Infinite Sacrifice (5 page)

He smiles proudly, narrows one eye,
and points to an area reached only by ladder. Once I climb to the
designated area, I scan the bindings of books painted with golden
symbols.

The Book of Driving Away Lions,
Repulsing Crocodiles, and Repelling Reptiles; The Protection of the
Hour, Protection of the Body, Spells for Repelling the Evil Eye;
The Book of Capture; Knowing all the Secrets of the Laboratory; The
Book of Smiting Demons; Book of Medicinal Cures for Fertility and
Contraceptive Purpose.

I open it up while still on the
ladder and find a contraceptive charm of mixing honey with natron.
I replace the book and climb down, bowing to Khons in thanks. He
watches me, deep in thought, as I leave.

I’m stirring up the sticky mixture
when Nun enters, crouching.

“Did anyone notice you?”

Dripping with sweat, he pants, “I
was stopped by two guards at the passageway between the workshop
and the temple. I told them I was your apprentice, and they asked
why I was coming through the workshop entrance. I told them I was
confused. After a moment they let me pass.”

“Oh yes, I forgot they had guards
at that door,” I say, barely listening.

Noticing this, Nun says flatly,
“What do you need assistance with, Master?”

“I need you to guard the entrance
to this room. Play this flute to warn me if anyone should
approach.”

He eyes me questioningly, wondering
why I would need the door watched, when in walks Bastet,
glowing.

Nun takes one look at her, and
dread sweeps across his face. “You are provoking the gods! We will
all be judged for this!”

I give him a seething look and
spit, “On the streets!”

Nun exhales, reaches for the flute,
and goes back into the corridor. Bastet stands there smiling, not
allowing the ominous comments from Nun to faze her.

“Dance for me. Not Serapis but me,”
I say as I lean back on my altar to observe.

Her body starts moving, and I can
hear the imagined beat. She spins, and her eyes follow me. After a
few minutes, I can’t resist any longer and remove my loincloth. I
coat myself in the contraceptive, then pick her small frame up
easily and shove my sacred Omina on the floor. I place my new
religion on the altar, where I read every passage and have all my
prayers answered.

Chapter 4

Bastet and I meet four more times
before my month-long rotation is complete. Whenever the dream
chamber is empty and Bastet can get away from Nebu’s watchful eye,
we meet under Nun’s surveillance. I hate leaving the temple to walk
back home. Leaving the fertile black lands to travel to the edges
of the sterile red lands of my fathers. Reaching the threshold of
the white-walled fortress that surrounds the city, I force myself
to step onto the sparkling limestone pathway that leads up to the
lush country villas. The thought of not seeing her again for three
months is painful. I touch my wife only in times of extreme
desperation, and even then, I think of her: she who consumes
me.

Twenty-one days into my prison
sentence, I seek solitude in the shadows of the date and fig trees
in my estate’s garden. As I watch the ducks dive among the lotus
flowers, a message comes from the temple. It bears Nebu’s
writing,

Sokaris, come at once.

I call for Nun to pack up my things
and order him to hurry. Running most of the way in the midday heat,
I arrive at the temple by dusk. Frustrated at the time it takes to
be shaved and cleansed, I rush into Nebu’s harem room and become
frantic when I see Bastet is not beside her.

“What is wrong? Why have you sent
for me?”

Nebu, surprised by my haste and
paranoia, says, “Calm yourself, Sokaris. This is not a matter over
which you should be so alarmed.”

She snaps for a servant to bring me
a cushion. I force myself to relax enough to bend into a sitting
position.

I ask, “Where is Bastet? She is
usually at your side.”

She picks up a gold hand mirror to
check how tightly her servants curled her wig. After testing the
bounce of the curls that line her forehead and running her thin
fingers down the long braids that hide beneath the curls, she nods
in acceptance. “Bastet is why I summoned you. She has failed us
greatly.”

“What do you mean?”

She points for the ebony-and-gold
cosmetic box to be brought to her. “She has been deceiving us and
Serapis.”

My blood thickens, and she has the
nerve to fix her kohl as I wait.

“She is with child,
Sokaris.”

“With child? That is impossible!” I
can’t sit.

Not realizing how I meant that
exclamation, she says, “Obviously, she has spit in the face of all
that is sacred and has lain with a man. A man within this very
temple, since she is not permitted outside these walls.”

“How are you sure?”

“I am obligated to test my Royal
Daughter’s urine monthly.”

Thinking of the barley-and-wheat
test I ask, “The grains grew?”

“Yes, and I tested her twice to be
sure.”

“Where is she now?” I begin to
pace.

“I notified the Pharaoh’s
magistrate, Overseer of the Six Great Mansions, and the guards have
taken her away. Her trial is tomorrow.”

What am I to do?

“Sokaris, we must find the man
responsible for this.” She puts the brush away and snaps the lid
shut.

I shake my head, feigning
thoughtfulness. “I will go to incubate at once to see what I can
scry.”

I rush to the dream chamber, rip
the sheets back, and fall asleep to try to save her.

Bastet is on a great ship, alone,
acting as steersman. She looks worried and is crying, “Sokaris!
Sokaris!”

I shout, “I will save you!” as I
pull my arm up and prick myself deep with a thorn.

Instantly, Nun is up on the deck
steering the massive ship, and I tell Bastet, “Jump to
me!”

She steps backward to gain speed
and leaps to me on the riverbank. We both watch as Nun and the ship
sail away downstream.

I wake and kiss Bes, carved above
my head, and say, “Thank you! Thank you!”

I scribble down an entry and
backdate it forty-two days. I leave the temple and clap to wake up
Nun, sleeping on the stone walkway after waiting for me all night.
Under a red sky in the east, I run to the mansion where Bastet is
being judged.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

I rush past the alabaster sphinx
guarding the road that leads to the Pharaoh’s palace. The burnt
landscape slowly turns green as I near the mouth of the Nile, where
the imposing jaws of the courthouse looms. The mansion stands
sternly against the happy backdrop of the banks of the Nile, where
peasant women beat their laundry against rocks, servants fill clay
vessels carrying them away on their heads, and children splash and
play games as their mothers watch for crocodiles. Thick columns of
three heights guard the entrance as statues of justice judge all
who enter. The most important people in Memphis are there: the
Pharaoh's vizier, the high priests, scribes, and many of the lower
priests. It’s unusual to have an event such as this occur within
temple walls. I sit with others from the House of Life on the
benches provided under the covered section of the roofless court.
Khons attends with his son, Aapep, and I nod to him in
respect.

The vizier presiding speaks from
his great chair in the center under a canopy held by slaves. “We
are all witness to a most disrespectful and defiling crime. This is
an offense not only against all those honoring the gods but a crime
against Serapis himself!”

The priests all nod in
agreement.

“Bring her in.” He motions to the
guards, grey eyes flashing.

Bastet looks so small between the
two towering guards. She looks like such a child now—a faint shadow
of the woman who glowed before me in my dream chamber. Her powerful
force that has compelled my allegiance and charmed my worship has
deserted her, and she now stands before the court, shaking. She’s
forced to stand before the vizier in direct sun.

“Bastet, daughter of Ketuh, is it
true you are carrying a child in your womb?”

“Yes, High One.”

The audience is a mass of bald
heads all shaking in disgust.

“Nebu, reigning wife of Serapis of
The House of Life temple, has testified you took an oath of
celibacy as her initiated Royal Daughter.”

“Yes, oh High One.”

“Is this child the spawn of
man?”

“Yes, High One.”

“Who is the man who has
disrespected Serapis and has caused the gods to seek earthly
judgment upon him?"

What will I do if she says my
name!

I clench my fists.

“I cannot say. Have mercy on me,
High One.” She begins to cry and covers her face with her delicate
hands.

Now the audience breaks out in
murmurs as some get up in anger to leave. I feel a wave of relief
that I might be able to escape this disgrace and still help
her.

“If you will not answer, we will
have no choice but to sentence you to death by spear. You will be
granted mercy for your unborn child’s soul, and your punishment
will be carried out upon its birth.”

Bastet merely shakes her head and
bows. The vizier nods for the guards to take her back to her
prison.

I stand up and state with head
bowed, “I humbly offer my testimony up to the Pharaoh.”

Bastet looks worried, obviously
fearful that I’ll confess. She opens her mouth to speak, but I
bring a bent finger up to my lips subtly in message. She quiets and
smiles with her eyes as the guards take her away.

“Certainly, priest, you may
speak.”

“I have information that I cannot
withhold that may shed light on this daughter’s
corruption.”

“Continue.”

“About forty days past, my slave,
Nun, from house of Sokaris, requested a dream be interpreted by me.
As that is my priestly profession, I obliged, as any benevolent
master would. He dreamt of grabbing the wooden staff out of
Serapis’s hand and taking it for himself. I interpreted this to
mean my slave coveted something of Serapis’s. He continued on,
saying he took the staff and sailed downstream with it, a strong
portent of violence, as even laymen know. I told my slave a
different interpretation for fear of feeding his desires, but I
worried that an event such as this would take place as his dream
foretold. I have it documented in the scry book if the court so
wishes proof.”

The vizier nods respectfully and
commands a guard to hasten to the temple to fetch the
journal.

“On more than five occasions, I
have had my priestly linen loincloths taken from my dwellings when
only Nun had access to them. Of course, I flogged him for it, but
he confessed nothing. I have since dreamt that Serapis himself has
come to me, seeking vengeance for my slave’s violent and forceful
actions upon his Royal Daughter. After hearing today how she has
been disgraced, I know who is undoubtedly to blame.”

“Where is this slave, Nun, from the
house of Sokaris?”

“He is right outside this
court.”

“Seize him! Sokaris, take the
guards to collect him and bring him to me!”

As I walk out with the guards
behind me, I comfort myself.

He’s a slave, of little use to the
world. I’m a learned and destined priest in the esteemed House of
Life. The gods would surely rather have my homage and service than
this lowly slave. Bastet committed no wrong. We simply made a
mistake and Nun would help us rectify it: a sacrifice for our
repentance.

In the commotion, the crowds step
aside as the armed court guards march behind me. I see Nun sitting
cross-legged by the side of the building. He stirs and rises to bow
as if we’ll pass him. When we stop before him, he looks up,
shocked.

“There is the accused.” I stare
down into his green eyes.