Page 5 of Ra
“Huh?!” she asked, jumping to her feet and spinning to see who’d caught her trying to remove her scarab.
“I will not repeat myself!” the man bellowed.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to. I was busy and didn’t hear you,” Azi snapped. “And where did you come from? I just checked and no one but me was in here.”
The man narrowed his eyes and moved closer. “Who are you?”
“Who are you?” she demanded right back at him, only now recovering enough from being startled by him to realize he was wearing an ancient shendyt around his waist. He was a largeman, the typical dark brown skin of his race. His eyes were black and piercing. His lips were thick and almost gave the impression that he wore lipstick due to the slight color tinting them. He was muscular, yet his muscles were slender and long, rather than short and bulky. “I’m here every day and I never remember meeting you. Nor do I remember meeting you through any of the government officials I’ve dealt with.”
“How dare you question me!”
“How dare you question me! I belong here. I found this place!”
“I built this place!” he thundered. “How dare you enter my temple without the proper tribute!”
“Tribute? Seriously? I think you need to leave. You’ve obviously got some delusions.” Azi took out her cell phone and started dialing, forgetting that she couldn’t get a signal this far underground with all the stone surrounding her.
“What is that? A weapon? I’ll end your pitiful life!” he threatened, lifting his arms into the air to call down the powers of the sun to assist him. He didn’t want to kill her, just wanted to give her enough of a startle that she’d stop being so difficult.
Azi watched as he tried to make something happen, but nothing happened.
He looked up at his hands still held aloft in the air, brought them down to face level to inspect them briefly before shoving them into the air again, and repeating himself. “I’ll end your pitiful life!”
“You already said that,” she pointed out. Azi held a black belt in more than a few martial arts styles and wasn’t the least little bit intimidated by this man. She kind of felt sorry for him as he realized his hands weren’t going to do whatever it was he thought they’d do.
He glared at her and literally snarled before pulling his hands down again to examine them. “I do not understand,” he said to himself, and seemed confused.
“Is there somebody I can call for you?” she asked.
“Call? Yes! Guards! Guards! I summon you at once!” he shouted. He grinned at her snidely, placed his fisted hands on his hips, braced his feet shoulder width apart, and turned to watch the door for his guards to arrive. After almost a minute of no response, his brow creased as he stalked over to the door and peered up at the stairs. “Guards!” he shouted once more.
“I’m pretty sure everyone is gone for the day. I don’t think any guards are coming. And if they do, they work for me, not you.”
He turned to look at her angrily. “How do you not know who I am? How do you not cower in my presence? How do you not fall to your knees before me and worship at my feet?”
“I don’t know who you are. You haven’t bothered to introduce yourself. And I will not cower because I fear no man. Nor will I kneel, much less worship at any part of him, especially not his feet.”
“I am Ra! God of the sun! I created all life, and ensure its continuation and all order in the universe! Without me, all life would cease to exist!” He lifted his hands in the air as though to call forth some kind of power then thrust his fingertips in her direction.
Azi stood with her arms crossed over her chest, one hip cocked out as she tapped one foot on the floor and watched him expectantly with both her eyebrows raised. “Whatever it is that you’re expecting your hands to do, I’m pretty sure it’s malfunctioning.”
He’d been glaring at his hands and looked up at her angrily. “You’ll see. I am Ra, god of the sun and all that exists under it!”
“Okay.”
“You do not believe me!”
“No, I’m sorry. I really don’t.”
“I am there! And there!” he said, pointing to his likeness painted in different places on the walls of the temple. “And there!” he said. “This is my temple! Built to shelter my body and those of the rest of the gods I created! Without me, even they would not exist! See for yourself, then worship me properly,” he said, his voice dropping an octave, his words enunciated slowly and with purpose as though he actually expected her to do so.
To humor him, Azi glanced toward the reliefs and paintings on the walls of the Tomb of Ra. She even approached a wall and examined the image of Ra before turning to look at him again.
He raised his chin in the air, providing her with his best side to compare to his likeness. “I am resplendent.”
“You are a man. Not much more, I’m sure.”
“I am Ra, and I am resplendent!” he half-shouted, thrusting his arm out to point at his likeness again.
