Page 11 of Ra
“Very well. We are honored to be a part of the prophecy.”
“Give me a minute, then we will lock it up and return to our families for the night,” Abasi said. He stepped inside the servant’s tomb, then headed down the stone stairway into the Tomb of Ra. He went over to the wall behind the throne and took a small scarab much like the one Azi had left in the wall and pressed it to Azi’s. The scarab popped out of its place in the wall and Abasi pocketed both of them.
He stood back and looked at the pale, almost ghostly representation of Ra on the relief, where before he’d been vibrant and vivid. “Good luck. May you win her heart and your place in this time.”
Abasi bowed to the throne, then made his way back upstairs. He locked and bolted the security door that had been installed at the top of the stairway, then bolted the security door at the entrance to the servant’s tomb. He walked up the short hallway and exited the site, pausing while his brothers locked up and secured the site from the outside. He smiled at the two new guards approaching right on time, two of his own people as well, cousins, coming to replace his brothers and wished them a good night as he and both his brothers walked into the desert toward their own families’ homes.
“I will see you when the sun rises tomorrow!” he called happily to them as they broke off toward the right.
“Ra willing!” one of them called back.
Abasi laughed and waved as they went their separate way.
Chapter 3
Ra watched with wonder as the world went by outside of Azi’s car. His nose was pressed up against the glass, and from time to time he’d angle his head so he could better see something higher.
She grinned to herself as she watched him, then without warning him, she rolled the window down with the controls on her driver’s side door.
As the window descended and the hot air from the Egyptian summer hit him in the face, he jumped back, pressing his body against his seat. He turned his head quickly to look questioningly at Azi.
“It’s a window. I rolled it down for you to better see.”
“It disappeared! It did not roll!”
“Here,” she said, pushing the button with her finger to show him how it went up and down. “It’s called rolling up or down. It sits on levers inside the door and goes up and down on command.”
“This is fascinating! Clever! So clever!” he exclaimed, leaning his head partially out of the window to better see the taller buildings around him as they drove through the neighborhoods on their way to a small shopping center she was familiar with.
She smiled to herself as she pressed the accelerator to keep up with the traffic ahead of her.
The next thing she knew Ra was on his knees in his seat, seatbelt tossed uncaringly aside, as he stuck his head and chest out of the window, looking forward one moment, and backward the next.
“Get back in the car!” she exclaimed.
“Hello! Hello, people of Kemet! I am back! I bestow blessings and favors upon you!”
“Get back in here!” Azi shouted as they approached a red-light. She grabbed ahold of his shendyt and tried to pull him back in.
“Unhand me! One does not touch Ra without explicit invitation!”
“Get in the car before you get us both in trouble.”
“My people!” he exclaimed as they finally came to a stop at a crowded corner.
“Ra!” she yelled, taking hold of his Shendyt again.
Without even looking back at her, he slapped her hand away with one hand, while lifting himself up to his waist out of the window and extending his free hand out toward the crowd. He lifted his hand in the air, palm facing the crowd as he began to sing a prayer in ancient Egyptian.
“Oh, dear God, you’re worse than a German Shepherd! Get in the damn car before someone starts recording you!”
She heard laughter, then applause as he shifted just enough for her to see around him to the thoroughly entertained crowd. “Too late,” she mumbled, smiling and giving a little half-hearted wave at those who were already aiming their phones at Ra, hanging out of her car, blessing them in their ancient native tongue.
Azi leaned forward and slowly banged her head on her steering wheel.
“It’s King Tut!” someone exclaimed.
Immediately his entire demeanor changed. His hands were no longer raised blessing his people. Now they were braced against the window frame, and he scowled angrily at them. “How dare you not know the god of your sun! I should strike you all down where you stand, ungrateful, undeserving humans!” he bellowed.
