Zar nodded.
“So what do we have here?” Neti asked as they reached the body.
“That is just it, no one seems to have an idea.” Zar said, pointing to the body. “No one has ever seen anything like it.” His wounds are not consistent with those of someone that burnt, yet it smells of burnt flesh. There are odd marks on the unaffected areas and burns which are entirely inconsistent with those of a burn victim.”
Neti nodded and tied her mask over her mouth and nose.
“What is that?” Zar asked pointing to her mask.
“It makes the smell more tolerable.” Neti said her voice slightly muffled by the fabric.
“Could use one of those then.” Zar said.
Neti turned to the body at first looking at the various burns. She had not much experience with burnt bodies. Especially when their burning could have been the reason of death.
“I cannot imagine anyone being as cruel.” Neti said as she made her way to the other side of the body. She reached down and touched his arm on an unaffected part, before stating, “He has not been dead long.”
“What!” Zar exclaimed, asking, “How can you tell?”
“Because his body is still warm.”
“Be was burnt, so he would still be warm.” Zar countered.
“That may be so, but there is no blood line yet.” Neti said.
“What is a blood line?” Zar asked.
Neti lowered her hands to the side of the body indicating to the part touching the ground. “When a person is alive their blood flows through the body. Once their heart stops, the blood moves to the lowest place on the body and makes a line.”
“The blood line.”
“Yes,” Neti said, “The absence of one means one of three things.”
“What are they?” Zar asked.”
“Either the person has not been dead long.” Neti said counting it off on her fingers. “The person is missing their head and there is a lot of blood around the body, or someone or some thing drained their blood.”
“You are serious about the last one?” Zar asked.
“Yes, many believe that blood has magical powers and that by drinking it you will live longer.” Neti said as she continued her inspection of the corpse.
When Zar made no response, Neti looked up to see a disgusted look on his face.
“Are you alright?” Neti asked concerned.
“I’m trying not to imagine what you just said.” Zar said.
“Is it possible that there could be more than one blood line?” The runner asked.
“Yes,” Neti said, “If there is more than one it means that the person has been dead for almost a day and that the body was moved after death.”
“You can tell that just from the body?” Zar asked.
“I could tell you a lot more simply by looking at the body and the surrounding area.”
“Like?” Zar questioned.
“Well first of all I can tell that you and your men are not used to dealing with crime scenes.”
“How dare you accuse us of not knowing what to do with a body,” Zar demanded.
“I made no such accusation, buts seeing as you are so defensive I will show you what I mean.” Neti said rising from her haunches. “The area a body is found is as important as the body itself, it tells us many things.” Neti pointed to the ground. “Firstly footprints, they would have had to carry him, but your men have trampled the area so there would be not telling from which direction they came. Secondly, he was not killed here.”
“How do you know that?” Zar asked.
“There is not fire and no source of heat that could have burnt him.”
Zar looked about the area before turning his attention back to Neti, asking, “Then how did he die?”
“I would first have to inspect the body. Preferably at a per-nefer since they will have all the equipment I need.”
“The local embalming hall refuses to remove the body.”
“They have to.” Neti said. “It is their duty. Where is the head embalmer?”
“He’s over there,” Zar said pointing to the man he’d had an argument with when she had arrived.
Neti turned to the runner and said, “Go call him or me.”
The runner hesitantly looked at her before starting in the direction of the man.
“If I may be as bold as to ask,” Zar started, “…how do you think he got here? The Gods maybe?”
Neti looked at the area and shook her head, “I would say that whoever did this intended for him to die.” Neti said looking around. “That is why they knew they would have to move and hide the body. I suspect they were disturbed or something happened and they just left him here.” She turned her attention to Zar, “Who found the body?”
“A group of kids. They were searching the reeds for goose eggs when they smelt something bad.”
“I doubt a couple of children did this.” Neti said.
Just then the runner returned with the head embalmer. Neti turned to the man and flatly stated. “I need this body taken to the per-nefer.”
The man shook his head and held up his hands even before speaking. “No. I will not have anyone work on such a body, the Gods or the witches condemned it. It should be burnt.”
Neti looked pointedly at the man, “I did not request of you or any of the others to work on this man. I will do it myself. But I need access to the correct tools since I don’t have my own here.”
The man looked at her sash and for a moment became hesitant, before saying, “While the pharaoh may believe you to be an embalmer, I know that you are a witch and I will not have that body in my per-nefer.”
Neti took a deep breath before replying, “You work for the pharaoh, which means your per-nefer belongs to the state and the pharaoh. I could have you arrested for impeding my ability to do my work or I can have it made an order from Ramesses to have this body moved to the nearest per-nefer.”
The man looked from Neti to Zar, then back to Neti before reluctantly saying, “I will send you two bearers.”
“And a sheet” Neti insisted.
“And a sheet.” The man added before turning away from them.
“There are some benefits, I see, to being one of the pharaoh’s chosen.” Zar said.
“If you spend enough time with Shabaka you quickly learn how and when to pull authority, and especially when it is needed.” Neti said.
Neti looked around the area while waiting for the bearers, with Zar shadowing her almost as much as the runner.
“They have done this before,” Neti said causing Zar to startle.
“What?” Zar asked.
Neti agitatedly played with her fingers as she spoke, “This is not the work of someone desperate to get rid of a body. It is precise. Especially with the body being moved almost directly after death.”
“Yes, you’ve said that.” Zar said, stepping closer to her.
She pointed to the river branch not far from them. “Are there any crocodiles in the river?”
“Yes,” Zar answered.
“Then that was where they were taking him. If his body was still warm and his death not from a disease, the crocodiles would have eaten him. Anyone who saw it would think he had been dragged into the river by a crocodile.” Neti turned to Zar, “Once we have finished moving the body your men should search along the river and see if they find anything.”
“Anything?” Zar questioned,
“Body parts. Their presence there will confirm my theory.”
Zar just looked at her confused, “You mean you are not happy with just one body?”
“I believe in checking all possibilities.”
Not long after that the bearers arrived, Neti had them place the body on the sheet and carry it down to the river. An action that not only confused the bearers but Zar as well.
“I am just going to go with this and pretend to know what I a doing.” Zar said as they reached the river.
Neti looked around before finally approaching a
woman near the water’s edge. She exchanged words with the woman who handed her a water pot.
Neti returned to the bearers, scooped up a pot of water, and then said, “Hold tightly the water will increase his weight.” They listened and she emptied several pots over the body as the men held him. One eventually commented, “This is really strange.”
“What are you doing? Besides the obvious which is wetting the man and staining the sheet.”
“You can take him back to the per-nefer and I will be there shortly.” Neti said and then turned to Zar. “Flushing the body with water will loosen all the sand and dirt from the body.”
“As I said, the obvious.” Zar said.
“This might tell me where the body has been, or where it has been killed.”
Zar looked at her in disbelief, “You have done this before.”
“We normally just look for things that should not be there.”
Zar just nodded his head.
Neti then turned to the runner, “Do you know where the per-nefer is?”
The boy nodded.
“Then you can take me there.” Neti said before returning the water pot to the woman.
Neti instructed the bearers to place the body on the platform and cover it with a dry sheet while she moved the equipment out of the way. The per-nefer was laid out similar to hers with the only difference was the lingering smell in the air.
“I will need some more lamps and burning herbs once you are done.” Neti said as she took the wet sheet from them, and asked, “Will that be a problem?”
The one bearer seemed hesitant, but finally spoke, “The embalmer does not believe in burning herbs.”
“So you have none.” Neti said for a moment in thought, then finally spoke, “I can’t remember her name but she works in the gardens at the palace. But just go to the gardens and ask the master gardener if you could have some rosemary and sage, wet or dry it does not matter. Ask at the kitchen for some myrrh as well.”
“They will not just give it to us,” the one bearer said.
“Tell them the Prefect Neti sent you, and that I need it. No person can live with this smell.”
They left and Neti lit the lamp over the work area. Carefully she smoothed the sheet out over the work area and started checking its contents.
It was there that Shabaka found her, some time later. Placing a bushel of herbs on the platform and a few sticks of myrrh next to it, he said, “I was told you asked for these.”
Neti turned to look at him, smiling before she said, and “Thank you.”
He turned to her and looked at the sheet-covered body. “You know I never realized how important burning herds were, until I entered here.”
“It is more than the body that smells.” Neti said turning to collect up the herbs and myrrh. I doubt this embalmer clears the room well enough after finishing, or he has old salt lying somewhere.” Neti said as she placed the herbs in a burner and lit it.
“So what do we have here? It had to have been strange to keep you from the palace so long.”
“This one is strange, but I had hoped to learn something about him or where he came from by the grit collected in the sheet.”
“You haven’t started on him yet?”
“No.” Neti said before turning back to Shabaka, honestly adding, “And I don’t really want to either.”
Shabaka turned to the body and reached for the end of the sheet, “I may not be as practiced as you with this.” He said as he flicked his wrist. Instantly regretting the action as the sheet fell free and the body was exposed to him. He gagged several times but managed to keep his composure. “You could have warned me.”
“You don’t think that I am being unwilling to start on a body was not warning enough.”
Shabaka looked at Neti before answering, “It should have been, actually.” He looked back towards the body, distractedly gathering up the sheet again. “So what do you think happened to him?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell you he did not die where they found him.” Neti said.
“How so?” Shabaka asked.
“No indication of fire. Although the embalmer here and the commander thinks he might have been struck down by the Gods.”
“They love using that reason when they have no idea what is happening,” Shabaka said as he looked the body over.
“I suspect it is easier for them to believe. It also make the citizens more complacent.” Neti said.
“Neti,” Shabaka suddenly said, seriously.
“What?” Neti asked, turning to look at him.
“I know this man.” Shabaka said
“What,” Neti exclaimed as she came to stand next to him.
“The developed upper body… he had little hair with strange marks on his arms, the hook nose.” Shabaka turned to Neti. “This is the man that came to talk to me in the alcove.”
“You mean the one that told you of the gold going missing?” Neti asked, hesitantly.
Shabaka nodded. “He said that if they identified him they would do something unspeakable to him. I guess this was it.”
Neti remained silent for several moments before she spoke. “If that is so, there must be some truth in what he said.”
“It also means that we need to be careful, especially you.” Shabaka said.
8
Chapter Eight
Neti turned to the platform where she had already arranged the tools to her preference. Shabaka looked over the tools as he came to stand at her side and scoffed, “He’s not the neatest on his tools.”
“If I were to speak frankly, he is an embalmer that process the dead only for payment.”
Shabaka looked at Neti, and asked, “You have a problem with that?”
“Yes, the dead should be respected, not only used to receive payment.” Neti said as she lifted the cubit stick. She turned back to the body and took a deep breath, for a moment gagging before approaching the platform. “It will take some time for the herbs to take effect.”
“So why do they allow it?” Shabaka asked as he also turned. He watched as Neti started to measure the man’s length.
“Because there are not many who enter into this field, and many have learned that family members will often barter a great amount to ensure their loved ones are properly prepared for the afterlife.”
“But from what we see here, their loved ones are not properly prepared.”
“Their families do not know this.” Neti said before looking up and adding, “Five cubits and a hapi.”
At her expectant look, Shabaka hesitantly said, “He’s average height?”
Neti shook her head, “Sorry, I’m used to having Moses with me when doing this, or one of my bearers.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Shabaka asked, looking nervously around him.
“They usually note down such things.”
Shabaka for a moment looked shocked, “I do not know all the Egyptian symbols, not like Moses.”
Neti simply walked back to the platform and started looking for a piece of papyrus, then said with a great deal of frustration, “He does not seem to keep those here either.” She then turned to Shabaka, “Could you arrange for some? I’ll go over the body, and we can note the important facts down when you return.”
Shabaka nodded and turned to leave, before asking, “Are you certain you will be safe here on your own?”
“I don’t think he’s going to get up any time soon.” Neti joked, pointing towards the body, which causing Shabaka to glare at her mockingly as she added, “…besides, I think if he were to, he would scare everyone out of here with only his looks.”
“That is not what I meant.” Shabaka deadpanned.
“I know,” Neti said and smiled. “But I think his appearance is enough to scare anyone off if they were to enter.”
Shabaka looked at the body, “Point taken.”
Neti again turned to the body and had to visibly swallow before se could continue. She quickly enough identified the scent of scorched
skin, even with the herbs burning, since it hung in the air, yet there was no burn marks on the man, only a series of raw patches where the skin had seemingly been removed. She looked closer at one of the marks trying to determine if it had been done after his death, but the brightness of the area led her to believe that the man had been alive at the time.
She heard the rustle of the heavy fabric that hung over the doorway, and without looking up said, “That was quick.”
When she received not reply she turned and looked towards the doorway. She quickly righted herself and lowered to a knee as she spoke. “My apologies, High Priest. I thought you were someone else.”
“And such I can understand,” The High Priest of Pi-Ramesses said as he approached her. “Rise child,” the priest said. He waited for Neti to right herself before continuing. “I have been informed that you are once again tempting the wrath of Ra.”
“You then have knowledge of something I do not.” Neti said.
She watched as the priest approached the platform and looked over the body. His appearance was unaltered as he walked down the length of the man. “It is amazing the atrocities people are willing to accuse the Gods of.” The priest said turning to look at Neti.
“High Priest?” Neti asked, confused.
“But then you are not one to make such assumptions. It shows an understanding of human nature that many have yet to learn.” The priest said, and then gestured to the body. “I cannot think of a single reason why any God would subject a man to something such as this. The plague I can understand – it tests our fate. But this, this is not the work of a God. If a God wanted this man dead he would have struck him down.” The High Priest again looked at Neti, firmly asking, “What is your purpose with him?”
Neti looked at the body as she started, “I am to determine the cause of his death and possibly what could have been used to make these marks. But I know of nothing that removes flesh like this.”
“You then agree that a person did this?”
“High Priest, I have seen many things during my time as an embalmer, but this, this is not something I would ever want to see again.”
“You did not answer my question?”
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