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Muwattali clutched his chest and collapsed on the flagstone
floor.
 My heart . . . my heart feels like a stone . . . call for the
doctor.
 I demand full powers. From here on in, I ll be the one
who issues the army s orders.
 The doctor, quickly!
 Give up the throne.
 I m your father. You re just going to let me . . . die?
 Give up the throne.
 I will. You have . . . you have my word.
twenty-six
he council of tribal chiefs listened attentively to
TMoses. The acquittal had increased his popularity to
such an extent that the man now known as  The Prophet
could not be ignored.
 God protected you, Libni opened gruffly.  Give Him
praise and spend the remainder of your existence in prayer.
 You know my true intentions.
 Don t press your luck, Moses.
 God has ordered me to lead the Hebrew people out of
Egypt, and I ll obey Him.
Aaron pounded the floor with his staff.
 Moses is right. We must win our independence. When
we have our own homeland, we ll be happy and prosperous.
Let s all leave Egypt together and fulfill the will of Yahweh!
 Why expose our people to such peril? Libni said vehe-
mently.  The army will massacre the insurgents, the police
will arrest all sympathizers!
 First we must banish fear, recommended Moses.  Our
faith will give us the strength to overcome Pharaoh and
avoid his wrath.
 Why can t we be content with serving Yahweh here, in
the land where we were born?
 God spoke to me on the mountain, Moses reminded
Ramses: The lady of abu simbel 157
them.  It s God who has traced your course. Refusing to
follow would be the end of us.
Kha was fascinated. Setau was telling him about the
energy that circulates in the universe and animates all living
things, from a grain of sand to a star. A concentrated form
of that energy, he said, was found in statues of the gods.
Ramses eldest son, inside the temples where Setau gained
him admittance, could never get his fill of contemplating
their bodies of stone.
The child was awestruck. A priest had purified his hands
and feet, dressed him in a white kilt, then made him cleanse
his mouth with natron. From the moment he set foot inside
the fragrant and silent world of the temple, Kha had per-
ceived the presence of a strange force, the  magic that
linked the elements of life and on which Pharaoh drew so
that he might nurture his people.
Setau showed the young prince around the laboratory
attached to the temple of Amon. The walls were covered
with inscriptions revealing the secret formulas for unguents
used in religious ceremonies and ingredients that preserved
the sacred eye of Horus, keeping its light alive in the world.
Kha read the texts avidly, memorizing as many of the
hieroglyphs as he could. He would have liked to spend time
in each of the temples they visited, studying the inscriptions
in detail. These life-bearing symbols were what transmitted
the wisdom of the ages.
 This is where true magic is revealed, Setau told the boy.
 It s the weapon God has given man to ward off evil and
triumph over fate.
158 Christian Jacq
 But how can we change our destiny?
 We can t, but if we become fully aware of it, we can rise
above it. If you can bring magic into your everyday life,
you ll be in touch with the force that tells you the secrets of
heaven and earth, of day and night, of the mountains and
rivers. You ll understand the language of birds and fish,
you ll wake at dawn with the sun at your side, and you ll see
divine power skimming the waters.
 Will you teach me how?
 Perhaps, if you try hard, if you fight hard against vanity
and laziness.
 I ll fight with all my might!
 Your father and I are heading for the Deep South. We ll
be gone for several months.
Kha s face fell.  I wish you could stay and teach me
magic.
 Turn your disappointment into an opportunity. You re
to come here each day and immerse yourself in the sacred
symbols that live on in stone. That way you ll be protected
from any outside attack. For additional security, I m going
to equip you with an amulet and a protective inscription.
Setau lifted the lid of a gilded wooden box and pro-
duced an amulet in the shape of a papyrus plant, which
symbolized vigor and growth. He hung it on a cord and
looped it around Kha s neck. Then he unrolled a slim strip
of cloth and with fresh ink drew an eye, healthy and intact.
As soon as the ink was dry, he twisted the strip around the
boy s left wrist.
 Take care with both of these things, he advised
solemnly.  They ll prevent negative influences from getting
into your blood. The magnetizing priests have imbued them
with fluid that will build up your immunity.
 Are snakes the ones who hold the secret formulas?
Ramses: The lady of abu simbel 159
 They know more than we do about life and death, the
two sides of reality. Understanding their message is the
basis of all knowledge.
 I d like to be your apprentice and make medicines with
you.
 You re meant to be a ruler, not a healer.
 I don t want to be king! What I like is hieroglyphs and
secret lore. A pharaoh has to meet with a lot of people and
solve all kinds of problems. I prefer peace and quiet.
 Life doesn t always turn out the way we want it to.
 It should, when we have magic!
Moses was lunching with Aaron and two tribal chiefs
intrigued by the idea of an exodus.
A knock came at the door. When Aaron opened it,
Serramanna came barging in.
 Is Moses here?
The two tribal chiefs moved to shield the prophet.
 Come with me, Moses.
 Where are you taking him?
 That doesn t concern you. Don t make me use force.
Moses stepped forward.  I m coming, Serramanna.
The Sard had the Hebrew get in his chariot. Escorted by
two other police vehicles, they drove briskly to the edge of
town, through the fields, and out toward the desert.
Serramanna pulled up at the foot of a little rise that
overlooked a stretch of sand and gravel.
 Go up to the top, Moses, he ordered. It was an easy
climb. Seated on a windblown boulder, Ramses was
waiting.
160 Christian Jacq
 I like the desert as much as you do, Moses. Don t you
remember our adventures in the Sinai?
The prophet sat down next to the Pharaoh and they
looked off in the same direction.
 What god is this haunting you, Moses?
 The One God, the True God.
 Your Egyptian education should have opened your
mind to the multiple facets of the divine.
 Don t try to take me back to the past. My people have
a future, but only outside of Egypt. Let the Hebrews go
into the desert, three days distance, where we can make sac-
rifices to Yahweh.
 You know quite well that it s out of the question. Such
an excursion would require significant military protection.
In the current circumstances, we can t rule out the possi-
bility of a Bedouin raid. An unarmed population could sus-
tain a great number of casualties.
 Yahweh will protect us.
 The Hebrews are my subjects, Moses. I m responsible
for their safety.
 Subjects? We re your prisoners.
 The Hebrews are free to come and go as they please, in
and out of Egypt, providing they obey the law. Your de-
mand is unrealistic in time of war. Furthermore, many of
your people would refuse to follow.
 I ll guide my people to the Promised Land.
 And where is that?
 Yahweh will reveal it to us.
 Are the Hebrews unhappy in Egypt?
 That doesn t matter. All that counts is the will of God.
 Why are you so inflexible? In Pi-Ramses, we have places
of worship where foreign gods are welcome. The Hebrews
can live their faith as they wish.
Ramses: The lady of abu simbel 161
 That isn t enough for us. Yahweh can no longer suffer
the presence of false gods.
 Aren t you missing the point, Moses? Through the ages
our country has honored the divine as a single principle
with multiple manifestations. When Akhenaton tried to
make Aton supersede all other forms of the sacred, he was
in error.
 His doctrine is being revived, in a purified form. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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