The Solar Princess

Something is wrong.

Farouk let out a long slow breath. His body hurt, itched and burned. Mostly, he wanted to move, to get out of the damn bed, or at least roll over to hold his precious Arsinoe once again. Yet, the injuries kept him trapped and there was no way to escape the two people demanding answers.

"I remember taking your body to my brother. As high priest to the temple of Osiris, he was the only one I could trust to care for you, to even offer any help. At first, he was very resistant to trying anything more than performing the funerary rites. However, something changed. I don't know what it was. Perhaps the desperation in my heart or the gods themselves. I don't know."

He turned to take a sip of water. So much of this part confused even him, he wasn't sure how to explain it.

"All that I remember for sure was that we were both taken to a preparation room. There, I was given a potion to make me sleep. I had strange dreams where my soul was sent to travel through the gates and challenges of the dead, my travels through Duat lead me to the Hall of Souls, where I was judged by Ma'at and Osiris. Only after my judgement did Osiris speak to me. He said that I had been judged before death so that my soul could be prepared to transfer to another life. That I would never rest in Duat. I would live lifetime after lifetime, until I could find the other half of my soul. That my love was not under his direct authority, that she belonged to another pantheon. However, he could trap her soul into her body as it was prepared for mummification by his practices. Only when we were both united in a new life could we both fully live once again. Only then, could I share practices of Osiris's blessing on her, to bring her under his protection, to live a life together knowing that we would find eternity in Duat together."

Arsinoe was stunned. "You faced judgement, before death? For me?"

He nodded. "I told you that I would find you again. No matter what, I would search for you and never let you go."

She crawled over to his bed once more and cupped his face. The tears that welled in her eyes tore at his heart. He didn't want to see her cry.

"What happened after the dream?" Charles asked. His voice barely above a whisper.

Farouk never looked away from his beautiful queen. "When I woke, weeks had passed by. Arsinoe was prepared for burial." His thumb brushed away a wayward tear. "I knew that I had to protect her, but I also knew that I had been given another purpose. Osiris had tasked me with one more challenge as he returned me to my living form. I was to protect the gods. Do anything that I could in each life to protect them. And that has been my duty ever since."

"That is why you fought against the Ptolemaic rule?" Charles asked.

Arsinoe glared down at Farouk. He hadn't yet told her that part of things.

Slowly, he nodded his head. "I fought against your son, my love."

"You fought against my son!" She growled and started to pull away.

He wouldn't let her go, pushing past the pain in his burned hands to squeeze tighter to keep her there. "He had been corrupted by his advisors, like his father before him. Though it was with great pleasure that I learned Sosibius was killed by his own puppet shortly after your death. Agathoclea was ripped apart by an angry mob only a year and a half later. And her brother was murdered by his friends. They found their judgements. Yet, those who came after weren't much better. Ptolemy grew to be a tyrant. I joined the soldiers rebellion in the south. We regained Thebes and much of the Nile from him before I was captured and executed."

Arsinoe pulled out of his grasp as she backed away. "He was my son! How could you fight against him. You say you loved me and followed me as your queen, but then betrayed him?"

"My price for us to be together was to protect the gods. Ptolemy had no love or loyalty to the gods of our land. He claimed title of Pharaoh, yet humiliated our people. He pushed for worship of the new cults, the Greek based worship of the line of Ptolemy, rather than our gods. I had a duty. One that you once admired in me."

"But he was my son."

"No, Arsinoe. You weren't there to raise him with your compassion and loyalty to both cultures. Ptolemy grew to be the image of his father mixed with the cruelty of his father's favorites. He wasn't the innocent boy you loved."

She sat on the other bed. Farouk's heart broke for her. He knew she would take the information poorly.

"So, what? You fought against my son to uphold a duty placed on you, just so you could have me again?"

"You know me better than that. You know it was more complicated than simply being selfish and wanting you with me."

She rolled over and shut down. Nothing more could be said, and he couldn't move to go to her. He could only be quiet and wait for her to return to him.

*****

Farouk woke to a gentle shove.

"Ankhmakis." Arsinoe whispered.

"Yes, my queen?" He mumbled sleepily.

"Something is wrong." Her voice sounded panicked. That jolted him awake as he moaned from the pain of moving.

His dark brown eyes looked up at her as moonlight illuminated her worried face, pinched in pain. "What is the matter?"

"I burn." Her fingers scratched at her back and arms. "This is different from the burning I felt in the fires, or when the magic brought me back."

He could see the glittering of tears in her eyes. Without concern for his injuries, he pushed himself up and asked her to sit where he could pull down the back of the gown the doctors had dress her in. He was shocked to see marks. Tattoos.

"Take it off." He rushed. She glared at him, though he shook his head. "Please, I need to see the marks."

He hadn't seen his lover's figure in far too long, however, that was not the time to oggle her womanly curves. He was far more concerned about the lines of spells tattooed onto her skin.

In all the time they had been in the hospital since her arrival, he had not seen so much as her arm. Muslim views of female modesty forbid her to show anything more than her face and hands. It was a shock that they even allowed her to sleep in his room. Certainly, they feared her violence if they tried to force her. And he was in no position to attempt anything inappropriate. Still, they could have sedated and restrained them both if they wanted to push the issue.

Though, at that moment, more than any other, he was grateful that she was there and they had some privacy.

Across her entire back, the back of her arms and even her thighs, were rows upon rows of spells. Some were meant to keep her soul bound to her body, to resurrect her when found during his lifetime, but others...

Through all of the centuries as he fought to protect the gods, alone. An overwhelming task of trying to stop the destruction of temples and monuments, of preaching of their glory. He had been executed numerous times by the Romans, the Christians and the Muslims for his ancient loyalties. Eventually learning to stay quiet, work to promote the scholarly interests in hopes that people would once again find value of the old gods, to protect the grandeur of the ages.

Yet, there, across her skin...

Spells to reawaken the gods themselves.

All he had to do was protect her. And he had. He had entrusted his brother with their burial, in a

safe place. And that had been accomplished centuries ago.

He let out a breath.

Arsinoe twitched and moaned as the spells glowed, burning her skin.

"Why won't it stop?"

"The gods won't let us forget to protect them. We need to reawaken them."

"How?" She gasped.

His eyes roamed over the spells. "There are items we need. Most likely buried with our bodies. We need to return to that tomb."