"In the name of thy gods, go not
yet! Where is she?"
The lips parted in answer, but no sound came. The arm went up as if to
point, but it fell limp without indicating direction, and with a sigh
the soldier turned his face away.
Sobbing, wild with anxiety and grief, Kenkenes shook the inert body,
pleading frantically for some sign to guide him to Rachel. But there
was no response, for the dead speak not out of Amenti.
At last Kenkenes laid the body down and stood up. It had come to him
very plainly that, but for Atsu, already these dead servitors would
have been beyond overtaking in pursuit of his love. Though a worshiper
of Israel's God, Kenkenes was still Egyptian in his instincts. The man
who had died to save Rachel he could not bury uncoffined in a grave of
sand, where the natural processes of dissolution would destroy him
utterly. His and Rachel's debts to Atsu were great, and the demand was
made upon him now to discharge all that was possible in the one act of
caring for the dead soldier's remains. Kenkenes could not bear the
body back to the group he had left about the king, for he had a mission
which concerned all the living who were dear to him. Furthermore the
sky was threatening, the desert was a terrible place during high winds,
and he dared not delay.
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