Chapter 5

Johnny knew it was the ancient version of Hala...

As the realization struck, so did the breakthrough that joined Alaric and Johnny. When it did Sulihotep put his hand on the big man’s arm.

“Welcome my friend, I have waited a long time for your arrival,” the old priest whispered.

Johnny gave a startled grunt then focused on his medical training, he took Henuttawy’s hand, “May I touch your leg, Your Highness?”

She blinked slowly at his touch and nodded, “You may,” she said.

Alaric let Johnny take over Kopi’s treatment, Johnny’s empathy seemed to be even stronger here. Sharing one mind was slightly disconcerting for both he and Alaric, but not that hard to deal with. They knew that Sulihotep was responsible for the ease and comfort of their connection. His examination revealed that Henuttawy’s tibia was broken.

“I need four sturdy pieces of wood, 2 cubits long and maybe three fingers wide something like a spear shaft will do. I also need linen bandages,” he said.

Queen Nefertari spoke to a servant standing at her side and the woman scurried off.

Once his splinting materials were assembled, Alaric took the young woman’s hand in his again and washed a wave of calm over her.

“This is going to hurt as I put your bone back in place,” he said.

She nodded and yelped when he pulled her foot until her tibia was aligned.

She was in much less pain by the time Alaric finished splinting her up. He spent a few more minutes checking her over but, besides a few scrapes and bruises, she seemed fine.

“It will take some time before the swelling goes down enough to better secure the Princess’s leg so I will be back tomorrow. If the swelling is reduced, I will need much linen wrap and resin from the Funerary Temple.”

Nefertari looked at her daughter who lay in much less pain and gave Alaric a grateful smile. “Anything you need will be provided,” Then she turned to Sulihotep. “Your service to the family of the Pharaoh will not be forgotten, Noble Priest.”

Sulihotep bowed in acknowledgement and led Johnny out of the palace. On the way out Alaric secured his weapons from the Royal Guardsman to whom he’d relinquished them. Contrary to the Queen’s words, there were no chariots to take them home.

Ruth and Li Na were seated in the shade against the mud brick wall outside the cypress palace gate. They were anxiously waiting when a small door in the gate opened and the men walked out.

The women jumped to their feet and Li Na said, “We are much relieved to see you Master.”

Sulihotep gave the women a gentle smile and bade them to sit again. Once they were all comfortable seated the old man spoke.

“I have waited many years for this moment, and it has been millenniums in the making. It is Amun-Ra’s miracle that we are together today. Because only a miracle could account for the descendants of my priests and priestesses returning to this sacred place. Even better, a descendant of the Pharaoh and the Queen has joined you.

“I called you to me because evil walks the land of Amun-Ra ... evil that must be stopped or none of us who live in the here and now will have a future. I believe Inumut the Hêtshepsu is the source of the evil. I fear he plans Ramses’ death and schemes to be Pharaoh. Inumut has many friends in the temples of the lesser gods; friends who resent Ramses for his devotion to Amun-Ra exclusively. Amun-Ra is the most powerful of the gods, but he is not all-powerful.”

To the twenty-first century visitors, talk of Gods as real was strange, yet the blended personages of them knew what Sulihotep said was absolutely true. Just because old Gods and old ways were forgotten did not mean they weren’t real at one time.

Thebes was a large city of one hundred twenty thousand during the reign of Ramses II and every God had a temple there. All the temples were on the broad avenue between Luxor and Karnak if they weren’t inside the walls of either. That avenue was the route the four members of the Cult of Amun-Ra’s took back home. They made it halfway, and then, just before it was full dark, the trouble began.

It began in front of the Temple of Sobek, the Crocodile God. Sobek was the god of the underworld and many of his followers were from the criminal elements of Thebes. Sobek was also the god of drinking and debauchery. Sobek’s priests wore the hides of crocodiles complete with dragging tails and they wore long snouted crocodile masks. Large crocodiles were kept in a pond inside the temple; crocodiles to whom offerings of animals were made. Rumor was that on special occasions, the sacrifices were human. One of the crocodile-headed priests, busy ladling out wine, recognized Sulihotep and his young priest and priestesses.

“There are the poor forsaken priests that must live underground like moles. But they do have exotic women. Come and share your women and we will share our Shedeh (wine),” he shouted.

The four ignored the taunts and catcalls from the assembled revelers and kept walking. That emboldened the Priest of Sobek.

“Take them! Bring me the old priest, as he is worth a large ransom, kill the giant and you can have the women,” he railed at the men loitering in front of the temple quaffing wine.

The drunken rabble hooted and yelled and tried to attack the four Priests of Amun-Ra’s. The drunks stumbled over themselves in their haste and met skilled warriors instead of helpless victims. They lost their blood lust quickly when the first three in their mob ran into Alaric’s axe and Ruth’s khopesh. Two more fell to Li Na’s sickle shaped daggers and Sulihotep’s staff before the other attackers could back out of range.

While the drunks were milling around, the Priest of Sobek went into the temple and emerged with 25 heavily armed Soldiers of Sobek. The soldiers carried shields, spears and khopeshes. They wore helmets shaped like crocodile heads, but they did not wear the beast’s skin. Even Sulihotep was concerned by this turn of events. For one sect to attack the priests of another was unheard of.

Alaric stepped in front of his comrades and swung his double-bladed axe in a whistling figure eight. The soldiers hesitated their forward advance because the shiny bronze and steel axe was the largest, most deadly looking weapon they had ever seen. At the Crocodile Priest’s command, four of the soldiers cast their spears at the large warrior. Sulihotep knocked one of the spears down with his staff, Ruth deflected two with her shield and Alaric dove to the side narrowly avoiding the final missile. Alaric jumped to his feet and grabbed the spear that Sulihotep deflected and hurled it at the Priest of Sobek. It was a long throw and fell short by a foot, but it went far enough to lodge into the crocodile tail dragging behind the priest. The man yelped, wrenched the spear from his tail and bolted back into the temple. Lacking any instructions, the soldiers formed up into two protective ranks in front of the temple entrance.

“Are they expecting us to attack them?” Ruth asked incredulously.

“It appears so,” said Sulihotep. “We must take advantage of the lapse and hurry home.”

The words were no sooner out of his mouth before the crocodile priest, hiding behind two large guards, reemerged from the Temple.

“Don’t just stand there, get them!” the priest screeched.

The commander of the troops had just ordered his men forward when a quartet of chariots wheeled up. The lead chariot was occupied by the same Nubian who had brought Sulihotep to the palace, plus another Nubian. The chariots stopped between the two groups, and the charioteers, with reins around their waists had a nocked arrow in their bow. Faced with members of the Pharaoh’s Royal Guard, the crocodile priest motioned his soldiers back into the temple.

“Is there a problem most Holy Amunaten?” the driver asked, and his Egyptian was perfect.

“Not anymore, my friend,” Sulihotep replied.

The warrior nodded, faced the Priest of Sobek and said, “That is good, because trouble on the Avenue of Temples will be dealt with harshly.”

The chariots turned back toward the Royal Palace and sped away ... and then they woke up.

It was déjà vu time two for Johnny, as Rachael excitedly shook him awake.

“Wake up, Johnny! Wake up and tell me what you saw so I can record it,” she demanded holding out her phone.

Mia was sitting behind Rachael twirling her finger around her ear in the universal sign for coo-coo crazy, but she was scribbling in a notebook none-the-less.

Johnny groaned and sat up. “Okay ... okay, here’s what I remember,” he said. Then he regurgitated everything he experienced.

Rachael and Mia were surprised that Johnny’s part of the dream included Hala. Mia was amazed at the confrontation in front of the Temple of Sobek.

“We were total bad asses,” she crowed.

They discussed how the dream branched when they were separated in it. It was beyond their comprehension, yet they knew it happened. After Rachael recorded what each of them remembered, they dressed and went to breakfast. After they ate Johnny ambled over to the dispensary to see Hala. He was seriously looking forward to seeing her.

Hala was sitting at the desk in the outer office when Johnny popped through the door.

She looked up as Johnny grinned and said, “Hello, Kopi, how’s the leg?”

Hala looked at Johnny in shock, and fainted. Johnny caught her just before she hit the floor.

He woke her up with an ammonia capsule. She groaned and slapped his hand from under her nose.

“I’m so sorry, Hala, I should have found another way to tell you,” he said.

Despite Johnny’s calming influence, Hala was still alarmed. “How do you know what I dreamed?” she asked.

“Because I had the same dream,” he replied.

Then Johnny spent the next fifteen minutes explaining everything that he knew about the group dreaming. Soon her alarm turned into wonder.

“So I’m descended from Ramses the Great,” she said in awe.

“Don’t forget Queen Nefertari, supposedly the most beautiful woman in all of Egypt,” Johnny added.

“As unbelievable as all this sounds, I feel it to be true,” she said.

Johnny nodded his agreement.

“Somehow Sulihotep is reaching out to us while we are sleeping, and is pulling us back to his time. Pulling us back is getting easier for him and he can keep us there longer each time. We think that this is related to how much time we spend in and around his tunnels,” Johnny explained.

Later that morning Johnny and Hala were sitting under the canopy near the dig site where they had been holding sick call. The last of their patients had just departed when one of the students trotted up.