A Long Time from Home Pt. 02 Ch. 02

With a sigh, I sat up. "Let's wash first, then."

"Good idea."

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Neferure arrived later than any of us expected, but it gave us time to wash, get dressed and clean up the living room. It also gave me time to catch up on what she had been doing for the last decade or so.

Aside from being a priestess, she had two kids, a boy and a girl, and had spent some time raising them, but now they lived with her sister. Normally, it wasn't well-seen for a priestess to have children, but besides being a protector Goddess, Bastet was also the Goddess of love, pregnancy, and childbirth, and it was not uncommon for her priestesses to have children.

Nofret had just finished talking about her hopes for her children's future, when there was a soft knock on the door and a moment later Neferure came in, stopping as soon as she saw us. "Oh, Thank Bastet for you being here."

Last time I saw her, she had been in a very good mood, but right now she looked scared. That I could see two guards taking up position on each side of the door before it was closed behind her only confirmed that this was serious.

Nofret hurried over to her, hugging her. "What's the matter?"

"Earlier today I overheard that Amenmesse wants to marry me." She said in a shaking voice. "I hate him... I'm sure he was behind the death of Sekhemkare."

That caused me to blink in surprise. Amenmesse was the son of Merneptah by Queen Takhat and thus the half-brother of the current crown prince, Seti. The Sekhemkare she was talking about was a younger brother of Seti, who had died from an illness two years earlier.

I sighed. This smelled to high heavens of court intrigues. Besides her good looks, one reason Amenmesse might want to both marry Neferure and have Sekhemkare killed was to get closer to the line of succession when Merneptah died, since being married to a daughter of Ramesses the Great would strengthen a claim to the throne.

Of course as was so often the case with court intrigues, it might not even be Amenmesse himself that was pulling strings. It could just as easily be his mother, Queen Takhat, that wanted her son on the throne.

Nofret looked like she was about to say something, but Neferure beat her to it, as she looked at me. "He has also taken your holy sword, Healer. That is why I've asked the priestess for your help."

"What holy sword?" I asked, slightly puzzled. "I don't ha..." My voice trailed off as I suddenly remembered the cursed Pulcher sword I had gotten after the Battle of Perire. Like all weapons taken from the Libu, it had been carried back to Men-nefer with the caravan, and I had expected to get it in a few days. "That's not a holy sword."

Nofret looked just as puzzled as I had been a moment ago. "What sword?"

"After the Battle of Perire I was rewarded with five slaves and a choice of a captured weapon. "I explained. "It must be the one mentioned but is not a holy sword... It's a cursed sword."

They both looked at me. "Cursed?"

"It carries with it the Curse of Set." I said with yet another sigh, translating the curse into something they were familiar with. "Anyone wielding it will cause disorder and violence, and I chose it with the intent of throwing it into the Nile, so nobody could use it. If Amenmesse had taken that sword from the caravan, he will stop at nothing to become Pharaoh. After that, he'll throw Kemet into as many wars of conquests as he possibly can."

Neferure looked terrified, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said as two sudden bursts of negative Vis ran over me. Somebody had died just outside and that there were two of them, most likely meant that Neferure's two guards weren't alive to protect her anymore. The lack of combat noise was strange, but it might be something as simple as the attackers using bow and arrows, or other distance weapons and not missing.

"Into the bedroom." I ordered. "They're coming here."

They both looked at me open-mouthed, so I quickly took hold of them and dragged them into the next room as fast as I could.

"Do you have a back door?" I asked Nofret, who shook her head. "Not to the outside. The back door leads into the temple, but it's bolted from this side."

There was the sound of the front door being opened and closed again and then somebody said in a loud voice. "Neferure! By the order of Prince Amenmesse, you need to come with us!"

I sighed. When I had arrived, I had bolted the door after me, but apparently Neferure haven't done that, so they had been able to walk right in.

"Never." Whispered Neferure as an answer to the call, mostly to herself, but there was no mistaking the steel in her voice.

Nofret looked at me and I noticed that she had drawn her knives. "What do you suggest, Avatar of Maahes? Fight or flight?"

"We can't flee. In all likelihood, they will have the back door covered and are hoping for us to try exactly that." I said slowly as I thought it over. The efficient and silent way they had taken the guards spoke of highly trained warriors, so it wasn't going to be an easy fight. On the other hand, what they were doing was extremely risky, even for a prince.

The priests had enormous power here in Kemet and violating the peace of a temple was something the pharaoh had to react to and harshly at that. That, however, was only possible if there were any witnesses to the crime, so chances were that they would kill anybody that could identify them later. Which meant that if they won, Nofret and I would be dead.

So, we would need to fight, but Nofret calling me an Avatar of Maahes gave me an idea that could give me a small advantage.

"Don't panic." I told the two women and used Ars Mentalis to create a small illusion around my head. As the energy was still unstable, it was a chance I took, but I didn't feel like anything went wrong and when I looked into the bedroom's bronze mirror, a snarling lionhead looked back at me.

Behind me, I heard Nofret hissing. "I knew it!"

That caused me to smile and, in the mirror, the lionhead bared its teeth.

Time to dance with the Goddess of Death again.

Mental Power surged through my body, making me stronger and faster. Needing to know what the opposition was, I ripped the bronze mirror from the wall, walked the few steps to the doorway and held it out.

The reflection showed seven men, with a large man dressed in a hooded cape that covered his head and hid his facial features standing in the middle and three warriors on each side of him.

All seven of them were wearing some sort of cloth armor I hadn't seen before, and two of them were armed with bows, while the rest wielded richly decorated Khopesh swords.

Then the archers released their arrows, hitting the bronze mirror, and nailed it to the door.

"Stay here," I told the two women, as I drew the two Diucultro (Baylon: Long Knife), their long, recurved blades glittered in the light from the brazier. As soon as I felt the handle in my palm habit took over and without even thinking, I entered the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind.").

My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl, as I activated the adrenaline in my body, and exploded into action, rushing into the room, going directly for the man on the far right. He was closest to the wall and by going there, they couldn't surround me. The long knives flashed as I took off the arm holding the bow with one knife. A heartbeat later the other knife slashed through the archer's throat.

Whirling to avoid an attack with a Khopesh, I destroyed the ribcage of the next attacker with a double strike that cut through the ribs from both sides.

He should have fallen to the floor after that, but instead he counter-attacked, the Khopesh hitting my shoulder. The Iron Silk armor did its job. Impossible to cut through, it stiffened and spread the force from the impact over a much larger area, turning the potential deadly attack into a hard slap.

Surprised, I kicked him in the destroyed chest, sending him flying into the wall. That's when I realised that the first one was still standing and was drawing a Khopesh with the remaining arm. He also wasn't bleeding, and I noticed the bandages that were wrapped tightly around his body as well as the negative Vis inside him.

Vis Vitae is life force and is generated by living beings, especially when they do something that delight others, like playing music or sharing pleasure. However, it also has a negative side, called Vis Mortem, which can be manipulated in almost the same way as Vis and it's by doing that that undeads are created. Normally by human magic, but Vis Mortem using dark rituals also existed, and I was pretty sure that I was fighting a group of mummies, that someone had managed to activate despite the destruction of human magic that the disappearance of Baylon had caused.

Preserved dead people, mummies had been part of Kemet since time immemorial and while most mummies were truly dead, some of them had been turned into undead by negative Vis. Incredibly tough, they had very few weaknesses, but as far as I remembered from the lectures at Arcem Discendi, fire and decapitation would take them out for good. Otherwise, they would just regenerate any damage don't to them.

The good part was that when you kill something, the Vis is released with reverse polarity: Killing living beings is not positive and thus negative Vis is released, while destroying undeads is a positive thing to do and thus positive Vis is released. It also meant that every time I killed one of them, they would release positive Vis, which I could absorb and use.

The knives flashed again, hitting the mummy with the cut throat again, taking off its head. This time it did fall, turning into dust as it hit the tiles on the floor.

Narrowly dodging another attack, I swept the attacker's arm away, making it impossible for it to block the slash that took off its head. Two gone, five to go.

The next followed a heartbeat later, as the mummy with the shattered chest attacked me, but due to the damage it had taken, it was moving slowly, and it turned into dust as soon as the Diucultro hit its neck and cut through it. Three down, four to go.

A cross between a scream and an enraged roar ripped through the room. So loud that I was deaf for a few heartbeats, it also made me freeze for just a moment and before I could move again, a large Khopesh hit me in the side. The Iron silk took the blunt of the attack, but there was so much force behind it that it threw me through the room and into the far wall.

The force from the impact drew the air from my lungs, but I hurriedly staggered got back on my feet, as staying on the ground was certain death. Thankfully, internal Ars Mentalis still worked and I could feel the healing start by itself, immediately relieving some of the pain and enabled me to move just as fast as before.

Looking over at the attackers, I discovered that the largest of them had thrown off his hooded cape, revealing yet another mummy. By itself, that wasn't a great surprise, but this one was adorned with jewellery and the linen bandages looked thicker and more plentiful.

While I had never met one before, it had to be a royal mummy and according to the lessons, royal mummies were a lot more dangerous than the soldier mummies. Most of them were former priests and had retained the ability to cast spells even after death. A feat that, while impressive, didn't matter anymore, as human magic had disappeared along with Baylon. What was worse, was that they didn't turn to dust when taking off their heads. It took a ritual to completely destroy them.

Slipping into Vis-meditation for a few heartbeats, I activated Pugna Promptu (Baylon: "Combat Readiness") which allowed me to parry or dodge attacks that I couldn't even see coming. Getting hit by the royal mummy had been like being hit by a battering ram, and I had no intention of letting it happen again.

The royal mummy rushed towards me, swinging the sword in a downward attack, but I dodged under the swing and used the opportunity to hammer one of the long knives into its right knee. The strike would have cut off the leg of a normal person, but whatever magic that had taken to animate it, stopped the knife before it had reached even halfway.

The move took me behind it where it couldn't hit me easily but the thought of attacking it from behind disappeared when I saw the remaining three soldier mummies getting ready to charge me. Not wanting to be caught between them and the royal mummy, I counter charged, again going for the one on the flank to avoid getting surrounded.

My first attack was blocked, but the force of my swing forced its sword to the left and away from the guard position, allowing me to deliver a lightning-fast strike to its neck, and a moment later it was dust on the ground. Vis energy swept through the room and I absorbed it without even thinking about it. Four down, three to go.

Sidestepping, I got into a position where only one of the two remaining soldier mummies could attack me and risked a sideway glance at the royal mummy. It was coming my way, but the strike at the knee had hindered its moments somewhat and it was limping.

Pressing the attack, I took off the weapon arm of the mummy in front of me and then used a simple, but powerful front kick to send it backwards into the second soldier-mummy. They collapsed in a heap on the floor just as I turned to meet the royal mummy.

Like before, it attacked with a two-handed downwards swing, but this time I didn't have any room to dodge away, so I parried the sword, using both knives to do so, guiding the strike to the floor on my left. There was a loud 'clang' as the metal hit the stone tiles.

Using the opening, I danced away from the corner, hitting it in the side as I passed it. Again, the strike was stopped before it penetrated deeply, but I did manage to cut through some of the bandages.

With a roar, it whirled around, trying to strike me with the sword, but warned of the attack by Pugna Promptu I was already gone, and the mighty strike hit nothing but air.

The soldier with a missing weapon arm got to its feet, but it moved clumsily and I had no problem hitting its neck before it could do anything, turning that one into dust as well.

The last soldier mummy was in a perfect position for a strike, but with the royal mummy after me, I moved away from it as the sword of the royal mummy cleaved the air where I had just been.

I abruptly changed direction, taking the royal mummy by surprise and its follow-up attack went in the completely different direction, causing it to present the unprotected side to me. Adding Vis to the attack, I hit it so hard that it lost its balance and stumbled sideways, hitting the wall. More bandages fell to the ground, revealing golden hieroglyphs on the layer of bandages beneath it.

The last soldier mummy had gotten to its feet again, but before it could present a danger to me, I went all out on it, a flurry of strikes removing first its arms and then its head.

That left 'only' the royal mummy and I whirled around just in time to parry a diagonal strike so hard that my hands ached just from parrying it. Backing away, I studied the royal mummy as it walked after me, no longer limping and readying a new attack. Most of the bandages on the torso had peeled off due to the strikes I had delivered on both sides and by now I could see that all the bandages beneath were inscribed with golden hieroglyphs, some of them glowing dimly in the limited light of the room, spelling "I shall not decay", "I shall not rot" and "I shall not putrefy."

The royal mummy attacked again but being in the slow secure world of Mutatur Tempus Mente, I dodged it and slashed the mummy's side and back four times, before dancing away. Still, it was only due to the mental boost to my speed, that I was faster. If I hadn't used that trick, the royal mummy would have been faster than me.

Bandages fell to the floor, like leaves from a tree in fall, revealing the text on its back. This time it read " I keep captive your soul, I ward your shadow, barring the way to the day of judgement."

It slowly dawned on me that the golden hieroglyphs on the bandages was at least part of what animated the otherwise dead body, and that by removing them, there was a chance that removing them would kill or at least lessen its powers.

The next attack started out as one of the downward strikes, but it changed direction half-way, causing me to throw myself backwards to avoid getting hit, and ruining any chance of a counterattack. It seemed that there were some intelligences left behind the slightly glowing eyes.

Still, while it had speed and strength behind the strikes, they weren't the attacks of a highly trained swordsman, making me confident that I had a chance.

Going on the attack, I dodged under its counter and slashed into the left knee followed by a slash across the glowing hieroglyphs on its back. Two of them were separated and another attack made them fall to the ground.

Taking the time to cut them off completely was risky and the royal mummy responded by letting go of the sword with one hand, lashing out at me with a backward swing of his hand and forcing me to roll away to avoid getting hit.

Fortunately, the cut to its knee had limited its mobility and while it did limp after me, it wasn't nearly fast enough to press its advantage.

Suddenly, I heard chanting from the doorway to the next room. It was Neferure, who was singing. "Hear ye this judgment: The heart of Osiris hath in very truth been weighed, and his soul hath stood as a witness for him; it hath been found true by trial in the Great Balance."

With a roar of anger, the mummy turned towards the door. I had no idea what was going on, but in Kemetian mythology the dead had their heart weighted and if they had been good, they were allowed to pass on to the realm of the dead. That made it likely that Neferure was chanting part of the funeral rites and that might be the missing part of the mummies burial, that had made him an undead to begin with.

Moving in a sprint, I attacked from behind, hammering the two blades into its back as hard as I could. They penetrated a little more this time and bandages fell to the ground when I pulled the knives out again.

One part of my brain heard Neferure keeping the chant up."There hath not been found any wickedness in him. He hath not wasted the offerings in the temples."

The mummy spun towards me, the Khopesh glinting in the light. I ducked under the swing, causing it to pass over my head, and before it could reverse the stroke, I slashed it across the chest, making more inscribed bandages fall to the ground. Backing away, I grinned at it, daring it to come after me.

"He hath not done harm by his deeds; and he spread no evil reports about men while he was upon earth." Neferure chanted on and then started to clap a rhythm.

The royal mummy turned to look at her, but a slash across its arms turned its attention back to me and it stepped towards me, sword raised for the attack.

Behind it, Nofret danced into the room, her body moving gracefully in a ritual dance, as Neferure chanted. "To this speech the gods reply: That which cometh forth from thy mouth is confirmed. Osiris, the scribe Ani, is holy and righteous. He hath not sinned, neither hath he done evil against us."

That made the mummy turn towards her, but before it could take a step, I moved forward and down on my knees, slashing the backside of its knees. Either the losing of inscribed bandages or the ritual the two women were reciting had made it weaker, because unlike before, the knives bit deeply into the dried ligaments, severing them. It roared and went to its knees.