Kiara, Daughter of Maat

It was early and the dock was vacant.  I looked about impatiently at the burial chambers and step pyramids in the distance.  The cargo ship that I was to be departing on, the Copper Hydra, had not yet arrived.  Just as I started thinking it would never come, a nicely-sized ship drifted into view with Copper Hydra carved in gold letters upon the prow.

          “Your name, Young One?” A tall, elderly man, who seemed to be the captain, inquired over the side of the vessel.

          “My name is Kiara,” I replied, “I believe I have a room on your ship!”

          “Indeed, you do,” The jolly man laughed, “Come on board!”

          A thin, rope ladder dropped onto the wharf, for the ship had finally reached the dock.  I climbed aboard, carrying a large trunk of paper, quills and clothes.

          “Welcome, Kiara, My name is Shelto.  Your room is below deck on the right end of the corridor.  Enjoy!”  Shelto stepped back with a bow, allowing me to carry my trunk down the staircase. 

          I pushed open the door to my cabin and marched inside.  I gasped; this was pretty fancy for a ship, especially one that carries cargo!  A huge window overlooked the Nile and a wooden bed with a simple quilt spread across it sat in the corner.  There was a rug upon the floor and an intricately carved washstand near the window.  A painting of a tree hung on wall the next to the door, and a sprig of flowers rested on a small nightstand adjacent to the bed.

          I slid my trunk under the bed and left the room.  On deck, Shelto inquired of where I was traveling to.

          “Thebes, the queen hired me to write a poem about the palace gardens, I’m a scribe,” I stated.

          “Hmmm… Oh, look!” Shelto cried, “Memphis and Giza!”

          I glimpsed the outlines of the workshops and factories of Memphis in the distance and, beyond that, triangular shapes on the horizon.  The pyramids of Giza and, none other than, the great sphinx! 

As we floated closer, I was able to spot people in their courtyards and shepherds in their fields.  Finally, we came upon Khufu’s Great Pyramid, and Khafre’s slightly smaller tomb, guarded by his sphinx, which was said to have his face.

          “That sphinx there was carved out of one limestone formation!” Shelto murmured to himself in wonder. 

          I smiled.  The sun was setting now, so I decided to retire to my cabin.  I said goodnight to Shelto, and descended down the steps.

          The next day went by in a boring blur.  When Ra rose in his chariot of fire, I rose also.  Shelto told me some interesting Nile stories in the morning.  I spent most of the day reading books.  When I wasn’t reading, I was playing hounds and jackals with one of the sailors who happened to be on break.  At noon, we passed a step pyramid, but that was all. 

          The next morning, I awoke to the sun, shining down upon my face.   Stretching my arms above my head, I climbed out of bed. 

          “By Amon, Kiara!  Get on up here!” The cook’s voice pierced the quiet morning.

          “One moment!” I called, and sleepily pulled on my clothes.

          On deck I ate a warm apple and a few grapes.  I decided to spend my morning listening to well-known stories, retold by Shelto. The most interesting was this:

          Osiris the king of all the gods at the time, married Isis.  His brother Seth, was jealous of his power so he made a coffin that would only fit Osiris, and invited all the gods to a party.  At the party he told the gods that whoever fit in the coffin could keep it.  None of the other gods fit into this casket, and when it was Osiris’ turn to lie down in it, Isis warned him of his brother’s trickery, but to no heed.  As soon as Osiris lay down in the sarcophagus, Seth slammed it shut and threw it into the Nile, which carried Osiris far away.  Isis was sure he would drown and searched for him.  She found the casket caught in the reeds, and sure enough, when she opened it, she found Osiris to be dead.  She wailed, and as she did so, the river showed its sorrow and dried up.  Soon after though, Osiris came back to life, and the river swelled with happiness.  So the Nile remembers this tale, and that is why it shrinks and expands every year.

          As this story ended, Shelto pointed at a cliff.

          “That is Beni Hasan, the resting place of many great lords and pharaohs.”

          I searched the cliffs and plateaus for the tombs, and spotted them, with great rocks leaning across their entry ways.  Ra’s chariot was especially bright today, so I shielded my eyes to glimpse the tombs better.  Nothing marked each tomb, except a name in hieroglyphics above the boulder.  I knew that the inside, though, was filled with riches, each worth a prince’s ransom.  I stayed there watching the shore all afternoon, until the cook called me to supper, which consisted of bread, cheese and juice.

 Retiring to my room, I noticed a dark cloud forming over the water.  I closed my eyes, only to be jolted awake by a vicious thundering.  Quickly, I made my way to the window, but stumbled back as a bolt of lightning sliced through the darkness.  I grabbed my cloak and ran on deck.  Shelto was awake too, trying to steer the ship away from large funnel-shaped boulder poking out of the river. 

          “Get back to your cabin!” he cried, sweat beading his brow.  “It’s just a storm!”

          I shook my head, but was forced to retreat as the rain picked up.  This was not “just a storm,” it was a beast!

          In the end, I managed to fall into a fitful sleep, hoping I would wake again in the morning.

         

It was far into the next morning, when I realized that my only collar-silver with gold engravings- was gone.  When I told Shelto, he said that he’d ordered a sailor to fetch him a glass of water from his room last night, but other that, no one else had been below deck.  It turns out that the sailor who fetched the water was a young man, a bit older than me.  He had short black hair, blue eyes and long limbs.  I knew at once that he had stolen it, for he had the evil eyes, and could not stop smirking.  I pulled him aside to interrogate. 

          “Last night was pretty rough, wasn’t it?” I asked casually.

          “Yes,” he replied curtly.

          He obviously wouldn’t open up to just anything, so I decided to go with the flattery technique.

          “You were so brave!” I said, opening my eyes wide to put on a false look of awe.

          “Aww, it was nothing!” He replied, smiling proudly.  “My father is a stonecutter, he allowed me to work at his shop for a while.”

          “Oh, a stonecutter?  How valiant!  No wonder you’re so strong!” I stated with mock respect.

          “Not really,” he said, though he flexed his {tiny} muscles.

          “And how humble!” I shook my head in fake admiration.

          He smiled and glanced out over the Nile, probably thinking about how great he was.  As he did so, I took the opportunity and pinned him against a mast.

          “Hand over my collar!” I shouted with a fierceness that surprised even myself.

           “Okay, okay…” he said and pointed to a stack of mats nearby.  I tied his hands to the mast and ran over to the mats.  Sure enough, I found my collar under the top mat.

          You’re fired!” Shelto cried at the young sailor, when I told him who’d stolen the collar.

          “Don’t fire him yet,” I warned, “Use him until you get back to Saqqara.”

          An hour or two later, we passed by a large temple that I knew as Deir el- Bahari.  It was actually divided into three separate temples, all built into the rock.  I had never been there before, but hoped to someday.

The last morning I spent packing all my belongings into the trunk.  We reached Thebes at noon, and anchored in the harbor.

          “Good luck writing the poem!” Shelto cried as I climbed down the ladder.

          When I reached the ground, I shouted, “Farewell!  May the gods bring fortune upon you and your family!”

          Then I walked toward the palace grounds, already thinking of elaborate words for the poem.

Written by Abby L. Dortch