Reflections in the Nile (16 page)

When she was finally alone, Chloe wrote down the words for the formula. What did it mean? Her fingers drifted from time to time to the scarab on her wrist. It had been baked almost black, but the lines that showed the shape of the beetle had been painted green, the wings red and the rest left black. A silken cord attached at the head and tail, kept it tied flatly against her wrist. She still smelled like frankincense, and her hair had grown like shaving stubble, overnight. Never again, she vowed would they chop off her hair.

Period.

She walked on deck after lunch, the sun warming her back through her simple linen shift. She wore a headcloth, held in place by a circlet representing her office, and had ringed her eyes with kohl against the sun. The river grew more crowded the closer they drew to the Great Green. Cheftu was seated on the port side before a table and appeared to be drawing. The young bearded slave they had picked up in Noph sat beside him, shuffling through a stack of scrolls as if he were looking for something. Two humps appeared on the western horizon, and Chloe walked to the port side.

Cheftu looked up at her in surprise. “My lady! Can you speak?” She shook her head no and then opened her mouth for a demonstration. Cheftu's glance dropped momentarily to the amulet on her wrist, and he said “I see. Maybe tomorrow.”

She agreed and pointed to the growing shapes behind him. He looked “The Pyramids. Surely you have seen them?”

Chloe tried to hide her excitement. The Pyramids! Finally something she recognized from her world! She shook her head no. Two trips to Cairo and she'd seen them only from a distance. Someday she wanted to climb them.

Cheftu watched her, frowning slightly: “I thought Makab took you after your parents flew to Osiris?”

She shook her head vehemently. Maybe he had taken RaEm, but it was nowhere in the “other's” memory. Cheftu smiled a real smile, his golden eyes light and his teeth white against his dark face. “I take it from your barely restrained enthusiasm that you would like to visit them?”

She nodded emphatically, smiling for the first time in days.

He chuckled “Always full of surprises, my lady. We have no litter, so we'll have to walk. I think the avenue from the river is still fairly easy going. Shall we see Ra die tonight from the apex?”

Her smile said it all.

“Then you must rest this afternoon, my lady.”

Chloe smiled again and practically skipped back to her room. If only there were some way to take her notebook! She looked through her collection of custom-made sandals and picked the sturdiest ones, checked that she had a kilt, shirt, and cloak, and lay down, waiting until twilight.

She awoke periodically during the afternoon, her excitement making it difficult to sleep. Finally she saw long shadows and rose to dress. Cheftu met her at the stern, his young Apiru slave and two other
rekkit
beside him. His amber glance assessed her, and he smiled. “Are you ready, my lady?” She smiled and nodded as Cheftu looked at her a moment longer. “Then let's be off.”

Seti had anchored them at an old dock, and they walked easily down it and onto the land. Chloe could see the remnants of an avenue that had been wide and sphinx lined but was already worn from more than a thousand years of use. The Pyramids grew before them, their tops puncturing the night sky. Their limestone casings were chipped. Cheftu explained they'd once been tipped in gold before the Hyksos had raided them.

It felt good to move again, Chloe thought Her muscles were already sore and she thrived on the ache. She was living life, not just drawing it! Chloe matched her stride to Cheftu's, the slaves trailing behind. The sphinx was almost completely buried, only its eyes, still painted, and forehead visible above the sand. Cheftu was strangely quiet until they stood before the Great Pyramid, its name even in this antiquated time.

As detailed and exquisite as Karnak was, this Pyramid was a counterpoise of grandeur and majesty. Chloe craned her neck to see the top. The rocks she'd always imagined as stair steps were actually taller than she was. Chloe stood in silence, staring up with wonder. It was a few minutes before she noticed Cheftu was no longer looking at the masterpiece of ancient engineering, but staring at her.

“Amazing, is it not,” he said, gesturing to the building. “Legend says it took twenty years to build, though I know not how. Would you like to climb it?” Chloe indicated the enormous height of the rocks, and Cheftu chuckled. “Not from here. The limestone is unscalable. It was one of Cheops’ protective measures. On the other side are steps. Some ancient Nophite pharaoh used to come up here to think, so he had steps cut into the rock. However, it is still quite a climb.” She gestured for him to lead the way, and they began to walk around the base. Chloe was amazed at the total absence of life around them. There wasn't a village, a field, or even an ancient tourist booth. They were alone.

The slaves followed at a distance, carrying torches and a large basket that Chloe hoped held dinner. After a fifteen-minute walk, they reached the other side. The moon had risen and the stars were out, casting their light on the moonlike surface of the shifting sands.

Cheftu found the steps and guided her to them. “Go before us, and be careful. These steps are hundreds of years old and slippery. I will be here to catch you if you trip, so do not worry.” Who is going to catch you? Chloe thought, but she began to climb. Though the steps were normal size, years and countless feet had worn them down so that each step dipped in the middle. About a third of the way up her lungs began to burn, Cheftu noticed and called a break.

Each climber settled against the larger stones, looking across the endless desert, the miles of undulating silver sand. When Chloe regained her bream she started off again, Cheftu close behind. Her feet began to blister in the sandals, and she thought wistfully of a decent pair of boots, but when she looked up into the limitless, starry night, she forgot about her feet, the time-travel conundrum—everything except this majesty.

Chloe was sweating when she finally placed her trembling foot on the top.

The top of the world!

The wind was fierce, whipping at her headcloth and chilling the moisture on her face. When the Hyksos had taken the gold-covered top, it had flattened the Pyramid, leaving a plateau the size of her Dallas flat. She walked to the eastern side, overlooking the Nile. It stretched as far as the eye could see, a filament of black-and-silver light, weaving Upper and Lower Egypt into one of the greatest civilizations the world would ever know.

There were no lights, except the pinpricks she could see on their small craft far below. It was so barren. They were alone under this enormous expanse of silver-spangled sky. Cheftu's voice came to her on the wind, offering food and warmth.

The slaves had formed a shelter and heated wine. Chloe sat down inside it, next to Cheftu, enjoying the lack of wind, and stared up at the sky. She didn't recognize many of the constellations and couldn't ask Cheftu what they were. He handed her a cup of warmed wine and the predecessor to a pita-bread sandwich. She bit into it hungrily, crunching the goat cheese and cucumbers as she relaxed against the ancient stone.

They were blocked from the slaves’ view by the shelter, and the intimacy of their position poured through her veins. Chloe was preternaturally aware of Cheftu's deep breathing, the way his long fingers moved as he spoke, as he gestured toward the sky and drew pictures in the air to illustrate his stories. Silvery light touched his body, gilding its hard smoothness, and the spicy warmth of his skin enticed her. Chloe gulped. Moonlight madness, that's all she was feeling. Besides, she had no hair! What kind of man would be interested in a bald woman?

However, in these moments she glimpsed what might have been between them … between Cheftu and RaEm. No telling what kind of
kheft
he'd think her if she told the truth. If she could tell him the truth.

He pointed, resting his cloth-covered head next to hers. “That is the star of RaShera,” he said, pointing to Venus. “There is the constellation of the thigh of Apis.” Chloe looked long and hard but couldn't make out how they had perceived a bull's thigh in the night sky. Of course, it wasn't any more difficult to imagine than Cassiopeia in her chair, but Chloe always had a hard time with that one, too.

“It astonishes me how, no matter where we may travel away from the red and black lands of Kemt, there are always our gods in the sky,” Cheftu said, his velvety voice raw from the wind. “When we were returning from Punt, sometimes the trip would seem so long and the people so foreign, it was a comfort to look in the sky and know Ma'at was maintained.”

She looked at him in surprise. Cheftu had gone on that fabled journey to Punt? The trip that Hatshepsut had considered the ultimate feat of her reign? She longed to ask him more.

“You did not know I had traveled, RaEm?”

She shook her head no.

He smiled bitterly. “I should not be surprised, should I,” he said to himself. “
Assst,
well. In Assyria they have ziggurats. They are like the first Pyramids we ever built. They sacrifice animals to their gods and draw their attention by cutting themselves. They have very bloodthirsty gods. Then in the Far East, the people are very small and dark. They stick needles in you to relieve pain.” He chuckled. “It works, but I cannot see any Egyptian standing for such treatment.

“In the islands of the Great Green, young men and women vault over bull horns as a worship to their gods. The women wear many-layered dresses, but leave their breasts uncovered. Stories say there used to be a great empire, its power stretching across the sea. However, they got greedy and their gods have almost destroyed them twice by raining fire.” He sighed. “No matter where one goes, though, the sky is the same, Ra is born and dies every day and night. The stars dance on Nuit's skin in every country.” He sat in silence, his eyes as dark as the night above them. “There is HatHor,” he said, pointing. “It is almost her season.”

Chloe felt his gaze on her.

“I hope you are able to serve her again, RaEm.” His voice was personal, intimate and low, the former sarcasm and bitterness missing. She turned her head, meeting his warm glance, his gold eyes lit with reflections of the stars above. Hesitantly he touched her jaw, his thumb caressing her lower lip. Chloe didn't breathe as she moved toward him. Cheftu met her, his lips soft and gentle, a questioning heat that burned through her body. She felt the impact of his kiss in every cell, heat rushing from her extremities inward. His thumb stroked her chin as he angled his face over hers. Chloe began to melt, but he pulled back abruptly, looking away.

“There is Ptah, far in the east,” he said conversationally. Chloe didn't give a hoot about Ptah at this point but looked up anyway, trying to calm her pounding heart. “He has left the house of HatHor and is now heading toward Isis and Nephthys.” Her mind jarred. What had he said that was so familiar? She put a hand to her head, bending forward and away. “Ptah in the east”? What was that from?

Cheftu sat up next to her, his warm arm around her shoulders. “Are you well, RaEm?” She shrugged, barely hearing his question. He touched her chin and turned her face to him. Ptah and HatHor left her mind as blood surged through her body. Cheftu sat immobile, staring intently at her lips.

She licked her lips, inhaling his wine-scented breath, so close that she could see the texture of his skin. The moment stretched into eternity as he bent his head and kissed her, his fingers caressing her chin and jawline, his touch tentative but fiery. He traced the seam of her lips, and she tasted the rough texture of his tongue as he teased her, swallowing her excited gasp when he gripped her neck and pulled her closer. His kiss was lazy and warm, and she held his hand to her neck, feeling the blood race beneath his satiny bronze skin.

When he drew back, his eyes were dark, unreadable. He swallowed hard, and she tried to collect herself. They were both breathing heavily in the cool night air. What had happened? Why was he suddenly so cold? He released her as if he'd been bitten, and she quickly let go of his wrist. They stared at each other for a moment.

Cheftu looked stunned, then angry, then he was Lord Cheftu again—flawlessly polite and remote. In a fluid motion he drew to his feet, his voice rough. “When my lady is ready to return, I shall be waiting.” She watched his star-spattered figure walk to the southern side of the Pyramid, the wind blowing his cloak flat to his body.

She sat, letting her pulse return to normal and her anger to full boil. What a jerk! One thing was certain: she now knew who the stranger in the marshes had been; the recognition of his touch had warmed every molecule in her body. He'd kissed her again with a hopeful restraint, as if he were afraid to really touch her, then hunger had overtaken restraint. She had been a most willing participant, too. Damn. Sighing, Chloe leaned back, staring into the blackness. Why did she care, anyway? He was an alien to her, a member of a lost race. Soon she would be returning home. So why did those thoughts give no comfort? Why did she want to see, feel, and know more of Cheftu? To break beyond the facades of nobleman and healer? He hates RaEm, she reminded herself. RaEm is who you are. She rubbed her necklace across her chin as she shivered in the night air.

Cheftu glared into the wind. What had come over him? He knew RaEm was available for bedding. In fact, her easy willingness cooled his ardor. At least it had before. By the gods, he'd never touched RaEm like that or been touched by her so intensely, so bone-shakingly close. A pity he didn't want just her body. …

In the many years since they had last seen each other, he had missed her childlike surprise and freshness; but it was gone, it had been gone for many years. Still, there was an unfulfilled sensuality and femininity in her touch. A purity. The gods must be laughing at that! Her perfect kiss had been a falsehood—further proof of what an amazing deceiver she was, this priestess of the goddess of love and mirth. She and all she touched were lies, alluring reflections that faded with the introduction of truth.