Desert Rhapsody - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Jiang Yuan felt as if she had truly seen a ghost. She was talking to empty air. How was that possible? For a moment, she almost thought it was another hallucination. It was not as if she had been short on those these past few days. The sealed stone chambers and corridors had already begun bleeding into reality; perhaps with her next blink, she would be dragged into the darkness. The stairs, too, seemed to have no end. And in the end, there was always that statue, a blood-red jewel hanging at its chest as it stared at her with a terrifying gaze. She would slowly melt into the ground, and as her body disappeared, it would devour her whole.

But that voice was unmistakably Abal’s. That accent, that tone, the wind that leaned close carrying sand and the scent of blood, the breath brushing over her face, and even the prickly scrape of his beard. Jiang Yuan had honestly thought Abal had already been swallowed. This surprise had come far too suddenly. The priest looked over, and she hurriedly lowered her head to hide it. He was hoping to see an oracle, yet he could not see that the noble, dying Divine Envoy was openly plotting her escape right under his nose.

A hoarse laugh sounded beside her at just the right moment, clear and real, not a hallucination. The person leaned closer and pressed his face lightly against hers. The air answered her, “It’s me.”

Thebes in the BC era was honestly much more magical than eighth-century Baghdad, she thought from the bottom of her heart.

From the smell of him, Abal had clearly not had an easy time these past two days either. She had thought they were all going to die in this stretch of yellow sand, and finally let out a breath of relief. The invisible man circled her twice, tugging at the knots binding her from every direction, testing how secure they were, but he could not find a place to start. Countless pairs of eyes were fixed on her in full view of the public.

“It’s the festival right now, and Thebes doesn’t close its gates at night. I’ll come untie you then,” Abal told her his plan. He had always been best at this sort of underhanded trickery, and now that he had turned invisible, he was naturally even more in his element. “I’ve already stolen two donkeys. We can find a chance to slip out.” Jiang Yuan felt his hand slide over the transparent parts of her body. Those areas had already spread across a third of her. Lowering his head, he teased, “We’d better hurry. Otherwise, once neither of us can be seen, we’ll have to tie ropes around each other just to tell where we are.”

Jiang Yuan was in no mood to joke with him. “No. There will be even more people at night.” Night here was even brighter than day, making it easier to see and move around. The priests needed to observe the stars and imagine the Goddess’s incarnation. The next day, they would return her to the Goddess. On such an important day, they would only crowd around the Observatory and seal the area around her watertight. Besides, Jiang Yuan did not want to gamble on whether her hands and feet would still be usable if she remained tied up until the third day. Abal answered almost without thinking.

“Then I’ll set a fire. What’s the most important place in the temple?”

As expected of a bandit. If possible, Jiang Yuan truly did not want to damage so much as a single brick or stone here. Every statue was a priceless treasure beyond measure, not to mention this move was far too outrageous. She almost forced the words out through her teeth. “Do you know where they keep oil here?”

“Ask the priest. Say the Goddess wants to know.”

That would not work either. If she asked about oil and a fire broke out right after, while she disappeared and they had to flee with the jewel, did they think everyone else was an idiot? At the very least, the female pharaoh conducting the sacrifice opposite them absolutely was not. “No,” Jiang Yuan said softly as a better idea came to her. “Go find Thutmose.”

The priest noticed her movement again and asked, “Honored Merit/Pu, do you have any command?” A group of people looked over with him. Jiang Yuan closed her eyes and bowed her head, bound beneath the blazing sun in sacred silence, no longer speaking or moving. Fortunately, the bandit chief had always been full of schemes, so at a time like this, he could quickly understand what she meant. She felt her knee being touched; he found the position of the joint and guided her to bend it lightly forward.

She pursed her lips, telling him not to waste time and to set out at once. After a while, once she was sure there was no one beside her, she called out, “I would like some sweet water.”

As long as she was not asking for food, everything was negotiable. After all, a Divine Envoy had to keep her stomach and intestines clean so she could meet the Goddess in purity, and so it would be convenient to make her into a mummy. In any case, Jiang Yuan had to start saving her strength immediately. The priest respectfully presented a drink mixed with honey and grass-root juice, a wheat stalk inserted into it, and held it by her hand so she could sip.

People still needed a little hope. Even though she was still hanging here, Jiang Yuan suddenly had something to look forward to. Her body abruptly filled with energy, and even the scorching sun became less unbearable. She even had the leisure to begin looking at the offerings Hatshepsut had presented. Egypt was rich in gold, its land fertile and abundant. This was the harvest season, and load after load of gold and stone tablets of land were carried onto the high platform for display. After plump, full grains and slaves came fat cattle and sheep. The pharaoh’s offering was the wealth of an entire nation.
How Jiang Yuan wished she could get her hands on the stone tablet in the High Priest’s possession. Failing that, the scribe’s palette would do. If she could escape, even taking just one of those things with her would be enough. But all she could do was watch. In the corner, the sculptor was making her bust. The priest loudly prayed to Amun-Ra, and with that, the ritual came to an end. The temple celebration was declared open.

Jiang Yuan could feel the thunder of voices beneath her feet. This spot had the best view; with one glance down, she could see the Solar Barque. The bearers gave a shout and carried it out of Karnak Temple. The boat seemed to float beneath her, passing over the vast stone avenue and through blue-painted, vividly colored stone carvings. Its massive keel was like a true beast lying dormant in sleep, swaying forward through the parted crowd. Wherever it passed, people knelt one after another, pressing their foreheads to the earth in worship of the gods. Osiris and Anubis would sit at the prow, guiding their souls across the River of the Dead and delivering them into the afterlife.

They would make a grand circuit around Thebes, allowing all the people of Egypt to behold the gods’ mighty works. The revelry would continue for days and nights, until the pharaoh and the priests declared the celebration over.

Strangely, at some point, the cheers suddenly changed pitch. From their high vantage point atop the temple, everyone saw the boat tilt sharply, as if it had fallen over in the street, then stop moving. Hatshepsut’s expression darkened. She looked ready to fly into a rage; she would not allow a festival she had prepared so meticulously to suffer such a mistake. But for a long while, the Solar Barque did not rise again, and the priests exchanged uneasy looks.

At last, the female pharaoh could bear it no longer. She beckoned a guard over. “Go ask what happened.” The guard accepted the order and left. But before long, a messenger chariot rattled toward the temple. The messenger leaped down in great excitement and rushed up the steps two at a time. His arrival was so eye-catching that no one noticed there were two sets of running footsteps.

“It is an oracle, revered pharaoh! An oracle!” The soldier was so excited he could barely speak clearly. “An oracle!” At the same time, a patch of transparent air slipped to Jiang Yuan’s side. Jiang Yuan saw a knife and a ruby rise into the air and fly silently toward her. “The boatmen of the Solar Barque knelt before Prince Thutmose. The oracle was delivered through the boatmen. They said he is the pharaoh!”

Whether it concerned the current pharaoh or the next, Hatshepsut’s expression was ugly enough. No one was looking this way anymore. The ropes snapped, and Jiang Yuan’s hands dropped. Abal tugged at the hem of her dress, signaling that there was an inconspicuous staircase diagonally behind her.

Jiang Yuan did not know how long this would fool them, but one thing was certain: within minutes, someone would discover she was gone. When she landed, she gritted her teeth and did her best not to make a sound, keeping her body loose. Abal caught her, held her in his arms, and raced toward the stairs. Jiang Yuan took the rope with her while she was at it. That way, perhaps it would look as if she had vanished into thin air and buy them a little more time.

Abal ran down the stairs at incredible speed. The sight was probably bizarre. He was invisible now, so from Jiang Yuan’s perspective, it was as though she herself were floating in midair, carried forward by some unknown force. She could not even quite tell where he was, and had to grope through the air several times before she found his neck. Just then, feeling finally returned to her numbed blood and limbs. An unbearable tingling ache spread upward from every part of her body. Jiang Yuan gave a muffled groan and bit down on Abal’s shoulder.

She forced back her moans with everything she had. Through her blurred senses, she could only feel Abal carrying her into a room. Stone rooms carried sound extremely well, and before long, they heard furious shouting from above. “Merytpu!” Judging by the voice, it seemed to be the queen screaming. Immediately after, the thunderous footsteps of soldiers surged through the passageway. Jiang Yuan felt the rope in her hand being tugged. Only now did Abal notice it.

He carried her into a corner. This room was probably some kind of storeroom. Amid the piles of jars and bottles, he dug out a cloth bundle containing some bread, meat, and a jar of wine. “Well, well.” She heard him say it softly and looked up, only to see a jet-black cat crouched in the corner, a small piece of smoked fish dangling from its mouth.

Abal said lazily, “If I give you these, you won’t go running off to report us, will you?” The footsteps outside were still roaring past, drowning out his voice. The cat stared at them with wide eyes, its tail swishing warily. It did not look like a stray, either. Its fur was glossy and sleek, and it even wore gold ornaments around its ankles. Abal sat there, supporting Jiang Yuan, while she leaned against the wall, still enduring the pain. “That cat…” A hand covered her mouth. Abal said gently, “Shh.”

She could feel him stand. A moment later, the cat suddenly began to struggle. Abal had lifted it by the scruff of its neck and brought it back to Jiang Yuan. Only then did Jiang Yuan finally catch her breath. She glanced toward the outside of the room. Abal had chosen this hiding place cleverly. Although there was no door and it was an open space supported by pillars, the curtains had been tied up in such a way that no one outside could see in. Besides, the jars and bottles were arranged at varying heights, naturally blocking the searchers’ line of sight.
The footsteps rushed past, but the clamor and cheers were still raging outside. In fact, because this place was closer to ground level, the holiday celebrations sounded even livelier from here. The festivities were still going on; naturally, they would not be hastily called off just because one Divine Envoy had gone missing. That was good news for them. It meant fewer people could be spared for the search, and the intensity of it would have to drop. Jiang Yuan said, “So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

“Not bad, is it?” he laughed softly by her ear, and a piece of bread floated up, offering itself to her in midair.

“Where did you get food?” Jiang Yuan asked, then immediately felt the question was pointless. Abal was invisible now. Grabbing a little food would take him no time at all. Judging by the cat’s posture, Abal was sitting cross-legged with it in his lap, making it finish that slice of fish. The cat devoured it in a few bites, licked its mouth, and was then lifted by invisible fingers under the chin and scratched twice. After that, it floated through the air and was set on the windowsill. Abal said, “Go on.”

“Meow.” The cat meowed and lingered, unwilling to leave. Abal ignored it and returned to Jiang Yuan’s side. He took out another piece of bread and began to eat. Bite by bite, the bread shrank, neat tooth marks hovering in the air.

Jiang Yuan stared at those tooth marks for a while, so absorbed that she even forgot to eat. Her wrists and feet were sore and weak, so she simply slumped into the corner. Only now, leaning against the cold stone, did she realize how hot her whole body was, feverish and burning, parched and exhausted. It really was too strange. Jiang Yuan asked, “Why can’t I see the bread when you’re chewing it?”

The bread trembled twice in midair. She could practically picture the bandit chief propping one hand on his knee, trying not to laugh. Those blue eyes of his had to be wicked enough to make a person want to poke them blind.

“So there are things even the Devil doesn’t know?” he teased. Jiang Yuan said, “If I don’t know, then I don’t know. What’s so strange about that?”

Such a simple exchange felt as if it said everything. In the three days they had been apart, each of them had struggled through their own impossible circumstances. She had kicked him down the steps; he had slipped into the temple unarmed. This kind of silent trust, in which they had placed their lives in each other’s hands, needed no words to embellish it. Abal held the bread out to her. “You need to rest. Want me to feed you?” She said, “No, thank you.” But those invisible lips pressed against hers anyway, filling her mouth with chewed-up crumbs of bread.

Jiang Yuan kicked him hard, but a piercing pain shot through her own foot, and in the end she was the one who wanted to pound the wall from the pain. She felt him collapse beside her, laughing silently. Wiping her mouth, she said, “Can you fucking be serious for once?” Still, she had no choice but to swallow it. They could not leave food scraps behind. He said, “Don’t you want to try it? With me invisible, I imagine it would be very exciting.” A water jar floated up and was offered to her.

The beer in Egypt actually tasted quite good. Jiang Yuan had at least drunk wine in the temple and the royal palace before, and she could tell this was exactly the same kind as what she had tasted there. No matter where the Governor of Bakum went, he could always make himself comfortable. On that point, Jiang Yuan truly could not hope to compete with him. Abal did not let her eat much. “You’ve been hungry for three days. You can only have a little, or it will affect your speed.” Jiang Yuan understood that too, but when she watched him put the food away into a cloth bundle, her eyes practically turned green. The cat still would not leave, so to keep it from meowing, Abal occasionally fed it a little something too. …Even the cat was eating better than she was, and she could not drink too much water either.

He even dug two pieces of cloth out of the corner. They looked like covers used to keep dust off pottery jars. But once he spread them out, arranged bottles outside them, and had someone lie down, no trace could be seen at all. The corner of the room was cool and shaded, beyond the Sun’s reach. Jiang Yuan lay down and finally let out a comfortable sigh. Her hands and feet were already bruised black, swollen and terrifyingly misshapen. They had begun to throb; perhaps they would fester. She was still tense, staring at the carved stone images on the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. The footsteps coming from every direction kept her on alert. Abal said, “Sleep. We still have a long road ahead of us.”

She closed her eyes. This time, there was not even a strip of cloth binding her eyes. She thought she would not be able to sleep, but after the cat was tucked in beside her and she felt its soft warmth and prickly fur, she drifted off before she knew it.