"I am so sorry," I whispered. He kissed me as the ground shook.
Buildings began to rattle and tumble. People all around stopped what they were doing, the fight quite forgot. The world seemed to fall silent until only the low rumble of the quaking earth could be heard.
"The final plague is coming," whispered Parameses. "Come, we don't have long." He rose to his feet and held out a hand to Paris and me.
But within only a few moments the quaking ceased, and with it the silence. People began to run from their homes, Hebrew and Egyptian alike. The surge of living bodies pushed and shoved towards the Avenue of Sphinxes. Egyptians were calling for their children. Hebrews were yelling for everyone to fetch their belongings and run.
Paris and I clung to each other as we ran along with the crowds. Hot sweaty bodies crammed together, baying and fighting to see what was happening up ahead. Elbows jostling, feet tripping. Someone in front of me fell. Feet thundered over her. I pushed through and grabbed her, trying to lift her, but I was swept on and she slipped from my grasp.
"She's dead, leave her," Paris said, grabbing my hand again. I glanced back but the girl was gone beneath the crowd.
Ahead the Egyptian children were being led up the Avenue, bound together like slaves. They were heading towards the Great North Temple, or at least that is how it seemed.
The Hebrew families were making their way along the road behind them, barring the way to the Egyptians. Mothers were shoving against them, begging for their children. Fathers were trying to cut the Hebrew down. Yet they marched on like a great strong wall. It was as though something was helping them keep the Egyptians back. The crowd slowed and a cold calm fear set in.
"Paris, Cassandra!" A familiar voice called.
I looked around frantically. But a hand touched mine before I had seen her. There were Zoe and Levi, cloth sacks of possessions thrown over their shoulders.
"Come with us, to the promised land," Zoe was pleading as much with her eyes as with her voice. As I looked at her kind face I realized the light had changed. No longer was it dark, but the sky had turned to an early morning silvery blue.
"The sun," Paris breathed, with the same realization. We were approaching the temple by then. I still had a chance to reach the safety of the shadows and there were a few welcome clouds to give me a little extra time. Yet the daylight reminded me that my friends must leave without me, for their own safety. I also knew that I could not follow them into the desert, for that is where I knew they would go; beyond swaying trees of the Nile delta into the vast expanse of wilderness, where exposure to the sun would leave me burned and incapacitated long before the hunger drove me mad.
As we reached the temple the crowd parted to allow Parameses through. Everyone stopped still and went quiet as he mounted the steps.
"This is the temple of the false gods, we will find salvation elsewhere. Behind this great monstrosity, beyond the blood-stained waters of the delta is our promised land, where we can be free to follow the one true god."
His face was calm and expression determined. His strong jawline and chiselled cheekbones made him look handsome and clever. To this day I will admire that man for the depth of his faith and strength of character. He was persuasive beyond reason. Indeed what right-minded person would have followed anyone out into the unforgiving desert? And yet they did. People began to cheer, and the Egyptians jostled harder and their cries for their children grew louder. But just as the crowd began to get the better of the Hebrew line the sound of thunder seemed to fill the air. Yet, save for one last thin white cloud covering the sun, the sky was bright and clear. People began to look down at the earth beneath their feet, but the ground was not to blame.
"Come, the final plague is upon us, and it will be our saviour," Parameses called. Somehow his voice seemed to reach the ears of all the people as though he were stood right behind each one. They began to follow him, around the temple and to the water's edge. There we stood, stopped in our tracks. The Nile was drawing back. The red waters shrank further and further towards the distant ocean until the muddy silt of the delta bed was exposed.
"Come," the preacher called again, and he stepped down onto the sticky slippery ground. The Hebrew began to cheer and surge forwards, Paris and Zoe dragged along with them. I wriggled my hand free and stepped back.
"No," Paris gasped. "Cassandra, please. I promise I will keep you safe."
I stood firm on the bank of the river as others rushed and pushed past me. The sun was beginning to burn through the wispy cloud and tingle at my skin.
"I love you," I called. It was the first time in my life I had truly understood those words.
Zoe was stumbling onwards, head glancing over her shoulder at me all the time, her eyes sad and round. Paris stopped still, trying not to go on. I wanted to run to him, but I knew it could not be. He was human and I was not. It was for the best to say goodbye. I took another step up the bank. Paris tried to fight his way back, but he was pushed onward by the surge of people, hundreds of them, maybe more than a thousand. Someone grabbed him and pulled him towards the other side. All the while he was calling my name. I lost sight of him.
The last of the Hebrew climbed out of the river, leaving the ever-angrier Egyptian parents and royal guard stumbling after them. But all those feet on the muddy silt had weakened the ground, pounding it down, deeper and murkier. Legs began to sink and people began to fall. The rumble of water grew louder once more. Then I saw Paris, standing on the far side of the riverbed. Our eyes locked together. I could stand it no longer. I ran out onto the silt as a pair of strong arms grabbed his shoulders and dragged him up the other bank.
I did not see it, nor even understand what was happening until it was upon me. It was a great wave, almost as high as the temple, uprooting trees and crushing any buildings that lined the riverbanks. There are only two ways to kill a Vampyr, one is decapitation, and the other is a wooden stake through the heart. A broken branch from a tree thrust through my chest.
The last thing I saw was the horror on Paris's face. Then the water hit me like a ton of stone, sweeping me sideways, dragging me down. Water crashed and tumbled, gushing back through the delta. Egyptians whirled around me, gasping, screaming, gurgling. My head crashed against rocks on the riverbed, my body battered by the water. I closed my eyes and waited for it to stop.
*
The scent of lotus flowers lingered in the air and somewhere in the distance, someone was chanting softly. I tried to lift my head but my body pounded and I felt as though my skull were cracked in two.
"Don't move my dear," a strong voice said soothingly from somewhere nearby.
I shifted my hips and felt the hard wood beneath the straw and linen bedding. The air was hot and sticky and hurt my chest to breathe. Indeed the pain was so consuming I thought my lungs must have been torn out. I blinked open my eyes.
Through the haze of my blurry vision, I could see streaks of sunlight cutting across the other side of the room. Panicked, I tried to move my hands, but something was holding them down. I tried to move my legs, but they too were bound.
I tried to look down, but I could not see what was holding me fast. I was compelled to scream. I had been restrained like this once before, and I could not live through that again. In my mind, I saw the image of the Greek general's face as he bore down on me. I began to tug frantically at my restraints.
"Please, stay calm, Cassandra."
"Why?" I screamed, tears streaking down my face and dampening the pillow beneath my head. My voice was hoarse and my throat dry as the desert sand. Carefully I turned my head, but that only made my vision worse and I was forced to settle back again.
"It was for your own protection, and that of the priestess caring for you. You are very strong." The voice moved closer as he spoke. "When you were semiconscious she tried to feed you, but you grabbed her by the throat and bit her."
There was a long pause as the man came toward me. I could feel him watching, deciding if it were safe to appro
ach.
"Do you remember what happened?" The voice was familiar, big and round, yet somehow gentle. The memory of the great wave rushed at me as though it were happening again; I felt water fill my lungs, I began to cough uncontrollably as the branch ran me through.
Someone stepped in close and lifted my head, bringing a cup of wine to my lips.
"Take a sip, just a little, there. Now another." The woman's hands were dry and small. I did as she asked and the couching eased. I looked up at her face and realized she was the priestess.
"Thank you," I croaked as my breathing began to slow and the fear turned to shame. A different pair of hands reached for my ankles and I felt a cool blade against my skin as the rope binding was cut. I pointed and flexed my toes to ease the numbness.
"The branch pierced your left lung but missed your heart. You were very lucky." The man was at the foot of my bed now and I could make out his slight frame and flame-red hair.
“Forgive me," I said to them both. "How did I… Who…?" I did not know how I would ever repay them for saving me. Ramses lips curled into a smile so kind I could not imagine he was the same man that had ordered me to lie to his son, let alone hunt down the Hebrew.
"A soldier brought you to the Great North Temple. He saw what happened and jumped in after you. He managed to drag you to the bank, and there he held onto an upturned boat until the wave had passed and he could lift you out."
I stared at the pharaoh in wonder.
"I must thank him myself. He is all right?"
"He is fine my dear, a little worse for wear, but he will make a full recovery, just as you shall. Once you are able I will take you to see him. But for now, you must continue to rest."
I had no strength to argue.
"How long have I been here?" I asked.
Pharaoh patted my arm.
"Not long, a little more than a week."
I closed my eyes and considered how far Paris and Zoe might have got in that time. Then a thought struck me.
"Wait, what did you try to feed me with?" I asked the priestess with returning unease.
Pharaoh laughed out loud at this.
"Kara, you may leave us now. Get some sleep and come back at sunset," Ramses instructed the priestess. He waited for her to exit the room.
"Honey, can you believe?" He said eventually.
"Honey, why would they do that?"
Pharaoh seemed most amused.
"They thought it was the closest thing to nectar that they could find."
"Oh!" I closed my eyes, shame washing over me once more.
"Don't worry my dear, I was able to bring you the blood of a slaughtered sheep when she was not looking."
I blinked up at him. He was standing over me then, running a soft gentle hand over my hair, as a father might to a sick child. Then I remembered.
"The children! The families, all those people. Your son!" I cried, "Paris," I added with sorrow.
Ramses sat down on my bed with a heavy thump. As he sliced through the bindings of my wrists I felt drops of his tears patter against my skin.
"I am sorry," I whispered. No matter how wrong his behaviour and actions had been, I could not help but pity him.
"I lost two sons that day," he croaked.
"Prince Ramses," I nodded, recalling the horror of his demise.
"I deserved it, but they did not. More than a third of my city were killed that night, and I am to blame."
I pulled myself up to sitting.
"Can you ever forgive me?" His voice was so quiet I would not have believed him capable of such humbleness, had I not been sat with him.
"It is not me who you need to appease," I suggested, carefully.
He lowered his head and closed his eyes.
"I know. And I shall make amends. I cannot give them back their families, but I shall rebuild all the damaged homes."
"And Parameses?" I said, uncertain how he would react. What he did, surprised me. He crumbled into my embrace wracked with sobs.
"I can never forgive myself for the things I said and did to my second son," he spluttered. "I cannot expect him to forgive me for them either. He and his people are better off in their new lives."
As he sat back I offered a pitying smile, understanding his sentiment entirely. But then his demeanour changed. He straightened up as though he had wiped the memory from his mind in an instant and settled a happier expression upon his face.
"Would you do me the honour of staying here?" he said quite brightly. I did not know whether to be alarmed and relieved at this sudden difference.
I rubbed at my chest. The branch may have been removed and the gaping hole began to heal, but it would be several weeks before I was strong enough to walk around again. I had little choice in the matter regardless of whether I was inclined to stay or not. Nor did I have anywhere else to go. What was left of those I cared for had gone with the Hebrew and they, like Parameses from his father, were better away from me. Ramses squeezed my hand and looked at me intensely.
"Do say you will stay."
The plea was so sincere that I agreed with no further hesitation. I looked right into his gaze and felt him let me into his thoughts. I saw then that Ramses truly regretted what he had done, and I also saw how he would erase that terrible day as best he could. He would wipe it from living memory in any way that he found possible. He would convince his people that it was the last plague that had taken their firstborn children and that the Hebrew god had brought unjust wrath upon the people of Pi-Ramesses and drowned them. And he would make sure there was no record of that incident to be found anywhere in Egypt. I nodded in acknowledgement, and he understood what I had seen.
*
I stayed in the Great North Temple for the rest of Pharaoh's days. He brought me blood for as long as he was able so that I might not have to hunt. I never did discover quite why he had been so against the Hebrew, but I was in no doubt that he was sorry for it.
Over the years we became great friends, and in his final days, I tended him as his body failed. He was an old man of almost ninety years when he left this mortal world, just as he had always intended. But he lives on in his monuments and my memories even today.
As for my friends, all I could do was search for them in my dreams.
Zoe lived a good and loving life with Levi, raising their three children in the desert settlement, and eventually, in their old age, finally making it to the Promised Land. As for Paris, I never could see him, alive or dead. He was like the gaping hole in my chest, pierced with that branch. I may physically have healed long ago, but the wound remains. In time, however, I did find a way to get past my fears.
The Book of Darkness
The bite of a Vampyr may take or give, thus life once removed maybe resorted.
Such as it was for Osiris, reborn from darkness. And blessed then with a son he rejoiced. But the child was cursed with a gift, and his life is not his own. Through the child’s vision words form. And For gods and men the tale is born.
Book of Darkness C1000 BCE
Chapter 7 paragraph 4
I have not read the Book of Darkness in many years, but when I do I never cease to be amazed that I should be featured. Yet it should come as no surprise at all. Not once is my name mentioned, and yet there I am, and I recall the events recorded as though they were merely yesterday. What is stranger still, to those who read the book for the first time, is the accuracy of events listed for the years that followed its completion.
The warmth from an oil lamp breathed gently over my skin and sweet-scented smoke filled the room. I closed my eyes tighter.
He was there again. Tall, slender, golden skin, bright green eyes, and dark hair wound tightly into a plait down his back. He sat like a scribe on a reed mat, legs crossed, and sharpened goose quill in his hand. Around his neck lay a deep band of chased gold and lapis lazuli beads. I knew he was a Vampyr, but not where he was. He could have been anywhere in the world, or even on another. Yet I could feel his presence as though we we
re right there in the same room. In other visions, he had been searching for something at night, through markets and inside temples. There was something frantic and desperate about him.
I opened my eyes and the vision vanished.
Your Grace, it is time.” A young priestess was standing in the doorway to the inner sanctuary.
Her hands were clasped together nervously as always. She, like many others who had served the temple over the years, was afraid of me. They may not have understood what I truly was, I did my best to hide my nature, yet I did not age as they did, and that alone aroused suspicion.
The days of believing that the gods’ still walked among the people had faded in the three centuries since my arrival in Egypt, and yet there we still were. Or at least there I was, for I had not met another of my kind in more than a hundred years. I had begun to wonder if all the others had all been killed, or some plague had taken them, that is until I started to see this man in my dreams. Even my cousins were elusive to my visions at that time.
“Your Grace,” the girl said again. I sighed.
“Yes, thank you.” I got to my feet and straightened down my gown. The girl was already heading along the dark narrow corridor, through the middle temple, and towards the courtyard. I glanced at the chiselled writings on the walls as I followed her. All around me the name Ramses still stood out from the pale stone.
Though long since entombed, my first Egyptian king lived on in the memories of those walls. We were not even in Pi-Ramesses anymore. The Nile there had never quite recovered from that last plague of Meses. Eventually, it had dried up completely, forcing us to relocate further north in the delta at Djanet. Almost every stone and pillar had been removed, piled on boats and taken with us to be reassembled in their new home.
The young priestess came to a stop by the offering table and knelt to say a prayer. I followed suit. A small crowd of loyal worshipers had gathered beneath the full moon. I looked up at the satellite’s big round face and thought of my cousin Artemis. This temple was dedicated to the moon, though not to Artemis. Khonsu was the guardian of those who travelled at night, including the moon and all of my kind. Small as it was, I felt at home at the temple. So much so that I only left the grounds when the hunger became too strong, and I was forced to hunt.
The Dark Evolution Chronicles Page 5
