As desperately as he plunged into her, she drove up against him.
She was so hot and so tight, closing around him so marvelously, so gloriously wet.
Khai pounded into her, demanding more, demanding everything, and she gave it to him, her hips rising, her body closing tightly around him as she thrust against him.
He caught her hands, pinned them to the bed as he pounded into her and she bucked beneath his assault, her soft cries of pleasure maddening…
They strove together for completion.
Irisi could feel him within her, pulsing, throbbing, filling her and stretching her. Each motion, each thrust was delirious torment. Sweet delicious friction built inside her. There was a fullness, a wonderful stretching as he thrust into her, as he filled her completely, all of her.
Ecstasy burst through her, erupting, the glorious heat of it flooding through her as her body quivered.
Feeling her tighten around him, the muscles within her stroking him, Khai shuddered as his own pleasure raced through him and he emptied into her, gloriously, seemingly endlessly, his shaft throbbing.
His body went rigid as ecstasy took him.
Trembling, Khai tried to hold his weight above her but she would have none of it. She reached up to draw him down to her as her arms encircled him. He collapsed over her, their arms and legs tangled around each other as he pulled her close against him.
In the earliest light of day, Khai loved her once again, deeply, thoroughly, before Irisi slipped away into the darkness and shadows…
Irisi looked back at him lying there in the lamplight, the soft golden light shifting over him, over the strong features of his face, bringing just a hint of warm gold to his eyes. His dark hair gleamed. The shimmering light warmed his tawny skin, the strong muscles of his chest, his taut stomach and long, strong legs. It was a sight that would stay with her forever…
He took her breath away and gave her joy.
Then she was gone, slipping away into the cool early morning darkness…
Chapter Twenty Four
Given recent events and with the fort manned once again, Khai elected to provide a personal escort to Banafrit’s tomb. Egypt, Thebes, and the King wouldn’t be well served if they suffered any more losses amongst the priests and priestesses. The Djinn were still out there, somewhere. Or so he told himself. That it gave him more time with Irisi was merely another benefit. If everything went well at the fort while he was gone and the new commander seemed comfortable with his new responsibilities, Khai intended to accompany the party back to Thebes, to report to the King that that duty was done.
Much remained to be done in Thebes, nor could he leave Baraka unsupervised for long. Not with Kamenwati pulling Baraka’s strings. Khai needed to reorganize the army, promote new officers to take the place of those they had lost. Some of that he’d already done. This brief time, though, he took for himself.
It wasn’t easy to find the cave Banafrit had chosen for her tomb, as was intended in order to thwart thieves, but Irisi had both Banafrit’s own memories and the aid of Awan and Rensi, who had been with her when Banafrit had chosen it. Subtle signposts guided their way, although Irisi took care not to point them out, lest one of the porters make note of it. A scarab beetle etched in stone here, another there, faced in the direction they needed to go, gave them their path. Another landmark gave her more guidance.
Khai rode beside her, his hand loose and easy on the reins of his chariot.
He’d slipped into her tent long after dark, to give and receive comfort.
So far away from Thebes, the risk seemed lesser. Neither knew what the future would bring, she knew, so such moments were precious.
Turning his head, Khai found Irisi watching him, a light flush coloring her features. She smiled, her eyes radiant. He smiled in return, warming as his thoughts returned to the morning as well.
Kahotep pointed. High above them a falcon soared. He hadn’t called it.
“It’s a good sign,” he said.
Irisi couldn’t argue it, not when Horus’s own bird led their way.
As they rode, they all talked of idle things, of Banafrit and the past, sharing stories of plans and ideas for the future.
Before them the great wall of stone rose higher and higher as they drew closer to it, a massive barrier deep in the desert, the land harsh and sere yet for all its austerity it possessed a kind of beauty.
They reached the lands of the caves as the sun lowered, giving them time to set camp before full dark fell.
With torches lit against the dark within and soon to be lit without, they stepped into the cave Banafrit had chosen for her tomb.
Few among the lesser priests and priestesses were given to know of this sacred place, the burial place of the greatest of them.
Scribes had been busy at work here for the walls were a complex rendering of the Book of Spells of Emerging into Daytime, giving Banafrit the words she would need when her spirit was released to begin her journey to the afterlife. Not that she didn’t already know them by heart, as all the higher priestesses and priests did, but still no chance was taken.
It was strangely beautiful, the color of the hieroglyphs brilliant on the plastered walls.
Decorative pillars framed the space, giving it a sense of formality, depth and space.
Irisi remembered the plain barrows of her youth and her initiation there.
She’d walked the long circular path into the darkness of the earth-mother’s womb, chanting the words she’d been taught as she spiraled downward. Smoke rose to envelop her. She’d been excited and frightened all at the same time. The words of the chants she’d spoken then had been different, but the meaning and the feeling were much the same as they were here.
This was a sacred space within the earth.
Had she seen visions then of the long, strange journey that awaited her on that long ago night in her youth? The paths she might have taken that would lead to this one? If so, she didn’t remember.
Around them were the things that Banafrit would need on her journey, save the food they’d prepare for her. That would be done in the morning as the sun rose, as it was done in Isis’s temple each morning.
Clothing of fine linen was draped within reach and Awan set a coffer containing Banafrit’s jewelry beside it, along with pots of cosmetics so Banafrit could prepare herself properly to face the gods. The coffer and pots were in gold encrusted with gems. Plates of gold and silver were there for her to eat from, cups for wine or beer, all carefully laid out to welcome her, and to take with her to the afterlife.
A magnificent sarcophagus awaited, Banafrit’s face carved and painted on its gilded wooden surface, the wood inlaid with the silver of the Goddess, the gold of Isis’s father Ra, and jewels.
Irisi felt another tide of grief move through her, as had happened so often these last days. She missed Banafrit’s counsel, her light humor, and her friendship.
As did Awan, his grief clear.
Gently, Irisi laid a hand on his arm.
Awan patted it, mastering himself once again.
Banafrit would be waiting in the afterlife for him, he knew. She would be watching over him in the days and weeks to come.
In time, he would join her but it seemed he was still needed here.
Back in Thebes Irisi knew craftsmen had already begun working on her own sarcophagus, for her own burial chamber, as she also knew that some of those who accompanied them here would begin painting the hieroglyphics that would decorate her tomb, once she chose its location from among the caves here.
That was as it should be.
With a gesture to those waiting, she signaled to have Banafrit carried inside and set on the stone plinth to one side of the chamber, Banafrit’s kalasaris still covering her face.
They would prepare her for her journey in the morning when they had time for the proper reverences. It was too late now, that was a thing for daylight.
They returned to the tents set up just outside the cave entran
ce.
Khai and the others awaited her and Awan there.
She was grateful for Khai’s presence, for the solace of him. The understanding in his dark eyes was a comfort.
It was she who slipped silently into his tent late that night, trying to hold off that time when Kamenwati might learn of them, trying to keep Khai safe as long as she might.
Had the battle been face-to-face, offering an honorable combat or death for either, she would have feared less. Kamenwati, though, was spiteful and a coward, hiding behind assassins and poisoners, as he had with the acrobats who’d threatened Narmer and his consort.
Only a small oil lamp burned, enough for Irisi to see Khai where he lay on his pillows. His body was magnificent in the dim golden light. Light and shadow limned the hard muscles of his chest and abdomen and touched his hair with gold. His dark eyes glowed as the whisper of his tent flaps shifting drew his attention and he turned to see her standing there within them.
“You are beautiful,” she sighed.
“So,” Khai said, holding out a hand to her, “are you.”
With her marvelous hair loose and spilling over her shoulders she looked younger than her years, oddly innocent, despite the wisdom within in her eyes.
She went to him, taking his offered hand as he drew her down beside him. Reaching up with the other she touched his face as he pulled her closer.
Making love that night was gentle and slow, a matter of touching and holding, of shifting warm skin against warm skin until Irisi buried her mouth against Khai’s shoulder to muffle her cry of pleasure as he pierced her, filled her, emptied into her sweetly.
The earliest light of dawn came too quickly.
In the growing light of morning as Awan watched, Irisi banished the spell over Banafrit’s body and drew her kalasaris back from her well-loved face.
A small groan escaped him as he looked once again on his beloved wife, the woman who had shared his life and his bed, who’d born them their children. Slowly, he bent to kiss her lips one last time. One by one their children did the same. Awan took a breath to steady himself for what came next, as his eldest daughter took his hand.
Carefully they removed Banafrit’s clothing and washed her body with love and care, laving it with water, natron, sweet herbs and oils, until her hair gleamed and her skin was softly scented. Step by step they went through the process of preparing her body for the afterlife, removing her organs to their individual jars and setting them in the next chamber.
Then, under the supervision of Rensi, High Priest of Anubis, and with the aid of Anubis’s servants, they began the slow, laborious process of wrapping her within the strips of natron-soaked linen.
All the while Saini chanted from the Book of Life.
The soft voices of the priests and priestesses chanting in response echoed throughout the chamber.
Finally, with the preparation of the body finished, Banafrit was laid within her sarcophagus and the lid set over it.
At Irisi’s signal the food that some of the priests and priestesses had been preparing was brought in and set on the appropriate plates, the mugs filled with wine and beer until all was complete. Banafrit would need such sustenance before she began that final journey.
Rensi called down the God Anubis and asked him to escort Banafrit through the underworld so that she might reach the Afterlife in safety.
In pairs the lesser priestesses and priests of the temple left the cave, until only Awan, Irisi, Kahotep, Djeserit and Rensi remained.
Chanting the necessary spells, they removed the various blocks and holds for the traps that would keep Banafrit’s tomb safe from thieves, Irisi adding her own spells as laborers heaved the last great stone into place that would seal the tomb for all time.
It had been a long process, but they completed it before darkness had fallen and that was right as well.
Irisi laid her hand on the massive stone that now separated her from her oldest and dearest friend as beside her Awan did the same.
As it must be for Awan, it was hard for her to believe Banafrit was gone, although she knew that her friend would be watching over them from the Afterlife soon.
Even though Irisi now stood in Banafrit’s place, there were still times when she expected her friend to come walking around the corner. It seemed impossible that Banafrit had passed before them, and Irisi might not see her until she reached the afterlife herself.
Darkness fell as they completed the last of their tasks.
Khai waited for her in her tent, stretched out on her pillows on his back. She simply stood and watched him sleep.
Even, or perhaps especially because it was so rare when he was at ease and at rest, he seemed more handsome than ever. His body seemed to have been carved from some warm golden-brown stone, so perfect was it, and that the stone polished perfectly smooth and warmed by the sun God Ra himself. With his deep brown eyes closed, and one arm thrown carelessly over his head, he looked peaceful and relaxed.
She smiled.
It said something for his instinctive trust of her he didn’t awaken when she entered.
Kneeling beside him carefully, Irisi laid a hand on his chest lightly, so as not to startle or awaken him. She kissed him on one flat nipple, her lips as soft as she could make them and still touch him. He smelled of clean male, of Khai, and her heart fluttered a little at his unique scent. Absorbing the feel of him beneath her hand, with her head propped up on the other, she licked gently as her free hand brushed lightly over his abdomen and down.
He shifted a little but didn’t awaken, although he hardened as she watched.
Delicious sensation rolled through Khai as he slowly awakened to a warm mouth pressed against his chest as Irisi’s fingers drifted over him as lightly as a feather, maddeningly.
That warm mouth moved down his belly, her tongue flicking over a sensitive spot just beside his hip, making him groan as she brought him more awake and then warmth closed over him.
His body tightened with pleasure.
Now awake and aware, he looked down to see Irisi taking his rigid member into her mouth. Her long hair sprayed across his stomach, a gleaming flow of gold against his darker skin. Both the sight of her and what she was doing to him were incredibly erotic.
He groaned, stroking a hand down her hair, feeling it flow like silk over his skin. He saw her gaze flicker to meet his even as the curve of a smile touched her busy mouth. Her hand cupped him gently and Khai’s head fell back as she licked and tasted, teased and tormented him. It was marvelous and he loved it.
It felt as if he would explode with pleasure and in a minute, if she didn’t stop what she was doing, he would.
Desperate, he reached for her, pulled her on top of him and impaled her on him. In one smooth thrust he drove into her gloriously warm, wet tightness. His hips thrust. He erupted inside her, his body taut with the pleasure of release.
She collapsed over him as he turned his head toward hers for a soft kiss.
“You looked so good when I came in I had to eat you up,” she said, smiling.
He smiled back and shook his head, sliding his hand into her hair to cup her head and press it against his shoulder. Incredible.
Listening to Khai’s heartbeat, the rhythm of it slowing, hearing his life beneath her ear; Irisi closed her eyes and slept.
The cliff face wasn’t yielding very many clues. It appeared literally impenetrable, the light and shadows of it deceptive. Still, the search for the proper place for her own entry to the afterworld wasn’t unpleasant. It was still early in the day, the heat wasn’t yet oppressive, and the breeze blew only a light spray of grit over them as they rode. As always, the desert was starkly beautiful, constantly changing. It was the wadi that gave it away, a curve in the sand where the rare rains had scoured away the sand at the base of the plateau and the winds had turned to keep it from filling with sand again. A spill of sand and small stones trickled from an almost invisible crevice. It seemed nothing more than another crack or split in the cliff
face until they drew closer.
Looking to Khai and then to Awan, Kahotep, Djeserit and Rensi, Irisi shook up her horses to take her a little closer, finding a narrow defile behind the angled split in the rock. Eyeing it, she let the reins drop and swung down from her chariot.
Curious, she stepped into the cool shadows of the break in the stone face.
Khai was startled when Irisi suddenly disappeared.
Snapping his reins, he followed, as did Kahotep and Djeserit, close behind him, with Rensi following on their heels.
With a glance at the others, Khai swung down out of his chariot and followed Irisi’s footprints in the sand.
Towering high above them, the walls of the narrow channel opened onto clear blue sky, as they walked in Irisi’s trail.
All of them came to an abrupt halt, wonder stopping them as they looked around in stunned amazement.
As Irisi clearly had, looking back over her shoulder at them as they came, a faint smile of awe and pleasure on her face. She sighed in awe.
It was glorious, a magnificent and truly sacred space.
Brilliant sunlight filled what had once been a long ago cavern. In some distant past, part of the roof had cracked in a jagged east to west splinter and fallen in, leaving a narrow opening that allowed sunlight to pour inside for a good portion of the day.
A good enough portion of the day to have allowed palm trees to grow. Either the warm air trapped and cooled inside condensed enough moisture for them or there was water beneath the surface of the sand and stone, enough to supply them and some tough grasses, some wild flowers with water. It was a small oasis hidden within rock, save there was no steady water supply they could yet see.
Still, it was beautiful.
They all sighed with wonder.
Curious, they explored the shallow, irregular bowl of the old cave to the far side, finding another, truer cave awaiting there. Again, the entrance was narrow but still wide enough for Irisi’s needs.
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