Bastet Scrollkeeper's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Bastet reached the black sands and knew she had a problem. The star still glowed under her arm. She had no idea where the star-charting woman lived. The far sands ran on for miles, black and empty. Worse, every step she took carried the star's light with her. If the light burned too long, the spirit from the deep might find her again. She stopped behind a cluster of jagged black rocks. She could not hide the star in the sand forever. She had to carry it, but the glow put her in danger. She needed a shield. She opened her weathered satchel and dug through it. Her fingers found a scroll she barely valued, a common recipe for guarding one's goods. She had read it a hundred times. She spread the papyrus flat on a cool patch of sand shaped like a wide oval. Then she folded the scroll into a snug bag, tucking the edges the way the recipe showed. She slid the star inside and pulled the seam closed. The glow dimmed. Thick papyrus swallowed most of the light. Not all of it. A faint gold line still leaked from the folds. But it was faint enough. The spirit hunted bright things. This would have to do. Bastet let out a slow breath. She could carry the star now. She just had no direction. The sands stretched every way, all the same. Something moved near her tail. She looked down. A small black axolotl slid across the wet sand. Gold dust shimmered on its frilled gills and along its back. It paused, blinked at her, then turned and crawled on. Bastet almost ignored it. Then she noticed it moved with purpose. It did not wander. It followed a line in the sand, straight and sure. She had nothing better. She followed the little creature. It led her over glittering dunes and past sharp rocks. Bastet kept the folded scroll pressed to her chest. Twice she looked back at the water. It stayed still. The dim star had not woken anything. The axolotl brought her to a long pier of black wood standing over the dark tide. Bastet climbed onto the boards and looked up. Far ahead a great telescope rose against the sky. Its long barrel pointed sideways at the stars, mounted on a heavy stand. A carved star marked its side. Bastet's heart lifted. Only one person would keep an instrument like that. The star-charting woman lived there. She had found the way. She hurried down the pier toward the tower. The folded scroll held the star's glow tight against her chest. Behind her the axolotl slipped back into the black water and was gone. Bastet did not slow. For the first time since the pyramid city, she knew exactly where to go.