Sisters Ruth and Joan distracted him by throwing stones while Anna led Susana toward the door. They had nearly escaped when the man heard their footsteps and leapt toward them, knocking his entire body into Mother Susana. The old woman’s frame crumpled beneath the blow. Her head cracked against the wall as her body hit the ground.

“Mother!” Anna shouted. Finding a resurgence of strength, she lifted the woman’s broken body onto her shoulders and carried her off like a wounded sheep.

“Run, Anna, run!” Ruth yelled, following behind her.

The men’s shouting echoed off the walls in sharp angles.

Anna was certain more of them had entered the chamber. “What about Sister Joan?” she asked, her thighs pumping beneath the load.

“Keep going,” Ruth said, with an air of calm. “She knows what she must do.”

Back in the central chamber, the men descended on Sister Joan like locusts clinging to a stalk. They grabbed at her ears, her eyes, her breasts. She shrieked and fought like a wildcat. In the scuffle, she managed to fling her blistering powders into the eyes of two more, bringing them to their knees, howling. She fought with the last of her strength and struggled to get to the far wall.

The men surrounded her and just when she thought she was done for, they suddenly pulled back. Confused, her eyes flew from man to man. Her gaze then fell on the intruder with the bright blue keffiyeh. As he rose to his feet, his puffy eyes burned an angry and luminous red. His nose ran. His mouth twisted into a wiry grimace. His saber gleamed in his hand. He took a step toward the unarmed woman, licking his lips. “May God torment you for denying Him,” he hissed. The others held still waiting to relish his revenge.

Joan whispered her final words as the man’s shadow crept across her. His comrades moved in to watch the slaughter.

The bloodied Sister closed her eyes and, in a single motion, reached up and pulled the lever. The support beams slipped and the false ceiling came crashing down. Sister Joan and her assailants vanished instantly under the giant stones.

When the dust settled, the men who had escaped the rocks fanned out over the rubble looking for their fallen comrades. Finding them crushed and lifeless, they became enraged and zipped down the passageways like angry wasps, swinging their sabers before them.