Heart of the Lotus

by Mary R Woldering

  Marai is punishing me for bringing that spirit here. He thinks I’m not ready because it came and attacked us while I was handling the crystal disc. Now I’m here protecting the women and helping the others find shelter and settlement, seeing reunions and overhearing stories, he sulked. Then, hearing a noise closer than the rest of the arriving rabble, he turned.

  “Oh, Lady Naibe.” He smiled, knowing she must have wakened and on seeing he wasn’t in his bed, came to see where he was. He was surprised she hadn’t stopped to help Ari, Xania and the other wives with the cooking. I know she made the candy when we were in the Poor’s neighborhood in Ineb Hedj, but I don’t think I ever saw her cook a meal, or for that matter grind grain to get flour. Sewing. That’s all.

  “Not helping with the cooking?” he smirked.

  “Because I am a woman, you believe I am drawn to a cookfire? Am I become a moth? It was hot among them and they were speaking of babies and weeping over the men. It was hurting my heart to stay. Wise MaMa told me to come here and spend some time with you.”

  “I understand that,” Djerah commented, but turned to tie up more boats, looping rope around stone, blocks, and bunches of reeds. “You have Marai’s child in your womb. It would kill him if something happened to you. I know he told you about the first one who died.”

  “Mmmm, but…” she raised her arms in a stretch, “now he treats me like a delicate little child.” She twirled girlishly and sauntered to him to touch his newly brassy curls. “Even you. All I need do is sigh or moan,” she giggled impishly, “or mop my brow and both of you go to pieces. I’m as healthy as Raawa ever was.”

  Djerah felt a dull ache welling up near his heart. Raawa. The thought had almost taunted him when he saw the women cooking over the makeshift communal fire.

  Right. Healthy. Four children and the idea that one or more was not even mine is a soul killer. I’d like to see her face and maybe SeUpa if they could see how I am now; what I can do.

  “I’m sorry, Djerah. I shouldn’t have drawn your thoughts to a bad place, just because I was out of sorts and bored,” Naibe moved closer. “I’ll just watch for a while and then maybe go back and help with the ‘women things’.”

  About mid-day, the rest of the citizens of Buhen had finished the arriving. Reed boats and rafts slapped against each other, some turned over and drying on the banks with the oars resting over them.

  Djerah sat outside the walls, watching for any action from the south. Naibe, seeming as restless as he was, soon told him she was going inside to get some bread and beer.

  He thought about resting after he led her back up the hill, but more people were arriving with tales of terror. This is taking them too long he thought and found chalk and tablets to take to the waterfront. He remembered when he and Marai had journeyed to Qustul, Marai had rowed with superhuman speed. The small clapboard boat and its oars had appeared to transform into wings and fins that sped it through the water.

  I have this stone now, and it’s made me not only stronger but able to think about ways of helping others. It’s too late for these folk, but maybe for something in the future I could make a faster boat; faster than the one Marai created. Maybe it could even “row” itself so we could just enjoy the travel and look at what passes us by on either shore. He began to make designs on the first tablet and was soon lost in thought by the time Naibe returned with the food.

  “It’ll take crystal; quartz or quartzite,” he explained to the air in Naibe’s direction, “or nice high-quality granite – star stone quality.” It could be like the Ben Ben stone or any of the cap stones on the kings’ eternal houses; you know the kind that capture lightning and make it possible for the soul of the king to rise into the stars and then send messages back from the gods.” Djerah shook his sun-kissed dark hair and continued, “nah. A stone like that’d be so heavy it would fall right through the boat. Maybe, if I meditate the way Marai is teaching me, I could find another kind of thing to gather the sun’s rays and maybe through heating water where it would boil and create a wind to fill many sails. Nah.”

  Naibe handed him some bread, then sat politely listening, or so he thought.

  “Don’t you think it would be nice to travel faster; to fly like a god in a special boat like the thing in the sand Marai told us about? He said it flew once. If I could make something that could even come close, maybe it could lift from the water, still sailing and being rowed.” He looked up, “What do you think?”

  I like sailing, Naibe shrugged.

  Djerah saw her smile and realized she was sending him thoughts. He put down the tablet and chalk and practiced sending one back.

  I know you do. I’d like to make one fly and take you for a flight in it.

  But water, she shook her head as if she was about to laugh, there’s just something so sensual about the lulling and pulsing of a boat being rowed; pushing forward and cutting through water…

  “What?” She answered.

  “You didn’t understand my thought just then?” he frowned and decided to speak. “I was saying I needed to get a special metal smelted since a stone would be too heavy – one that can gather and hold the heat of the sun so it can power the craft.”

  “I just sensed something, a terror just gripped someone so hard. It wasn’t you, was it?” she asked.

  The young stonecutter shook his head and went back to musing about the materials he would use, this time privately. Mmm Marai says I talk too much, but Naibe’s usually been interested. Wonder what pulled her away just then… he noticed her looking around as if a wind had disturbed her, but he felt nothing himself.

  Djerah rubbed out a drawing on the tablet and began to think of a different idea. Marai maybe? I hope not.

  “I don’t think so,” she answered aloud. “Maybe I’m just tired,” she stood, stretched, and yawned. “I guess I should lie down – get some rest,”

  Djerah shrugged, disappointed, and went back to his contemplations.

  “Hey. Relax, you,” Ariennu poked Djerah’s arm. He startled out of his nap, which had been filled with fantastic dreams of flying boats. “You’re getting so fevered up about this boat business that your stone is coming up and I’m even feeling your numbers and ways bleeding into my thoughts.” She waited for him to sit up, then made her way down the steep bank to the edge of the water.

  “Oh,” Djerah felt his brow and noticed the pulsing lump. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

  “I don’t suppose you checked on Marai or tried to figure out when he was coming back…” Ari teased, then lifted her skirt and unfastened the knot in it so it flowed around her legs. “And don’t you gape at me or my legs, either. I like you, Djerah, and I’ve already told you that you can get me to wrap them around you any time.” She laughed, stuck her muddy toe forward, and nudged his thigh, tracing the inside of it up to his sheath.

  He flinched nervously, hiding his arousal.

  “Anyway, I came down here to tell you Naibe sent her thoughts out to check on Marai and found out Deka had run off looking for that Ta-Te she’s so obsessed with. Now both he and Prince Dangerous are looking for her.”

  “So, no battle?” Djerah, fought down the blush and squirmed to hide his erection. “That’s… not…”

  “Oh, some of the men are probably punching each other, down in the ranks, because there’s no one left to fight on the other side. They get their blood up and that’s what it is. Everyone in Buhen ran down here other than a handful right around their governor. The rest of them escaped that night except some guards who died,” Ari reached out her hand to him. “You should come eat though and get away from some of this hard thinking you’re doing,” Ari poked at the young man’s groin gently and laughed. “I saw you hanging around the cook pot before.”

  Almost instantly, Djerah padded after her, feeling in many ways like a boy in the throes of new manhood. He sat with her and Naibe and ate the magnificent lamb stew, yam pudding, and bread. Soon, his thoughts of the boat and what to do about it eased.


  After the feast, and after the mothers and babies went to bed in the field of tents tucked inside the walls, those who stayed awake sat at the riverside. They tried a little revelry to celebrate the thought they had escaped slaughter in the short run, and that a complaint would be made to the new king, but there were many tears at the probable loss of their homes. They tried to tell tales and jokes into the dark night, but nothing kept the worry away. While Naibe and some of the women cleaned the cookware, Ari sang songs she had learned in the palaces. After a few of the verses the people started to cheer up, but then the situation in Buhen dimmed the good moods and the rest of the people around the fires went to their tents.

  “Well that’s that – no celebration yet.” Ari, who had sat down beside Djerah only moments before with a jar of beer, hopped up and took it to the sleep area. Djerah and Naibe followed, leaving the few men who had volunteered to watch for intruders by themselves.

  “I’m going to get the stones and see for myself,” Ari grumbled, tucking the jar of beer close to her breasts. “I’m tired of waiting on so little news. We owe it to these people to let them know what’s going on and when Marai and the governors are coming home.”

  “Or whether they’ll have to run for it again,” Djerah shrugged.

  “Now, Djerah,” Ari stopped walking and turned. “You know Marai isn’t going to let that happen.”

  “Well I still want a piece of that prince, even if that woman made him a host. I don’t care.”

  “Form a line behind me, then,” she shook her curly head out. “I just don’t know what I would do with him; kill him or make him my slave for life,” she paused. “He’s incredible with a woman’s body and good for the eye, but the rest of what he is. Well, let’s say outside a game I just don’t like the using and the degrading full time. And he did that on purpose just to break us down, not for pleasure… because he could.” She stared at Djerah’s mystified expression.

  Djerah shook his head and continued to the sleep area, unsure of what to say. “You talk about women things to me?” he thought, embarrassed.

  “Women should, and men should listen to them. It would solve a lot of problems,” her eyes silvered in mischievous delight as she disappeared for a moment, then brought out a shawl for Naibe too.

  “Let’s see what the stones have to say about when Marai is coming home. Here on this Flower of Life seems like a good energy place,” she kicked aside the mats that covered the pattern and then lay the chamois on the edge. Next, she placed the stones on the wdjat the same way they had formed when Djerah held the wdjat on night the entity arrived.

  Djerah felt Naibe edge closer and he pressed her gently to reassure her.

  “You worried that thing will come back?” he asked as the familiar glow pulsed and the stones shimmered with vibrant rainbow light. They rolled into position and welded themselves to the piece the way they done had the first time.

  “A little,” Naibe whispered. “Not for me. I can take care of myself more than most think. I just don’t want it to invade this child in me. I had a dream once of a boy who had a touch of wickedness to him even though he was a lovely one to behold. He had so much magic to him that no one suspected,” her hand went to his arm and he patted it.

  “If it comes back, I’ll challenge it. If it is of Ta-Te, maybe this Deka woman has it occupied with her calls,” he smirked then lifted the completed piece slightly.

  Up, he sent a thought into the air and noticed the crystalline piece seemed to understand the direction. Show us what Marai is doing. Take our thoughts to him.

  The crystal floated into the air, whirled slowly at first, and then gave off flashes of lovely, hypnotic light. Soon, images formed on the chamois beneath it as if they were projected down like a sun’s ray cutting through shadow.

  “There. Look. It’s Maatkare’s detachment camping near Buhen,” Ari motioned to the others.

  Naibe shifted and murmured: “Everything’s burnt. All the houses and the granary, all the way up to the main house. That’s still standing and not ruined.”

  “Bastard. He gave the order to burn it all,” Ari scowled. “I felt him do it through my thoughts but I hoped he was just thinking about doing it. That makes him no better than any wilderness raider. They all do that. Can’t win an outright battle so you burn out the enemy. I didn’t think he really would, or that the men would obey him. I felt dissent among them, but it only takes a few to start a fire.”

  “Well why didn’t Marai fight him?” Djerah wondered. “Why did either of the governors not oppose…”

  “Did you ever notice that these Child stones make you think more?” Ari watched the images as they moved to other places in the area, all showing burned ruins. “The impulses are gone. If you were apt to punch someone before, it makes you think. I’ll bet the Prince doesn’t like that,” Ari visualized the prince grumbling and unwell with his thoughts, then grinned at his probable discomfort.

  “Deka can still act as she feels. I think they are still out looking for her,” Naibe’s face fell. “I don’t think they cause the fight to leave a person. There’s so much we still don’t know about how they work, Ari.”

  Ari nodded as the young woman continued.

  “Like why we couldn’t reach Marai when the prince had taken us, or why we weren’t powerful enough to get away from him when he didn’t even have a stone then. Now that he does though, he seems calmer.”

  “Or maybe just watchful now that he knows things have changed. Still going to go after him when I see him,” Ari reminded them.

  “I see trees and I sense them getting near her… a ruin or something,” Ari peered at the moving images.

  Stay away. No closer. Leave me alone, all of you.

  “That was Deka,” the red-haired woman affirmed, “mixed up as ever. Wants you to come to her, but then she doesn’t.

  It is time

  To Fly

  “That wasn’t. You heard that?” Ari asked Naibe and Djerah.

  “I hope that monster isn’t…” Naibe tensed, eyes glancing behind herself and toward the roof of the open room where the entity had entered.

  “No,” Djerah’s gazed lifted and he stared far away. “The message was meant for me. It’s about the boat. They want me to take this piece with the stones melted onto it like they are now and go out to the boat. Maybe they were listening when I said the thing about it floating like the wdjat does.”

  “You sure?” Ari frowned, wondering if the young man was using the hearing of spirit voices as an excuse.

  “They are feeding me an idea. I can feel all these thoughts coming in about putting myself at peace and thinking of flying,” he rose, plucked the disc and stones from the air, and carefully walked across the plaza. “They wanted to wait until most were asleep so we could have clear thoughts on it.”

  Ariennu picked up her beer and followed Djerah who gingerly carried the faintly glowing disc and stones down the bank to the place where he had tied the boat. Naibe trotted close behind.

  The three looked around. Other than a man tending the fire and two more guarding, the open hillock back from the muddy rise from the river was empty. There were the usual crocodiles, but they were at a peculiar and likely enchanted distance.

  Djerah carefully stepped into the boat then turned to Ari.

  “Would you come?” he asked, then turned to Naibe with an apologetic look on his face.

  “I already know, Djerah, and I love you for wanting to protect me and the child.” She smiled, her eyes cast shyly and seductively down. “I’ll cast you off and then watch with my ordinary eyes, not this one,” she indicated the place where her stone lay. “I swear I won’t do more,” she sat on a dry part of the hillock and tucked her knees up. “I’ll wait right here.”

  Djerah extended his hand to Ariennu and helped her into the boat he’d been renovating.

  “Looks the same as it did,” Ari remarked.

  “I reinforced the strapping that holds the boards together and tarred the
inside again,” he said, “but it’s still too heavy, I think. The day after Marai left I made mast thicker and patched the sail at the strain points so it wouldn’t rip. Haven’t had a lot of time to do more than think about it, though.”

  “That’s different,” Ariennu pointed out a long, bent pole roped across the top and front of the bow. “What is that? Looks like scorpion legs, or water walker legs. You trying to get this thing to walk on the water?” she laughed.

  “Tried,” Djerah felt embarrassed and overwhelmed that each thing he had devised hadn’t worked.

  Fly

  Rising to fly.

  Djerah heard the child-voices whisper with such enthusiasm it overwhelmed Ariennu’s sense of doubt.

  “Um,” Naibe started, then rose from her seat in the grass. “Let me light the lamps on the posts. I’ll get fire from the men at the watch. Maybe I can distract them before they see what’s going on down here,” she turned without even waiting for Djerah to nod.

  “I wish there was a way to make it go faster,” his voice trailed as he inspected the boat once more. “Each thing I add to it makes it heavier and slower. If all of us were to travel back to Ineb Hedj with our gear loaded, the thing wouldn’t move at all and might even start to take on water!”

  “So,” Ari took him by the arm, “they are telling you to get it to fly? I can make you fly easier than that,” she put her face close to his throat and breathed out.

  “Here,” Naibe called, coming down from the watch fire with two tapers for the lamps.

  Saved me, Djerah breathed as Ariennu turned to get them and light the lamps.

  “What? Coward. Bad as Marai was,” Ari smacked his arm, took the tapers and lit the lamps, and after handing the flame back to Naibe, got into the boat.

  Naibe loosened the rope from the mooring stones as Djerah fixed one of the lanterns at the bow. Using an oar, he pushed the boat out into the deeper water and positioned the odd leg-like extensions so that they dipped slightly into the water.