Stealing From Sobek

Stealing From Sobek

Cleo lay on her back, looking at the stars. Ra, the sun god, had ridden his blazing chariot below the edge of the world. His glorious journey across the sky had produced another scorching day, but now the desert air made her shiver. The fading warmth of the large dune beneath her relaxed her anxious muscles. Above her, a sky ember flared across Ra’s ebony dome. The priests taught that each glowing light was a firepit before the invisible home of of a god. The pantheon of the gods of Egypt was beyond counting. An odd question occurred to her. Did the sky ember mean one god had murdered another? She giggled. Wouldn’t it be fun to kill a god?

Pepi slid down from the dune crest where he’d been spying on the village. In rapid succession, he kissed her lips, her eyes, her chin. Lust ignited her body with desire. She loved the feeling of it. Her hands caressed his face. He lowered his head to kiss her ear and whispered, “The last fool has finally gone inside. Time to go.”

“Not yet,” she begged, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Pepi rose as she hung from his neck, pulling her to her feet. “Come,” he said. “Soon you will dance for me wearing the jewels of Sobek.” He kissed her from collarbone to navel, then, grasping her wrist, he led her over the knife’s edge of the sand dune. With giant leaping steps, they slid down the sandy slope toward the temple village by Lake Moeris.

Cleo craved the adrenalin rush when they stole from the temples, shrines, and homes of the faithful. Tonight, their target loomed ahead: the Temple of Sobek, the crocodile god. Tonight, they robbed Pharaoh Amenemhat III‘s favorite god.

With no moon above, glowing cooking fires revealed the village through the slits of shuttered windows. Slowly, she crept forward, brushing her fingertips along the rough mud-brick walls of homes and shops. She placed each step with great care. To kick a wooden bucket or knock over a leaning hoe would put an end to her fun. No, the stupid rubes of the village couldn’t know she was here. Tomorrow they would weep with despair over Sobek’s stolen treasures. She, Cleo, would cause this. Oh, how she loved this feeling of power.

A dog barked a frenzied alarm in the distance, and her body became a statue. Without breathing, she waited. A man shouted, and the dog stopped. It hadn’t sensed her or Pepi. The stupid thing had probably seen a mouse scurrying along a wall. Cleo exhaled. They were still undetected. It was time to make their dash across the darkened temple plaza. After another passionate embrace, she and Pepi raced to the temple’s open door.

Gigglng, Cleo peeked around the edge of the enormous entrance. Pepi tugged her hand, and they glided inside.
Immediately, a single rough voice shouted, “Halt!” From the shadows, a circle of temple guards dashed forward, surrounding the pair. Burning braziers lined the temple throne room. Their leaping flames provided enough light for Cloe to see the glitter of the guards’ spear points leveled to impale Pepi and her. Cleo pivoted in fear, anticipating the thrust. But the men remained still. What were they waiting for? What was that sound coming from the enormous statue of Sobek? Had the marble come to life?

From the lofty room’s shadows, Cleo could hear a faint shuffling. It sounded like a large body dragging itself across the white stone floor. Her guards kept their eyes on Pepi and her. Was the monstrous god approaching? Was the statue walking? Terror filled her mind so that she couldn’t think. A barely audible high-pitched wail leaked from her when the god Sobek materialized behind the guards. He stood on two legs with the body of a man and the head of a crocodile. Urine flowed down her thigh.

“Oh, Great Sobek, have mercy,” she howled as she dropped to her knees. Shooting her arms straight up, she bowed until her forehead and the palms of her hands touched the cool marble floor.

Air moved past her. She’d seen nothing from her position. Was Pepi rushing to attack a guard? From the corner of her now open eyes, she could only see several bare legs and sandals dancing. The side of a head struck the floor beside her, making a horrible hollow sound. Its dead eyes and face were unknown to her. More grunts, gasps and curses sounded outside of her vision. A spear clattered to the stone floor. Pepi groaned in pain. Oh, my poor Pepi.

The voice of the deity roared, “My children will feed on you, intruders of my temple!” After a moment, the god thundered, “Beg for your life, woman!”

“Lord Sobek, we came only to worship and seek your blessing.”

“Rise, you insect who dares to lie to Sobek.”

She stood, keeping her eyes locked on the floor. Cleo groaned. There, lying in a fetal position, hands gripping one of the many spear shafts that had run him through, lay her lovely one. Dark blood spread in a pool from his torso.

“Tell me, thief, how shall Sobek further bless you?”

A guard near her left side snickered.

Rage ignited her. As fast as a snake’s venomous strike, she jerked the guard’s spear from his grip. Spinning it over her head, she clenched it with both hands to her side. Charging forward, Cleo impaled Sobek’s abdomen. Sobek staggered backward and collapsed. When the back of his head slammed into the floor, the crocodile head rolled off and slid a few feet away.

Cleo laughed. Her last thought before death was, how about that? It is fun to kill a god.

WC: 962