Heretic of the Nile

001

The setting sun hung low in the sky, its golden rays casting a long shadow of the young girl with straight, dark hair that ended just below her chin, kneeling on the white stone floor of the Great Temple of Ptah. Her fists were raised high above her head. In front of her, a pot-bellied, middle-aged man waved a coarse wooden stick in his right hand, his left resting at his waist right where his white linen shendyt ended. His bald head glistened with sweat, face reddened from the scorching heat.

"—such an important responsibility upon your young shoulders, but what do you do? Fall asleep? Get your head out of the clouds, Mereneith!" He jabbed at her left temple with his wooden rod. "In the name of Ptah, what have I done to deserve such a burden?" The man held his hands up to the skies, a forlorn expression on his ruddy face. Letting out a loud sigh, he looked back down at the girl. "If not for your father, I would have thrown you out of here ages ago! Falling asleep," he huffed. His narrow eyes inched sideways towards the passageway that led towards the temple's main courtyard.

The high priest was still standing on the other side, deep in conversation with some of the senior priests.

"It's all my fault! Please forgive me," the kneeling girl said loudly, her voice echoing clearly across the entire southern courtyard. Her large, feline-like eyes darted briefly to the side, then back towards the man's exposed paunch. "I promise I won't do it again."

"Is that so? That's exactly what you said the last time! Looks like I didn't whip you enough for you to learn your lesson."

The high priest and two others walked down the passageway and entered the southern courtyard, just as the pot-bellied priest raised his right arm slowly into the air, readying himself to give the girl a stern thrashing.

"What seems to be the matter, Rekhmir?" the high priest asked, his forehead knitting into a frown as he looked at the duo.

Mereneith kept her gaze lowered, though she could see the high priest's papyrus sandals slowly approaching out of the corners of her eyes.

The priest named Rekhmir immediately lowered his arm, bowing respectfully. "Apologies for the commotion, hem-netjer-tepi," he said. "This insolent girl here fell asleep while on duty again." He threw Mereneith a look of exaggerated disdain. "I was just putting her in her place."

The high priest looked down at Mereneith briefly. "No need to be too harsh on them," he said, his mellow voice resonating with a timbre that reminded Mereneith of honey and butter. "Everyone has their tired days. I'm sure you do too, Rekhmir." There was no hint of anger nor displeasure in his voice and as he spoke, the corners of his lips tilted upwards in a congenial smile. Patting the priest on the shoulder, he walked away from them towards another passageway across the courtyard.

Mereneith lifted her head and watched as he walked, her eyes fixated upon his lean silhouette and toned arms until he finally disappeared from view. A sharp rap on the top of her head knocked her out of her daze.

"He's gone. You can stop staring now." Rekhmir scowled, giving her another smack on the head for good measure before he strutted over to a more shaded area of the courtyard, wiping the sweat off his brow. "I don't see what all you young girls find so attractive about the high priest. He has nothing but age on his side. When I was his age, I was far more handsome than he is. All the young ladies were queueing to catch a glimpse of me," he said, sticking his belly an inch forward with pride.

"I'm sure they were, Rekhmir," Mereneith replied. She stood up and dusted her knees, looking up at the sun that was barely peeking out from behind the temple's tall stone pillars. It had been a clear day, which meant that the night would be perfect for studying the constellations.