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"But then the King caught her in his arainst his chest

"Finally she broke away fro with blood 'You lie!' she said 'You lie as your de could happen if it was notOh, don't you see, we've been fools to listen to these mere mortals, who have not such powers as we have! Ah, but we are young deities and ns of heaven And surely our destiny is plain; we see it in the gifts we possess '

"We didn't respond to what she had said It seemed to me at least for a few precious moments that it was a mercy if she could believe such nonsense For all I could believe was that Amel, the evil one, Amel, the stupid, the dull-witted, the imbecile spirit, had stumbled into this disastrous fusion and that perhaps the whole world would pay the price Mycahts- wishes for the destruction of the King and Queen-seized me that I had to cover my head with my hands and shake myself and try to clear my mind, lest I face their wrath

"But the Queen was paying no uards that they ht she would pass judgment upon us before the whole court

"And quite suddenly ere seized; and as she gave her orders with gritted teeth and dark looks, the soldiers dragged us away roughly and threw us like cohtless cell "Mekare took hold ofthat could bring us hars we knew and pace the floor so that as not even to drea and Queen, for she was mortally afraid

"Now I had never truly seen Mekare so afraid Mekare was always the one to rave in anger; it was I who hung back is

"But when dawn caone to their secret retreat, she burst into tears

" 'I did it, Maharet,' she said to ainst them I tried not to do it; but Amel, he read it in my heart It was as the Queen said, exactly '

"There was no end to her recriminations It was she who had spoken to Athened him and puffed him up and kept his interest; and then she had wished his wrath upon the Egyptians and he had known

"I tried to comfort her I told her none of us could control as in our hearts; that Amel had saved our lives once; that no one could fathom these awful choices, these forks in the road; and we uilts and look only to the future How could we get free of this place? How could we ood spirits would not frighten them now; not a chance of it; we

"Finally, the thing for which I secretly hoped happened: Khayman appeared But he was even more thin and drawn than before

" 'I think you are doo and Queen were in a quandary over the things which you said to the they went to the teive them any hope of reclamation? Any hope this horror would come to an end?'

" 'Khayman, there is one hope,' Mekare whispered 'Let the spirits be my witness; I don't say that you should do it I only answer your question If you would put an end to this, put an end to the King and Queen Find their hiding place and let the sun come down upon them, the sun which their new bodies cannot bear '

"But he turned away, terrified by the prospect of such treason Only to look back and sigh and say, 'Ah, s I've seen And yet I dare not do such a thing '

"As the hours passed ent through agony, for surely ould be put to death But there were no regrets any longer in us for the things we'd said, or the things we'd done And as we lay in the dark in one another's ar our o to her, to rise in spirit from this place and be close to her, but without the trance potion, I could not do it I had never learned such skill