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Friday, June 21, 2013

TIL DEATH DO US START ... Friday's Romantic Challenge_June Wedding

http://laussieswritingblog.blogspot.com/


TIL DEATH DO US START

The mummy wrappings were alive, writhing around my body caressing me tighter and tighter.  I struggled in the moving golden throne, but it did no good. 
 
Closer and closer it flowed like mist towards the waiting arms of Princess Shert Nebti.  She was almost dressed in an ancient Egyptian outfit that she must have thrown into the washer on the Hot cycle.

Her moon-white face creased in fine lines from the mummy wrappings that had smothered her for centuries, she smiled a thing of nightmares as I flowed nearer those outstretched fingers.

The horizon around me was impossible.  I mean, I knew Carnies got around, but to the Nile?

I looked out across the cryptic yellow Nile that is the mother of aeons and dynasties.

Beyond it lurked the menacing sands of the Libyan Desert, ridged and iridescent and evil, murmuring ancient mysteries. The red sun sank low, bringing the relentless chill of Egyptian dusk.

And as it stood poised on the world’s rim like that ancient god of Heliopolis—Re-Harakhte, the Horizon-Sun— hey, I read in those libraries I hid in - I saw silhouetted against the velvet holocaust of night the black outlines of the Pyramids of Gizeh—those all-but-forgotten tombs that were heavy with a thousand years when Tut-Ankh-Amen mounted his golden throne in distant Thebes.

Then I knew that I was done with civilized sanity, and that I was about to taste the deeper mysteries of primal Egypt—the black Khem of Re and Amen, Isis and Osiris.

Sin-black mists swallowed me, and then their lips parted to reveal the Sphinx.   I struggled silently beneath the spell of those terrible unseeing eyes. On the vast stone breast I could faintly make out the emblem of Re-Harakhte, for whose image the Sphinx was mistaken in a late dynasty.

And though sand covered the tablet between the great paws, I recalled what Thutmosis IV inscribed on it, and the dream he had when a prince. It was then that the smile of the Sphinx unsettled the hell out of me, and made me wonder about the legends of subterranean passages beneath the monstrous creature, leading down, down, to depths none might dare hint at—

depths connected with mysteries older than the dynastic Egypt modern Man excavates, and having a sinister relation to the persistence of abnormal, animal-headed gods in the ancient Nilotic pantheon.

And with the thought of those depths, I found myself there – with Princess Shert Nebti not a foot away from me in the swirling dark mists.

An ocean of glistening wet scarabs surrounded her, scuttled up over her, and tittered back down.  I swallowed hard as I saw she was chewing a few who had scurried too close to those thin lips.

A dank breeze moaned around us in barely understandable words:

The subterranean nymph that dwells
’Mid sunless gems and glories hid—
The lady of the Pyramid!”

I forced a smirk, “Lousy poetry, Princess.”

She smiled with very sharp teeth.  “Just wait until you see our wedding night, Victor -- and my true face.”

13 comments:

  1. Egypt is intriguing with its history, but why did you have to mention the scarabs, Roland? I hated that in 'The Mummy'. Scuttling bugs. . .

    Doesn't sound like a good relationship, Victor. Be wary.

    That said, that reference to tunnels beneath the Sphinx - leading to the underworld? did catch my interest.

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  2. Eek! The bugs always get me.

    But I'm even more scared of the wedding night and her true face. Eek eek eek!

    Jai

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  3. My class is going to Egypt Monday! I love the history of the place. And how advanced they were! Is this story finished anywhere? I really like it a lot and would love to have it...

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  4. D.G.:
    Victor is an unwilling groom -- hence the mummy wrapping prison! I thought the wet, glistening scarabs were a "nice" horrific touch!

    Jai:
    Victor is of a like mind. Eekk, indeed!

    Words Crafter:
    Egypt has always fascinated me. And Princess Shert Nebti was an actual Pharoah -- one of the few female ones.

    The serial drew few readers and less comments so I have put it on the backburner for awhile.

    Thanks so much for enjoying it. :-)

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  5. i think that you're just ahead of your time. hopefully, everyone else will catch up soon!

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  6. Hey Roland; Thanks for participating with RFW this month. Loved all the descriptions and Egyptian mythology references. A Sphinx is both scary and wise, and its always a surprise which version of her will be portrayed.

    I loved the addition of the scarabs, but I doubt I'd like her to wink at me!

    Would you please delete your generic link at the Weddings post and add a direct link for the convenience of other participants? Pretty please, and hold the scarabs?

    Thanks for the excerpt Roland.

    ........dhole

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  7. Hello Roland. Thanks for posting to RFW this month. Like many people I am fascinated with Ancient Egyptian culture and the female Pharaohs were especially fascinating. You've gathered some interesting ideas together and created a fascinating story.
    I wouldn't be looking forward to the wedding night if I were Victor.

    Cheers Roland

    Denise

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  8. Hearing your bride hasn't revealed her 'true face' yet on your wedding day is probably scarier than all those teeth!

    Very entertaining.

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  9. Donna:
    Victor changed my link for me. He wants all the attention he can get. :-)

    Denise:
    Victor is never as helpless as his enemies believe. I'm happy you enjoyed this snippet. I've always enjoyed supernatural tales concerning Ancient Egypt, too.

    Charmaine:
    Yes, to Victor, Princess Shert Nebti was scary enough without hearing he hadn't seen her true face yet!!

    Glad you were entertained. :-)

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  10. Oh Roland, your writing is always so eloquent even though it is pretty scary, especially at a wedding! I had to keep reading although I was cringing at the scarabs.

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  11. I find most things Egypt completely enthralling, so I was hooked straightaway. Though living here one gets used to thinking of the sphinx as male and wise, rather than fearsome.

    Delicious-scary story, and quite riveting.

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  12. Nice how she ate them and not the other way around. I assume Victor will find his escape, not too soon though, want to see her true face!

    Enjoyed - thoroughly!

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  13. June 27th, 2013
    Dear Roland,
    I don't know how you do it, but no matter what theme is thrown at you, you still stick to your theme!
    Well done.
    Best wishes,
    Anna
    Anna's RFW - June Wedding

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