Chapter 48: Mafdel

We sat in silence a long moment until the Egyptian goddess broke it by tossing her hands and shuddering off her own grim anxiety, returning to the watchful, still person I'd first met. Mafdel grunted, standing again, graceful and deadly in her movements. I wondered if she knew how scary she seemed just pushing herself to her feet without apparent effort? Likely something she'd cultivated. I know I would have, were I in her line of work. "Idiots," she muttered then, surprising me with her frustration. "No foresight." Who was she talking about? The Pantheons who wanted me dead? Likely. "They have to know killing your mortal form will mean freeing Chaos."

"Surely they do," Lilith said. "They can't all have a collective death wish?" She actually spluttered, her serpent's tongue quivering a few inches beyond her blunt snout.