36. Set
Nephthys suddenly clutches her chest.
''Wha-?'' she gasps. ''What is this? I feel…''
Her eyes roll. She swoons. Isis is there to catch her and lower her to the deck. Cradling her sister's head in her lap, she fans her face. ''Water!'' Isis calls out. ''Somebody fetch some water.''
Bast arrives with a pitcher and cup. She pours from one to the other fastidiously, careful not to let a drop fall on herself, then hands the cup to Isis. Isis tips water between Nephthys's lips, and gradually, eyelids fluttering, the stricken goddess comes round.
Nephthys searches the faces of the gods who are standing around her. Her gaze finds the only one that isn't showing concern.
''You,'' she hisses. ''This is you, isn't it?''
Set cannot hide his mirth. ''My dear sister-wife, are you not feeling well? You seem to have had a nasty turn. Whatever can it be?''
''You… are hurting me. On earth. Your mortals… attack mine.''
''Now why would that be?'' Set says, feigning puzzlement. ''Oh wait. Could it be because you're a treacherous, adulterous slut? Because you slept with our brother and then denied it? Because you gave me a son who isn't even mine but whom you expected me to call my own? Because you shun me in favour of our sister? I very much think it could be.''
''Set, you have turned on your own wife?'' says Osiris, aghast.
''Yes, brother, that is precisely what I have done,'' says Set. ''For someone as uxorious as yourself, I know that seems like the worst crime anyone could commit. For me, it's just long-overdue payback. How long have I had to endure marriage to this conniving, two-timing bitch? Too long! And with no end in sight. An eternity of wedlock stretching before us. I couldn't take it any more. Nephthys has made a laughing stock of me. I heard you, all of you'' — he wheels around, glaring at all the gods on the boat — ''whispering about me, passing comment behind my back. Set the cuckold. Set the unwitting stepfather of a bastard. Finding even more reason to spurn me and mock me. And it was all her fault!'' He jabs an accusing finger at Nephthys.
''And so now you're killing her?''
This comes from Ra. His face is pale, so pale it nearly matches the colour of his moon eye. He trembles with sorrow and indignation.
''I don't know about that. Maybe,'' says Set. ''Certainly the armies of my kingdom have begun making inroads into hers, and there will be slaughter. Whether or not Nephthys dies from that remains to be seen. What I am doing is punishing her. For a long time my sister-wife has treated me abominably. I have borne it with as much restraint as I can, but enough is enough. Now, at last, I am returning the compliment.''
''Set, please…'' Nephthys begs. ''I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I did. Stop this now.''
Her brother-husband shrugs. ''Stop? When I have hardly even started? I don't think so.''
''Father,'' says Anubis, stepping forward. ''To deal with my mother in this way — it is unnecessarily cruel.''
''On the contrary,'' says Set. ''Never has cruelty been more necessary. Now all of you will learn that I am not to be trifled with. I am not to be looked down on and used as a general whipping-boy, the butt of everyone's contempt. After this, when you see what I am prepared to do to my own wife, my closest of kin, my own flesh and blood, you will no longer be so quick to belittle me. You will look at me with new eyes, and in those eyes there will be respect.''
His irises glow like twin volcanoes. The light in them is terrible to behold, as vindictive as it is self-righteous.
Ra groans like someone who has been punched in the stomach. ''You are the one who created the Lightbringer,'' he says. ''All along it was you. Here on the Boat of a Million Years, right under my nose, you were carrying out all these machinations.''
''Of course, Great-Great-Uncle. Who else could it have been? We are what we are. Each of us has his or her own nature and cannot help but be true to it. I am Set, who beguiles and dupes, and you are Ra, whose kind, forgiving temperament blinkers him to the dark secrets that lie in others' hearts.''
''But allying yourself with a mortal and sparking an infidel revolt — what for? What to gain?''
''A ruse,'' says Set simply. ''To camouflage my true intentions. The Lightbringer has been, if you will, a smokescreen. His crusade was nothing more than a means of manoeuvring my mortals and Nephthys's into a position where mine could strike against hers with maximum effectiveness. But do not judge me too harshly, O Ra. You sought peace among us, and for a time the Lightbringer gave you just that. We all rallied together against him, and your dearest wish was granted.'' A crowing laugh. ''But only for a time.''
Ra is fuming. He cannot remember when he last felt so abused and debased. He strides up to Set and — unable to help himself — lashes out at him with a backhand slap. The blow catches Set by surprise and he falls to his knees. He rises instantly, poised to retaliate, but before he can both Bast and Neith have pounced on him. They wrestle him back down to the boards of the deck. Bast yowls a warning at him, slashing the air in front of his face with fingers like talons, while Neith just gruffly tells him to stay put or lose his balls again.
''I… regret that,'' says Ra, ashamed. ''It was wrong of me. I lost control.''
''Do no berate yourself, All-Father,'' says Isis. ''You only did what the rest of us wanted to.''
''Even so. Unforgivable.'' Ra squats down on his hunkers, so that his face is close to Set's. ''What you have done is unforgivable too, Set.''
''So?'' Set sneers. ''Punish me then. Oops, no you can't. You're already doing that, twice a day.''
''I want you to rethink all this. Leave Nephthys be. You've made your point. You'd like the rest of us to respect you? Do the decent thing, call off your armies, and we will.''
''No one will respect an act of weakness like that.''
''Then you'd rather your fellow gods went on hating you? Even more than before? Because that's what will happen if you continue to harm your sister-wife.''
''I can live with it. Besides'' — Set twists his head to look at Horus — ''not all of you hate me. Eh, Horus?''
The one-eyed god, once Set's most implacable foe, nods conspiratorially. ''Your ruthlessness is to be admired, Uncle,'' he says. ''I could learn a thing or two from your example. Perhaps we should try to forge a closer partnership. At the earliest opportunity we must get together and have a free and full exchange of… ideas.''
The two share a lustful smile. Meanwhile Nephthys moans. Her fate, it seems, is sealed.
Ra straightens up, despondent. It is the worst outcome possible. Nothing is any different. The Pantheon is still at war with itself. The allegiances may have changed but the antagonism remains. Peace flowered briefly, and has withered and died.
There is nothing he can do. Nothing but let his hands drop to his sides and say, ''That's it, then. I give up. I tried my best. I failed. Enough. No more. It's over. You may all go. Return to your palaces. Resume your feuding if you wish. Somehow I think you're happier that way. Contentment, consensus, harmony — you say you want them but you don't. They only bore you. Go. Now. Go!''
Thus commanded, the gods disperse. Osiris and Isis take the ailing Nephthys with them. Anubis storms off, his expression saying that he has much to be morose about and will take great pleasure in wallowing in that moroseness. Horus and Set depart together, inevitably. Set leaves with an insouciant wave, promising he'll be back to face Apophis at sundown.
Soon there is no one on the Solar Barque but Ra, Bast, Maat, Ammut and Thoth.
Thoth says to Ra, ''So what now, my lord?''
Ra eyes his wizened vizier.
He sighs, bitterly, resignedly.
''You know what, old friend?'' he says, after a long silence. ''I think it's time for a change. I'm done with all this. I'm weary. I feel twilight upon me, an evening of the soul, a lengthening of the shadows. I've done as much as I can do, and I have no more to give.''
''This talk smacks of defeatism.''
''No, of pragmatism. The time has come for something
new. I need to step aside. Just as I gave up being King of the Earth, now I must give up being ruler of the gods.''
''Must you?''
''I must.''
''But if you do,'' says Thoth, worry adding to the many wrinkles on his face, ''who will replace you? You are Ra, the greatest of us, whose brightness has warmed us since time immemorial, whose light is our benison. To whom will you pass on the crown?''
''To whom?'' Ra pats his vizier on the shoulder. ''As wise a head as yours can surely figure that one out, Thoth.''
37. Gavrilenko
Setic troops stormed Mount Megiddo, crowding onto the summit from several sides at once and converging on the Freegyptians. They met no resistance. The Lightbringer had instructed his followers to lay down their arms. The fighting was over, he said. Everything that had needed to be done, they had done, and he was grateful to them. They had been brave, they had been loyal, and he would ask for nothing more from them.
The Freegyptians sensed a valedictory note in their leader's words. They were already perplexed, and this perplexed them further. Among some of them it had begun to dawn that the Lightbringer was not quite what he had made himself out to be. Others simply remained baffled. The Setics had attacked the Nephthysians? How could that happen? Did it mean the Setics were on their side? Were they joining the Lightbringer's crusade? Surely not!
A Setic colonel took charge of the scene. First he had his men round up the Freegyptians and make them sit in groups at gunpoint. Next he identified the infidels' leader, which was, of course, no great challenge. The Lightbringer was brought forward to meet him. He went passively, prodded along by a couple of Setic soldiers with their ba lances.
The colonel and the Lightbringer spoke together for some time. David, sitting cross-legged among the Freegyptians, strained to hear what they were saying, but there were too many other competing noises: the Freegyptians murmuring to one another, the clatter and clank of the Setic task force still passing around the foot of the mountain, and the far-off tremors of the battle being conducted to the south.
It was a long conversation, and the longer it went on, the uneasier Davie became. Finally the colonel nodded to the Lightbringer, who offered him a salute in return, not a snappy military one, a casual tapping of fingers to forehead. Then the Lightbringer turned and made his way back to the Freegyptians — specifically, to David.
''A word,'' he said, beckoning.
David stood, conscious of the ba lances that were aiming his way, each with a gape-mouthed Typhonic Beast head at its tip. He joined Steven, who led him back to the Setic colonel.
''Colonel Gavrilenko,'' he said. ''This is David.''
The Setic had a lugubrious Russian face but eyes like a jackdaw's, pale, beady, and quick.
''The colonel speaks English,'' Steven added. ''Better English than he does Arabic.''
''Colonel,'' David said.
Gavrilenko drew on a cigarette and puffed the smoke out in such a way that it didn't quite go straight in David's face.
''Your friend here says I can be trusting you,'' he said in a gravelly voice. ''You are good man.''
''That's kind of him,'' David replied, shooting a glance at his brother. The mask was still on. No way of fathoming what Steven was up to here. ''You realise, Colonel, that under the terms of the Global Convention for-''
The cigarette waved from side to side. ''No Convention here. Is not proper war. You are not proper prisoners.''
''Nevertheless we expect to be treated-''
Again the cigarette cut him off. ''You will be going home. All of you. I am giving my word on that to Lightbringer, and to you. Transportation will be arranged. A day, maybe two days, you will be returning to Freegypt.''
''Thank you, Colonel,'' said David. ''These people are civilians. Your soldiers should bear that in mind when dealing with them.''
''From what I am having seen, they do not fight like civilians. Fight better than soldiers. Like warriors. But yes, they will be looked after as well as can be expected. Setic high command is not interested in Freegyptians. We have, how is it you are saying? Bigger fish for frying.''
''The Nephthysians. Can I ask, Colonel, what's happened to the Bi-Continental Pact? How come the Setics have turned on their allies?''
Gavrilenko gave a shrug, his mouth turning down at the corners like a sad clown's. ''How am I knowing? I am not KSD. Not Commissar Chang. I am just soldier. High command says we launch attack on Nephthysians on Megiddo Plain, so we launch attack. Send Nephs scurrying like frightened mice. Horusites are also attacking Nephs.''
''Really?''
''Offensive has begun on western Africa. Horusite Atlantic fleet is bombing Congo. Marines landing at Guinea and Ivory Coast. Two-prong assault, us here, them there. Africa and Arabia crushed in the middle. Like in pincers of crab.''
''Horus… and Set? Together?'' said David. It seemed inconceivable.
''I know. And Osirisiacs not happy, saying maybe they come to aid of Nephthysians,'' said Gavrilenko. ''The gods, they spin and pirouette like the ballerinas. Dancing together, then apart. One moment one way, next moment another. What can we do? Everything has changed, and yet everything is still the same. New enemies, new allies, but war goes on.''
He dropped his cigarette butt and ground it out under his heel.
''So now you must wait here,'' he said. ''One day or two, like I am telling you. It will be OK. Is not so bad a place for waiting. Nice views.''
David felt that they had been dismissed. He turned to go. Then, noticing that Steven hadn't moved, he halted.
''Coming?''
Steven slowly shook his head.
Gavrilenko raised an eyebrow. ''Lightbringer did not explain?''
''Explain what?'' said David.
The Russian's lugubriousness doubled, every muscle in his face seeming to sag.
''I am having orders,'' he said. ''These things must be done. Freegyptians are civilians, not soldiers, but still, an example must be made. So this thing will never be repeated. Is just how it is. I will give you a moment.''
He went off to consult with a junior officer, leaving David and Steven alone except for the two Setics guarding them.
David looked at his brother and saw that he was trembling. He looked at him again, and suddenly the penny dropped.
''Shit, Steven…''
''It's OK, Dave. It's my own fault, really. I should have foreseen this. It's a shock, but actually it makes a kind of sense. What am I going to do, go back there to all my followers? They're already starting to suspect I've sold them a lie. Give them time and their suspicions will harden into certainty. Then what? They won't forgive me. They'll round on me like dogs on their master. Some of those warlords are not nice men. They'd make sure I paid for misleading them. It wouldn't be quick.''
''But…'' David indicated his own left cheek, meaning Steven's. ''This. What about this? You're Set's servant. Therefore you're on his'' — meaning Gavrilenko's — ''side.''
''Yeah, funny, that,'' said Steven. ''The colonel's orders come right from the top, I mean high-priest high. In other words, straight from the divine horse's mouth. So it would seem that I've been sold a lie as well, just like I sold everyone else a lie. Now that I've done what I was supposed to, I've outlived my usefulness. Set has decided it's better not to have me around any more.''
''No. This can't be. This is stupid.''
''I thought the Setics might hail me a hero. I was expecting a nice apartment in Moscow, a dacha on the Black Sea coast, all the caviar I could eat, all the vodka I could drink, all the Natashas I could shag. So many medals I could barely stand up. But hey, like the colonel said, an example must be made.''
''Speak to him,'' David urged. ''You know, speak to him. Use your power on him. Get him to change his mind.''
''Doesn't work that way, remember. I can talk someone into doing something, but as long as it's not against their nature. Does Gavrilenko strike you as the type to disobey an order? Not me. He's a soldier to the marrow.''
''You could try.''
''But don't you get it, Dave? He's not the problem. Set himself has decreed what's to be done with me. Nothing's going to change that. If it isn't Gavrilenko who does the dirty deed, it'll be some other mortal flunky.''
''But why? Why has Set just… abandoned you?''
''Hmmm, the least trustworthy of all the gods, notorious for his tricks and lies — why would he suddenly toss me aside like a used handkerchief? I don't know, Dave. Because he's Set, perhaps? Or perhaps because, as I am, I'm too dangerous to leave be. I'm carrying some of his essence around inside me. I could do all sorts of things with that, things that might throw a spanner in the works, especially now I know how expendable I am to him. He's played me, now he wants me off the game board, simple as that.''
David glanced around. The two soldiers guarding them weren't paying much attention at present. The other Setics seemed preoccupied, Gavrilenko included.
Lowering his voice, he said to Steven, ''We'll make a run for it. Hit those two, grab their god rods, blast our way out of here.''
''Dave.'' Steven's tone was warm, almost tender. ''No. I appreciate the gesture, but look. This — this whole escapade — has come to an end. We both know it. Your idea will only get the both of us killed, and that would be pointless. I'm all right with what's about to happen. I'm not saying that to sound brave. I really am. Maybe if I had longer to think about it, I wouldn't be. But look at it this way. I've had a few more years of life that I otherwise wouldn't have, and they've been fun ones. Exciting. An adventure. And I've had a chance to be reconciled with my big brother — even if it ended up with us beating seven shades of shit out of each other. By the way, sorry about what I did to your bad arm. Try and get that fixed as soon as you can, will you?''
''Steven, don't give in like this. There must be something we can do. Think.''
''Amazing,'' Steven said. ''Less than an hour ago we could've killed each other. Now you don't want me to die.''
''Maybe I just don't want someone else to kill you. It should be my job.''
The Age of Ra aog-1 Page 28