Sitting on his small bed in a large room he shared with about eight other orphaned boys, young Alim quietly played with his wooden action figures that were given to him by a kindly teacher last Christmas. The two wooden toys were carved out to resemble ancient Egyptian soldiers, complete with spears, and as soon as he saw them, Alim knew he would treasure them always, and his hands trembled for reasons unknown to him as he held them for the first time. Now, he was playing his favorite game, search and defeat, while the rest of the boys were outside playing soccer as usual.
Yesterday morning, just as the children had finished a class, Alim suffered another painful attack...this time stronger than he could remember. He didn't remember much....he just remembered leaving the classroom, then as he stepped outside, a feeling of fear and dread washed over him...like something very bad was happening, and there was nothing he could do about it. Then the stomach cramps began, so strong that it knocked him to the ground. Then after a painful cry, he blacked out. The next thing the 8 year old knew, he was back in his room, surrounded by adults with worried looks in their eyes.
He'd been confined to bed since then, and while it was a bit boring, Alim didn't mind too much. It left him time to play with his toys, and some time to just be alone. Being raised in a nearly overcrowded orphanage didn't leave much opportunity for Alim to just have a little time for himself, and he treasured it whenever he could.
He smiled to himself as he continued the play with his favorite toys, making them fight to the death as they finally found each other. Just then, the door to the room slowly opened, and his two best friends, Kadeem and Hadi, cautiously walked in.
When Alim looked up and saw them, he smiled in welcome. "Ah! Kadeem, Hadi! You finally came! Look, my soldiers are fighting to the death, and my favorite one is winning!" He smiled proudly as he raised the larger one up to show them.
The two boys nodded, then looked at each other nervously. At that, Alim's smile faded. Something was wrong. The boys were always more than willing to share in imaginative stories of how many wars and fights his toy soldiers were in. "What...what is it? What's wrong?"
"Alim...we're..not sure. All the grown-ups...they were downstairs in the courtyard talking, and it seemed very serious. I think something bad happened." said Kadeem, ringing his hands together.
"Yes, something about an accident downtown in Garden City. I'm not sure, I couldn't hear much. But...it has to be more than that." continued Hadi, his nervous eyes blinking.
Alim was quiet for a moment, but just before he could say anything, the door opened wider, and one of the orphanage's teachers...a young man looking to be in his late 20's to early 30's, walked in, sadness clouding his eyes. When he saw that Alim was awake, he took a deep breath and walked up to his bed. He took a moment to take a breath, then turned to the two standing boys. "Kadeem, Hadi, I.....I need to talk to Alim alone for a moment, alright? Don't worry, we'll tell you everything later on..."
The boys nodded, then walked off, looking back at Alim one time before heading out the door. As soon as they were gone, the teacher sat down on Alim's bed next to him.
"Alim," he began. "Do you remember your classmates from last year...Nasir and Latif? They were your best friends along with Kadeem and Hadi,"
The boy thought for a moment, then smiled. "Oh, yes, I remember! We played soccer all the time together! Yesterday, they went into town with someone that wanted to adopt them. They promised to bring me something, but...I haven't seen them yet. Did they go home with their new parents?" He blinked expectedly.
The teacher lowered his head. "No, Alim, they didn't. I have terrible news for you. You see...Nasir and Latif...they're...they didn't make it back because...they're..not with us anymore." He looked into the child's eyes, hoping that he would begin to understand.
"Not with us anymore?" Alim could only look at him in confusion. "You mean you sent them away? Did they do something bad? Please, bring them back, I want to see them!" he begged, his little hands clutching at his bed sheets.
"No, no Alim, that's not it." The teacher placed a hand on his small shoulder. "There..there was some kind of accident when they went downtown. The people who wanted to adopt them...they said that somehow, they disappeared from their sight. They looked for them, and by time they found them...Nasir and Latif..they were...they were dead. I'm so sorry Alim, but..they are gone..forever. They have gone to Allah in Paradise..."
For a moment, Alim just stared at him, not comprehending at first. Dead? Gone forever? But they were not sick...only the sick children died because of how poor the orphanage was, and could not afford much medicine. Why was he saying this? And besides....they promised. Nasir promised he would bring back a gift from the many shops he would visit. Latif promised he would come back and tell him all about the wonderful foods and clothing he'd seen. They both promised they would be back to say good-bye. No...no, they couldn't be gone!
"No!" Alim shouted out. "No, they're not dead! They promised they'd come back! They were supposed to tell me, Kadeem and Hadi everything they saw in the city! They can't be! You sent them away, didn't you? Please, bring them back, bring them back!"
Tears streamed down the little boy's face as he banged his fists on his bed, trying to make the teacher understand how much he wanted to see his friends. But the young man could only shake his head as he tried once again to explain to Alim that the two young boys that he was raised with were gone. Why, he did not know, but Allah must have had a reason, didn't he?
Through out the halls, Alim's young voice was heard sobbing, begging, and in the background, the teacher's smooth voice trying to soothe him, to make him understand. That day, there was no joy in the orphanage, for hours, nothing could soothe a little boy who lost part of the only family he had ever known.
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As soon as she stepped outside in the blazing hot, Egyptian sun, Tari took a deep breath, exhaled, and put down the large box of ancient small artifacts on the ground before her. She stretched her back, then looked down once again at the things the box contained. They were pieces of broken vases, statues, bracelets, anklets, combs, and broad necklaces that dated back to just slightly over 5,000 years.
While she was excited as the other diggers and archeologists were to find these rare artifacts, she also knew how much work it would take to process, clean, and file all of them. She sighed as she turned back to look at the mustaba that she had just climbed out of. The team had done extensive work in cleaning out and organizing the ancient underground burial chamber, but they still had no clue as to who the pharaoh was that it was built for, and how long he reigned.
But according to her father, they were close...very close, as the experts he had hired diligently poured over the hieroglyphics that they found on the walls and crumbling papyrus scrolls. But the language the hieroglyphics were in was old...so much older than the earliest form of the ancient way of writing. But that never stopped her father, and she knew he would stop at nothing to find out more.
With that, Tari picked up the box, then walked to a large tent that held the other artifacts she found not too far away. As she parted the fold and walked in, she was greeted by one of the excavation team members with a smile as she stood before her with a glass of lemonade.
After she put the box down by a table, Tari graciously accepted the cooling drink. "Thanks," she smiled gratefully.
"No prob. You deserve a little break after all the hard work you've done for us." she smiled. The dark haired Texas woman looked around the tent for a moment at all the boxes and artifacts, and nodded with satisfaction. "I think this would be fine for now. Why don't you take a rest, and if we need you, we'll holler, okay? Besides, I don't want your dad thinking you're doing ALL the work!" She winked and began shooing Tari outside.
"Okay, okay!" Tari giggled, giving the woman back the glass and heading outside. As she headed towards her tent, Tari watched as she saw the other team members busily walking around and chatting, showing each other what they found and sharing their theories on what pharaoh ruled for how long. Sajid, her father's bodyguard and partner, walked up to her as he finished talking to someone.
"Mistress Tari..is everything alright?" he asked, walking with her a little. "I mean..from since yesterday morning, you seemed a little...sad. I was a little concerned..."
"I'm fine Sajid, really," Tari said, shaking her head and trying to keep the memory of what happened out of her head. "I'm going to rest for a while. Let me know when lunch is ready, okay?" At that, Tari rushed off and waved behind her, as Sajid looked at her worriedly.
As soon as she entered her tent, Tari plopped down on her bed, wiping away the tears that threatened to fill her eyes. Damn, why did he have to remind her? Unable to fight it, Tari thought back to the morning where she was fighting off that shadow monster again...which turned out to be Set's lost powers....how he had regain them as she stood by helplessly, and how he had murdered two little boys mercilessly...right in front of her eyes. Tari had never felt so shameful, so helpless. Set was more powerful than he was before. How would she be able to defeat him? And now, two innocent lives were gone, all because of her. Once more, anger entered her heart, and Tari couldn't help a sob from escaping her throat. It was a dream...that was it. It was a dream, and when she woke up, this whole mess would be behind her. The pain in her heart reminded her that it wasn't a dream, and nothing would change the fact that two children were dead, and a maddened god wanted control of the Earth.
Then, almost unnoticed by her, a soft glowing of light began to grow near her bed stand. The dark skinned girl looked up just in time to see the light form into the figure of the beautiful goddess Isis, smiling softly at Tari.
"Hello Tari," the mother goddess said, walking towards her. But Tari only sat up and turned away from her, an angry look on her face.
At that, Isis lowered her head shamefully. "You're angry...I understand that. We should have been there...I should have been there to help you and make sure no innocent lives were lost. I'm so sorry Tari."
Isis moved closed and placed a hand over her heart. "But please understand, that Set, he's a creature lower than a snake, and has no honor in his heart. As you mortals would say today...he set us up, he planned it to happen the way he wanted...to make sure you were alone."
Tari looked back at her, her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Set tricked us Tari. He set up a phony attack halfway across the country using his servant, Apep. By time the other gods and I went there, we realized we were deceived. I told the others to stay incase Apep caused anymore trouble...but as you know, by time I came, I was...I was too late." She lowered her head once more.
"Isis...I'm sorry, I didn't know," Tari got up and stood before the goddess, shameful at how she ignored her a few moments ago. "I...I should have been stronger, I should have...I should have..."
"No, please do not blame yourself, young one." Isis said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We were all deceived. But the only thing that matters now is finding Osiris's soul, and doing all we can to stop that monster Set, especially now that he is back at full power."
Tari sighed and sat back down on her bed. "Oh Isis, this is SO much more than I thought I could handle. How can we fight Set AND find Osiris's soul? I...I don't know if I can do this alone...."
"You won't be alone!" said a new voice. As Tari looked up in surprise, there was a flash, and standing next to Isis was Thoth, smiling as he bowed to her.
Tari couldn't help but smile back at the intelligent yet humorous god. But before she could say anything, he turned serious and looked deep into her eyes as he took her hands and stood her up. "Tari, I know that it may seem like you are alone, but you're not, trust me. We need your help, because without you.....everything will fall to Set, and we will all be in darkness."
Although she was still a bit frightened, when Tari looked into Toth�s eyes, she knew that what he spoke was the truth. She wasn't alone, and she never will be.
She nodded and looked to Isis, who smiled back at her. "Of course, anything to help. So what do we do next?" she asked.
"I've discussed this with the others, and we've all come to the conclusion that it's logical that since Set has regained his powers, his next move would be to find the reborn soul of Osiris," Thoth said, quickly scribbling on his scroll that magically appeared before him.
"That means our next move is to do our best to find the child before he does. And the only way to do that is to do an extensive search of young boys between the ages of 8 to 10 years old...."
"What? But..that could take forever!" exclaimed Tari, her eyes widening. "There must be...hundreds of thousands of children in Cairo alone!"
"Yes, but we have this!" Thoth flicked both hands in front of him, and as the scroll disappeared, in its place flashed a blue and white crook. It floated down gently into the god's hands as he grinned.
"This was Osiris's royal heka...or crook as you all would call it today," said Thoth, grinning. "It was infused with some of his energy and power, to ensure that no one else can claim it and take over the throne. With this, we can detect Osiris's soul. I placed a spell on it, so that as soon as it is near its owner, it will react. There's no way we can fail with this." Then with a wink, he gently placed it in Tari's hands.
Tari blinked as she looked over the ancient object in her hands in awe. Never in her life did Tari think she would see or hold such history...such power in her hands. Was she even worthy to hold such a holy object? This artifact that helped create a whole nation that spanned close to tens of thousands of years? She looked up at Isis and Thoth, and at the level of trust they looked at her with, she knew that it was indeed right...with this, she would find the one it belonged to.
She nodded, and to her surprise, the crook flashed a bright blue, and absorbed right into her golden bracelet. "What...what happened? I didn't mean to...I..!"
"It's alright Tari," chuckled Isis. "The crook will reveal itself when it is needed. Thoth knew what he was doing." She smiled sadly. "I only hope that one day, it will once more be held by my dear husband."
Tari nodded with determination. "It will Isis, I promise you," she vowed.
Isis reached forward and hugged Tari close, her eye filling with tears. "I know. Now, we must go, you're about to have company. As soon as we have any leads, we will contact you," said Isis, backing up besides Thoth.
They disappeared just seconds before Sajid came in and announced that lunch was ready. But even as watchful as he was, the older man never saw the new determination flashing in Tari's eyes, or the new way she held herself as she walked beside him to lunch. Tari was determined to win now, and determined not to let anymore children die because of Set's greed. And now, with the crook, she hoped with all her heart to find the child before the evil god did.
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In his blackened throne room, Set grinned widely as he flexed his increased muscles on his arms, feeling his strength flowing through his dark body. His eyes flashed red, and as he turned to look behind him, her servants, Apep, Nak, and Sabu, bowed low.
"It is nearly complete!" Set growled out in his deep voice. "What only a remains is to find the brat that holds the soul of that weak Osiris, and claim the throne as my own!"
"Yesssss, Oh Great SSSSet!" rasped out Apep, his own eyes flashing with excitement.
"We will begin the search at once, Sire!" said Nak, placing a furry fist over his heart.
"See to it that you do," said Set, admiring his large hands. "No child must be safe or overlooked. And it only stands to assume those other fools will begin searching for him too. Let no one stand in your way, especially that human girl...do you understand?"
The three bowed low as they hissed in agreement. At the doorway to the throne room, a pair of eyes belonging to a ragged, lonely figure watched in fright. As the three continued to laugh in triumph, the woman backed away and pressed herself against a wall, tears forming in her eyes. Oh Set, what have you become? the woman thought sadly. But I can't...I can't let you go on with this. You're my husband, and I know I've done you wrong in the past, but...I have to help stop you. I have to.
With those words, the woman walked off, careful not to make any noise, and desperation growing in her grieving heart.
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To Be Continued....
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