The broken priest threw back his hood and lifted a bony finger and warned, “We will not tolerate this kind of insult. I admonish you now to silence your ungrateful son or I will be forced to.”
I couldn’t gaze upon that face ravaged from a lifetime of malediction.
His decaying flesh barely clung to his skull.
With that announcement, the commander arrived with backup guards and seized the three. There was no doubt my father’s intentions would be carried out.
“Threats are not welcome in my court,” replied Father. “I grant you the opportunity of a renewed life. You broke the law when you attempted to steal the Ben Ben stone. Now you have caused unparalleled damage to my country. Yet, instead of imprisonment or death, I grant you a chance of redemption.”
A guard presented a scroll for my father’s signature and stamp. He waved the document in front of the trembling three who now understood the severity of this order. “A transport has been arranged for your immediate departure. I shall provide ample provisions to ensure your safe journey. Horemheb and his military force will escort you to your new life in the rock quarries.”
Sit-Amun rushed forward, her face mottled and red. “You cannot take him from me. I warn you.” She stared at my father. I could see livid red flames shoot out from her lower body and attack me and my family. I trembled. My stomach ached. If she could summon a crocodile for Hep-Mut, she could do worse to us.
“Sit-Amun, this does not concern you,” said Netri before facing the Hanuti. “Threats will not be taken kindly. I have instructed the guards to protect you three for all time. You shall be kept under their watch so that no harm will come from any enemy, although no one will ever be allowed to visit.” Netri raised his eyebrows at Sit-Amun to make his point clear. Ases-Amun drew a rat from his sleeve and began to chant. A low hum at first almost inaudible. Then Mery-Ptah chimed in followed by Ptah-Mose, whose belly jiggled with each in-breath.
I couldn’t understand what they said. But from each of their mouths a black cloud of smoke emitted and snaked its way toward my father. Ases-Amun threw the rat to the floor and it skittered away. The two multiplied and doubled again and again and darted toward the people in the room.
Please, do not hurt us, I thought. Retreat. Retreat.
The guards thrust their spears at the vermin. With a gnashing of razor sharp teeth, the rats scampered about, inflicting severe bites upon the guards’ sandaled feet.
I pointed and started to shake. “Meti, the smoke.”
“Get up,” replied Meti. She made me climb upon my throne above the raging rats, which so far had avoided us.
Couldn’t she see it? No one seemed to notice the smoke that now licked the face of my father. The rats created a diversion, clever chaos amidst the court.
“Get them, now,” ordered Ti-Yee as she unleashed her pair of lionesses.
The beasts sprang upon the rats and flailed them like playthings.
“Horus. Isis. Consume the rats,” commanded Amaret, and set her birds of prey to assault the vermin.
Sit-Amun joined the chant. That Red Ram apparition once again swelled up. Angry scarlet eyes admonished us while curled horns threatened to impale us. The transparent image snorted fire and stomped its cloven hooves. The Amun ram glowered and tilted its head, ready to butt my father. Sit-Amun maneuvered the specter like a puppet. She breathed that black smoke right into its flaring nostrils . Amaret heaved bolts of lightning that paralyzed the red ghost. I raised my hands and blue electricity shot out and hit Sit-Amun in the chest, knocking her back so hard she hit the wall. She sank down into a rumpled heap. Guards seized the chanters and bound their hands before shoving them toward the door.
A forlorn Mery-Ptah wailed, “Sit-Amun,” before a soldier gagged him. Sit-Amun pulled herself up and glared at the Pharaoh. “Think twice, Akhenaten,” she growled out. “Do you really want me to take something equally as precious away from you?”
The Pharaoh turned his stern gaze back on his aunt. “I have warned you about making threats. Do no test my determination to take a strong stand against evil.”
Sit-Amun backed down.
I felt Sit-Amun acquiesced too easily. Somehow I didn’t believe she would cease her attempt to destroy my family. And that, made me very afraid.
“Wake up. Amaret will arrive any moment for scrying. You will not want to miss this,” Meti chided while rubbing my arms and legs to draw me closer to this world. Three fortnights passed since my father’s decree, and our astronomer predicted that March eighteenth would mark the closure of Karnak Temple. My spine still tingled and ached from sending too much blue electricity from my hands. This powerful untapped emanation poured through me and I couldn’t control it.
“Mutnodjmet was invited too, so I expect you to show respect to my younger sister. No more frogs in her bed. You know this vexes her.” “She made Meket cry,” I responded, still dizzy from sleep. “Meti, what is scrying?” The cold limestone floor chilled my bare feet as we made our way down the darkened hall toward a starlit room.
“Scrying allows us to see the present or the future by looking into a sheet of obsidian. We will view the closing of the Amun Temple without being in harm’s way.”
The copper ceiling of the small reception chamber glistened with a myriad of cut-out stars that filtered in a heavenly radiance. The gathered women communed in pleasantries. Candles twinkled their luminous kisses to the rise of the moon-shaped orange alabaster holders.
Grand Djedti Ti-Yee sipped hibiscus tea. Her meticulous wig was styled with gold beaded plaits, her regal robes the color of rose petals dipped in gold.
Tiy, the consort of Ay, conversed with Great Grand Elder Tuya, Tefnut- Aten and Khephri-Aten, the two Gem-pa-Aten temple priestesses. These women interwove stories of family and friends into a familiar tapestry of their lives. Everyone had lost loved ones and property in the recent catastrophes, and the pain and shock were etched forever in our hearts.
“My entire family wested in the wave. I have no one left,” said Priestess Tefnut-Aten.
“My home was burned to the ground by the falling ash,” added Priestess Kheprhi-Aten.
My Great Grand Elder Tuya blew her nose. “It took me years to earn the money for my land and gardens. The earthcrack destroyed everything. My consort, Yuya, fell and hit his head during the earthcrack and now he cannot even remember my name.”
I stood. “Nineteen of my classmates never returned to school. Our teacher says they wested. We did blessings for each one. Their empty mats make me cry.”
The others offered their condolences and shared their own heartwrenching stories. The soft chatter of women in this circle made my heart ache. Silent tears streamed down my cheeks.
I had no friends to share secrets with. Hep-Mut had taken all of my confidences to her watery grave. Thinking of my loss made me angry. I clenched my fists. Meket-Aten and I loved to paint and hide from our handmaidens under the bed. But so often Meti forbid her to play due to her coughing spells. Ankhi, being only a toddler, didn’t understand that six-year-olds didn’t want to play baby games like splashing in the tub or pulling stringed toys. I didn’t even have a pet. I wished I could have found my white cat and her kittens.
My mind wandered to my classmates. The older girls distanced themselves in honor of my ruling status. The agony of loneliness crept upon silent toes to kick at my heart. Had I been too busy to notice? The brick load of my days had been filled with duties and held together with the mortar of the gossip of court life. But I craved a friend, my friend and one I didn’t have to share. One with whom I could lie awake all night, counting the shooting stars and giggling about secret forever-pledges.
Netri would understand my pain. We shared an inexplicable bond. He surrounded himself with confidants, advisors and protectors. Yet, with the exception of Pentu, I didn’t believe even he had ever truly savored the dish of authentic companionship. Would his lofty inner dwellings prevent him from anchoring into this temporal existence? I envied him,
for I feared I might not be as fortunate.
“Where is Netri?” I asked.
“Meditating,” said Meti. “We cannot disturb him.”
“Will he lead the closure of the temples?”
“No, Merit-Aten, it would be too risky. Counselor Ra-Mesu and General Horemheb will use their military expertise.”
“Mmmmm, Horemheb,” said Mutnodjmet batting her eyelashes.
“He is so strong and handsome.”
The women snickered and nudged each other “Oh, handsome enough if you keep your eyes closed,” said Grand Djedti Ti-Yee.
“It is not his rugged looks that make women flock to him like randy goats in heat. He is the size of an ox,” said Tiy in a gossipy tone as she extended her hands wide.
Mutnodjmet, who tried to act so grown up, blushed “Why, I would choke if I ever saw a penis so large.”
The older women laughed with a knowing wink that confused me. Meti admonished, Merit-Aten is too young for this type of talk.”
Ti-Yee sniffed. “Nonsense. Better she learn about men and women from her inner circle than to hear it amongst schoolgirls who gossip about body parts they cannot even pronounce.” Grand Djedti reached down to pet her lionesses, scratching their ears.
The doors to our star temple opened wide as Amaret strode in with a defiant air and a majestic golden crown atop her head. Her carnelian colored robes trailed behind her. Even though she wore ceremonial garments, I noted that her filthy bare feet were calloused.
She seated herself upon a red cushion before a polished obsidian slab in a golden frame with hieroglyphics along the edges. She didn’t even greet us. I watched for Grand Djedti’s eyes to narrow, signaling her displeasure, before she snapped at Amaret’s insolence. The bluish swirls remained about Ti-Yee’s throat yet she made no comment to the seer. Instead, the intimate chatter ceased and all present became reverent.
The prophetess chanted the opening blessing of protection. Her eyes fluttered, and her head swayed as she waved her hands over the black stone slab in large circular strokes. With a great gust of wind, the beating of wings made us all duck in terror before her owl and falcon rushed through the doors and perched upon Amaret’s high backed chair.
Unshaken, Amaret plied her magic to coax the images forth. Her dreamy eyes, the color of a pale blue moon, gazed past the shiny stone. She seemed to have stepped from another world. Her clothes, while Khemitian, appeared to be from days long gone. Her unkempt hair looked wild like an animal’s. She frightened, yet fascinated me.
Meti tilted my forehead downward and whispered, “Never look her directly in the eyes.”
“Why?” I asked, raising my voice.
Meti slipped a hand over my mouth in silent warning.
Grand Djedti’s voice boomed in my head. “Silence, child. Your place is not to question. Sit and learn. Now, relax your eyes and look through the blackness.”
Startled, I blinked in disbelief. I heard her in my head, yet she didn’t utter a word.
Grand Djedti Ti-Yee sat with folded hands but her determined eyes confirmed it. Blue swirls flashed around her throat.
Amaret began her incantation. “Show to me our destiny, I do pray. Reveal our fate and allow the will of Aten to unfold.”
Then she uttered three words. A chill raced up my spine. Something deep inside me tingled. Everyone in the room united to form a circle around the prophetess. Those words. Ancient. Mysterious. Secret. The moment I heard them, they marked my soul for eternity.
Yet, when I tried to recall them less than a flick of a donkey’s ear later, they had been bucked from memory. A puff of smoke ignited over the obsidian and everyone hovered like hawks vying for the best view.
“I see them,” said Amaret. “Horemheb leads his contingent of over a thousand soldiers brandishing spears through the gates of Karnak at this very moment. In unison, their leather sandals fall upon the earth, making it tremble in anticipation of change.”
“I cannot see anything,” I whispered.
“Relax your eyes. Look through the stone,” said Meti.
“I see it,” declared Grand Djedti Ti-Yee. “Those soldiers hope to make use of their weapons today. Men salivate at the desire of a worthy kill, especially in times of peace.”
The women nodded. Who enjoyed killing of one of his own? I couldn’t fathom that this would be a pleasurable act. How could men be so different than women? Women create. Men destroy. Except for Netri.
The commander directed his men to seize all the ritual tools, riches and artifacts from the Temple of Amun and sort them into great gleaming heaps.
“The piles will touch the sky,” said Meti. “I have seen their locked rooms filled to the ceiling. They horde their riches while the Sesh starve and weep.”
Great Grand Elder Tuya wrung her hands and rocked in her chair.
“It would be a blessing if no one blemished this day with violence.”
I agreed. Peace. At last. Now my family would be safe.
“The northern squadron approaches the first storage chamber.
Pa-Nesy cocked his head, pointed to the door and held up ten fingers. His hearing was so accurate that he could hear field mice washing their whiskers behind a solid wall.
Priestess Khephri-Aten pointed. “Cowering priests hide behind the secured electrum doors. Their way will not be easy. The guards only rattle and pummel those weighty doors.”
“They attach thick ropes to the oxen,” Amaret said.
“The great beasts pulled the doors away from their hinges,” said Grand Djedti Ti-Yee.
“The priests hurl insults at the guards. That one rushes at the guard,” said Mutnodjmet.
The soldier trained in the art of combat flung his sharp spear, impaling the hapless priest against the plaster wall. Meti covered my eyes.
“I had hopes that it would not end in violence.” Meti wanted to shelter me from the cruelties. “Do you wish to go back to bed?”
Tears sprang to my eyes. I had never seen the life pour out of a man.
“She will stay,” ordered Grand Djedti. “Being in line to the throne does not guarantee a life of ease. And being young does not mean you can abdicate your duties by merit of age. We are all responsible for that death. We live in an era of revolution. Peaceful co-existence is no longer an option. His death signifies a death in us all.”
“The soldiers have confiscated all the assets,” said Amaret.
As we watched, hundreds of years of antiquity were carried out of that room. Pa-Nesy ordered the guards to load the golden treasures upon the waiting wagons. “Melt it all down,” he ordered.
“The image of Amun will no longer be needed once the temple closes,” explained Meti.
“The age of Amun The Hidden will be put to sleep. The worshiping of golden images is now outlawed,” stated Grand Djedti. “We shall break the vibration of control so the people will be free.”
Amaret pointed. “See the southern squad has pulled out chisels to remove the name of Amun from the Temple pillars.”
We watched as blank spaces dotted the columns where only a moment before the letters had existed. I witnessed how the workers took care not to destroy any other symbols.
“They must discover where the dark sorcerers hide,” said Grand Djedti.
Suddenly, bald-headed priests ran naked through the courtyard, alarmed by the churning chaos. They hurled stones and cursed at the intruders who threatened them with razor-sharp weapons. The lesser priests conjured spells so that locusts swarmed the guards. Others summoned clouds of biting flies to engulf the troops.
The Western squadron impounded the granaries and butchery stalls. Two priests hurled balls of black light at the soldiers, slaughtering several upon impact. More guards arrived and conquered the two Amun grain counters. They forced their hands behind their backs before hog-tying them. Several of the guards kicked the subjugated officials, leaving them beaten and bloodied. The granaries and vegetable bins could now be confiscated by the military.
Shadow of the Sun (The Shadow Saga) Page 19
