Spell Bound (A Fairy Retelling #3) (12 page)

Aniya stands before the black opening in the wall and holds the light up to it. The lantern illuminates a sandy path leading into an obscure darkness.

“Looks like this is the only way out for now,” Aniya says to the little men. The leader motions to the other six and they line up in height from largest to smallest and stand ready at the door. The leader looks up at Aniya, a look of readiness on his face. “Here we go,” Aniya says and steps into black shadows beyond the land of the living.

Pebbles and sand crunch under their feet as Aniya and the seven little clay men walk through the darkness. With each step, the murky black fades away to a cloudless pink sky and a hint of light shining on the horizon. Aniya glances behind to look back through the door, but it is gone. There is nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. The light of the lamp flutters and goes out, though there is no breeze to douse it.

The sound of water lapping reaches her ears before she sees the river snaking through the desert. Small black waves ripple against the sandy shore. Although there is no vegetation growing, no papyrus reeds or tall grasses for crocodiles to hide in, Aniya can’t help but notice how much the river looks like her own beloved Nile. A lone barge sits at the river’s edge, its loading plank lowered onto the bank.

Aniya turns around in a circle looking for signs of life, but there is only empty desert dunes and the piceous water of the river as far as the eye can see. The clay men stand and wait at attention, though the leader looks up at her as if to say, “What next?”

“I guess we’ll see if anyone’s on board,” the queen says with a sigh and the shabti lead on. A feeling of uncertainty and helplessness presses down on her, making each step through the sand even more difficult.

The barge is small compared to the ones Aniya has become used to after marrying Pharaoh. And while those boats were always pristine and manned by the strongest servants, this one is not. Gaping holes dot the hull of the ship where the cedar has rotted through and a dingy grey rectangle of linen sail hangs limp and lifeless from the main mast. Aniya steps gingerly on the thin boards of the ramp and with a wary eye at the inky black water, makes her way up. Six empty oars sit on the deck and a small cabin rests near the rear of the boat.

Aniya steps toward the door of the cabin, but the leader of the shabti holds up his hand to stop her. Pulling his small, clay sword from its sheath he motions to three of the tiny soldiers to follow him. The other three stand guard in front of the queen as the leader and his men make their way toward the cabin. Before they can enter, a bellowing shout comes from the door.

“Where’s that lazy crew gone to now?” A withered, old man in a dirty loincloth hunches under the door frame and stomps onto the deck. He peers over the edge of the boat. “Where’d they go?” he asks absently.

“Excuse me, sir,” Aniya attempts to interrupt the old man. “Could I just…”

“That blasted snake probably tried to eat my crew again,” he says finally looking at the young queen. “You didn’t see them, did you?”

“No, I haven’t seen anyone. In fact, you’re the first person…” Aniya trails off as the old man wanders back into the cabin.

She gives a questioning look to the leader of the shabti, but he only responds by shrugging his shoulders. The sound of objects crashing to the floor explodes from the cabin. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Aniya calls inside to the old man.

“Help? Yes! You could help,” he answers as he comes back out of the cabin with two long, wedge-shaped oars. He moves aft, dips the flat of the oars into the river and attaches the handles to rigging, creating a rudder. “What do you know about sailing?”

Aniya looks to the shabti again. Another shoulder shrug tells her they know about as much about sailing a ship as she does. “Ummm...nothing actually.”

“Good. Then you won’t get in the way by telling me what to do. Grab oars,” the grizzled sailor says and waves his hand. The shabti soldiers hustle to pick them up. The little men are barely tall enough to see over the edge of the ship, but somehow they manage to dip the oars into the water.

“What happened to your crew?” Aniya asks as she watches the shabti captain pull up the loading ramp onto the deck and make his way to the stern of the boat.

“Blast if I know what happened to them. The whole lot of them just up and disappeared. Strangest thing. They’re just minor gods, the ones who have helped me sail my boat, but still - they were helpful. One by one, they simply ceased to be here. This morning I found myself completely alone. I can’t sail this ship and fight Apophis completely by myself tonight. I need a crew if we’re to make it through the Duat by sunset.”

“Apophis?” Aniya asks. “The snake god of destruction?”

“That’s the one. I fight that blasted snake every night when I travel back through the Duat, and lately he’s been getting harder and harder to beat. Do you know what will happen if I can’t defeat Apophis? Utter chaos. Gives me a headache just thinking about it,” he says, grabbing a deck pole and pushing the boat from shore and into the current of the river.

“If you fight Apophis, then that means you are…”

“Amun-Ra, the sun god. Pleasure to meet you,” the old man says and spits over the side of the boat.

Aniya falls to the floor of the deck and bows down before him. “Forgive me, great Amun-Ra, I did not realize who you were.”

“Oh nonsense. Get up. Come on, grab hold of the rudder and help steer this blasted ship.”

Aniya rises and goes to the back of the boat to help the leader of the shabti move the rudders while the sun god motions directions with his weather-beaten hands. Although he looks like any normal human, there is an aura of power surrounding him - there’s no mistaking he is truly a god.
The gods are truly real. Perhaps they’ve heard my prayers.

“Now that you know who I am, why don’t you tell me who you are,” he yells back to her.

“I am Aniya, third wife of Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt.”

“The wife of a Pharaoh? Well then, this must be quite a change of pace to find yourself working on my barge in the middle of the Duat. Who was it that led you into the Duat and to my ship, Queen Aniya?”

“Led me? No one, sir. I let myself into the Duat. I was in a tomb, and then I found the door that led me here and opened it.”

The old man’s attention shifts from the dark waters of the river back to the queen. “You opened the door to the Duat? By yourself?”

“Yes, I did.”

“But that’s not...Something’s not right here. Who did you say is your husband… Akhentatoon?”

“Akhenaten. He was my husband. He died recently. Is he here in the Duat? Can I see him?”

“Not unless his Ka has been properly split from his body with the proper rituals. One doesn’t simply enter the Duat just because they died.”

“But I did, enter the Duat I mean. I’m not so sure about the dying part.”

Amun-Ra stares hard at the young queen. “Tell me how you came here.”

Aniya tells the sun god of waking up to darkness and the feeling of movement. She tells him of being placed in the queen’s tomb and being left there. His eyebrows lift as she describes waking the shabti and opening the door into the Duat allowing herself to cross over to the land of the dead.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” the sun god mutters to himself, turning his attention back to the frothy, black water. “Only through the proper rituals of the priests of Anubis, god of the dead, does a mortal’s Ka split from their earthly body.”

“There are no more priests of Anubis, my lord.”

“What? How could that be?”

“Egypt worships only Aten, the One God, now.”

Amun-Ra spits over the edge of the boat once again. Aniya wonders how a god can seem so much like a human. If she met him on the Nile, she would have taken him for any old fisherman working the waters.

“Who is this Aten? I’ve never heard of him.”

“Pharaoh and the Great Royal Wife, Nefertiti, decreed that there is only one god, Aten. They have made it unlawful to pray to the gods of old.”

“Preposterous! How could one god do so much? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, whether it makes sense or not, that’s the way it is. Even though Pharaoh is gone now, Nefertiti continues to force all of Egypt to worship only Aten. It is forbidden to offer prayers to any other.”

A humorless laugh escapes the sun god’s lips. “Well, I think I know what has happened with my crew, then.”

“You do?”

“Since Egypt no longer prays to her gods, then it seems that we are disappearing. I will need to speak to the other gods about this. Will you come with me to share counsel with my children, Osiris and Isis?”

“Yes, my lord. It will be my pleasure. Do you think they can help me get back to the land of the living?”

Embers of hope begin to burn within her, but just as quickly they are doused by the sun god’s words. “I’m sorry. Once you have crossed over into the Duat, it can only mean one thing. Your earthly body is dead. There is nothing to go back to.”

Fear and frustration threaten to blind her with tears, but Aniya fights them back. She has a reason to go back. She must go back.“My son needs me. Tomorrow evening is his naming ceremony. I have to get back to him.”

“Your son?”

“Yes, the next pharaoh of Egypt. I was the third wife of Akhenaten, and I gave him a son. Now that Akhenaten has passed on, my son is the only heir to the throne.”

“The Great Royal Wife bore no sons of her own?”

“No, none. Why?”

“Without an heir, she stands to lose a great amount of power. I wonder...do you remember anything about your death?”

“Not really. That’s why I don’t think I truly am dead. I had just been talking to a friend about my son’s naming ceremony. He brought me a gift. I took a bite of an apple, and then the next thing I knew I was being carried into the tombs of the pyramids.”

The sun god motions for them to steer further to the center of the river. “I can not say much more about the matter. When we reach the Hall of the gods, we’ll find Anubis, god of the dead. Surely he will know if you belong here.”

“Thank you, Amun-Ra,” Aniya says just as the pink light of the sky becomes black. Thick, tremulous clouds roll in, shrouding everything in darkness.

“Is it a storm?” Aniya asks.

“There are no storms in the Duat,” Amun-Ra answers and the clouds boil in the sky above them. “This is dark magic. Quickly now,” Amun-Ra shouts to the queen, “help me light the barge torches.”

Aniya follows the sun god into the small cabin. He takes a blackened torch for himself and and hands one out to her as well. She puts the now useless lamp on the floor and takes the torch.

“Is there fire?” she begins to ask, but Amun-Ra answers before she can finish. Flames burst through his fingers the moment his palm touches the torch.

“Being the sun god has its benefits,” he says and fire flames from the other torch in response to his touch. Aniya smiles and follows the sun god out to the deck. Unlit torches hang nestled to the side of the barge, and together Aniya and Amun-Ra bring them to life. The light fights against the darkness, and though the way through the Duat is still clouded and dark, at least the boat is brightly lit.

A single unlit torch remains on the barge’s bow. Longer than the rest, its blackened head reaches far from the helm of the boat and over the black water. Aniya holds onto the ledge with one hand stretching her body out to light the torch. Fire licks the charred torch and embraces it completely just as the water below bursts open and a scarlet-scaled tail whips from the spray to wrap itself around her forearm. Aniya barely has time to scream before she is yanked from the boat and pulled into the dark water.

There is nothing but darkness as she’s dragged farther and farther into the abyss. Aniya’s free hand pulls at the tail coiled around her arm, but it only seems to hold tighter. Like a rag doll, her body is whipped back and forth through the dark waters. The ache for air burns her lungs. The instinct to breathe builds until she can barely stand it. Can she die here? Isn’t she just spirit? Her mouth opens just as the beast’s tail uncoils. Frantic with the need for air, Aniya kicks her legs and prays that her body is moving toward the surface.

Her head breaks through the water and Aniya retches out the vile water, taking in great, heaving gulps of air. An oar smacks the water in front of her just missing her face.

“Grab hold!” Amun-Ra calls down to her. Aniya wraps shaking arms around the wooden pole of the oar and is lifted back into the barge where she falls to the deck and spits out more of the foul black liquid.

“It’s Apophis!” the sun god yells to the crew as he holds up a wickedly sharp khopesh sword to the sky. “Arm yourselves!”

Following the sun god’s orders, the shabti draw their clay swords. Aniya sees that three of them are missing. The captain of the shabti helps her to her feet, and she tries to ignore how unsteady and wobbly her legs feel. “Where are the rest of your brethren?” she asks. He points to the water below and Aniya looks down and sees a great red snake, longer than the sun god’s barge, writhing in the water. Three of her shabti are fighting against him. Great gashes gleam in the snake’s skin.