Shards of Ankh

Chapter Fifteen

Thea had watched the scene unfold in an almost stupor. Ankh's shouting had brought guards pouring in from the main hall and through secret doors off to the sides that Thea hadn't noticed were there. Feeling both intrigued and sickened, she saw another side of Ankh she had never seen before, and truthfully it was a bit scary--not for her, but for those feeling his wrath.

Ankh, still shouting, was barking out orders. He called for a medic. He demanded his vizier be brought in immediately. Then was the fact that a wounded man had been allowed to enter, and where had the guards who were supposed to be posted at the door? When his vizier hurried in, Ankh started ranting how everyone in the room was fired, and needed to leave immediately, without severance pay. 

Thea watched, dumbfounded, when Ankh turned on his vizier and tried to fire him, too.

"You can't, I am appointed--remember?"

Ankh seemed to calm only for a moment. Then medics came rushing in, and Ankh was shouting again, telling them to get the bleeding man out of his hall, now.

"He's dead," one of the medics replied to Ankh, visibly quivering.

Ankh proclaimed all the medics were fired and then started shouting for the royal embalmer.

"My King," Ankh's vizier said hesitantly, "perhaps we should first identify who this man is, and where he came from, and what he's doing here, dead?"

Ankh was quiet a moment. Then right back to shouting. He tried to fire his vizier for a second time, and this time the man merely sighed heavily and walked away, muttering under his breath that he'd do it himself.

"Ankh--" Thea said hesitantly, reaching out her hand. She recoiled though when Ankh turned to her, eyes afire. Thea said "meep!" and sat down in her chair, eyes wide.

The rest of the morning was...painful. As more time progressed Ankh started to calm down. The guards weren't all fired. Although he did bring in the Leader of the Guard, and promptly fired him, for real. Ankh then demanded to speak with whoever was supposed to be posted outside the dining hall while him and Thea ate. There apparently had been a schedule mix-up; the four men (two for each post) all thought they were scheduled at separate times.

"Convenient," Ankh muttered irritably after the four men were dismissed and out of ear range.

His vizier had returned with an embalmer. Thea watched in wonder--the man was dressed in a long black cloak, and his head was covered in a mask of a bird. Thea was surprised at this, not knowing that embalmers were dressed thusly. It took a painful twenty minutes for the man to view the body, all the while writing notes on a sheet of papyrus and a quill pen. He had an attendant who held an ink well wordlessly. Finally the man stuffed the entrails back within the body's cavity (Thea had to look away least she throw up), called a stretcher in, and had the body carried out. The last people in were male maids who cleaned the large pool of blood. 

When everything was done, yet another group of people came in. By this point Ankh was sitting at the head of the table next to Thea. His chin rested in his palm, and he watched listlessly as priests scrubbed the floor with what appeared to be some sort of oil, burned incense, and made prayers. Thea watched in wonder as the priests cleansed and blessed the chamber.

The final part of the ritual was most fascinating to Thea. Without a word Ankh got to his feet. He stepped away from the table and got down on his knees, head bowed. The priests came over, forming a circle around him. They chanted words Thea was at a loss to translate. Four priests had one hand on one of Ankh's shoulder (two hands per shoulder). The final priest, whom Thea surmised was the head priest, had his hand on Ankh's bowed head.