Neferet knew the Vizier was a snake, now she had her proof. But her father? Zayem was spiking the food?
“One or two weeks, Zayem? You are feeding him rat poison?”
“Oh, mother and I are taking care of his diet. It seems he’s not reacting well to his food …”
“Venom! There are food tasters …”
“Who can be replaced with tasters loyal to me. They just pretend to eat the food. Regular actors they are. We should have them in a few of the after-dinner plays.”
Neferet lowered her head and ran straight at his solar plexus, knocking him to the floor.
“Kill my father, will you? The all-mighty Pharaoh? The incarnation of the gods? They impale men in public for that, you spineless jackal! May you go to your doom.” Zayem stared at her with goggle eyes as he lay on the ground getting his breath back. “I won’t marry you ever,” she continued in a hushed voice.
The Hyksos men grumbled in the background, as if unsure whether to intervene on Zayem’s part.
Zayem laughed, pulled himself up half-way and rocked back and forth on his heels. “Then I’ll just have to execute my second plan.” He bent down low to look her in the eyes. “I’ll shut you up in this tomb and let you smother to death. If I can’t have you, there are plenty of other royal half-breeds of your father’s who will satisfy me.”
“The air passages. It’s not possible.” Neferet began to cough on limestone dust she had kicked up on the floor.
“This is a new construction. No air passages have been built yet.” He crossed his arms. “You have your choice: death or marriage to me.”
“They seem one and the same to me, you hyena. Go and leave Deena and me to die, because I will never submit to you.”
A strange look of pleasure crossed Zayem’s face before he faked surprise. “As you wish. But you would have made a fine queen.”
He gestured to the rough group of men and told them to file out the front door. He brought up the rear.
“When the door shuts, the moonlight is gone forever. Forever. Just remember to say hello to your father in the afterlife,” he said. Then he put a hand to his mouth and acted as if he forgot to say something. “Oh, I guess you won’t be seeing that afterlife, though, since you won’t be properly embalmed. The Ba won’t know where to find your Ka. Even your precious Amun will abandon you. Too bad. All much too sad.”
With that, he turned and slithered his way out the door. A heavy rock fell into place and both women were plunged into darkness.
How long do I have? Neferet felt her way over to Deena and grabbed her hand. Together, they spoke of bravery and finding release. The darkness made that feel impossible, but they couldn’t let hopelessness cling to their spirits. The air hung so black that Neferet had no idea which way lay north or south. Did another escape route exist as the captain said? New construction or not, tomb workers would refuse to labor if they didn’t have a secret way out. If there was an escape hatch, she had no idea how to find it. Nor did she know if Zayem was right about the gods. Her Ba lived safely inside her, did it not? Surely, Anubis would find her. He weighed every heart on a balance with a feather, and if the heart stayed lightened by innocence, the deceased person would go on a journey to the Duat, the land between life and death. She had every expectation of navigating this land of the dead, mummy or no mummy.
Right now, she had no plans to meet Anubis, as she planned to find that exit and escape with Deena before the precious air ran out.
Chapter Twenty-three
In the velvet blackness, Rebecca awoke, head throbbing and her vision blurred. She gazed about — in a strange room lit by an almost full moon. How long was she unconscious? She saw the comforting sight of her kid sister sleeping, curled up on the canopy bed. The black night enveloped her soft features, but her chestnut hair shone in the moonlight, and Rebecca stroked it for a second. Then she remembered. They were trapped. Yet, for a few tender moments, Rebecca could still share her love for her sibling. Her insides crumbled as she recalled how she brought her trusting sister to this choking snare of Sharif ’s.
She looked out toward the beam of moonlight and saw the balcony again, perched hundreds of feet above the concrete and asphalt maze of sidewalks, streets and driveways. All around the balcony were stars, dancing as if they were on stage. The imperishable stars.
She walked in a trance to the window and found it was made of sliding glass. Perhaps, it presented a way out of this nightmare in which Sharif had caged them. The door opened with a swish, and she stepped out into the warm night, feeling a humid breeze touch her cheek. The sleek wind was like a brush of satin. She knew she wasn’t alone.
Noise floated up from the street below — but something else called to her. There was someone there just on the other side of the stars. Someone also in a dark gloom, who was calling for her. The Other. Rebecca tipped her head like a bird listening to a coded song. Yes, there was a voice asking for her. Your purpose is here. You are needed. Calling her but choking at the same time. Someone with little air to make a sound. A person who needed Rebecca’s pluck.
The imperishable stars. Rebecca searched the heavens, looking for the one star that bade her to come, but all she could see now were blinking apartment lights and beacons out on the lake. She looked at the beautiful patterns the artificial illumination created. Some office building lighting fixtures were arranged in precise grids. She stepped farther out on the balcony, as the railing pressed against her chest. She began to speak.
“The doors of the sky are opened for me, and the doors of the earth are opened for me, the door-bolts of Geb are opened for me, the shutters of the sky windows are open for me.” She knew she chanted a memorized spell from the Egyptian Book of Coming Forth By Day. The language sailed through her with force, although she never heard these foreign words spoken before. In fact, no one in her century had heard them spoken before, because hieroglyphs don’t include vowels. Egyptologists just guessed at the sound, based on Coptic Egyptian, which still retains some of the last remaining old Egyptian words. For Rebecca, the ancient speech became just right for her.
The stars invited her closer. She stood on the lone chair on the balcony.
“May I have power in my hearing, may I have power in my arms, may I have power in my legs, may I have power in my mouth, may I have power in all my members. May I have power over water, over air, over the streams, over riparian lands, over the men who would harm me, over the women who would harm me.”
Amy moaned in the other room, as if coming awake, but Rebecca did not stop reciting the sacred words. A sudden wind stirred up loose papers and beach sand down on the ground.
The utterances caused Rebecca to step higher, and when the small patio table proved too low, she climbed right on top of the balcony railing. She stood with sure dancer’s feet on the thick railing, balancing like a tightrope walker. Below her, people were yelling, a sea of voices all cascading, all saying the same thing. “Get down.”
Amy stumbled in from the bedroom and stood still as a frightened terrier, hand to chest, looking at Rebecca in desperation. Rebecca smiled back at her, steadying herself with no thought of how it appeared to others.
A voice crackled through a megaphone: “Are you okay up there?” She looked down. Police cars pulled up in front of the building, and a small crowd was gathered below. They looked like little doll people, and she laughed.
Jonas’ voice, dear Jonas, sizzled through the balky speaker. “Rebecca, be careful. The police know about Sharif … his criminal record. They are going to arrest him now. You and Amy are safe.” He was silent a minute, then, “Just don’t do anything crazy. I love you. Stay safe.”
Rebecca sent blessings down to Jonas.
She looked over at Amy and offered her prayers of love. The stars were beginning to part, and Rebecca knew she had only moments before she’d lose her chance to unite with the spirit who implored her. Time was getting tight. The universes were pulling apart.
“Get down off the balcon
y railing,” a different amplified voice said. “An officer is coming up to get you.” Rebecca laughed, her glory shimmering straight through the portal in the heavens. You are needed to fulfill your purpose.
Rebecca spoke to the sky. “You are the Ka, and I am the Ba, the other part you miss. We must be together.” It was the first time she realized this. It made so much sense. Why else had the Other been calling on her? Why else the close connection with the Egyptian world? Why else did she never feel part of the world she was born into?
She turned to Amy. Her sister would never see her dance. For this, she was sorry. So, she took a deep lungful of air and vowed to make it right. She had to make this the best performance she could muster. Tonight.
“The cavern is opened for those who are in the Abyss, and those who are in the sunshine are released,” she chanted. It would be perfect.
“Don’t. Please stop.” A police voice, speaking through a megaphone, detached, unable to know the duties of the Ba.
“She’s the girl from the bus. See?”
“Rebecca, please,” Jonas said. “They are arresting Sharif.”
Someone pounded on the bedroom door, which Sharif had locked with his key. Amy ran to open it. Lenore screamed in the background. A policeman ran in, announcing they were in the apartment and looking for Sharif Cadmus. “Please, come out of there. You’re safe with us.”
Amy ran to balcony, too, but froze again, fearing to touch her sister. The policeman followed and reached out a more confident hand to catch Rebecca.
“Please, just ease yourself back down toward the officer.” a voice from the street said.
Rebecca blew a sweet kiss downwind to Jonas. The moment would be fulfilled. Hands grabbed at her ankles.
The stars closed together for one brilliant moment. Then Rebecca — dancer, stage star, one half of a magnificent soul — coiled her muscles and sprang. Out, higher than she had ever leaped before. Into the stargate, where she would never be separated from her other half again.
Chapter Twenty-four
“Look,” Deena said, tugging on Neferet’s arm. “Light.”
Neferet wasn’t paying attention but lay on the ground as if a giant granite boulder had hit her squarely in the heart and knocked her to the earth. This pain was unlike any she’d ever felt. It also completed her in a way she couldn’t understand. She wanted to cry for a loss that was not hers, yet somehow, she bubbled over with joy as if reuniting with a dear, lost friend. Her heart sent out a song of grief. Tears rolled down her face in the dark, and she made no effort to wipe them away. Incredibly, she wanted to laugh for happiness.
Deena crept toward her and shook her by the shoulders. “Light,” she said.
Neferet still was not listening. One minute, she had been praying to Anubis that her Ka be found when her final moments arrived in this tomb. Then, after being rocked by the mysterious blow, she sensed something, a joining — as if two parting identical twins were reunited. The grief passed faster than the time it took to release the tears. Now, a glow of confidence began to radiate from her chest out to her extremities.
She turned to Deena and tried to make out her face but could not see a thing. Instead, she spoke to the black, close air.
“What hit me?”
“Hit?”
“A stone, a rock, something large, hit me,” Neferet insisted, remember the power of the punch. “Right here.” She tapped her chest but realized Deena could see nothing.
“Nothing hit, Neferet,” Deena said. Her voice sounded imploring now. “Come, see the light.”
Light? Neferet thought. In this cursed passageway? Zayem said there was no way out. Yes, but, Zayem lies.
“Where?”
Deena pulled Neferet until she stood. The two of them inched along, Deena in the lead, until they just made out a thin stretch of moonlight lying like a stripe on the floor.
“Light.” Neferet said in wonder. “What does this mean?”
“Way out,” Deena said. She moved into the silvery beam, and Neferet could make out the woman’s lovely features: soft, black hair and green eyes that looked owlish in the dim light. Deena was reaching up with her arms, trying to indicate something in the tomb’s ceiling. She pointed to the rough hieroglyphs for “escape.”
“It must be the workers’ exit route,” Neferet said. “No one would build a tomb without one. Only when a tomb is sealed for good do the workers make the hatch impassible.
“That’s what I get for listening to that worm Zayem,” Neferet continued, mostly to herself. “There must be stairs somewhere near here.” She felt around until she felt a rough rope ladder, made of twisted papyrus reeds. Not too strong, but good enough for two smaller-than-average women. She pulled on the rope, and the bulk of it fell to the floor, with the top secured to the rocky roof.
“Here, Deena. It’s the escape ladder.”
Deena wanted to lead again, but Neferet, being a priestess, knew about spells against thieves. If a trap was set, she’d be able to sense and neutralize it. So, she pulled herself up, rung by rung, moving higher off the ground than she desired. Zayem fancied himself worthy of high ceilings. A temple is what he’s building here. A lofty opinion of himself. Her head filled with fury as she recalled him talking about marrying one of the harem girls her father had sired. Her father, unlike the more libidinous pharaohs, had only two principal wives. The rest were just for show or given in tribute. They lived undisturbed in their palace home, making tapestries or tending to other arts. They were so neglected that foreign kings wrote haughty notes about the Pharaoh’s inattention to their daughters. In truth, there were no other royal female offspring other than Neferet and the poor late Maya. Although, after her father died, Zayem could make up whatever story he chose. That creeping serpent.
A shot of alarm went through her as she thought of her father’s condition. At the same time, a bolt of courage ran through her nerves. If I can save Deena and myself, I can save him.
At the top of the ladder, she traced lines in the rock that leaked moonlight. Through the cracks, she heard voices. At first, she reared back, thinking Zayem had posted sentries there to catch her if she burst out of her trap. She felt her grip slipping as she considered trying to contend with the large, brutal men Zayem chose for company. After what they did to Deena … She couldn’t finish the thought.
Then she realized if she could understand what the men were saying, then they weren’t Hyksos nationals. She closed her eyes to concentrate and listened. She clearly heard words of the Kemet language: “night” and “jackals.” Not comforting words but understandable ones, nonetheless. She hoisted herself higher. Then she began pushing with all her might on the rock above her. She forgot all about curses and evil charms that could be lurking there, for who puts a curse on someone leaving a tomb? The rock budged a tad and more moonlight streamed down. However, she was going to need help. Would the ladder support two women at once? She called Deena over and asked her to ascend the ladder.
Bit by bit, Deena made her way up, but the supports began to sag and creak. How much weight would it take? The two women together amounted to the weight of only one tomb worker, for those men were of formidable size. Neferet repeated to herself, just a little farther. Just a little higher.
No luck. Deena screamed as the ladder broke away from the ceiling on one side. It was hanging now from one support. Neferet, having become used to the low light, found a ledge. She jumped off onto the outcropping, and the ladder stopped groaning. She reached over, as far as her arms could stretch, and worked the papyrus rope back into the bolted ring that held it to the rock. She tied tight knots. Deena began to climb again. When she was at the top, they both pushed on the rocky ceiling.
Neferet could have been imagining illusory sounds, but she swore she heard a cat scratching and digging near the sliver of a hole. Could Mau-mau have followed her here? The animal would have had to have hopped the ferry, but she was a smart little thing and determined, too. Something wanted that plug opened, and sh
e could only hope it was an animal as friendly as her little pet.
“Now, I want you to push with me at the same moment,” Neferet said to Deena. “One, two, three.” They pushed with all the force they had, and Neferet called on that new radiance in her heart. The rock shoved aside. Men’s voices called, “Over here, over here.”
Through the hole in the ceiling something furry dropped onto Neferet’s shoulders: Mau-mau, carefully sniffing her mistress to make sure she had the correct human.
Cat on her back, Neferet popped through the opening, covered with scratches and bruises. She put a hand down to help Deena up, but a man reached in faster and hoisted both women to the open air. Neferet looked at the man, her free hand to her hidden knife, ready to fight, if necessary.
Instead, the man began to laugh.
“We have no reason to harm you, oh, God’s Wife,” he said. She eyed his Kemet-style dress and relaxed. “The Prince Kamose sent us to find you.” He scratched Mau-mau behind the ears. “So that’s what that animal was determined to get. It was scratching over here for some time.”
Neferet reached behind her head and hauled Mau-mau into her arms. She cradled her pet and gave it a good hug and petted the cat thoroughly. “Little hero,” she whispered. “You moved that rock enough to let the moonlight through.” True or not, Neferet felt good believing it.
Neferet only listened to part of what the soldier told her and fixated on the mention of her lover. “Kamose? He’s supposed to be fighting at the border.”
“No, God’s Favored One, he never arrived there. Spies found out it was a fruitless mission, and a runner found him after only a half-day’s march.”
“He’s home?”
“Even closer. He awaits our efforts at the waterfront, even though he is nearly exhausted from his trip home.”
Neferet let Mau-mau down and put her arm around Deena. She let the woman weep on her shoulder.
“It’s all right. We’re out. We’ll go home”
THE GOD'S WIFE Page 23