Going Forth By Day

by Mary R Woldering

  “We can study these later, Wse,” Hordjedtef whispered, interrupting the inspector’s thoughts. His voice sounded lost. “I need to rest; to bring myself level after that… that wretched woman, so I can understand why I haven’t already sent a wraith to strangle her draggle-tailed self.” The High Priest rang for another attendant after he closed the box again.

  Wserkaf sensed the Great One wanted to tame not only the elder woman, but also the others as quickly as possible. He needed to gain their confidence, and to show both great and grave sympathy.

  “Go to the dry store-room to check on them, would you, Dear one?” Hordjedtef spoke quickly to the inspector again, running a verbal rapid-fire list of things that needed to happen. “I will meet you after I pray upon the Countess’ maids to get those creatures washed and purified according to a more civilized custom. I’ll ask the Lady Countess to supervise them as they bathe, if she would, and get her sister to play soothing music for them. Do see they are given calmatives to drink and intoxicants to inhale. We need them to be in an excellent state as quickly as possible,” the old man had reached into the folds of the cloak which he had bundled up behind himself as extra padding in his chair. He drew out a curved dagger, not as glorious as the one he used in ceremony, but still sharp and useful. Handing it to Wserkaf, he continued: “Take this, and don’t be afraid to use it if you have to.”

  “Great One, you speak as if they are our captives,” Wserkaf suggested. “Will you allow them at least a little more some freedom in the women’s area until they are level?”

  “So compassionate you are, Wse,” the elder sighed in a show of fatigue and irritation again. The second attendant had arrived to help the old man from his chair. “What could your interest be in them?” Hordjedtef stretched a little with a mild sustained pose and an energizing breath. For a moment he stared into his protégé’s eyes. He sensed some of the younger priest’s misgivings. “Perhaps the young Shinar woman has continued the charm she wove over you when she danced those weeks ago?” he dropped his gaze. “I was thinking she might actually be the one to brighten the mood, as Hethrt did for elder Ra, of our Great Majesty. Some other arrangement in one of our many noble houses could be made for the others,” he turned and continued to reflect and plan as he did. “I’m sure His Majesty will want to meet them all this very evening if we can get them calm. Go, Wse. Tell them that. Speak to them about their options. And get the tall old girl to shut her disrespectful mouth for once. Once they are situated… comfortable…” his old eyes silvered just a bit in anticipatory greed. “Go, now.”

  So, Wserkaf understood as he left to tend to the women, he really does plan to use the women to help him read the stones. He’ll spoil and flatter them, dote on them and put them in noble houses as handmaidens. Maybe they will even be chosen as concubines if they are lucky enough to charm one. Then he’ll convince them of his good intent. It’s the way he’s always worked. Wserkaf knew his senior well. Hordjedtef possessed the coldest intellect and discipline, laced with necessary honey-coated charm for all subjects in his realm. He was a true master of people, and of granting their desires bit by bit. Charmed even me, Wserkaf wondered suddenly how much of his flight to the Cult of Djehuti had been his own idea in the first place. How much of my own thoughts and beliefs have been the old man’s manipulation of the future of the Two Lands? Why did he need to lure me from study with my own father? Wserkaf thought as the image of his mother’s resolved but sad face the morning he left came to his mind. He wondered back then, as he did today, why the old man really needed to bring him under his own power and instruction. Maybe, if I stay just close enough, the little stones will say another thing.

  CHAPTER 4: THE ARRANGEMENT

  Ariennu couldn’t bring herself to raise her eyes from the smooth brick floor in the empty, windowless store-room. The guards, who had snatched the rope that had bound her hands when they threw her headlong into the room in disgust, were still milling and joking outside the door. As she listened, she heard the men making occasional comments about bending her over something. They might try, she scoffed, and maybe this worthless rock in my skull will wake itself up and give me the power to burn their genitals to nubbins when they do.

  Over what seemed a near eternity, but was closer to a small segment of the forenoon, she listened to the occasional anxious voices of women who came and went outside the room. The eldest of Marai’s wives sensed an occasional face as it peered inside to check on them. She heard the feet of servants and messengers as they padded around. The sound of the elder priest’s voice rising and falling in a heated discussion caught her ears. She didn’t want to speak or to move while she waited for her and her sister-wives’ fates to be decided.

  Suddenly, she heard someone enter and knew, without looking up, that the inspector priest had been sent to check on them this time. The thought of him sickened her. She remembered how she had teased him about his mother three and a half weeks earlier. Oh, if this is my fault… she began, but inwardly knew her behavior toward the inspector hadn’t been enough to spell doom for Marai.

  Now it was midday. Before the priests revealed the tragic news about Marai, Ariennu had assumed it had been mid-morning. Neither she, nor Naibe and Deka had eaten. In their excitement of coming across the river to be with Marai, they simply forgot. At this point Ariennu didn’t even care to eat. She felt she would rather starve than eat anything given her by men who had taken part in the death of her beloved.

  At this moment, she no longer felt the absolute rage that had first come over her. The grief of losing Marai slowly replaced all other feelings. She thought of their year together. Yeah, you were some kind of wonderful to me. That just makes it harder, though. Better you had been a strutting ass like N’ahab. Didn’t cry over him, did I? she mulled over her life a little more.

  She had grown up hard in her life of danger, adventure, and ultimate disappointment. All of that had become soft and pleasant in the light of Marai’s unquestioning love. With him gone, she felt everything inside her would become hard once more. Ariennu stroked her own face, bidding farewell to that brief softness he had engendered in her. All of the tenderness he had shared with her had begun to float away as if it had been forever lost in a dream. The memory of his touch had stayed only long enough to soothe the slap the guard had given her when she spit on the high priest and screamed at him to open the box of Child Stones. Almost amused, she touched the swollen places on her face and her split lip only to discover they were already healing; regenerated by her Child Stone. The Children will heal me, sure, but they couldn’t save my Marai, her thoughts trailed bitterly. By evening, there would be no mark on her face, but Ariennu knew the mark on her spirit would last forever. No length of time could fade it.

  Comforted only slightly by his memory, she remembered when he had taken her aboard that vessel of crystal light in the sand. As if they had always known her, the Children of Stone had spoke to her heart.

  Ariennu born in the Kingdom of Tyre off the Kina coast

  Know that youth passes

  Age is the voice of wisdom and experience.

  She had been ill; near death of “yellow disease” and tumors gained from her life of adventure. The rough old woman heard her name clearly, as she lay in the floor, numb from the thoughts the gentle voices in crystal sent through her. Marai had stayed with her when she was about to give up. He had been disgusted by her diseased and filthy condition, but had been too honorable to torment her over it. A tear wanted to form in her eye, but Ariennu forbid it. No; never more. I will never cry until I find anything that’s left of him and weep it back to life like their goddess Aset who searched for and brought back her brother, Asar, piece by piece. She remembered how he had consoled her, saying “Ariennu, you won’t die! You’ll see”. That’s what he had been like… gentle. Thoughts of him were stunningly clear. They haunted her just as keenly as the dream of him in the early morning hours of this long and sorrowful day had invaded her sleep. Those days and nights we had
were so filled with joking and singing, she continued to think about their arrival in Little Kina Ahna. The days at the market had almost always been sunny and happy. Ari poignantly remembered that wonderful afternoon when she set out to soothe him from a momentary setback and found that she was the one getting soothed in such slow, elegant, and easy passion. All only a memory now, she lowered her hand mournfully and kept her eyes focused on the floor. Maybe I should just go back to what I was, if I have to be without you. There’s no point in any of this anymore. Ariennu wanted to go back to being the diseased old woman on the brink of death. She could die, forgotten and ground back to the nothingness from which she had come. You want something from me, you make sure I’m really drunk and then do whatever makes you happy. Just don’t kid yourself into thinking you can bring me around, she thought of the men who had been laughing outside the door. Child Stone would just heal me up, though, like it’s healing my lip. No going back, I guess. Maybe, if I start to speak up again and long enough these men will cut off my head, or bash it flat. Maybe that old buzzard will have me mortally wounded and this little Child Stone dug out of my head, she laughed silently, nasty keleb wanted to do that; wanted to show Naibe and Deka what happens when one insults a “Son of Gods’ Body” with a wad of spit. Wonder why he didn’t make the order? Killed Marai, why not us? Ariennu wondered, half wishing that Hordjedtef would change his mind.

  There isn’t even a point to having these Child Stones now, Ariennu smirked as she continued thinking. They always want to just watch calmly. They only really helped us fight when that boy tried to steal from us, or when they helped Marai kill N’ahab. They were so brutal then. Why can’t they be brutal now for us? she paused in thought, resentful of the Children’s apparent powerlessness. Maybe they’re right, though, she suddenly thought, maybe it’s going to be best for the three of us to appear unmoved by this. Maybe we need to get proud… work whatever life they have for us while we make better plans.

  Glancing around, Ariennu saw Deka out of one side of her field of vision. The dark-skinned woman hugged her knees as she sat in the corner of the windowless, box-like room. Her expression ranged from hard to forlorn. Look at her. She feels it too. Misses what she always refused. I’ll never understand why she didn’t want him as a beloved, Ariennu thought of Deka’s reluctance with the big man and the way she acted as if being his beloved was wrong. In the thieves’ camp she had been aggressive and every bit as bold with men as they had been. See her sad look… The older woman felt hot tears try to come again and continued to fight them. …I will not cry. My tears were for only for him. Damn him. Oh, sweet loving damn. I’m lost again, why? Ariennu asked as one tear fell despite her struggling. There. That’s done now. My mourning the best man ever will be my lack of weeping. My soft, sweet heart that you held in your hands, Marai, she’s become a stone once more. Let your ghost see how much you meant to me by growing powerful in the lives of others, when I speak of you.

  Naibe-Ellit lay sprawled on the floor. The youngest wife gripped the red sash with golden bulls she had embroidered and wept inconsolably for Marai.

  Her though… the only goodness she ever knew. Ari sighed unable to comprehend so much of the agony. Slowly, Ariennu raised her disgust-filled eyes to look at the inspector. She knew he must have been in the room for some length of time, surveying the three of them. He was different than when they met and even changed from earlier today. Unlike his senior, he sensed the pain in their souls and ached for them.

  Good! I hope you suffer with us! Take it in, bastard! Let the pain you find in us be a part of your days and nights for the rest of your life! No one, not wife, not concubine, not even your gods will be of lifelong joy to you, because of your weak hand in this! Ariennu had never cursed anyone before or even wanted to inflict a curse. She preferred an honest fight with her fists whenever she needed to make her point known. Just at this moment, however, the growl and snarl of the thought she launched at this wiry looking inspector felt so good.

  She saw Prince Wserkaf approach Deka first.

  The Ta-Seti woman had given the appearance of the greatest calm. She had risen aimlessly and after some moments, had continued to stare at the floor so she would avoid looking directly at the inspector. When he extended a sympathetic hand to her, she hissed and leapt back like a mad cat. She crouched, fully fierce, scrambled backward, and growled, baring her teeth. She became the specter of a dark lioness, with eyes blazing in fury. As if by instinct, she checked her surroundings, then realized she had backed against the wall. Unable to flee, Deka threw her hands up in front of her face to claw at her adversary.

  The priest took a step back in shock at first, but with a simple and elegant hand gesture, he quietly advanced into her attack: “Hke SkHt. Na Hke. I see you there, inside this woman. Abandon her or be calm. Do no harm,” he brought his hands down slowly. As he did, a spell wafted through Deka’s attack. The woman of Ta-Seti sagged on the wall then settled to a sitting position on the floor. Rocking back and forth, she looked inward started to keen her melancholy self-calming tune. The inspector priest shrugged off his momentary anxiety and then lowered his gaze. He moved to Ariennu next.

  After Deka’s reaction, Ari leapt to her feet, once again emboldened. She paced the floor like a trapped animal, but knew, she couldn’t turn into one. Holding her head high, she refused to stop stomping around. “Don’t you come over to me, now!” the elder woman snarled. “I know you’ve been standing there watching to see if it’s safe to come to us,” she whirled with her back turned again. The priest followed her around the room, trying to anticipate which way she would turn next. She was glad for his sake that the room was empty. If it hadn’t been, he would have been wearing anything ‘put by’ in the place. “You stop following me, you gutless dirt-licking keleb. You get on your hands and knees and go crawling ass-first back to your owner! I’m not some toy you can pull on whenever it suits you. Leave us to our grief!” her voice lowered until it was a bare whisper under her breath, her boldness succumbing to sorrow once more.

  “Will you please be still, woman,” Wserkaf seized her arm forcefully, instantly strengthening from the meek and respectful character he had portrayed.

  Ariennu winced in pain as she felt Wserkaf’s grip tighten. He’s this strong? Odd. Ariennu gritted her teeth as she raised her other hand to strike the priest.

  Calm

  The Child voice behind her brows reminded her she had decided to stay calm. She reconsidered and returned her gaze to the floor, but couldn’t avoid the next surly comment. “Why are you even in here? Is it just to torment us?” she asked earnestly as her eyes grew crafty. Grinning, she forced a fake laugh. “Ah, Lord Inspector… Hmph! Inspecting the goods, eh? Well! That’s what this is about?” her voice snapped as she furiously pulled her breasts out of the binding straps on her kalasaris shift. “Want these? Have a look at them, you gutless bastard. Suck on one, you big baby. My milk will grow some hair on your little boy twig.”

  The inspector’s eyes steadied, unimpressed.

  “See… Still nice and firm, and I have all my teeth… good knees too!” Then, with her head tipping to one side, she whirled around. “Oh, I forgot… No guts and no balls either. I suppose you couldn’t move over anything I have to show you.”

  The inspector loosed his grip and walked to the door which led to the hall adjacent to the kitchen stair. Ignoring Ariennu’s tirade, he looked up the stairway that led to the rooftop cooking area for a moment. Stepping out of the cubicle, he spoke to some of the serving women who were working nearby. They quickly vanished. In a few moments, these servants brought in slim, almost modest sheath wraps that looked like open coats, loin belts, typically worn by dancers and acrobats, and some short triangular shawls which could be used to create gaily colored skirts. The last servants in the group handed the inspector a basket of jewelry and cosmetics to show to the three women.

  Ariennu understood exactly what the presentation of these garments meant. The old man must have already p
lanned their futures already. It was possible he had even made some of the decisions before he sent his protégé to bring them across the river. It wasn’t likely for him to hire dancers so regularly that he would have such outfits on hand, unless he fancied himself or his assistant as dancing girls. Grinning wryly at the thought of the two men posing in lascivious postures, Ari almost laughed.

  “I knew it,” she scoffed, “this kind of work always haunts a woman on her own. Do you know we have our own trades working as merchants?” she turned away from the inspector again. “If our Marai is gone…” Ariennu’s voice halted for an instant while she cleared the emotion from her throat “…we’ll just go home.”

  “Oh, I don’t think you will,” Wserkaf’s voice remained calm and quiet. “As you prepared to come to us, to bring what your sire had promised, I passed along a writ from our glorious and wise Father Menkaure commanding the Sanghir… Etum Addi is his name I believe, and his family to an opportunity in the sea town of Ra-Kedet far from here, at no personal cost if he would hurry. Within a day, because the Kings’ men aid him on this, he will be gone.”

  Ariennu paled a little, amazed. She remembered somewhere in her haste at getting ready to come across the river this morning that Etum Addi had received a scroll of some kind from the inspector. He had appeared upset at first, but then almost relieved. When he bid them farewell he had invited them to come to Ra-Kedet to work for him if the event today didn’t work out well. He had been giving them a way out of the mess that surrounded them now. That’s what all of that was about, she shook her head slowly. Ariennu didn’t want to believe that these men had planned everything before they even met them, but it was starting to look that way. Every move they made had been anticipated and met in advance.