Luděk V. Wellner

THE LAST OF THE PHARAOH´S COMPANY

(excerpt from my historical novel)

Year of edition: 2011
Publisher: XYZ

I thought that, according to the last march, we should be nearing the end of our journey. Wonshet suddenly became anxious. His hair bristled, and he deftly slipped onto the stairs and brushed upward past us. I motioned to Muphu and Merneith to wait and took a lamp, preparing to follow the cat goddess. 
At that moment I was blinded by the light of another lamp from one of the corridors. 
"Kagemni of Venes", said someone, whose voice I did not recognize.. "Who are you, really? Why do you stir memories up  that should be forgotten? You put your nose into things that are intended only for the initiated! You play with fates that are none of your business! You spoil the games that are acted out in favor of the order of Maat, on which stands the country of Keme! I´m quite curious who drives your actions? After all,  you're just an unknown son of an insignificant provincial master. 
But I think I know it! I just don´t know the motives of that old heretic Shesep Ankh – Hor, who bought you with his gold instead of devoting his last years to wine and harlots. I probably never will get to know them. However, I prefer to destroy you and that crazy daughter of a no less crazy painter, and even the shoemaker's servant will not save you!"
Then the stranger shouted a few sinister words in an unknown language. It sounded across the underground in multiple echoes. I finally recognized who he was: Syrian Dudum, the mysterious Watcher of the skies. 
I jumped on him to protect the others, but Dudum quickly swerved aside. He grabbed Merneith´s arm, shoved her against the wall, and put his knife under her neck so tightly that she could not breathe. Then he loudly repeated the strange words again.
Shuffling footsteps turned my attention to another entrance. There were sounds of choking and wheezing from the darkness, and then a head emerged from a corridor.  It had a bent beak and dark holes where the eyes should have been. Its tall body straightened and the monster's head turned to the voice that called it. 
Merneith screamed with horror.  Muphu fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. 
The creature was Sokar, a Protector of the Dead.
It stopped in the middle of the intersection of the corridors.  The shadows cast by the lamps only emphasized its enormity. At that moment almost all the events of my life swept through my head. It was impossible to escape! 
Merneith continued to scream, and Dudum´s arm tensed to make a fatal cut across her throat.  He hesitated for a moment while he spoke a hoarse command to the monstrous Sokar, with a gesture of his head toward me and Muphu.
I gripped the handle of my knife, waiting to hear Merneith’s deathly screams, clamped in the talons of the Protector. 
Suddenly, without warning, Sokar struck out with his mighty arm, and with all of his strength hit the man who had summoned him. The blow struck Dudum´s face so hard that the Syrian was sent flying towards the opposite wall, where he fell to the ground. 
The cat priestess was free. 
She rushed forward to Muphu. He grabbed her and held her in his arms while they watched, horrified, as the unexpected fight continued. 
The huge Sokar bent down to the Syrian, lowered his hooked beak to his face and knelt on his chest. Dudum reared up, and with his feet against the wall struggled to roll Sokar off of him. The Syrian tried to release the press of the creature, but could not resist Sokar´s strength. He was jabbering spells, but without success
Suddenly, Dudum’s searching hand found something on the ground—his knife.  He picked it up and, moving quickly, thrust it several times into the beast. Sokar shouted out in pain and anger, then effortlessly snapped his opponent's throat. We heard the sickening crack of the bones, like a dry branch breaking.
Dudum´s eyes bulged from their sockets, and then he was stilled forever.  Sokar remained above the corpse of his opponent for a while, kneeling with his monstrous head bent forward, then moved away with a long and painful sigh. Then he grasped what we could now see was a mask over his face with both hands and threw it away. He looked at me and stretched out his hand as if he had no power left.
"Renefer," I cried, running to him and catching his collapsing body. A red stain made by the Syrian´s knife quickly spread on his clothes. 
"Renefer, my friend, our story must not end by this way!"
Muphu and Merneith stood on either side of him. The lamplight revealed the extent of his injuries. Several stab wounds penetrated vital areas on his body, which meant there would be no recovery for him. 
"Briseus, you have turned me back to my beautiful dream." He smiled and squeezed my hand. "Go to her. Nobody will stop you now. I saw her; she is so amazing, a living reflection of my Khekeret-Aton. And now she knows that you came for her. She waits for you in her chamber ... .. there are the stairs leading up there. It is night yet, no one is there.... ...apart from.... I wanted to take her away himself, but I heard Merneith’s scream.....Dudum, that fool, called me yet! You know the rest. Briseus ... tell my guests in Medjeh Nesu that the banquet is over and the host must excuse himself...forever! "
I could see nothing through my tears. Merneith handed me her cloak, and I tried to bandage the Shesep-Ankh Hor´s gash to stop the bleeding. He dismissively pushed my hand away and shook his head.
"It is useless," he said shakily. "I must now invent words of the song which I will sing for my Khekeret-Aton ... ... I look forward so eagerly to meeting her. I think ... a very interesting meeting is also waiting for Merneith, even in this world. " 
We looked puzzled.
"The real Sokar was just a poor victim of evil spells," he said heavily. "He really had Merneith called that time, and I freed him by the only right mind-key, which he revealed to his daughter in such a strange way. Ceased to be a slave .... ceased to be a tool of evil ..... he will come back, we´ll all come back ... somewhere ... all ..... everyone ... "
"Madir?" I gasped, and my friend nodded. "Now .... hurry ... " he whispered. "Amiai and Madir are waiting for .... and I'm going back ... to the beautiful dream." 
His eyes slowly closed, his breathing stopped, and a calm smile, so typical for the Egyptians, settled around his cooling mouth.
"Renefer, my dear friend, do not leave," I cried, but he could no longer  answer. 
For a while I knelt in silence, then I took the robe from my shoulders, folded it, and gently laid Renefer´s head on it. 
The spiral staircase was not that far from me. I ran up and found Madir in a narrow garden between high walls. The only entrance to the adjacent buildings led to several interconnected, sparsely-furnished chambers. Dim light came out from one of them. When I entered the room, I found a girl lying on a bed. At the foot of the bed sat a pale man with sad, wan face, who I had never seen before. 
But I knew well who he was, and also who she was.
"Amiai," I whispered. 
Her remarkably colored eyes were fixed on me. I felt the bliss of her gaze locked on mine.
"Amiai, my ... " That was all I could say.
"Briseus," she whispered and rose up to me. "You have found me ..." 
"No, I haven´t found you, Amiai," I uttered, my parched throat making it hard to speak, "but you have found me. I was completely lost without you in this world.“ 
"Briseus," she said. "You're here. Now nothing wrong can happen to me … "
I could not take my eyes off of her. Hardships, homesickness and weariness were in her eyes, but it seemed an internal glitter added to her beauty because of her trials. I hugged her so hard that she could barely breath. And I thought about how happiness is often intertwined with sorrow in an inseparable connection.
"No, I will not let anything hurt you now!" I repeated, my lips wandering with tiny kisses through her hair. "Not to you, you jewel of my heart. Even if I had to change the flow of the river Iteru to the opposite direction! "
Madir finally recovered from his stupor, although he was still staggering like a drunk. Perhaps he understood that the role of the unconscious tools of terrible magic evil was gone. He held on to me, and the three of us descended into the underground and went slowly back through the tunnel. Merneit led his father and Muphu carried Shesep-Ankh-Hor´s body in his arms. Wonshet ran silently and mutely behind her mistress. Madir, still looking back, picked up Sokar´s mask from the ground and took it with him. Dudum’s dead body was left lying where he fell.

Translation: Kathy Ree Morrison and Luděk Wellner