Page 126 of Sands of Sirocco
They’d fought as boys, as all brothers did.Competed while their tutor watched over their shoulders.
And Noah had taken a fair share of punishments on Neal’s behalf.
A sharper blow brought him out of the train of thought, as though Osborne was enraged that his blows hadn’t caused Noah to cry out.Noah held his breath, grinding his teeth so hard that he thought they would break.
He tried to imagine Neal as he might look like now.
They’d looked the same, really.Noah was taller and Neal fairer.
The whip cracked again, the pain tearing through him like a knife.Any hope that he had that subsequent blows would grow less painful had disappeared.They only got worse.
“Noah!Help me!”The image he’d conjured of Neal dissolved in his mind’s eye, the flesh flaying and falling away from his handsome face, revealing a skeleton below the skin and muscle.
Bones in a grave in Gallipoli.
“Neal!”Noah’s hands uncurled from fists, reaching for the brother that wasn’t there.
The pain from his feet felt like molten lava flowing through his blood, thick and fiery.
“I’m going after him.”Noah was a man possessed with a singular mission, all his other tasks be damned.Neal was missing.He would find him and bring him home.
Another strike.His breath was stolen away once more, his mind reeling with the memories of a few years earlier.
“A man like you is a weapon, Benson.”Lord Helton’s voice rang in his mind.“Your brother is dead.I confirmed it this morning.And you’re better off for it.The more attachments you have, the less effective a weapon you become.And make no mistake—you’re a weapon.Mine.”
A knife sawed through the rope holding his feet upright.Noah blinked, barely registering his boots as Osborne threw them into the dirt beside his face.“Sit up.Put them back on.”
Osborne’s face was unusually blank.Noah gave an involuntary shudder, rolling to his side.His entire body felt unsteady as he attempted to sit.Whatever willpower he’d used to keep himself from showing a vocal reaction to the pain was gone.His hands shook violently as he tried to pull the boots back onto his swollen, bloodied feet.They were a strange shade of red and black, and the mere act of putting the shoes on was another punishment.
After Noah had managed the task, Osborne approached him.“Stand up.We have a short walk ahead of us, further into the tombs.You’d better hope your bitch returns tonight.”
Noah struggled to his hands and knees.His stomach was too weak—vomit spewed from his mouth before he could stop it, onto Osborne’s shoes.
Osborne leapt back, disgust on his face and Noah felt a twinge of satisfaction.He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but the scene around him grew blurry.
When Noah woke,he didn’t know where he was.He had been moved and lay slumped against hard, flat stone.His arms had been tied behind his back once again.
He coughed, his mouth so dry that his lips stuck together.His feet throbbed.He appeared to be in another underground chamber.Oil lamps lit the dark space, throwing an eerie glow into the ancient tomb.
The structure appeared only partially excavated, but the stone pathways were well cut.Wooden beams had been brought into the site of excavation, used to bolster the sides of the tunnel.
Footsteps approached.Osborne came into view, followed by three other men.He stopped short when he saw Noah.“You’re awake.”He came up behind Noah and grabbed his wrists.“I didn’t intend to put you to sleep, but perhaps I chose the wrong punishment.”
Noah held back a smile.At least he hadn’t given Osborne the satisfaction of knowing how much the whipping with the kurbash had hurt him.
“I’ve thought of another punishment for you, Benson.Inspired by the Aleaqrab itself.”He tossed the end of a rope over one of the wooden beams near the tall ceiling, and it fell to the other side.“The Palestinian hanging technique—or scorpion position.Name’s a befitting punishment for you.Once Lady Virginia arrives, one pull of this rope and you’ll know pain.Pain you won’t ever forget.”
Noah tensed, his eyes going to the rope.He knew the torture technique Osborne referred to and had the misfortune of seeing it done before.When Noah had witnessed it, the man who’d received it as punishment had lasted thirty minutes before death.Thirty agonizing minutes of being hung with his arms behind his back and over his head, shoulders dislocated.
The man’s screams had haunted Noah for days.
The Strappado.
ChapterForty-One
Riding beside Sarah in the dark, Ginger listened to the soft crunch of the camels striding through the desert.They’d procured the animals with the help of the owner at the hotel, preferring to leave the exhausted horses at the stable there rather than force them to make another long trip.The owner didn’t ask questions—he was getting handsomely paid—and the two women had started toward the Serapeum.
Had Noah given Osborne her message about returning tonight?
