Eye of the Moon Read Free Page A

Hathor, goddess of the moon, helper of women, to protect me.
    The First Moon marked the day of Ritual. And this would be my first Ritual without Katep. The crocodiles would have to be brought down to thestone pool in the river to be cleansed of evil. My father would select one as a sacrifice to Sobek. Then I’d have to prevent it from returning along the passageway that led back to the pit.
    The water was smooth, silent, and cold around my ankles. I searched for the telltale signs of bubbles rising up to make sure no wild river crocodile was lurking below the surface. Then I waded in and checked the stone wall of the pool for gaps. It was a bad omen to allow a sacred crocodile to escape.
    It was still too early to slide back the stone that opened the passageway. The crocodiles in the pit wouldn’t stir themselves until they’d been warmed by the sun. I’d purposely not fed them since giving them the she-goat. Getting them down to the water would be easy. Getting them back to the pit would be difficult. The village children would have to bang cymbals and beat sticks against the walls to urge them on.
    â€œRemember . . . leave a slaughtered goat in the pit,” Katep had instructed. “One that’s just beginning to rot. The smell of rotting meat brings them out of the water, like flies to a dung heap!”
    Now the sweet perfume of lotus lilies drifted across the water. The warmth of the rising sun wasdrawing up their buds from beneath the water. I watched as their blue petals began opening to reveal brilliant golden hearts. Each evening the lilies closed again and sank back into the dark water, trapping the scent of the golden hearts between their petals again.
    This morning I was first at the river. None of the other village girls had arrived. There was a legend that whoever was early enough would be greeted by the most handsome god of all. He was Nefertem, god of the blue lotus and god of the sunrise, who brought the sun into the sky. It was said he’d rise from the river with a lotus on his head and carry the girl away.
    But no god appeared this morning, and even if he had, I’m not sure I’d have gone with him.
    I filled my buckets and picked some lilies to perfume my father’s bathing water, then squeezed the water from the edge of my wrap and turned to walk back. There was a smell of wood smoke. I could hear babies crying and dogs yapping and squabbling over bones at the rubbish heaps. Women coming toward me were singing as they walked to the fields.
    Suddenly they were pointing toward the river. “Look! Look!”
    My breath caught as I turned.
    A huge boat was floating silently across the water. It wasn’t the usual barge that collected tithes for the temple granaries—the one that came piled with sacks of grain for my father to store so he could feed the villagers in times of need. Nor was it the barge that brought jars of oil or bolts of linen for the temple storerooms.
    This boat seemed to have risen straight from the depths of the river, like some strange exotic water lily, unfurling as the warmth of the sun touched it—its hull carved and patterned in brilliant carnelian, turquoise, and blue, its gold embellishments dazzling the eye.
    It slid forward as if propelled by some inner force, glistening and glinting in the early-morning air like an apparition. It was Ra’s golden boat, come straight from the Underworld.
    Then I heard the beat of oars. Against the sunlight I saw the outline of oarsmen and saw the sprays of water beads flung like jewels from their paddles.
    It was a
real
boat with at least twenty on board and a huge dark red sail embellished with the Double Crown of Egypt. As it came closer, I saw the Eye ofHorus decorating its bow and its name written in hieratic script beneath.
    Dazzling Aten
.
    â€œQueen Tiy’s barge,” someone whispered.
    I held my breath, expecting to catch sight of her on the golden throne under the red canopy