by Jo Franklin
She raced past the tomb, hardly giving it a glance. The path downwards was uneven with loose stones. She mustn’t fall.
She could see some of the cruise ships midstream, moving off, making way for the others to leave. It wasn’t much further and then they’d be able to see her. She went down into a dip, turned a corner, and stared out into the river. They’d all gone! Not one cruise ship remained. The river was empty of any life. There was nothing.
She stopped. It couldn’t be. They’d all been there a moment ago. There had been people on the paths, and the odd seller hoping to make a last minute sale. Something had happened to her. She must keep going. Though they were hidden from her, they must still be there. She mustn’t trust her senses. They were misleading her. Gerald, Cheng, Peter, Achmed and the others were there, waiting. They had to be.
But she couldn’t quell the panic she felt. She’d been gone too long, she now knew that. Was she stuck in limbo between the past and the future? If so, she had to use all her new-found powers – the ring and the shawl – to put things right, if she could.
When she got near the water she stopped. It was very quiet. No sound reached her ears. Almost in tears, she covered her head with her shawl, placed her left hand over her right, and lifted the ring to the heavens. “Help me, please,” she whispered, and closed her eyes.
She almost fell, but suddenly there was someone behind her. Strong muscular arms slid under her clothes, caressing her entire body. She didn’t resist but gave herself up to him, allowing him to do whatever he wanted. She remained as she was, head bowed, eyes closed, with her ring glittering in the sunlight. Then the feeling passed. Whoever it was had helped her back, and now he was gone. She held her arms to her side, and stood listening and looking for signs of life.
Finally she heard a sound. She was no longer alone. The ships were still by the jetty. Peter stood on the quayside, his panama hat jauntily at an angle on his head. Mary was near him, drinking water from a bottle. They were chatting and laughing, and had obviously enjoyed the outing.
“Aline,” Peter called, noticing her. “Where did you spring from? You weren’t there a moment ago. I must say you look very becoming, shrouded in your beautiful shawl. But don’t just stand there like some sort of statue from yesteryear, come and join us. We’ve got something we want to ask you.”
Slowly she walked over to them, her legs trembling a little.
“Now,” Peter said conspiratorially, not noticing. “When we next dock we’re going to be in Aswan and I think we should shake off the shackles of our tour leader and do our own thing. We’re not doing the dam until tomorrow.”
“What’s your plan?”
“Well,” he grinned, “I think we can slip onto shore for a couple of hours and go and explore on our own – things like the market – and get a bit of local flavour, meet the people who have families and shops. Now you must be up for that, Aline, being a writer, think of the opportunities for you.”
“Who else would go?”
“Mary and Jan. Be me and three ladies. What do you say?”
“Sounds good! Count me in.”
*
They didn’t have to avoid anyone when they docked in Aswan and were leaving the ship. The tour leader was quite happy for any tourists to go ashore on their own, as long as they signed out.
“Typical,” Peter muttered grumpily as they walked up the road. “Think we can do a runner and our rebellion goes unnoticed. What is the world coming to when you can’t break even the smallest of rules?”
“Well I’m pleased really,” said Jan. “I don’t want to go missing. What would all my grandchildren do without me? Anyway I want to find a market and buy something nice.”
“Shopaholic!” teased Mary. “Still I know what you mean. It’s nice to be looked after.”
Peter grunted. “What do you say about it all, Aline? Now as a youngster you’d have welcomed an adventure into the wildness of Egypt, maybe even rescued by a handsome Arab, after you’ve lost your way and strayed into the desert.”
Aline laughed. “You do have such an imagination.”
“Not at all. Not at all.”
“We don’t know quite where we’re heading,” Mary ventured.
“Maybe I can help?”
An Egyptian dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers caught up with them. “My name is Kini, and I’m from the cruise ship. I’m one of the chefs, and I’m on my way to pick up some herbs and spices from a cousin who owns a shop in the market. Perhaps you’d like to follow me?”
Aline looked at him suspiciously. He did have good English, and seemed very presentable, clean-shaven, dark-haired and youngish. Even so she felt a bit apprehensive.
“Market!” Jan said in a delighted tone. “Oh yes, you lead the way. I’d like to buy some more sandals.”
He led them through a maze of narrow streets away from the hustle and bustle. Once or twice Aline glanced at the others and could see that they, like her, were wondering if they’d been a bit too trusting with someone they’d never met.
Eventually he stopped outside a small shop which seemed to sell everything in the way of vegetables and fruit. He ushered them in, called to someone in the back, and put out four chairs in a narrow space.
“This is my cousin, and he’ll let you smell some of the spices. If you want to, you can buy them and take them home with you. They are some of the finest examples you’ll find anywhere.”
Several innocuous bottles were brought out; the others sniffed them and made polite comments, but Aline declined. She made an excuse of having a bit of a cold, but she knew the real reason was Nephthys and her tricks.
After a bit Jan and Mary decided to search out the shops and said they’d be back. Peter was busily drinking coffee and chatting non-stop to Kini. Aline sat listening.
Even though she hadn’t inhaled any of the spices, she could smell them all around her. The space round the small table was confined as there were so many sacks of exotic fruits and vegetables on the floor. There was something she didn’t like about the place. She wished she’d gone with the ladies but didn’t want to leave Peter on his own.
Kini was talking about fruits and how to use spices in cooking. Then he suddenly changed tack.
“You like pictures?”
Peter stared at him, his cup poised mid-air. “Pictures?”
“Of pyramids and things.”
“Yes, sort of.”
“In the next street we have a small gallery of older paintings of our land. I can take you there. Maybe you’d like to buy something for your lady.”
“I could do with a walk. Shall we go, Aline?”
She was more than happy to leave the shop; she followed the men as they ambled along.
*
They came to a small house which didn’t look as if it had anything to do with art. Aline was more than a little curious by this time. She wondered just what they’d let themselves in for.
As they went into the hall they faced two doors. Kini stopped and gave Aline a beautiful smile, showing his white teeth in all their glory.
“We have two different rooms for looking at pictures. One is for men and one for ladies.” He opened one of the doors. “This is for you.” He ushered her gently in and turned on a light. He then closed the door on her.
Aline didn’t like being shut in, but she reasoned with herself that she could easily get out. She decided to find out what Kini was so keen for her to see.
There was one exhibit, in a niche. It was a painting on a bit of wall, evidently removed from somewhere else. It was nothing exciting. There was a fish, a bird and a snake, all drawn and painted with an amateurish hand, but really quite good. The colours had faded, but the actual drawings looked fresh and new.
She didn’t hear Kini come into the room. She jumped as he stood very close to her.
“What do you think?”
“I’m not sure.”
“It’s not very good, but it has a very interesting history.”
She could feel his hot breath on her cheek.
He continued. “It’s probably about three thousand years old, not worth anything, even at that age. It was found in the rubble of a building which had been quite deliberately demolished, in ancient times.”
“Why was that?”
“It was a bad place. It was a place of prostitutes. It was pulled down. And all the women were beaten mercilessly; some of them died.”
Aline shivered. “How do you know all this, and who painted the stone?”
“I have my sources. One of the girls did the painting.”
“Did she die?”
Kini’s voice became very husky.
“Who knows? I’d think so.”
His hand caressed the back of her neck. “Such a dark room,” he whispered. “Such an erotic painting.”
“Stop it! What do you think you’re doing?”
Kini laughed. He gave her a smile as he went out, shutting and locking the door behind him.
She rushed to the door and hammered on it.
“Peter!”
*
After a moment or two she heard the key turn. Perfume wafted through and the door opened.
“Why, Aline. What on earth are you doing here?”
“Nephthys!” She might have known.
“Peter has gone, so I wouldn’t bother to shout, and Kini is just outside. How nice to see you. I thought you’d appreciate a bit of art. Do let’s have a good look at this painting, together, shall we? Kini will make sure no one comes in.”
Nephthys smiled as she drew Aline gently towards the drawing.
“Do you remember the fishes in the Nile – how they used to dart around and try to escape the harpoons? They were always caught, and then eaten. What about the birds flying so high in the sky, and yet so easily shot and killed with arrows, and their beauty gone in a moment. And what about the snake, held down by a foot, and its head cut off. All very tragic. Trace the drawings with your fingers. Go on, feel them.”
Aline swayed. She smelt something which wasn’t just Nephthys’s perfume. It was the bittersweet smell of a long-forgotten plant, probably extinct. Yet she recognised it. Her hands rested on the paintings.
“It wasn’t like that,” she whispered. “I drew them because I was very lonely, and it was how I remembered beauty, with the river teeming with life, the birds filling the sky, and the snake protecting its own. It wasn’t ugly.”
“Ah, so you were lonely. Where were you?”
“I… I don’t know. In a room. There was no escape.”
She felt Kini behind her.
“You were with a man. Someone common, from the town.”
“No, that’s not true. I was on my own.”
She could feel Nephthys’s sudden anger. “You can’t remember – so how do you know?”
“It’s true I can’t remember. But I know what’s true and what’s false, and how you’re trying to distort things.”
Nephthys pushed her further into the niche. She felt Kini grab hold of her.
“Stop!” she cried.
Nephthys laughed.
“Now what do you think is going to happen? Guess? You always were my whore. How convenient you have a skirt on, so much easier.”
She started to struggle. But together they were too powerful for her, twisting her arms behind her and holding her wrists.
“You can’t do this to me,” Aline hissed.
“Get on with it,” Nephthys said to Kini. She pushed Aline’s head into the painting, and held it against the snake. “See the beauty now? Nothing can save you because you’re weak and I’m powerful.”
She struggled, determined not to let them win. But her head ached as Nephthys pushed her cheek harder against the stone. She closed her eyes. She could feel the snake. But suddenly it was no longer cold. It was warm and alive, and started to make a strange noise.
Kini hesitated. “What’s that?” he asked, apprehensively.
“Nothing,” Nephthys snapped.
“Sounds like a cobra or something. Is there something on the floor?”
“No.”
Aline could hear the fear in his voice.
“I can see something.” Kini stopped. “I think there’s a snake in here. I don’t like snakes – they can kill. I’m off.” He let go of Aline, and drew away.
“You coward,” Nephthys yelled. “Come back! There’s nothing here. It’s her tricks.”
“Tricks? Her tricks? It’s tricks from that old stone, more like. Sometimes it makes sounds – like sighing from the dead girls. You do what you want, but that’s it for me.”
He strode out quickly.
Nephthys forgot him. She backed off from Aline and hesitated.
Aline turned slowly. Something was round her neck. It didn’t move.
“So,” Nephthys said, unable to keep the fear totally out of her voice. “I wanted to see if you could still call the snake. One day soon I’ll destroy your power and you’ll die. You think you know how to fight me, Aline, but you can’t remember the old ways and how to use them and I’ll make certain you never will. Every time you go back I’ll wreck your memory of it. You’ll live in the present, with little idea of what really happened. You might not return from one of your adventures, and I’ll bury you in the past; and if you do return, I’ll bury you in the present.”
Aline didn’t say anything. Nephthys clearly underestimated just how much she could remember.
Nephthys stormed out, banging the door behind her.
*
The snake sat heavily round her neck but Aline didn’t notice the weight. Something was pouring into her head. The cobra was showing her some of the ancient ways. She felt the ring tighten on her finger. She felt the snake shawl cover her head and her face. She sat on an ornamental chair, one from the past. She felt power flooding into her, as she rested her hands on the heads of snakes carved on its arms. She was beginning to realise something important. The journey back wasn’t just a glimpse into a bygone world. The life she was reliving wasn’t just a picture image. That person was her! For some reason she was experiencing a previous existence, and Nephthys played a very important and dangerous part in it.
*
“Oh, Aline, there you are!” Peter met her just outside. “I thought you’d gone. Such an extraordinary place. Do you know, when that chap said to go and look at pictures I really thought they might be a bit naughty, but do you know, they were really only what he said, photos of pyramids and temples. Quite extraordinary. How did you get on? You could have come with me; honestly, there was nothing to offend a lady.”
“Well, like you, it wasn’t a great surprise – just a drawing of animals on an old tablet.”
“It’s a bit disappointing,” groaned Peter. “I thought we’d go back with dark tales of this and that. We might as well go and find the others.”
Aline walked quietly by his side as he chuntered on, taking comfort from him.
They soon found them. Jan was haggling over some jewellery and Mary was standing just to her side, holding several bags, an amused expression on her face.
“Ah, there you are,” Jan said. “I’ve already been shopping. Mary hasn’t bought a thing. She says she doesn’t really like shopping. I’d have thought, with all your money,” she said accusingly to Peter, “she could afford to buy a few trinkets. Oh come here, Aline, you understand shopping don’t you? Help me choose a very sexy dress and gorgeous pair of earrings.”
Aline still felt a bit wobbly from her recent experiences but tried very hard to appear as normal as possible. She wasn’t sure if she was the best judge of clothes at that moment, but it was such a relief to do something frivolous after what had happened earlier. A session with Jan and clothes would help clear her mind.
“Okay, but which occasion are they for?”
“I don’t know. I’ve just bought some gaudy things. So, now I could get something flimsy and exotic to wrap myself in – maybe for dinner. I could make an entrance just like you did at t
he Galabeya party.”
“These are nice.” Aline held up some earrings, large ringed hoops with pink and gold stones hanging down on strands. “You could get something to wear to match them further up the market maybe.”
“We’ll leave you to it,” Peter said. “See you back at the ship, and don’t get involved with any more strange men.”
“Believe me we won’t,” Aline answered with conviction.
Peter and Mary took off, carrying Jan’s bags.
After they bought the earrings, with much negotiation, they set off as fast as they could up the narrow street, stopped every second by someone thrusting things into their faces.
“I want to buy a dress,” Jan announced to Aline. “Something which covers me from head to toe and makes me appear incredibly sexy for an eighty-something.”
“Okay. Let’s get out of here and try and find other shops. There must be more choice nearby.”
They turned away from the hubbub and found a much quieter area, nearer to the main part of the town. There were shops, with the traders sitting patiently outside. One lady attracted Jan’s attention, holding a silky pink top. She motioned them in. Jan needed no encouragement. She was in a mood to buy anything and everything, and she whispered to Aline as they went in, “If I don’t like it I can give it to one of my granddaughters.”
She rushed into the shop, but Aline hesitated outside. She suddenly felt as if she was going deep inside herself, as Cheng would have said. Even with people around, it suddenly felt very peaceful. She stood quietly, her hands together, with eyes lowered, remembering Cheng, and thinking about her quest and the Egyptian she was searching for. Then something made her glance up. Someone had been watching her, someone tall, someone very masculine, someone she very much wanted to meet – but he turned hurriedly before she could even see his face. Although he was a distance away she was certain he was the Egyptian she had seen before.
“Stop!” she cried. But he ignored her and quickly disappeared into the distance.
She ran after him. But it was futile. The main street was so crowded with people she would never find him, and it would be so easy to get lost.
Sadly she retraced her steps. There was something about him which was so familiar. She felt tears of frustration stinging her eyes.
