Life From Your Lips (Ruby Rose fanfic)

INTRODUCTION

Uaset, "The City of the Scepter." 1153 BC

(Later called Thebes, the capital of the pharaohs of Egypt, the current city of Luxor)

"Are you sure it's here?"

"It should be, Praa Sat. The oldest papyri in the southern sanctuary are stored here *Temple of Luxor." The young priest bows his shaved head with respect and keeps walking down the narrow corridor made of stone and lit up with oil lamps guiding his guests towards the most protected rooms in the building but not daring to look back over his shoulder. Luckily, despite he feels reverential fear every time someone mentions the princess, he was able to take a quick look at her when she arrived with her maids and got off her fancy golden litter in the front yard.

The daughter of Pharaoh Ramses III, the Majestic Victorious Bull, is a fascinating and weird woman. It's not because she is the High Priestess of Goddess Isis, other royal princesses have done the same job before, or because she's smart, educated or extraordinarily beautiful, Egyptian ladies are famous for being stunning and independent, after all. Her dress made of delicate linen of the highest quality is almost translucent, her gold jewels with enamel and lapis lazuli sparkle under the dim light, her sandals made of soft leather don't make any noise when she walks and the dark braids of her wig are embellished with crystal beads and scented with lotus flower and rose oil. That's what everybody expects from a noble lady of the royal court.

She's also her father's favorite child and gets along well with the great royal wife and her half siblings, staying out of the harem intrigues and devoting her time to worship the mother of Horus. That's weird because women living in the Jeneret House love gossiping and plotting, they hate and envy each other, competing for the King's attention and trying to promote their children to the position of heir of the throne.

Rumor has it that Goddess Isis herself taught her magic and the knowledge of healing herbs but what's really fascinating about the princess are her eyes and tattoos, uncommon in the kingdom of Kemet *Egypt. She got those eyes in a weird blue-green color, like the ones of a cat, from her mother, the daughter of a king of the Peoples of the Sea that used to fight against the pharaoh in the Nile delta and sometimes signed peace treaties, sending their daughters as guarantee to marry the King of Egypt. No one knows where they come from, some people talk about big islands in the middle of the sea and even further north, a mountainous land where great warriors live, ridding horses and drawing odd symbols with ink under their skins. Rumors must be true since this beautiful woman's body is covered with colorful designs that, it's said, can protect her against evil and keep her healthy.

"Why aren't they in Abdju *Abydos? The oldest temple dedicated to Osiris is there and her mother Isis has a chapel too, I don't understand why such important papyri are kept in the temple of Amun."

"I guess the priests wanted the documents to be safe, Praa Sat, the kingdom has seen wars, riots, the heretical pharaoh Akhenaten moved the capital to the middle of the desert and tried to seize power from the god's servants... Someone decided that valuable texts should be kept in this room inside wooden trunks to protect them against mice and the Nile waters during the floods... What you're looking for should be here... or maybe it got lost... it's been thousands of years since..."

"It's not lost," the princess answers firmly. "The goddess wouldn't allow it."

"Do you need some novices' help to check all those trunks? There're dozens..." The priest points around but keeps his head low respectfully while the maids follow their lady inside the room, scrunching their noses while smelling the stagnant air and the oil burning in the lamps.

"That won't be necessary, you can leave now..." The beautiful woman turns around and watches the trunks ignoring the priest who moves some steps away but stays in the corridor to be able to guide the noble ladies back to the front yard later. The room is dark but the delicate white linen dresses and shinny jewels allows him to monitor their movements while the princess wanders around the room like she's lost in her thought.

"It's in there," she whispers pointing at one of the smallest trunks made of carved cedar wood.

"How do you know that?" One of the maids asks in disbelief and the priest holds his breath when hearing her rude question.

"The Mistress of the Sky is guiding me, Atet, you should know that..." The princess answers rolling her eyes hard and opens the trunk slowly, taking one of the papyrus scrolls carefully and getting closer to one of the lamps. "It's amazing, so old that almost crumbles in my fingers... I need a scribe, now!" The priest nods and rushes to find the High Priest's personal secretary. "We need him to copy it faithfully before it crumbles definitely."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Has anyone tried to perform the ritual before? Summoning one of the goddess' maids to help you, disrupting the perfect order of the world, it's not an easy task. You're not praying to Isis so she enlightens you or asking for advice... you intend to bring a divine creature from heaven to the kingdom of Kemet."

"This isn't about what I want, my friend, but about what Isis has asked me to do... Although I don't understand why she believes I need one of her celestial maids to guide me." The princess touches the pendant made of red carnelian hanging from her neck for a second before shrugging. "The kingdom is prosperous, crops are good, temples are being restored, ships arrive full of exotic items from distant lands, borders are secure again since the kingdom of our enemies the Hittites fell apart and my father has been sitting on the throne for three decades maintaining peace. But the goddess seems to believe that trouble is coming... And yes, someone did this before... Here, read this..."

"Pharaoh Khufu... the son of Senneferu... This is the one who built a pyramid..."

"Yes, and he was helped by a servant of the Great Goddess after performing the entire ritual without problems. It's perfectly described here and I only need to follow the instructions... Isis will tell me finally what this is all about..."

"Why can't she tell you in your dreams, as usual? I don't understand why gods are determined to make simple things so complicated... Three days praying and fasting, incense and myrrh, a ritual bath... Too much work."

"You're a blasphemer, Atet." The princess shakes her head and smiles with affection while watching the scribe she's requested running down the corridor carrying his writing materials. "I wonder how this divine creature that will visit us looks like..."

"I hope they don't have the head of a crocodile, a jackal or a snake... A cat would be better, don't you think?"

A/N: I promised myself not to start a new book till updating all the ongoing stories and starting at least one sequel but, you know... Kat insisted and I have a soft spot for her (she knows it and takes advantage of it shamelessly)

Thank you for reading, voting, commenting and forgiving the mistakes of this Spanish speaker who doesn't have a rational sleeping schedule anymore. I'm freestyling at this point. Above all those readers lurking in the shadows, please, the more you vote, comment and, above all, the more of you following me, the better for me to get my stories promoted on Wattpad. Reading is okay, but the algorithm prefers you to follow me or interact with me.  

PS: the historical information concerning clothes, food, locations, battles, court etiquette, weapons, buildings, life style, etc is accurate as always. The plot is real too, it happened and we know it through a famous papyrus that describes the trial... You'll see later. Why would I make things up when history is interesting and fascinating enough? Better than Game of Thrones. And I love when you tell me you learn things from my books.