It was in the middle of the day when they entered the city of Bast. They saw a procession of people going to the river. Some women brought cymbals and tambourines and played them while they walked toward the River Nile. Meanwhile, the men played some kind of pipes, and those without instruments clapped and danced.
The five also saw some ancient crafts floating on the water. A wooden carved head of a cat was on them.
“It is the Feast of Bast,” Mazoi explained to them quietly. “Her gifts are mainly fertility and joy.”
Diana and Elise made an “Oh!” comment when they heard it. And the two guys just grinned at each other.
Their eyes swept the bustling surroundings. They noticed the buildings looked old because of the dull color of the bricks and stones that were unpainted. The townhouses were joined together, and they appeared to look the same. There were some children playing on the roof tops and they jumped from o
The four teens peered through the crowd. They could see nothing yet. And so they tried to make their way to the front to check out the center of the fun.They were surprised to see a short person dancing. She must be only about 3-feet tall. Her body was a bit stout, and her head was also a bit big on her shoulders. Her ears, neck, arms and legs were covered with jewelries made of gold, bronze and lapis.“A dwarf?” Diana turned to Elise grinning with an eyebrow lifted high, looking amazed. “They are entertained by a dancing dwarf?”For some reason Elise’s mind’s eye peeked into this short person’s life—without her intention of doing so. She realized she saw this image before. She blinked and ran her tongue on her dried lips.What does this mean? She was puzzled.Until now, she did not say anything about her visions to anyone. She did not share them even with Eric. The symbols of the kings in A
Everyone was frantic thinking of a solution on how to get out of that place. The windows were indeed nowhere in sight. Most ancient Egyptian windows were small and high, mostly on the second or third story of the building. There was no little chance that they could get through this place at all.“Soon, the soldiers will arrive,” Mazoi mused aloud.“What if we just go and head out? I suppose they are not so many outside. I saw only eight of them. If we can just knock them out, maybe we can escape then,” Kent suggested calmly.“That’s a crazy idea! That would bring out more guards or even soldiers in the city.” The Medjay’s voice seemed hysterical. “But, we’ll go ahead with your idea,” he decided upon second thought.They rushed outside and the owner saw them. He was afraid of them and the guards, so he went inside the inn and closed the doors tight.The five of them were readily surro
“You can see the future. You can move things with your mind. You can create things out of nothing. You can control anything or anyone. Isn’t it all familiar?” The short person smiled now. She regarded her knowingly.The others stared at Elise.“Is that true?” Eric asked his sister seriously.“I don’t know.” She shook her head vigorously. “I did see some images before we got here… I did create a shield so that the enemy cannot see us… I did… uh… control you and Kent earlier… and I saw… her,” Elise continued as she looked at her brother and Kent. She turned her head to look at the short person once again.The pygmy smiled kindly at Elise this time.“What are you really?” she questioned her for the second time.“I am a pygmy. They call me Zadi. I never knew where I originally came from but I was brought in these lands by a shi
Zadi murmured some spells as she touched their temples. Her fingers touched the head of each of the teens and the Medjay before she ordered them to open their eyes slowly. She watched each of them closely as though she peered at their soul.“Tell me how you feel during your initiation.” She beamed at them after a few moments.“That was an initiation?” Diana asked with a frown. “I thought it was only a meditation.”“Yes, it was.” Elise smiled amiably at her friend before she turned to the pygmy. “I felt like my spinal was going to burn but my head felt cool.”“What else?” Zadi was interested to hear anything more from Elise.“I felt something was on my forehead.” She continued with a slight frown.The others gasped. Zadi clapped her hands happily. “I did it!”“You did what?” Elise asked, still confused.“I opened you
In the next few days, they were taught by Zadi how to execute simple magic techniques. Each of them found something they wanted to master with, as suggested by Zadi.Mazoi learned how to spin his spear and create a whirlpool of air mixed with sands. He could separate the sands and make them into big or small balls to be used as weapons as well. Only the downside was that he could do it when he was standing directly on the earth, not on a tiled floor.Diana learned to use a pair of cudgels using her own magic. She could just let them float in the air, and they wait for her command to strike or to vanish into thin air.As Eric knew martial arts and could use anything as a weapon, he learned to create an invisible body shield, like a liquefied aura around his body.As for Kent, he improved his skills to become faster and stronger. And he could spit fire whenever he wanted to.Zadi was impressed by their improvements in just a so short of a time. Her g
They were all about to sleep that night in their respective rooms of the governor’s house.Outside, the general’s army gathered. Meru entered the gate. The guards identified him as the king’s nephew so they did not try to stop him and let him enter the governor’s house.“What is going on, General Meru?” the governor demanded. His wife was at his heels, concerned on what was happening.Meanwhile, Zadi secretly entered the guys’ room.“Hey, what are you doing here?” the Medjay demanded. It was his first turn to watch. Later, it would be Eric’s.“The king’s army is looking for you! Hurry and gather your things! We need to get out of the house now!” Zadi’s tone was urgent.Kent dashed to the other room and told the girls what was going on. Diana and Elise did not ask any more questions but gathered what they needed aside from the things they had already packed ea
The Nubians, on the other hand, were people of another nation close to Upper Egypt. They had another language, culture and tradition.The previous rulers of Nubia had long fought against the kings of Upper Egypt because the latter refused alliance with these dark people as they were known to be fierce and wretches. They were so relentless in fighting against the Upper Egyptians until the latest ruler decided to associate his nation with Lower Egypt, the long-time enemy of Upper Egypt.And so, the wise King Iry-Hor accepted the alliance with the Nubians instead. He was thinking that once he defeated King Hor-Aha with the help of the Nubians, he could easily defeat the Nubians later on as well. With this thought, King Iry-Hor would make an empire.****The witch priestess finished her evening ritual, and her eyes opened wide when she learned that the foreigners evaded the army that the general led to capture them. She read the as
Zadi complained that she was tired. Her two guards had to make turns in carrying the pygmy who was unbelievably heavy. Elise helped the two guards carry the burden by making Zadi lighter. As a priestess, Diana tried to do her role as well.“Oh, it’s too hot now.” Eric expressed his dissatisfaction as they continued to walk under the scorching sun that noon.Diana procured a cloth that covered Eric’s bag float over their heads as they ambled on the hot desert.“So cool, huh? We don’t need an umbrella… or a parasol. This though looks… primitive enough, right?” Diana said to no one in particular. “But at least this… the cloth is so wide and covers us all. The umbrella is just for one or two people. You couldn’t walk around using a big one because it would be so heavy to hold.”Elise smiled at her description of the umbrella.“Huh, you got a point there.” Eric