari turned to Nebt and shook his head. “Why would you do this? To your own family?”

  “Oh that is rich coming from the likes of you,” Nebt spat. “I am done venerating myself to those gods who think they can imprison us in the Underworld.”

  “The Creation Pantheon? What have they done to deserve such treachery?” Bakari demanded.

  “For one they force us to change form in the human realm, relegating us to darkness. Hidden away like some bastard children. Your mother being the center of it all.” Nebt shoved Kendra forward toward Kepi. “The Mother Goddess changes the rules when it suits her, taking a human as a lover, bearing offspring that are forbidden. And here we are kept like prisoners in the Underworld.”

  The bitterness of Nebt’s words dripped like acid into an open wound. It was no secret that Nebt and Inpu had tried many years for children but were left barren. Kendra’s mother had the power to grant the fertile gift of life, but never graced Nebt with child.

  Kendra turned around to face the Underworld goddess. “She only created us to stop Menthu and her.” Kendra jabbed her finger toward Kepi.

  Nebt ignored her and looked at Bakari and then Bomani. “I know each of you have thought the same. Do not deny it. I have seen it in your souls. All of us, but no one has had the courage to stand up against the Creation Pantheon. Asar’s soul is full of resentment, yet he does not act, but carries out his obligations without question. Someone had to take charge or we all lay rotting in our own cell.”

  Bakari stepped forward, inching closer to Kepi. “What you speak of is true, in my soul I have always longed to explore the human world without the persecution of the sun, but war with the Creation Pantheon is not the answer.” He looked at Kendra finally understanding of the Mother Goddess’ intent. The Carrigan sisters were the first step to their freedom. Light and darkness. Life and death brought together, the best of both worlds.

  “If you hate us so badly, why would you ever encourage Lilly and Asar? Encourage me to train with Inpu?”

  Nebt glanced at Kepi and smiled. “How else could we get everything we needed in one place? Although, we would have succeeded earlier, if Asar had died on the battlefield.”

  ***

  Kendra assimilated the moves on the chess board. A well-orchestrated plan and she and her sisters were at the center of it. If it wasn’t for her mother’s interference Lilly would have never made it to the battlefield of Thebes to save Asar’s life. They had always feared Bakari’s tomb was a trap and it was.

  Kendra stared at the spell book on the floor. She had found Nebt’s hair on Bakari’s tomb. Bakari was the trap and Kendra was the key. She had given Nebt what she wanted. Kepi resurrected in the Underworld. Swallowing against the constriction in her throat, she swung her gaze to Bakari.

  Kepi pointed the blade at Bakari’s chest. Kendra expected to sense fear through their blood-bond, but she only felt determination. He had a plan that much she could tell.

  Nebt smiled wickedly. “So, now to have a little fun.” Nebt jabbed the tip of the Mevt dagger at Kendra. “I will give you the choice of who lives and who dies.”

  Kendra placed her palm over her chest, as it skipped a beat. She looked at Bomani.

  “Choose,” Nebt hissed.

  “No!” Kendra’s voice quivered. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. She loved them both.

  “Choose,” Nebt shouted, and moved toward Bomani.

  Kendra’s heart slammed in her chest. She considered generating more blue energy, but in such a confined space and her lack of accuracy would certainly kill all of them. Bakari no doubt faced the same dilemma with his powers to kill.

  How could she possibly choose? Her gaze whipped from one male to the other. Only Bakari could kill Kepi and end the curse in the human world. There was no other explanation for the revens continuing to persist, other than Kepi’s soul
still lived. With Kepi gone the curse would be broken, finally. But, the loss of Bomani’s life was unacceptable to her, no matter the consequences.

  “No.” More tears began to fall against her cheeks. Losing either ate a pit into her chest. Bakari’s gaze held an understanding that no matter her choice he would stand by her. Conversely, Bomani hung his head in apparent resignation.

  She may have fallen in love with Bakari, but that did not make Bomani’s life any less important to her. She owed him so much.

  “This is your last chance before I choose for you,” Nebt said.

  Kendra straightened her spine and raised her chin. “I will not.” Bomani stared at her in bewilderment.

  “Kill him,” Nebt shouted at Kepi. The dagger pierced Bakari’s chest. Kendra screamed. Bakari knocked the dagger away and grabbed Kepi by the neck. He wrapped his hand around the scorpion hilt of the dagger at his back. The silver glint flashed before he plunged it into Kepi’s chest. A deafening screech filled the room. Kendra covered her ears.

  “No!” Nebt screamed.

  Kepi’s body exploded into a cloud of sulfuric ash. Kendra ducked as a black shadow flew through the room before falling to the ground in metallic sparks. The ash burned Kendra’s skin.

  In the dim haze Nebt targeted her murderous stare on Bomani and tightened her grip on the dagger. Kendra’s chest tightened, knowing Nebt wouldn’t leave without evening the score in the most painful way possible—killing Bomani. Forcing herself not to think of the consequences, Kendra threw herself between the goddess and the warrior who meant the world to her. Bomani had saved her life not long ago. It was time she repaid the debt.

  Kendra met Bomani’s startled gaze when she slammed into his chest. The pain of the dagger penetrating her back stole the words of gratitude on her tongue. She inhaled a ragged breath. Exhaling, the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth.