Opener of the Sky

by Mary R Woldering

  Ariennu knew Maatkare had found a way to sink his spiritual fangs into her heart. Quite early, he became aware of her sorrow about Marai’s death and her inability to move on. It had played into her nightmares about a darkness like a storm pursuing them and separating each of them. He read her memory of the time when Marai had been leading the women to Kemet and a sandstorm had enveloped them. He knew she had panicked and had run out into the storm with the unreasonable terror that Marai had deserted them. Maatkare found that fear and knew how to amplify the horror and feed it back through her heart. Naibe had spoken brokenly about it. Just as her deepest thunder of pleasure filled her and her body was about to explode with ecstasy he fed that horror through her, and drank deep from the energy it yielded.

  Doesn’t do that to me. Doesn’t dare. I’d kill… Ari thought, but then realized her very agreement to submit to him, especially after a vicious argument or knowing that he would mistreat Naibe, had been enough. Bastard knows there’s a sisterhood and breaks it down between us. I stand up to him, he sucks the soul out of her and lets me see. It’s no use to do anything but send her my own strength for him to take from her. At least it keeps us even, Ari grew sad and buried her regret and fears in secrets. Just before she covered her thoughts, the prince drew any courage or resilience from her and replaced it with the thought that he owned her. What he did with Deka, Ari didn’t know and really didn’t want to know.

  Like a bloodsucking bat on an ox, Ari thought. Marai used to say that. It’s Little One’s spirit that’s failing. She’s becoming like a child again, the way she was before the Child Stone was given to her. She remembered all three of them had been shells of femininity and scraps of humanity. She herself had been drunk, fat and dying of numerous tumors as well as yellow disease. Deka had been insane and functionally mute; twisted from something that broke her ribs and arms and then healed them badly, as if it hadn’t understood how to repair her. Naibe had been a lascivious and drooling idiot child. She had been stocky and very short. Some kind of deformity had given her big, protruding eyes, a heavy breath, and a dreadful, sucking overbite. The Children had remade them. All had been made right with their bodies, but their characters had been less altered. Marai was still compassionate and kind to a fault. She had been the same wild and free adventuress she had been before, but oddly maternal. Deka was silent and hard as before, but her inner storms were easier to see. That eagerness had given Marai a naïve trust of the priests of Kemet and the Children of Stone as he had walked into the jaws of his own fate. With Marai gone and the Children of Stone effectively controlled by Maatkare and his grandfather Hordjedtef, everything was devolving. Ariennu had wanted to stay drunk again, even if it made her too sick to be anything but a burden. Only the thought that there might still be a way out of this growing mess kept her sober.

  “No. No, no...” Ari sensed Naibe whine and struggle when she heard the men’s request.

  “It’s alright, baby, he knows something’s got you gripped and so do I. Certainly he won’t try you again,” she suggested. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

  “I just need to rest, Mama,” Naibe breathed. “I almost got away from the fear this time. I just keep forgetting to keep my thoughts out of him when he is with me. But you know how I am. The goddess in me is so drawn to broken men like him to ease their pain. It was so good to do that with the others; to know them and find their secret sweetness the way Marai and…” her voice wavered. She touched her throat, winced and flashed a naughty smirk.

  “I think he –” she started, then clearly sent the thought to the elder woman: Liked it with me this time. You know I have to keep trying, like Deka says, and he’s said it too, in his own way.

  “Oh, he’ll pay for this one day. If there are true gods and goddesses who remember our names, he will.” Ari bent her head close to the young woman, whispering gently between her ear and her hand which had drawn the dark curly masses of her hair over it.

  “I know,” Naibe said. “I’ve seen the hurt he had all his life that made him this hard and I just know it’s only going to get worse for him if I can’t get through to him. It’s why I had to try again today, but he blocked it. That’s why it hurt.”

  “It’s not your job to get through to him or any man and you can’t convince me that your goddess Inanna, or Ashera, would want to ‘fix’ a man, especially not one like his Highness. As if he would even get to start disrespecting a goddess that much without calling for his own death. The pattern in the cloth of that man’s life is the one he wove all by himself. Only he knows where the cross threads lie and only he can fix himself. If you try, he will only lash out at you. I like my way better. He uses me; and I use him. It feels good… fine in fact. You should do that too. It’s better if you save your magic for a man who really deserves it.”

  “Easier for you, MaMa. The Children re-made me as a soul healer.”

  Ariennu laughed a little, but knew Naibe spoke the truth.

  In a few minutes, after she had almost dozed in her self-calming attempts, the young woman spoke again. “Put the hood on me and take us to his tent. Best to see what he needs to have us do.”

  Ari placed the hood on the Naibe’s head and put the other hood on herself, leaving enough of it open at the bottom so she could see the ground as they walked back across the narrow strip between the two outermost tents.

  The two women stood outside the big red and yellow striped tent that late afternoon, Ari’s arm slung loosely around Naibe’s waist. Deka heard them and pulled aside the flap so they could enter. As she stepped inside, Ari lifted the corner of her hood and stared into the prince’s glaring eyes for only a moment, then watched him pace back and forth, deep in thought. He was dressed to go out, even though it was nearly time for his evening meal.

  “And who do you think you are, casting an eye on me before I grant you permission to do so? Times past, it would cost your head,” he growled.

  “Highness. Just tell us what this is about,” Ariennu almost pleaded. Easing Naibe’s misery and trembling had already invaded her own hard spirit. “You released Naibe to me. You see she’s still shaking on her first day back with you and now you expect her to give you more? She may not yet be well. We know she almost died,” Ari pressed Brown Eyes closer, protecting her.

  “Hmmmph.” Prince Maatkare paused and turned, studying the two women. He tapped his lower lip with his forefinger in thought. Deka had returned to sit by one side of the prince’s bed, with her eyes lowered, ignoring their conversation.

  I don’t understand you, Ariennu thought to herself. You knows she’s getting worse. You eat her beauty and destroy her bit by bit pulling her spirit out. She’s losing her will to live so fast I might not be able to get her back one day, but you don’t care. You’ll just toss her in the dung heap and find another. She hasn’t been eating, and sometimes can’t hold down what she does eat. Goddess… Ari’s thoughts suddenly sank.

  “Well, I was going to make it a surprise for the good behavior you have shown recently, along with the Lady Nefira. You worked hard to bring what I need from you, but you…” he whirled and pointed his forefinger in Naibe’s direction. “Tired too easily. But, so you won’t hold me to blame…” he mocked, “I’ve arranged a softer bed for us and a good bath... some small bit of comfort as I prepare to go into the south to inspect the mines for a few days.” His eyes became cruel slits for a moment. “The old governor owes me a favor for troubling me with his ‘end of days’ prophecy… of how my world is going to fly apart if I do not learn to respect the ancestors. Imagine… a mere sepat prince and one of such pale skin speaking to me thus. I should have cheerily wrung his ancient neck.”

  Oh goddess. Ari remembered the thought she sent out that he would ‘pay for this’ and tried not to react.

  The prince’s voice softened as he turned to the still hooded Naibe, who leaned heavily on Ariennu. “How you are will only help you. You already know that.” He moved closer, then grazed the young woman’s chin with his forefi
nger.

  Ariennu pressed Naibe hard, hearing her whisper a slight prayer to Ashera under her breath. At the sound of her distress, Maatkare tugged the dark hood from her face. She flinched, another whimper escaping. He folded his arms across his chest, then tilted his head to one side. His lower lip jutted in a mock pout and he spoke almost tenderly. When his hand reached for her jaw and turned her head, he saw the fading mark on her neck. One of his eyebrows raised, as if he was surprised to see the mark and unaware of how it got there.

  “I don’t know why you’re so upset. I thought to reward you especially for your excellent behavior toward the end. Be proud, young Honey Bottom. I’m impressed with all you can do now. You’re learning to ride the chaos in both of us! You’ll learn it well. But so you’ll know I’m pleased with your work, I won’t require you or your Red Sister tonight. You’ll rest. You’ll get better,” his glance drifted to Ariennu, then to Deka, and softened a little more. “Tonight, I have other plans.”

  Protecting us, Ariennu sulked. Sick monkey thinks he’s teaching us his brand of heka. Doesn’t he know women are supposed to give these gifts to men who protect and nourish their spirit the best? Is he trying to change the natural order of things? He’s mad... demon-filled and mad.

  “Hoods back on, though.” the prince whirled again in his pacing, cracking a slight smile. “I won’t have the bearers or Old Metauhetep’s men stunned by your beauty. Wuenre has already been asking for you, Red, young Rekenre too.” He bowed his head in mock sincerity. “Even wrung out, you must have delighted them the other week.”

  Ariennu felt a wave of nausea sweep her. It wasn’t disgust. It was the stifled need to shout, spit and kick several pairs of testicles on general principle. The thought of the sex excited her. The idea of being forced repulsed her.

  Deka fastened her own hood obediently, then rose to go to his side. Ariennu started to speak but silenced herself and quickly turned her attention to Naibe. As the prince waved the women from his tent, Ari lifted the edge of her hood enough to see the bearers and Maatkare’s personal guard stepping to the neatly folded and stacked sedans to assemble them.

  Acts like he’s king already, she snorted, oddly aroused by his flippancy. Prince Maatkare Raemkai, you’ve always been that way since the day we met. Even with all I know, I’d still be a happy concubine for you as long as you’d let me bend your bones on your precious ‘ladder’ myself from time to time… make you suffer and cry for ‘mercy’. I’d like that a lot.

  When the sedans were ready, Ari urged Naibe to join her. Maatkare and Deka were hoisted in the one in front. She exhaled quietly as the entourage began to move back across a grassy stretch toward a darker spot on the horizon that would become the outline of the distant village of Qustul. As they jostled quietly along the path of bent grassy reeds beaten into the earth, Ariennu remembered her previous buried thought.

  Babe. This sickness you have, you’re with child, aren’t you? She asked, but Naibe ignored her. You know my thoughts, girl. Ariennu shook the younger woman slightly and continued. You noticed your moon right after Marai left us. Have you had another?

  Naibe looked down and away. She didn’t want to answer.

  “No? I thought not. Oh goddess, have mercy. Of all the wicked fortune.” Ari whispered aloud. “That’s perfect. Before we were pulled apart at Prince Hordjedtef’s house I gave you heart fennel seeds to take each morning so your womb would be slick. You know the use of honey, even the Sebek’s earth pessaries. When we came together at the royal palace I saw you still had plenty of it. I never dreamed you weren’t using it. You even told me you didn’t want a child if it wasn’t Marai’s, but he’s dead. So what lie were you telling me?” she yammered on under her breath.

  “Shhh MaMa… Prince Maatkare will hear us.” Naibe trembled again, then spoke with her thoughts. Two months ago I saw the child spirit playing in the king’s yard, remember?

  Ari nodded.

  He said he would come into my womb. I think he has. I don’t want Highness to know it yet though. It’s why I’m scared of what comes through me when I… It’s why I had to get away to Wse at the temple when we came by Khmenu. She shook her head, dismayed.

  “So. Another secret for us to keep. You think it’s Wserkaf’s child?” Ariennu whispered

  Naibe shook her head.

  “I don’t know. I asked the little one to tell me whose seed took root in my belly. I asked my Child Stone and they just say I already know. But… I don’t.”

  “Well now you’re growing a weapon! You’ve been with important men. A child by any of them would be a dangerous thing. I know the prince hasn’t put you with any of his men yet like he’s done with me, so it’s only a chance of being sired by the divine ones.”

  Ariennu knew that soon as the prince discovered Naibe’s condition she would be in danger. He could have her killed. Some men don’t want another man’s child in their woman’s belly. On the other hand, he might use a coming child for his own advantage. Then the problem will be with Deka. She will be at her death with jealousy aga in, the way she was when Naibe was the first to love our Marai. Ari knew the Ta-Seti woman made no secret of her desire to create a child for Maatkare. Naibe with child will ruin that for her, especially if she thinks he sired it. Wonder whose child, though. Ariennu stared at the young woman beside her, almost afraid to ask. Maybe this is part of the plan that the Children were trying to tell to us about. “Be at peace as one life ends. Another begins. Profound truths await the patient ones. Lost in time and place.” We just couldn’t understand it. She turned to Naibe and cuddled her a little bit.

  “We’ll talk about this later… figure this out…” she smiled, happy that the gesture relaxed the young woman.

  Just as the sun was setting, the prince, his personal guards and the three women arrived at a walled village. They had bypassed it the afternoon before, when the boats had first arrived and docked on the other shore. His Highness had sent a brief announcement and they moved by that he was going to the inland plain and would greet the governor in the morning.

  The sedans approached this time, just before evening. Even though she was hooded, Ari sensed something was different. No guards created any sort of commotion by the walled gate. Eventually, after she heard the prince get out of his sedan and grumble a loud curse, she heard the gates swinging inward as if they had been under some magical command.

  They were carried quietly through the gates, then set down. A man moved forward to greet them. Even though she couldn’t understand the nuances of his dialect, Ari sensed the man’s fearful respect. He’s got that one scared, she thought, still puzzled at the lack of formal greeting. The distant scent of food wafted toward her. With the delicious odor came the sound of bowls being set out and the sound of some kind of frying meat. She scratched the side of her face under the hood. He’d better let us take these off of our heads before we eat. This governor should be here welcoming us in and look… we have hoods. Highness never did this to us before.

  Prince Maatkare brushed past her. He spoke quietly and deliberately to the one who greeted them. Ariennu felt twitchy and hungry, eager for the prince to let them take off their hoods. Suddenly she felt his strong hand grip her upper arm and begin to lead her.

  Ow! You stop…” only the knowledge that the prince was towing her with him silenced her. She had never been afraid of him, but tonight knowing he was able to read her thoughts and discover the secret she and Naibe guarded, she let him lead her and toy with her as if she had been a naughty child. Her hand held Naibe’s.

  When she sensed the prince had guided her from an interior passage to a smaller room on her right, Ari snatched the hood from her head then removed Naibe’s hood. For a moment, she reveled in the slight wind that stirred in the passageway behind them. A spirit? She asked herself, turning to look behind herself at Deka and the prince. Ari saw Deka’s face harden as she plucked the hood she had worn from her head. You’re afraid of something, aren’t you? Ari sent a thought then bowed her
head, pleased with herself.

  Deka hid her own expression by bowing her head in a submissive gesture and turning to respect the prince. When Ari turned fully around, she saw his dark shape standing in front of the door. His arms folded across his chest in what seemed to be his favorite “manly-looking” pose. The bearers and the men in his personal guard milled in the open area, inspecting the surroundings for possible traps. The early evening was calm, but something in the air felt wrong. Someone or something was watching them. Naibe moved closer to Ari, as if she knew it too.

  Ariennu saw that a feather mat with folded coverlets near its foot had been rolled out on a wicker frame to form a bed to the left of the entry. Linen draping hung from a brass hook in the ceiling to keep away flies.

  Nice… a real bed. Wonder what he’ll expect out of me in return? It’s always something, another step up for one of us. I still love his body and what he can do to mine, but sometimes… Ariennu almost cursed herself for having ever desired him because, although he disgusted her on one level, she found herself wretchedly seduced by his manner. She sniffed at the sensation of air moving outside the small room where she, the prince, and the other two women stood. She dropped her gaze in an almost demure pose, unable to resist a barb.

  Maybe that little breeze means it’ll rain. I know you got mad because the sepat here told you about the storm Naibe sees in her heart. Her eyes lifted, checking to see if he was paying attention. You know it. You’ve been trying to harness the power in it. I wish her lightning would come out and strike you just when you think you’ve conquered the last of it, Ari noticed the prince cracking a wry grin.

  “Hmph! Gratitude, Red Sister? Gratitude?” Maatkare replied aloud and took another step into the room toward Deka. She lifted her hand so he could pull her closer into an embrace. The prince brushed her hand with his lips, gazing steadily into her eyes as he did.