Chapter Nine
I awoke with a splitting headache in a cage at the back of an area that I recognized as the temple of the priests. In the middle of the area I saw my friend, lying on an altar, being washed by the priests. The king was dead. The priests were beginning the mummification process with the advisor observing. He glanced over at me in my cage and walked a bit closer when he saw that I had stirred. “Don’t worry, you’re next!” he whispered with a sneer, “I get the pleasure of sending you to the afterlife myself!” I saw that he gripped the sheath of his dagger tighter as he said that.
“Stupid humans,” I thought, “when will they learn that we cats can understand them? We just like to ignore you!” I’m glad he told me his plan; this gave me a chance to plan my escape.
The advisor returned to the priests in their preparations while I studied my situation. The cage I was in had a locking mechanism like the one that was on my mother’s cage, a long shaft that ran through a series of loops. Difficult to open from the inside, but not impossible, especially since I had first paw knowledge of how it worked! I tested my skills a bit as I kept close watch on the advisor and priests. The lock slid easily out of the bottom loop, and then the middle. There I stopped and returned the shaft to its’ locked position as I studied the layout of the room I was in. There were no windows, or a balcony and only one door at the top of some stairs. If I remember correctly the door is kept locked by the priests, especially if they are processing someone for the afterlife. The king and I came here once when the former king was being processed. The room is located in the temple, which is outside the palace, but within the protection of the walls. The temple is usually overrun with priests, but it is also pretty open with lots of space to maneuver around. If I could make it out that door then I knew I had a shot at escaping the fate the advisor had in store.
I had no idea of the time of day, but that mattered little. The priests went into a fast when a king died, as did the palace, so there would be no breaks for food. My only hope was that the advisor had to go tend to some affair of state and the priests took a break as well. Before I could continue this line of thought I saw the advisor smiling at me. The priests had performed the process quickly, too quickly for my satisfaction, and I noticed the king was being lowered into his sarcophagus. The advisor approached, hand on sheaf. “Oh! Great!” I thought, “Times up!”
It was clear to me that the coward was just going to do the deed from outside of the cage by running his dagger through the bars. Indeed he had drawn the long knife and was almost to the cage, when I noticed a few of the priests had ascended the stairs and had opened the door there. When they were exiting I saw a gold streak flash through the door and down the stairs. As the advisor was preparing to strike, I saw his smiling face change into a sneer, then into an expression of pure hate as the knife blade swung into the cage. I saw, at about the same time, his expression turn to one of extreme surprise and pain, as the knife and he fell sideways away from the cage. Attached to his back with teeth sunk deep in the advisors’ shoulder and claws dug deep into his back was Ra!
“I knew he’d be up to no good!” Ra said between chomps, “I had heard what he did to you in the kings’ chamber from one of your sisters. Just glad the priests finally opened that door, and that I wasn’t too late!” As Ra was working on the screaming advisor I was getting the door open. I sprung free of the cage in time to clamp my teeth into the advisor’s knife hand, which was swinging toward Ra. The advisor let out another scream of pain as he dropped the knife. He rolled to his side and yelled at the priests to help and as they were coming forward to do just that, more streaks started flowing into the room and the priests began to scream as well. The palace cats had arrived!
I think this was the most active I had ever seen my sisters! One was attached to the leg of a shrieking priest as the other was biting the backside of another. The advisor had managed to regain his feet and showed his true colors (mostly yellow, but now mixed with a bit of red) as he bolted as fast as he could for the door! Ra and I streaked past him before he could get to the door, just in case he decided to lock us all in here. We kept the priests and the advisor away from the door as we called for the others to flee the temple. Once all of the cats were safely outside, we also left. I heard the advisor yelling to the palace guards to kill all the cats, but they were so dumbfounded at such a request that they failed to harm a single one as we all fled through the hole in the palace wall.
Ra and I followed the scent trail of the palace cats and caught up with them in an abandoned stable. There were about twenty-five of us in all and we started discussing our predicament. To return to the palace under the rule of the advisor meant death for sure, so we looked at other alternatives. I discussed the Valley of the Kings, and the ones, like my sisters, who were use to being pampered, flatly refused that as an option and chose to disperse into Thebes instead. A few of the more adventuresome chose to follow me, Ra included. We vowed to return someday to reap our revenge. When we passed over the ridge trail and descended into the Valley of the Kings, we were ten strong.