I could hear the crackle of a living flame burning deep inside the temple. I sensed something was wrong but had not the time to think what. I had found a seam.
“Here,” I dug my nails along the edge of the panel and traced it to the centre. The door was just as thick as the rest, but the size was conquerable.
“Step back,” Osiris was poised to take a kick at it. I moved to join him, but just as we both lunged forward a grating sound came from the other side. Osiris grabbed me by the waist and pulled me around the side of a statue, out of view. The door groaned as it pulled back. We could not yet see who was emerging for we had our backs to the temple wall, masked by the feet and ankles of my old friend.
I leaned forward a little to try to see, but Osiris was still holding me fast. My breathing was heavy with adrenalin and surprise. He gripped me tighter and whispered in my ear.
“Wait. If someone comes out you take them, and I will run inside.”
I nodded slowly. He released me and I leaned carefully around the statue just far enough to see an elderly man shuffling his way out into the dark night. I could not tell if there was anyone else, but this was likely our only chance. I swept around the corner of the statue and whisked the old man behind the mirroring figure at the other side. In the same instant, Osiris was past us and through the door.
I heard a thud as someone tumbled to the ground. I closed my eyes tight. The old man's skin was scented with lotus oils. I could feel the frailty of his aged body as I bit into his neck. He had no strength to fight. I drank fast and with little pleasure. Inside the temple, I could hear the crack of a fist against bone and a grunt as someone gasped for air.
The elderly priest was slumping against my breasts. I tried to concentrate, listening to the slowing beat of his heart.
‘Come on,’ I thought, drinking faster still. Inside I heard footsteps running, echoing around the huge cavern in the rock. Finally, the old man’s heart gave a heavy thud. I pulled away. I had no time for kindness. I dropped him on the floor at Ramses’ stone feet and rushed into the temple. Almost tripping over the unconscious body of another priest I stumbled into the dark.
Columns stood at either side of what would have been the outer courtyard, had there been the sky above and not rock. Then I was in the middle temple, chambers opened out at either side like a warren for a rabbit. The writing on the walls was illegible through the darkness, but the painted statues looked out with cold bright eyes from their alcoves and pedestals. At the far end was the final chamber, the inner temple. Osiris was on his knees before the cauldron of living flame. He looked like a high priest of the night watch, taking his vigil to keep the temple safe. His head was bowed and his shoulders slumped. The smell of human blood tainted his skin. I lay a hand upon his shoulder.
“Where is he?” his voice hoarse and desperate.
I closed my eyes and listened. The only sounds were the gentle crackle of the fire and the heavy breathing of the fallen priests back by the door. The energy of the boy was residual like a ghost.
“I searched every room,” his voice cracked.
“I know.” I glanced back and saw a thin sliver of light in the distance, where the moon momentarily flashed through a broken cloud.
“Help me Artemis,” I prayed.
“Where is he?” Osiris begged, grabbing the hem of my gown and leaning his head against my legs. I bent forward and stroked the back of his head.
“Let me try to reach him,” I whispered. Osiris drew a sharp breath and sat back upon his heels.
“He was here this afternoon, you felt him.” His voice was cold and almost accusatory.
“He was. They cannot have gone far,” I said optimistically.
I sat cross-legged like a scribe, my hands upturned upon my knees and my eyes closed. I breathed slowly as the flames flickered and the scent of jasmine filled the air. I could feel Osiris watching me from the corner of the room. His flesh was flushed and warmed with fresh blood. Behind me, somewhere in one of the side chambers, two priests slept soundly and noisily. On my next breath, I felt a deep pull in my chest, as though someone was trying to wrench out my heart. Then there he was.
Crackling wood, musty smoke pluming into the air. The smell of cooked meat and spilt wine. A cold desert wind blowing up from the east, whipping sand over his face and arms. The child had been watching the fire dance before him. But suddenly, as though struck by a lightning, he was looking through the flames, right at me. Our eyes locked together, our hands outstretched to clasp one another. The boy held his breath.
“Jonah,” I whispered. The boy gave a slight sharp nod. “Where are you?”
He tilted his head a little toward the others. Two women were stretched out on ox-hide rugs; long robes covered them from their breasts to their toes. One, a beautiful dark-skinned woman with large eyes and a shimmering gold neck collar, was laughing as she bit into a crispy cooked goose leg. Greece from the bird dripped down her chin. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. The other woman was gently stroking her arm like a lover might. Beside them were two burly men, both upright and alert. One wore an armoured chest plate and the other a long robe of a Priest of Amun.
I looked back at the boy. He licked his lips with thirst. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes as though he had been starved for weeks. His hands were bound behind his back and his legs clamped together in slave shackles. He was too weak to fight them.
“Can you try to answer me?” I asked out loud. Jonah gave another sharp nod. His eyes flashed with fear as someone in the group stirred.
“Hey boy! What can you see?” The woman set down her goose leg. The other said,
“Another vision? This boy is truly a wonder, well done my love.” She sat up and leaned closer to him. I had no notion as to how he would indicate his location without speaking, or revealing my presence. But the clever little boy was sharper than me.
“I see a bright star high in the sky, glittering green,” he replied to them but was speaking to me.
“Venus?” I asked.
“Yes. Learned men follow it to the east, across the desert toward a great city.”
“The city of David where Pharaoh’s daughter resides,” the black woman in the gold collar chipped in. I realised it was the same beautiful woman I had seen in the priest's memory at the Temple of Amun. “Yes child you have told us this before,” she said. “But why do they go, what are they travelling for?” She moved closer to Jonah. His gaze drifted to the curve of her throat and I could feel his hunger building up inside him.
“Don’t Jonah. Hang on a little longer, your father and I are coming for you,” I begged. Biting her would likely have his head sliced from his shoulders. The boy’s body trembled as though he were cold.
“They seek out a child, a boy. A chosen one,” he continued.
I could not help but smile a little at his words. 'The chosen one.' Meses had said a similar thing to convince his father to let the Hebrew practice their faith in Egypt. It also showed a sense of cool arrogance in the boy that reminded me of his father. Without warning, he turned to the woman.
“You must go to that city. Go to the wise king, bare him many gifts of great value. He will be your saviour and partner. He will give you what you desire.”
“That’s new,” the priest’s voice filtered in from somewhere out of my current vision.
The woman narrowed her eyes. They looked warmer, almost tender in the light from the fire. But her voice did not match the warmth,
“Finally something useful. Better boy, much better. We shall have no more of this Vampyr nonsense or silly tales of being eaten by a giant fish.”
I raised an eyebrow and the boy slightly shrugged.
“We must get a scribe to write down these visions as soon as we reach Sheba,” the other woman was reaching over the spit to tear more flesh from the roasting goose.
“Indeed Ariana,” replied the priest. “I had suggested we fetch a scribe back in Waset but…” He was stopped short by a glare
from the woman.
“You talk too much, you should show more respect for her majesty.”
He cleared his throat,
“Of course, forgive me.” He bowed his head and sat back, silenced.
The beautiful woman threaded her fingers together thoughtfully.
“Yes boy. We shall go to David’s city and you shall perform for him. But first, we must go home. We have been away too long and my people always miss my presence so.”
“They do my darling,” Ariana grabbed her lover by the hands and pulled her back onto the rug at her side. They giggled girlishly as they tumbled down together. The queen’s hand slid smoothly between the legs of her mistress.
A flash of desire swept through me. I had taken blood that night but not a lover. I wondered how much one act was now associated with the other. I forced myself to look at Jonah instead. He still had something to tell us.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the clouds chose that moment to tear, sending fat fast drops of rain pouring over them. The women squealed and the guard grabbed the boy, tossing him over his shoulder and hauling him into one of the tents, out of my sight.
“What can you see?” Osiris’s words echoed the woman of my vision. I opened my eyes and let the darkness of the room blind me for a moment.
“He is with the queen. They took him east into the desert. They cannot be more than a few hours ahead of us.”
“Horus was trying to tell us,” he considered. For a moment I was confused, but then I recalled the hawk outside the temple as it flew out over the east. “They are heading for the coast,” he added.
“Yes, they mean to return to Sheba with him. She is using him to tell her the future.”
“For financial gain.”
“Yes, and political power.”
His jaw tightened in disgust.
“But is he all right?”
I was dreading this question. In another chamber, one of the sleeping men was snoring. I sighed.
“He has not fed for some time. He is weak and tired.”
Osiris pressed his eyelids closed with a wince, as though the thought of his son’s suffering caused him physical pain. I reached for his hand.
“We will find him.”
“The night is not done, we can leave now.” He began to turn towards the door.
“Yes, but we must take shelter with us. Once the sun is up we will need protection.”
“If they travel in daylight he will burn,” Osiris leaned against a column so suddenly it creaked at its base.
“They know what he is,” I said.
Osiris relaxed a little as we made our way back to the temple entrance.
“Besides, even humans cannot take the sun for that long,” I assured him.
*
We stopped to catch our breaths. I looked up at the swirling sky, letting the rain pummel my face now that we were still. In the distance, lightning forked down in vivid streaks of violet, pounding into the sand with brutal force.
The wind howled around us, billowing through my gown. Sand whipped up from the desert floor, biting at my arm and legs through the fabric. Osiris was pressing down his kilt so that it did not blow up and reveal everything to me. I laughed at him, and he smiled for the first time since we had left Waset.
“The sun will be up soon,” he said. “Perhaps we can catch them before.”
I knew we would not, but I humoured him by grabbing his hand and pulling him on.
“We will have the clouds to protect us, at least for a while,” I told him. This was the truth.
*
By the time the sun cut through the clouds, it was high in the sky and a little past its peak. We knew we were getting close, but they were half a night ahead.
“There!” Osiris stopped abruptly, set down his bag and shaded his eyes from the increasing glare. I halted and went back to where he was standing. Covering my eyes too I peered out across the Red Land, its twisting mounds of sand rising and falling, sculptured by the wind. I winced and rubbed at my hands as my skin began to tingle.
“You do see them don’t you?”
The sun can play tricks upon the eyes in such barren scolding places, but I did see them. Far ahead were a small group of dark spots, moving away.
“Come, we can catch them before the sun burns too deep,” Osiris suggested though the look in his eyes told me he knew it was too late. The sun sliced through the clouds. Our skin began to blister and peel away. The pain was intense and I knew neither of us could bear to go on like that. We pitched up a tent as fast as we could manage. It was made of three narrow wooden poles and two large woollen blankets we had unlawfully procured in Abu Simbel. Carrying them had slowed us a little, but not enough to be of concern.
“Mother of Hathor!” Osiris spat as we settled inside and examined our wounds. They were already healing of course, but that only made them itch as much as they hurt.
“I am sorry,” I offered, not for the burns, but that we had been forced to stop. Now they would have time to get ahead again. “How far is the port?” I asked, not sure Osiris would know the answer either.
“About five days from Abu Simbel by camel.”
“Lord Zeus! Four more days.”
“But we are faster. Even if we cannot travel at all by day, we should catch them soon, perhaps even tomorrow.”
“I hope you are right.”
“Let us sleep a while,” Osiris removed his smock and placed it on the already hot sand, patting it for me to join him. I settled down at his side, asleep almost the moment I closed my eyes.
*
I awoke at sunset to find Osiris’s arms gently wrapped around my waist. I relished the feel of a firm body against mine just for a moment, before carefully lifting him away and rising. I pulled back the cloth and peered out. The Egyptians called the deserts the Red Lands, and at that moment I knew why. As the day died the sand seemed to glow crimson for as far the eyes could see. I gasped in awe.
“Beautiful is it not?” Osiris said from behind me. I stepped outside and began to pull down the cloth.
“We should catch them before the moon turns west.”
I paused, wool cloth half folded. I knew he would not want to hear this, but it made the most sense,
“I think perhaps we should let them stay ahead.”
“What?” Osiris stabbed the pole he was holding deep into the sand. It clunked on something hard. He didn’t notice.
“What I mean is, if we catch them out here we will have to kill them,” I answered. Curiosity was nagging at my gut. I got down on my knees and started to scrape back the sand. He stared at me shaking his head.
“They will not just allow us to take Jonah and run, nor can we leave them unconscious, they would die anyway.” I continued. “If the Queen of Sheba goes missing it will certainly be noticed and eventually, the trail will lead back to us. We had better follow them to the port.” There was logic in my words, and yet also danger. Osiris looked at me as though he had only just realized I was digging.
“What are you looking for?”
I did not have a chance to reply, for I found it at that moment. I tugged at the hard object beneath the sand. It loosened and slid out into my hands. It was a crusty white shard of something that looked like a misshapen plant route. I ran my fingers over the rough tubular stems and sharp points.
“Lightning,” Osiris said. “They are rare.” He dropped to his knees at my side, momentarily distracted.
“I do not understand,” I looked from the object to Osiris’s feline eyes, both shinning in the darkness.
“It’s made from the sand. It’s what happens when it’s struck by lightning. The force and heat melt the grains and turn them into this.”
I turned it around and upside down, and brushed off some of the loose grains to reveal a smoother surface beneath.
“It is very beautiful.”
“Yes, but you have changed the subject.”
I sighed,
“It would be suicide to at
tempt to rescue him out here. If it is discovered that we harmed the queen, then they will come for us, and Jonah. You do see my point?”
“I do.” He sat back and looked up at the stars. Out there with no torches to light the streets or houses, the stars are so very bright. The Milky Way splashed across the sky like a belt of jewels. I followed the dots until I found home. Osiris followed my gaze.
“You must miss it.”
I shook my head,
“At first, but there is nothing there anymore. My parents are dead, my cousins are… somewhere here, and… and Egypt has been kinder to me than Vampyr.”
“Your cousins?”
“Apollo and Artemis.”
“The Greek sun and moon twins are your cousins?” He sounded amused.
“Yes. Do you know them?” For a moment I was excited to have word of them. Osiris tilted his head like a curious puppy,
“I know of them, but that is all.” He smiled, “They are well-loved,” he added kindly.
“So you agree, we follow them to port,” I said returning the subject abruptly back to Jonah and the Sheban queen.
“We will be noticed at the port. How can we possibly confront them there?”
“If we are conspicuous they will have no choice but to hand over your boy. The queen is famous, and we are, well, us. They will not dare to deny you in public. And now we have this.” I handed him the glass lightning. “I think this is a most fortuitous find.”
He looked at me as though I had gone insane. I grinned, for I knew now we had a chance.
“Do you think they will know what this is?”
Osiris raised an eyebrow.
“I doubt they understand the truth. And even if they know how it is made, they will likely think it is magic from the go… Oh! You are a clever thing.” He was grinning now too. “They will think it has special powers, so we can offer it as a replacement for Jonah.”
The Dark Evolution Chronicles Page 9