Nigkala Tales Pt. 32: What's Isis Doing?

"What if they take the ankh from me?"

"In stasis, it will be part of you, and also appear as stone. Another reason for the stasis is that moving through time will disrupt the link between the artifacts. As they go back together, they will remain linked, and returning, it will keep track of where the others are."

"It seems you have it all worked out. I can't think of any problem in sending me back or retrieving me. So how do I accomplish your mission?"

We spent nearly a week preparing my outfits, jewelry, and baggage, as well as instructing me on what her priestesses did back then, and how to integrate myself into their order. I used Aja's magic to make a large package of human hair to make wigs with. I learned the names of the Pharaohs, and their time frames, and the general order of civilization of the times. The last step was to shave my head, and set aside my vanity. I was ready.

We left at night. I checked out, and we went into the desert a little way, then we both manifested her wings and flew high, about five miles. I was carrying a small enclosed cart with my stuff, and I wore an expensive, period-priestess outfit. The only things I had from this time frame were two brand-new phones with a number of large memory cards, and two solar chargers. They were fully charged, and set to airplane mode. I intended to do some documentation, and wanted to be prepared this time.

It was time. I created a magical hang glider, and lashed my cart to it, then myself. Then I released Isis's magic, and would have fallen, had she not used her telekinesis to hold me. She then initiated her temporal magic, and I was sent back in time.

I sensed time passing as the sun appeared to reverse course, then passed by again and again, faster and faster. It quickly became a blur, and I was in a familiar half-light. I sensed the passage of seasons, as the sun's path changed. Even that accelerated, until it was whipping back and forth until it also blurred. Suddenly, it slowed even faster than it had accelerated. I started to see a pyramid nearby being undone, when the slowing down finished with the sun just about to touch the horizon.

I felt a lurch, as I began to fall. It took me a few seconds to regain control, and by that time, I realized it was just before dawn. So I headed away from the city towards the sun, so I could get some distance, and lose some altitude. When I felt I was far enough away, I zipped back and forth to lose most of my altitude. I turned back to the city to land in the desert, with the sun at my back so no one would see how I arrived. I flared to land, and settled down easily. Dismissing the hang glider, I inspected my cart for damage, and found none. I then headed for the city.

While my height got a lot of attention at a distance, it was my four breasts on display that really drew people. Before I got too close, I started reading minds to pick up the local dialect. Isis had taught me the noble form, but I would need to understand, and perhaps speak the common form to get about the city. When people gathered close to stare, they saw a wealthy priestess of Isis, pulling a two-wheeled cart.

The first questions I was asked were - Are those real? Where did you come from? Who are you? My answers were - Yes; from across the waters; I am Nigkala, sent here by Isis, herself. My question, which I occasionally asked, was, "How do I get to her temple?" I spoke in the noble form, and if they did not understand, I would repeat in the common tongue.

As I followed directions, I was soon met by some officials. One said, in common, "Welcome, stranger. What brings you here?"

I replied, in the noble form, and said, "I have been sent by Isis, to be here for a time, and do her will."

It was clear they were not used to the noble form, but they at least knew it. They switched, and sometimes had difficulty, when they continued, "You are a giant, and of unusual form. Where do you come from?"

"I come from far away, across the waters. Isis can fly there easily, but it would take me a long time to get there, and I would need to travel by ship great distances."

"How great?"

"Very great. So much so, that I am depending on her to return me to my home when my task is finished."

"What shall we call you?"

"I am Nigkala."

"Come join me for a meal, and tell us of your journey. We would welcome news from afar."

"I cannot fulfill your request, for the last place I was in, is so far from here, that you would not know of it. Also, I need to speak with the priestesses of Isis here. Would you take me to the temple? As it is, I am constantly being stopped and asked questions, and I would be there before nightfall."

I was escorted to her temple, and we were met by one of her priestesses. "Welcome, priestess. I have not seen you before."

"I have never been in this place before. I am Nigkala, from across the waters. My journey has taken many days, and I would appreciate a place to rest, and to speak with the head priestess here."

"Oh my! You have come to the most important city in the land. There is so much here. But come, I will introduce you."

I turned to my escort, and said, "Thank you for bringing me here swiftly. In a few days, I will be happy to share a meal and talk with you." Then I turned and followed the woman. As I entered the temple, I cast a brief spell to take a sash from my cart and have it appear on me, to signify I am a kheri-hab, so all would know I am quite literate, and a magician, in addition to a priestess.

She quickly noticed my sash, and asked, "When did you put that on?"

"Just now. I did not want to be swarmed by those wanting my services before I was established here."

"I see. There are many in this city, especially near the temple, that would ask."

On the way, as we met other priests and priestesses to the Egyptian gods, I was introduced. I made an effort to remember everyone she introduced me to, as I figured they would be the ones that mattered at this temple. As before, I used the noble form, and rarely had to repeat in the common form. In return, I could tell they accepted me as being a person of the aristocracy, and likely important. I also opened my mind to read their leaking thoughts, so I could know who they were beyond the quick introduction.

A few minutes later, she introduced me to the head priestess. When I read she was an appointee of the Pharaoh, and not religious, I intensified my reading to understand her. One aim was to learn what she wanted, so I could adjust my sales pitch to be well placed here, as there were perhaps a hundred and fifty assorted priests at this temple. While she was somewhat greedy, she was more political. As I wanted to stay out of politics, I kept my initial description of myself in the realm of theology.

She said, "I am Kebi, High Priestess of Isis. Welcome to our city. Tell me of yourself, so that I can know you."

"As you can see by my sash, I am a kheri-hab, and will be a useful addition. I also have skill in healing. Having born several children before I knew Isis, I know well the pleasure of raising children. I have traveled far, and seen much, so I have gained wisdom."

"It sounds like you could do well here, but I already have three kheri-hab, and there are many advisors and healers available in the city."

I could tell she was angling for a bribe, or other form of value to her, for accepting me. So I noted the piece of jewelry, Kebi was eyeing, and took it off. "I also have some skill as a craftsman. I made this. Please examine it." I handed it to her.

She took some time to examine it, clearly appraising it. "I am impressed. You are quite skilled."

She held it out to me, so I said, "Keep it. You clearly appreciate it."

She feigned surprise, and said, "Thank you. I shall treasure it. Amisi-Nedjes, take her to Neferet-Aa, and inform her I have assigned her another to help her."

"Yes, Kebi. Nigkala, let me take you to her."

She led me to another area, and we found her in a library room, making a copy of a page. We were heard well before we got in, as the woman said, "Hey, that stays outside." So I parked my cart next to the wall as she watched. "That shouldn't be in the temple."

I said, "My apologies, I arrived in this city today, and do not yet have a place to stay."

She huffed, then said, "Amisi-Nedjes, why do you bring this supposed kheri-hab here?"

"Kebi has assigned Nigkala to you."

"She has, has she. So, Nigkala, is it. Do you have any skill, or did you buy your way in?"

"I admit Kebi appreciated the jewelry I gave her, but I do have skill. I see you are copying a page. Would you like to see me copy that page?"

She considered my offer for a minute before standing, and moving her page aside and put a blank one in its place. "Show me."

"Thank you." I moved to take her seat, and read the original. It was an instruction from the Pharaoh. I then studied the tools, and the inks. I felt they were decent quality, and quite good for this era. I picked up the first reed, and entered a meditative state and began writing. The grace I had learned fighting, and then sand painting, came to me now, and I wrote swiftly and accurately. I paused only long enough to get more ink, or to switch to another reed for another color. When I finished, I put the reeds back, and stood.

She sat and examined my work. "Khara! You're good. And fast! Can you make five more copies?"

"I would like to, but it has been a long day. I need to find a place to spend the night, and to live while I am in the city. I expect to be here until Isis wants me to leave. I also feel I should bathe, purify myself, and put on some clean clothes before I do work for the temple."

"You are quite right. You carry the dust of travel even now, and that cart outside should not be in the temple."

"I agree, but it is all I have, and until I have someplace safe to keep it, I don't want it out of my sight."

"Amisi-Nedjes, show Nigkala where to bathe, then take her to the temple housing manager and get her a nice place, and help her settle in. Nigkala, when you are settled, and bathed, return here. I want to see your other skills."

I said, "Thank you. I shall return soon."

Amisi-Nedjes waved me to follow, and I did. I collected my cart as we left. When I left my new residence, I had another dress, and headed to the baths. Using the ritual Isis had taught me, I bathed and purified myself. I then returned to the house of life, where I had met Neferet-Aa. I found she had finished the copy she had started, but left the other copies needed for me. So, over the next thirty minutes, I made the remaining five copies.

The next thing she wanted was for me to read to her several scrolls she selected. I could tell she was testing my literacy, as each was more complicated than the last. When she asked about my ability in magic, I directed her attention to the table I had worked at. Then I used spells I learned from Aja to create papyrus sheets like the ones I had just used. That blew her away.

While Isis taught me the main spells, rituals, and texts of the time, I spent a lot of time over the next few weeks reading and memorizing all the temple's written works, so I would know them all. I treated them like movie scripts, for smaller projects, and was able to memorize them quickly. Neferet-Aa soon had me doing the master copies of written things, as well as the lion's share of copying them.

My temple residence, however, was short for me, so I inquired of the manager if I could create my own residence at the temple, in an empty space in the priests' residential area. When he agreed, I started collecting refuse sandstone and sand, and placing it in the lot. Every few days, I would secretly use my own affinity with the desert, to change the sand and sandstone into the shaped walls of my new place. I was working to plans the stone-workers provided me for making a two-story place, tall enough for me. I gifted them with some pearls I had made in exchange for the stone and the plans. Eventually, it was two stories tall, but had a walled roof that made it look three stories tall when compared to the buildings nearby.

Not wanting to present a mystery to historians, I made the walls from what appeared to be worked sandstone, connected by vertical stone pins between layers. It had wooden shutters I could close. The first floor was the public rooms, the second floor was for living, and the roof was for relaxing, and had a vegetable garden. It was in the center of the roof that I placed the solar charger. To one side was a trough of water, that I refilled by spell each day. While I kept clothing and some jewelry on the second floor, I parked the cart out of the way on the first floor, and hidden by a solid illusion of a wall I refreshed every few days. In all, it took about two months to complete.

While I was called upon to perform many rituals, from the predawn to the evening, it was my writing that drew me to the attention of the administration. It began with helping the bureaucracy, in there never-ending need for literate workers. Not only was I hired to make copies, but also to record official statements. I also started carrying a phone with me, so I could take pictures of all sorts of things. I explained it as an aid to my casting of protection charms, and never let anyone use them. In private, I typed up assorted notes of what I experienced, or recorded myself talking. When I felt comfortable enough, I recorded assorted rituals being performed, and imagery of the many texts I had access to. I also took pictures all over the city, to show its life and appearance.

Thanks to the power Isis stored within my ankh, I could call upon it rather than her earlier self to do what divine magic I needed to do. It even recharged itself a little each day, and I rarely used more than a day's recharge in a day. The religiously and magically gifted could detect it held some power, so no one thought I was a phony. I had been here several months when I was tapped to aid in a mummification of a high official. When I assisted in preparing the sarcophagus, many commented on my skill at creating a beautiful symbolic face of the deceased.

At nine months, I was asked to teach the Pharaoh's grandson to read and write. This became my main task at this point, and I would spend either a morning or afternoon doing this. Often I would walk with him and his guards into the city to help him learn the reality behind the words of what he was learning. I would carry a bag with papyrus sheets, sealed ink bottles, prepared reeds, and a small folding table I could set up on the ground.

One day, we were near the docks, and I was contemplating a lesson involving the tracking of ships and their cargo, when he was attacked. As an older teen, he wasn't that good at fighting, so I offered to let him take cover behind me. Meanwhile, his guards defended him, and hurt the attackers, killing several. Unfortunately, there were too many, and they soon knocked out or killed the guard, leaving the two of us.

When the fight first broke out, I quickly realized the guards would be overwhelmed, since there were too many and they were willing to go against the Pharaoh's guards. I prepared by placing my bag on the ground, and then invoking Isis's power to shield my body. My outfit did not allow me to move about all that much, but my reach did a lot to make up for that. When they came for him, I struck out with my fists. They were not prepared for my ability, nor for my power. I did not kill any, but after I knocked them all out, I tended the guards to heal them. When they woke, they summarily killed the attackers, then questioned those nearby about them. I just quietly picked up my bag, and suggested we continue the lesson back in the palace.

While he clearly wanted to do just that, he knew the guards had to be satisfied with their answers before we could. One of those being questioned was me.

"Priestess Nigkala, how is it that you took down those attacking, when we did not?"

"I was a fighter before I was a priestess. With my size, I also have advantages over smaller people."

"They," he pointed to the crowd, "say you struck very hard, and sometimes sent one a fair distance over the ground. We also saw several had broken bones. That is not easy to do with just your hands. Explain this."

"Again, my size plays into this. I am quite strong, and am able to lift heavy things easily."

He looked carefully at my body, and grunted, when he saw I had muscles. "So. Why do you show no sign of their attack?"

I touched my ankh, and said, "As you fought, I called on her for protective spells. She answered."

The guard interrogating me spoke to the lead guard a bit, and they decided I was exonerated. The leader came to me and said, "Thank you, priestess, for protecting our charge, and for providing your healing."

"I am but a servant of the goddess." I again touched my ankh.

The day's planned activity at the dock was canceled, and we returned to the palace. The Pharaoh's son came by briefly, and sent me away until tomorrow. A few days later, I was summoned to the palace, to see the captain of the guards. They wanted to find out more about my fighting abilities, so I asked for access to heavy weights, so I could show my strength. When they learned I could lift more than their strongest guard, they were awed. When they asked what I would do if I had to run, I said my dress would be torn. We talked for nearly an hour, before they were satisfied with my answers.

While my fighting ability did not impact my role much, the incident brought me to the Pharaoh's attention. It started with my being asked to attend some rituals that his immediate family attended. It soon grew to leading some of those rituals, and to attending some that the Pharaoh led. In time, he grew ill, and I was one of several summoned to tend him.

With my modern understanding of the body, I was better able to treat him. But I also knew this illness was often lethal. It looked like tuberculosis. While I didn't know that much about the disease, I had traveled in enough poor places, that I had been vaccinated, and that I also knew it was contagious through the air. I knew Isis needed him to die, so I could not give him the healing he really needed. I was able to alleviate his symptoms, and my bedside manner made him feel better than when others treated him. Within the month, I would visit him each day to provide my soothing touch, including easing the worst of the symptoms, but not really affecting the true cause.

It was no surprise that he passed away six months later. I was asked to lead his mummification. By this time, I had been part of several dozen, and led several, so no one thought me unqualified. While I had no real attachment to this time, I did believe in treating all with honor, unless and until they showed they deserved otherwise. The late Pharaoh was honorable, so I did my best for him and his family. The only exception was that I made a video recording the highlights of the whole seventy-day-long procedure.

A few days later, I was a prominent priestess in the procession to entomb him. While I went into the pyramid, I did not go far, as the passages weren't big enough for me. However, I tried, until others asked me to not go further. The next day, I requested to be alone for a few days. In reality, I wanted to escape and follow him in the underworld. Collecting the crook and flail I had made, I used the spell Isis had taught me to enter the Duat. I searched until I was able to sense him mentally, since I had spent so much time near him, tending his illness.

I followed at a distance, and after several days, he finally came to the underworld palace of Osiris. I waited patiently, until I felt his business with Osiris was over, then I entered. By this time, I had noticed the presence of a great power where the Pharaoh had stopped a while, and I headed there. I met several challengers on the way, and I was able to talk some out of confronting me, as a still-living person, and some by trickery or persuasion. I only had to face two, and I overcame their challenge. Finally, I entered his hall.