“The usurper has barricaded herself in the throne room,” he said, stumbling toward them. “But we’ll be blown to bits if we try to go through the gate.”

“Then we wait her out,” Khepri said. “A siege.”

And meanwhile their soldiers would go on killing one another until the god arrived and destroyed them all.

“No,” Hassan said. “I know Lethia. She’ll let every single one of her soldiers die before she surrenders. The only way to end this is to get to her ourselves.”

“You mean break into the palace?” Faran asked. “There’s no way. We checked all the points of entry. They’re all too well defended.”

“I might have an idea,” Hassan said. “The night that the Witnesses took the palace, there was a guard who snuck me out. We went through the east garden, over the wall. I can get us inside that way.”

Faran looked uneasy. “With an entire squadron? It will draw too much attention.”

Hassan shook his head. “Not a squadron. Just me.”

“No way,” Khepri said at once. “You’re not going alone. You don’t know how many soldiers are inside.”

“Lethia won’t waste forces within the palace—they’ll all be guarding the walls,” Hassan said. “Besides, I know my way around the palace better than anyone. I can get to the throne room without being seen.”

“And once you’re in there?” Khepri asked. “What about the guards who are with Lethia?”

“There won’t be any,” Hassan replied. “Lethia knows she’s lost by now. She wouldn’t let anyone see her at her moment of defeat.”

“You’re still not going alone,” Hector said. “Take us, at least. In case you’re wrong.”

“All right,” Hassan agreed. “Hector, Khepri, Sefu, and Chike, you’re with me. Faran, find my mother and get word to her. Tell no one else what we’re planning.”

Faran hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Yes, Your Grace.”

A second later, he slipped back through the ranks toward the front lines.

“Let’s go,” Hassan said, and they sped off in the opposite direction.

Hector, Khepri, and Hassan crouched behind a cypress tree at the edge of the palace walls as Sefu and Chike created a diversion.

They waited several long minutes before they heard shouting from the rampart and the sound of crossbows firing as Chike and Sefu drew the guards away from their posts.

“Now,” Khepri barked, and the three of them sprinted across the grass to the towering sandstone ramparts.

The large, rough-hewn bricks made for fairly good handholds as they started to climb. Khepri went first and then Hassan, with Hector bringing up the rear. But the rain had made the wall slippery under their feet.

They were about halfway up when the first crossbow bolt whizzed past Hassan’s ear.

“Get down!” he cried, flattening himself against the wall.