Chapter 7: Beyond the Second Pylon

In the dark of the temple’s inner sanctuary, Nofret sprawled languidly on a couch. Kneeling at her side, one of her bewitched male acolytes was holding a tray that carried a thin pottery mug of a beer brewed from barley and sweetened with honey. Another was crouched by her feet, massaging them with scented oils. A third slowly waved a fan of ostrich feathers providing her with a cooling air. A fourth, Ahmose, the subject of her despising look was prostrate on the cold stone of the sanctuary floor in front of her, having been ordered to her presence.

Nofret was angry. Ahmose had failed in the simple mission she had given him. Obedience was not too much to ask, she felt.

“Perhaps I should feed you to Sobek – the teeth of the crocodile might be a righteous punishment – or you could be crushed by Taweret. Would that be fair for failing in such a simple task?”

The prospect of being thrown to the hippopotamus goddess was no more attractive than the crocodile but he could not deny Nofret. “More than fair, Handmaiden of Isis.” The man didn’t dare lift his head. He barely dared to ask to be spared such a fate. “I just beg for more time.”