Chapter One hundred and thirty three: The Power of Love
Kiya rose to her feet and watched the roc fly upwards with Meri on its back. She stood without pain and realised that her wounded legs had been healed. Filled with love and gratitude she watched her darling child being carried into danger.
“Come back,” she cried. “Please don’t go. You will be killed!” But her words disappeared into the air and he flew onwards towards a sky, which churned and blackened until it seemed that night had fallen upon the city.
Kiya was momentarily distracted by the two guards of the inner temple, who rushed past her.
“Your Majesty, you must find safety.” They led the Ikhnaton towards one of the temple buildings.
“Are you coming, Kiya?” asked the King.
“No, sire.” She turned her eyes back to where Meri and the roc had reached the menacing banks of cloud.
Seth emerged in the form of a giant, his red hair streaming from his head like fire. He glared at the boy, who looked as fragile as a butterfly against the brutal power of the immortal.
Boy and bird shone brightly against the darkness of the sky as the roc hovered like a hawk, forming an easy target for Seth’s thunderbolts. Kiya shouted a warning. Her cry was echoed from outside the temple as people gathered in the streets to watch the battle in the sky.
Seth gave a triumphant laugh and hurled a shaft of lightening, like a spear. Kiya’s shout turned into a scream and then the lightening shattered against an invisible shield and she gasped with relief.
Screams and shouts of surprise came from all around the temple as a spherical shield around Meri and the bird became illuminated by the electrical storm.
“He is safe,” rejoiced Kiya and she heard cheering as Seth hurled bolt after bolt at the smiling child.
As Seth grew angrier the clouds boiled like water in a cauldron and scarlet storm serpents writhed in and out of the blackness. Some dived upon Meri, fire blazing from their mouths, only to hit the shield and veer away.
The air around Kiya became electric with the power of Seth’s attack and beneath her feet she felt the ground begin to shake. People had stopped cheering and Kiya heard squeals of fear as a mighty earthquake hit the city. All around Kiya the walls of the temple began to tremble.
Kiya ran to the centre of the main courtyard. Was this the end of Egypt? Had Seth won, after all? She looked to the north, where a distant column of fire and smoke rose into the air. The dragon beneath Crete had woken – even the island was doomed.
“Have mercy!” she screamed at Seth who stared downward in hideous satisfaction at the destruction below. It was Meri’s chance. The child threw out his arms, as if to embrace the immortal, and a beam of light shone from him illuminating the storm god in a brilliant, white glow.
Seth immediately responded by hurling two lightning bolts. Kiya watched in shock as her child took the bolts full on the chest and was knocked from the roc.
What happened to his defences? Kiya realised at once that Meri would be unable to shine a beam upon Seth while protected by the shield. She watched in dismay as her child’s body fell downwards as gently as thistledown.
The earth stood still. Clouds parted and a shaft of sunlight pierced the gloom. Meri fell, drifting down the golden pathway. Above him the roc circled once and then flew north towards the delta. Down and down Meri floated until he neared the ground and his descent was hidden by the walls of the courtyard.
Kiya started to run to where she thought he might have landed. As she left the temple and hurried towards the main square of the city, the shaft of sunlight widened until the clouds disappeared and the world became bright once more.
There was a crowd of people in the square all staring at something on the ground. Kiya pushed through them and found Meri, lying as peacefully as though he was asleep, his body undamaged by either the lightning strike or the fall.
Could he be alive? The people stood respectfully at a distance but Kiya rushed to Meri’s side. She could not sense the familiar outpouring of love and when she lifted his hand and placed it to her lips, there was no tingle of energy. His essence was no longer there.
There was a flutter of movement beside her and Kiya turned to see Seth in the guise of a man. He stood unrecognised by the people he had so recently terrorised.
“Does your child live?” he asked and there was no anger in his face, just a deep concern.
“No. You have killed him,” said Kiya. She watched in astonishment as her father brushed away a tear.
“He did not have to die,” he said. “Did you see? He lowered the shield himself, it was not I who did so.”
“How else could he fight you?” said Kiya. “He sacrificed himself to save Egypt from your revenge.”
“The child has destroyed the anger in my heart. I find it hard to understand the rage which fuelled my actions.”
“Thousands have died.”
“I know. I have called off the monsters and I will allow the Nile to flood once more.”
“What about remorse?” said Kiya. “I hope you are sorry for what you have done.”
There was a murmur of wonder from the crowd that surrounded them. Kiya turned and saw that Meri’s body had become translucent. He was fading away. As she watched him disappear the true extent of her loss hit her and she started to weep. Huge sobs racked her body. She felt a comforting hand upon her shoulder, it gave a brief squeeze and was gone. When she looked up Seth, too, had vanished.
The people around Kiya reacted to her grief and magnified it a thousand-fold, weeping and wailing and tearing at their clothes in an outburst of mourning. Slowly Kiya got to her feet and made her way out of the crowd. She felt as if her heart was breaking and yet she must summon the courage to face more sadness. She must find the body of Dennu.