Hi, guys!
I'm currently posting the most demented "The Mummy" fanfiction, "Mummies
never die or Imhotep's chase".
But some mysterious itching in my fingers makes me to write something
more…serious, I would say. Actually,
the question, which used to bother me is why the Hell those Egyptian
lunatics decided to inflict the pest on
their own asses and condemned our hero suffer Hom-Dai or whichever
it was. To protect the treasures? To
scare Roman and Greek tourists with silly ghost stories? Anyway,
here I tried to explain at least part of those
enigmatic things.
I know that my English sucks, so it depends on your patience and
endurance whether I'll continue or not.
Please review and let me know if you want to read more!
The Third Choice
By Seti the Last, High Priest of Seth
Chapter 1: Mecktub, Commander of Med-Ji. Arrogance
Vot tak propel nebesnii shanson'e
Vot tak sudili pravednie bogi.
Tri brata bilo nas v odnoi sem'e
I kajdii shel po sobstvennoi doroge.
Ancient Egyptian song
My brother, open your eyes and look at me…
Three of us brothers were hunting in the desert that morning, that morning
when the beams of sun were
dancing at the tops of sand hills, burning our lungs, blurring our
sight. Dogs, black hounds of Anubis, beasts of Abyss-even these dogs were
tired now and staggered through the sands, their tongues dangling from
their mouths.
It was stiffing, it was dazing, top of summer day in Egypt.
Instantly something disturbed our hounds, they 'd sprang into life,
and sprinted through the sparkling air,
barking wildly, chasing some animal…the antelope, with her fur colored
in pure gold in this melted torrent of sun
radiance. We spurred our steeds and raced after our dogs in frantic
pursue.
After minutes-or may be hours, for time was as blurred as the line of
horizon in this mad chase, we've lost our
dogs, more than that-we've lost our own tracks in endless monotonous
sands.
It was disaster. Our horses were exhausted, our stores of water were
small and our despair was growing. I
said our-I mean mine and my second brother's, Omnisedeck, we were desperate,
but our youngest brother
considered it no more than exciting adventure.
We dismounted and were leading our steeds by the reins, looking for
any signs of human dwelling, for patch of
green in the gold of desert.
Then I noticed some movement on the top of one of the hills. We hurried
to it and saw old wrinkled wretch,
curled in the hole between two low sand mounds. He raised his haggard
brown face, in sun burns and sores, and
croaked:
-Water! Give me some water!
I turned away, full of pity mingled with disgust, and heard the angry voice of Omnisedeck:
-You wretched fool, we have no water to share!
But then the voice of my third brother came:
-Come on, if we are doomed to perish in this desert your miserable draughts
wouldn't save us. This man is
dying.
I swiveled around to see this stupid brother of mine, giving his last
water to dying beggar. But- I couldn't
believe my eyes-wretched man didn't drink the water, no, he just poured
it onto the ground. Ready to strike, I dashed to him-and stopped dead on
my tracks. Fresh green grass shot from the sands, trees and flowers bloomed
on the banks of little brook, winding between the roots. I gasped, trying
to comprehend, my brother Omnisedeck shrieked and turned to run.
-Stop, you fools!-laughed the youngest of us-first time in your boring lives you witnessed the real miracle and
are ready to fly like scared girls!
He stepped forward to greet the mysterious man, but there was no man
in themagical grove-only gigantic
statue of God with three faces turned to three sides of the world.
Face of fierce falcon with his beak wide open,
face of rapacious crocodile and the third, face of dog or may be hyena,
baring his fangs in hollow laugh.
We, me and my brother Omnisedeck, have knelt before the horrible God,
but third of us only bowed his head-he
always was too proud, my youngest brother.
-Mortals - bellowed the statue, in three different voices coming from three different throats- You, who came
unasked in this sacred grove, who disturbed my solitude- I greet you! You amused me, and I'm going to endow
you with the gifts, one gift for every one of you. Power, Wealth or Love-these are my gifts, and you are free to
choose, but remember-only one of them!
I gulped the air, tasting of sand and blood-I should speak first, eldest
of us all. I faced the Head of Hawk and
uttered my choice:
-Power!-for power was the most desired thing for me in this world.
My second brother, greedy and rapacious, bowed to Crocodile Head and whispered: "Wealth".
But the youngest of us laughed, looking at Great God, and exclaimed arrogantly:
-Power and wealth-those are things that man can fetch by himself, without help from the Gods. But Love…well,
you unknown benefactor, let it be Love!
And the Statue laughed in return, and this hollow terrible laugh still
awakes me sometime on the death of
night.
***********
We returned from the desert, unharmed, and we hadn't told the story
to anyone.
Years passed. I am the Commander of Med-Ji, secret Pharaoh's bodyguards,
Left Hand of Pharaoh. Omnisedeck
became the Treasurer, and all the underground chambers of Hamunaptra,
full of jewels and gold, are his
domains. But most lucky, most powerful, and the richest of us is Imhotep,
my third brother, Pharaoh's High
Priest, hated by many but adored by most of the men in two kingdoms.