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soon as Bastet looks around, she
takes in Nun standing there in front of the courts. I hope she
understands, but she appears confused. I hold my breath and pray
she will know what to do.
    “Bastet, do you know this
man?”
    “Yes.” She looks perplexed until
the vizier speaks again.
    “Is this the man who violated
you?”
    She meets my eyes, comprehending,
and then looks back at the vizier, her eyes full of
tears.
    She cries out, “Yes! That is the
man who forced himself on me in the temple of Serapis!”
    I exhale with pride at her drive
for life.
    “Why did you not tell a priest or
your mother, Nebu, that this violation occurred?"
    She thinks fast and cries to great
effect, “I knew the violation would bring shame upon my family and
my position at the temple would be disgraced. He threatened the
lives of my family if I did not obey his demands!”
    Everyone in the court is quiet in
disgust, leering at Nun while he juts his chin out in simmering
anger.
    “Is this true?” he shouts at
Nun.
    Nun doesn’t even reply with eye
contact, simply stares at the floor.
    The vizier picks his teeth, then
speaks. “I have no choice but to sentence you, Nun, slave of the
house of Sokaris, to death by spear. You will be executed tomorrow
in the public courtyard at dawn, before our morning rituals, to
amend the betrayal you committed upon the gods.
    “Bastet, you are free to return to
your family and have your child. Your shame, even though it was not
willed by you, makes you unfit for temple duties.”
    She bows her head in
acceptance.
    The vizier finishes, “It would
serve you and the soul of your child well to make an offering of
forgiveness to Serapis tomorrow, after the execution of your
violator.”
    She agrees again and bows in
thanks. The guards take Nun away and set Bastet free.

 
     
     
     

Chapter 5
     
    I wish to run to her but know I
can’t. I give her a quick wink across the room when no one is
looking and leave. I pass Khons’s crippled form assisted by
Aapep.
    “Justice always prevails,” I say to
Khons.
    Khons looks up oddly and says, “Has
it really, Sokaris?” as he limps past.
    I hesitate mid-bow, unsure of what
he means, but nothing can get in the way of what has happened. The
gods have smiled down on us! As the sun fades, I walk home through
the cluttered city, past all the peasant houses, stacked upon each
other wherever they find space to build, to my temporary dwelling,
all the while trying to figure out a way to see Bastet again. In
Nun’s absence, the fires and lamps are not lit that night, but in
the darkness what unnerves me most is not having Sehket’s presence.
Tomorrow, I’ll send another slave from my residence to bring
her.
    Hoping to see Bastet before she
returns to her father’s house, I need to stay in the city. I
calculate how long I’ll have to wait before I can take her as my
second wife. I smile, thinking of the large dowry her father will
give in light of her great disgrace. How auspicious this all came
to be! I pull my sheets back ritualistically and accept that I will
have to go to sleep with dirty feet that night.
    Khons’s hunched and twisted form
walks in front of the courthouse. As he watches me coming, he lifts
up a deep goblet of dark red wine and spills it down his throat.
Then the heavens rain down upon only me, soaking me through to the
skin, while leaving Khons perfectly dry. In anger, I lunge at Khons
with a spear but upon inspecting his body, see a dead ox. I refill
Khons’s spilt goblet with its blood and drink.
    Even though the sun hasn’t risen
enough to shed light, I reach for my satchel and dart out of bed in
the direction of the Temple Library. I slink into the scribes’
study, and the deaf old man doesn’t even stir at my entrance. I
creep up behind him while he affixes his seal to the letter he’s
just completed.
    I say right behind his head, “What
has you working so early, Khons?”
    He jumps and drops the wax he’s
holding above the candle