Infinite Sacrifice Read Online Free PDF Page B

the Six Great Mansions, and the guards have
taken her away. Her trial is tomorrow.”
    What am I to do?
    “Sokaris, we must find the man
responsible for this.” She puts the brush away and snaps the lid
shut.
    I shake my head, feigning
thoughtfulness. “I will go to incubate at once to see what I can
scry.”
    I rush to the dream chamber, rip
the sheets back, and fall asleep to try to save her.
    Bastet is on a great ship, alone,
acting as steersman. She looks worried and is crying, “Sokaris!
Sokaris!”
    I shout, “I will save you!” as I
pull my arm up and prick myself deep with a thorn.
    Instantly, Nun is up on the deck
steering the massive ship, and I tell Bastet, “Jump to
me!”
    She steps backward to gain speed
and leaps to me on the riverbank. We both watch as Nun and the ship
sail away downstream.
    I wake and kiss Bes, carved above
my head, and say, “Thank you! Thank you!”
    I scribble down an entry and
backdate it forty-two days. I leave the temple and clap to wake up
Nun, sleeping on the stone walkway after waiting for me all night.
Under a red sky in the east, I run to the mansion where Bastet is
being judged.
     
    ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
     
    I rush past the alabaster sphinx
guarding the road that leads to the Pharaoh’s palace. The burnt
landscape slowly turns green as I near the mouth of the Nile, where
the imposing jaws of the courthouse looms. The mansion stands
sternly against the happy backdrop of the banks of the Nile, where
peasant women beat their laundry against rocks, servants fill clay
vessels carrying them away on their heads, and children splash and
play games as their mothers watch for crocodiles. Thick columns of
three heights guard the entrance as statues of justice judge all
who enter. The most important people in Memphis are there: the
Pharaoh's vizier, the high priests, scribes, and many of the lower
priests. It’s unusual to have an event such as this occur within
temple walls. I sit with others from the House of Life on the
benches provided under the covered section of the roofless court.
Khons attends with his son, Aapep, and I nod to him in
respect.
    The vizier presiding speaks from
his great chair in the center under a canopy held by slaves. “We
are all witness to a most disrespectful and defiling crime. This is
an offense not only against all those honoring the gods but a crime
against Serapis himself!”
    The priests all nod in
agreement.
    “Bring her in.” He motions to the
guards, grey eyes flashing.
    Bastet looks so small between the
two towering guards. She looks like such a child now—a faint shadow
of the woman who glowed before me in my dream chamber. Her powerful
force that has compelled my allegiance and charmed my worship has
deserted her, and she now stands before the court, shaking. She’s
forced to stand before the vizier in direct sun.
    “Bastet, daughter of Ketuh, is it
true you are carrying a child in your womb?”
    “Yes, High One.”
    The audience is a mass of bald
heads all shaking in disgust.
    “Nebu, reigning wife of Serapis of
The House of Life temple, has testified you took an oath of
celibacy as her initiated Royal Daughter.”
    “Yes, oh High One.”
    “Is this child the spawn of
man?”
    “Yes, High One.”
    “Who is the man who has
disrespected Serapis and has caused the gods to seek earthly
judgment upon him?"
    What will I do if she says my
name!
    I clench my fists.
    “I cannot say. Have mercy on me,
High One.” She begins to cry and covers her face with her delicate
hands.
    Now the audience breaks out in
murmurs as some get up in anger to leave. I feel a wave of relief
that I might be able to escape this disgrace and still help
her.
    “If you will not answer, we will
have no choice but to sentence you to death by spear. You will be
granted mercy for your unborn child’s soul, and your punishment
will be carried out upon its birth.”
    Bastet merely shakes her head and
bows. The vizier nods for the guards to take