Blessed Lands Egypt Chapter Four
Blessed Lands Egypt
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Chapter 3
Honute sat in the reception area waiting for Guriamon, High Priest of the Temple of Thoth. Honute had lead the early ritual of the Sun God Ra and the morning rites of Thoth. The prayers had been perfect. He hoped that Guriamon would appreciate his dedication and that punishment would not be too severe, though he couldn’t remember if he had done anything wrong. Minutes passed quickly, at first. Then they passed slowly. Ten into fifteen, fifteen into twenty, thirty then forty. Honute waited.
Guriamon opened the door. “Ah, Honute, thank you for waiting so patiently. Come in.”
Honute gathered himself and walked in. Two women were seated in front of Guriamon’s desk. One looked to be in her late fifties and the other in her early twenties. Both were beautiful. The older one was dressed in a gray business skirt suit, a most un-Egyptian like attire. The younger one was more appropriately dressed in a traditional white cotton wrap. The edges were trimmed in dark blue and seemed to match her eyes. The wrap clung to her body in all the right places and Honute blushed by the decadent thought of his hands touching all those spots.
Akila watched as Honute walked in and stopped cold. He eyed Theoris first. She noted the quick display of emotion on his face. He disapproved of her business skirt, blouse and suit jacket. Theoris had told her that years ago she made a conscious effort to not wear traditional clothing. The Doctor felt that it demeaned women. Akila then locked eyes with the priest. He blushed and looked away.
Guriamon cleared his throat. “Honute, this is Dr. Theoris, Magick Manifestation Expert and her assistant Akila.”
Honute nodded to each woman.
“You will be working with them. I’m releasing you from your duties . . .”
Honute’s eyes popped open and his head snapped back as if he had been struck, hard. “But High Priest, have I done something wrong?”
Guriamon said, “No, no, nothing wrong. Quite the opposite actually.”
Honute breathed a sigh of relief.
Guriamon continued, “You will help Dr. Theoris with her theory. You will continue to receive you regular pay and the Doctor is going to give you a sort of Per Diem for participating.”
“Extra pay?” Honute said slowly.
Theoris stood up and said, “Priest Honute, your participation would be most important to my research.” She stuck out her hand.
Honute looked down at it. His mind spinning and going in different places all at once. He saw his hand reach out and shake Dr. Theoris’ hand but he didn’t remember feeling her hand around his. He was in a daze and just let what happened happen. He remembered somewhere between shaking Theoris’ hand and walking outside that he asked what her research was all about. She nearly sang out that it involved learning how to do magick. He laughed but stifled it when she gave him a stern look that suggested next time he was to ask for permission and the privilege to laugh out loud.
Ten minutes later Honute was sitting in the back seat of Dr. Theoris’ car. She drove an expensive large luxury model that probably cost his entire years’ salary. He looked out the window as the car sped passed the various street merchants, playing children, and gutter urchins. New Heliopolis was built on the new plan of Enlightenment. Pharaoh himself oversaw the building of this city. Rumor had it that he built it on the words from the Oracle. She told Pharaoh that this new city would bring a fantastic and wonderful age to the Blessed Lands. That was what the rumors said. Maybe it was true, maybe not, but from the normal business in the streets it would take a miracle to bring about this new age.
Ferruk and the Oracle sat in her gathering chamber. Both sat at her large oval oak table with Ferruk sitting on her right side. She had her bowl out and colors started to swirl in a complex movement. She looked into it and started to moan and chant.
“Homage to you, Great God, the Lord of the double Ma'at! I have come to you, my Lord, I have brought myself here to behold your beauties. I know you, and I know your name, and I know the names of the two and forty gods, who live with you in the Hall of the Two Truths, who imprison the sinners, and feed upon their blood, on the day when the lives of men are judged in the presence of Osiris. In truth, you are ‘The Twin Sisters with Two Eyes,’ and ‘The Daughters of the Two Truths.’ In truth, I now come to you, and I have brought Ma'at to you, and I have destroyed wickedness for you. I have committed no evil upon men. I have not oppressed the members of my family. I have not wrought evil in the place of right and truth. . .”
Ferruk sat impatiently as the Oracle recited the mid chapter of The Coming in the Day from the Book of the Dead. She did this as a way of protection. Ferruk saw it as theatrics.
“. . . I have not killed. I have not given the order to kill. I have not inflicted pain on anyone. I have not stolen the drink left for the gods in the temples. I have not stolen the cakes left for the gods in the temples. I have not stolen the cakes left for the dead in the temples. I have not fornicated. I have not polluted myself. I have not diminished the bushel when I've sold it. . “
Ferruk tried to stifle a loud yawn, he only half succeeded.
The Oracle continued “. . . I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. My purity is the purity the great heron in Heracleopolis. Behold, I am the nose of the God of Breath, who gives life to the people, on the day of completing the Eye of Ra in Heliopolis, on the last day of the second month of winter, In the presence of the pharaoh of this land. I have seen the Eye of Horus when it was full in Heliopolis! Therefore, let no evil befall me in this land in this Hall of the Two Truths, because I know the names of all the gods within it, and all the followers of the great God.”
Ferruk nearly fell asleep in the Oracle’s half sphere, but caught himself in a snap jerk moment. If this hadn’t been serious he would have laughed at himself.
The Oracle moaned loudly and said, “Behold.”
The bowl of colors smoked and the contents swirled. An image appeared. A priest standing next to a young woman blurred from her side and reappeared. The scene changed and the priest rose high in the air, arms out stretched and legs crossed at the ankles. The priest spoke words but the bowl of future remained silent. Then the priest was dressed in all gold and he climbed the stairs of the Great Temple of Ra and sat in the High Priest Chair of Power – Ferruk’s chair! The image disappeared.
Ferruk’s face was drained to pale white. He witnessed his end. “Can this be undone?” He asked the Oracle.
With her intense dark eyes she said, “Maybe.”
“Maybe. How? You must tell me.”
The Oracle got up and walked to an open doorway. “Come back tomorrow and I will have an answer for you.”
Ferruk was furious for having been dismissed like this a second time. He fumed over the Oracle’s seemingly lack of respect for his position. If Pharaoh hadn’t favored this old crone to near worship he would have executed her on the spot. He stood up and chanced a glimpse in the bowl. He looked closely and thought he saw a word. The surface of the liquid shimmered and lapped at the edge of the bowl. A smile formed from his thin lips and he laughed as he stepped away from the table and walked out the Oracle’s room of Gathering. The bowl had given him a clue. It gave him a name he occasionally looked up. It displayed, “THEORIS.”