Chapter Twenty Two - Catcher in the Light
Project 86Chapter Twenty Two – Catcher in the Light
3196 years ago…
Shadows danced against the marble walls of the temple as the sacred fires flickered in the light breeze of the night, echoes of footsteps shuffling along the halls in a rapid pace. The stars could barely be seen through the cloud cover that had swept in at night fall and a cool wind was picking up, pushing more sand into the temple through every open orifice.
The same steps picked up their pace, the echoing of the halls soon changing into the cracking of sand and gravel under the slippers, heading to the less splendorous buildings that were hidden in the shadow of the temple. The destination was the hut furthest from the temple built from mud and looked worse for wear, and soon rapid knocks thudded on the chewed out front door accompanied by quiet shouts as the door opened and closed.
“Sinuhe! Sinuhe! Wake up you slob!”
A kick roused the sleeping figure Sinuhe, who jolted up sitting in his bedroll. Craning his neck to the side he stared at the invading figure wide eyed.
“Amenmose…”
“You’re sleeping here lazily when we have an emergency.”
“I was attending to my duties you dimwit camel’s a-“
“No time for that! There is an emergency. Both High Priest Pen-Hekhebet and High Priestess Reputnebty have convened in the temple and you are needed there now!”
“Both? How did anyone manage to get them in the same room at the same time? It must be really serious…”
“It is, now up. Out!”
Amenmose, a bald but sturdy figure clad in a white gown yanked Sinuhe off the bed. One to usually look his best every time he stepped out of his house, Amenmose hadn’t even managed to apply the dark eyeliner under his eyes nor wash his face before coming out to get him. Sinuhe scrambled to put on his gown before the two ran out of his door to the temple.
“Second and third priests Bakenkhonsu and Kaemsekhem are there already as are second priestess Peseshet and fourth priestess Sitamun.”
“Sitamun… Where is third priestess Hemetre? Shouldn’t she be here instead of Sitamun?”
Amenmose’s face darkened as more clouds rolled over the sky, the stars and moon completely hiding behind them fully darkening their path. “It’s about Hemetre…”
“What about her?”
“You’ll see. You… need to see.”
The two arrived at the back door of the temple, Amenmose guiding Sinuhe in and through the temple in hurried steps towards the front of the temple. He led him into the High Priest Pen-Nekhebet’s room where he prepared for his rites and had all his vestiges arriving slightly winded from the brisk walk, sweat gleaming on their foreheads in the candle light that lit the room.
To Sinuhe’s surprise High Priest Pen-Nekhebet and High Priestess Reputnebty were standing next to each other engaged in a fast paced but civil conversation. No shouting or hurling of insults. The world had truly been turned upside down.
“Finally there you are!” Third priest Kaemsekhem huffed alerting the rest of the room to their arrival. He keeled over slightly as he received a light jab to the ribs from Bakenkhonsu. Kaemsekhem still lacked the respect he should be showing Sinuhe.
“High Priest Pen-Nekhebet. High Priestess Reputnebty. Brother’s Bakenkhonsu, Kaemsekhem. Sister’s Peseshet, Sitamun…” Sinuhe greeted everyone looking each one in the eyes, his gaze faltering as he looked at Sitamun who also quickly looked away, something was really wrong. “What is the emergency?”
Pen-Nekhebet looked at Reputnebty nodding for her to take the lead.
“There was an incident. Third priestess Hemetre is dead.”
Sinuhe’s face lost all blood as the shock hit him. He grabbed hold of Amenmose’s arm to keep himself upright as he fought the tears that forced their way up. He had been very close to Hemetre. She was the one who had discovered him as a kid and brought him to the temple, saved him from a life of a gutter snipe, a street rat that stole and begged for food.
Sinuhe’s eyes darted around the room looking at everyone there. Although the light was dim with the few candles that were lit he could see the red in Reputnebty’s eyes. She had been crying. As had Peseshet and Sitamun. Even the usually emotionless and frigid Kaemsekhem. Amenmose was biting his lip next to him. He had been crying too.
“What… what happened?” Sinuhe eventually managed to utter the question, his throat suddenly feeling horrifically dry.
“It’s best we show,” Pen-Nekhebet spoke up, “however be warned it is a truly unsightly scene. Brace your heart and mind. Are you ready?”
“I…” the gravity in Pen-Nekhebet’s voice scared him but he had to know what had happened to his dear sister Hemetre. They had called him for a reason, they believed he could help. “Yes. Show me.”
They led Sinuhe out of the hall towards the main ceremonial room. Sinuhe was sweating more and more, the blood still not having returned to his face. The nausea kept coming in waves and he was attempting to steel his mind against what he would see. The walk from the room down the main ceremonial path to the grand worship hall with the statue of Nut took forever.
In his mind he prayed to Nut, the Goddess of the Sky to let him survive this ordeal. He prayed to Khonus, the God of the Moon, to reveal the murderers in the night and show his light to guide the guards to them. He prayed to his mother Neith, who was fierce and the creator of all, goddess of war, to bring wrath upon whoever was responsible to what had happened to Hemetre. He prayed that she would bestow his full powers upon him on earth so he could take his full form as Tutu and protect his loved ones from harm and bring destruction upon those who wished to harm them.
While these prayers raced through his mind he finally arrived into the main hall and immediately collapsed to his knees upon seeing what had happened. All of his muscles lost their power and the last drops of blood rushed out of his face as he convulsed and threw up on the floor.
Illuminated by the torches on the wall the hall had blood everywhere – some of it from Hemetre, some of it from another source. The hall had been covered and splattered with blood. The statue of Nut had been damaged, the face obliterated and her arms smashed apart, covered in blood. And at the foot of the statue Hemetre laid on the floor, her finger reached out touching the feet of her goddess praying for help.
Sinuhe wept seeing her dearest friend and elder sister lying cold at the foot of the statue. How could anyone do such a horrible thing? He cursed the people who had done this, cursed himself for not being there to help her. Hemetre, a devoted priestess, she had been doing her duties in the night and in her service and in front of Nut herself had been slaughtered. What use was it praying to the gods if they didn’t help her? What use was his own godhood if he couldn’t save who he loved?
Amenmose kneeled down and Sinuhe’s back as he let himself go and let everything out.
“What use is it being a god if I couldn’t even save Hemetre?” Sinuhe whispered through his raspy breathe, looking up at Amenmose.
“You may be the reincarnation of Tutu and walk on this earth, but you are the god of dreams. There was no way you could have seen or known this to happen,” Amenmose said in a manner as comforting as he could. However, he was also on the verge of tears seeing Hemetre like this, seeing Sinuhe so broken.
“Sinuhe,” Pen-Nekhebet spoke. Sinuhe looked up at the High Priest who for once in his life didn’t look threatening or angry. “We must grieve another time for we need your help, exalted Tutu. Whichever demons possessed someone to do this we need you to slay them. And we need you to interpret Hemetre’s last message.”
“Last message?” Sinuhe perked up. Hemetre had left a message before dying?
“Follow me I will show you.”
The High Priest walked forward towards the statue of Nut and Hemetre’s body. Amenmose helped Sinuhe up and urged him to follow, and with weak steps he did. He noticed that at the foot of the shallow steps that lead up to the front of the statue of Nut was a peculiar set of blood splatters and a large puddle of blood. From there streaks of blood went up the steps, as if something was dragged along them, leading to where Hemetre lied. She had pulled herself up to her goddess in her last moments. She wanted to be by her side as life left her.
Per-Nekhebet was standing close to Hemetre’s body and as Sinuhe arrived beside him the High Priest pointed at the foot of the statue where Hemetre’s pointed finger lay. There was an inscription on the statue, an inscription of blood.
Sinuhe observed Hemetre on the ground. She had been attending to her duties that night, responsible for the serving and upkeep of the temple this eve. There was a wound on her back which looked like an exit wound. She must have been stabbed in the stomach from the front, through and through. They took her by surprise. She probably had thought one of the priest’s or priestess’ had come to see her at the temple hearing footsteps approach her from behind, turning around only to see a stranger plunge their sword into her. And even then as she died all alone covered by a pool of her own blood having seen the intruders defile her goddess, she dragged herself all the way to the foot of the statue and wrote a message with her final strength.
Sinuhe whispered an apology to her as he walked next to her and kneeled down to look at the message she had scribbled with her finger using her own blood. Even though the writing had been done in severe pain and it was difficult to read, it was possible to decipher the five glyphs she had jotted down.
“Dream be destroyed. King die.”
He turned to look at Pen-Nekhebet. “What does it mean?”
“We hoped you could help. It talks of the dream being destroyed. Is everything alright in the dream world? Anything out of the ordinary?”
“No everything was fine tonight…”
“Either way, it also says ‘King die.’ You must warn the king in his sleep, we will send a messenger to the palace to do the same. Our king’s life is in danger!”
“Yes… yes. That… I’ll do that,” Sinuhe said, still grasping for the meaning of the message Hemetre had left for her, still attempting his best to focus his mind.
He looked at Hemetre’s face for the first time and noticed her smiling. She looked so at peace even with her robe and hair covered in blood, with tears that had run down her face ruining her makeup. She had died in peace. Having managed to warn her friends and managing to be by the side of Nut in her final breathe, she was content.
Another river of tears began streaming on Sinuhe’s face at the thought of all of this. He would never get over this, ever. A hand gently placed on his back brought his attention to the rest in the room and he saw Sitamun.
“Come, I’ll take you to the back room where you can lie down and warn the king. Come.”
She helped him up and guided him out of the hall as High Priest Pen-Nekhebet and High Priestess Reputnebty barked orders to find a messenger and the guard. Being lead by Sitamun, Sinuhe reprimanded himself. She was so young, barely sixteen years of age, yet here she was strong as goddess Hathor herself helping him in his moment of weakness. He was double her age yet now he appeared an infant. As much as he had doted on her as a little sister taking care of her, she now appeared an adult and had grown up to be a caring and amazing woman. He was proud of her, and at the same time fear washed over him. The murderers got Hemetre. He wouldn’t be able to take it if anyone ever hurt Sitamun – it would utterly break him.
The two managed their way to the backroom, the shouts of their elders eventually disappearing in the distance. Sinuhe walked over to the thatches and cloth laid in the corner for anyone needing a rest in the temple as Sitamun lit a few incense sticks, filling the air with scent of jasmine and lavender before returning to the side of Sinuhe. Neither said a word, merely exchanged knowing smiles as Sinuhe closed his eyes and drifted into the world beyond.
Sitamun returned by Sinuhe’s side and bid him to sleep saying a soothing prayer while calming him, hoping to aid him enter the dream world and warn the king. The gentle touch of Sitamun and her ever soothing nurturing voice quickly calmed Sinuhe down and allowed him to focus. Just as soon as his focus was regained he drifted off to sleep, his body relaxing on the thatch and cloth spread under him.
Sudden instability under his feet threw Sinuhe off and he came to a rough awakening in the dream world. Things were shifting under his feet and the mountains rumbled as the mountainside farms shifted and fell, as the crashing of rock and roars of rockslides thundered everywhere. His feet also shook as the cliff ledge he stood on wavered in this cataclysm. This was a level of distortion and upheaval that Sinuhe had never seen in the dream world. It felt like the whole world was falling and tearing itself apart.
Far in the distance every mountainside was crumbling, with the trees and rivers being diverted and the ever present dream temple’s that stood high in the clouds of the dream world, that were unreachable but always visible, seemed to be affected by the shaking as well.
As soon as he regained his composure Sinuhe focused on the King instantly teleporting and shifting his location to where the dream consciousness of the King was situated. He found himself at the docks of the Nile with the King in his riverboat. However, just like the rest of the dream world even here there were signs of chaos. The river waters were rough and churning, the waves crashing against his boat and the river bank. The sky had thunder and the king was holding onto dear life on his boat. Sinuhe warped to his side.
“Pharaoh, My King!”
“Sinuhe! Do something about this dream! This is a nightmare!”
Sinuhe attempted to concentrate and will the seas to a standstill, however he couldn’t completely stop them and as soon as his focus wavered or was lost the rough waves returned without fail.
“My King, I’m unable to do so. There is something larger at work. You must wake up and summon your guards. There… there has been a murder at the Temple, and we believe it is part of a larger conspiracy against your life!”
The Pharaoh stared at Sinuhe in disbelief and shock. “Murder at the Temple… now I truly hope this is a mere nightmare.”
“I’m sorry my liege, there is no time. I must wake you up now. Please summon your guards to protect you and send more to the Temple.”
“Sinuhe, what is going on?”
“I don’t know yet,” Sinuhe looked at the ever growing disorder of his surroundings, then refocused on the Pharaoh, “I will however find out.”
With that he touched the forehead of the Pharaoh the latter immediately blinking out of existence. Sinuhe had forcibly woken up the King from his dream and not a moment too soon as next he felt the rank odour of carrion flowers in his nose and water splashed into his face. He recognized this as the wakeup call and he jolted awake in his bed, back into the reality.
“They are back, we need to run!” Sitamun pulled Sinuhe to his feet and before he could ask who he could hear a scream in the background, a horrible gut wrenching scream as Sitamun ushered him out towards the back to run through the storage exit.
“The assassins?” Sinuhe felt the rough poking from Sitamun and the two scrambled out as fast as they could with tears in their eyes, their legs wobbling and risking to give out under them. Out the back like thieves in the night they reached the far ridge that overlooked the temple.
“I… I’m too late. I failed them. I…” The two embraced as they stared at the temple from the ridgeline hidden by a few trees and shrubbery. Not long after they could see the first of flame, moments before it engulfed the whole temple. The assassins had come back to finish the job, evidently having found out they had failed the first time around.
“Did you reach the King?” Sinuhe nodded. “Then all is not lost, then we did okay,” Sitamun cooed Sinuhe’s head comforting him and, in conjunction, herself. They both needed each other and embraced as they watched their home and their family burn.
The whole world shook and flipped apart and a thunder ripped through the land and their cores. At the same time they saw the sky rip open in a flash, a black emptiness opened up above them before pyres and a waterfall of thick black smoke crashed down onto them, at the same time as it looked like the sky itself was falling.
Faster than the rapids on the upstream after a flood, it spread across the land and before either Sinuhe or Sitamun could react it had washed over them as a gust of wind stronger than they had ever felt before, throwing them off their feet many metres back. Just as quickly as the smoke had passed through them it had gone and what was left was a general coating of gray and black with streams of white streaking across the sky. Everything was darker, and weird things were beginning to appear.
Sinuhe scrambled up quickly to try and find Sitamun after having been flung and separated.
“Sitamun! Sitamun!” Frantically looking around he saw a limp body not far from him. Rushing over to the side he saw it was Sitamun and quickly picked her up and cradled her, trying to wake her up.
“Sitamun! Sitamun wake up! No, no, no, no….” Tears were now running down his cheeks and he was quickly losing colour in his face and strength in his body.
“Sitamun please… please….” His hand caressed her cheek and across her face and he felt a breath of air. He placed his hand on her chest and could faintly feel the beat of her heart. She was alive, but unconscious. At the same time as he held onto Sitamun’s body there was a loud crash behind him. The temple was now fully encased in flame, roof structures already crashing down and soon nothing would be left from the fire.
He was utterly broken. His home and family fractured and burned. His King most likely killed, the whole city in ruins, Sitamun unresponsive, barely breathing.
He gripped the still body of Sitamun even tighter in frustration with tears flowing freely down the anguish in his soul tormenting him. Mouth frothing and unable to utter any intelligible word while around him the sky was falling and the world collapsing. Pyres of black having ripped through the lands, bringing everyone to the ground unresponsive and with demons freely roaming the streets. Horrendous things he had never witnessed before. Things literally from his nightmares.
The burning of the city increased in ferocity as the sound of harsh wind, smoke and thunder raged across the sky. A concert of discordant noise rang through the air. While the screams and terror of people shouting had seized, the environment and the beings from hell roaming the land made up for it, the air filled with intermingled terror, almost deafening to Sinuhe’s ears.
He didn’t want to be here anymore. Sinuhe clamped his ears with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut harder and harder. So hard it hurt him but all wanted was to wish everything away. Rocking back and forth, his body thoroughly dehydrated he wanted to leave, he wanted to get away. Repeating this one thought endlessly he screamed in his head first. Go away, go away, go away. And soon he was repeating it with his mouth ever louder.
“Go away, go away, go away, go away, go AWAY, GO AWAY, GO-”
The sounds stop. There was no more noise, no more smell of smoke and fire. He kept his eyes closed but stopped his shouting and listened. Nothing.
Opening his eyes he saw around him an endless black void with massive shattered stones underneath him and around him. Rubble and ruins of some huge building. He felt the ground underneath him, smooth worked stone, huge pieces many metres wide. He had appeared in some other dimension. “Is this… a dream?”
“It was my dream.”
As he heard these words spoken behind him a sharp point poked the back of his neck, nicking his skin ever so slightly.
Sinuhe turned to look around, the sharp point revealed to be a spear that kept pointing at his neck grazing it as he turned to look at the person who spoke behind him. He saw a tall, muscular and well built person, tanned brown skin with cloth armour hanging from the chest, feathers adorned on from the sides, thatch sandals and a plumed jade headdress, regal, large with colourful feathers unlike he had ever seen. Jade ornaments and earrings hung from the ears and a large jade and gold ornamented medallion hung from the neck.
He noticed now upon closer inspection that it was a woman, the hair tied into a long single braid along the back and her facial features, although clearly hardened by life and what he presumed combat, couldn’t mask her gender.
“Who are you?”
“I am Chimalmat, I am the Anchor,” she retracted her spear from Sinuhe’s neck, “you are Wayak, a dreamer, yes? You are the good one I’ve been watching.”
“I… what does that mean?”
“You create and destroy in dreams. You control them. I was once a Wayak. Now I am the Anchor to the dream, the great keeper of the dream temples.”
“The temples!” Sinuhe’s thoughts rapidly connected what she was saying to what he had witnessed. The eternal massive stone and jade temple’s that soared the dream world’s mountain heavens among the clouds. Never able to reach them but ever present. This woman was from the temple.
“In fact, you are now sitting in the main temple,” Chimalmat said as she took a few steps back and spread her hands at the piles of rubble stone and the void beyond, “the dream world was destroyed by another wayak and their brethren. Ruined my temple and my dream. They destroyed the Anchor.”
Her face hardened and fury flickered in her eyes, fury and pure hatred for whoever had done.
“The dream world destroyed? Is that why… everything is happening down there?”
“Yes. We don’t have much time. We must hunt and reach the other wayak, the one that destroyed everything and kill him. Then you must become the next Anchor.”
“What? I don’t even know what an Anchor is or does or…”
Chimalmat lunged with incredible speed picking up the snivelling Sinuhe clean off the ground. “You will know when you need to know. Now stop your cowardice, we have a dreamer to hunt.”
The next thing Sinuhe felt was a hard tug on the scruff of his neck and being in air. The wrecked stone ruin temple quickly receded beneath him and all he could see was empty black void stretch far and wide. Every now and then there seemed to be a swirl of smoke that revealed a glimpse of land beneath it, but this was far and wide very rare.
He glanced up to look at this force of nature, this imposing and brave woman that called herself Chimalmat, the Anchor. Her face strong in determination, stoic but not scary or angry, at least not towards him. She was gliding effortlessly while dragging him underneath her, and although he swore he could feel the air against him from moving fast in the empty void in reality there was nothing there. The air, the water, fire - everything in the dream world wasn’t real and he knew this.
“I think that is the source there. We are going in.”
“Huh, going in?”
Without answering Chimalmat with Sinuhe in tow dived down towards the darkness. Sinuhe screamed at being jerked and dragged towards the darkness, but just as they were about to hit the void a swirl of smoke parted the void and he could see ground beneath him, and in that instant they pushed through and Sinuhe lost consciousness.
“Hey, wake up. We are here and I need your help.”
A slap on his cheek had Sinuhe wince in pain, but it wasn’t hard enough to really hurt him. He opened his eyes to see Chimalmat kneeled over him, staring straight into his eyes. Noticing that Sinuhe was awake Chimalmat got up offering her arm to help pull him up. Sinuhe grabbed onto it and was yanked in one fell swoop onto his feet.
“Wha- where are we?”
Glancing around, he could see the landscape far and wide mostly flat from his slightly raised hill. Surrounding him, the same mixture of dark cloud and fantastic beasts and creatures spread around, a similar to the site he had seen back in Egypt. However, in the middle of this hellish maelstrom there was a city in front of him, with some of the highest walls he had ever seen. Parts of it were in darkness wrapped in the same cloud, however there was a large portion in the centre of the city where it looked as if the smoke and cloud were not entering.
“We are in Niniveh. This is the source of the dream world collapse.”
“Niniveh? Where is that?”
“That is unimportant. The important thing is the Dreamer and priests of the temple of the wayak are the source of this catastrophe. The glowing spot over there is the source of the disruption. We need to go in, kill the priests and the dreamer and then unite the source of the disruption with the dream.”
“Ki- kill? I- I- I’ve never killed anyone before! I don’t know how to kill!” Panic raised in Sinuhe’s guts and you could hear him almost squeal this in fright.
“Don’t worry I’ll do most of the killing,” Chimalmat brandished a short spear from her side with a wide leaf tip, razor sharp made from black obsidian, “you just need to follow me closely and not get killed.”
Sinuhe stared wide eyed at the imposing spear in Chimalmat’s hand, and then at the glowing speck in the distance that she called the source. It was deep in the city, one would have to go through to get there.
“Ho- how do we get all the way there?! There must be thousands of soldiers in the city!”
“Most of them will have collapsed into unconsciousness, the ones who haven’t will be confused. Also, we have you, a dreamer. Now that the dream world and real world are one you can do unbelievable things here in the real world. We can practically fly to the edge of the source and most people who didn’t fall unconscious will consider us another figment of their imagination, if they are sane any longer to begin with.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Sinuhe sighed, letting out some of the tension that had been holding his muscles taught for the last few minutes.
“Let’s go,” instantly Chimalmat leaped into the air and floated tens of metres above ground. It truly felt like they were still dreaming and Sinuhe couldn’t be certain they weren’t. Staring at the floating figure above waiting patiently for him to follow suite Sinuhe closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated. Just like a dream, just like a dream, just like a dream.
His jump caught the air and he stepped on the wind floating just like in a dream. The two worlds had truly combined and he could hardly believe it and almost in is disbelief lost his flight, but he kept repeating the same phrase in his head, forcing himself to believe that everything happening here was real, that he was truly back on earth but he could dream at the same time.
Sinuhe thought he saw a glimpse of a smile on Chimalmat’s face as she watched his ascent upwards, before she turned around and sped off into the direction of the city Sinuhe following the trail.
They flew low above the ground, the speed of their travel and the airwave caused in their wake kicking up the sand off the ground leaving a dust trail behind them. Every now and then they could see weird creatures being brought into existence, animals neither had ever seen before. Creatures that Sinuhe imagined could only be concocted in the mind of someone, and as far as he knew, that’s exactly what they were; imaginary creatures.
The high walls of the city fast approached them and they swooped up to go above, giving them a wide close up view of the city before them; it was carnage. There were fires spread in buildings and people strewn all across the ground. It was impossible to tell if they were dead or just unconscious, most likely a mixture of both as a sudden spell of narcolepsy on such a wide scale would likely result in some serious injury, even death.
With horrible animals and natural phenomena raging in the sky, the two flew over the city, reaching the core that Chimalmat had mentioned and which beaconed across the landscape, shining bright. As Sinuhe was getting ready to pass right through the shimmering barrier that seemed to emanate in between the wild darkened dream landscape and the core, he saw Chimalmat dive down to the ground stopping right at the edge of it.
Sinuhe followed suite landing right behind her. “Why didn’t we just fly in?”
“Because we would fall from the sky if we did,” She glanced back at Sinuhe before looking forward once again, drawing her spear in the ready. “Inside there the laws of nature are as they should be and the dream world has no effect. So while here we can fly and summon amazing things to our aid, in there only real physical objects and actions are valid.”
On the ground to their side a few guards laid unconscious. Chimalmat reached down and picked up the dagger that was in its sheath in the soldier’s belt offering it to Sinuhe.
“No- no. I don’t… I can’t use one.”
“Take it. As a precaution. Stay behind me and if all goes well I will kill everyone before they reach you,” she motioned the dagger handle first again until Sinuhe apprehensively took it, holding it with two hands. “There you go you’re holding it correct. Pointy end into the enemy. Let’s go.”
Without a single speck of fear or apprehension Chimalmat took off running in through the barrier into the core, catching Sinuhe off guard and had him scrambling to chase after her. The moment they passed through the barrier the sky cleared and there was natural daylight everywhere, as if the dark clouds and sky that had collapsed on the world didn’t exist. There were no impossible and crazy creatures in sight, and the surroundings were surprisingly silent.
For the first couple hundred of metres there was nobody in sight and their mad dash to the temple that appeared to be the source of this mess went unhindered. It wasn’t long after however as they were reaching the first outer gates to the courtyard of the temple that they saw guards posted at the gate.
A lump rose into Sinuhe’s throat and his legs were beginning to give out as the fear of the confrontation was rapidly threatening to overwhelm him. The guards posted outside noticed them soon after and started to shout something in a language that Sinuhe didn’t understand. They pulled their swords out still shouting with their demeanor becoming even more aggressive, and through the gate behind the three guards Sinuhe could spot movement; more guards had been alerted now. His steps were beginning to wobble and he was at the verge of collapsing when just in front of him he heard a roar so loud and ferocious, it shook him to the bone and brought him out of his stupor.
The battle cry blasted so loud it would have echoed throughout a bustling city, as Chimalmat shouted with full force. The guards shouting ceased for a moment taken aback by the ferocity, and that is when she did a full spin around winding her arm before releasing her spear. They were still a good fifty metres away but in the blink of an eye it had pierced the skull of the first guard, sticking into the shoulder of the one behind him.
The head splattered open with the body falling limply and before the third uninjured guard could even properly react Chimalmat had all but closed the distanced and ran in, swiping at the neck of the third guard with her knife before throwing it into the guard with the spear stuck on his shoulder.
Sinuhe couldn’t believe his eyes. In less than a second or two all three guards were lying dead and now Chimalmat had already picked her weapons up ready for another encounter. Sinuhe caught up behind her and instinctively knowing this she sped ahead of him through the arched entryway into the temple courtyard.
The main temple was across a ceremonial plaza with a raised platform and altar and pyre at the centre, possibly for rituals and sacrifices to the gods. At each side of this plaza there were smaller buildings all made of stone. Seeing many guards and people rushing down the main temple steps towards the first gate of the courtyard, Chimalmat swiftly ducked to the right dragging Sinuhe with her. She vaulted up the side of the wall behind the building and landed on a low flat roof, hidden by the front facade. She immediately reached down to grab hold of Sinuhe pulling him up easily with one hand.
“Quickly. Stay low,” she said as Sinuhe crouched behind her. The two began to skitter quietly across the roof. To their left on the plaza they could hear the foreign shouts closing in and then passing them as they seemed to run to the front gate where Chimalmat had taken out the guards.
The roof of the side buildings surrounding the ceremonial square ran all the way to the side of the temple, with only occasional small gaps between buildings, small enough for both of them to easily cross the gap. Reaching the end of the roof Chimalmat stopped and scouted the surroundings to make sure nobody was around. She motioned Sinuhe to come forward, clasping him by the arm and quietly swinging him down to lessen the fall for him. Just as silently she dropped down from the roof before the two skulked along the side of the temple in its shadow, trying to loop around and find a side or back entrance to it.
Regardless of the culture, temple compounds often had at least one secondary side entrance for the priests and priestesses to enter as well as for any movement and deliveries that needed to be made into the temple in secrecy. Sinuhe knew this, and it seemed that so did Chimalmat. Not only was she the strongest and most fiercest warrior he had ever seen, stronger than any he knew in the Kingdom, she was also experienced and immensely knowledgeable of many things. He envied every aspect of her, and the fear that he had at first felt upon meeting her had changed to respect.
Just as they thought, soon enough a small side entrance appeared into view. They hastened their steps but upon reaching it they heard the voice of someone on the inside and the door begin to close. In a flash Chimalmat had reached the door and spun inside and as Sinuhe rounded the door frame to look inside he saw Chimalmat clasping the mouth of a man in robes with the spear sticking through the back out his chest. Sinuhe froze at the doorway at the sight, almost letting out a scream in horror. This was too much death, too fast. Today there had been too much blood spilled and there was no way he could get used to it.
As the man's struggle ended and his body fell limp, Chimalmat placed him silently on the ground before motioning Sinuhe to continue. The latter just stood at the doorway staring at the bloodied body of the man. Chimalmat walked over slapping Sinuhe to the cheek, snapping him out of his stupor. Catching a glimpse of her eyes he could see the burning fury. Although the respect was still there the fear of her was back in him as well. She pulled on his arm hard getting him to move, before letting go and dashing in.
For her size and strength she was absolutely silent, gracefully sneaking from shadow to shadow without leaving a disturbed trace of dust or making a sound more loud than the quiet whisper of the wind. It was truly amazing and vital, as they were able to sneak through the corridors without seeing a single soul and found their way to what they thought would be the inner sanctum and where the core would lie.
Their assumption was correct. Peeking in from a small alcove they saw a bright light pulsing in the centre. It was radiant and warm and as it pulsed it had streaks of flame and thunder swim and swirl around it, in and out like an elegant dance.
It was hard to tell if it made any sound as surrounding this light was a circle of priests with full curly beards and high head dresses, all chanting in unison in low hushed hums and aria of deep tones. The synchronization of them was perfect and as they inspected the circle further they then noticed another figure at the centre of the priests where the light was. The swirling radiant ball of light that was the core of this was the head of a person kneeled in the centre of them all.
“That’s the dreamer. His mind was sacrificed so they could collapse the dream world,” Chimalmat whispered right into Sinuhe’s ear to make sure that not a single audible echo could be heard by an outsider. “Although his mind is gone, the ritual will continue as long as the body is alive and until the ritual is complete. We need to kill him. We need to kill them all. All of the priests and the dreamer.”
Chimalmat grabbed hold of Sinuhe’s head and forced him to look in her eyes. “Do you understand? I need you to be ready. When I’ve taken them all down the core will go erratic and out of control. I will then need your help to contain it, so run there immediately when they are all dead. Understand?”
Sinuhe nodded. This was their chance to end this nightmare. A chance to return everything to the way it was. A chance for him to see Sitamun again and take his place in the temple. To rebuild and live a life with gratitude for being alive.
“Here we go. Don’t worry, you got this,” Chimalmat tapped his cheek and in the next instant had dashed into the core.
What followed was a contrasting display of pulsing pure white light with its intricate flame and lightning patterns swirling in tandem, and the streaks of red and a whirlwind of blade and crimson mist that floated around, the blood pulsing equally to the beat of the core - a veritable symphony of death as the hums and chanting quickly turned into cries of pain and terror and the slashing of skin and crunching of bone. Like a violin; the priests the instrument and her spear the bow, sliding on the strings of life and vibrating in tune with the high pitched screams of death.
This lasted mere seconds but in Sinuhe’s eyes it felt like a full concert, a many hour long full orchestra composition and he was in that instance both entranced and horrified of everything, and his mind spent hours in the moment, even if in reality it was only a couple of seconds. It was a time altering experience and soon all that was left was Chimalmat standing by the bright core light and the dreamer’s still alive body. She was covered in blood, fully drenched from head to toe as the tiniest of smiles crept onto Chimalmat’s lips. She was having the time of her life.
Sinuhe snapped out of his stupor as he heard Chimalmat shout for him. He picked himself up and ran as fast as he could to her as the tip of her spear ran along the neck of the dreamer, not quite cutting in but at the edge of it.
“When I take his head off you be ready.”
“What do I do? What will happen? I don’t know any-”
“All you need to do is focus on the core and grab onto it once I’ve cut into him. Just focus on it. Trust me it’ll be enough!”
“I…”
Sinuhe glanced up as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Chimalmat had walked over to him and for the first time he saw genuine kind eyes. “Trust me.”
Sinuhe nodded and stood ready as Chimalmat walked over to the dreamer’s kneeled body, the head still a radiant ball. She looked over at Sinuhe before winding her spear swinging it at the dreamer’s neck with one swift cut; a cut so clean that the body stayed kneeling even as the head rolled off.
Taking this as his cue and shouting loudly to psyche himself up, Sinuhe dashed and grabbed onto the ball of light. It fused with his hands and he began screaming in terror as it felt like the light was swallowing him whole. But as the sense of drowning in an all encompassing light that seemed to hold the consciousness of the whole world began to take over him, he felt two hands placed on his own and saw Chimalmat on the opposite side of the light, clasping at the ball.
She was smiling.
It was a beautiful and calming smile, full of care. The intensity of the light of the core began to ramp up and before it was too blinding to see he saw her smile one last time as she said: “Thank you, Anchor.”
Burning blinding light rendered sight useless and searing pain began to etch something in his brain, filling him up from the inside, and almost in the same instant it was over. He knew all he needed to know.
He was the Anchor now.
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