Priestess of the Nile (7 page)

“It shall be done, Great One, as if she were my dearest sister. This I swear.” The nomarch stepped forward to take Merys from Bek’s arms.

Bek released his precious burden and put his head close to Ienhotep’s. His next words were only for the young noble’s ears. “And on the tomb you shall inscribe ‘Here lies Merys, Beloved of Sobek.’”

“Each part of the task will be carried out as you request, I swear.” The nomarch bowed his head in acknowledgement.

Bek squatted to look Tyema in the eye. She didn’t flinch at proximity to his great crocodilian head. Bek held out his closed hand. “I give these to you.”

She opened her palm and he rained six teardrops of emerald onto it, his tears for Merys. Tyema closed her small fingers over them, rose on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the edge of his snout.

Bek stood, patted her on the head and disappeared forever from the village.

Merys was tired of walking.
Where am I going? How did I come to be in this tunnel?
She contemplated the passageway filled with mist and bathed in blue light. She stumbled and stopped, one hand on the cold stone wall to steady herself. She was dressed in fine robes, bedecked with jewels. A thin gold circlet held her hair. Rings and bracelets she had never seen before adorned her hands and arms. Her shoes were soft leather, lined with fur, trimmed in gold. Merys turned to see what lay behind her. The tunnel ended at a closed door. The door fit snugly into the tunnel wall, with no handle, no hinges.

“My tomb,” she said out loud and the words echoed. She felt strangely detached from the reality. “But my family wouldn’t honor me so, even if they had the funds.” She put a hand to her forehead and rubbed at a sudden ache behind her eyes.
I remember the Hykso finding me on the beach but the details are gone
. Those wouldn’t come to her mind. A blank white space filled her head when she tried to think of those moments after the enemy soldiers had landed on the beach.

Bek was there. I remember him holding me, then nothing more
. Merys laid her forehead against the wall and the cold seeped through her body despite the fine dress and filmy scarves. “I didn’t survive the Hykso attack. He came for me, but he was too late.”

She slid down the wall and sat huddled for a few moments, mourning all she had left behind in the upper world of the living.

Eventually, Merys took a deep breath and stood, using the wall for support. She smoothed her skirts and straightened her jewelry. Every Egyptian, even the children, knew at the end of this tunnel lay the Hall of Judging, where her heart would be weighed and her spirit’s ultimate fate decided.
It is no less and no more terrifying than what I have already endured. It doesn’t matter what happens to me now that I can no longer have Bek.
A flash of painful sorrow shot through her at the thought.

She walked on. A lighted chamber lay ahead and as she entered the enclosure, she found Anubis, Thoth and Lady Ma’at waiting as she expected. Anubis had the semblance of a man from the neck down, well muscled. From the shoulders up, he was a sharp-featured, ebony-furred jackal. Long, pointed ears framed a feral face. Cold emerald eyes glowing with uncanny brilliance scrutinized her as if assessing whether she was to be his prey in some otherworldly hunt.

Breathtakingly beautiful, Lady Ma’at had a kind face and welcoming smile. She was clad in fine white robes, and many intricate necklaces formed a multicolored collar swathing her elegant neck. A scarlet ribbon headband threaded its way among the glossy curls on her head, holding a large feather, which curled gracefully back over her hair.

Thoth sat behind her, cross-legged on the floor, in the manner of all scribes. Merys rejected a mental picture of her father, working on his scrolls in the village.
I won’t think of him anymore.
Thoth held a sharp reed pen upraised in one well-formed hand and clasped a small oblong tablet in the other. His head was in the form of an ibis, with an elegant, long curving beak and fine green iridescent feathers. Merys had often seen such birds in the shallows of the Nile.

Her attention was drawn to an unexpected fourth participant as he strode forward from the shadows.

“Sobek!” Her heart raced and tears clouded her eyes. She ran to him and he met her halfway, sweeping her into his arms and hugging her tightly with his great, brawny arms until she couldn’t breathe. “I never thought to see you again,” she whispered. “I hoped maybe I would catch a glimpse of you in the Afterlife someday.”

He kissed her hungrily. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there in time to protect you. I did save as many of your villagers as I could from the Hykso.”

“And Tyema?”

“Rescuing her was the last thing I could do for you.”

She laid her head on his broad shoulder. “Tell me everything.”

“You can’t delay the time of judging.” Lady Ma’at’s reminder was delivered in a soft, apologetic voice. She indicated the golden scale with a graceful wave of her hand. “The heart must be weighed promptly. You know this, Lord Sobek.”

“He shouldn’t be here at all,” Thoth stated, scratching notes on his writing tablet. He whistled a few tuneless, discordant notes. “Most unusual.”

“I gave my permission.” The voice of Anubis was a husky growl. “Sobek has never requested a favor before and we all owe him much.”

Merys entwined her fingers with Bek’s and they walked forward to the inlaid table where the scales waited. A scrabbling sound in the corner of the room beyond the table drew her attention to the beast Ammit, busily chewing on a pile of bones. The sheer wrongness of Ammit—heavy crocodile head blending into the neck and chest of a powerful lioness, with the sturdy hindquarters of a hippopotamus—made Merys want to vomit. All the most dangerous and fearsome predators of Egypt embodied in one obscene creature, waiting to devour the unworthy. Ammit paced in the shadows, scuttled a bit closer as if sensing Merys’s fear, the claws on her feline front legs scrabbling on the floor, while the muscles in her stumpy hippopotamus hind legs bunched as she readied herself to spring.

Merys swayed and closed her eyes.

Bek braced her with his arm. “Ammit won’t have you, no chance of such a fate,” he whispered in her ear. She tried to smile for him, but her heart pounded with terror.

“Wait, wait,” Thoth cried shrilly.

Anubis tilted his sleek black jackal’s head toward the scribe, tufted ears perking. He snarled, showing gleaming teeth and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “What is the new delay?”

“There is a choice to be made this day, not merely a judging.” Thoth tilted his papyrus toward them so they could read his hieroglyphics, which glowed red on the page. Merys was too frightened to decipher the words. She heard footsteps approaching and turned to see who else was coming.

Isis emerged from the mists, regal, beautiful, terrible. Merys knew she was in the presence of a queen, one with power over all life and death. Isis wore a black sheath gown, trimmed in red and gold. Her red sash was tied in an elaborate knot below her breasts. In her hand she carried a golden ankh studded with rubies and on her head she wore a crown in the shape of her ebony throne.

Merys cringed against Bek, then tried to kneel to Isis, but Bek held her tight and shook his head. “You aren’t required to genuflect in the Chamber of Judging, not even to her.”

“And what if my knees give out on me?” she whispered.

He tightened his grip on her in silent reassurance.

“Welcome to the Chamber of Judging, my Queen,” Anubis intoned. He half rose from his chair and bowed to her. “To what do we owe this unusual honor?”

Isis eyed Merys, her unsmiling examination traveling slowly from head to toe. “Mortal, Sobek has interceded on your behalf. I have granted you a most unusual boon. You are to have a choice today.”

“I—I don’t understand.” Merys looked to Bek but no help was forthcoming. His jaw was set and a muscle twitched in his neck.

“We’ll assume your heart is true, as Sobek assures us, although Lady Ma’at will weigh it, as is her duty. You may then proceed into the Afterlife and dwell there for all time in peace and joy as promised by the Book of the Dead.” Isis gestured and the mists cleared to reveal a doorway on the left. Through the arch, an enticing vista of a gentle river winding amid green fields beckoned. Merys craned her neck a little, to see more of what waited across the threshold.

“Or—” Isis raised one hand, index finger pointing at Merys, “—you may choose to be reborn into the upper world, this time into a life of high station, great wealth, marriage, children and grandchildren.” Extending her arm, Isis indicated another open door beside the first, filled with misty golden light. “After many years and a fruitful life, you will return again to this chamber for judging.” Isis turned to Merys. “Which of my doors do you choose, mortal?”

Merys looked from one portal to the other. She frowned and gripped Bek’s hand more tightly. Her throat and chest were constricted with stress and fear. Attempting to swallow, she shook her head.
I must
s
peak somehow, tell her what I want above all things. This is my last chance. She’s so fearsome but I have to risk her anger.
“What about Sobek? Can’t I choose to live with him in the realm of the Great Ones? I love him. He is what my heart desires.”

Isis clasped her hands behind her back, rolling her eyes and glancing at Sobek with a frown. She paced between the two open doors, mist swirling around her ankles. “It takes a very foolish mortal to try bargaining with
me.”

“I do see the love in both their hearts,” Lady Ma’at interjected, her voice soft and musical. “It is true love, rare and pure.”

Merys shot her a grateful glance.
At least someone here supports us.

Isis shook her head. “What she asks is impossible. Humans don’t dwell where the Great Ones live, not even after death.”

“Will I at least remember him?” Thought of the pending separation took the strength from her whole body.

“It is a kindness on our part to take away the memory,” Isis informed her. “You would yearn ceaselessly for what is forbidden.”

Bek leaned forward, his words whispering in her ear, his breath soft against her cheek. “I’ll remember you, Merys, and love you for all time. But I have sworn not to come near you again, not to spoil your time in whichever reality you choose.”

“I would rather return to my old life, if I could keep you in it,” Merys said.
Any choice that doesn’t include Bek is a sentence to eternal punishment. I’ll remember him no matter what the Great Ones say.

“The time for choice is now upon you,” Isis declared, her voice steely. She stopped pacing and strode briskly to the table holding the balance, toyed with the chain attached to the cups. “You know the two paths open to you. We’ll judge your heart and you will tell us which door you wish to walk through.”

Lady Ma’at came and took both of Merys’s hands in her own soft white ones. “Don’t be afraid, no harm will come to you.” She drew Merys closer to the table. Bek came a few steps behind.

Ma’at drew the great red ostrich feather from her jeweled headband and gestured at the table. “Behold the scales.”

A great tugging began in Merys’s chest, and a pain bloomed in her abdomen. Before her eyes two alabaster jars stood in the golden cup of the balance, one much taller than the other. The stoppers of both were miniature crocodile heads. Borne down by the weight, the scale’s golden cup clinked on the table.

“Why are there two jars?” Merys turned to Bek, then glanced at Lady Ma’at. “What does this mean?”

“There is yet one more truth to consider,” Lady Ma’at drew her red ostrich feather caressingly over the two jars. “There are two hearts here to be judged, my Queen, Lord Anubis. Two spirits at stake. This girl carried Sobek’s child.”

Merys gasped, her hands rising to cover her abdomen.
I was sick so many mornings that last week—I should have known. Oh my baby, I’m so sorry you will never be born.

Bek drew Merys into his arms, crossing them in front of her protectively, one hand flattening over both of hers, resting on her stomach. “Surely this must change things?” he asked Isis. “It must alter the situation.”

“Indeed.” Isis bit her lip and glanced away from them.

She looks almost pleased about this. A good omen for us?
Merys leaned against Bek’s reassuring warmth. She felt a small flicker of hope.

“It is rare for a Great One to sire a child at all, much less with a human.” Isis came forward and placed her hand under Merys’s chin. “Now you have no choice, girl.” She sliced her free hand through the air.

The two open doors crashed closed, one after the other, blasting the room with a thundering echo. Ammit yelped and scuttled farther into her corner. Merys flinched and Bek gripped her harder.

The queen released Merys’s chin. “Children are a precious gift, a new beginning. The child of a Great One must be born and nurtured in our realm. Therefore you will have to dwell there as well, with Sobek, for all time.”

“Forever? Truly?” Merys felt a wild urge to laugh. What Isis was uttering almost as a threat was Merys’s own deepest desire, eternal life and a family with her beloved. With Sobek by her side and their precious child already growing in her womb, life could not hold more joy!

Isis nodded. She drew the golden
tyet
knot from her belt and walked to the wall. Placing the intricate knot on the stone at shoulder height, where it appeared to stay of its own volition, the queen raised her arms and slowly crossed them over her chest. Golden sparkles of light flowed from her to the tyet. The knot grew and expanded on the rock wall, becoming the golden threshold and elaborate filigree hinges of a massive obsidian door. Twin door handles—in the streamlined shape of swallows, symbol of Isis—took form. Reaching out, the goddess tugged at the gleaming handles. The door slowly opened as Isis stepped away, revealing flowering fields and glowing white dwellings in the distance.

“My blessing upon you.” Isis touched Merys on the forehead and then rested her hand for a fleeting moment on top of Merys’s and Bek’s linked fingers, guarding their child. “And your child.” She walked away without another glance, disappearing in the mists.

“Most unusual.” Thoth sniffed, his quill pen racing to record the events. “There is no precedent to cite.”

Bek swept Merys up in his strong arms and whirled her in a giddy circle. He kissed her as if he would never stop, then set her on her feet, his hand going to rest again on her stomach. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked anxiously.

Merys laughed in sheer joy, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. “How could I be any better? Eternity with you and our child is the best choice anyone could offer me. I want nothing more.”

He picked her up again and carried her across the Chamber of Judging, striding through the mists. Carefully he stepped over the threshold into a sunlit meadow. As the giant door ponderously closed behind them, Bek bent to kiss her. “Welcome to my home, beloved priestess.”