Heart of the Lotus

by Mary R Woldering

  “Actually, her giving one to him does make sense. I just didn’t expect her to be willful enough to agree to it so soon. Young bastard was bragging to me that Deka would choose him after all he had done for her in his bed. That’s what made me mad enough to leave all the child stones with him. I hoped he would get his paws around so much power he would crisp himself like that boy did who tried to steal them from us when we were travelling to Kemet so long ago. The Children knew my thoughts on the matter, but for some reason didn’t harm the prince even before she brought him in.”

  Marai mused, this is a lot worse than I’m letting them see. He glanced toward the elder sitting with the young woman as Xania fluttered and fidgeted near him.

  Damn it, Akaru, Marai feigned a disinterested attitude to keep his feelings private. Your hand is in this, too. You tried to handle her lion-side and got a swat, didn’t you? You shouldn’t have wanted her to come here. Now she’ll come, but she’ll bring him to contest us, not join us.

  The sojourner had known one day that he and the prince would likely battle each other again and didn’t like what it implied. He projected a faint message to the prince in hopes of encouraging the general’s self-doubt. Taking you on again, now that you are a host, just makes beating you a lot tougher. And I will beat you.

  Marai sensed a distant jackal titter in response as if the message was received over the distance and answered, but Djerah interrupted the thought.

  “Well I certainly don’t want to see his dog face grinning at me again.” The stonecutter spoke behind him as he trudged out into the darkness of the early morning air in the plaza. “If he does come here, I’ll take him down myself, stone to stone. Then I’ll cheerfully rip it out of his skull once I have him, too.”

  “Not going to happen, and you know it. You’ll just get beat beyond fixing if you try.” Marai raised one brow, briefly imagining that battle of blood, spit, and hair moving around Qustul Amani, “One seasoned warrior and his adoring troops and one hot-headed stonecutter, both fighting as gods? Humph.”

  An air of soothing and quiet swept through Marai. Naibe calming Akaru again, bless her. He brought this when he prayed, but prince getting on an equal footing with us isn’t the worst part of what bothered him. There’s something else he saw. That’s what moved him to all this weeping and sighing.

  Xania, looked up as Marai approached and settled. He felt her anguish and sorrow roll through him in waves.

  The elder lay on his side at the edge of the pattern etched in the plaza floor. Naibe’s loving energy moved in a radiant warmth like a pale shimmer down her arm to surround and heal the elder.

  Enchanted by the sight, Marai smiled as he sat beside her, but turned his thoughts to Ari. Must’ve been you, Ari; gained some more skill to keep me from feeling any of this while we were out at the observatory. He wondered why she was staying back in the baths and hoped his comment would bring her out to join the rest of them.

  Wasn’t me, not me at all. I was rather busy enjoying you, you big ox, she answered without coming out.

  He shook his head, satisfied that all was well, then bent to comfort his elder friend.

  Akaru let Naibe help him sit up as Xania moved the lamps closer.

  Marai saw that the arrangement of the travelling stones still lay in the pattern on the sand-brick plaza floor. Once Marai let Djerah ease in beside him and Naibe, Akaru’s wife and her servant left long enough to bring out bundles of sweet grass to smudge out any evil that might present itself later.

  Akaru shook his head, mournful.

  Naibe sat on her heels beside the man, her hand resting on his shoulder. They both looked at Marai, stricken expressions on their faces.

  “She should have waited until she knew it all,” Akaru sighed. “This is all out of order now; all broken apart because of her one step onto a wrong petal.”

  “So, she’s given a stone to Prince Maatkare Raemkai? You saw that?” Marai shook his head, lost between mirth and disgust. “All this time I thought I was supposed to kill him one day and the Children were holding me off, calming my spirit. I had been all set to kill him and force her to come with us. Then I thought it was you, tapping whatever secret god-alliance with Shu that you have. You even held me off from storming his camp when Djerah went missing and now this has made you suffer?”

  Marai paused, realizing Ariennu still hadn’t moved out into the plaza to sit with them. He saw her in the shadow of the baths, a quiet hesitation forming around her like a mist. He held up one hand, signaling he needed to check on her. Ari? What? he sent a thought. You all right? This is not like you to go dark.

  She appeared focused on something as if it stood between her and the steam from the water. I’m fine, I guess, she silently answered, then tucked her face further into shadow. Just feeling something I don’t like here. Look, don’t worry about me. I’ll tell you about it later once I figure it out. Just go on and see about the old man.

  Marai glanced out onto the pattern front of him and studied it as Akaru looked up at him. The wind picked up slightly, blowing out the lamps around them. Briefly, in the new darkness, Marai noticed the entire floor of the plaza had become illuminated in a flickering light which radiated from the arcing lines of the pattern. He rose and walked out from Akaru, tracing the pattern as Xania and her servant re-lit the lamps. As he made the circuit, he bent to pick up the twelve glimmering stones.

  “Flower of Life,” he remarked. “I’ve seen this quite a bit. You had the pattern covered up until tonight.” The sojourner placed the stones in the discarded, leather carrying bag the elder had dropped beside the design.

  Marai stared at the pattern longer as it grew dim in the absence of the traveling stones. Looking from the pattern to his surroundings and back again, he realized the pattern was older than the buildings grouped on it now. Parts of the flower ran underneath the breezeway and the edge of the decking beside the baths. Touching his pursed lips in quiet wonder, he remarked: “This has been here a long time.”

  “You really don’t know what this is then, do you?” Akaru reflected as if he hadn’t heard the big man’s words. “I had hoped…”

  Marai saw Naibe’s calming hand easing toward the elder again and let her distract the old man, then bent down and touched the stones of the plaza. Standing, he saw the pattern on the plaza as it appeared in a different time. There were no buildings, and it glowed brightly. Another layer of light in the shape of the flower hung at shoulder height and a third formed at the height where the roofs of the now-absent buildings were. The three layers began to turn like wheels. As they did, they created flashes of rainbow color in the center. A disc of light began to open above the heart of the lotus-like pattern, high in the sky, and light shot up towards the sky through all three layers.

  This is how, Marai thought. This is the mystery of how the gods went from place to place. This is the skyward launch… or it was. Marai took a deep breath and brought himself back. The glowing subsided and the buildings re-appeared, partly covering the pattern.

  “Perhaps it isn’t time, after all, and I’m just an old man with too many dreams.” Akaru sadly continued: “and yet I know I saw the signs in the stars.” His voice faded, calmed by the hum-like vibration extending from Naibe’s touch. It appeared to give him enough courage to continue speaking.

  “The ordained ones, the Ntr, or gods who walked as men were to return, perhaps to gather up the one who had been sentinel too long. This is what I was told by Djedi himself when I was a boy. When I knew of you, dear Marai, I knew my dreams must be coming true. Certain elect ones were to come when they returned, not necessarily priests or kings to right the Djed.” Akaru’s voice remained low and shaken. “I suppose I always had an image of her too. When my grandson Aped told me of this woman you call Deka, of her magical dance, I sensed you both were the ones who would be coming here for the sentinel. Then, that night when she came to us on the roof of my observatory and I finally saw her, I couldn’t accept what I had seen. Her face was th
e same image I had always held in my thoughts since I was young. I always thought our meeting would be different. The spirits told me it would not happen the way it did. I trusted it, and tonight I tried again to speak to her,” he shook his head. “Maybe she will listen to her heart and know there is more for her to learn from me than she admits. I can only pray so.”

  Marai looked down, feeling the familiar shimmer of energy from the bag of stones.

  Something more? He silently asked them. You allowed the prince to be brought in, you’ve let Deka be torn away from us. Why? Who else from our group will break off and go their own way? Marai’s thoughts turned bitter for a moment.

  “We don’t get to know it all, Akaru,” he started, hoping to formulate an explanation as he spoke. “We might be like gods, but not all-knowing or all-seeing. They said I would sire or choose some, but never promised we would always be together. That is what men want… men like us who have much, but lack one burning thing. We each have our own mission. And the Ntr? Call them what you want, but the Children measure what we know it seems, until that time is right. We were supposed to meet and grow together; heal each other. That’s all we really know. It may be your appointed time, or it may not. Let’s just see where it goes.”

  With a heavy sigh, the Akaru sat up and crossed his legs. “Alright. I will endure even this, and wait for what may come.” Xania took her place beside the elderly man.

  Moments later, Ariennu finally came out of the baths and rejoined the group. “I’m alright, Marai. Told you I was. It’s just something off around here.” She silently cautioned Marai to guard his thoughts before she spoke. “Something’s here. I noticed it right away when we came back with Djee, but I thought it was just me.” She sat down next to Marai. When she did, he put his arm around her shoulders and pressed her gently.

  “What’s is it? What do you sense?” Marai asked quietly and urgently, carefully closing himself off from anything that might be trying to spy on them. He did notice an uncertain sensation gradually close in on him. It was a dark, familiar feeling. “Something is here. Now I feel it.”

  “I do too,” Djerah picked up on it as well. “This feels different than before,” he got up and looked at the flower of life. “This pattern on the plaza, I feel something different. I can see it now with these new blue eyes,” Djerah remarked.

  “The stone makes a difference, doesn’t it?” Ariennu chuckled, lifted out of her reverie. “But, when did you see it before, if it was all covered up and you weren’t changed?”

  “The night before I came to you. I took the Children and lay them out. They… I mean, even then I felt them call to me through this “Yah” stone I now have in my head,” he tapped his brow. “They told me how to place them so I could see the way into the prince’s camp. I felt where to put them all the way through the mats. It’s the real reason why I went. I was mad that Raawa had made a village joke of me, but outside that I knew there wasn’t anything I could do. Even if I ran back to kill SeUpa and her while they lay in bed, nothing would be solved. His companions would avenge him and my children would still be alone,” Djerah sighed. “The stones had a different idea. It was like a voice coming through them – telling me I needed to go and gather men and come save you ladies. I knew it was stupid, but whoever the spirit was who told me to do it gave me the courage of a fool.” Djerah’s face turned toward the sojourner. “Now that same voice is back and it wants me to get the wdjat from you. It wants to speak through it. I don’t think it means us harm, though. I think it wants to guide us, like you said; to reveal knowledge.”

  Marai knew that before the journey and his changes, the Djerah he had met at the well would never have asked to bring a spirit or spirit-voice through a device.

  “Maybe that’s going to be your gift,” Ari suggested.

  Akaru agreed with her. “Each of you has magnificent powers, but in each one a certain star shines above the rest. I would like to see what this fledgling is called to do.”

  “You all sure?” the sojourner reluctantly opened the bag and fished the crystalline piece from the bottom. “Moments ago, he was grinding his teeth over the prince and now you think he’s calm enough to ‘know things’ through this?”

  “You can watch him, my love. You’ll keep us safe,” Naibe encouraged Marai to hand over the wdjat.

  “If you all think so, I will, but I hardly trust a voice which made him rush into the prince’s camp like a fool, if it is the same one.” Marai leveled a stern glance at Djerah. “Are you sure you aren’t just trying to get this so you can flip it over and send a horde of screaming demons at the bastard?” he hesitantly handed it to the young man. “You want to do it from the middle of the pattern or go into the baths and float it in the pool?”

  “No…” Djerah took the piece and stared into it, his expression showing that he was already being lulled into an altered state. “Let’s just go up under the awning. Make a circle with me on that end of the pattern near the pool.”

  The sojourner frowned, thinking that the location was an odd one, but after a moment of shrugging and shuffling, everyone including Xania and her maidservant sat in a new semi-circle with the young stonecutter at the focal point. Djerah held the wdjat up to show how it had begun to glimmer and emit a slight humming sound.

  Marai watched closely, then felt Ari’s elbow in his ribs and heard her snort:

  “Would you look at that pretty thing; already starting.” She pointed at Djerah’s face as he spun the disk on one end. It righted itself, hovering just above his hands as if something about them repelled it, casting a shimmer up into his face.

  Marai focused on the bizarre animation of the wdjat, but couldn’t stop thinking about Wserkaf, Hordjedtef, and before them others, who had never realized the strange abilities the crystal disc possessed.

  Wonder why even I didn’t know about this, he asked himself. Has Djerah been ordained to be the one to work with tools like the wdjat? Why him? I didn’t even choose him. I’m the leader of the ones changed, but perhaps not the leader of all that is to be. This isn’t random the way the Children said it would be. The choices to “father” aren’t mine after all. He shook his head to free himself from that distraction and returned his attention to the events in the newly formed circle.

  “Is this voice actually speaking to you?” Marai asked.

  “Not in words,” the young man’s voice trailed. “I think it has a voice, but it’s gathering thought. You were right, Marai,” Djerah glanced at the sojourner. “I was thinking of sending a spell to the prince but just now, the minute I took it from your hand, the anger just… left… Gah… gods…” his breath sucked in and out in increasing speed as his eyes squinted and his upper body arched backward in a cackling, thrilled ecstasy.

  “Easy, Djerah. Too much. You’re still not…” Marai’s attention riveted.

  “Ready?” Djerah’s partly open mouth formed a maniacal grimace followed by laughter. “Not ready? When it does this? Did it do this when you held it… or that priest you got it from?”

  “You need to get control of yourself,” Marai knew Djerah was being given a taste of power in the same way he himself had been tempted long ago when he had confronted the thieves and later when he challenged Hordjedtef. I’m stopping this right now. He leaned forward, to swipe the crystal out of the air and instantly felt resistance.

  What’s doing this? Hordjedtef? The prince? It speaks through the stones, but prods us to risk. That’s what this whole thing is! He glanced at the others who were watching Djerah, captivated and silent. Look at them: they’re all being pushed into wanting this. Marai calmed himself enough to push away his building worry.

  I’ve felt this before, when I was buried. The sojourner focused on the feeling that settled around them. It’s a darkness that’s been lurking and clinging to us like burrs wedded to a sheep’s fleece. It’s acting through the stones. This is why Maatkare wasn’t burned. He’s of chaos and it protects its own. Maybe it’s why he has a stone. If that’s t
he case then… “Stop!” Marai roared. The glimmering dimmed obediently and the disc freed itself from all but Djerah’s left forefinger. It balanced and spun quicker, as if taunting, but did not let the young man go.

  Looking to his side he saw Ari shake her head, freed from her locked stare at Djerah and the Wdjat.

  “No. Marai, it’s me. I did it. This is my fault.” Her usually confident demeanor was gone. “That voice we all hear was the same one that was talking to me in the baths a moment ago. It wanted to get to Djee, and it used me… It wants all of us.”

  “The sentinel?” Marai frowned at the floating wdjat as if it had a sudden wicked identity and spoke. “If that’s who you are, then I have this to say. You have far less power than I would have imagined. You couldn’t come in because Akaru knew you and warded you off, so you came through my Ari?” He snarled and started to grab the bag at his waist, even though Naibe’s eyes implored and her voice almost trembled.

  “No, my love… don’t…”

  “You would even use her to calm me from stopping this?” Marai felt his anger about to explode. “You have something to say, you’d better say it to all of us. I was tired of this game a moon’s quarter ago, so you take this as a warning,” his arm hardened despite Naibe’s touch. He unfastened the bag again. The stones inside shimmered, then rose out of it under their own power with a faint harmonic sound.

  Then, as everyone watched, the child stones liquefied into multicolored, shimmering orbs of light that circled the wdjat and perched in equal spots around its edge. They pulled the disc backward like a floating feather, laid it flat and appeared to transform it into a tiny replica of the vessel Marai had encountered in the sand long ago.