Leading Ladies Anthology [FEATURED STORY]

@linahanson - 'Lifelines' (From Cursed Times)

'We are losing him!' The healer to Trueth's right screamed and started pummelling Eje's scrawny chest with padded wooden paddles, her face red and sweaty with exertion.

'Tell the priestesses to haul...their holy backsides over here,' Trueth shouted at her other assistant. She got a wide-eyed stare in return.

'Go!'

'Yes, oh Noble One.' Needing no further invitation, the girl dashed off, as fast as her ankle-long sheath dress would allow. Her sandals slipped on the polished stone floor and she nearly skidded into the wall opposite the sickbed. Thankfully, Selket, the ancient Egyptian goddess of healing, did not suffer a dent to her painted glory. Balancing a scorpion on her head, the daubed-on deity continued her cyclopic stare without any concern for her foreign disciple's plight. All she had to offer was the painted ankh - the looped cross which signified the breath of life.

The breath of life was exactly what Eje had run out of.

Trueth splayed her fingers. Once more, she focussed on the dregs of her power deep down inside, the power they called 'sun-flow' in this world. She coaxed up magic into her fingertips until they tingled with those blue sparks of healing that could bring her geriatric friend back. To her right, Kiya was still trying to jump-start an organ that was calling it a day.

Trueth pushed the other healer aside, her sun-flow had never been enough to start with; at least she had tried valiantly.

All of Trueth's skill, all of her power went into a last desperate push on Eje's heart.

'Come on, live, you bugger!' Trueth growled between clenched teeth. He just had to keep going. He was one of the precious few links to the life she had left behind.

She hadn't complained that Metjen and Seisi between them had dragged her through the portal. At least not much. They'd saved her life by dragging her back in time to ancient Egypt. Trueth grudgingly admitted that being left behind among the howling minions of hell had been no option. They had been far too noisy for one thing.

None of her thoughts helped to encourage the erratic throbbing she felt under her fingers. Trueth concentrated again and willed up more of her power. And failed.

She glowered towards the rectangular opening to the corridor where the other healer had disappeared. Still no priestess in sight.

Instead, Trueth beheld the protective wings of Nut chiseled into the sandstone of the lintel. A blue and white raised frieze ran around the opening, indicating that the House of Healing was part of the temple district. Still, neither Nut nor any of the other gods or goddesses that supposedly abounded in this place came to the rescue. And their servants were most likely occupied with rattling sistra and waving incense about, instead of saving a fading spark of life that Trueth could no longer kindle. The pulsing under her fingers jerked and paused.

'Eje ... .' Trueth saw a smile flit over his creased old face, then it was gone. So was the heartbeat.

The gauzy linen curtain billowed in the balmy breeze coming in through the large windows that opened to the star spangled brilliance of a summer night in the Nile delta. Still no movement in the corridor. Now she would not need help after all.

If Trueth had been a priestess herself, if she had possessed what the others called the Blessing, she could have brought Eje back. By drawing on the divine power these holy multitudes harvested from another dimension, called the Beyond, she could have beefed up her sun-flow and this would have helped Eje to live a bit longer.

The question was, would he have wanted to continue. Trueth doubted it. Her friend was over a hundred years old, he had known he was dying, along with that last shrine of an ancient religion in a modern world. The shrine led by the last high priestess of Hathor - Iseret. The first dark priest. The first one to summon the demons over five thousand years ago. Not to gain power - her idea had been to harvest evil to do good. It had gone wrong of course. That sort of shit always did.

Trueth pressed her nails into the flesh of her palms until it went even whiter than it usually was. She lowered her head - and saw red. Blowing the coppery lock from her face helped to at least improve her vision. Behind her, she heard Kiya softly chant a prayer for the deceased.

Yeah. Great. Superwoman she was not.

Trueth got up wearily and closed the withered parchment of lids over Eje's staring eyes. She nodded to Kiya, who placed the arms of the old priest down his sides and pulled the linen sheet across his face. Some industrious servant of Selket had painstakingly embroidered another one of these holy creepy crawlies onto the fabric. The scorpion came to rest right on the contours of Eje's face under the shroud. Trueth considered the decoration to be a nifty idea. Nobody in their right mind would nick a piece of cloth that displayed a poisonous insect with far too many feet. And if they did - happy dreams.

Trueth stepped over the paraphernalia of that last desperate effort; vials, paddles of life and soggy pieces of cloth were strewn all over the floor. She would leave it to her assistants to clear up the mess. Once that priestess showed up, she could take care of the rest and call for the servants of Anubis, to take Eje to the House of the Dead.

She washed her hands in the basin by the bed, and dried her hands on a pristine linen towel with the look and feel of a miniature shroud. Thankfully, this one displayed no decorative insects.

Trueth sank back her stool and put her head in her hands. Behind her, Kiya made soothing noises and patted her shoulder. There was nothing Trueth could do any more. The portal was closed for ever and she was here for the duration. Eje, however, had wanted to die, and he at least was were he had wanted to be.

The honey-soft smell of jasmine came in on the night breeze. It reminded Trueth that she and her adopted parents, brothers and sister had to survive in an environment that was as beautiful as it was lethal. At least they were at the top of the food chain. They were members of the the noble house of Suka, led by the legendary Imhotep, High priest of Thoth, Guardian of the people and ex-advisor to Pharaoh.

Finally, Trueth heard the stereo slapping of sandals in the corridor. Her assistant returned in the wake of an elderly priestess who moved towards the silent form under its shroud. She extended an arm robed with insect-free gauzy linen in healer blue and placed her hand palm downwards on the still chest.

'He is gone,' she announced.

Congratulations. That much Trueth knew herself.

The nameless priestess turned her impassive face towards her. 'Sister Thueris, Her Wisdom, the High Priestess of Selket, wishes to talk to you.'

'Now?' Trueth asked. The woman nodded once.

Trueth sighed. Eje's earthly struggles were over. Hers had just begun.

----

About the novel series - Cursed Times

The piece you just read was taken from Cursed Time series. If you haven't read 'Cursed Times - What Now?' maybe you shouldn't be reading this short story, as it is taken from the first chapter of the sequel. On the other hand, it contains only mild spoilers, instead it introduces you to the intrepid heroine of the 'Cursed Times' series. Trueth Deveril, last European witch and reluctant tourist. She joins a guided tour that will change - everything. Warning - this is no romance. So don't expect pink roses, fireworks and stuff like that. Like happy endings. I don't do happy endings. Still, I hope you might like what I do and enjoy both this teaser - and the novels it has escaped from!

About Lina

Lina Hanson has been around for over half a century. During that time she got a degree in English lit and Politics, though it never mattered until really late in life i.e. when somebody insisted on a piece of paper. The original idea had been to become a grammar school teacher. That didn't work out, so she embarked in a career in marketing, PR and communication instead. Editing and writing figured prominently, she also did some freelance travel writing, but novels are a very recent introduction to the portfolio. Lina has lots of other interests, cats, good food, travelling, reading, writing - and oriental dancing among them.

Please be sure to tag linahanson in your comments on this piece.