CHAPTER ELEVEN
Wolf Rock, along the Penzance ferry route to St Mary's, Scilly Islands, nearest to Land's End, Cornwall, late September, 1940
"There is a man! There is a man!" David jumped up, nearing tipping the boat over.
"By jove, he's right," the sailor, Thomas Wheaton, said softly, picking up a British saying. He slowed the boat, watching carefully the storm surge, and cupping his hands around his mouth he called, "Hello!"
Ardeth waved at the white smudge. He mimicked the man and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello! Can you help?"
"Yes! We'll be there shortly!" Thomas steered the boat towards the closest outcrop of Wolf Rock that the man would be able jump into the boat. The man understood Thomas's actions and nimbly made his way towards the rocky outcrop.
"Hullo, there, mister!" David piped up, as Ardeth stepped into the boat, which rocked and swayed but stayed put under Thomas's expert direction.
"Hello! Guess ah came by at a good time," Thomas tried to joke as Ardeth seated himself.
"Are there any others?" Thomas asked.
Ardeth shook his head. "I'm not sure how many survived. I was traveling with Martin Wilkes. We were both washed overboard when a freak wave washed over the ferry's deck. I'm not even sure how many were washed overboard."
"How many people were on the ferry?"
"Myself, Martin, the captain and a crew of seven."
"Boat's name? We'll start a search."
"Gilgamesh. Owned by Roger Wiltshire of Penzance. That's where we were headed."
Thomas nodded, his dark brown curls bobbing in time. "Ah'll radio it in when we get back. You're at Land's End when we get back. It's eight miles to shore."
"Is Land's End very far from Penzance?" Ardeth inquired.
Thomas shook his head. "It's about an hour's sail. But with the heavy bombing of London by the Luftwaffe, the government has suspended private sailing craft from Land's End up to Dover. There's blackout restrictions on fuel, too, so cars are not used during the night."
"Any way to get to London?"
"By land," Thomas replied. "Pub owners around these parts rent out horses. Ah like to go riding myself."
"Do you have a blanket?" Ardeth asked, shivering slightly despite his heavy wet robes.
"Here it is mister!" David piped up, wanting to be of help. He pointed to a pile of blankets near Ardeth's feet. "What's your name?" he asked Ardeth. He was awed to discover this man had been washed overboard the side of the Penzance ferry. He'd never known anyone who'd been washed overboard before.
"I am called Ardeth Bey," Ardeth replied, picking up a blanket and wrapping it around himself. "And what's your name, little one?" he asked the youngster.
"David. David Dunlop. I'm four although I look older," David replied, holding up four of his fingers. He looked behind him. The setting sun was just about to sink below the horizon. "Where's the gull? I saw the gull when you were on Wolf Rock."
"He left to go home to sleep," Ardeth replied. David yawned in response then he smiled at Ardeth.
Thomas chose that moment to break in. "Name's Thomas Wheaton. Ah'm from Savannah, Georgia."
"United States," Ardeth replied.
"You're from Spain?"
Ardeth shook his head. "Egypt. I am Tuareg."
"Tuareg? I didn't think that accent sounded Spanish."
"What's Egypt?" David put in.
"Egypt is where the Pyramids were built. My people live in the desert along the Nile," Ardeth replied.
"What's Spanish, Arder?" David now wanted to know as he leaned on Ardeth's knee. "Are you Spanish?"
Ardeth smiled at David but it was Thomas who answered David. "Spain is a country, and the Spanish live in Spain. You know, like the Danes live in Daneland," Thomas finished, with a sly tone in his voice.
"Nuh uh! Danes don't live in Daneland!" David retorted. He wasn't sure where the Danes lived but Daneland didn't sound right, and he wasn't sure how he knew that. He knitted his brows together. There was a lot he wasn't sure of and he wasn't sure about how much he didn't know. By jove, life was perplexing!
Ardeth smiled again. "But the Danes do live in Daneland," he said, quite seriously, his dark eyes large. David leaned forward and tipped his small face up to look Ardeth in the eyes. Ardeth looked down at David. David knitted his brows again.
"You are not sure where the Danes live but you know, somehow, that the Danes do not live in Daneland. Am I right?" Ardeth asked the child.
Thomas laughed and David nodded his head vigorously. "Where do the Danes live, Arder?" he asked Ardeth.
"The Danes are also known as the Danish. And the Danes live in Denmark," Ardeth replied, smiling again. This child was refreshing to him. "Does that sound better? The Danes live in Denmark?"
David nodded, a tear forming in his eye. "But..."
"Yes?" Ardeth asked softly.
"But sometimes," David was hesitating. He was a bit afraid; in fact, he was miserable about his next statement, but Arder seemed a nice person. "But sometimes, sometimes we eat the danish for breakfast," he finished miserably, looking down. Tears fell down his cheeks to wet his pea jacket.
Ardeth took his hand and tipped David's head upwards. "A danish is a sweet breakfast pastry. You haven't eaten the Danish people. Don't worry, little one. The breakfast pastry is called danish, just like the Danes are also referred to as Danish," Ardeth said.
"Better?" he asked the child.
David smiled through his tears. He jumped up and hugged Ardeth, who couldn't help but hug David back.
"He's only four," Ardeth told Thomas, who nodded.
"Ah'm not much good around children. Ah guess language games aren't a good idea. But, it was David's idea to come out to this rock," Thomas said, wanting to give the little guy some credit.
"Was it your idea to come out here, David?"
"Uh-huh! Wolf Rock is a baaad place! The sailors said so!" David said and crawled down to sit on Ardeth's lap. Despite the warmth his robe gave him, Ardeth found the warmth of the child necessary--and comforting--for as the sun set, a chilling wind came off the ocean.
David decided this was a good time to tell his story.
"I was standing on the shore and I was looking at the lighthouse because daddy sometimes takes people out here to take pictures and I saw something black near the lighthouse," David took a deep breath. At four, he had just learned to describe his day in nearly complete sentences and he wanted to make sure he got his thoughts out of his mind before he forgot them.
He continued, "And that was you, Arder, and I saw the gull and then I went and called mummy! And here we are!" David finished with a flourish. He took another deep breath.
"I owe you my thanks, and my life," Ardeth said to David. Looking at Thomas, he said, "I thank you for believing in David's assertations that I was here."
"You're welcome," David said as the small boat carrying the three males reached the shore.
"Sea folk take care of each other. There's been too much loss of life as it is," Thomas replied.
Ardeth nodded, and his soul cried out in agony about the bombings.
Martha was standing on the shore, waiting for them. "Well, I'll be..." her voice trailed off in awe. "There was someone on Wolf Rock!"
"Hello, ma'am! Ah brought someone for you!"
"I see that!" Martha tried to hide her shock. "The tide is coming up over Wolf Rock. He would have drowned," Martha thought to herself.
"Ah'll go alert the coast guard to be on patrol for the Gilgamesh and any survivors," Thomas said as he gathered up the ropes to moor the small boat to the dock.
"That was an authorized supply run Roger was on. You'll find the phone to the left of the door. Just dial 999 and they'll connect you," Martha said in a tone of sadness as Thomas went to make the call. "Anyone else survive?"
Ardeth shook his head but he was hoping that Martin survived. He didn't want to mention that he thought Martin had survived.
"Mummy! This is Arder Bey! He told me that the Danish live in Denmark and we don't eat them for breakfast!" Ardeth swung David out of the boat and into his mother's arms.
"Well now, that sounds right! Welcome, Arthur Bey," Martha said. "I'm Martha Dunlop. You've met my son. I've a hot bath and a meal waiting for you." Martha put her son down on the ground.
"Thank you, Mrs Dunlop," Ardeth said, his dark eyes looking directly at Martha. He didn't correct the mispronunciation of his name. He would be Arthur for David and Martha. "But what I really need is a way to get to London. Can you help?"
"London?" Martha peered at Ardeth. Arthur needs to get to London? she asked herself. "Why, yes. I can rent you a horse. We don't own a car and there's three rail lines to London that are bombed. Trains aren't running and the coast is shut to private sailing craft as a result of the Luftwaffe. On top of all that, there's a blackout in effect during the evenings."
"A horse will be fine," Ardeth said. He looked at Martha with an expression of gratitude. "That hot bath and dinner sounds wonderful as well," Ardeth finished, smiling. The Gods were providing.
"Yes," a flustered Martha started to say but she was interrupted by David.
"Are you going to stay the night? Can you tell me some stories?" David asked, grabbing Ardeth's hand and tugging him towards the pub. Thomas, meanwhile, had gone off to phone the coast guard.
Martha kept in step with her son, who was still tugging on Ardeth's hand.
"You were lucky. The submarine SS Joshua Nicholson sunk off Wolf Rock in March 1917 and there've been a lot of shipwrecks off that rock."
"It's a good thing there was a lighthouse put there and a good thing your son was looking through the telescope," he said, smiling down at David's blonde head and allowing David to lead him to the pub, David chattering all the way to the staircase leading to the second floor.
"The lighthouse was built there in 1869," Marth replied, her irriation at the purloining of the telescope dissipating as she realized that without David's misbehavior, this man would be amongst the dead Wolf Rock claimed. "David, why not go and set the table for Arthur? You can have dinner with him."
"Yeahh!" David said, turning and running off as fast as he could.
"He's a very good child," Ardeth commented after they'd climbed the stairs. Martha showed Ardeth where the hot bath waited.
"He can be a trial at times," Martha replied. "If you'll leave those clothes, I'll have them washed out for you."
"Thank you," Ardeth commented as Martha took her leave of him. Ardeth undressed and removed the Bracelet of Lostris from its leather pouch. The Bracelet still thrummed and Ardeth knew that somehow, Martin was alive. But where was Martin? Looking down at his legs, he noted his knees and thighs had swelling purple bruises.
Ardeth slid into the still very hot bath. He felt the heated water relaxing his muscles and draining some of the tension. He still had to find Martin and get to London. Boat, car and train were out of the equation now, so by way of horse he would travel to London.
But why hadn't the Bracelet helped them?
Then Ardeth sat up in the bathtub. Didn't Thomas say Wolf Rock was eight miles from Land's End? That was nearly thirteen kilometers. How did David see a lighthouse eight miles away with a telescope unless...unless the Bracelet did help him.
Ardeth relaxed back into the hot water again. Martha did draw a very fine bath.
And the Bracelet of Lostris that Taita had fashioned some thirty five hundred years ago and had imbued with Lostris' power? The Bracelet had enabled a four year old child peering through a telescope to see a shipwreck victim lying on a rock formation eight miles from shore.
"Lostris must be associated with the magic of Isis," was Ardeth's last thought before the warm water relaxed his muscles and he napped.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Throne Room where the Dead go before Osiris and Ammit, Sometime in Eternity (but scuttlebutt has heard rumor it is late September 1940)
"And Ardeth will have only granted Egypt a temporary reprieve from Hitler," Imhotep told the assembled Egyptian Gods. Only Set was missing; he was busy elsewhere with his new follower. Set was also battling with his mother, which, while bad for Ardeth and Martin, kept Set distracted from the secret council of the Gods.
But Set was used to missing secret councils of the Gods; he and Horus had been absent hundreds of times from council meetings when Set was battling Horus for control of the Throne.
Ammit, the Crocodile Monster who preferred the name Devourer of the Dead, and who devoured the hearts of the unworthy, snapped his jaws. "Hitler will not have to be judged by Ma'at. He is already judged unworthy!"
The demons of the underworld were assembled behind Imhotep: the balance between good and evil was equally represented. The female demon Imhotep had noted earlier was happily sucking on the soul of the young man, Josef.
The faces of the gods registered shock. Bastet growled, her cat face scrunching up and her green eyes flashed anger. Horus was walking back and forth, stamping his feet while his mother Isis was weeping uncontrollably. Geb had his hand on Isis' shoulder.
"I want Hitler for myself," the female demon growled between sips of Josef's soul. Imhotep smiled wanly at her and she continued sucking on Josef's soul.
"If London falls, then all of the land north of the Great Green will fall. Hitler will have guessed Josef's plans and he will assemble an army to invade Egypt. But with the land north of the Great Green under his control, he will succeed in destroying Egypt, the Pyramids, and the tombs and temples," Imhotep said.
Sharp intakes of breath from the Gods told Imhotep that there were crimes which were considered worse than his own crimes.
His words about Hitler's plans had chilled the Throne Room and clouds of mist swirled in the air.
Imhotep looked around the Throne Room. "Hitler plans on destroying all traces of the Egyptian civilization, from our beginnings with the Scorpion King up to the present. The destruction of the temples and their paintings would be enough to ensure the Gods' destruction."
"Egypt and Her Gods will not allow Hitler to succeed!" Hathor exclaimed, her anger changing her normal cow form to that of an angry lioness.
"What does that mean?" a young male demon asked the God of the Dead, Osiris.
"It means that we, as Gods, would no longer exist if the temples and their paintings were destroyed. Because even if the temples fall into neglect, the paintings on the temple walls of the feasts, offerings, singers, dancers and inscribed prayers would continue to keep the Gods alive and with sustenence," Osiris replied, repeating Imhotep's earlier words.
Nepthys put in, "Tuthmothis III erased Hatshepsut's name from public buildings. By removing her name, he tried to ensure her erasure from the Afterlife."
"So by destroying the temples and tombs, all Egyptian afterlife would be destroyed? Including us in the underworld?" the male demon queried, his voice shaking.
"Including the demons in the underworld," Osiris confirmed. The demons howled in frustration.
"What do we do?" a frightened Bes, a dwarf fertility god and guardian of pregnant women, asked. The question was repeated by many of the lesser goddesses.
"We need to help prevent the fall of London," the female demon growled, lifting her head up from Josef's soul. She had been slowly sucking on Josef's soul to better draw out his pain.
"Yes! Yes!" shouts came from both sides of the underworld.
"Then we are in agreement?" Osiris asked the assembled gods, sans Set, and including the demons of the underworld in his statement.
A roar of approval sounded.
"Then this meeting is adjourned. We will do everything we can to prevent the fall of London. Then we will focus on getting Hitler to the Underworld," Osiris said. "I just hope that wayward brother of mine doesn't prevent Ardeth from reaching London in time."
The assembled gods and demons began to disperse.
"High Priest Imhotep?" Osiris called to his former High Priest.
Imhotep turned, the light from Nuit's still-falling tears illuminating the gold in his robe. "Yes, my Lord?"
"Thank you for letting us know about Hitler's plans," Osiris said. Imhotep inclined his head, then left the Throne Room, his golden robes fluttering around his ankles. He would be allowed to keep his golden robes in the Underworld.
Isis turned to Osiris. "That deed he did, will that outweigh his crime?"
Osiris thought a moment. "Ma'at will weigh his heart against the feather again. And the demons won't eat his soul until Ma'at weighs his heart. He deserves that much. "
Wolf Rock, along the Penzance ferry route to St Mary's, Scilly Islands, nearest to Land's End, Cornwall, late September, 1940
"There is a man! There is a man!" David jumped up, nearing tipping the boat over.
"By jove, he's right," the sailor, Thomas Wheaton, said softly, picking up a British saying. He slowed the boat, watching carefully the storm surge, and cupping his hands around his mouth he called, "Hello!"
Ardeth waved at the white smudge. He mimicked the man and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello! Can you help?"
"Yes! We'll be there shortly!" Thomas steered the boat towards the closest outcrop of Wolf Rock that the man would be able jump into the boat. The man understood Thomas's actions and nimbly made his way towards the rocky outcrop.
"Hullo, there, mister!" David piped up, as Ardeth stepped into the boat, which rocked and swayed but stayed put under Thomas's expert direction.
"Hello! Guess ah came by at a good time," Thomas tried to joke as Ardeth seated himself.
"Are there any others?" Thomas asked.
Ardeth shook his head. "I'm not sure how many survived. I was traveling with Martin Wilkes. We were both washed overboard when a freak wave washed over the ferry's deck. I'm not even sure how many were washed overboard."
"How many people were on the ferry?"
"Myself, Martin, the captain and a crew of seven."
"Boat's name? We'll start a search."
"Gilgamesh. Owned by Roger Wiltshire of Penzance. That's where we were headed."
Thomas nodded, his dark brown curls bobbing in time. "Ah'll radio it in when we get back. You're at Land's End when we get back. It's eight miles to shore."
"Is Land's End very far from Penzance?" Ardeth inquired.
Thomas shook his head. "It's about an hour's sail. But with the heavy bombing of London by the Luftwaffe, the government has suspended private sailing craft from Land's End up to Dover. There's blackout restrictions on fuel, too, so cars are not used during the night."
"Any way to get to London?"
"By land," Thomas replied. "Pub owners around these parts rent out horses. Ah like to go riding myself."
"Do you have a blanket?" Ardeth asked, shivering slightly despite his heavy wet robes.
"Here it is mister!" David piped up, wanting to be of help. He pointed to a pile of blankets near Ardeth's feet. "What's your name?" he asked Ardeth. He was awed to discover this man had been washed overboard the side of the Penzance ferry. He'd never known anyone who'd been washed overboard before.
"I am called Ardeth Bey," Ardeth replied, picking up a blanket and wrapping it around himself. "And what's your name, little one?" he asked the youngster.
"David. David Dunlop. I'm four although I look older," David replied, holding up four of his fingers. He looked behind him. The setting sun was just about to sink below the horizon. "Where's the gull? I saw the gull when you were on Wolf Rock."
"He left to go home to sleep," Ardeth replied. David yawned in response then he smiled at Ardeth.
Thomas chose that moment to break in. "Name's Thomas Wheaton. Ah'm from Savannah, Georgia."
"United States," Ardeth replied.
"You're from Spain?"
Ardeth shook his head. "Egypt. I am Tuareg."
"Tuareg? I didn't think that accent sounded Spanish."
"What's Egypt?" David put in.
"Egypt is where the Pyramids were built. My people live in the desert along the Nile," Ardeth replied.
"What's Spanish, Arder?" David now wanted to know as he leaned on Ardeth's knee. "Are you Spanish?"
Ardeth smiled at David but it was Thomas who answered David. "Spain is a country, and the Spanish live in Spain. You know, like the Danes live in Daneland," Thomas finished, with a sly tone in his voice.
"Nuh uh! Danes don't live in Daneland!" David retorted. He wasn't sure where the Danes lived but Daneland didn't sound right, and he wasn't sure how he knew that. He knitted his brows together. There was a lot he wasn't sure of and he wasn't sure about how much he didn't know. By jove, life was perplexing!
Ardeth smiled again. "But the Danes do live in Daneland," he said, quite seriously, his dark eyes large. David leaned forward and tipped his small face up to look Ardeth in the eyes. Ardeth looked down at David. David knitted his brows again.
"You are not sure where the Danes live but you know, somehow, that the Danes do not live in Daneland. Am I right?" Ardeth asked the child.
Thomas laughed and David nodded his head vigorously. "Where do the Danes live, Arder?" he asked Ardeth.
"The Danes are also known as the Danish. And the Danes live in Denmark," Ardeth replied, smiling again. This child was refreshing to him. "Does that sound better? The Danes live in Denmark?"
David nodded, a tear forming in his eye. "But..."
"Yes?" Ardeth asked softly.
"But sometimes," David was hesitating. He was a bit afraid; in fact, he was miserable about his next statement, but Arder seemed a nice person. "But sometimes, sometimes we eat the danish for breakfast," he finished miserably, looking down. Tears fell down his cheeks to wet his pea jacket.
Ardeth took his hand and tipped David's head upwards. "A danish is a sweet breakfast pastry. You haven't eaten the Danish people. Don't worry, little one. The breakfast pastry is called danish, just like the Danes are also referred to as Danish," Ardeth said.
"Better?" he asked the child.
David smiled through his tears. He jumped up and hugged Ardeth, who couldn't help but hug David back.
"He's only four," Ardeth told Thomas, who nodded.
"Ah'm not much good around children. Ah guess language games aren't a good idea. But, it was David's idea to come out to this rock," Thomas said, wanting to give the little guy some credit.
"Was it your idea to come out here, David?"
"Uh-huh! Wolf Rock is a baaad place! The sailors said so!" David said and crawled down to sit on Ardeth's lap. Despite the warmth his robe gave him, Ardeth found the warmth of the child necessary--and comforting--for as the sun set, a chilling wind came off the ocean.
David decided this was a good time to tell his story.
"I was standing on the shore and I was looking at the lighthouse because daddy sometimes takes people out here to take pictures and I saw something black near the lighthouse," David took a deep breath. At four, he had just learned to describe his day in nearly complete sentences and he wanted to make sure he got his thoughts out of his mind before he forgot them.
He continued, "And that was you, Arder, and I saw the gull and then I went and called mummy! And here we are!" David finished with a flourish. He took another deep breath.
"I owe you my thanks, and my life," Ardeth said to David. Looking at Thomas, he said, "I thank you for believing in David's assertations that I was here."
"You're welcome," David said as the small boat carrying the three males reached the shore.
"Sea folk take care of each other. There's been too much loss of life as it is," Thomas replied.
Ardeth nodded, and his soul cried out in agony about the bombings.
Martha was standing on the shore, waiting for them. "Well, I'll be..." her voice trailed off in awe. "There was someone on Wolf Rock!"
"Hello, ma'am! Ah brought someone for you!"
"I see that!" Martha tried to hide her shock. "The tide is coming up over Wolf Rock. He would have drowned," Martha thought to herself.
"Ah'll go alert the coast guard to be on patrol for the Gilgamesh and any survivors," Thomas said as he gathered up the ropes to moor the small boat to the dock.
"That was an authorized supply run Roger was on. You'll find the phone to the left of the door. Just dial 999 and they'll connect you," Martha said in a tone of sadness as Thomas went to make the call. "Anyone else survive?"
Ardeth shook his head but he was hoping that Martin survived. He didn't want to mention that he thought Martin had survived.
"Mummy! This is Arder Bey! He told me that the Danish live in Denmark and we don't eat them for breakfast!" Ardeth swung David out of the boat and into his mother's arms.
"Well now, that sounds right! Welcome, Arthur Bey," Martha said. "I'm Martha Dunlop. You've met my son. I've a hot bath and a meal waiting for you." Martha put her son down on the ground.
"Thank you, Mrs Dunlop," Ardeth said, his dark eyes looking directly at Martha. He didn't correct the mispronunciation of his name. He would be Arthur for David and Martha. "But what I really need is a way to get to London. Can you help?"
"London?" Martha peered at Ardeth. Arthur needs to get to London? she asked herself. "Why, yes. I can rent you a horse. We don't own a car and there's three rail lines to London that are bombed. Trains aren't running and the coast is shut to private sailing craft as a result of the Luftwaffe. On top of all that, there's a blackout in effect during the evenings."
"A horse will be fine," Ardeth said. He looked at Martha with an expression of gratitude. "That hot bath and dinner sounds wonderful as well," Ardeth finished, smiling. The Gods were providing.
"Yes," a flustered Martha started to say but she was interrupted by David.
"Are you going to stay the night? Can you tell me some stories?" David asked, grabbing Ardeth's hand and tugging him towards the pub. Thomas, meanwhile, had gone off to phone the coast guard.
Martha kept in step with her son, who was still tugging on Ardeth's hand.
"You were lucky. The submarine SS Joshua Nicholson sunk off Wolf Rock in March 1917 and there've been a lot of shipwrecks off that rock."
"It's a good thing there was a lighthouse put there and a good thing your son was looking through the telescope," he said, smiling down at David's blonde head and allowing David to lead him to the pub, David chattering all the way to the staircase leading to the second floor.
"The lighthouse was built there in 1869," Marth replied, her irriation at the purloining of the telescope dissipating as she realized that without David's misbehavior, this man would be amongst the dead Wolf Rock claimed. "David, why not go and set the table for Arthur? You can have dinner with him."
"Yeahh!" David said, turning and running off as fast as he could.
"He's a very good child," Ardeth commented after they'd climbed the stairs. Martha showed Ardeth where the hot bath waited.
"He can be a trial at times," Martha replied. "If you'll leave those clothes, I'll have them washed out for you."
"Thank you," Ardeth commented as Martha took her leave of him. Ardeth undressed and removed the Bracelet of Lostris from its leather pouch. The Bracelet still thrummed and Ardeth knew that somehow, Martin was alive. But where was Martin? Looking down at his legs, he noted his knees and thighs had swelling purple bruises.
Ardeth slid into the still very hot bath. He felt the heated water relaxing his muscles and draining some of the tension. He still had to find Martin and get to London. Boat, car and train were out of the equation now, so by way of horse he would travel to London.
But why hadn't the Bracelet helped them?
Then Ardeth sat up in the bathtub. Didn't Thomas say Wolf Rock was eight miles from Land's End? That was nearly thirteen kilometers. How did David see a lighthouse eight miles away with a telescope unless...unless the Bracelet did help him.
Ardeth relaxed back into the hot water again. Martha did draw a very fine bath.
And the Bracelet of Lostris that Taita had fashioned some thirty five hundred years ago and had imbued with Lostris' power? The Bracelet had enabled a four year old child peering through a telescope to see a shipwreck victim lying on a rock formation eight miles from shore.
"Lostris must be associated with the magic of Isis," was Ardeth's last thought before the warm water relaxed his muscles and he napped.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Throne Room where the Dead go before Osiris and Ammit, Sometime in Eternity (but scuttlebutt has heard rumor it is late September 1940)
"And Ardeth will have only granted Egypt a temporary reprieve from Hitler," Imhotep told the assembled Egyptian Gods. Only Set was missing; he was busy elsewhere with his new follower. Set was also battling with his mother, which, while bad for Ardeth and Martin, kept Set distracted from the secret council of the Gods.
But Set was used to missing secret councils of the Gods; he and Horus had been absent hundreds of times from council meetings when Set was battling Horus for control of the Throne.
Ammit, the Crocodile Monster who preferred the name Devourer of the Dead, and who devoured the hearts of the unworthy, snapped his jaws. "Hitler will not have to be judged by Ma'at. He is already judged unworthy!"
The demons of the underworld were assembled behind Imhotep: the balance between good and evil was equally represented. The female demon Imhotep had noted earlier was happily sucking on the soul of the young man, Josef.
The faces of the gods registered shock. Bastet growled, her cat face scrunching up and her green eyes flashed anger. Horus was walking back and forth, stamping his feet while his mother Isis was weeping uncontrollably. Geb had his hand on Isis' shoulder.
"I want Hitler for myself," the female demon growled between sips of Josef's soul. Imhotep smiled wanly at her and she continued sucking on Josef's soul.
"If London falls, then all of the land north of the Great Green will fall. Hitler will have guessed Josef's plans and he will assemble an army to invade Egypt. But with the land north of the Great Green under his control, he will succeed in destroying Egypt, the Pyramids, and the tombs and temples," Imhotep said.
Sharp intakes of breath from the Gods told Imhotep that there were crimes which were considered worse than his own crimes.
His words about Hitler's plans had chilled the Throne Room and clouds of mist swirled in the air.
Imhotep looked around the Throne Room. "Hitler plans on destroying all traces of the Egyptian civilization, from our beginnings with the Scorpion King up to the present. The destruction of the temples and their paintings would be enough to ensure the Gods' destruction."
"Egypt and Her Gods will not allow Hitler to succeed!" Hathor exclaimed, her anger changing her normal cow form to that of an angry lioness.
"What does that mean?" a young male demon asked the God of the Dead, Osiris.
"It means that we, as Gods, would no longer exist if the temples and their paintings were destroyed. Because even if the temples fall into neglect, the paintings on the temple walls of the feasts, offerings, singers, dancers and inscribed prayers would continue to keep the Gods alive and with sustenence," Osiris replied, repeating Imhotep's earlier words.
Nepthys put in, "Tuthmothis III erased Hatshepsut's name from public buildings. By removing her name, he tried to ensure her erasure from the Afterlife."
"So by destroying the temples and tombs, all Egyptian afterlife would be destroyed? Including us in the underworld?" the male demon queried, his voice shaking.
"Including the demons in the underworld," Osiris confirmed. The demons howled in frustration.
"What do we do?" a frightened Bes, a dwarf fertility god and guardian of pregnant women, asked. The question was repeated by many of the lesser goddesses.
"We need to help prevent the fall of London," the female demon growled, lifting her head up from Josef's soul. She had been slowly sucking on Josef's soul to better draw out his pain.
"Yes! Yes!" shouts came from both sides of the underworld.
"Then we are in agreement?" Osiris asked the assembled gods, sans Set, and including the demons of the underworld in his statement.
A roar of approval sounded.
"Then this meeting is adjourned. We will do everything we can to prevent the fall of London. Then we will focus on getting Hitler to the Underworld," Osiris said. "I just hope that wayward brother of mine doesn't prevent Ardeth from reaching London in time."
The assembled gods and demons began to disperse.
"High Priest Imhotep?" Osiris called to his former High Priest.
Imhotep turned, the light from Nuit's still-falling tears illuminating the gold in his robe. "Yes, my Lord?"
"Thank you for letting us know about Hitler's plans," Osiris said. Imhotep inclined his head, then left the Throne Room, his golden robes fluttering around his ankles. He would be allowed to keep his golden robes in the Underworld.
Isis turned to Osiris. "That deed he did, will that outweigh his crime?"
Osiris thought a moment. "Ma'at will weigh his heart against the feather again. And the demons won't eat his soul until Ma'at weighs his heart. He deserves that much. "
