by Leena Maria
The salty, iron taste of her blood filled his mind, bringing with it a wordless whispering. The noise of the whispers tore down his human mind and revealed something primeval and vast underneath. Now it was his turn to read Artemis's life through her blood, and what he saw made him understand how very immature and young he was. Hundreds of years filled his mind, mocking his inferior intellect.
His body began to tingle, turned hot, and he grabbed the goddess's hand on his mouth with his free right hand to drink even more deeply.
"Enough," Artemis said and easily freed her hand from his mouth, apparently not affected at all by loss of her blood. "This is enough for the change to begin."
Ambrogio lay on his back, amazed by the new sensations he was feeling. Too quickly the memories of Artemis left his mind; leaving only teasing, faint shadows that eluded his attempts to grasp them.
"Rise, my child," Artemis said.
Ambrogio raised his left hand to his eyes. The deep gash caused by the teeth of the goddess was almost gone. A pale thin white crescent line only showed. He turned to his side and thought of rising up, only to notice he was already up. He had moved so fast he had not even registered his own movement.
"Take my hand," Artemis said, and Ambrogio did so. Surprisingly, her hand no longer felt hot to him.
"You are now my child," she said, "for I have recreated you. And you shall remain my servant for ever more, as you promised."
Ambrogio smiled broadly. He had never felt so good in his life. He felt as if he could run to the edge of the world without being out of breath. Breath... Amazed, he noticed he could hold his breath for a long time and had no need to breathe in. The air seemed to seep through his very skin...
"Your change will take some days, and while it lasts, you will be a terrifying sight for humans during daylight. Still, you seem to have taken to it well. Most people go through bad pain and may even lose their mind when they are changed, but your body accepted my blood easily. That is rare, but how fortunate," Artemis said in a voice that was almost purring with pleasure, "because now we can go to Kirrha immediately and get a ship for you and your Selene so that you can escape without Apollo knowing where you have gone. Also Hades won't know where to look for you for a while, because of the death of your shadow, and the change in your scent my blood has caused."
The stayed within the grey mist, and though they did not rise above it, Artemis seemed to know where she was going. She pulled the ecstatic Ambrogio behind her through the mist, and into the harbor of Kirrha.
The sun was already rising when they arrived.
"You wait here," Artemis said. "You are not to show yourself to anyone."
Ambrogio stayed in place, hidden by the mists that edged the visible world. He saw several ships in the harbor, and a few anchored further out. Artemis stepped back into the world from an alleyway. She had wiped the blood away from her mouth, and now simply appeared as a tall, beautiful blond woman. The sailors nudged each other and yelled indecent comments after her. She paid no attention, but instead walked off to meet a man who clearly knew her, because he bowed with respect.
They exchanged a few words, and then Artemis returned to the place where Ambrogio was hiding in the mist behind the world.
"A coffin will be brought for you," she said, knowing he would hear. "I have removed Apollo's curse, but your skin and body will keep on changing for a few days still, and during that time you cannot be exposed to sunlight. I shall come for you when it is ready. Do not move from the mist."
Ambrogio nodded, then realized she would not see it, and said out loud:
"I will, my goddess."
Artemis nodded slightly and walked away.
While Ambrogio waited, he admired his body. He had always been muscular, but now something strange was happening to his torso and limbs. It was as though whatever fat he had under his skin was vanishing, and pure muscle showed under the skin. His arms looked like the arms of the wrestlers of the Pythian games. The same with his thighs, and abdomen. He felt all the strange slight adjustments inside his body, while this was going on.
And then his skin began to change. He lifted his arms closer to his face and it took a while for him to understand what he was seeing. His skin was turning transparent.
He could not help but yell in surprise. A dog walking in the alley jumped and turned around to see where the sound came from. Ambrogio saw the dog, and another strange thing happened. He felt hunger. An overwhelming need to attack the animal took over. He stepped closer to the dog and a low growl emanated from within him.
Suddenly Artemis was there. She slapped Ambrogio on his face with such force he fell back into the mist, still growling. The dog withdrew, all the hairs on its back standing up.
"You are not to show yourself!" Artemis hissed. "You will obey my orders, or I will take away the immortality I have given you!"
Seeing her so her furious made Ambrogio's will to kill disappear.
"I beg for your forgiveness, my goddess..." he fell to his knees. "I do not know what came over me."
"I told you that you would crave the blood of animals after you were transformed. And you need it also – if you don't feed on blood, your body changes so that everyone can see you are not human anymore. Just look at your skin now. It will return to normal once you have had enough blood to drink."
Ambrogio looked in amazement and disgust at his skin. It seemed to him like a jellyfish in water, and he could see his muscles clearly underneath it, and his veins, which seemed oddly black.
"Wait here," Artemis said and walked out of the mist into the world again.
This time Ambrogio turned to look into the mist instead of the harbor city, so nothing would distract him. Artemis was soon back and handed him something. A piglet was hanging limp in her outstretched hand.
"It is still alive," she said.
Ambrogio snatched the animal from her hands without any need for instruction. Instinctively he bit into the small animal's neck and did not even care about the smell of pig dung in his eagerness to nourish his body. He sucked the blood away from the piglet in an amazingly short time, catching faint glimpses of the short life the animal had lived, and then he threw the body away. It began to sink into the mist and vanished from sight.
As if by magic, Ambrogio saw his transparent skin turn more solid within minutes and retain most of its color. You could still see the form of the muscles underneath, but now it only appeared as though his skin was very thin.
"That's better," Artemis said.
And then the men appeared, carrying a wooden casket big enough for a man to fit in. They dropped it in the alley and looked around expectantly. Artemis walked away from Ambrogio, and vanished into the mist. Soon her form appeared from around the corner of the alley.
"Thank you. You may go. Return before sunset and carry the casket to the ship."
The sailors seemed to know Artemis, because they all retreated respectfully and left quickly.
"Get in the casket when I say so," she said to Ambrogio and lifted the lid of the casket.
People were walking on the shore, but when the sun was at its highest, it became more quiet.
"Now," Artemis said, and Ambrogio walked from the mist and quickly climbed into the casket. For a brief moment the sun touched his skin, and it hurt, but the pain was tolerable. He moved so fast the sun's heat did not have a chance to linger.
Artemis closed the lid, and tied the leather straps that secured the lid. Ambrogio waited for his heart to thump because of the excitement, but to his surprise he heard no heartbeat. He concentrated on the stillness of his body, and then his heart beat once. A strong thump, which spread a tingling sensation all over his body. It subdued in a few minutes, and his body remained still and alert for a considerable length of time before there was another beat of the heart, and another tingling sensation. And all the time he felt that he was not breathing at all - his body seemed to drink air in through the skin.
Ambrogio then concentrated on listeni
ng to the noises of Kirrha. To his amazement his hearing seemed to be more acute as time passed. Suddenly he was listening to two merchants having an argument and the noises around them revealed that this was taking place inside a house! He could clearly hear people walking about inside, greeting one another, showing merchandise and being paid. A servant carrying a tray of cups with a clatter... Ambrogio realised he was hearing all this through walls!
The smell of the resin on the planks of the casket was strong. His sense of smell was also getting sharper all the time, and the resinous scent began to overwhelm him. Ever after that day whenever he smelled resin, his memory brought him back to the alley of Kirrha, to the wooden coffin in which he lay.
Then there came the sound of many footsteps approaching, and the casket was lifted from the ground. He was carried to the pier, and hoisted onto a ship. He did not see anything, but felt the sway of the water. He was carried below deck, so this was a big ship. And then he heard the voice of Artemis.
"I am leaving now. Your Selene will arrive soon. She will be given instructions about where she is to come. And under no circumstances are you to show yourself in sunlight for a whole month. Understand?"
"Yes, my goddess..." he answered.
"I shall leave you with her for the length of her life. When she is gone, it will be time for you to join my forces. By then Hades will not be looking for you any longer. He won't recognize you either, not after your change."
Ambrogio thought about what she had said, and did not know when she had left.
And then he heard the most beautiful voice in the world.
"Ambrogio?"
Selene had arrived.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE
83. Desert
Mut-Bity and I left Mi-Wer without me once leaving the shelter of the cabin. We did not see the yellow-eyed man anywhere on the harbor at Mi-Wer. Mut-Bity did not want to linger, though. She was clearly afraid of the man, and if she was afraid, it was certain the man was dangerous.
Our boat left us on the Western shore of the Great Lake. And that was the last time in a long time that I saw Kemet, the Black Land.
I was wrapped in linen, layers and layers of it, to prevent my skin from burning. We had a small donkey to carry our things, and Mut-Bity put me sitting on its back and began to walk. I listened to the crunching of sand and stones under her feet and the donkey's small hooves, and Mut-Bity's steady breathing. I smelled her sweat as well. By the great River she kept herself clean all the time, as did other people as well. Here we had no water for washing.
We walked, and walked, and walked. I was lulled into an almost dreamlike state at the back of the donkey. I lost track of time, and closed my eyes, and sweated under the cloth. On the hottest moments of the day we did not move, but sat under a large cloth Mut-Bity had folded on the back of the donkey, as a saddle of me. The little animal also stood quietly under the canvas, thankful for its protection from the searing sunshine, and Mut-Bity did not have the heart to push it away, even if it meant we had to sit very tightly, with our legs under the donkey's belly. Usually donkeys liked the heat, but this was too much.
"I hope the sandstorms will not begin just yet," Mut-Bity said, "Their time is almost here."
I did not see much of the Red Land when we walked in sunshine, as I was all covered by the linen cloth, but the moments before sunset were beautiful, and I could take off the scarf. The stars were strong and white in the sky at night, and sometimes I had a feeling I could fall into the sky. I said as much to Mut-Bity, and she looked at me attentively, but did not say anything.
We had two large water bags on both sides of the donkey. There was also grain for the donkey, and loaves of bread and dried fish for us.
"Where are we going? Is it far? What happens if the water runs out?"
"We can use the water in the desert, brought by others," Mut-Bity said.
"Water in the desert? Who takes it there?"
"The sand people. We are going to them, and then to a secret place of the Neteru."
"A place of gods? What is that? Where is that?" I wanted to know.
"If I told you, it would not be a secret place anymore, now would it?"
There was no denying the sense in Mut-Bity's words, so I did not ask about the place anymore. But I still wanted to know how there was water in the desert.
"The sand people have places along their paths where they bring water. They travel with donkeys, carrying water in bags like the ones we have, and empty jars. They do not carry the water in jars, because if a donkey trips over, it would break the jar, and all the water in it would be lost. †When they reach a watering place, they fill the jars from the bags, close them, and leave them there. Anyone who comes can drink from these jars."
Mut-Bity gave me a little cup full of water and I drank it carefully, not wanting to lose a single drop. My teeth were gritting with sand.
"Won't the water run out then, if everyone drinks from it?"
"These are ancient paths between different places where the sand people have travelled since time immemorial. When they leave one place, they carry enough water to reach the watering place, and leave some water there. And the same in the next watering place. If the journey is a long one, their water will run out. But because they have been doing this for too long for men to remember, they can trust that when they reach the next watering place, there will be water in jars for them to drink, left by others traveling from the opposite direction. And when they later come back along the same path, they again leave water there. Sometimes they travel with lots of donkeys, all carrying water and jars, and fill every watering place with water. This is the rule of the desert – you must leave water for the next person when at all possible. And you should never ever break the water jars. There is no worse crime in the desert."
One day we reached the oddest place. The flat desert was filled with strange-shaped boulders and rocks. They resembled lions, and sphinxes, and other strange things, which had dropped from above, or dug their way up from the belly of the earth. Their surface had crumbled, looking almost scaly, and they observed us in silence, when we passed. I knew this was the place where Mut-Bity had planned on arriving, because she gave a contented sigh.
"We'll rest there, near that cliff," she said, and pointed at a flat-topped small mountain. I hopped down from the donkey, and we climbed up the sandy slope. I could see the rock, horizontally layered, rising above us. Mut-Bity chose a spot and we sat down.
"They will be here soon," she said, "I've sent word."
I had no idea how Mut-Bity could have sent a message to anyone, but if she said she had done so, I believed her.
Something white caught my attention and I walked closer to have a look. I did not understand at first, what it was I was looking at. I bent closer and screamed. The rock had teeth! A huge jaw protruded out of the cliff face, and it had huge, sharp teeth. A horrible monster must live inside the rock, and was on its way out!
Mut-Bity laughed.
"I should have warned you. The boulders and rocks and desert are filled with these skeletons. They are of no animal I know of, but they have been gigantic creatures before their death."
She walked me a short distance, and showed me some big bones on the desert floor. One of them was like a huge snake. I got scared and wanted to get back to the slope. All these dead monsters made me fear they might come back to life.
When we got to the slope, we noticed we were no longer alone. Three short men and their donkey were standing by our donkey, all wrapped in worn clothing. You could only see their eyes, which were amazingly bright, surrounded by thick, dry skin that was so tanned it looked almost black. Still they were not Kushites, not black by birth.
Mut-Bity bowed to them and said something in an odd language. They bowed as well, and without further ado, set camp with us. Our donkeys seemed to get along well.
I listened to Mut-Bity and the men as they talked together deep into the night. I did not understand a word of their discussion, but I liked t
he singing tone of their language. I lay there with my eyes open, and observed the stars, and listened to the hum of the men.
For they hummed. This was not like the song each living thing gave in response to the song of the night. To hear that I needed total silence. No, these men gave a much stronger note, one I could almost hear with my ears. Still, it seemed like this hum was such that I heard it inside my chest, and not with my ears - or that my heart responded to it in kind.
When I turned my head, I noticed they were often looking at me, with intelligent, observing eyes that seemed to see right through me. One of them asked something about me from Mut-Bity, I was certain. He raised his hands in imitation of wings, and asked something. Mut-Bity shook her head and talked for a long time. She pointed at her eyes and made a swirling motion. The men said nothing, but their posture changed to become more alert.
They were talking of the man with the golden eyes, I knew.
I fell asleep, and was woken up by Mut-Bity before sunrise. She wrapped me in linen, and raised me onto the donkey's back.
And we continued our travel to the ends of the earth, where only sand and rock lived. I saw with my own eyes the watering places, and drank the life-giving water. I listened to the singing dunes, when they marched slowly under the sky. The sand responded to our steps with a deep ringing tone that sounded like the earth was greeting us like a roaring lion. I wondered if these vast folded expanses in fact were the hide of a big yellow lion. That thought entertained me for a whole day.
We walked through sand that had light green jewels on it, and the men gathered these in the bags their donkeys carried, and gave me one too. It had an uneven surface, that light caught beautifully. It was so small I could put in the palm of my hand, and hide it by bending my fingers around it.
I could never tell where we were going, but these men seemed to know, for they walked as confidently as though it was a village road. They knew how to navigate with the stars and how to take the sun's path into account.