Priestess of the Nile (6 page)

Bek turned slowly on his heel, surveying the damage.
A well-to-do household indeed. Yet they’d no pennies to set aside as a dowry for Merys, made her a servant.
Hot anger rushed through him at the thought. He grabbed the old man’s shoulder roughly. “Why were you spared?”

“The Hykso captain said I was too old to be of use as a slave.” Tears tracked down the grime and ash on the man’s cheeks. “He thought it amusing to leave me behind, to mourn, with none to care for me.”

“And what of Merys?”

The old man rubbed his red-rimmed eyes, coughing. “Merys? Why do you ask about her? Who are you, soldier? I don’t recognize you.”

“I’m new to this town. What of your daughter Merys?”

“I have no daughter of such name any longer. She whored herself out to some man, though she denied it, claimed the god Sobek had come to lie with her, as if anyone would believe such a tale. My wife said we must throw her out lest she corrupt the other girls. We drove her from the house and into the street where she belonged.” His face crumpled and he wept.

Rage gripped Bek, a rage so deep he thought for a moment he would obliterate the entire village. The ground shook under his feet as he called power to him. Cringing in terror, the elderly village scribe tried to shield his wife’s body while chunks of brick fell from the roof and walls.

She must have been living in the temple ruins, trying to survive until I came. No wonder she was on that beach at daylight. Would she even have told me of her family’s betrayal or would she have been too proud to ask for help?
Bek took a deep, calming breath. He was thoroughly disgusted with the humans.
They got what they deserved. Some other Great One can watch over this place now. I’m done.
Destroying the village with his anger wouldn’t bring Merys back to him.

As he turned to leave, his eye fell on a child’s doll, lying crumpled by the door. He nudged the toy with one foot, then bent to retrieve it, remembering how Merys had spoken tenderly of her youngest half sister, Tyema.
Maybe there is one thing I can do for my beloved.

He dematerialized.

Reappearing on the beach, Bek roared and ran toward the Nile, transitioning effortlessly into his crocodile form as he did so, sliding into the waters as a jet-black harbinger of death and destruction. He mustered his subjects as he swam up the Nile, until he had an army of a thousand of the fearsome creatures gathered in formation, with himself at the lead.

When they sighted the three Hykso ships, Bek issued crisp orders.

No Egyptian shall be harmed. I want all of them carried safely to the beach. All the Hykso shall be food for you this day, my children. Attack and show no mercy.

Dimly, he heard the Hykso lookouts shouting a warning as the crocodile armada approached the vessels. His mighty subjects slammed into the wooden boats again and again, creating holes, slithering inside the vessels, leaping onto the decks to wreak mayhem, dragging men under the roiling surface of the Nile to their deaths.

Bek himself attacked the lead vessel, biting a huge hole in the bow at the waterline. His jaws sliced easily through the timbers, shredded the stout planks into kindling. Catapulting onto the deck he reverted to human form, looking for the Hykso commander. Ignoring the slaughter around him, he stalked through runnels of blood, two crocodiles at his heels until he found the captain cowering below decks in his cabin. Bek crashed through the barricaded door. Desperate and afraid, the Hykso captain clutched at a young girl. He laid his knife at the girl’s slender throat. Bek noticed her twisted leg, lame foot.
Tyema.

The enemy settled into a battle stance, pale, jaw set, eyes riveted on Sobek. Clearly, the man intended to fight for his life. “Keep your distance, I warn you,” he instructed in bad Egyptian, “or I’ll sacrifice this child to my god, who will immediately strike you dead.”

Bek motioned his crocodiles to remain in the corridor. Then he looked at the terrified child. “Don’t be afraid, Tyema. Merys sent me to bring you home. You won’t be hurt.”

She nodded. Tears trickled down her grubby cheeks and she raised one hand to brush them away.

Bek made himself smile. “Close your eyes, sweetheart.”

She lowered her eyelids and moved her chubby hand to cover her eyes.

Moving inhumanly fast, Bek snatched the child from the Hykso’s grasp and set her aside on the narrow bed. Assuming partial crocodile form, Bek snapped the man nearly in half with his powerful jaws, throwing the corpse violently against the bulkhead, hard enough to crack the timbers. Blood coated the splintered cedar planks as the body slid to the deck. Bek spat out the metallic iron taste of his victim and swore as he became human.

Marching to the bed where Tyema sat, eyes scrunched tightly closed, Bek knelt and spoke in a low voice. “I’m going to pick you up now, sweetheart, and get you to the beach. Don’t look till I tell you.”

“Merys told me about you, a little. I trust you.” She raised her arms and he gathered her in, running his fingers through her downy hair in a reassuring gesture. Tyema nestled close. Realizing she was shaking, he wrapped her in the blanket from the bunk.

Bek dematerialized and reappeared on the beach, close to a crowd of weeping, terrified Egyptians. Ringed by a force of his biggest crocodile bulls, they cowered, clinging to one another. The group was mostly women and children, a few older boys and two or three able-bodied men. Bek glanced over them with no emotion, then at the little girl in his arms. “All right, sweetheart, you can open your eyes now.”

She did, craning her neck to see his face. “Merys was right. You are handsome.”

Although his heart hurt, he laughed. Giving her a small hug, he set her on the sand. He squatted so they could be eye to eye. “I brought you something.” He handed her the doll, which she embraced with a glad cry. “Are your sisters here?”

She pointed a chubby finger at three women huddled together in the center of the circle. Her other hand tightened on his. “But I want to stay with you till Merys comes.”

Bek closed his eyes as pain and regret washed over him once again. He shook his head. “She isn’t coming, sweetheart.”

“Did the bad men hurt her?” Tyema was solemn. She put a hand to a vivid purpling bruise on her cheek. “They hit me because I was crying. But I was so scared.”

“Of course you were scared, little one. But the danger to you is past now.” Bek brushed her tangled hair, patted her cheek. “No one will ever be able to hurt Merys ever again.”

“She’ll be in the Afterlife?”

He nodded. He was afraid he couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat.

Tyema dug her toe in the sand. “I’ll miss her.” A tear fell from her eyes.

Bek reached out and wiped it away with one finger. “I know. I’ll miss her too.”

The Great One stood and surveyed the crowd of villagers. They gawked at him, silent now. In his enhanced human form, he stood taller and cut a more imposing figure than a normal man. Lit from within by his anger and grief his eyes glowed gold from the battle. “Well? Do you know me?”

One older woman on the edge of the crowd nodded. “You are Sobek, the Great One.” She fingered a small crocodile-shaped bead suspended from braided twine on her wrist. “The day her family shunned her, Merys said you had returned to the old temple, claimed she had been with you.” She looked at the other villagers. “He was our protector while the temple stood, while the priestesses observed the rituals. But we lost our faith.”

“Yes, you did, old one,” Bek agreed, his voice harsh. “Merys was the only one who kept faith.”

“Forgive us, Great One.” The elderly woman dropped to her knees. The rest of the crowd began prostrating themselves to him as well, crying, calling his name, asking his forgiveness.

Bone tired from grief, heartsick, he wanted nothing so much as to be done with this task.
Away from wretched humans, able to mourn in private for my loss…but there are things which must be done
. He took a look behind him at the Nile, where Hykso men screamed and sought escape from his vengeance. Their struggles were futile. Two of the three ships had sunk. The third was listing and would soon be aground on the opposite bank. He sensed no living things on board.

He snapped his fingers at the crocodiles on the beach.
You have done well this day, my children. You may leave now, return to your beaches and coves to rest. You have my gratitude.

The beasts crawled past him, going faster and faster toward the Nile, slipping into the waters and swimming away. He caught flickers of their slow reptilian thoughts as they went, tired, confused, sated. A tug at his hand interrupted his contemplation. He remembered the little human girl by his side.

“Tyema, go to your sisters.” After he released her hand she walked slowly to the trio of women, who hugged her close.

Bek drew himself to his full height, calling upon the energies in the universe that supported and nourished the Great Ones. With a tremendous flash of green light, he transported the townspeople to the village square.

Bek kept himself invisible as he arrived on the steps of the temple of Horus.

The young nomarch Ienhotep was in the square now with a large company of his soldiers. He and the village headman had obviously been conferring, with the surviving villagers gathered close to listen.

For a minute Bek watched the happy reunions as the people his crocodiles had rescued reunited with their loved ones. The hugs and cries and sheer joy unfolding in the square hurt him. Bitterness burned his throat like poison.
Thanks to me these humans have a second chance, but for me there is no happy ending.

He shifted, becoming half human, half crocodile.
Time to deal with this village in my more godly form. Let them be in fear and awe of me and my wrath
. In a subtle flickering of emerald light, he relinquished his invisibility. Gradually the villagers became aware of his looming presence and most prostrated themselves in the dirt, heads toward him. The nomarch looked Bek up and down, showing no sign of fear, then knelt on one knee, secure in his high rank.

“Our prayers have been answered,” said the village headman, peering cautiously at Bek from his prone position. “All praise to the Great One Sobek, guardian of our village.”

There were cheers. Bek eyed Ienhotep. “How did you get here so rapidly?”

The noble wasn’t intimidated. “I was conducting maneuvers nearby, Great One, and received word of the Hykso incursion.”

Bek put his hands on his hips and scowled. “While
I
took my warriors, the crocodiles of the Nile, and fought your battle, rescued your citizens. The three Hykso ships I destroyed this day were on their way upriver to pillage more of your villages. Perhaps they planned to assault your capital city itself. After word spreads of how I protect my own, how I take my vengeance, your lands won’t be threatened again.”

Ienhotep bowed low. “I am indebted to you, Great One.”

Bek nodded and raised his voice to address the crowd. “People of this village, be aware you owe my intervention to
Merys
, Priestess of the Temple of Sobek. She alone among you had faith in me, observed the proper respect between humans and the Great Ones assigned to watch over you. She perished this day. What do you propose to do to appease my anger at the way she was treated by this village, by her own family?” He sent a tremor through the ground under their feet.

“We—we will rebuild your temple, Great One—”

“We will sing your praises—”

“Observe your festivals—”

“Fill your temple coffers with gold—”

He stopped the clamor with an upraised hand and a hiss, revealing his bared fangs. “You may rise and hear my words of judgment upon you. Firstly, Tyema shall be high priestess.” He gestured to the small girl and the people beside her moved away as if afraid he might throw lightning at them. “The nomarch will rebuild my temple before the next flooding of the Nile and Tyema shall lead the singing as the temple is rededicated.”

“Merys taught me the songs.” Tyema nodded once, balancing on her twisted leg. The girl lifted her head and stepped forward, coming to join Bek on the stairs. As she came, he cast healing energy and a green glow played upon her weak limb, until she climbed the final stairs with two healthy, sturdy legs.
This simple misalignment of bone and tendon I can fix. The terrible wounds inflicted on my precious Merys are beyond me. To my everlasting regret.
Tyema did a little twirling dance step, then leaned confidently against him.

“The captain of the guard and his wife shall be the appointed guardians of my priestess Tyema until she reaches adulthood,” Bek said. “And from this day forward, no woman shall be without a dowry in this village. The sum shall be taken from the treasury of my temple as needed. Tyema and her descendants shall administer the fund in honor of Merys.”

The captain of the guard cleared his throat as he stood holding the hand of Merys’s half sister. Bek spared him only a passing glance.
 
“If you keep faith with me this time, your village shall prosper. If you observe the rituals and tithe to the rebuilt temple, no crocodile shall ever take the life of any man, woman or child resident to this village.”

A song in his praise rose among the villagers, some trying to remember the words to songs dedicated to him, but Bek fixed his eyes on Ienhotep. The noble watched him warily but with no hint of fear. “You owe me one more thing,” he told the provincial ruler.

“You have but to name the act and it shall be done, Great One.”

Bek called Merys’s body to him, still wrapped and hidden in the soft blue blanket. He descended the temple steps carefully, holding Merys in his arms for the last time. Tyema walked beside him. “You will bury this woman with the highest honors, as if she was a member of your own household. All ceremonies must be observed in accordance with the smallest details in the Book of the Dead. She shall be sent to the Afterlife lacking for nothing. I want her richly equipped with the finest jewels, perfumes and robes.”