Pivot of the Sky – Chapter 154, The river in blood

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Translator: adomman

Editor: Snorri

 

There used to be five titles that Amon carried. While “beloved of Horus” was deleted, “chosen by An-Ra” was now placed at the front and changed to “glory of Ra”.

 

It was understandable as Ra now became the only god. The new Pharaoh was testing the water by changing the Supreme General’s title. In a way, it was addressed to the old factions in the Empire. 

 

Other than expressing his gratitude, Amon did not say anything else. The officials in Thebes and Memphis soon received the message. Changes were taking place. A new era was coming.

 

Amon had earned his title on the battlefield. It was widely believed that he was protected by Horus, as the latter showed up in the decisive battle. On the other hand, Amon was the head of the An-Ra legion. His victory was also binded with An-Ra. By deleting Horus and emphasizing Ra, the new Pharaoh showed his attitude on the beginning religious reform.

 

For the realm of an empire to provide power, true believers with devout faith were essential. The god needed offerings from its people. In order to replace Horus, Seth had to make the way from Ra.

 

After Amon sent a letter of gratitude to the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh issued another series of new laws. The new laws required the cities of Ejypt to worship Ra in the first place. Offerings for Horus and the other gods were not cancelled, but only after that for Seth. At the same time, a new majestic shrine in Hilmore would be built in dedication to Ra. And Hilmore would be the new capital of the Empire.

 

Merneptah’s religious reform had pragmatic purposes as well. He wanted to centralize the power. His predecessor had been ruling for a long period. At the end of Ramsess II’s reign, long lasting wars had weakened the Empire. His sudden death didn’t give the new Pharaoh the time to establish authority. Tension between the old lords and the new nobles emerging from the recent wars added uncertainty to the situation. 

 

Merneptah wasn’t the first-born son of Ramsess II. He was the seventh son. It was believed that he became the Pharaoh out of sheer luck. He was supported by the oracles of Upper Ejypt, who were concerned of the rising generals and new nobles from the recent wars. Most of them used to serve in the Horus Shrine. The defeat of Horus had raised disquiet and they had to act radically to please the new king of the gods, so that they could maintain their influence in the Empire.

 

Merneptah’s reform was more than that. By defining Ra as the only god, the Pharaoh as the representation of the God would have a position that was different than his predecessor, since the other old gods were now defined as neteru who served Ra, the only god. Supreme mages such as Maria and Idu, whose influence were in Lower Ejypt, were hardly affected for the moment. Nomarchs such as Rod Drick, even though he was not a mage, his clan was still in control of the sepat of Cape. Those were the factions that he could not yet reach. But the reform would eventually affect them. As long as the new belief system was accepted by the mass, the authorities of the oracles of the other old gods would dissolve in time. 

 

For the time being, Merneptah had not done anything to the Shrine of Isis, but according to the new laws, Isis had also become a neteru. The Pharaoh gave her a special title: the Great Mistress of Ra. At the same time, he also gave Maria a new title: the Adoratrice of Isis, God’s Wife of Ra.

 

The Shrine of Isis continued to worship Isis, but the two sides of the main shrine were reconstructed. On the east side where the sun rose, the shrine worshipped Ra. The west side was changed to worship Seth and the remaining neteru led by him. In practice, this part of the shrine belonged to Seth, and the remaining neteru only served as the background.

 

Just as Amon expected, he received the Pharaoh’s warrant from Herak telling him to gather the Duc miners and send them to Hilmore to construct Ra’s shrine. Amon’s title now had “glory of Ra” right at the front, so he had no reason to refuse this “small” request, otherwise it would be considered disrespect to the god. The Pharaoh had also given an order to conscript craftsmen from all the other cities, and he specially mentioned the Duc miners.

 

If Ramses II did not die and no changes had occurred within the Ennead, most people would never find trouble with Amon after what he did in Memphis. However, everything had changed, and the balance of power in the Empire was in the midst of shifting and realigning. Imhotep was the staunchest supporter of the new Pharaoh’s reform, so perhaps he had been the one to tell the Pharaoh where to find the best craftsmen in the continent.

 

Even if the Vizier had not said anything, the Pharaoh himself would have made Amon take a stand. This was both the will of gods and the direction of the national policy. Amon said to the messenger from Herak apologetically: “I am unable to predict what is going to happen today, and those craftsmen have already been sent to my territory in Duc Plains.”

 

The messenger replied: “This is the Pharaoh’s order, so it has to be executed. His Majesty has only just rewarded you with a large piece of land, and now all he is asking for is the use of dozens of slaves. This is the most important matter in the Empire right now, please recall those slaves immediately, Supreme General.”

 

Amon nodded. “I will send my guards to recall them right away.”

 

The messenger said: “Thank you, Supreme General. I will stay here and wait for news.”

 

After that, Amon sent Hardedef with a team of guards to cross the Nile River and “pursue” Moses and the rest. Two days later, he returned. Reporting to Amon with a fearful expression, Hardedef said: “Supreme General, bad news! The slaves have abandoned their carriages and escaped! We found the abandoned carriages by the main road and found tracks leading into the deep mountains and forests. The wilderness is too vast and difficult to traverse, and we were unable to find anything after searching for one day.”

 

Amon slapped the table. “What? They dared to escape? Continue to search for them. Once you find them, send them straight to Herak!” Then he said to the messenger: “I’m truly sorry, those slaves have escaped, please report this to the Pharaoh as it is. As punishment, I am willing to donate a large sum of money towards the construction of Ra’s shrine.”

 

Slaves escaping were not unheard of, even though it was rare. Regarding this, the facts were clear and Supreme General Amon was not lying. In fact, he was also a victim! Besides, Amon ended up donating a sum of money equivalent to a thousand parangons, and this amount had far exceeded the value of a few dozen slaves.

 

The messenger was not aware of the inside story and thought he had accomplished his mission satisfactorily. Although the slaves had escaped, the Supreme General donated roughly a thousand parangons as punishment for not being able to hand over the slaves. Thus, he comforted Amon with some words before returning to Herak and sending a report to the capital regarding what had happened.

 

Unexpectedly, after the Pharaoh saw the report, he became unusually concerned. Next, he issued several orders. First, he rewarded the Supreme General with two hundred slaves and commended him for donating money towards the construction of Ra’s shrine. Secondly, he ordered every city to assist the Supreme General with hunting down the escaped slaves, emphasizing that the god’s oracle had stated that these craftsmen were exceptionally important.

 

After Amon received the orders, he frowned. Merneptah’s actions were highly unusual, and it was no longer a simple case of gathering craftsmen. The Pharaoh wanted the Duc miners at all costs, and he even gave the orders to every city for the sake of getting them back. But the Pharaoh was unable to punish Amon openly since Amon had suffered a loss when the slaves escaped and he even donated a large sum of money instead.

 

In the face of such generosity from the Pharaoh, Amon was also very grateful. He publicly reprimanded Hardedef for his incompetence, angrily dismissed Hardedef from his post, and wanted to send him back to Memphis. Hardedef pleaded: “Supreme General, please give me a chance to redeem myself. Even though I am no longer the captain of the guards, I still need to rectify my mistakes.”

 

Amon nodded. “Hardedef, you are no longer related to me. However, since you have the intention to help me, for the sake of the Pharaoh, I will give you a warrant. Take all my guards and search for the slaves by following their trail. Even if you have to go beyond the borders of Ejypt, you have to find them!”

 

Hardedef bowed on the ground and said: “Thank you, Supreme General. I will never return until I find them!”

 

After Hardedef was dismissed from his post, he pleaded with the Supreme General to let him continue searching for the escaped slaves in order to make up for his mistakes. On the surface, he had done so voluntarily, and it seemed as though Amon was executing the Pharaoh’s orders. But in fact, Amon had asked Hardedef privately before dismissing him: “The Pharaoh has issued orders to every city in the Empire for the sake of a few dozen slaves, it is highly unusual for him to do this. Looks like I have to leave Ejypt sooner or later. After I’m gone, what are you going to do?”

 

Hardedef replied without thinking: “Of course I will follow God Amon and bring Misphi along with us.”

 

Amon smiled. “It would be too difficult to leave by then. I will give you two choices now. The first is to dismiss you from your post and send you back to Memphis where you can lead a carefree life. The second is still to dismiss you from your post, but instead I will send you to where I will be going to.”

 

Hardedef: “Of course I will choose the second option. I should also let you know that all your guards have vowed to follow you till death. If you leave Ejypt, they will suffer a miserable fate. Please consider them as well.”

 

Amon nodded. “You are very thoughtful. In that case, I shall let you bring all of them along with you.”

 

By letting Hardedef take all the guards to pursue the slaves, Amon was giving them a chance to leave Ejypt and head for the Duc Plains. Now, he had finally sent all the people related to him away. The Ducians had escaped, Metatro and Lynk had left, and Hardedef was sent away with all the guards.

 

The only ones left were the servants on his territory, and he was all alone in his own but foreign territory. However, he remained calm and at ease. Amon had thought it out already. If the Pharaoh was going to harm him, he could leave any time he wanted, but those around him would definitely be implicated, so he might as well make preparations early. With only a cat for company, the Supreme General now had nothing else.

 

Amon did not want to commit treason on his own initiative as this would implicate even more people. His earlier subordinates, the lords and nobles who had recommended him before, they would all get involved. In any case, after Hardedef had left, Amon started helping Schrodinger to release her seal, so he had no time or energy to deal with anything else.

 

But the importance that the Pharaoh placed on getting back the Ducians far exceeded what anyone could have expected, and behind the Pharaoh’s orders, the shadows of gods seemed to lurk.

 

……

 

Moses led his people along the barren hills at the eastern banks of the Nile River and passed through the dense forests, travelling northwards of Heliopolis to the city of Bubastis. From there, they had to turn east from the roads and enter the hills in order to avoid tracking. Moses and his people hid in the hills, wanting to wait until late in the night when there was nobody on the roads before proceeding.

 

However, during the night, he heard the voice of God’s emissary. Metatro told him that he should not set off in the night but wait for daybreak instead. Indeed, the city guards passed through the roads with brightly lit torches several times during the night. If they had spotted Moses and his people, they would not have been able to escape.

 

When dawn approached, Moses heard Metatro’s voice again. “You can proceed now.”

 

Moses woke his people who were sleeping and they quietly walked along the roads. After some time, they were now considerably far from the city. People who travelled the roads had not come yet, the farms nearby were still in the midst of sleeping, and there always seemed to be clouds in the sky providing cover. Taking the risk, they passed through the populated open area and finally entered a desolate mountainous area.

 

After traversing through hilly terrain filled with bushes for several days, where they had to cut down the thorny vegetation to advance while carrying heavy loads, all of them were exhausted. On this day, they arrived at a river, a tributary of the lower Nile River. Moses ordered everyone to take a rest, and they started taking out utensils and wares for cooking.

 

After making a temporary earthen stove and gathering firewood, Moses ordered the six of the twelve Judges to use magic to prevent the smoke from the fires from rising, so as to prevent anyone from discovering their location. Just as the fire started burning, the Ducians who were sent to fetch water from the river came running back while stumbling. “This is bad, something terrible has happened to the river! All the water has turned into blood!”

 

Moses quickly brought his people to the river, where they saw the flowing water illuminated with a dark red hue and emanating the stench of blood. Someone shouted in horror: “Didn’t you say that God would protect us? Why are evil magics appearing to obstruct our way?”

 

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