Imhotep Read online

  As he stepped inside the first building, an unnoticed shadow moved behind him.

  It was darker inside. As he waited for his eyes to adjust he realized that he smelled perfumed oil. Soon he could see two forms lying under a thin blanket on a low bed. Even in the dim light, he recognized the size and shape of Diane’s body. He walked to the bed and knelt by her.

  It took him a moment to realize what looked so strange about her: her head was not shaved. He had grown used to seeing shaved heads on everyone except young boys who wore a short ponytail pulled off one side of the head. At formal gatherings the women wore long, black wigs, but most of the time their heads were bare.

  He softly brushed her hair and whispered her name.

  He glanced at Yunet, her back was turned to them, her breathing deep and regular. He remembered how she had walked up to them so long ago when they had first arrived at To-She after the long camel ride across the desert. She had been so exotically beautiful. But then she had ignored him and hidden away with Diane while he was left to wander To-She and worry.

  He gripped Diane’s shoulder and shook her gently, saying her name louder. She had always been a deep sleeper, hard to wake, even in the morning with the smell of brewing coffee.

  She stirred and pulled her shoulder away from him. He leaned closer and putting his mouth close to her ear, he whispered her name again.

  “Diane, it’s me, Brian. Wake up. We have to talk.”

  Her eyes fluttered open and then closed again.

  “Brian,” she said in her sleep.

  He shook her again. “Come on, babe, wake up.”

  Her eyes opened again, blinking and unfocused. Then she saw him and sat up. Her face, so calm and relaxed in her sleep, took on an angry edge as soon as she saw him. He felt his heart sink.

  “How are you?” he asked. “I’ve been looking for you, following you, ever since we got separated at Khmunu. Are you all right?”

  She looked puzzled, then her face returned to its angry mask.

  “We didn’t get separated. You went off with that Ma’at woman. You left the boat at night and told Djefi you were staying there. You abandoned me. You son of a bitch.”

  Brian didn't know what to say. He had gone off to look for Tama, but he hadn't meant to abandon Diane.

  “No, that’s not true. I mean, I did leave the boat, but it was a trick. Djefi tried to have me killed, Diane. A man came on the boat and said I was supposed to go to the town, and then three men followed me and attacked me. I was lucky to get away.”

  “Supposed to go into town?”

  “OK, I was going to meet Tama, but, Diane, let's not fight. I came here to help you.”

  She folded her arms and stared at him, waiting. But listening. He felt a glimmer of hope.

  “I met Tim,” he saw her confusion. “Oh, you don’t know about him. OK, this guy named Tim followed us here. He thinks he can help us get back to our time. Do you want to come with me?”

  “Back to our time?”

  “Yes, look, I know it sounds unreal, but Tim says we're five thousand years in the past. Think about it. We haven't seen any televisions, my cell phone doesn't work. No airplanes flying overhead.

  “We're in ancient Egypt. This isn’t some Disneyland resort. This is the real thing. It’s crazy and it doesn’t make sense. But it’s true. There isn’t any law here, no malls, no doctors, no way to get back to our homes. Hell, America won't be discovered for thousands of years.

  “This is real. It’s serious. We don’t belong here.”

  He ran out of breath and watched her in the dim light, waiting for her response.

  With a small shake of her head, she said, “No, Brian. You think I don’t belong here.” She gathered strength as the words came, whispered but riding an edge of anger.

  “First off, I don't believe you. I think that you ran off to that woman and now you're finished with her and you think you can come back and snap your fingers and I'll go with you.

  “You left me in the desert, racing camels with Bakr. Then you left me at Khmunu. Now you’re done playing and I’m supposed to just leave with you because now, all of a sudden, it’s too dangerous here.”

  Brian thought he heard something outside. He cocked his head to look at the doorway. The darkness, the strange feel of this temple, Diane’s harsh words, together they made his skin creep.

  “I know where we are, Brian, I’m not stupid. I mean, I don’t know, like, what year it is, they don’t number them like we do. I know it’s different here.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s not just different. It’s dangerous. They look at life differently here. You might think you understand, Diane, but believe me, you don’t.”

  “Like you’re the expert all of a sudden.”

  He sighed heavily. Nothing was going right. “I’m sorry, Diane. Look, I’m not going to tell you what to do. . .”

  “That’s right, you’re not.”

  “. . . but if you want to leave, I’ll help you. And you might think I’m exaggerating, but I can’t stay here, in this temple, any longer. We need to leave before it gets light, before anyone finds us. If they catch us they won’t let us go.”

  “What do you mean, ‘us?’ Yunet and I do what we want. You’re not rescuing me, Brian. She already rescued me. From you. You dragged me here, ignored me when we were on those goddamn camels and then abandoned me for that Ma’at woman. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you are definitely not saving me.”

  Her voice had grown louder and Yunet stirred beside her.

  “OK, OK,” Brian said. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve been through a lot. If we leave now, we can go back home. Do you want to come with me? Don’t you miss your family and friends? Movies, shopping, restaurants?” He tried to think of other things that she liked and would miss.

  He looked at her, not sure what to expect.

  “Look, Brian, every time I depend on someone else I get let down. I know that, I’m not stupid. It starts out being about me, but then as soon as they get what they want - me - it changes. Everybody expects me to be something - a good daughter, a perky cheerleader, the polite little sorority girl. Even when we have sex - even you - it’s do this, touch this, how’s this feel, move here. You know its true.

  “Yunet is different. OK? She knows what it’s like. She gives me space, lets me decide what I want to do. And you know what, Brian? If I fuck up and do something wrong, or choose something different than she wants, it’s OK with her. For the first time in my life I can be me without worrying about pleasing somebody else.

  “Do you know how many times she’s made me feel guilty because I didn’t want to have sex? Zero. Zip. Do you know how many times she told me she loved me and then expected me to go down on her because I’m supposed to be so fucking grateful? Huh? How about never? Do you know how much time she’s treated me like a person with a brain, not just a pair of tits and an ass? All the time.”

  Brian reached out to touch her shoulder, but Diane jerked back.

  “Nobody touches me anymore unless I want them to.”

  “Diane, I wasn’t. . . Look, I’m sorry if I was a jerk. I’m sorry if people expected you to be something you weren’t. I’ve changed a lot too in the past couple of weeks. Tama has taught me how to see things differently.”

  “That’s great, Brian,” Diane said sarcastically. “Really great. I’m very happy for you. For you and Tama, is it? But it’s a little late. You know what I think? I think you see me with somebody else, see I’m happy and you feel like ‘How can she be happy without me?’ and you come sneaking in here trying to ruin it. Or, no, you know what? You see me with a woman and you start thinking threesome.”

  “No, Diane.” He sighed heavily and stood up. “Look, babe, you’re probably right, right about all of this. A couple weeks ago I probably would have thought, oh boy, two women, they can’t resist me.

  “But can we just not make this about you and me? Do you want to go back? I’ll help you get there and
once you’re there you can do whatever you want. I promise.”

  “I can do whatever I want now,” she answered.

  “You sure?”

  “I’m happy, Brian,” she said, and for the first time he heard a note of satisfaction in her voice.

  He shrugged and started to reach down to tousle her hair. “Sorry,” he said, catching himself.

  “Well, I’ll see you around, I guess.”

  “Are you going back?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Good by, Diane.”

  He turned and walked out of the hut. He stepped clear of the building and sniffed. There was a sour smell in the air. He shook his head as it triggered a memory. It came to him - it was a locker room smell, the smell of unwashed perspiration.

  He started to turn toward the source of the smell as Siamun swung his club. Brian caught a glimpse of movement, but before he could raise his arm, the club hit the back of his head and he fell heavily into the darkness.

  Brian’s shoulder hurt as much as his head ached. His arms were twisted tightly behind him, his hands tied together and tethered to what felt like a wooden stake. His mouth was gagged with a dirty strip of linen and he had no idea where he was.

  It was dark. The air was dank. He could hear someone snoring lightly, but couldn’t see who it was. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of guilt he felt as he turned away from Diane and walked out of the hut she shared with Yunet. He closed his eyes as a wave of nausea hit him. He started to sweat as he realized that if he threw up while he was gagged it could go back down his windpipe and kill him.

  He hung his head and tried to calm his breathing, but every breath made his shoulder ache. He remembered stepping out of the hut and sensing, no smelling someone behind him. He remembered turning and seeing a shadow cutting through the air at his head.

  Siamun!

  He took a slow, deep breath, trying to hold his shoulder still while his chest filled. He recognized the smell now; it was the same sweaty stench that had hung like a cloud outside her hut. He looked at the sleeping man and realized his vision was blurry.

  Fuck! Clubbed on the head, a shoulder that might be broken, gagged and hands tied, and fucking Siamun waiting for me.

  He thought about Tama, hoping he could find calmness there. She knew he was heading this way. But she was turning north, going to Khmunu for a festival. She had told him that it would be dangerous, but he thought he was like Indiana Jones or something: He’d just sneak into the secret temple and rescue the beautiful woman.

  Where is Tim? Who is going to help me?

  No one, he thought. OK, so what do I do?

  “You don’t get any food today,” Siamun said when morning came. “If you’re alive tomorrow, then maybe some.” He laughed. “But then, you’re a god, right? You don’t need food.”

  Brian sat in the hut, his back and legs cramping, his stomach growling in anger and his head and shoulder aching. His mouth got drier and drier. He saw light outside the hut, even saw people moving by off in the distance, but no one came into the hut.

  Evening fell and then the shadowy haze turned dark. Brian nodded off to sleep several times, awaking when his head lolled to the side and pulled on his injured shoulder. He woke one more time as Siamun and two men came into the hut. Siamun carried a torch; each of the men had a short length of rope.

  One man knelt one each side of him and tied one end of the rope each was carrying around his arm. Then one of them reached behind and untied him from the post.

  Siamun left the hut and waited outside as the men helped Brian to his feet and then pulled him from the hut. They kept as far away from him as the ropes would let them, keeping the lines taut. Siamun led the way across the temple compound toward a solitary stone chair.

  As he walked, Brian tried to flex his legs and hips to loosen the joints so he could run. He casually pulled on the ropes, trying to gauge how firmly they were being held.

  At the chair, the men turned him so he could sit in it. He realized that they would have to untie his hands if they wanted him to sit.

  Siamun leaned closer, bringing the torch up to illuminate Brian’s face.

  “If you try to escape, then Sobek gets dead meat,” he said.

  He reached behind Brian and cut the ties around his wrists. Brian pulled his arms quickly. The man on his left held the rope tightly, but the other’s grasp wasn’t as sure. Brian’s arm came free, his fist moved quickly at Siamun’s head and he felt a satisfying crack as the blow landed. Siamun fell back, but caught himself before falling over.

  Brian stepped quickly toward the man on his left, the motion making the rope slack. He pulled up his left hand and suddenly felt a jerk as the other man regained the rope and pulled Brian’s right arm back.

  Siamun sprang from his crouch and drove a fist into Brian’s stomach. “Hold him, hold him!” he shouted.

  Brian kicked at Siamun, but he was off balance and the kick had no speed to it. Siamun danced away from it and swung again at Brian at the same time the two men jerked hard on the ropes around his arms. The motion pulled Brian back into the seat and Siamun’s punch missed him.

  As he fell into the seat, his injured shoulder slammed against the back of the stone chair and he screamed in pain. The two men held the ropes tight as Siamun circled the chair, one hand rubbing the side of his face where Brian’s punch had landed.

  “You stupid whore,” he cursed as he came close to the man who had relaxed his grip on the rope. He reached out suddenly and slapped the man, his hand cracking loudly across the man’s face. “Hold the rope, hold the rope,” he said. “If he gets loose, if he touches me again, I swear you’ll be in that chair next.”

  Brian felt his arm jerk as the man pulled hard on the rope. The arm stretched out, his shoulder twisted. Another bolt of pain shot through him.

  Siamun took the rope from the man’s hands.

  “Tie his feet,” he ordered.

  After his feet were tied, the men pulled the ropes around the back of the chair and tied them together there, pulling his arms tight.

  Once Siamun was sure Brian was secured, he leaned close to his face.

  Brian saw with hollow satisfaction that Siamun’s face had already started to swell where he had hit him.

  “Tonight will be the start. If Sobek is hungry enough, it will be the end, one that I will enjoy watching as a true god devours you alive. ”

  One of the men disappeared for a moment and then came back into the circle of yellow light cast by the torch. He was carrying a basket filled with dead fish.

  “Start by the well,” Siamun ordered. “Lay a trail to the chair.”

  The man put a dead fish at the top of the circular opening that opened from the courtyard. He lined up the rest of the fish in a row that stopped by Brian’s feet.

  “Have a good night,” Siamun said. He reached out and slapped Brian hard across his face, turned and walked away.

  It was quiet in the courtyard. The moon and stars gave enough light that Brian could distinguish between open space and the pillars of the rising temple. He could see where the low wall around the complex ended. Far off to the east he thought he could see a darker ragged line where the tops of the trees interrupted the horizon.

  His head ached, his shoulder was on fire and he tasted blood on the linen cloth that gagged him. He didn’t know if he had bitten himself somehow or if Siamun’s farewell slap had broken the skin. His stomach was empty and he had to piss.

  He tried to think of Tama and the nights they had spent together during the trip down from Khmunu. He thought about baseball games he had played. He thought about the early part of his relationship with Diane.

  When he felt calmer, he began to assess his situation, trying to think of what was really happening, not what his fears were projecting.

  Just then he saw a shadowy movement from the well, a dark gray moving within the blackness. There was a heavy scratching sound. The movement came
again, narrow but heavy. Then another movement and he saw that it was a huge crocodile, its head tilted up as it swallowed a fish.

  It shook its scaly head and turned toward him. Its right forefoot was raised a few inches off the ground as it had begun to pivot when it saw him. It froze, and the grotesque angle, the iron will shown by its immobility cut through Brian. Slowly it put its foot down and pushed itself forward, another step closer to him.

  Brian began to scream through his gag.

  The Training of Sobek

  Samut arrived in the village of Kom Ombo two days after Brian was taken captive in the temple across the river.

  No one in the village had seen Brian, although a farmer at the northern end of town told Tama’s messenger that he had found a donkey two days ago and another farmer said his reed boat had drifted away the same night.

  An old woman who had trouble sleeping told Samut that she heard unhappy spirits moaning in the night air that floated along the river. But she also heard Khepri speak in the scratchy sound of scurrying scarabs and Mehen whispered to her whenever she saw a snake uncoil and slither away.

  Samut went to each house in the small village, telling the same story. He told the villagers that he had been sent by Hetephernebti, priestess of Re, and Tama, priestess of Ma’at, in search of a stranger.

  “You would know him. He is tall and fair skinned. He speaks our tongue, but not very well. If you find him, give him shelter. Re and Ma’at will bless you.”

  When he was shown the donkey the farmer had found, Samut recognized it as the one Tama had given Brian. He thanked the farmer for taking care of it and told him to keep the animal as a gift from Ma'at.

  “But I would have you do me a favor,” he added.

  With the farmer’s help, Samut was able to find a messenger to carry a letter north to Hetephernebti at Waset. Samut told the priestess that although no one had seen Brian, he believed that he had crossed the river to the Temple of Sobek. He promised to wait at Kom Ombo until Brian returned. Then he would take him to the village of Edfu, a short distance north of Kom Ombo where they would wait for Tama or Hetephernebti.