CHAPTER TEN

Afterlife, Sometime in Eternity


"Taita, tell us a story to take our minds off Seth. He's been nasty as of late," Lostris persisted, picking up a golden cup of wine. She looked at her lover Tanus, the father of her son. Tanus smiled at her.

They'd helped the Restorer of Ma'at defeat Set's plans for him but what mortals didn't know was the work was exhausting, for Set was a God, and Lostris had been mortal. Even with her son, the God-King Pharoah Tamose, it was draining work keeping Set at bay.

Everyone was in high spirits at their temporary subjugation of Seth. Ardeth was safe, for the time being, and Lostris had decided a little celebration was in order.

"My Queen, I what story shall I tell?" Taita asked, smoothing down his red-gold hair that had been restored to him in its full glory in the Afterlife. "Not the only thing that was restored in the Afterlife," Taita thought, smiling inwardly as he remembered how Lord Intef and Rasfer's handiwork in creating a eunuch out of the sixteen year old slave Taita all those decades ago had disappeared in an instant.

"Isis and the Seven Scorpions!" shouted Pharoah Tamose, who, for this particular gathering, had appeared to the group as he did when his mother was first appointed Regent of Egypt in her 21st year--Tamose was a five year old and at the time he was called Prince Memnon: Ruler of the Dawn.

"Memnon," his mother warned but she, too, giggled, her dark green eyes crinkling at the corners. She had thought his childhood name apt. Memnon had indeed been the Ruler of the Dawn: the Hyksos had brought a new dawn to Egyptian history and Memnon had been a prince in exile.

Taita and Tanus laughed. "My Queen, my Prince Memnon, and Lord Tanus, I will tell the story of Isis and the Seven Scorpions," Taita intoned, quite seriously. "The tale is part of a potent spell to protect against venomous stings and Seth has tried to sting us recently," he added with a wink of his eye.



"After Isis resurrected Osiris long enough to impregnate herself, her son Horus was born. Isis's evil brother Seth took her and Horus as hostages.
Thoth took pity on their plight, and provided seven scorpions to escort Isis and Horus in their flight from captivity. Their names were Petet, Tjetet, Matet, Mesetet, Mesetetef, Tefen and Befen.

After walking many hours in the swampy Delta, Isis and Horus straggled into a village, tired and hungry. The first house that Isis tried to get food and shelter at belonged to a wealthy noblewoman. As soon as she saw the scorpions, she promptly shut the door in Isis's face. Undeterred, Isis took Horus by the hand and tried her luck elsewhere.

Eventually, Isis found shelter in the dilapidated home of a peasant girl.

"Yes, you may stay the night in my home, my Lady," the peasant girl said, showing Isis, Horus, and the seven scorpions into her home. "I will prepare a meal," she said, showing Isis and Horus to a small table.

"You are very kind," Isis said, allowing herself and Horus to be seated.

"I am afraid I have only barley bread and beer to offer you," the peasant girl said as she laid out a simple meal.

"We had no food and no shelter before your offer. We are grateful," Isis said as her son ate the still warm barley bread.

After seeing their mistress and her son settled with food, drink and a bed, the seven scorpions discussed the noblewoman's actions.

"A peasant girl can hardly afford to share bread and beer, yet she did so willingly," Petet said.

"But the noblewoman had jewels on her fingers and silver on her wrists, and she refused to help a traveller," Mesetet said.

The scorpions agreed that the noblewoman deserved revenge. In preparation, six of the scorpions gave their individual poisons to Tefen who loaded his stinger with the poisons.

After Isis and Horus were asleep, Tefen sneaked into the noblewoman's home and stung her son. Distraught, the woman wandered through the town seeking help for her child who was on the verge of death. But no one wanted to help her because of her previous inhospitality.

Isis heard the woman's cries for help. Although the woman had been unkind to her, Isis could not bear the thought of the death of an innocent child and left with the woman to help her son. Isis held the boy in her arms and spoke words of great magic.

She named each of the scorpions and thereby dominated them; rendering their combined poison to be harmless in the child. The noblewoman was humbled by Isis' unconditional kindness and as thanks offered all of her worldly wealth to Isis and to the peasant girl who had shown hospitality to a stranger who turned out to be a Goddess."




"Now, young Prince," Tanus said, fingering the Gold of Valor hung around his neck. "What is the moral of the story?"
"Always be kind and help those in need?" the green-eyed Prince asked a bit shyly, fingering his own Gold of Valor that he had earned when he was just a child. It had been unusual for a child to earn the Gold of Valor, but times in Egypt had been unusual and he did, if he said so himself, show great initiative in helping Tanus.

Even if he'd been ten when he'd earned the Gold of Valor. He knew he was cheating a bit with his appearances in the Afterlife but he did so love the Gold of Valor that Taita had made especially for his ten year old incarnation.

"You are right, my Prince. And we shall have to help Ardeth Bey again, and soon," Taita replied. "So let us enjoy the meals and wine offered us by our subjects," he finished.

Tanus laughed, and Taita, Lostris and Memnon joined in the merriment the afterlife offered them. Taita had a sneaking suspicion that their help would be needed more than once in the near future of the earthbound world.

He didn't know why but he had a terrible foreboding every time the golden light shimmered. And the golden light had shimmered thousands of times in the past minutes? days? Taita didn't know how to tell time here in the Crossroads and in the Afterlife, but Taita thought that way too many souls had passed through the Crossroads--and the souls had all passed together, as if a terrible catastrophe had occured in the earthbound world.

"Another war," Taita thought. "Like the final battle that ended Pharoah Mamose's life and started the 250 year reign of the Hyksos Kings."



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The Underworld, Sometime in Eternity (scuttlebutt has the date as late September, 1940)


"You planned the destruction of the Pyramids and of the tombs and temples of Egypt?" Imhotep asked the new arrival, a fresh-faced young man.

Every demon in the underworld had wanted a piece of the new arrival and they had temporarily stopped devouring the other doomed souls when Nuit had thrown the new soul into the Underworld. The demons waited, impatient, shaking their fists at Imhotep.

"We want him!" a multitude of voices shouted.

"Give him to us!" another chorus of voices called.

"I'm hungry!" shouted one female demon, her voice louder than the rest.

Imhotep looked at her gently--he had a soft spot for women (Anck Su Namun's betrayal still weighed upon him and he vowed he would get his revenge on her one day). That particular female demon hadn't yet fully transformed into a hideousness better left to nightmares and most of her beautiful face remained.

Imhotep raised his hand for silence. The demons quieted but loud grumblings were heard from the eternally long line.

The young man looked scared. Imhotep didn't want to know his name. "Ye, ye, yes. That was the plan," he finally choked out. "Where am I?" he asked, looking around. "How can I understand you?"

"In the underworld, we understand everything," Imhotep's voice was deceptively soft.

"What will happen to me? Where's my mother and father? Aren't they supposed to meet me or something? I mean, that's like the thing, isn't it? They meet me?" the young man asked, scanning the human crowd which had gathered to one side of the demons.

"Are your parents dead?"

"Five years ago in an accident," the young man replied. "Are they here?" he repeated.

Imhotep laughed darkly. "No, your parents are not here. But you are, and you will be here for eternity."

"Wha, what did I do to get here? What are these creatures?" he asked, waving his hand at the demons, who started salivating.

"You planned the destruction of the Pyramids, and the destruction of the tombs and temples of Egypt. That plan was enough to damn your soul eternally," Imhotep replied. "Planning to destroy the Pyramids would be enough to cause you to suffer the Hom-Dai."

"But I thought it would be a good plan! They're just buildings!" the young man protested. Demons howled their disapproval of the new arrival and they started clawing. Imhotep raised his hand. The demons quieted.

Imhotep leaned down until his face was close to Josef's face. He saw Josef swallow back his fear. "Do you know why the Egyptians painted their tombs and temples?" he asked Josef.

The unfortunate young man shook his head.

"We painted our tombs and temples so that in the Afterlife we may enjoy the pleasures that we enjoyed during our earthbound life."

"I, I d-d-don't understand," Josef stammered. He was beginning to be afraid, to be very afraid for himself.

"People in the Afterlife can receive sustenance through two means: tomb paintings and an earthbound mortuary cult to perform rituals and prayers. The tomb paintings would provide sustenance to the deceased in the event the mortuary cult failed to perform its duties of prayers and offerings. In other words, the Egyptians stocked their tombs with the objects--and paintings of the objects, feasts and offerings--that they wished to enjoy in the Afterlife," Imhotep explained.

Young Josef was sweating profusely and the onion-like smell offended Imhotep's nose. "Like if a musician wanted to play music in the afterlife, he'd have musical instruments in his tomb?"

Imhotep nodded. "And the temples dedicated to the gods were painted with singers, dancers, feasts and offerings because?" he asked Josef softly.

Josef swallowed again. "Because if the mortuary cult failed to perform its duties, then the gods would continue to receive sustenance?"

"If the mortuary cult failed to perform its duties for any reason, including invasion of Egypt, then the images of the gods in the paintings would remain alive in the afterlife and receive sustenance through the paintings of the dancers, singers, offerings, feasts and the prayers inscribed and painted on the temple walls," Imhotep corrected.

"So, if the temples and tombs of Egypt are destroyed, then the Egyptian afterlife would cease to exist?" Josef asked.

"Yes. Any plan to destroy the Pyramids goes against the gods and the plan goes against the gods of the underworld. Your arrival has granted a reprieve to the other people," Imhotep indicated the human crowd with a nod of his shaven head. "Their sins together do not equal the sin of attempting to destroy the Pyramids and the Afterlife of Egypt," Imhotep told the young man.

"The pain is exquisite when the soul is devoured," Imhotep now pointed at the eternally long line of waiting demons. "I thought it would be better for you if your soul was devoured by one demon at a time. Much more painful that way."

The young man gulped. His eyes were bugged out in terror as he watched the poison saliva drip from the demons' jaws. They shook their fists at him.

"Now," Imhotep told him, taking a step closer to the frightened young man and leaning even closer towards him. "Tell me everything that Hitler is planning on doing to Egypt. I can make things much easier for you."