CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Afterlife: The Myth of the Restorer of Ma'at
"Gather round and I'll tell you the story of how Ardeth Bey stopped the Destruction of the Pyramids and saved mankind from destruction," Taita told the assembled children, who were new to the Afterlife, having just arrived in the Afterlife. Taita always had had a soft spot for children, especially children killed as a result of war.
"Ardeth saved my mother," whispered one girl--a four year old, blond with Egyptian sky blue eyes. Taita smiled at her gently before beginning his tale:
"In the time of the Age of Taurus, the Great God Imhotep, Architect of the Step Pyramid, received a vision from Nuit: "You are to build a Temple to me in the village of Djeba, in Upper Egypt."
Imhotep replied, "I will do so, Goddess."
"There is a block of lapis lazuli buried in the sands around Djeba. That block of lapis lazuli is my earthly body. You are to find my earthly body and construct a Ring and line the Ring with silver. Place my earthly body in my Temple."
Again, Imhotep replied, "I will do as you command, Goddess."
Then Nuit delivered horrifying news: her Temple would be ransacked by Hyksos a thousand years in Imhotep's future as the pastoral tribe ransacked Egypt and topple the Pharoahs for two hundred and fifty years.
The Goddess informed Imhotep that the Hyksos would steal the Ring and travel with the Ring to the Delta of the Nile, along the shores of the Great Green. Late in the first half of the Age of Pisces, the Ring would be buried in the muddy bed of the Great Green when a terrible earthquake would strike the Delta region.
Imhotep was horrified at the Goddess' words and told the Goddess he would ensure the Ring of Nuit would not be stolen from the Temple and taken to the Delta.
But the Goddess told Imhotep the Temple of Nuit would be toppled by an aftershock of the Delta earthquake. If the Ring of Nuit was in the Temple, the Ring would be crushed under the stone pillars and the Restorer of Ma'at would not be able to use its power to save the Pyramids from destruction.
Imhotep was saddened at the knowledge his architecture would be toppled, but he obeyed the Goddess and built her Temple soundly.
The Temple survived the millennia, survived the invasion of the Hyksos (and the invasions of many foreign peoples). The Temple was only toppled by the earthquake late in the first half of the Age of Pisces.
Near the end of the Age of Pisces, Ardeth Bey, Commander of the Medjai, had been awakened one dawn by the soft breath of Nuit kissing his forehead.
She revealed to him that he was her Earthly Son and he had been chosen to return her own earthly body to her Temple in Djeba by the ninth day before the full moon or else the Pyramids would be destroyed along with all humankind.
Ardeth travelled across the searing desert towards the Nile, rarely stopping to eat or rest. Sprouting wings of silver, he flew to the mouth of the Nile and dove under the waters of the Great Green. Under the waters of the Great Green, the Great Imhotep and Queen Lostris appeared to Ardeth. Imhotep and Lostris told Ardeth he would have their protection and help.
The Great Imhotep used his powers to help Ardeth locate the Ring of Nuit and Queen Lostris cleared the waters under the Great Green and provided a dolphin to help Ardeth return to the surface. Retrieving the silver lined lapis lazuli ring from the muddy bed of the Great Green, Ardeth, with the help of his earthly priest Martin, again sprouted wings of silver and flew to Djeba. Once again, the Great Imhotep assisted Ardeth by showing Ardeth the location of the Temple ruins.
Ardeth located the shrine to Nuit, buried in the sands by a dedicated priest. Placing the Ring of Nuit in the shrine, Nuit was able to resurrect her Powers. She dispelled the silver winged invader who was planning on destroying the Pyramids and humankind, depositing the invader directly in the Underworld. In gratitude, the Egyptian Gods granted Ardeth Bey the title "Restorer of Ma'at."
"Ardeth Bey was the man who helped save my mother!" the four year old piped up.
"He did! I watched him!" her brother, a six year old boy said as their companions started to get up and wander off. Story time was over for now. The two children had arrived together in the Afterlife, confused and upset and Taita had seen them standing forlornly along with hordes of other children.
As the children dispersed, following Lostris as she danced and sang, Taita stood up, then turned--and stopped short. For there, standing in front of him, the Great Imhotep himself was materializing.
"Greetings, Taita," Imhotep said when he had attained the Afterlife."I only caught the last part of the myth but you constructed the myth of Ardeth skillfully," Imhotep said, inclining his head. A golden light suffused Imhotep and also surrounded Taita in a warm glow.
"And greetings to you, Great Imhotep," Taita replied. His mind was a whirl: for here was Imhotep, whose architecture and medicine Taita had studied all his life. Taita was about to continue his greeting to the Great God, then remembered the shimmering golden light meant that Imhotep had travelled to the Crossroads of Time. Taita had so many questions for Imhotep: architecture, the medical treatises Imhotep had written, poetry.
He debated as to whether or not he should relate events from a future time--his own time--to Imhotep, then decided to compliment the Great Architect. "I was--or from your timeframe, will be--one of the travelers to your Pyramid who will leave graffito on the unused stones lying around the Pyramid," he told Imhotep.
"Great," Taita thought to himself. "You finally get to meet the Great Imhotep--a very popular figure even in his own time--and all you can say is that you were one of the people who left--or will leave--graffito about him. Ask him something about medicine next time."
Imhotep smiled, his white teeth showing fully. "The graffito has already started, Taita. It seems that the Step Pyramid is the only stone building in the world. People are coming from Palestine, Sumeria and from beyond the Tigris River to see the Pyramid. Traders from everywhere are bringing accounts of the Pyramid to their own Kings, and the traders return to Egypt, laden with gifts for Her."
"The first stone building of its size in the world is an achievement that all the world should see," Taita said, his mind whirling, trying to figure out exactly what to ask the Great Imhotep.
Imhotep's face looked strained for a moment and Taita realized that Imhotep was using a mixture of mushrooms to get to the Crossroads of Time. The fact that Imhotep was in the Crossroads of Time finally dawned on Taita. He himself had used the essence of the Red Sheppen flower while he worked the Mazes of Ra and the ordeal tired him beyond belief.
"There is much I'd like to ask you, but I gather this is not a social call," Taita commented, the physician in him noting Imhotep's somewhat pale skin, telling Taita that Imhotep had been attempting to gain access to the Crossroads of Time for many nights--and the strain was showing.
"You are correct in your deduction, and you are also correct in thinking that I have been trying to gain access to the Crossroads for many nights. There is something I need to ask of you and Lostris."
"Of course."
"The Restorer of Ma'at needs your help in expelling the forces of the Dark One from a great city far north and to the west of the Great Green. Can you help? I am afraid if that city falls, then Egypt herself will fall to the Dark One's forces."
Taita nodded. "Lostris and I will do anything to help the Restorer of Ma'at. We know he has the Bracelet of Lostris, which was made to help repel foreign armies. It didn't work too well," he said sadly. "For Egypt was invaded many times after the Hyksos." Then he bit his lip, wondering if he revealed too much about the future.
Imhotep smiled wanly. "The Gods told me that Egypt fell to the Hyksos. And the wealth of Egypt is too great for foreign armies to resist. It would be folly to think Egypt will be immune from foreign conquest."
"We will help in any way possible. I will have Lostris contact the Keeper of the Bracelet and let him know what to do."
Imhotep thought a moment, then his curiosity got the better of him. He had been a student of the Book of Thoth and he wanted to know what magic Taita had instilled in the Bracelet. "How does the Bracelet work?"
Taita smiled. Magic never ceased to amaze him--invisibility spells, demon-repelling spells, cure spells--all the spells from the Book of Thoth, of which he was a student and he rather suspected that Imhotep was also a student of the Book.
But Taita's studying of the Book had been surreptious, for he had discovered a torn copy in a ransacked Temple and had taken the Book. "Invisibility, for one. When someone is in great peril from an enemy, and is wearing the Bracelet, the spell kicks in without any incantation. All the Bracelet needs is the feeling of fear throbbing in the veins for the spell to be activated."
Imhotep was impressed. Taita's feat with the invisibility spell from the Book of Thoth had improved upon the spell. "You improved upon the spell?"
Taita nodded. "When the Hyksos invaded, I needed to have a spell to make myself invisible so that I might move about Thebes during the day, copying scrolls that you wrote, and that I wrote, then hiding them. I was afraid the knowledge would be lost. I nearly failed many times and once I was chased through the streets of Thebes by an entire squadron of enemy soldiers until I was able to jump in the Nile and hide amongst the papyrus reeds."
"Rats are hard to avoid and spells take time to perfect," Imhotep replied, noting Taita's nod at his mention of rats. The two men shared a smile, knowing who the rats were, then Imhotep added, "You copied my scrolls?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Your medical treatise was the one that I learned from, and I copied that scroll first, even before copying the scrolls I authored. I hid my copy of your treatise well, and I am rather hoping that the copy remains intact."
Imhotep nodded, Taita's reply had confirmed that he too was a physician. "Since you are already in the Afterlife, you can have Lostris ask the Keeper if he has heard of a surviving copy of the medical treatise has been found," he observed.
"You're right. Martin might know the outcome. Or Ardeth. Martin can ask Ardeth. I hid my copies very well...actually," Taita grinned. "I hid my copies in your Pyramid."
"How?" Imhotep asked, surprised.
"In the upper reaches. I caused smaller blocks to be carved out of the larger stones. Then, I cut the smaller stones in half and partly hollowed them out."
"And that would create a niche in which you could hide something," Imhotep said, grinning. "It seems that my medical treatises are not all you read."
"Guilty as charged," Taita responded, smiling broadly. "Engineering, architecture, medicine, poetry are all required reading in my time. I can recite chapter and verse from each of your scrolls, my memory is that good."
"The scholars have decreed the same thing in time," Imhotep observed. "I see the young boys carving mud bricks and building mud pyramids while being supervised by their older brothers who are studying to be architects. What other spells did you have instilled in the Bracelet?"
"The demon-repelling spell, modified and improved upon a bit. To repel the invaders, the Bracelet would be activated by being broken into three parts, then placed in a triangle. Like the Pyramids. Then the Spell of Osiris would be incanted."
Imhotep smiled, highly impressed with Taita's improvement of the magic spells from the Book of Thoth. "Smart. Using the power of the Pyramids to repel invaders instead of the spell repelling demons."
"With Egypt being invaded, invaders are demons," Taita commented and Imhotep nodded.
"You are a man I would have liked to have known in my time," Imhotep said, a bit confused at his grammar in the Crossroads but he shrugged it off.
Taita debated his answer a moment. "I, a former slave, would have been honored to be in your presence," he replied, deciding not to hide his roots. Even in the Afterlife, all he could remember about the place he originated from was that it was a mountainous region north of the Great Green.
The four year old child from London most resembled him in looks and eye color, and he secretly wondered if the woman who birthed him had birthed other children who had migrated to London--the great city north and west of the Great Green.
"A former slave," Imhotep observed. "I presume your former owner educated you?" Imhotep asked.
Taita nodded again. "Lord Intef was my first owner. I was eight when I arrived in Egypt. Seeing that I had aptitude, he educated me. When I became old enough, I sought out other things to do: learn the languages of the slaves from the interior of Africa, learn anatomy by dissecting cadavers. When Lostris married the Pharoah and her father was required to give her a wedding present, she asked for me instead."
Imhotep was intrigued. "Instead of what?"
"Instead of one hundred feddans of prime irrigable land land and the five thousand gold rings Lord Intef had offered her."
"She saw your worth as far more than land or gold."
"But I am worried that it was me who brought the Hyksos to Egypt," Taita said, then bit his lip again. He wondered if he had said too much and if that knowledge would harm the flow of time.
"I made a promise to the Gods not to reveal anything I learn about the future. I already know the Hyksos invade Egypt and bring her down. I also know the Temple I built to Nuit will topple late in the first half of the Age of Pisces." A promise made to the Gods was not done lightly and Imhotep greatly feared retribution if he revealed anything he learned. What he feared most was that his heart would be judged unworthy and would be eaten by Ammit.
"It was I who informed Pharoah about Lord Intef's deception by evading his tax collectors," Taita responded, now realizing what Imhotep had realized: a broken promise to the Gods meant the heart being eaten by Ammit. "But Intef had already been fingered as the leader of the Shrikes, who had been maurading the countryside."
"Then he was already guilty of betraying Egypt."
"But he left in exile after I revealed to Pharoah the location of the hidden wealth."
"He would have been in exile anyways, for he had already waged a war against Egypt by leading those who mauraded the countryside. Did the Pharoah have knowledge of Intef's leadership of the Shrikes before he gained knowledge of the deception from the tax collectors?"
Taita breathed a sigh of relief. In the back of his mind, he had always thought during the long days of exile in Kush that Egypt's downfall had been his own doing. "Yes. Pharoah had learned about the Shrikes just before learning of Intef's deception." But another thought nagged Taita: if Lostris had chosen her father's wedding present of land and gold, he could have been kept Intef in check.
"I see something else is on your mind," Imhotep observed. "Are you worried that if Lostris had chosen the land and gold offered by her father, Lord Intef's actions could have been kept in check?"
Taita was startled. "How did you know that?"
"An Egyptian physician is trained in all aspects of bodily health: the mind as well as the body. And," he smiled broadly at Taita. "I was thinking the same thing. My next question is simple: did the mauraders start pillaging Egypt before or after Lostris was married to Pharoah?"
"Before," was Taita's instant reply. Then Taita breathed another sigh of relief. There was nothing he could have done to prevent the invasion of the Hyksos. When Tanus revealed Intef to be the leader of the Shrikes--the Akh-Seth--Intef would have already planned to exile himself. Decades of worry fell from his shoulders. "Thank you, Imhotep."
"It is I who should thank you, Taita. For copying my medical treatise when Egypt was invaded and then hiding it in my own Pyramid. Next to the Pyramid, I am most proud of my medical treatise."
"Then I prescribe this treatment: one flooding season along the shores of the Great Green," Taita said, smiling. "Even the Great Imhotep needs time to contemplate."
"Prescription noted, and accepted," Imhotep responded. "I must leave now."
Taita inclined his head. "It was an honor to meet you. May the rest of your days be blessed by the Gods."
"That I am hoping. I will meet up with you again when it is my turn to enter the Afterlife. I suspect we will have much to talk about."
"That we will," Taita said and Imhotep faded out, the golden light lingering just a moment longer. He didn't know why he had told Imhotep about his fears that Egypt's invasion had been his fault or why he had started the conversation. Perhaps that was the way of things: the rise and fall of nations over millenia. Perhaps Egypt had been meant to fall in his lifetime so that she might arise again, like a benu rising from the ashes of its own immolition.
Was that the reason Egypt fell? To make her stronger? Taita had known many travelers from far-flung lands, and he knew many cultures told similar stories of long lived birds whose lives were ended in flames--a metaphor, perhaps, for explaining the rise and fall of a nation's fortunes.
Taita decided to go look for one of the later Pharoahs of Egypt. Perhaps one of the Pharaohs could inform Taita if Egypt had experienced her second set of Golden Days--the first such set being in the time of the Great Imhotep and the Pyramid Age. He smiled to himself and hummed a tune as he went off in search of answers, in search of the benu that was Egypt.
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Temple of Nuit, Djeba, Egypt, in the Age of Taurus, dawn
Standing up, Imhotep arched his back. A temple servant brought him fresh water to drink. As the life of the Nile slipped down his throat, the golden rays of Ra peeked over the edge of the horizon. Dawn was always his favorite time of the day hours, for Ra's rays signified life was still strong along the Nile.
He had been impressed with Taita. Impressed with the knowledge Taita had learned, impressed with the magic Taita had been able to work.
Imhotep had also seen one thing he had never seen before: blue eyes. Although one of the Traders from the islands in the Great Green had been said to have blue eyes--and his daughter was said to have dark green eyes--blue eyes were unheard of in Egypt during his time and Taita's eyes were the color of the Egyptian sky.
The depth of knowledge Imhotep had learned about the future astounded him. And he knew he would never reveal that knowledge. Imhotep was an honest man, and an honorable man. Once he gave his word, he would never break his promise. He supposed the Gods knew that and had entrusted him with certain knowledge.
Finishing the cup of water, he handed the cup back to the waiting servant. Today would be a great day along the Nile. He had performed his duties well and his soul was infused with good feelings.
"Your bath is ready," the servant said before nodding and walking silently towards the bathhouse adjacent to the Temple. Imhotep followed him, wondering if he would be willing to be educated like Taita had been educated by Lord Intef.
The Afterlife: The Myth of the Restorer of Ma'at
"Gather round and I'll tell you the story of how Ardeth Bey stopped the Destruction of the Pyramids and saved mankind from destruction," Taita told the assembled children, who were new to the Afterlife, having just arrived in the Afterlife. Taita always had had a soft spot for children, especially children killed as a result of war.
"Ardeth saved my mother," whispered one girl--a four year old, blond with Egyptian sky blue eyes. Taita smiled at her gently before beginning his tale:
"In the time of the Age of Taurus, the Great God Imhotep, Architect of the Step Pyramid, received a vision from Nuit: "You are to build a Temple to me in the village of Djeba, in Upper Egypt."
Imhotep replied, "I will do so, Goddess."
"There is a block of lapis lazuli buried in the sands around Djeba. That block of lapis lazuli is my earthly body. You are to find my earthly body and construct a Ring and line the Ring with silver. Place my earthly body in my Temple."
Again, Imhotep replied, "I will do as you command, Goddess."
Then Nuit delivered horrifying news: her Temple would be ransacked by Hyksos a thousand years in Imhotep's future as the pastoral tribe ransacked Egypt and topple the Pharoahs for two hundred and fifty years.
The Goddess informed Imhotep that the Hyksos would steal the Ring and travel with the Ring to the Delta of the Nile, along the shores of the Great Green. Late in the first half of the Age of Pisces, the Ring would be buried in the muddy bed of the Great Green when a terrible earthquake would strike the Delta region.
Imhotep was horrified at the Goddess' words and told the Goddess he would ensure the Ring of Nuit would not be stolen from the Temple and taken to the Delta.
But the Goddess told Imhotep the Temple of Nuit would be toppled by an aftershock of the Delta earthquake. If the Ring of Nuit was in the Temple, the Ring would be crushed under the stone pillars and the Restorer of Ma'at would not be able to use its power to save the Pyramids from destruction.
Imhotep was saddened at the knowledge his architecture would be toppled, but he obeyed the Goddess and built her Temple soundly.
The Temple survived the millennia, survived the invasion of the Hyksos (and the invasions of many foreign peoples). The Temple was only toppled by the earthquake late in the first half of the Age of Pisces.
Near the end of the Age of Pisces, Ardeth Bey, Commander of the Medjai, had been awakened one dawn by the soft breath of Nuit kissing his forehead.
She revealed to him that he was her Earthly Son and he had been chosen to return her own earthly body to her Temple in Djeba by the ninth day before the full moon or else the Pyramids would be destroyed along with all humankind.
Ardeth travelled across the searing desert towards the Nile, rarely stopping to eat or rest. Sprouting wings of silver, he flew to the mouth of the Nile and dove under the waters of the Great Green. Under the waters of the Great Green, the Great Imhotep and Queen Lostris appeared to Ardeth. Imhotep and Lostris told Ardeth he would have their protection and help.
The Great Imhotep used his powers to help Ardeth locate the Ring of Nuit and Queen Lostris cleared the waters under the Great Green and provided a dolphin to help Ardeth return to the surface. Retrieving the silver lined lapis lazuli ring from the muddy bed of the Great Green, Ardeth, with the help of his earthly priest Martin, again sprouted wings of silver and flew to Djeba. Once again, the Great Imhotep assisted Ardeth by showing Ardeth the location of the Temple ruins.
Ardeth located the shrine to Nuit, buried in the sands by a dedicated priest. Placing the Ring of Nuit in the shrine, Nuit was able to resurrect her Powers. She dispelled the silver winged invader who was planning on destroying the Pyramids and humankind, depositing the invader directly in the Underworld. In gratitude, the Egyptian Gods granted Ardeth Bey the title "Restorer of Ma'at."
"Ardeth Bey was the man who helped save my mother!" the four year old piped up.
"He did! I watched him!" her brother, a six year old boy said as their companions started to get up and wander off. Story time was over for now. The two children had arrived together in the Afterlife, confused and upset and Taita had seen them standing forlornly along with hordes of other children.
As the children dispersed, following Lostris as she danced and sang, Taita stood up, then turned--and stopped short. For there, standing in front of him, the Great Imhotep himself was materializing.
"Greetings, Taita," Imhotep said when he had attained the Afterlife."I only caught the last part of the myth but you constructed the myth of Ardeth skillfully," Imhotep said, inclining his head. A golden light suffused Imhotep and also surrounded Taita in a warm glow.
"And greetings to you, Great Imhotep," Taita replied. His mind was a whirl: for here was Imhotep, whose architecture and medicine Taita had studied all his life. Taita was about to continue his greeting to the Great God, then remembered the shimmering golden light meant that Imhotep had travelled to the Crossroads of Time. Taita had so many questions for Imhotep: architecture, the medical treatises Imhotep had written, poetry.
He debated as to whether or not he should relate events from a future time--his own time--to Imhotep, then decided to compliment the Great Architect. "I was--or from your timeframe, will be--one of the travelers to your Pyramid who will leave graffito on the unused stones lying around the Pyramid," he told Imhotep.
"Great," Taita thought to himself. "You finally get to meet the Great Imhotep--a very popular figure even in his own time--and all you can say is that you were one of the people who left--or will leave--graffito about him. Ask him something about medicine next time."
Imhotep smiled, his white teeth showing fully. "The graffito has already started, Taita. It seems that the Step Pyramid is the only stone building in the world. People are coming from Palestine, Sumeria and from beyond the Tigris River to see the Pyramid. Traders from everywhere are bringing accounts of the Pyramid to their own Kings, and the traders return to Egypt, laden with gifts for Her."
"The first stone building of its size in the world is an achievement that all the world should see," Taita said, his mind whirling, trying to figure out exactly what to ask the Great Imhotep.
Imhotep's face looked strained for a moment and Taita realized that Imhotep was using a mixture of mushrooms to get to the Crossroads of Time. The fact that Imhotep was in the Crossroads of Time finally dawned on Taita. He himself had used the essence of the Red Sheppen flower while he worked the Mazes of Ra and the ordeal tired him beyond belief.
"There is much I'd like to ask you, but I gather this is not a social call," Taita commented, the physician in him noting Imhotep's somewhat pale skin, telling Taita that Imhotep had been attempting to gain access to the Crossroads of Time for many nights--and the strain was showing.
"You are correct in your deduction, and you are also correct in thinking that I have been trying to gain access to the Crossroads for many nights. There is something I need to ask of you and Lostris."
"Of course."
"The Restorer of Ma'at needs your help in expelling the forces of the Dark One from a great city far north and to the west of the Great Green. Can you help? I am afraid if that city falls, then Egypt herself will fall to the Dark One's forces."
Taita nodded. "Lostris and I will do anything to help the Restorer of Ma'at. We know he has the Bracelet of Lostris, which was made to help repel foreign armies. It didn't work too well," he said sadly. "For Egypt was invaded many times after the Hyksos." Then he bit his lip, wondering if he revealed too much about the future.
Imhotep smiled wanly. "The Gods told me that Egypt fell to the Hyksos. And the wealth of Egypt is too great for foreign armies to resist. It would be folly to think Egypt will be immune from foreign conquest."
"We will help in any way possible. I will have Lostris contact the Keeper of the Bracelet and let him know what to do."
Imhotep thought a moment, then his curiosity got the better of him. He had been a student of the Book of Thoth and he wanted to know what magic Taita had instilled in the Bracelet. "How does the Bracelet work?"
Taita smiled. Magic never ceased to amaze him--invisibility spells, demon-repelling spells, cure spells--all the spells from the Book of Thoth, of which he was a student and he rather suspected that Imhotep was also a student of the Book.
But Taita's studying of the Book had been surreptious, for he had discovered a torn copy in a ransacked Temple and had taken the Book. "Invisibility, for one. When someone is in great peril from an enemy, and is wearing the Bracelet, the spell kicks in without any incantation. All the Bracelet needs is the feeling of fear throbbing in the veins for the spell to be activated."
Imhotep was impressed. Taita's feat with the invisibility spell from the Book of Thoth had improved upon the spell. "You improved upon the spell?"
Taita nodded. "When the Hyksos invaded, I needed to have a spell to make myself invisible so that I might move about Thebes during the day, copying scrolls that you wrote, and that I wrote, then hiding them. I was afraid the knowledge would be lost. I nearly failed many times and once I was chased through the streets of Thebes by an entire squadron of enemy soldiers until I was able to jump in the Nile and hide amongst the papyrus reeds."
"Rats are hard to avoid and spells take time to perfect," Imhotep replied, noting Taita's nod at his mention of rats. The two men shared a smile, knowing who the rats were, then Imhotep added, "You copied my scrolls?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Your medical treatise was the one that I learned from, and I copied that scroll first, even before copying the scrolls I authored. I hid my copy of your treatise well, and I am rather hoping that the copy remains intact."
Imhotep nodded, Taita's reply had confirmed that he too was a physician. "Since you are already in the Afterlife, you can have Lostris ask the Keeper if he has heard of a surviving copy of the medical treatise has been found," he observed.
"You're right. Martin might know the outcome. Or Ardeth. Martin can ask Ardeth. I hid my copies very well...actually," Taita grinned. "I hid my copies in your Pyramid."
"How?" Imhotep asked, surprised.
"In the upper reaches. I caused smaller blocks to be carved out of the larger stones. Then, I cut the smaller stones in half and partly hollowed them out."
"And that would create a niche in which you could hide something," Imhotep said, grinning. "It seems that my medical treatises are not all you read."
"Guilty as charged," Taita responded, smiling broadly. "Engineering, architecture, medicine, poetry are all required reading in my time. I can recite chapter and verse from each of your scrolls, my memory is that good."
"The scholars have decreed the same thing in time," Imhotep observed. "I see the young boys carving mud bricks and building mud pyramids while being supervised by their older brothers who are studying to be architects. What other spells did you have instilled in the Bracelet?"
"The demon-repelling spell, modified and improved upon a bit. To repel the invaders, the Bracelet would be activated by being broken into three parts, then placed in a triangle. Like the Pyramids. Then the Spell of Osiris would be incanted."
Imhotep smiled, highly impressed with Taita's improvement of the magic spells from the Book of Thoth. "Smart. Using the power of the Pyramids to repel invaders instead of the spell repelling demons."
"With Egypt being invaded, invaders are demons," Taita commented and Imhotep nodded.
"You are a man I would have liked to have known in my time," Imhotep said, a bit confused at his grammar in the Crossroads but he shrugged it off.
Taita debated his answer a moment. "I, a former slave, would have been honored to be in your presence," he replied, deciding not to hide his roots. Even in the Afterlife, all he could remember about the place he originated from was that it was a mountainous region north of the Great Green.
The four year old child from London most resembled him in looks and eye color, and he secretly wondered if the woman who birthed him had birthed other children who had migrated to London--the great city north and west of the Great Green.
"A former slave," Imhotep observed. "I presume your former owner educated you?" Imhotep asked.
Taita nodded again. "Lord Intef was my first owner. I was eight when I arrived in Egypt. Seeing that I had aptitude, he educated me. When I became old enough, I sought out other things to do: learn the languages of the slaves from the interior of Africa, learn anatomy by dissecting cadavers. When Lostris married the Pharoah and her father was required to give her a wedding present, she asked for me instead."
Imhotep was intrigued. "Instead of what?"
"Instead of one hundred feddans of prime irrigable land land and the five thousand gold rings Lord Intef had offered her."
"She saw your worth as far more than land or gold."
"But I am worried that it was me who brought the Hyksos to Egypt," Taita said, then bit his lip again. He wondered if he had said too much and if that knowledge would harm the flow of time.
"I made a promise to the Gods not to reveal anything I learn about the future. I already know the Hyksos invade Egypt and bring her down. I also know the Temple I built to Nuit will topple late in the first half of the Age of Pisces." A promise made to the Gods was not done lightly and Imhotep greatly feared retribution if he revealed anything he learned. What he feared most was that his heart would be judged unworthy and would be eaten by Ammit.
"It was I who informed Pharoah about Lord Intef's deception by evading his tax collectors," Taita responded, now realizing what Imhotep had realized: a broken promise to the Gods meant the heart being eaten by Ammit. "But Intef had already been fingered as the leader of the Shrikes, who had been maurading the countryside."
"Then he was already guilty of betraying Egypt."
"But he left in exile after I revealed to Pharoah the location of the hidden wealth."
"He would have been in exile anyways, for he had already waged a war against Egypt by leading those who mauraded the countryside. Did the Pharoah have knowledge of Intef's leadership of the Shrikes before he gained knowledge of the deception from the tax collectors?"
Taita breathed a sigh of relief. In the back of his mind, he had always thought during the long days of exile in Kush that Egypt's downfall had been his own doing. "Yes. Pharoah had learned about the Shrikes just before learning of Intef's deception." But another thought nagged Taita: if Lostris had chosen her father's wedding present of land and gold, he could have been kept Intef in check.
"I see something else is on your mind," Imhotep observed. "Are you worried that if Lostris had chosen the land and gold offered by her father, Lord Intef's actions could have been kept in check?"
Taita was startled. "How did you know that?"
"An Egyptian physician is trained in all aspects of bodily health: the mind as well as the body. And," he smiled broadly at Taita. "I was thinking the same thing. My next question is simple: did the mauraders start pillaging Egypt before or after Lostris was married to Pharoah?"
"Before," was Taita's instant reply. Then Taita breathed another sigh of relief. There was nothing he could have done to prevent the invasion of the Hyksos. When Tanus revealed Intef to be the leader of the Shrikes--the Akh-Seth--Intef would have already planned to exile himself. Decades of worry fell from his shoulders. "Thank you, Imhotep."
"It is I who should thank you, Taita. For copying my medical treatise when Egypt was invaded and then hiding it in my own Pyramid. Next to the Pyramid, I am most proud of my medical treatise."
"Then I prescribe this treatment: one flooding season along the shores of the Great Green," Taita said, smiling. "Even the Great Imhotep needs time to contemplate."
"Prescription noted, and accepted," Imhotep responded. "I must leave now."
Taita inclined his head. "It was an honor to meet you. May the rest of your days be blessed by the Gods."
"That I am hoping. I will meet up with you again when it is my turn to enter the Afterlife. I suspect we will have much to talk about."
"That we will," Taita said and Imhotep faded out, the golden light lingering just a moment longer. He didn't know why he had told Imhotep about his fears that Egypt's invasion had been his fault or why he had started the conversation. Perhaps that was the way of things: the rise and fall of nations over millenia. Perhaps Egypt had been meant to fall in his lifetime so that she might arise again, like a benu rising from the ashes of its own immolition.
Was that the reason Egypt fell? To make her stronger? Taita had known many travelers from far-flung lands, and he knew many cultures told similar stories of long lived birds whose lives were ended in flames--a metaphor, perhaps, for explaining the rise and fall of a nation's fortunes.
Taita decided to go look for one of the later Pharoahs of Egypt. Perhaps one of the Pharaohs could inform Taita if Egypt had experienced her second set of Golden Days--the first such set being in the time of the Great Imhotep and the Pyramid Age. He smiled to himself and hummed a tune as he went off in search of answers, in search of the benu that was Egypt.
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Temple of Nuit, Djeba, Egypt, in the Age of Taurus, dawn
Standing up, Imhotep arched his back. A temple servant brought him fresh water to drink. As the life of the Nile slipped down his throat, the golden rays of Ra peeked over the edge of the horizon. Dawn was always his favorite time of the day hours, for Ra's rays signified life was still strong along the Nile.
He had been impressed with Taita. Impressed with the knowledge Taita had learned, impressed with the magic Taita had been able to work.
Imhotep had also seen one thing he had never seen before: blue eyes. Although one of the Traders from the islands in the Great Green had been said to have blue eyes--and his daughter was said to have dark green eyes--blue eyes were unheard of in Egypt during his time and Taita's eyes were the color of the Egyptian sky.
The depth of knowledge Imhotep had learned about the future astounded him. And he knew he would never reveal that knowledge. Imhotep was an honest man, and an honorable man. Once he gave his word, he would never break his promise. He supposed the Gods knew that and had entrusted him with certain knowledge.
Finishing the cup of water, he handed the cup back to the waiting servant. Today would be a great day along the Nile. He had performed his duties well and his soul was infused with good feelings.
"Your bath is ready," the servant said before nodding and walking silently towards the bathhouse adjacent to the Temple. Imhotep followed him, wondering if he would be willing to be educated like Taita had been educated by Lord Intef.
