The Spirit Well, the Shadow Lamp, and the Fatal Tree by Stephen Lawhead

Author:Stephen Lawhead
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2015-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

In Which Temptation Is Removed

Anen, high priest of Amun, stood shielding his eyes from the sun as he gazed beyond the gleaming cliff tops at a vulture circling high overhead. The shadow rippled as it passed over the wadi wall below. “This,” he declared, “will be sealed until the end of time. Then I shall emerge to take my place among the company of the immortal.”

Xian-Li translated for her son, who nodded and asked, “Are we allowed to go in?”

“It is the sole purpose of our visit!” replied Anen with a laugh. He signalled one of the servants to bring lamps and rushlights, and sent them ahead to light the way. Then, stepping carefully over the raised threshold, he led his guests through the doorway and down a steep flight of steps to a lower level and a small, closet-like vestibule leading onto what was either a short tunnel or a very wide threshold that opened onto a large rectangular room with a high, flat ceiling. The entire room had been carved out of the soft limestone; its walls had been smoothed and plastered, and the hard white surface decorated with colourful scenes of life on the riverbank: boys fishing, a man washing a big-horned buffalo, girls herding geese, women making bread and beer, slaves harvesting and threshing grain, and more. Everywhere they looked were pictures. Any surface not covered with images was painted with hieroglyphs or words.

“It is wonderful!” gasped Xian-Li, then said the same in Kemet for Anen’s benefit.

“It has taken a very long time,” said the priest, “and the expense has been great. But I feel very fortunate to think my ka shall spend its days among such pleasant and industrious people.”

A second doorway opened off this room into another. Pointing to it, Benedict asked, “What is in there?”

Xian-Li translated the question and Anen said, “Ah! This is my special place. Come, I will show you.”

They moved from the main chamber into a much smaller one, also filled with paintings. Unlike the others, however, these were contained in room-sized murals, some of which were finished, but others still in progress: four painters were at work under the supervision of a master artist who moved from one to another correcting the odd wayward line—the shape of a calf here, the curve of a horse’s neck there—using a piece of charcoal in one hand and a lamp in the other. The artists worked by the light of small oil lamps and larger rushlights; other workers smoothed plaster onto the walls, mixed paint, or prepared brushes. The close, unmoving air smelled of palm oil and the metallic tang of lime plaster and cut stone.

A simple sarcophagus sat off to one side; unadorned, hewn not of granite but of white limestone, it seemed almost inconspicuous amongst the busyness of the painters and their creations.

At the sudden appearance of the high priest, the master artist barked a command and all the workers put down their tools and, to a man, turned and knelt before their exalted patron.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.