Rebirth
Her first awareness was of the cold, smooth surface of the altar against her bare skin. A waft of cool air moved across her, chilling her further.
"Cold," she whispered. But even as the word left her lips, a priestess was spreading a silk robe across her, covering the nakedness of her goddess. Another lifted her head, and put a sweet drink to her lips. Amaunet took a swallow, but her throat refused to work. She choked the liquid back out. Instantly, a soft cloth blotted the liquid from her face and neck.
She felt a warm hand take hers. She tried to turn her head, to open her eyes, but found that she could not. The host was fighting her.
"Never, never, never," the voice was shouting. "You will never have me. Never, never …"
"I have you even now," Amaunet projected to the host. "Your body is mine. Rejoice that you have been taken by a goddess."
"False goddess! I know what you are. I saw when you emerged from the priestess. You are a snake. My husband will find me and will rip you from my body."
Amaunet was shocked that the slave spoke to her so disrespectfully, and her control slipped for a moment. Recovering quickly, she sent a wave of pain towards the slave's mind. She was quite satisfied with the resulting cry of agony.
"Speak to me again, slave, and you will suffer even more. You will never be free of me. Your body is mine for as long as I wish it. When I leave it, you will be the one to die. Now watch as I open myeyes and embrace your god and my lord Apophis."
"I am not your slave!" the host shrieked again. Amaunet sent another surge of pain to silence it, and then put all of her energy into taking control of the muscles leading to the eyes. After a brief struggle, she forced them open. Her lord stood there, looking down at her with concern.
"My love?" he asked softly.
She gained enough control of the face to smile at him. "It is I," she replied, forming the words with effort. "You have saved me."
Bending a little, he brought her hand to his lips, and kissed it tenderly. "How I have missed your voice! Even in a new host, your beautiful voice is the same."
"How long?" she asked. Imprisoned in the canopic jar, she'd had no way to measure the passing time.
"Long enough for several of our children to mature. Korel is among them, and is ready to take a host. But I did not want that to happen until you had been restored to your rightful place. You will be beside me when I choose his vessel, and he will see your face when he awakes."
Amaunet tired of the struggle to keep her eyes open, and let them close.
"You are so weak," Apophis said, his voice full of concern.
"My host is strong, and the battle is wearying," she murmured. "It has been long since I took a new host."
"Rest, then. Our servants are preparing a banquet in your honor. When you are ready, you will be presented to them, and all will celebrate the return of their queen."
"Soon," she agreed, and drifted into sleep.
When she next awoke, Amaunet felt refreshed and stronger. The host's voice was more distant, although a cry of "never" would occasionally break through the mental barrier that she had erected. The irony was not lost on her: as she had been taken from her husband and walled up, so had the host. But this was the natural order of things, for a slave to become the vessel for a goddess. Amaunet felt no remorse.
Her maidservants had waited long to see their mistress again, and were eager to dress their queen in the robes that Apophis had prepared for her. Lovingly, they colored her eyes and lips, and arranged the elaborate headdress. As they fluttered about her, she noticed with displeasure the roughness of their hands, and the grey streaks appearing in their hair. It would not do at all for a goddess to have such unattractive servants. She must surrounded only by beauty. Apophis would see to it.
"Enough," she commanded, and waved them away. Then she stood, and admired her reflection in the mirror. The host body was beautiful: dark eyes, full lips, slender waist. She reached up to touch her hair. The previous host's hair had been smooth and straight, so the curves were a novelty to her. She sneered for a moment as she recalled the first replacement host that Apophis had presented. The female had been unattractively thin and angular, but what Amaunet had most despised was the light hair. It reminded her too much of the preferred queens of the Sun God.
"Tell my lord that his queen is ready," she instructed her lo'taur. The woman bowed quickly, and hurried from the room.
It was not long before Apophis strode into the room, dressed in his finest robes. His eyes brightened with delight at the sight of his regal and graceful Queen.
"My love," he said, "This day you will be restored to your rightful place in the House of Apophis." He reached for her, and she moved into his arms. His hand came up and stroked her hair gently. "How I have missed your touch."
After a moment, she drew away. "My lord, I must know how it was that you rescued me. Is our enemy, Ra, no more?"
"It is a great mystery. A year ago, his flagship simply vanished from the galaxy. Ra had called a summit of the system lords, no doubt to demand tribute, but he never appeared. Months passed without word from him. Eventually the remaining System Lords agreed that he must have been defeated by an enemy."
"Did no one claim the victory?"
"Not at first. We feared that it might be a test: that Ra would return and take retribution on any who dared usurp him. Only recently have some grown bold enough to begin taking his territory. Heru-ur is positioning himself as Ra's successor, but he does not have enough support to be accepted as the Supreme System Lord."
"But you did not wait."
Apophis smiled. "You know me too well. Immediately after Ra failed to arrive at his own summit, I began searching his temples for you. My only regret is that it took so long to locate the right one. But I finally found a priestess of Ra who had witnessed your fate, and she led me to the spot where you were entombed. She had been greatly touched by your bravery before Ra."
Amaunet couldn't suppress a shudder at the memory, and Apophis' expression darkened. "Never have I loved you more than at that moment," he continued. "It was because of your faithfulness to me that you were imprisoned there. I could not wait for a host: I had to free you at once. I removed the spawn of Ra from the priestess myself and crushed it under my foot. I placed you within her womb until a new host could be found."
"I cannot remember that moment," Amaunet murmured. "The elixir of the jar still dulled my mind."
"Since Ra had destroyed your previous host, I thought it fitting that your new one should come from his domain," Apophis continued. "So I ordered our most trusted Jaffa to raid his worlds. We even opened the chappa'i to the First World in our search. I discovered your new host myself, on Abydos.
Abydos? Unbidden, a vision came to Amaunet: sprawling desert sands glimmering under a dome of blue sky. Faces surrounded her, dark faces with bright smiles. Then the multitude of faces merged together, and became a single face, a young man with light skin and blue eyes rimmed by glass circles.
She felt a firm hand on her shoulder. "My Queen?"
"I remember . . ." she began, and then forced the vision away. There was another mystery to solve. "The chappa'i to the First World has been closed for long ages. All who attempted to travel there were destroyed. How did you know that it was open?"
"The chance for such a victory was too great to resist: to stand on the world where Ra has not stood for thousands of years! To take a host for my queen! And it was a simple thing: I sent a scanning device through on the chance that the chappa'i was open. When the signal confirmed that it was, I took a handful of my best Jaffa and went through myself. Then I slew all those we found there, except for the one slave we brought back as a potential host."
"I tremble that you put yourself in such danger for me."
"How could I do any less? What other pharaoh has such a queen? A queen who will produce children of his seed rather than her own? A queen who will suffer imprisonment rather than serve his enemy? You are worth all of this, and more!"
"No, it is I who am fortunate," Amaunet responded. "Since Ra was exiled from the First World, how many queens have been used and then discarded by him in favor of another? While the other System Lords slew or imprisoned their queens, you have been faithful to me. You have protected and cherished me."
"And I always will, my love." He kissed her forehead, and then lowered the silvery veil over her face. " It is time you were presented to our people. They will worship your beauty." Taking her hand, he led her out of the dressing chamber and into the hall, where an honor guard waited to escort their Pharaoh and his queen to the celebration feast.