by Klara Raškaj
Fraser's eyes narrowed as he looked away.
Sarah smiled. "Thank you, sir," she added and approached the desk. "I want to find Meseh's missing eye. It was taken from him in a ritual just after he died to give him his magical powers, and I think it might still be in his tomb."
"And apparently, he will either die unless we retrieve it, or he will start killing other people to keep himself alive," Fraser growled. "But even if the eye is out there, it would have turned to dust by now."
"If all of my other organs have regenerated and returned to me, why do you think my other eye hasn't?" Meseh commented, smiling at him.
Fraser averted his gaze and proceeded to stroll around the room. He looked more puzzled than upset now. "Yes," he said. "But that would mean...it never rotted away. It must still linger in the world of the living somehow."
"What about raiders? Almost the whole tomb was already cleared out by the time we got there," Hastings interjected.
"But not the burial chamber," said Fraser, waving his finger in the air as he contemplated. "It was the only room left almost untouched when our men arrived. And even so, they only managed to retrieve the sarcophagus with Meseh's mummy inside. Most of them reported experiencing fierce hallucinations that almost completely knocked their senses out of this reality for several hours after even coming near it."
"Then the stars truly have aligned for me." Meseh chuckled. "The eye may well be the source of these phenomena. If it's still inside the tomb, then we will have less than minutes to search the chamber before we become afflicted ourselves."
Sarah grabbed her iPad from the sofa and searched for some photos on the internet. Once she found what she'd been looking for, she turned the tablet around to show Fraser and Hastings the images of hieroglyphs from the walls in Meseh's burial chamber. "Look at this symbol."
"Yes, that's the eye of Ra," said Fraser.
"I thought so, too, at first, but something's always really bothered me about it," Sarah told him. "Look at the way it's carved." She pointed at the screen. "Usually, the pupil and the outline are the parts that are carved in, but just for this one eye, the sclera is the part that is carved into the wall instead!"
Fraser leaned closer. "Oh my God..." He gasped. "You're... You're right! It's almost as if the carving was made to resemble the color of Meseh's eyes!"
"Well, then..." Hastings added with a grin. "I guess you'll have to cancel your classes until further notice, Fraser."
He looked at him, puzzled. "Sir?"
"You three have a flight to catch."
• • • •
After two full days of preparations and traveling, Meseh, Sarah, and Professor Fraser arrived at the entrance to Meseh's former resting place: a stairway built into what looked like a mountain of gravel and sand among the glittering dunes.
They wore heavy boots, lightweight pants with a plethora of pockets, white shirts to repel the sun's scorching rays, and carried backpacks over their shoulders holding only the barest of essentials.
Meseh pulled down his beige scarf from around his head and smiled as he gazed at the stairway leading into the underground tomb. He turned to Sarah and Fraser. "I'm strangely enjoying myself here," he said. "It feels like looking death in the face and laughing at it."
Without a reply, Fraser walked past him, descending into the tomb with a flashlight in hand. "Do watch your step. This tomb is significantly larger than most others. It might take us some time before we find our way to the burial chamber."
Sarah and Meseh followed shortly after.
Slowly, they treaded through a long, dark corridor with nothing but the sounds of their own footsteps to keep them company.
"Would you mind me asking you something, Meseh?" said Fraser.
Meseh turned his head to smile at him. "I suppose not, Richard. What troubles you?"
"Was it worth it?" he asked. "Killing your father's mistress as your first decree as pharaoh?"
Meseh chuckled and returned to looking straight ahead. "I do not regret my decision. Even if the child she'd harmed was not me, attempted murders of any of the pharaoh's heirs would have been met with the same fate. I just happened to be the judge and executioner at the time," he explained. "But I was sorely disappointed to have found out it did nothing for my wounds. All that time...I was trying to stitch together wounds that held nothing that could bleed out to begin with."
"If I may be frank, don't you find it a bit petty to go through all this trouble of reawakening long after your time has ended for a few nights of passion?" Fraser continued. "Nothing else interested you?"
"You are the expert on my life. You tell me," Meseh replied with a smirk.
"You've taken over your father's throne during a time when the whole world was against you," Fraser told him. "You are intelligent, ambitious, and manipulative. Truth be told, I admire you greatly...which is why I find it so unbelievable that you would go so far as to utilize magic to come back to life for something so trivial as the affection of one young woman."
Meseh didn't reply. He continued walking in silence for a while. Then...he spoke. "Tell me...what is love to a small boy at whom even the cats would hiss whenever they would lay their eyes on his accursed face? What is love to a child that could not even run into his mother's arms when everyone else shunned or abused him?"
Sarah looked up at Meseh with eyes on the brink of tears.
"I do not regret killing that woman, Richard," said Meseh. "My life was a torment, and when I looked upon the people, the only words that echoed through my mind were: 'You're next.'"
Fraser's eyes opened wider.
"I had ambition, as you've said. And my ambition was to destroy the plague that was the human race. Thousands. Millions. I wanted nothing more than to watch their bodies wriggle like the maggots they were as flames swallowed them whole. But...when I heard the sound of her skull cracking beneath my teeth...I came to a sudden realization," Meseh explained. "As I've told you...I realized nothing had changed. My heart was no less empty than it was before. The death of the woman that turned my life into a living nightmare...couldn't sate me." He reached out to Sarah's hand in the dark and held it tight. "They say that the heart of a child starts beating from the moment its mother takes it into her loving embrace. So, tell me...what is love to a frightened little boy...who was never shown any kindness from the moment he came to this world...who was born...and buried with a still heart..."
Fraser cleared his throat and tilted his head down.
Sarah squeezed Meseh's hand, smiling at him.
He smiled back as he glanced at her.
For some time, it felt like they'd been going around in circles. The entire tomb supposed to be only a couple of rooms and a hallway, but it felt like a maze. Why would they have buried Meseh so much deeper into the ground? Professor Fraser really wasn't kidding when he said Meseh's tomb was bigger than most pharaohs'.
Suddenly, Meseh collapsed onto his knees, holding his head.
Sarah slid one arm under his and placed the other on his chest. "H-hey--you okay?"
Fraser shone the light of his flashlight over him. "What's going on?"
Meseh panted like crazy. His hands trembled as he grabbed hold of his head.
Fraser quickly knelt down, pushed Meseh's head back and examined his eye with the light from the flashlight.
Sarah moved to the front to take a look for herself.
Meseh's terrified gaze darted around frantically. It was as if he didn't even see her and Fraser though they stood right in front of him.
Black sand passed by with a gentle breeze.
All of a sudden, Meseh started talking in ancient Egyptian as he stood up and walked around, feeling up the walls as tears formed in the corner of his eye. He was mumbling, but from what Sarah could make out, he kept saying things like 'no' and 'why.'
"I-is it--?" Sarah asked Fraser with panic in her voice.
"The eye," he answered as he stood back up. "We must be getting close. We have to hurry before we lo
se it, too."
Meseh moved deeper into the tomb, still feeling up the walls, cursing the world as tears ran down his cheeks.
Sarah and Fraser pursued him as he kept distancing himself from them faster and faster.
"Meseh!" Sarah shouted as she took chase.
"Sarah, don't!" Fraser yelled.
She ran into the black cloud of dust before her. All of a sudden, she found herself all alone in a pitch-black room. Professor Fraser's voice was nowhere to be heard anymore. Not even Meseh's. There was nothing but darkness and silence surrounding her, and the twinkle of that black sand floating in the air. It was so quiet she could hear her own heart beating rapidly. "Meseh?"
There was no reply.
Her lips shuddered as she took a step forward, holding her hands out in order to try and get a feel for what lay ahead. "Meseh, I'm scared," she whimpered as she took another reluctant step forward.
Nothing.
She couldn't take it anymore. Her whole body trembled in unrelenting fear as she kept turning around and feeling out the air with her hands. "Please! Say something!" she begged. "Where are you?"
She started seeing things in the darkness...in the glistening black sand. Terrifying, distorted faces...frowning. Voices...whispering. Not even when she closed her eyes could she escape them.
"Stop!" she screamed. "Stop it!"
But the voices only got louder.
She fell to the floor, crying into her hands as she gripped the base of her hair. "Please... Stop..." she begged as tears slipped down her cheeks.
No. She had to snap out of it. She had to resist it. They were just faces and voices. What could they do to her? She pushed herself off the floor and flung her arms around as she walked forward at a hurried pace. Finally, she reached a wall as the voices became louder and louder. Though tears continued to spill down her face as her heart raced from the torment, she traced her fingers over the carved-in hieroglyphs. Then...she felt it. The eye of Ra. The carved-in sclera.
A large hand grabbed hold of her shoulder, and Meseh's voice spoke to her in ancient Egyptian, telling her to look at him.
The small symbol glowed a bright blue color, and a soft orb formed in the palm of her hand. "It's gonna be okay... I'm here..." she said as she turned around to face him. Then, she pushed the eye into Meseh's empty socket.
A bright light flashed. A high-pitched noise rung through her ears.
CHAPTER FIVE
A Midsummer Sun's Dream
WHEN SARAH OPENED her eyes, she was greeted by colorful hieroglyphs on stone walls, blue feathers, and furniture made of gold and silk. She sat up from the what seemed to be a lounge chair with satin cushions and approached a jade-green vase on a small table to look at her own reflection.
A net made of gold draped over her hair and bangs, and a large beaded necklace lay around her neck, covering her upper chest, but leaving her breasts completely exposed. From under her breasts, all the way down to the floor, she wore a white silk dress. The last details she noticed as she inspected her limbs were two golden arm cuffs wrapped around her arms under her shoulders, and two golden anklets sitting just above her bare feet.
Loud cheering noises from a hefty crowd sounded from outside.
Sarah turned her head and rushed out through the silk curtains onto the balcony.
In front of her was a sea of people in white robes, screaming and shouting in unison. Their faces all pointed at the temple entrance just underneath the balcony. Meseh was standing there, addressing the roaring crowd in his native ancient Egyptian tongue, wearing white silk skirt, a golden sash around his waist, golden arm cuffs, and the pharaoh's signature gold and dark-blue striped headdress to match.
A middle-aged, dark-haired woman in lavish robes sat on her knees before him, crying.
"Look at me," said Meseh in a low, agitated voice.
The woman tilted her head up and gazed into his eyes full of tears and desperation.
"I sentence you...for the crime of attempting to murder an unborn prince," said Meseh.
"I'm sorry..." she wept. "I'm so sorry... Please...spare my life! Have mercy on me...please!"
"Your hatred for me manifested itself into malice you cannot take back," Meseh told her. "You may not have been glad I was born... You may not have loved me like a son even though you took my father's heart." He knelt down and stroked her chin with the tips of his fingers, smiling at her. "But I love you." He chuckled and placed his hands on her face.
Her eyes opened wider and her lips shuddered as she stared at him in utter terror, not making a single sound but that of her breath escaping her lungs.
"Let me kiss you," Meseh cooed, then covered the top of her head with his monstrous maw and flesh-tearing teeth.
The cracking of bone echoed in Sarah's ears. She covered her face and stepped back as she gasped.
"What are you doing here?" shouted a man behind her, grabbing her by her shoulders.
She turned around, panting, trembling, and looking up and down at the old man in white robes standing before her. The second she finally realized what was happening, she covered her breasts with her arms.
"You are supposed to be in the bath before the pharaoh arrives," he argued and dragged her away by her arm. "Come. We must hurry."
Soon enough, the old man took her to an outdoor pool surrounded by stone pillars painted over with colorful ornaments.
The greenish water shimmered under the light of the sun, and a gentle breeze blew through the palm-tree-looking flora and Sarah's hair.
The old man handed her a platter of cream-colored blocks. "I will leave you to it, then," he said. "The pharaoh will arrive shortly." And with that, he left her alone.
Confused and still a bit rattled from what she'd just witnessed, she sat down by the pool, pulled up her dress, and dipped her feet into the water after placing the platter beside her. She took one of the small blocks in her hand just to double-check whether it really was what she suspected. After submerging it into the water and stroking it with her palm, it was clear she'd been given soap, presumably made of natron mixed with oil. She placed it back onto the platter and rinsed off her hands in the pool.
Feet tapped against the stone floor at a brisk pace.
She turned her head and covered her breasts with her arms once again.
Meseh approached the pool, taking off his robes, wiping the blood on his mouth with them, and throwing them to the ground. His expression was cold and stern. He didn't even look at Sarah. He only stared at the floor in front of him until finally diving into the pool.
Having witnessed the bare beauty of his perfectly sculpted body made her remember the night they shared on the balcony of that hotel, making her skin crawl with excitement.
He surfaced with a deep breath and strode over to one of the edges of the pool. His lower body remained submerged under the small waves as he leaned onto the stone with his head resting on his crossed arms. "Please leave," he said and closed his eyes. "Tell them I will see you later this evening. I do not wish to see anyone right now."
"Of course," Sarah replied. With a concerned gaze, she stood up and proceeded to walk away.
But before she even passed the length of the pool, he called out to her. "Wait!"
She turned around, gazing into his two dark eyes as he faced her.
"I've changed my mind," he said and returned to resting against the pool's edge. "You may stay if you wish..."
Sarah smiled and thanked him. Then, she walked back over to the spot where she'd been before.
Meseh seemed distraught, but also much less dominant and assertive.
It was so strange to be in his presence without him crawling all over her. She began missing him dearly. Though she didn't want to bother him even though perhaps helping him get his mind off things would have been beneficial, she wanted to tease him and perhaps wait for him to approach her himself. With a relaxed smile and closed eyes, she pulled her dress up and arched her back as she slowly took it off, glancing at him ever
y so often to check whether he was paying attention.
Surely enough, she caught him peering from the corner of his eye.
With a quiet giggle, she proceeded to take water from the pool into her cupped hands and poured it over her chest.
Meseh finally turned around and leaned back onto his elbows, observing her shamelessly.
She gave him a big, bright smile while continuing splashing the water over herself.
"You are a strange thing," he commented while looking over her body. There was still no trace of a grin on his face yet.
"Why do you think so?" she asked. It felt really weird to try to talk casually in a dead language like ancient Egyptian. It was as though she couldn't express herself the same way she would in English. She had to sound more sophisticated and refined due to such a disconnect between the vocabularies of the two languages. Still, it was fun.
"You are smiling at me," he added. "Do my eyes deceive me?"
"No," she told him.
"And does the way you bathe not seem the slightest bit inefficient to you?"
"Depends on what one is trying to achieve," Sarah explained. "I was trying to tell you I wanted you to approach me, but seeing as how you are not interested, I suppose I will just go for a swim instead."
He smirked.
Sarah swan-dove into the pool and surfaced on her back with her breasts and erect nipples floating above the water. She did backstrokes from one end of the pool to another and deliberately ignored Meseh even to the point of keeping her eyes closed as she swam. She couldn't believe how much fun she was having toying with Meseh's head for once instead of it being the other way around.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Sarah," she replied.
"And where exactly did you come from...Sarah? You must be missing your home dearly after you were brought here, I assume."