The Feast of The Tail Ch. 05

In the evening music was still playing as the sun set. Too many cups of wine had been drunk and Iset slipped away from the feast with Nefitiri.

"Do you think they'll notice we left the palace?" asked Nefi.

"Maybe, but we can worry about that later." Iset said confidently as she led her friend down to the river.

"Aren't you worried you'll get in trouble?

"Even if they did notice, they'd just be happy I got home safely. They'd probably blame the guards for not noticing."

"Iset, one of these days you're going to get in real trouble."

"Hey, you can't chide me, daughter of the Mayor of Thebes, who also happens to be High Priest of Amun and Vizier to Pharaoh."

"Alright, I'm just saying." said Nefi, holding her hands up.

"Anyway, won't your father notice your absence?" asked Iset.

"I expect he'll drink too much wine and fall into bed with a concubine. If anyone notices my absence it would be one of my sisters, but I know all their secrets so they won't dare tell on me." Nefi smiled slyly.

Pink skies reflected over midnight blue waters, the birds were singing in the palms while ibis waded through the Nile. Iset and Nefi had changed into white linen gowns that went down to their ankles.

The girls waded into the water until their hems were wet and their bare feet sank into the cool mud.

"What would they think if they knew that the princess and a priestess of Isis's temple had escaped the palace and were in the worker's quarter?" asked Iset.

"I think Sitamun would die of shock." giggled Nefi.

"She and Hotep would never let me forget it, they love to nag."

"Here, eat this. I brought it with me." Nefi held out a honey cake towards Iset's mouth, she parted her full lips and let the sweetness spread over her tongue.

"Mmm, delicious." smiled Iset. "Want a taste?" she leaned forwards. "Why don't you kiss me?"

She had had too much wine.

"Iset!" Nefi laughed, running away from her into the water until she was in all the way to her knees.

Iset gave chase and splashed water at her. Nefi splashed more back until their kalasiris dresses were soaked, their laughter ringing through the air like the tinkling of bells. Everything was still clear and light, the sun shining tentatively, like a little bird in the hands of the night. Silver drops splashing all around the girls chased each other deeper into the water, Iset tried to grab Nefi's arms, trying to catch her until they stopped for a moment, chests heaving and cheeks flushed.

Iset smiled and pulled Nefitiri in close, holding her face in her hands and kissing her rosebud lips, sliding her tongue inside. They kissed, their wet hair clinging to their backs, water droplets falling from their lashes, their skin cold and wet, covered in goosebumps but their mouths hot and desperate for more. Her mouth still tasted of honey.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Nefi asked, wanting her friend more than she knew how to say.

"I want you." Iset whispered, the birds tittering behind them, the water rippling quietly, the music dim in the distance. She looked at her friend, she looked into her big dark eyes and wondered why she never noticed how beautiful she was before. "You're beautiful, do you know that?"

Nefi wrapped her arms around Iset's waist and pulled her in close, grinding her pelvis into her, suddenly hot to her core, hot and tingling in a way she'd never felt before. Not with the boy who kissed her by the date palm behind her father's house, not when she'd been danced with by the nobleman who asked her father to marry her, not even when she lay in bed at night and put her hands between her legs thinking of being touched. It was as though she had felt nothing until now.

They kissed and kissed until they both wanted more, hands wandered exploring the curves of bellies and breasts. Iset took Nefi's hand and led her back to the shore into a thicket of bulrushes and reeds where she lay her down on a sandbank, spread her legs and lay on top of her, kissing her face, her cheeks, her eyelids which made her laugh, and then down to her neck. Iset kissed her breasts, and suckled on them through the wet white linen of her dress.

Nefi moaned, pulling Iset's head down for more as electric shocks went straight from her nipples to her slit. Iset kissed her way down her belly, down her thighs and past her knees, she kissed her friend's ankles and then she lifted the hem of her dress, like a white veil.

Nefi's mons was shaved clean, as was the custom of Egypt, even more so for priestesses. Iset could see, even in the dim light, the pink of her swollen slit contrasted against the brown of her rich dark skin. Iset slowly slipped a hand between her legs and slid one finger into the heart of her lotus, she was excited too, she could feel the wetness between her legs, so slippery and so unlike the water of the Nile. It was warm and it was dripping down her inner thigh.

Nefi gasped as she felt her finger go inside.

"It's so hot, Nefi." Iset whispered as she slid her finger in and out, feeling around a little, unsure of exactly what to do.

"That's nice, don't stop. Keep going." breathed Nefitiri, laying back and spreading her legs wider.

Iset slowly slid in a second finger, sliding them in and out, in and out, toying with the spongy spot inside.

"Oh gods, that's good, like that. Yes, like that." Nefi gasped, thrusting herself onto Iset's fingers, her pussy lips swallowing them up as she grinded herself into her palm.

Iset dutifully complied. Thrusting her fingers in and out, using her thumb to massage her friend's clitoris.

"Kiss me." whispered Nefi, her voice low and lustful.

Iset covered her friend again, keeping her fingers pumping in and out between her legs while she kissed her pillow lips and slipped her tongue into her mouth. Nefi began to suck Iset's tongue in earnest, losing herself in pleasure, losing her shame and her sense of self.

"I want to taste you." Nefi whispered breathlessly. "Lie down, let me taste you."

Iset lay back on the sandy bank, the waters of the Nile were lapping at her feet and as she looked up and the sky she looked up into a canopy of stars.

Nefi got onto her knees and lifted up her friend's dress. She used her hands to gently spread her thighs before she knelt down and used her tongue to lick her way up Iset's pussy lips.

She could taste her sweetness, it was as she had expected it to be, as the Nile sunbirds suck the nectar from the flowers, so Nefi licked and suckled, juices pooling on her tongue while Iset thrashed and moaned, wrapping her legs around her head. Her friend was pure ambrosia, nectar of the Gods, the taste of mana. Nefi's heart pounded in her chest, she felt immortal, she felt potent.

Nefitiri had heard tales of sex rites in temples, it was commonplace in fact. Reenactments of the union of the Gods would bring floods, bring harvest, bring life to the people. It was spoken of in the inner sanctum of Isis, about the sex magic that caused Osiris to be brought back from the dead, the same magic that birthed Horus. If you cleared the blockages of the djed pillar of the spine, and connected your word with your deed, if you knew the spells and sacred utterances and you moved your body with the flow of the right energy you could cast magic with your sex. Nefi suddenly wondered at the possibility of such magic, she had never been so divinely inspired in the temple as she was now, but now that she thought about it, Iset bore the goddess' name. Could it be that Iset was the goddess made flesh? No wonder then, that she would inspire a priestess of Isis so fully. Nefitiri was bewitched, body and soul.

"Wait." Iset stopped her friend. "I want to taste you too."

Iset lifted herself up.

"Lie down, I'm going to go on top. I saw my father doing something similar with a concubine." Iset directed, as she began to straddle Nefitiri's face. "I'm going to sit down, and I'll lick your slit while you lick mine."

"Okay." Nefi lay still, a little nervous, but excited.

Iset lowered herself towards Nefi's mouth and leaned forwards to press her lips towards her friend's slit. She slowly parted her pussy lips and licked her silken folds with the tip of her tongue. She gasped as she felt her friend's tongue slip into her own lotus. Iset began to grind herself into her friend's mouth while she leisurely slipped her tongue inside.

For Nefi it was almost too much to bear, Iset's scent was heavenly, as was the taste on her tongue, and although she was being sat on she found it immensely pleasurable, especially while she could feel her friend exploring her slit, Iset's tongue wiggling around, her lips sucking and massaging all around while she pumped her fingers in and out of her tight hole.

"You like it?" Iset asked, still innocent, still learning, trying to please.

"Gods, yes." Nefi managed to mumble from down below.

The pleasure began to build to unbearable levels and Nefi pushed herself down deeper onto Iset's fingers while simultaneously sticking her tongue deeper inside, inhaling her musk and covering her face with juices. As Iset finger fucked her and laved her tongue against Nefi's clit she began to buck her hips, her toes curling into the sand as she tensed her legs. Iset could feel Nefi holding her tightly, her fingers squeezing her thighs as she licked harder.

"Oh Iset, Iset, it's so, oh gods, Isisssss!" Nefi moaned, her voice low and guttural, animalistic. Iset could never have imagined her sweet, young friend sounding so confident, so erotic, so arousing. She could feel Nefi's pussy throbbing and spasming against her fingers.

Stars were flashing behind Nefi's eyes as she orgasmed, it was as though she slipped out of her body and was floating formless under the stars over the desert and the person who grounded her and brought her back to earth was Isis, her friend, her goddess, her beloved.

"Get up." Nefi commanded Iset. "It's your turn."

Iset stood up under the night sky of midnight purple. The constellations of Khent-Kheru, Khau and Septet were like a river of silver in the canopy of Nut. The water of the river lapped at Iset's feet and the white of her dress was illuminated by moonlight. Her breasts were swollen and her nipples were hard with arousal. Nefi knelt at Iset's feet, as she had knelt many times before at the base of Isis's statue in the temple. She lifted her dress, allowing her greedy mouth to find Iset's pussy lips again, licking and sucking hungrily.

As Nefitiri worshipfully licked and fingered her friend's slit, Iset began to hold Nefi's head, fucking her friend's face, thrusting her pelvis onto her tongue as her pussy got wetter and wetter and her cum flowed into Nefi's waiting mouth.

"Oh Nefi, yes, yes... I'm so close. That's it. Just like that!" Iset grabbed Nefi's head, forcing it down as she came.

Waves of pleasure emanated from her core as she threw her head back and drank in the sight of the moon, the stars, and the prussian blue sky. The scent of honey cakes and date palms were in the air. There was music and laughter from the city and the cackling of nile geese and chirps of cicada by the water.

"Nefi, that was, you were amazing."

Nefi merely smiled in response, her eyes glinting as she wiped her lips with the back of her arm. She rose to her feet again and laughed.

"Look at the state of us." She pointed at Iset's dress and lifted the hem of her own, twisting and turning to look at the back.

"I'm covered in sand. I think I have sand between my buttocks." Iset said as she laughed too.

"The same for me." she giggled. "How will you explain yourself when you return?" Nefi asked.

"I'll just have to slip in unnoticed."

"You could never go unnoticed, as radiant as you are." Nefi said softly. "You are like sunlight, Iset, you are dazzling. All eyes turn to you, all necks turn as you pass by."

"Oh Nefi, your mouth is full of honey. Do you not see your beauty shine also?"

Nefi blushed, a warmth spreading from her stomach, a feeling she had never felt before. It was more than lust, but she wondered if Iset felt the same.

"Come." said Iset, "Let's go back to the palace."

She held out her hand to Nefitiri, they both were still feeling the afterglow of their pleasures. Their hair was covered in sand which kept falling onto their shoulders as they began to walk away from the cool calm of the riverbank and towards the torchlight of the city. They walked arm in arm back on the road to Thebes. Some men called out to them as they passed the taverns, but they ignored their words and walked on, smiling pleasantly and enjoying the freedom of the evening. It was rare for them to be in such a wild place with such different people, it was almost a different world to them to be in the worker's quarter, so far from nobility and guards and pleasant conversation. They heard foul language and blasphemy as they weaved their way past drunkards and concubines. The girls giggled as they walked past brothels and saw men with women, men with men and women with women through the small windows of the mudbrick buildings.

Soon they were by the gates of the palace. They could smell that kyphi, the evening incense, had been lit.

"Nefi, do you think lying with a man would feel as good as what we did?"

"I don't know. Why? Do you still want to do it? Have relations with a strange man?" Nefi asked.

"Oh yes, don't you? Just imagine the sensual pleasures we could enjoy together. Together, you and I, we could have anyone we chose." Iset said smugly.

"Yes, I suppose we could." she replied sadly.

Nefi couldn't help but feel disappointed, was tonight just a bit of fun? A bit of practice for Iset to lie with a man...? She had hoped that perhaps there was more to it, that maybe Iset felt something for her, that maybe Iset would call her 'sister' one day.

But that was foolish, of course. Iset was a princess, she would be married to a man some day, someone with royal blood, or wealth, or status. There was no way around that.

"My lady, Iset!" exclaimed one of the two guards by the gate. "Are you hurt? What are you doing outside the palace?"

"That is none of your business, guard. I am perfectly well."

"Oh, um, yes. Right. Of course." he stammered.

"And I trust that no one need hear of my absence."

"What absence, my lady?"

"Exactly. Wonderful. Enjoy the evening, keep up the good work." she smiled as she marched inside the gates.

As the two girls turned the corner they overheard some of the palace ladies talking.

"I don't know why Iset thinks so highly of herself, her mother doesn't even have royal blood. What's more I heard that one of her grandparents is not even of this land, they're foreigners. You can tell by their lack of class and the Queen's black skin."

Iset's eyes narrowed. She had struck a nerve.

"Nebet Iset!" the other girl exclaimed.

"Having a little gossip, were we?" Iset was furious, she was Sekhmet incarnate, her eyes blazed and her words were laced with venom.

"Please Iset, my lady, don't listen to her. She's had too much wine." the girl began to defend her friend, while the other girl cowered and lowered her gaze.

"I am sorry Nebet Iset, I am a worm, I am carrion, I am a donkey. Please, please forgive me."

"Medjai!" Iset called to the guards, the guards at the gate as well as the Medjai - an elite paramilitary police force, who stood just twenty cubits away, patrolling the grounds. They came, swift as desert hounds, moving almost silently despite their thick black armour. They awaited her command.

"Kill her." she said, flicking her fly whip towards the culprit.

They raised their oiled blades to the sound of screams

She turned to the friend.

"And you, slap yourself twenty times."

Nefi just looked on in shock and horror as the culprit's head was separated from her body while her friend, weeping, collapsed onto her knees and began to hit herself in the face and tear at her hair in the blood that pooled on the ground.

"It would be wise of you to remember not to insult a god." Iset spat at the girl. "You are lucky that I am a merciful god."

Iset stormed off. Nefitiri paused for a moment before she joined her. They did not speak for a while as they walked through palace gardens that were surprisingly quiet.

"You didn't have to kill her."

"She insulted me."

"Are you alright, Iset? You're shaking." Nefi reached out to wrap an arm around her.

"It's nothing." Iset shrugged.

"I, for one, think your mother is grace and nobility incarnate. Your grandparents too, they have always been wonderful to me."

"Do people think ill of me, Nefi? Do you think I think too highly of myself?"

"No, Iset, no. People will always say hurtful things. Not everyone in the world is going to like you, that's life. I think you are proud and strong, you know your own worth. I admire you for that. I really like you, Iset." Nefi soothed her, holding her hands and caressing her face.

"Nehem ta. You are a good person, Nefi." Iset smiled a little. "I must go to my chambers now, but I will see you at the temple. Nefer gereh. Good night."

"Good night, Iset. Senebti." Nefi thought of kissing her cheek or rubbing noses, but instead she just squeezed her hand.

Notes for this chapter on the Ancient Egyptian language.

Isis - Goddess of magic, healing, death, rebirth and motherhood

Osiris - Green skinned god of fertility, the afterlife, resurrection, death and vegetation

Horus - Falcon headed god of kingship

Djed pillar - Djed is a symbol meaning 'pillar' and 'stability'. Associated with the gods Ptah and Osiris. Understood to be a representation of the spine. May have been used for ancient fertility rites.

Khent-Kheru, Khau and Septet - different ancient Egyptian mini zodiacs

Nut - The sky goddess whose name means 'sky'. She was also the goddess of the stars, mothers, astronomy and the universe.

Kyphi - Incense used for religious and medicinal purposes. There was lunar kyphi for evening and solar kyphi for morning

Sekhmet - The lion headed goddess of war and destruction, as well as healing and medicine

Medjay - Soldiers renowned for their military skills, especially with the bow. Initially a Nubian ethnic group from the land of Medja, they were desert rangers. By the 18th dynasty when the story takes place they were an elite paramilitary force who policed capital cities, royal cemeteries, palaces, tombs as well as the borders of Egypt.

Nehem ta - thank you (to a female)

Nefer gereh - Good night

Senebti - Farewell or Be well