Free Dream Boat by Marilyn Todd Page B

nothing else, the man was determined upon the course of everlasting life. He alone possessed the secret. He alone could win the battle against Death - against the serpent who lay in wait in the void which lies beyond the west - for he was the incarnation of the Dark Destroyer, Seth, and you dismiss the Dark One at your peril.
    The Cradle of Ra! The very thought was laughable, the dwelling place of the Ten True Gods, my arse. The man sprang to his feet, fixing his gaze on the temple doors. They were closed now, as they closed every afternoon, once the morning ceremonies were concluded and those who wished to petition the sun god had finished their entreaties. Ten of them, indeed! The Dark One pictured them in their orderly little line, each cloaked to the ground in swirling black or silver, each masked by the deity they represented, and yet what were they? Nothing more than animals - the cow, the cat, the falcon, the crocodile, the jackal, the cobra, the vulture and the ibis plus those two human gods, Isis and Osiris. Ignorant and stupid, had they learned nothing? Could they not see what was in front of them?
    'Oh, yes,' he whispered to the breeze. 'Ignore the Master of the Powers of Darkness at your peril.'
    They had neglected him. In their arrogance, they had omitted Seth from their so-called Holy Council and yet had the temerity to call themselves the Ten True Gods. When there should be eleven at the table.
    But in time there would be. Yes, indeed. Seth was working on it, and when the table was complete, he could once again reclaim his rightful place as king.
    They would not - could not - dare to overlook him any longer. He was Master of the Darkness, the Sorcerer, the Measurer of Time. The powers of the night were his, he had magic in his hands.
    He stared at his hands. Strong, tanned, you could almost see the magic rise up from them, like the heat which shimmered in the valley. Seth looked down through the treetops and recognised the woman Berenice, suckling her infant son. The
    child had grown fractious in the viscous heat, her breast was soothing to the boy. Seth closed his eyes and imagined himself in the infant's place, and the image sent a fire through his loins. He opened his eyes again. Berenice, her greedy son, all the flowers in this valley, one day (and soon) they would be gone. Dust, the lot of them. Beauty doomed by time.
    Not Seth.
    Oh, no, not Seth. Father of the jackal, uncle of the falcon, he had mastered the powers of darkness, and yet his fellow gods had spurned him. He, who had once ruled over Egypt with Osiris, had been cast out! Evicted! Allowed no place in society! Worse, he had been vilified because it was Seth who, at the Judgement of the Dead, had gobbled up the hearts of those who failed the Balance. But his fellow gods would soon regret their folly! The outcast would reap revenge in the only certain way.
    He would transcend Time as he would transcend her sister, Death. As King of the Darkness, he would show those Ten True Fools real powers and then, for all eternity, they would bend their knee to him.
    He watched Berenice move her son to her other breast, leaving both exposed to Seth's hidden stare from his eyrie on the hill. Such breasts. Such beautiful ripe, round breasts. He could almost see them thrusting themselves at the child, heavy with their milk, and he watched until his erection was complete. Turning, hard and primed, he stepped over the heart-shaped stone and pulled back the branches of a scrambling fig to reveal a cave gouged out of the pitted tufa rock.
    'Mmmff!'
    The girl tied to the high-backed chair squirmed and wriggled, and Seth stood in the cave mouth for several minutes watching the leather bonds bite deeper into the white and naked flesh as she struggled to break free from cords which never would release her. Seth was proud of his knots. They tightened with every twist she made.
    'Mmmmf!' Wild eyes rolled above the gag across her