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Maharet looked at hi moment
"Go on, Maharet," Khayman said "For in all likelihood, the Mother will be destroyed and we both kno and why, and all this talk"
"What can prophecy mean now, Khayman?" Maharet asked, her voice low, devitalized "Do we fall into the same errors that ensnare the Mother? The past may instruct us But it won't save us "
"Your sister comes, Maharet She comes as she said she would "
"Khay, bitter smile
"Tell us what happened," Gabrielle said
Maharet sat still, as if try
ing to find soin The sky beyond the s darkened in the interval Yet a faint tinge of red appeared in the far west, growing brighter and brighter against the gray clouds Finally, it faded, and they rapped in absolute darkness, except for the light of the fire, and the dull sheen of the glass walls which had become mirrors
"Khayypt," Gabrielle said "What did you see there?"
"Yes, he took us to Egypt," Maharet said She sighed as she sat back in the chair, her eyes fixed on the table before her "There was no escape from it; Khayman would have taken us by force
And in truth, we accepted that we had to go Through twenty generations, we had gone between reat evil, ould try to undo it Or at leastas I said to you e first came to this tableould seek to understand
"I left my child I left her in the care of those women 1 trusted most I kissed her I told her secrets And then I left her, and we set out, carried in the royal litter as if ere guests of the King and Queen of Kemet and not prisoners, just as before
"Khayriaze And it was just as well, for we had not forgotten our injuries Then on the very last night e careat river, which ould cross in theto reach the royal palace, Khayman called us into his tent and told us all that he knew
"His manner was courteous, decorous And we tried to put aside our personal suspicions of him as we listened He told us of what the demon-as he called it-had done
"Only hours after we had been sent out of Egypt, he had known that so him, some dark and evil force Everywhere that he went, he felt this presence, though in the light of day it tended to wane