Queen of the Heavens (35 page)

Sety and I rode on litters to the old temple. A man stood underneath an open tent nearby, and bowed as we entered. Though elderly, he had a physique as solid as granite.

“This is Outa, the architect,” the High Priest announced. “The Pharaoh wishes to see the plans for the new temple.”

Outa smiled. “The Pharaoh does me a great honor by asking for them.”

He pulled a papyrus roll from a leather cylinder and spread it on a table, anchoring each edge with a stone to prevent the papyrus from curling up again. He pointed to different places on the drawing as he spoke. “People will enter a courtyard here, through a gate in a great pylon. A columned passageway will lead to the holy of holies.”

“The temple design is similar to that of other temples,” Sety noted.

“There’s purpose in this, My Lord. The design and precise measurements evoke the grandeur of the divine.”

“Is there no other way to evoke such grandeur?”

“This method is time-honored.”

“I know, I know, but I want this temple to be different. It won’t be as large as the temples in Thebes, but it must be as magnificent. In ages hence, I want people to marvel at its majesty. What do you say, Tuya?”

Sety’s question caught me by surprise. Unexpectedly, an idea passed through my mind.

“Perhaps grandeur can be evoked through seven chapels side by side, each representing a place in the body where the power of the divine passes between us and the Cosmos,” I said.

Sety raised his eyebrows. “What an intriguing idea, Tuya. Each of the chapels could be dedicated to a different god or goddess, with Osiris’ occupying a special place in the temple. Such a plan would celebrate the unity of the divine.” Sety looked at Outa. “What do you think?”

A sullen expression crossed the architect’s face. The Pharaoh had rejected his work, but he could hardly express disappointment to Egypt’s ruler. “The design would be quite radical, My Lord, but whatever you desire can be accomplished.”

“Good. Draw new plans and send them to me in Memphis. Develop plans, too, for another temple to be built nearby in which my wife and those she chooses can perform healings.”

“Another temple, My Lord?”

“Yes. Tuya’s healing power is divine, and she must have a temple that reflects her nature.” Sety turned to the High Priest. “The Queen and I will take a meal now.”

“Of course, My Lord, but there’s something you might like to see first. Two weeks ago, as workers prepared the ground for the new Temple of Osiris, they came across a ruin as they dug through sand and dirt.”

“A ruin of what?”

“We’re not sure. The stones are much larger than the ones in today’s temples. Outa says the building technique resembles that used in the structures near the Giza Pyramids. He even wonders whether the ruin is as old as the Great Sphinx.”

“Take us to it immediately.”

Sety and I returned to the litters. Masons preparing the first of the stone blocks for the new temple ceased their labors and bowed as we passed. After the bearers set us down, we followed the High Priest by foot into the ruin of collapsed columns and great stones. At first, a chill ran through me, followed quickly by warmth and a sense of peace as I sensed a strange familiarity with my surroundings.

“The ruin does seem very ancient,” Sety observed. “It must have been lost to us during the first of Egypt’s troubled times.”

Suddenly, I had an awareness beyond the scope of my earthly knowledge.

“Yes, the ruin is ancient,” I said. “At this site, Isis assembled the pieces of Osiris’ body and resurrected him.”

“How do you know this, Tuya?”

“I was here when it happened.”

Sety and I wandered through the ruin in different directions, each absorbed in our own thoughts. I turned toward my husband when I heard his voice.

“What is this?”

Sety stared at something that seemed to have been somehow burned into a stone pillar. The High Priest stood near to him. “None of us know, My Lord. I’ve traveled up and down the Nile and never came across such a design. Neither have the other priests.”

I walked to my husband’s side and was amazed by what I saw. “Isis calls it the Flower of Life. Through this portal, love passes between the earthly realm and the realms beyond. The Flower of Life seems motionless in stone, but when our consciousness meets the beyond, it swirls and dances with colors.”

“You have seen this before, Tuya,” Sety commented as he looked up at the pattern.

“The first time as a child when Isis entered my being, and the second time a few days ago when I brought Ramesses back from death. Osiris passed into the afterworld through the Flower of Life.”

“Leave us,” Sety said to the High Priest.

“My Lord, is anything wrong?”

“Do not question me.”

The High Priest bowed and quickly departed.

Sety sat down on a block of granite, his eyes fixed on the mysterious image. I sat next to my husband and took him into my arms. Sety’s eyes remained open and I felt his heart beat, but his soul had departed and his body was an empty shell.

I closed my eyes and sent my love into Sety through the carnelian in the
ankh.
Heat charged through me and time ceased as my consciousness drifted in a sparkling golden mist, which lifted when I heard Sety’s voice.

“Tuya. Awaken.”

I looked into Sety’s eyes, which now held a certain sparkle. I stroked his cheek. “My darling, you have come back.”

Sety touched my lips. “Yes, but I know not from where. As I looked at the Flower of Life, I felt the swirling you spoke about, and then found myself in a place of perfect peace and bliss. I could have stayed there forever.”

“We sit at the site of Osiris’ resurrection. Your soul passed through the same portal as his.”

“I became Osiris. I became the Cosmos. Is this what awaits me when I die?”

“Death is but an illusion, my husband. By knowing this, we conquer death.”

Sety and I walked silently, hand in hand, to the litters where the High Priest waited.

“Take us to Outa,” my husband said. Before long, we again stood under the tent with the architect.

“You will restore the ancient ruin to the grandeur of before,” Sety ordered. “I can think of no better way to honor Osiris than to reconstruct the temple that marks the site of his resurrection.”

“The resurrection!” Outa exclaimed, “Can this be so, My Lord?”

“Yes. Queen Tuya has proclaimed the site as such. Make certain the magical pattern my wife calls the Flower of Life remains in place.”

Outa bowed. “I’m honored you have charged me with such a noble task as reconstructing this great temple.”

“I’m certain you warrant my confidence.” Sety turned to the High Priest. “Tuya and I will return now to the boat and continue our journey.”

“So soon, My Lord? Meals are waiting for you and the Queen.”

“Outa and you may eat them. I wish to rest.”

As we stepped on board the vessel, Sety took my hands in his.

“I have much to contemplate, Tuya, and wish to be alone. I will send for you later.”

I embraced my husband, who returned the gesture with warmth I had not felt in many years. “Of course, my darling.”

I ate a meal alone on deck, enjoying the silence and peace of the Nile as the boat drifted down the river with the current. As the sun began its descent, I returned to my cabin and napped until Nebet nudged me.

“My Lady. The Pharaoh has asked you to join him for wine.”

I anointed my heart center with jasmine, and freshened my breath by chewing for a few moments on a wafer of ground myrrh set in wax. Sety rose, and greeted me with a smile as I entered his quarters.

“You’re most beautiful today, Tuya, but I state the obvious.”

I responded to the compliment with a smile.

We sat down at a small table across from each other. A servant brought wine in gold chalices, and then quickly left.

“Was your contemplation fruitful?” I asked Sety.

“Yes, very. The past several weeks have given me much to think about. In the great battle against the Hittites, I came close to being killed. Because of what happened today, I will never fear death again.”

“In the ruin of the temple you knew the love of the Cosmos, which is love at its purest. Love and fear cannot exist together.”

“I felt love for you when I sat next to your bed, after you healed Ramesses. I would gladly have given my life so that our son might live. Instead, you saved him, and nearly gave up your own life.”

“As his mother, I could do no less.”

“To be with you this morning at the site where Isis resurrected Osiris was a great honor.” Tears filled Sety’s eyes. “I feel as though I am reborn.”

“You are reborn, if you wish to be.”

Sety squeezed my hand and smiled. “Would you care to play a game of
senet
?”

I had not played
senet
with my husband since the time on the river years ago when I defeated him and he reacted with rage. I hesitated, then swallowed. “Yes, that would be a fine way to end the day.”

The game remained close as we tossed the sticks and moved the pieces, but as the contest neared its conclusion, fortune turned my way and I tossed a three to win. I looked at my husband with trepidation. To my great relief, he grinned.

“Well played, Tuya.”

“You also played with great skill. We can play again tomorrow, but now I should return to my cabin. You’ve had a momentous day and must be tired.”

Sety walked to a table and reached behind a stone statue of Bastet. He returned with a blue lotus blossom in each hand.

“You need not leave,” he said as he handed me one of the flowers and pulled up a stool so he could sit beside me.

We placed the blossoms over our noses. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Violet lights flickered in my consciousness and bliss filled my heart.

We set down the lotuses on the
senet
board, and Sety took me in his arms. We rubbed cheeks for a time, and then my husband gently pulled on my earlobe with his thumb and forefinger.

“Let us retire to the bed,” he said.

My heart quickened. “I have longed to hear you speak these words.”

As we lay next to each other, warmth streamed through my body from my sacred place as my husband’s phallus stiffened against my thigh.

“May Bastet bestow her blessings,” Sety whispered.

She did so with abundance, and remained with us throughout the night.

XXXV

Bastet visited often, and Sety and I were nearly as inseparable as when we were young. We relished the passion, but also the quieter moments when we played
senet
, or when I entertained my husband with music from the harp.

To my delight, Sety asked me to accompany him once again on a bird hunting excursion by the banks of the Nile. Sety stood near the bow of the boat guiding it through the reeds with a pole, while I sat on a cushioned bench at the middle. We came close to an ibis but Sety did not cast his throwing stick.

I smiled. “You remembered your pledge to me from years ago not to kill ibises in my presence.”

“Of course, but more than the pledge keeps me from hunting them. I’ve come to greatly respect Thoth’s wisdom, and I sense he’s been with me, guiding my life. Out of respect for Thoth, I leave the ibises in peace.”

“You seem content to leave the Hittites in peace as well,” I noted. “In the past, the desire to crush them consumed you. Now you hardly mention the Hittites.”

We remained hushed as we approached a heron, which flew away just as Sety began raising his arm to make a throw. Sety turned to me, a serious expression on his face. “I haven’t forgotten the Hittites, Tuya. They’re a dangerous foe, but for the moment they seem rather subdued, so I have no plans to fight them.”

“I’m pleased to hear this. I don’t want you or our son marching into battle.”

Sety sat down next to me. “Have no doubt, Ramesses and I will fight the Hittites again, but there’s no hurry.”

“In the past, your anger would have driven you into battle sooner rather than later.”

Sety put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him. “How can I be angry when the love of Isis is so near to me?”

With war not yet on the horizon, my husband directed his energy toward the construction of the Temple of Osiris and reconstruction of the ancient temple next to it.

Sety insisted the artwork in the Temple of Osiris be done in bas relief, which took greater skill and more time than carving it directly into the stone.

For the portrayal of Isis, he borrowed my ceremonial wig and sent it Abydos so the artists could use it as a model. Sety also ordered the court historians and archeologists to compile an accurate list of Pharaohs from the earliest times to his own reign, which he had carved into a temple wall, near a picture of him with Ramesses as a boy roping a bull.

“It isn’t sufficient to write the names of Pharaohs on papyrus scrolls,” he told me. “In time, the scrolls will decay or be destroyed, but the stone of the temple will last for eternity.”

“Thousands of years from now, people will praise you for the Temple of Osiris. It will be magnificent,” I said.

“My forebears also deserve praise for their work. That’s why I created the Pharaohs’ list. Egypt is filled with glorious temples and pyramids, and people must forever remember the names of the great men who built them.”

Work on my healing temple progressed as well, as did the creation of the order of healers that would bear Isis’ name.

I asked Renoutet to help me form the order. Though not a healer, the chief Adoratress of Ptah commanded respect because of her imposing presence and knowledge of the Neters. She would serve as a worthy surrogate until the time came for me to devote myself completely to the order.

When word went out that a healing order was being formed under my auspices, many women sought to join. Renoutet would first talk with the aspirants to assess their character and appraise their healing skills. She would send to me the few who met her standards so I could make the final decision on whom to accept.

One young woman, in particular, attracted my attention. She was the same age and only slightly less beautiful than my daughter Hint-mi-re, whom I missed so much.