Read Online Daughter of the Gods by Stephanie Thornton - Free Book Online Page B

Amenti,
senet
boards to occupy his endless days, and crates of 365 blue faience
shabti
statues to come to life and serve the pharaoh in the Field of Reeds, one for every day of the year. The
iniut
banner—a headless cheetah skin stuffed with linen—was tied to a pole in a gilded pot as an offering to Anubis. An ebony chest in the shape of the jackal god carried the four precious canopic jars that housed the pharaoh’s internal organs. It was then time for the mummy to take its place in this perfectly choreographed dance of death.
    Silently, three priests came from the back of the assembled mourners to begin the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. One wore the snarling mask of their patron god, the black jackal Anubis. The priests reeked of death; as the Controllers of Mysteries, their hearts and minds were filled with the secrets of mummification that no other mortals were permitted to learn. Their long kilts were dyed black to symbolize the rotting flesh of the dead and the fertile soil of Egypt, the cycle of rebirth. The masked priest took his place behind the mummy, and the other two tilted the sledge until the body was vertical once again. Hatshepsut could scarcely believe the remains of her father were wrapped under those linens and hidden behind the solid gold funeral mask. The back of the mask was carved with spells, each meant to protect a specific part of Osiris Tutmose’s face as he passed through the challenges of the next world before being reborn.
    The High Priest’s deep chant started low and gained in volume until it swelled and echoed through the valley. He swung a censer back and forth, cloaking the breath of the gods with the heavy scent of precious incense. Several other priests joined the mournful melody, and the professional mourners keened in accompaniment as they rent their clothes and tore their hair, all three timbres wrapped together in a melancholy song.
    A shrill cry rang out to Hatshepsut’s right. Mutnofret clung to Thut, eyes puffy and chubby cheeks streaked with rivers of kohl and tears as she alternated between hiccups and inhuman shrieks of grief. Hatshepsut glanced sideways at her own mother. Ahmose blinked and wiped away the single tear that threatened to ruin her flawless makeup. Hatshepsut grasped her mother’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. Ahmose stared straight ahead, but gave a squeeze in response.
    The sounds of mourning stopped, leaving a roaring silence punctuated only by Mutnofret’s sniffles. The High Priest, a leopard skin draped over his shoulders, came to stand in front of the body. Raising a golden adze, he touched the mummy’s eyes to symbolize the pharaoh’s successful awakening in the Field of Reeds. The priest picked up a chisel and tapped the mouth as well. He rubbed the entire death mask with cow’s milk, symbolically reinvigorating the rest of the pharaoh’s face. Now Osiris Tutmose would be able to see and speak in the afterlife. The leopard and jackal priests embraced the mummy to allow the soul of Tutmose to find its earthly form.
    Wordlessly, the mummy was lowered back onto the sledge, and the High Priest motioned to the royal family. One by one, each of Osiris Tutmose’s wives and children placed a papyrus page from the Book of Coming Forth by Day at his head and feet. The spells would assist the pharaoh along his journey to the afterlife.
    “Rest well, Father.” Hatshepsut touched the bulge at Osiris Tutmose’s heart, the site of the sacred green jasper scarab that was also inscribed with spells for the afterlife. She stepped back to allow the priests to push the sledge into the gloom of the subterranean grave. The final priest carried a green wooden box shaped like Osiris, filled with damp Nile silt and grain. The seedlings would sprout inside the dark tomb, symbolic of the rebirth of the deceased in the afterlife, but then they, too, would wither and die, as did all life. The sound of wood scraping rock slipped into the dark and finally