Servant of the Gods by Valerie Douglas Page A

of the Gods, this was the Goddess most likely in need of a warrior.
    After a little time a priestess came to kneel beside her.
    That one sighed.
    She was a woman of strong visage as befitted a priestess of Sekhmet, her skin darker than many in these lands, her features aquiline, her dark hair smooth and straight, glistening where it fell to her shoulders.
    Very softly, the priestess said, “My name is Djeserit.”
    Djeserit had watched the girl step inside the temple. Her coloring was exotic, foreign, her movement graceful, her body strong. She’d heard tales of this one, even seen her fight. With that hair and a warrior’s scars, there couldn’t be more than one like her in all of Thebes. The Goddess she served moved within Djeserit, making her tremble. She felt the force of prophecy… ‘The golden one who would face the coming darkness…’ as Kahotep, High Priest of Horus had said.
    She could almost see it and was grateful she couldn’t see so clearly, despite being Sekhmet’s priestess. In that vision, she could hear terrible cries, the wail of horror and death. It was coming, though, and soon enough.
    Then the Goddess was gone from her.
    Shivering a little in response, Djeserit looked to the girl lying on the floor before her. A whisper to one of her priestesses sent the woman running.
    “Rise child,” Djeserit said. “Tell me your name.”
    Eres looked at her, rose to her knees. “Eres.”
    Tipping her head a little in a benediction of sorts, the priestess handed Eres the basket a priestess brought to her.
    With a smile the priestess Djeserit said, not unkindly, “The Goddess thanks you for your offering and gives you these in gratitude but bids you to understand that this is not your temple…you don’t belong here. Not yet.”
    Bewildered, Eres looked at her, her heart sinking. Desperation drove her to question.
    “I don’t understand…”
    “It’s not for you to understand,” Djeserit said with a small laugh, touching the girl’s hand in sympathy. “It is the Gods. It’s Isis, though, that you seek, Isis you should serve…”
    Isis, the Goddess of love, of magic, of the winds.
    Eres stared at her doubtfully. “That makes no sense, my Lady. I know nothing of the ways of Isis. I’m a warrior…”
    “You will,” the Priestess Djeserit said with a kind smile and reached for the basket. “These may give you some comfort.”
    Taking it, Eres looked inside.
    Four small lion cubs peered out. Barely weaned, they squealed and grunted, their dark button eyes looked up at her. One squeaked and then took her finger into his mouth to suckle. Eres’s heart wrenched. They were so tiny. Her heart went out to them, knowing that one day they would be predators, but now they were hers.
    Djeserit nodded. The instinct to love was there. Whatever she was, this one wasn’t a destroyer, she was a creator. She didn’t belong to Sekhmet.
    “Go to Isis,” Djeserit said. “Sekhmet is not yours, not yet…”
    And Djeserit thirsted, there was such strength, such energy in the girl, she was so bright in spirit, so strong in will…
    With a nod, the young woman took up the basket and her swords…and went in search of the Temple of Isis.
    Behind her, the High Priestess of Sekhmet whispered, “May the Gods be with you…Nubiti.”
    Golden one.

Chapter Six
     
     
    As befitted the greatest of the Goddesses, Isis’s temple was enormous. It shone brilliantly white beneath the harsh midday sun, glowing almost blindingly in the bright light. As Eres entered that place, something moved within her. She felt a great peace descend, as if she had indeed come home. As if this was where she belonged. Walking into the lush grounds with the palm trees towering high above felt oddly familiar – as if she’d been long gone and had finally found her way home once again.
    To one side priests and priestesses fed the hungry with the offerings made to the Goddess by those more fortunate. Children played in the courtyard. Other