Chapter 9
The Copper Mines ~ continued from Chapter 8 | The Fat Thief
A warm Egyptian breeze blew along the Mediterranean and down the Nile, ruffling the Red Sea until it raced along the desert and finally stopped at the doorway of the small infirmary.
“I’m not so much a slave trader as a soul trader,” whispered the old Egyptian nurse called Nebemakhet as he wiped the caked dirt and dust from David’s limp body.
A lamp lit the small grotto where he healed the sick and prepared the dead. The shadows of the dead played on the cave walls while sulfur and black smoke hung over the nearby copper mines like a pall.
He dipped the cloth in a pan of water and began to scrub at David’s face and body until the dirt fell away leaving clean skin in patches.
“More than that,” he whispered to the unconscious boy, “I dig up buried souls.”
The nurse felt the boy’s limbs and put his old, rough hands on a shrunken stomach. He bent forward to catch a whiff of breath but looked curiously at the boy.
“Do I say the prayer for the dead?” He smiled. “Perhaps not.”
The old man’s face lit up the cave.
“Perhaps I will trade your old soul for a new one,” he whispered. “I will make you a true artisan, a copper miner.”
The Egyptian sat back on his stool, scratched his beard and looked around his small infirmary at the medicine and bandages, the pots and bowls and then out the rough entrance that looked down over the small hill that hid the great copper mines that stretched for miles in the desert.
He continued washing David’s body and whispered a prayer.
The old Egyptian gently raised the boy’s arms while washing downward, the water falling in pools on the cave floor. He washed his stomach and legs slowly in a ritual fashion.
“Yes, a new soul.”
The Egyptian looked upon the boy’s curly, red hair and angelic features.
“You have suffered much,” he said as he continued washing David’s body. “But there is more.”
The old nurse turned and picked up a scroll that lay on a wooden bench. He unraveled the parchment and quickly looked around the poorly lit cave. The shadows that played on the wall convinced him that he was a great doctor who at Memphis soothed the great King Merneptah of his ills and cast spells that brought peace and health to the royal family. He saw himself greeted by clerics and servants loaded down with fruit and spices as he stepped off his papyrus raft at the Nile basin.
The old man smiled and looked at the mixture for the blisters on David’s body.
A (remedy) for the removal of the blistering disease from any body part of a man: Pine resin 1, sfT oil 1, XsAjt balsam, cuttle-bone 1, ochre 1, soot 1, water. Grind fine, make a homogeneous mass, anoint in addition to that.
A desert wind mingled with the medicinal smells throughout the infirmary as the Egyptian continued to work.
“The Lady of Malachite will watch over you.”
He wiped the boy’s forehead.
“You must act in many roles: beggar, priest, warrior.”
He pushed back the red hair.
“You will be a great actor.”
The old nurse lit more myrrh incense which quickly filled the small cave. He picked up a torch from the cave wall and waved it over David, the sparks flying into the night air.
“For the Lady of the Dance will nurse you as she did the great kings in the guise of a cow and you will be reborn.”
He sat down on his stool, wiped his brow and laughed.
“You will be reborn under the great King Merneptah and live in the shadows of greatness.”
The Egyptian picked up a small scroll and began to read:
“Whatever he has found upon his path, he has consumed and his strength is greater than his spirit. He is the firstborn of the firstborn; his existence is everlasting and his life shall be unto eternity.”
The wind blew out the lamp and scattered the incense into the desert.
The old nurse shuddered and looked out into the quiet night. He thought he heard movement behind him but turned to see nothing but stillness. A drape inside the infirmary blew in the night air. All was dark.
“Hello,” he called out.
He walked back into the depths of the small, hollow room and felt a presence. “Hello.”
He looked at David and went to his side.
“Nothing will harm you,” he whispered in the dark.
The drape then became alive in beautiful colors and hues that made the old nurse delight in what he saw; he was spellbound and reached out towards the beauty that he beheld.
He pulled back the silk drapes and beheld The Rose:
“My desert lover, you know not what you do for I am The Mystical Rose, the light of the burning bush that burns brighter than the sun. I am life and beauty while also withering death. I grew first in the garden only to burn disease from your body and be placed around your neck in the victory.
Fear not my blinding light for it nourishes the world. When he left the garden, it was I who remained to watch on high, guarded by the angel Zagzagel.
From the Tree of Life, I see all and will not let spirits or demons harm thee.”
She came in the form of David’s mother and without a word went to David’s body. The spirit stroked his forehead and hair.
“You are mine and shall not die here in the dark. But you shall be forged here in the fires.”
Continue reading… Chapter 9 | The Boy King Comes
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