Blessed Lands Egypt Chapter Seventeen
Blessed Lands Egypt
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Chapter 17
Ferruk sat at the desk in the VIP suite of Hotel New Heliopolis. He looked at some papers on his desk and shifted them to the side. A copy of a newspaper clipping was in front of him. Earlier, he made a request to the local library to find as much data as they could on the Oracle. Knowing the Oracle came from the Heliopolis region made the chance of finding unique bits of information the more likely. The librarians of New Heliopolis Repository and Library jumped through hoops to help him. He chuckled when one of them dropped to his knees and swore on his Mother’s life that he would do the best that he could to assist the Great Priest Ferruk. One of the body guards retrieved the copy and now it lay in front of him. Ferruk mused over the article. It was about a young boy who miraculously survived a dilapidating and almost always terminal disease. The young boy was age six and the newspaper explained that a local Oracle had treated the young man. The treatment was very dangerous and sometimes worse than the disease. The young man survived and Pharaoh heard about the cure and ordered the local town Oracle to have an audience with him. She did and later became the Royal Oracle. The same Oracle Ferruk had been receiving those confounded and sometimes misleading predictions of hers. Then he caught a familiar name within the article. The young boy’s name was Honute.
He began to think of all the time the Oracle feed him information. She gave him little tidbits here, small tiny morsels there. She manipulated him. He didn’t know whether to be enraged with her for all the years she maneuvered him, or at himself for not seeing it sooner. He sat there thinking what to do. He felt that as long as she was the right ear of Pharaoh he could never have true power. He had to get rid of her, finally. He turned to his most trusted bodyguard, Ivoniyut, and hatched a plan. During the Cursed Wars Ivoniyut had been a sniper for Pharaoh. Ferruk thought his talent a curiosity at first but gained significant appreciation for his particular talent. Today, Ivoniyut would have a new assignment. “Ayruyi, come here, please.”
Ayruyi stepped out of the kitchen. She had been preparing her master’s lunch. She walked over to him fearing the worst. She stopped in front of him and dropped to her knees. She reached out to lift his robe up when he stopped her.
He chuckled to himself that she had read his mind so perfectly. “Not now, I have something more important I want you to do. I’m going to send you on a special mission for me.”
Ayruyi, perplexed, looked up. “Yes, Master?”
Ferruk smiled. “It’s something that will suit your wonderful talents.” He laughed at her confused look. “After lunch, summon your Father here, I’m going to be without your services for a few days.” Then he lifted his robe up and smiled. “For the moment you can attend me. Be quick, I want to eat lunch and make it on time to a meeting in an hour.”
Honute had been thinking about Akila when he felt something. It came on him fast. It was like a burst of heat that swept through his body. He was thinking about the night before and remembered the cold air biting his skin. He and Akila had just finished making love and they both laid there sweaty and exhausted. A draft had whooshed in from an open window. It felt frigid but welcomed. He had wanted to grab a blanket to warm up but the feel of Akila smooth skin against his was too pleasing. Then he thought about the blanket and he suddenly became hot.
Akila jumped when the monitors beeped loudly. The graphs and recorders wiggled and flashed excitedly. For a moment she was frozen with surprise. Then she leapt into action. She grabbed the clipboard and started checking things. She looked over to Honute who seemed to be sweating. She ran over. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
Honute wiped sweat from his brow. “Warm. No, I feel hot.” He started breathing rapidly and got light headed. The room began spinning and he reached out to Akila to steady himself. “I feel dizzy.”
Delenoah, one of Rivota’s assistant stepped into the room. He had a clipboard in his hand and nearly dropped it when Akila startled him.
Akila heard a sound at the door and saw Delenoah stepping through. She yelled, “Get Dr. Rivota! STAT!”
Delenoah stood there for a moment. He heard the alarms and saw Honute, drenched in sweat and breathing rapidly. He snapped out of it and ran.
Honute started shaking uncontrollably.
One of the monitors exploded, sparked and fizzled. The alarms seemed to get louder as another monitor sparked loudly.
Rivota ran with several nurses and another medical doctor behind her. Theoris came in last.
Honute’s eyes slipped upward into his head and he started thrashing against the bed.
Akila grabbed at his arms but the sweat made them slippery.
Rivota reached his side and grabbed him. The others each grabbed a limb and pressed them firmly into the mattress. Rivota grabbed Honute’s head to steady it. She noted the eyes and yelled “OxyNeutripin! Three cc’s!”
A nurse disappeared.
Theoris stood helpless as the chaotic scene unfolded before her eyes.
A monitor exploded and electricity arced madly across the walls and ceiling.
The nurse returned and slipped the needle end of the syringe into a slot along the IV line. He pressed the plunger down and pale blue liquid snaked its way through the clear plastic line.
Honute thrashed harder and flung a nurse against a wall.
Rivota yelled, “Keep him steady!” She looked around and saw Theoris standing alone. “Get some ice and place it in a bag. Quick!”
Theoris moved a leg. It seemed that her feet had been glued to the floor. Then she moved the other leg. It was easier. Then the first again, then the second. Then she ran to the refrigerator, opened it, and grabbed several trays of ice. She found a plastic pouch and threw the ice in it. She ran back.
Akila had literally tossed herself on top of Honute. He was burning up and it felt like her skin was blistering.
Theoris ran up to Honute and placed the bag of ice on his forehead. Within seconds it was a bag of warm water and leaking all over the place.
The overhead sprinklers burst and rained water on everything.
Two more people entered the room and grabbed Honute.
Then suddenly he stopped and all the alarms went silent.
The sprinklers continued for a second then stopped.
Then the EKG monitor alarm went off. The continuous audible tone filled the room.
Rivota pushed Akila off Honute and felt for a pulse along the carotid artery. Nothing. She tilted his head back with the palm on her right hand and used her left hand to open his lower jaw. She pressed her thumb firmly against chin and the jaw opened. She placed her ear and cheek next to his mouth and waited. Nothing. She looked at Theoris and said. “Get an AED and bring it back.”
Theoris ran out the room.
Rivota pinched Honute’s nose closed with the hand that rested on his forehead and gave two quick and deep breathes. She released his nose and hovered her cheek above his face. She didn’t feel a thing. “Begin chest compression.”
The nurse placed one hand, palm down, over the other and positioned them over Honute’s chest. She had felt for the Xiphod tip to make sure she would not be pressing down on it. She locked elbows and shoulder and pumped up and down from the waist. “One and two and three and four and . . .” She said out loud to a count of five. She stopped.
Rivota pinched Honute’s nose and breathed in two good breaths. She watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. She stopped.
The nurse did another five pumps and Rivota had finished the second breath when Theoris ran in. She yelled, “The AED is here.”
Theoris worked quickly. She removed the wired chest pads from the plastic bag and plugged one end into a socket on the device. She hit the “on” button.
The machine beeped and a voice, from the machine, said, “Please place pads on chest.”
Theoris removed the backing from the pads. She dried a large spot on his chest and placed one pad over his right breast and the other down over his left side.
The device beeped and said, “Analyzing. Please do not touch the patient.” It beeped again. “Analyzing. Please do not touch the patient.”
Akila held her breath while she watched helplessly.
The device beeped again. “Shock treatment advised. Charging. Please stay away from the patient.”
Theoris looked around and said out loud. “Clear! I am clear.”
Rivota and the nurse both said, “Clear.”
The device said. “You may deliver shock now.”
Theoris pressed a button marked, “Shock.”
Honute’s body tensed.
The device said, “Analyzing. Shock advised. Charging.”
Theoris and the others went through the routine one more time.
Then the device said, “You may touch the patient and resume BLS.”
Rivota placed the side of her cheek near Honute’s mouth and nose. She felt air. She placed two fingers near the base of the jaw. She felt a pulse.
Honute opened his eyes. He felt spent.
Rivota asked. “How do you feel?”
Honute lifted himself up. “Like I ran thirty miles.”
Rivota nodded. “You gave us a scare.”
Honute looked around and noticed everyone in the room. He was wet except for a spot on his chest and side. “What happened?”
Rivota smiled and said, “You died.”
Akila had made her way to Honute’s side and placed her hand on his thigh.
He looked into her eyes and she nodded, then he fell asleep.
Theoris watched the interaction between Honute and her assistant. A knot hit her in the stomach. No doubt now. Her life just got complicated.