Anubis

Anubis

 

Anubis copyright c. 2015 T.A. Chase

Part Twelve-

::Sekhmet is the only one who ignores my attempts at manipulation.::

Anubis couldn’t help but smile at the annoyance evident in Isis’s words.

Jamil shifted in his chair and Anubis brought his attention back to him. “I might know someone you can ask. He’s merely an acquaintance of mine and we’ve never talked about the ancient languages he can speak or read, but he is quite knowledgeable.”

He tried not to think how gorgeous Jamil looked when his eyes lit up with happiness. The strangest urge to try and keep that expression on the man’s face hit Anubis. He hadn’t felt that emotion in centuries. Well…at least not since the day his lover turned him over to their enemies. He’d never let anyone get close enough to hurt him like that again.

Anubis wasn’t happy about feeling like that again. H shook his head to dispel the thoughts as he stared at the jars. “I wonder what happened to the prince,” he muttered.

“What do you mean? More than likely his jar is somewhere in the room. We’ll just have to do a more thorough search.” Jamil paused for a second then continued, “Unless they buried him in the caves like usual.”

Inhaling slowly, Anubis pursed his lips. “I’m not sure they’d separate them like that. I guess it would depend on who buried them.”

Jamil frowned. “Who buried them? Wouldn’t his own people do that?”

Anubis shrugged. “We’d have to figure out when they died. From the legends I’ve been told, an invading army defeated Prince Okilma around the tenth year of his reign. After that, the information on him gets sketchy. There never was mention of his death or that of his family.”

He was fudging the truth a little on that. Anubis had searched for Okilma and his family once he’d been changed by Anubis, yet he hadn’t been able to find them or any record either. It was as though they’d been wiped from the histories. He’d hoped that the gods had smiled on them and allowed them to live. He should’ve known his wishes wouldn’t have been answered.

“I’ll have some of my students start digging through the ancient histories. Maybe there’ll be some kind of mention of him.” Jamil grabbed the pencil from Anubis then jerked the paper over so he could make some notes for himself. “Can you tell me the names of the Princess and the son?”

Anubis recited them for Jamil to jot down. He couldn’t resist reaching out and tracing the writing on the jars. He remembered the young prince’s bright hazel eyes and shy smile. Okilma had never hidden their relationship from his wife, and she had been fine with him spending time with the family. So he’d come to be a favorite of the young boy. Maybe it was simply because he’d been the only one to really pay the child any attention.

“Hakim,” he whispered.

“What?” Jamil glanced up at him. “Did you say Hakim?”

“Yes. That was the son’s name,” he told Jamil. “The princess’s name was Eesha.” He blinked at the weird coincidence of the young woman working on the site having the same name as Okilma’s wife.

Jamil chuckled. “I’ll have to tell Eesha she shares her name with a princess. She’ll love that.”

Anubis hummed in agreement. An image of the young princess flashed through his head and he realized both women looked remarkable alike, but he couldn’t say that because there would’ve been no pictures or carvings of her. Unless he said he once saw something that had been lost to the desert when he was young. It wasn’t worth the effort of lying. He would just keep it simple and try not to trip himself up over things.

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to know that.” After standing, he took off his gloves then set them on the table. “I’m afraid I have a meeting to get to. Would it be all right if I join you at the site tomorrow?”

Jamil looked a little surprised at his sudden wish to leave, but he nodded. “Sure. Can you give me the contact information for that guy you mentioned? I’ll send him an email while I’m here at the museum.”

Anubis gave him Thoth’s information, not happy about having his brother join him, but knowing Isis was probably right about having someone else there to watch his back.

“Great. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Jamil shook his hand. “Do you need me to escort you out of the basement?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No. I’ve been here before and know the way. I hope you’re able to discover more about Princess Eesha and the young prince.”

Anubis could say that because while he did wish Jamil success, he knew there wouldn’t be anything else for him to find. Before he could leave the room, Jamil spoke up.

“Oh wait. I wanted to show you a video one of my assistants shot yesterday after you left.” Jamil dug out his phone and fiddled with it.

Returning to his side, Anubis couldn’t think of anything that would interest him, but he wanted to be polite. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a jackal chasing a rabbit on the screen. Holy fuck!

“He saw this jackal and rabbit racing around and had to get a video of it. We’ve never seen a jackal out like that. It’s so cool.” Jamil seemed fascinated by the animals.

“It is rare to see one so close to any kind of civilization,” Anubis admitted. Shit! I thought I was far enough away that no one would see me.

::You need to be more careful.:: Isis admonished him.

::I know that now. I’m not an idiot.::

“Sandy seems to think it’s a good sign. That maybe the god Anubis has blessed our dig and will help us find more artifacts.” Jamil grinned.

“Anubis is the god of the underworld. I’m not sure he’s willing to give up his secrets to mere mortals like you and I.” Anubis patted Jamil’s shoulder. “Time will tell if she’s right or not.”

2 Responses “Anubis”

  1. Bobbi says:

    Good one keep them coming

  2. loved it – thanks, TA 🙂

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