We had been victorious over Sesostris, but we had found out that the enemy was in the process of attempting to seize power in the Temple of Hathor in Thebes.
We really did intend to do something about it, but matters more local and more urgent caught us up first, and created a distraction that we could not ignore...
6 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (September 22nd, 1275 BCE)
Pi Rameses
After returning to the barge to sleep and heal ourselves, we woke up to find a new, bright, hot day waiting for us. I can't say I was particularly optimistic about it, but I suppose where there's life there's hope. Tetikare took the collar we'd gotten off of Sesostris, and one of the nice qualities of it was that it turns into whatever neck jewelry she likes. She experimented and finally settled on a shiny copper torc.
The first strange thing that happened was that Raam looked at Pepy and said, "You know, your shield is doing something strange." Blinking, we inspected it, to find that those of us who can see magic could see that it was emanating some sort of shield around us. When went up on deck to look around, the shield enlarged to keep me within it, and I could see that little darts were hitting the shield, looking very much like very small magic missiles.
The docks were busy as I scanned them and the others joined me up on deck. Crowds swirled along, and nobody seemed to notice the little darts. There was one person, a young man, slumped in a doorway with his head between his knees, looking very ill indeed. He was wearing the robes of a novice, and Pepy beside me muttered, "He's a Sekhmet novice."
We went to see what was wrong with him. He was green, nearly the color of spring grass, but at our approach he started looking better, as the shield encompassed him. We all looked at each other, coming to the same conclusion all at once--that we needed to be at the Sekhmet temple, and now. So we ran.
When we got there, the Temple was filled with dead and dying clerics. The dying ones got better as we passed, but the dead stayed dead. The darts seemed to be concentrated around the strongest priests, and it was all of the strong ones that were dead.
Fortunately, it seemed that the shield has an inoculating effect; even when priests passed out of the influence of the shield, they did not sicken again.
The Hathor temple shares a building with the Sekhmet temple, and at this point the Hathor priests were taking charge, removing and covering the dead and checking the living to make sure they were all right. All of the Hathor priests seemed to be hale and hearty; it was an attack directed solely at the Sekhmet temple.
On a hunch, I walked down the street to the temple of Imhotep, finding a reasonably high-level priest who I've spoken to before. I told them about the attack on the Sekhmet temple, and the man blinked. "I've never heard of anything like that before. But there is a prophecy..."
I am beginning to dread that word, prophecy.
He continued, "Tell me, is that shield of your friend's an Imhotep artifact?" I nodded. "And is there a small crystal affixed to the back of it?" Suspicious, I nodded again. "And your friend...is he longer-lived than most?"
I considered the question and chose to be vague. "He might be. He does not speak of himself much."
The man gave me a quirked smile. "I understand. There is a prophecy concerning the Temple of Sekhmet. It says that when the immortal joins the shield and the crystal, it is the beginning of the end for the Temple of Sekhmet. Tkarr, the pyramid in the western deserts, will rise out of the sands, and Mentuhotep will arise with it. The immortal can destroy or save the Temple, depending on what he does."
I just looked at him, then sighed and thanked him. I walked back to the others, telling them what I'd just learned. Pepy looked stricken, and cast a quick augury, asking, "Are there any Sekhmet priests living anywhere outside of Pi Rameses?"
The answer was, no.
Pepy was now the strongest Sekhmet priest in the world, and the de facto leader of the Order of Sekhmet. He looked as if this fact troubled him. (Actually, I beleive the correct word for the complexion that his face went is ashen. Poor fellow.)
We spent some time rounding people up and getting things set in order. A Hathor priestess came to Pepy and said, "I believe we have a problem."
They had tried to raise the person who had been the head of the Temple, and he had liquefied rather than coming back to life. They didn't want to try it again without aid, but they thought that the shield might help.
Pepy tried it, and it did. (And, fortunately, that person was a stronger priest than Pepy. He is still one heartbeat away from the position of leader, though.) However, he said it could only do it once a day, so unless we were willing to hang around here for a long time, we'd have to find another way.
The Hathor priestess told us that a priestess named Eldritch, three centuries old and long since retired from service, might be of some help. But finding her was the problem--she evidently lived in the deserts of the west.
Right near where Tkarr was rumored to be, as a matter of fact.
It looked like we were heading west. After all, if this attack had succeeded in nearly wiping out the priesthood of Sekhmet, it could do the same to any other priesthood. Pepy said that Mentuhotep was an old pharaoh, unremarkable except for his appetites. The man had weighed nearly four hundred pounds at his death.
We all looked at each other, and sighed. I thought of the false Hathor priestess in Thebes, and Mayet, who was in the same place as I was mentally, asked; the high priestess of this Temple did know her, and mentioned offhandedly that she seemed to have a relationship of some sort with Rameses.
An assassin, lying in wait. Great.
And then I thought of the clone of Usi, destined for who knows what in Gebelein.
It was of no moment; what we had uncovered here was more important. We decided to take the coastal route to Alexandria and then buy camels, setting out deep into the Red Land.
For the next endless days, we traveled.
12 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (September 28th, 1275 BCE)
Somewhere in the western desert
After a long stretch without water, we came to an oasis. There was a trader there, alone, a halfling. Strange to see a halfling so far out in the desert, and alone; Amunet went to talk with him, and perhaps buy things from him. The rest of us watered the camels and sought the shade.
The halfling was evidently working a trade route out here in the desert, which was why he was out by himself. He'd found silver ore somewhere, which he was on his way back to Alexandria to sell. When Amunet asked him about Tkarr, he made the sign against evil and said that he'd never seen it. There was, though, an oasis five days away that nobody visited any more, as the water was tainted, reputedly by the evil of Tkarr.
It looked like we had a destination, then. Amunet made pleasant conversation and drank with him, and as the sun set, we rested as the cool came up over us.
I heard Terik say to himself, "What on earth--"
To the sough of us, the horizon was lit by a green glow, where no light should have been. The halfling, when asked, said, "They call that the Eldritch glow. You see it out here sometimes. It's rumored to be created by some ancient priestess of Hathor, but it's only rumors because nobody who gets too close comes back to tell the story."
We all looked at each other, ands as one decided to go investigate.
We topped a rise to see a woman standing in what looked to be a pool of energy that glowed bright green around her feet. We waited for her to finish casting. Mayet muttered, "She seems to be casting some sort of portal...to another plane?"
The woman finished the spell and looked up, frowning. Mayet stood so her crown was visible and started speaking to her. She explained in a loud voice why we were seeking her. The woman looked cross and then told her to come closer. We all followed, out of lack of a better idea.
Eldritch at first resisted Mayet's entreaties to go to Pi Rameses and help the Temple of Sekhmet. However, when it was pointed out that if this happened again, Eldritch would certainly be the first target, she reluctantly consented. She said that he thing that had killed all the priests sounded like a devourer, an undead that lived off the souls of priests. "But they usually only catch one at a time. One that would be able to kill all of the priests of Sekhmet in a whole country would be unimaginably powerful."
Just our luck.
Mayet asked Eldritch to do a divination for her about the high priestess of Hathor the Thebes; the answer was that the original priestess was dead, and a clone stood in her place. We asked more questions and Eldritch shrugged. "Why don't you go ask Hathor yourself? I've got a portal open--I was going to go talk to her tonight, but you can go in my place."
Mayet, incandescent with joy, agreed.
And between one breath and the next we were standing in another place.
("Hey," I thought to myself, "The rest of us weren't supposed to go!")
A woman stepped towards us. Later, we found that we all saw something different, each of us seeing what we had been brought up to believe Hathor looks like. I saw a beautiful woman with cow ears that seemed to be utterly natural on her. She looked at Mayet and said, "You were not to be here for many more millennia. What are you doing here?"
(Millennia? Years, yes...but millennia?)
Mayet took a deep breath and asked her about the clone. Hathor recommended that Mayet remove her, and her successor. Mayet then asked how she was supposed to do that--after all, the rest of the Temple would kill her if she killed the high priestess.
Hathor shrugged. "I'll give you a Zone of Truth spell that she cannot block. It's your job to get her to damn herself."
(Amunet had been interrupting, until finally I grabbed his ear, dragged him back, and told him to hush. I may not belong to any gods, but I know damn well that they're dangerous when annoyed.)
Terik asked about Tkarr, and Hathor said it was full of zombies. "Mentuhotep is dangerous, but less so when he's feeding. If you can catch him eating, he's very vulnerable."
Tetikare piped up at this point. "My Lady...is there any chance that you can send Ka and I back to the elemental plane of Air?"
Hathor raised her eyebrow. "Do you think you're done here yet?"
In a small voice, the djinn replied, "This really isn't my place...and it's not really my fight."
"Are you sure of that?" Tetikare didn't answer. "Yes, I could send you back. But in your case, you would be a stranger in a foreign land, not going home. You were born here."
Tetikare went pale. "Ka, as well?"
"Yes. And no, you're not related."
The djinn muttered something about how that was good, as it would have made last night awkward. (So that's what all those strange noises were!)
Finished with our interview with the goddess, we were returned to the material plane. We said our good-byes to Eldritch and returned to the oasis.
The next morning, we set out for Tkarr.
13 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (September 29th, 1275 BCE)
Somewhere in the western desert
I finally got the bright idea of asking Pepy to do some auguries for me. If anyone in my old village was still alive, they needed to know about Ay. So it was with trepidation that I asked my first question, "Is my daughter Senit still alive?"
I was expecting no. I was hoping for yes.
I got, barely.
I then asked, "If I sent her a message, would she be able to do anything about it?"
The answer was, no.
I repeated the question, only with the name of the headman of the village. Again, the answer was no.
I am too far away to do anything. But what if they are waiting for me?
15 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (October 1st, 1275 BCE)
Somewhere in the western desert
Four days on the road, and we draw closer to Tkarr. I could not sleep that night, and so rose from my bedroll and went for a walk. Usi was sleeping soundly, and I did not awaken him.
Outside, the air was clear and cold, the starlight illuminating the world. I raised my head; a familiar scent was hanging on the air. Around me, hyenas ghosted close and lay down. There were only three of them, the largest a scarred female.
I greeted them as Usi had taught me, suddenly wishing for his company. But he remained asleep, his presence in my mind slumbering.
The scarred female, who I knew was the pack leader and therefore named First, asked, Where is Rememberer, Chosen?
I blinked. "He is with me. Inside that door."
First snorted. That is not Rememberer. It is a clever copy, but it is not him.
I stared. Bright images whirled and crackled in my mind. I remembered the strange feeling I had when Ay hit Usi. I remembered the crate that held what Sesostris had claimed was a clone of the Rememberer. I remembered the strangeness I'd felt in Usi since then, a strangeness I'd attributed to his memories having been taken.
Slowly, I said, "Then I think he is in Gebelein."
A low growl was coming from First, and she lifted her scarred muzzle to point at me. Then why are you here? You are not doing your duty, Chosen.
I hyena-shrugged, helplessly. "I do not lead my pack. That which calls himself Mentuhotep has proved to be an urgent problem we must solve. I go with them."
Convenient, said the hyena. Very convenient. Their timing is impeccable.
"I know. But we are on this hunt now. We can't abandon it." The timing was too impeccable. What if we had been sent off on this journey deep into the Red Land in order to keep us from heading back south along the Nile?
First snorted again. Then bring down your prey, and get to Gebelein. Evidently done with the conversation, the hyena rose and loped off, the other two following her closely.
I sat on a nearby rock and thought, my head and my heart hurting. How could Ay have done this? How could he have replaced Usi without me noticing? The familiar bond never lies...until now, evidently.
I have failed, I thought. Implicit in many of the stories I have been told by Usi is the thread of an idea: that Chosen's duty is to protect Rememberer, to stand between Rememberer and any danger. I impatiently wiped tears from my eyes and sighed. And I had another problem, as well. The Usi I had with me believed that he was the only one, that he was Rememberer. I made a note to look at his collar, when I came back. My guess was that there was either no magic on it at all, or it was the item that the spell that masked the real Usi's absence from me was anchored to.
And I had another problem. The Usi I had with me believed that he was Usi. How was he going to react to being told that he was not who he believed he was? He might only have been a copy of my familiar, but he was still a person, and he had been traveling with us for a little while now.
I was not destined to sleep any more that night.
16 HetHert, Inundation, Year 4 of the Reign of Rameses II (October 2nd, 1275 BCE)
Deep in the western desert
In the early afternoon, we arrived at the tainted oasis. In the hazy distance, we could see a pyramid looming. This was the place, evidently. The pool of spring-fed water at the oasis was definitely magical, and definitely poisonous. I could see something at the bottom glowing with strong magic.
Terik, since he was immune to poison, went down into the pool. After a long and nerve-wracking time (I had no idea he could hold his breath that long!) he came up, hauling with him a large rock carved with runes. The rock had two properties--it emitted poison, and then when people died from the poison, it raised them as zombies. Who then probably walked over to the once-buried pyramid and joined Mentuhotep.
Clever. Diabolical, but clever. That's a nice way to build up a force of undead under your control without ever having to stir a finger. (Ed. note: Laziest undead ever!)
We shattered the stone and then discussed what we wanted to do. We ended up having Terik turn on the Osirean longsword, casting spells on ourselves, and waiting.
Soon enough, a large crowd of zombies arrived. We made short work of them, and then the main attraction arrived.
Mentuhotep the devourer was nearly Raam's height, but thin as a rail. He cast spells at us, causing quite a bit of pain to all concerned, but we kept hitting him. Predictably enough, I couldn't use either of my best spells on him, as there was no way to hit him with either a lightning bolt or a fireball without hurting members of my own group.
With difficulty, we took him down. None of us fell, but it was close--and he cast a successful Hold Person on several of us. I ended up dragging Pepy out of the line of fire. (He shook off the spell as I was doing so and complained that I'd been manhandling him. Sheesh. Some people are never grateful.) Amunet used a potion of silence on Raam's blade, and without his spells, Mentuhotep was much easier to take down. When Mentuhotep lay at our feet, quite dead, we patched each other up, healing cuts and burns. Off in the distance, the pyramid loomed, so close and so tempting.
We would not leave here before tomorrow morning anyway. We might as well take a look at the pyramid.
And I wonder what this side trip has cost me. I suppose I'll find out soon enough...
Quotes:
"I didn't want to accessorize with razor blades. Call me a wimp, fine!"
--Amunet
"Sekhmet clerics...in aprons. Yeah, that's going to happen."
--Storm
"I am ahead scouting. It's just that you're all with me."
--Terik
"Um...are we related?"
"No."
"Oh, good. That would have made last night very awkward."
--Tetikare, Hathor
"Ah, yes, Osirean rangers. Good in bed, but not much good for anything else."
"Good in bed? What makes them so good in bed?"
"They can raise the dead!"
"Ohhhhh..."
--Hathor, Tetikare, Raam
"Mayet has a spontaneous orgasm of religious fervor."B --Laura
"Hey, he's built like a supermodel!"
--Bryan, about Mentuhotep
"Raam, I'm going to do something nice to your sword."
"You're welcome to sit on it any time you want."
--Amunet, Raam
"I touch myself."
--Mayet
"I'm...at 10 hit points. I get to attack this round!"
*facepalm*
--Graham, everyone
"I hope it's not gems, I've got gems coming out of my ears."
"You're putting them in the wrong place, then."
--Amunet, Raam
