Hui felt the blood drain from him. He knew that name, and the reputation that went with it. Who in Lahun didn’t? Basti had the blood of a thousand men staining his hands. For more than five seasons, this leader of the raptors had destroyed caravan after caravan bringing trade from the east. Basti, who had raided the copper mines and put every engineer to the sword and who had slaughtered so many slaves in the fertile estates along the Nile that the fields themselves turned red. And once he had killed those workers, he had burned the crops for no reason but torment. Only weeds grew there now, that’s what the merchants had said when they arrived in Lahun.

The Cruel. A fitting title.

‘Let my friend go,’ Hui called. His voice was unsteady.

‘Leave him,’ Qen whispered. ‘He is already dead. But we can still save our own necks. We are faster by far than those lumbering Shrikes and they know it. Younger and filled with more fire than them. If we run away now, they will never catch us.’

How cold his brother sounded. Hui had never heard him talk like this before.

Basti uttered an order and the arm around Kyky’s throat fell away. Basti replaced it with his curved knife. The blade dug into the skin, a bubble of blood forming. Kyky began to sob.

‘Give me the object you hold in your hands and I will be generous,’ the raptor lord continued.

Hui was still carrying the cloth-covered bundle.

The leader of the Shrikes was wise enough to know the two young thieves had the upper hand here. Qen was right; their youth gave them speed that these raiders no longer possessed. They could easily disappear into the dark of the desert night and Basti might never see his prize again. And so he was prepared to bargain.

‘I will let you all live, and you will be free to walk away from here. That is not a gift I have offered to any other enemy,’ Basti continued. ‘And I will allow you each to take with you a purse of silver so all will know that cruelty can be tempered with kindness.’ His lips curled into a tight smile that contained no warmth.

Hui’s mouth was as dry as the sands around them. He didn’t trust this blood-thirsty bandit for an instant. But what could he do? He watched tears glistening in the moonlight on his friend’s cheeks, and he tried to imagine what terrible thoughts would be swirling in Kyky’s head at that moment.

He held out the bundle, feeling the weight of the Ka Stone inside it.

Basti grinned. He nodded and two men stepped forward to reclaim their gift from the gods. Hui mouthed a silent prayer to the gods to save them. He should run, he knew, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kyky’s terrified face.