Desert Rhapsody - Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Egypt, set amid the desert, always seemed to burn beneath a merciless sun. Even with the clear, broad Nile River, even with shaded fields and farmland everywhere, the open landscape still felt unbearably hot. At the first faint glimmer of dawn, heat was already rising from the yellow sand. The stone slabs were half-scorched, hot enough to wake Jiang Yuan from her stupor.

She let out a low moan, her head splitting with pain. The figures swaying before her eyes were blurred beyond recognition, because for two straight days the glare off the river had dazzled her vision and filled her eyes with tears until she could barely see. She had been bound hand and foot like this on the temple’s Observatory for three days. Even with a gold-inlaid canopy over her head, the softest linen gauze draped over her body, and water to drink, she woke in the steaming heat feeling desperately dehydrated. In that state, even sunlight that was merely bright felt vicious.

Once dawn broke, the priests changed shifts beneath the blue vault of the sky. The night’s stargazing had come to an end, and the grand ceremony was about to begin. Attendants carried trays and bowls solemnly up onto the Observatory, placing those ornate vessels and carvings before her with grave care. The freshly cleansed priests, still wreathed in steam, ordered the slaves about with commanding gestures, making them hold up the offerings before personally setting down each gift to the gods.

There was fragrant beer, sweet fruit, and bread fresh from the oven, still giving off billows of heat. In a place like this, bread so soft and free of impurities was enough to show that the flour had been sifted again and again, then baked with meticulous care until it was deliciously fine. Then came plump, tender calves and lambs, roasted until fat overflowed from them, carried up by several burly slaves. Oil dripped onto their sweating skin and raised blisters. Their backs were bent so low their faces could not even be seen. Beneath the morning mist, the meat seemed almost to glow. Jiang Yuan had already been hungry for too long; even so, the sight of it still made her stomach rumble once or twice.

Sweet water was offered to her, the smooth wheat straw brushing against her skin. A priest said respectfully, “Please enjoy.”

At a time like this, clear water sweetened with honey only made her hungrier. But Jiang Yuan still had no choice but to drink. As long as it was not the very last moment, she still wanted to preserve her strength. She forced her eyes open, tried not to look at the river, lowered her head slightly, and sipped gently at that source of life.

“I will present you with the finest offerings.”

When she had been pressed down in the palace hall, the cold marble floor grinding painfully against her bones, she had then been invited to sit below the throne, even though her hands were still bound. The female pharaoh had taken her seat before her. The Daughter of Amun and the envoy of a weaker Goddess could, naturally, meet as equals.

Even though an insignificant servant had escaped, Hatshepsut merely pressed her lips together with supreme arrogance and gave a cold smile. She looked straight into Jiang Yuan’s eyes, oppressing and commanding her with that gaze. “I will hold a celebration for you and bring Goddess Meretseger countless riches and slaves. I will build her the grandest temple, in Thebes, above Karnak Temple. I will raise statues of you and your servant. You will stand at the Goddess’s left and right hands and serve her for all eternity. If you are willing, I will support you, even if you are a foreign woman whom the people view with suspicion…” Her gaze fixed on Jiang Yuan, sweeping from her bloodied, mangled body to her face.

“You are Goddess Meretseger.”

Even in such a desperate situation, Jiang Yuan could not help laughing. She simply found it funny, and from the bottom of her heart, absurdly foolish. Abal had called her foolish, and apparently he had been right. Even now, she still felt all of this was unreal. She was in Egypt two thousand years before the common era, meeting the queen’s eyes. Hatshepsut, of course, did not understand what she was laughing at, and was deeply displeased. She lifted her chin. In truth, from Jiang Yuan’s perspective, she was still very young. Only in her twenties. Young in a way that even this threat over life and death could not conceal.

“You dare show me disrespect.”

“That isn’t it.” Jiang Yuan stopped laughing. “Please forgive me. I was only thinking of something else.”

Hatshepsut looked at her unhappily. She did not necessarily believe her-or perhaps she did, and was all the more displeased for it. She was such a lofty ruler, radiant from head to toe. The crown upon her head, the enormous gemstones, the long black eyeliner, and the gold dust outlining the corners of her eyes all displayed imperial majesty. She was a pharaoh’s daughter, a pharaoh’s wife, and a pharaoh’s mother. She was the owner of the greatest empire of Egypt. She had seized her stepson’s throne and governed Egypt with her own noble bloodline. In Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, unified royal power had once again reached its peak. The pharaoh was supreme. Who would dare say before her, “I was only thinking of something else”?
“If I agree,” Jiang Yuan said, “what would you have me do?”

Hatshepsut I said, “Kneel before me. Submit to me. Be loyal to me.”

“I’m already kneeling.”

“You have not given me your loyalty.”

She was from the twenty-first century. Who could she possibly give her loyalty to? And what did Hatshepsut mean by loyalty? Jiang Yuan laughed again. “If I kneel before you, will you return the gem to me?”

Hatshepsut did not answer. Even though she and Abal had tried to conceal the gem’s existence, their methods had been too limited. Anyone who saw the gem would know exactly why the two Divine Envoys had descended. There would always be some self-important fool who thought that as long as they held the gem in their hands, they could perform divine miracles. For example, turning people into something like her. Hatshepsut said arrogantly, “You are the traitors who turned your backs on the Goddess. You have no right to possess the gem. It belongs to me, and so should the method of using it.” No matter what, the gem would only remain in the hands of the strong.

“Then I’m sorry.” Jiang Yuan gave a bitter smile. “I have no loyalty to give you.” Because she had no idea how to use that damned gem in the first place. She did not even know how she had ended up cursed.

Those black eyes stared at her with oppressive force. Hatshepsut did not seem surprised by her refusal. “Then hand Shepre over to me in exchange for your life.”

“…You want his child?”

“His appearance is not as suitable as yours. Originally, he could only have been kept as a pet.” The Egyptian Queen’s expression did not waver in the slightest. “Unfortunately, you are a woman.”

If offering up one night with Abal-or several nights-so he could scatter a little of the seed he metabolized on a regular basis two thousand years in the past could buy her life, Jiang Yuan had no psychological hang-ups about altering history. She said sincerely, “Then I’m sorry about that too. You should have said so earlier. I would very much like to hand him over, but I truly don’t know where he went.”

Abal had vanished without a trace. Two days had passed without so much as a ripple. The soldiers of Thebes had presumably been sent out in every direction to search for him. Under these circumstances, Jiang Yuan could not tell whether failing to find the Governor of Bakum was good news or not. As for Jiang Yuan herself, she had been enshrined high upon an altar cast from gold, facing the Nile River, with Thebes beneath her feet. The people surged in endless crowds, coming day and night to worship the Divine Envoy, their chants to the gods piercing the heavens.

What a magnificent, resplendent temple Observatory it was-and yet it was an altar to the gods meant to be painted in blood. Her skin and feet had been scorched burning hot. After negotiations broke down, Hatshepsut had hoisted her up onto the Observatory, held a celebration, presented offerings, and prepared to send her back to the Goddess’s side. This was already the second day beneath the blazing sun, and the most immediate danger was not even dehydration from exposure. The sluggish ache of her stagnant blood left her unable to breathe. Leather cords bound her limbs and neck, forcing her body open. Her entire weight hung from the ropes, and even though velvet cloth had been stuffed beneath the bindings, the tied places were still swollen and bruised.

Jiang Yuan thought she might be about to die… or else her hands were going to be ruined. Blurred thoughts flickered through her mind. Even though they fed her water at intervals, she was already showing symptoms of heatstroke-dizzy, seeing spots, her consciousness muddled.

The sunlight grew brighter. Day was about to break, and birdsong clamored all around. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the shimmering reflection of the water at the back of her eyelids. Jiang Yuan could imagine the scene, and from the bottom of her heart, she regretted that she did not have enough time or leisure to admire it. She recalled the beauty of Thebes, using it to distract herself from the unbearable torment and pain. At night, when she could open her eyes and rest for a brief while, she had seen such beautiful sights and engraved them deep into her memory. Starlight spilled across the earth, spreading over the boundless sea of sand. Towering city gates connected to one another, standing silent at the four corners of the city.

How beautiful it was, a splendor utterly different from Baghdad and the desert beneath the crescent moon. Jiang Yuan had never imagined Egypt would be like this-so mysterious, majestic, suffocating, and gently lovely. Roads spread out from beneath her feet, and lamps burned through the night without end. Beneath the grand stone gates and statues, the people of Egypt bowed devoutly to her, praising the names of the Sun and the Goddess. The mighty ancient kingdom from four thousand years ago stretched all the way to the end of her vision.

It was so beautiful. Even without seeing the pyramids, standing here atop Karnak Temple and looking at this great miracle built purely by human hands, all she had to do was glance aside to see statues as tall as houses. Color had been painted across their enormous white stone faces, and they looked down at her without expression. Such grandeur was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Thebes had already begun its revelry. This was a grand festival organized by Queen Hatshepsut herself. The priests lowered Jiang Yuan down and gently bathed her, shaved all the hair from her body, cleaned her teeth, served her water-she had been baked dry enough that there was hardly anything left in storage-then dressed and adorned her, smearing fragrant oils and ointments all over her body. All of this took place on the Observatory. She was restrained there, exposing her body before the eyes of all the people of Thebes. By now, the signs of that curse had already spread to her collarbones. At the sight of this strange and uncanny spectacle, the people sank to their knees one after another, trembling as they praised the gods.
Beside Jiang Yuan, a priest arranged a small stone-carved idol. Its features and bodily curves were blurred, but supposedly, this was the Goddess Meretseger. They dressed it in splendid clothes and jewelry, adorned it, perfumed it with incense, and anointed it with oils, doing to it exactly what they had just done to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had some doubts that, at this size, the people of Thebes below could even see it. After that, once she had been scrubbed clean, she was tied back onto the wooden frame. The priests summoned the attendants and formed a procession, singing and dancing before her and the Goddess as they chanted loudly.

The sunlight grew more dazzling by the moment. It leapt over the horizon like spreading flame, touching her feet. Hatshepsut I arrived with the rising sun. She, too, had finished bathing and was dressed in majestic regalia. With her guards and close ministers around her, she walked step by step toward Jiang Yuan.

The priests in white linen robes greeted her. “Hatshepsut, Supreme Pharaoh, Daughter of Amun, Pearl of Amun.”

She lifted her chin, her gaze meeting Jiang Yuan’s. The female pharaoh held a scepter, with only the beard marking the form she had assumed. A golden falcon stood atop her head, and a cobra coiled around her scepter. Barefoot, she came to stand before Jiang Yuan, looking down at her from above. Then she reached out a finger and touched Jiang Yuan’s forehead.

“You have one last chance,” she said. “Your servant Shepre has already abandoned you and fled. How laughable. You risked your life to protect him, yet he left you without even looking back.”

Not a single ripple stirred in Jiang Yuan’s heart. She supposed it was because she was simply too hungry. In truth, when she thought back to that instant, she had not hesitated at all. She had done everything she could. Abal knew Egyptian; that was the best arrangement. If he really had abandoned her and left, then there was nothing she could do about it. She smiled. “Then let the Goddess decide.”

The queen stared at her without expression.

“In that case, please take my offering with you and convey my greetings to the Goddess tomorrow morning.”

The Nile River surged, its broad, clear waters rushing northward. Along the edge of Thebes stood many temples, and there were many sacred creatures that no one was permitted to hunt. An ancient, solemn chant rose amid the cries that shook the city. The queen’s fingertip was scorching hot, filled with absolute majesty and power. After that brief touch, Hatshepsut turned to face Thebes.

She did not regard Jiang Yuan as worth her attention. Jiang Yuan was merely an offering, and in the queen’s eyes there were only the gods. The High Priest stood beside her and began reciting hymns from the Book of the Dead. Dozens of slaves were brought forward and cleanly beheaded before Jiang Yuan. Blood spread across the ground. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered together, holding their breath, listening to her voice.

It was truly bloody and uncanny, brutal and beautiful. Even on the brink of death, Jiang Yuan watched everything before her with unwavering focus. Perhaps she had crossed thousands of years only to witness this moment. Heads and corpses were shoved down from the high platform, where envoys sent by the lioness Goddess would come to feast. Countless herons took flight from the banks of the Nile River. Packs of leopards gave chase, tearing them apart and swallowing them down. Male lions wore jeweled crowns and roared at the sky. Wadjet and Horus presided over this grand rite, and the Egyptian Gods reveled here.

“With these offerings, may Amun be pleased. May he make the land fertile and abundant. May he make the sun rise in the east each day. May he make the waters of the Nile River surge, rushing on without end through every generation.” The queen raised her scepter high. “May he be pleased!”

“May he be pleased!” The cheers were deafening, resounding through the heavens. Towering stone gates and statues stood beside the temples, silently looking down upon these thousand years. The people roared and cheered. “May he be pleased! May he be pleased!”

May Amun be pleased. May the waters of the Nile River surge. May the sun forever rise in the east. May the land be forever fertile, nourishing all who live upon it. May the gods watch over this empire. May my Egypt endure in eternal prosperity.

Just then, Jiang Yuan heard a quiet voice say, “Don’t look over. Pretend you didn’t hear me.”

Still, she turned her head in shock… but saw no one. Cool wind and blazing sun brushed over her body at the same time. Date palms swayed beside the pool, and lotus flowers spread their green leaves. The scenery of the Nile River was dazzlingly beautiful, but everywhere she could see on the high platform, there was not a single person near her.

No… way?

She said, “…Abal?”