Daughter of Isis, Lilian Nirupa [books to get back into reading .txt] 📗

protocol and gave his royal disciple a supportive hug.

Lizla dried her eyes and thanked him. “Oh my dear teacher, what about your news?”

But Ra-Ta needed to hear her first. “Please tell me the rest of your story, they may be related.”

Lizla tried to recall. “Oh yes, after the eclipse, there was a meditation and I saw a huge black galloping warrior coming to me, but before I could see his face, the chimes that signaled that meditation was finished sounded and the temple doors were opened.” She paused, but Ra-Ta signaled her to continue. “Then I went to the citrus grove by the western wing of the Isis Temple, those trees that connect with the Temple of Love. There I was sitting by the lake, and I suddenly overheard the conversation between Aunt Lillie and her friend Diogenes, who is Mikos’s brother.”

At that, she could not help noticing Ra-Ta’s brief frown of disapproval. She continued, “I hid behind a big palm tree, so they could not see me, and suddenly I heard there was a mysterious, melodic voice with a Persian accent.” Ra-Ta’s intentional look felt a bit severe on Lizla’s innocent narration. “Persian voices always sound – to our harsher desert ears – melodic, but I wait to hear the whole story.”

Lizla blushed a bit. She truly had felt attracted to the musical voice, but she continued. “They were discussing the “sea people,” the Nubians, the Assyrians and other foreigners. There were rumors of war. Also, how the Priests in Thebes may have been in contact with Nubian diplomats.” Lizla ventured this last piece of information softly as she feared Ra-Ta getting offended in support of the Amon-Ra Priests.

But Ra-Ta gave no sign of surprise or disapproval, so Lizla continued. “Well, we had our first class with Ishtar-la and we were studying Kundalini in the KA and she was about to initiate the “Anatomy of the Ka” lesson when the slave came in.”

At this point, Lizla stopped and awaited her master’s comments.

Ra-Ta smiled softly. “Aren’t you forgetting something? You had a dream about me.”

“Who told you?” Lizla was surprised, forgetting she had shared her dream with Psusennes that afternoon by the lake.

“Someone you try to forget as hard as he tries to remember you.” Ra-Ta’s soft laugh brought a new blush to Lizla’s cheeks.

“Oh yes, I told my cousin. He said he knew about your trip to Thebes.” Lizla inwardly acknowledged Ra-Ta’s suggestion that her cousin was a bit disruptive to her peace of mind, but decide to keep silent about it.

Ra-Ta smiled knowingly. “Your cousin is of royal blood, a dedicated devotee of Isis, and of Egypt. I am training him both through spiritual and political counseling. He admires you very much, but he also respects you.” Ra-Ta sighed. “About my trip, it was very eventful too. My slave, not the strangers you saw in the dream, woke me up with a letter from one of our loyal Priests in Thebes. The priests in Thebes are wary of the war costs; it eats into their temple profits. Since they support the local population, they feel responsible for the granaries and the ownership of the land.”

“But the land belongs to Pharaoh”! Lizla exclaimed.

“Yes, I know and they know, but the Nubians don’t want to know and they instigate rebellion among the weakest of our religious brothers. In addition, some of the Nubian warlords have married well into the Egyptian aristocracy in Thebes, so they are very well connected with political power and wealth endowment. So it is not as simple as it seems.”

Ra-Ta’s frown was deeper this time as he remained silent for a few minutes. Lizla could not dare to interrupt again; she was anxiously awaiting every word her teacher was kind enough to share with her. She knew even that was a privilege, for people outside the highest level of the Priesthood or the government rarely got this information. At the moment, she was neither, so she felt she had no right to ask more. But Ra-Ta continued.

“Narumi, my Nubian slave, was killed when mapping the trip for me. As I boarded the boat for Thebes, I received a strange message from my own master Amon-Ra-Tel, whom I had not seen in many years. He summoned me to his chambers.”

Lizla was astonished. She remembered Narumi was the name of the “stranger” she had seen attacking Ra-Ta. But it was also the name of his personal slave. What did that mean? Maybe Ra-Ta did not truly know his servant... But she did not interrupt him.

“My master told me not to go to Thebes, but to hide in Psusennes’s palace, while the boat with Narumi went up the Nile towards Thebes. It was most fortunate for me, at least. The boat was attacked by pirates and they burnt it down. I have not heard of any survivors...”

Ra-Ta’s sad look betrayed his distress in losing Narumi, and also disbelief in so much turmoil, so close to the Priesthood and the Royal Family. But Lizla was thinking that these events, painful as they were, coincided with her dreams and the rumors that princess Lillie and her friends were discussing in the garden. And Psusennes, what was his part in all of this?

“Why Psusennes? Last time I saw him, he was going to Thebes to find you...” Lizla wondered, thinking aloud now.

Ra-Ta continued. “Yes. He was going to accompany me, but was detained by the news of the sinking ship; news travels fast in the town of Memphis. Anyhow, he could not leave immediately, due to matters at home; when he was ready, the ship had left. That is when my Master got us together. I am staying at his palace, except tonight, when my other Nubian slave, Fireas, was attacked by some strangers while he was carrying my message to you at Princess Ishtar-la’s school...” Ra-Ta was about to break into tears, but managed to control his pain. He realized he was being isolated, buy why?

Lizla forgot all protocol and embraced him. She then tried to sound reassuring: “Psusennes will know what to do. Thank you for risking your life to come here. Are we safe here?”

“Yes, this is Psusennes’s personal residence in Memphis. He uses it for...” And he did not continue.

Lizla did not care to hear about it. She could imagine, but she said politely, “I am sure a Prince of his stature may have business and trading in the city. It is the link to the outside world and the sea people, Crete, Greece, Palestine, right?’ Lizla needed her mentor to feel better so she pretended to ignore what she knew of her cousin’s famous love life.

“I suppose so,” said Ra-Ta, “but now I will hide in his palace up the Nile. The one with the outstanding zoological garden. Do you know it?”

Ra-Ta looked suspicious to her, as she nodded with approval. Lizla laughed softly. “My father used to take me there when I was a child. Yes, please hide there; in the mean time, what should I do?”

“For now I would like you to act like you know nothing,” Ra-Ta answered. “Let Ishtar-la continue her lessons. Incidentally, she mentioned she was planning to use the zoo for training; I will see you there; just be careful...”

Lizla agreed and bowed to her master. Then she covered her head with her beaded Persian silk mantle and, signaling Manu to follow her, she went out to take the palanquin back to her apartments in the Isis Temple compound.


Chapter 16 – The Hall of Stars lesson

Lizla slept peacefully for the first time in a week. She felt it was great to see her beloved mentor and to find out that the problem with Thebes’s priests was merely one of regular politics. But why were the Nubians being slain? That was the last thought that crossed her mind before she fell asleep.

She then had a dream; she was back in time as a little child following her father and his page around the wonderful zoological garden that Psusennes’s father had built by the Nile, ten miles south of Memphis. She had always been both afraid and fascinated by tigers. There was a particular one whose fierce growl shot rivulets of terror through her spine, but she couldn’t help going by his cage. It was such a beautiful cat, she thought once, when she had seen it sleeping. In her dream she was again facing the fierce feline and it seemed again to be peacefully sleeping. But it was not. When the tiger saw her standing there, it began to growl. But this time she was not afraid. She went up to the cage and starting petting him. To her surprise, the cage door opened and the tiger came out; like it often happens in dreams, soon the tiger’s face changed to that of Psusennes, who was smiling at her. Suddenly, the light of the morning sun woke her up.

Lizla pondered the meaning of the dream as she was dressing for the astrology class. She felt unusually hungry so she dressed quickly to join the school breakfast line. After breakfast, she went up to the Hall of Stars. She had eaten a good breakfast and felt better. But still she had felt somewhat annoyed because she slept too much and had to leave in a hurry, forgetting her books and her Jyotish calculation tables.

The Hall of Stars astrology class was full as today’s lecture was central to many other disciplines. Also Suryananda had a reputation for being an extremely accurate astrologer. It was hard to get a reading with him, but being a student of his class gave reading priority.

The theme of today’s class was: “Planetary Powers And their Relationships.” This was a subject in which the Indian Masters excelled. Even the professional Egyptian astrologers who were consulted by the royal family or by the most wealthy merchants took classes in India or under Indian Masters to deepen their understanding of this mysterious science.

The Indians called their astrology “Jyotish” which means in Sanskrit: “the Light of God.” This sacred knowledge was the privilege of sages and Brahmins and contained a compendium of different sciences: astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine, psychology, magic and religious studies.

Soon Lizla noticed that Mikos was sitting in the front row and that his eyes were absorbed with the flamboyant Indian Master. Suryananda was the name that the astrology teacher was given when he took his training, back in Benares, under a famous Indian sage called Brighu.

Suryananda means “the bliss of the sun” and when he got into his beloved subject, he truly shone with a passion for classic astrology. His fiery red hair would fly with his emphatic messages. His appearance was royal and bursting with such energy, as if the spirit of RA himself had possessed him. Lizla admired that, but also kept a respectful distance from those dramatic expressions. They were fine but she personally felt more comfortable with the measured and self-contained expressions of her Egyptian teachers.

But Mikos was overtaken with both the drama and his own hunger for knowledge and understanding. Lizla remembered Mikos’s story of his discovery of the engraved ancient coin, when he had discovered his own healing gifts and vocation and mysterious references to the Prince of Peace. She had forgotten to ask Ra-Ta about it but made a mental note to bring it up in one of Suryananda’s classes.

“An event so important must have a place in the stars,” she mused silently. Also she remembered there was a Zodiac under