The Skin Map

CHAPTER 33
In Which Nature Takes Its Course

It began as a simple tickle in the throat. Xian-Li coughed once or twice, drank a little water, and carried on making herself ready for the day. She and Arthur breakfasted with some of the priests on slices of sweet melon, dates, figs in honey, and goat’s milk flavoured with almonds. While Arthur and the servants of Amun chatted over their food, Xian-Li sat quietly and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her back, letting her mind wander where it would.

“You’re not eating,” Arthur observed at one point during the meal. “Aren’t you hungry, darling?”

“Mmm?” She shook off her reverie and looked down at her untouched plate. “Oh, I was…” Her voice drifted off.

“You must eat something,” he chided. “You simply can’t meet Pharaoh on an empty stomach, you know.”

She nodded, picking up a fig. She put it down again after only a bite, and her mind flitted away once more. The next thing she knew the meal was over; the white-kilted priests were getting up, and Arthur was on his feet, ready to go.

“Xian-Li?”

“Yes?” she said, glancing up.

“I was talking to you just now. Didn’t you hear me?”

“Very sorry, husband,” she replied, offering a wan smile. “I was cloud-drifting.”

He laughed. “In England we call it wool-gathering.” His glance became serious. “Are you sure you’re well, my dear? You look pale.”

“A little tired, perhaps,” she allowed. She stood up, and the world seemed to spin; the ground shifted under her feet. Her vision dimmed and, suddenly dizzy and light-headed, she sat back down with a thump. “Oh!”

“Darling? Are you all right?”

She waved away his concern. “I stood up too fast,” she told him.

“Here, let me help you.” He put his hand beneath her arm.

She stood again, more slowly this time. “It is nothing.”

They walked across the sunny temple yard to the guesthouse to finish preparations for the short journey to meet the pharaoh’s barge at Oma. Anen was to be their guide and had gone to fetch a mule cart for them; the priest, as a member of the extended royal family, would travel in a horse-drawn chariot. They were to leave as soon as he returned.

“This is a very great honour,” Arthur was saying as they entered the small, spare house. His voice seemed to come to her from a very great distance. “I suppose it would be akin to meeting your emperor Qing-” He broke off abruptly, for his wife was leaning against the doorpost with her hand to her head.

“Darling! You are unwell.”

“I feel a little warm,” she confessed. “Maybe I was in the sun too long.” She patted his arm and went to wash in the basin on the tripod beside the bed. She bent over the basin, and in her reflection in the still water she saw a drawn, hollow mask looking back at her. Lowering her hands into the basin, she laved cool water onto her face and neck and felt instantly refreshed. “That is much better.”

She dried herself and wound her long, black hair into a coil and pinned it up for travel. She found the linen scarf she had been given to help keep the sun off her head and, thus prepared, sat down on the pallet that was her bed to await Anen’s arrival with the cart. Meanwhile, Arthur heard a clatter of hooves in the courtyard and went out to greet the priest, and on his return found his wife stretched out on the bed, her arm over her eyes.

“Xian-Li,” he said, “it is time to go.” He crossed the room and knelt beside the pallet. When she failed to respond, he gave her arm a gentle shake. “Xian-Li? Wake up, my dear.”

She came to with a start. “Oh, forgive me, I must have dozed off. I-” She struggled upright, only to sink back down once more.

He put the back of his hand to her forehead. “Darling, you’re burning up! You have a raging fever.”

“I was in the sun too long,” she insisted, pushing herself up. “I am well enough to travel.”

Arthur frowned doubtfully. “I think you should stay here and rest.”

She scoffed at the idea. “And miss meeting Pharaoh? It is nothing. It will soon pass. I can rest in the cart.”

Arthur helped her to her feet. He steadied her as she swayed. “Still light-headed?”

“A little,” she admitted. “But there-it is gone. I am better now. Let us go, and think no more about it.”

His wife strode briskly out into the sun-filled courtyard, drawing the scarf over her head. The priest Anen, holding the bridle of the lead chariot horse, called a greeting; a small two-person donkey cart stood waiting nearby, as well as a pack mule bearing simple provisions, and four other priests to accompany them. Xian-Li approached Anen and gave him a polite bow, then walked to the cart.

“My wife is determined to go,” Arthur explained, stepping close to his priestly friend.

The two men watched as the dark-haired young woman raised her foot to the step at the back of the cart; she gripped the handrails and made to swing herself up into the open end of the vehicle. But it seemed that either her hand or foot slipped, for the next thing they saw was Xian-Li falling backward onto the stone-paved yard. A quick-thinking brother priest saw what was happening and leapt forward to catch her and broke her fall, easing her to the ground.

Arthur and Anen rushed to her side.

“Xian-Li!” cried Arthur, kneeling by his stricken bride.

Her eyelids fluttered momentarily, and then she seemed to come to herself once more. “Arthur… oh! What has happened?”

“You fell,” said Arthur. “You must have fainted.”

“No,” she said, “I-” She broke off as a spasm passed through her body. “Oh…,” she gasped, and tried to sit up.

“Rest a moment,” Arthur told her. “We’ll get you back inside.” He signalled to the priests to help him, and they lifted her up and carried her back into the guesthouse and laid her on the pallet bed.

“I have sent Tihenk for the physician,” Anen said as he joined them. “He will come at once.”

Arthur thanked him, and Anen ordered his fellow priests to wait outside. “You must go soon or you will not be on time to meet Pharaoh. You dare not keep him waiting.”

“Another will go in my place,” countered Anen. “Pharaoh will understand.”

“Please, I will not have you stay here on our account,” Arthur protested. “The physician will look after her, and we will join you in a day or two when Xian-Li is feeling better.”

“Then, when she is well, we will travel together,” Anen replied. “Until then, I stay here with you.”

Seeing that no amount of persuasion would change the priest’s mind, Arthur thanked him and fetched his wife a drink of water; he dipped the end of her scarf in the basin and used the damp cloth to bathe her forehead. A few minutes later the physician arrived-a stocky senior priest with a smooth bald head and soft hands. Schooled in the healing arts since childhood, he possessed the easy manner of a competent, unflappable soul. He carried a simple woven grass bag on his shoulder and a small, three-legged stool. “I am Khepri,” he said. “I am here to help you.” Anen completed the introductions and, after a brief explanation, the fellow placed the stool next to his patient, sat down, and removed his bag.

Khepri sat for a moment, quietly, studying his patient, then clapped his hands and, raising his face, closed his eyes and uttered a prayer for Isis to attend him and aid in curing the ailment of the woman before him. Then, leaning forward, he placed his hand on Xian-Li’s forehead, nodding to himself. He turned to Arthur to inquire what she had eaten in the last day.

“Very little,” Arthur told him, then went on to list the few items he knew she had consumed. “Do you think it might be something she ate?”

“That is the most likely cause,” replied the physician. “Many people of foreign origin suffer so when sojourning in our land for the first time. There is nothing to worry about. It will pass.”

“Good,” said Arthur. “I am glad to hear it.” He glanced down at his wife, who lay with a hand over her eyes. “What can we do to make her more comfortable while we wait?”

“I will give her some water mixed with honey and the juice of plums,” Khepri told him. “Also, we will keep a damp cloth on her head and feet to draw the heat from the fire in her blood.”

The treatment sounded good to Arthur, so he gave his assent. Anen spoke a word to the doctor, who went to fetch the necessary items, and then said, “I will leave you in his care for a while. I must go and see Shoshenk on his way to meet Pharaoh.”

“I thank you for your care, my friend,” said Arthur. “But you do not have to do this.”

“It is done,” replied the priest.

He departed, and Khepri returned with the honey water and gave some to his patient. Xian-Li drank as much as she could, then said she would like to sleep. Arthur translated her words for the physician, who nodded, saying, “That is for the best.” He rose, taking up his stool. “I must go stay with a man with a broken arm. I will return when I have finished.”

“Yes, go,” Arthur told him. “I will stay with her until you come back.”

Arthur settled down to sit with his sick wife, holding her hand and, every now and then, dipping the cloth in the basin to wet it again before replacing it on her forehead. Xian-Li, for her part, drifted in and out of sleep. When she woke, Arthur offered her some more honey water, which she accepted, taking no more than a sip or two before laying her head back down.

“Do you hurt anywhere?” he asked her once after she had drunk a little.

“My neck is sore,” she said, her voice a dry rasp. “On the inside.”

“Your throat, you mean,” corrected Arthur.

“Yes.”

“When Khepri comes back I will ask him for something to help.”

She offered him a weak smile. “I am sorry, husband. I have disappointed you.”

“Never!” protested Arthur. “I love you, Xian-Li. You could never disappoint me.”

She slept through the rest of the morning. Khepri the physician returned at midday and made up a mixture of honey and spices, thinned with a little almond milk, to ease the pain in her throat and make swallowing more comfortable. He noted that the fever had not eased, nor had it abated by late afternoon when he came back with his father-also a physician-to seek his wisdom and advice.

Arthur stood by as they held close conference with one another; he watched the two men nodding as they whispered back and forth on their stools. The elder man lifted Xian-Li’s unresisting hand and held it for a moment before replacing it on her breast. They talked some more, and then Khepri rose and came outside to where Arthur and Anen were hovering at the door.

“It is our opinion that tainted food is not the cause of this illness,” he said.

“No?” said Anen. “What then-can you tell?”

“My father has seen this before,” replied the physician. “It is a fever which commonly afflicts children.”

“I see,” said Arthur. “What can be done about it?”

“It gives me no pleasure to tell you, my masters, but there is no cure. I am sorry.”

“We just let nature take its course?” asked Arthur. “No. That is not enough.”

“We will make her comfortable and pray that recovery is in the will of the gods for this soul.” The physician, his dark eyes full of sympathy, put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “I am sorry.”

At a sign from Anen, the doctor returned to his patient. “Come with me, my friend,” said the priest, “and let us eat something.”

“I could not eat a thing,” sighed Arthur. “I think I should stay here.”

“We have a long night ahead of us. I will have food brought in.”

A short while later, Anen returned with a company of priests bearing bowls of food, which they arranged on a low table with seating mats spread on either side. “I have ordered a sacrifice to be made in the temple for the return of health,” Anen told him. “They will perform the ceremony at the rising of the moon.”

“Thank you,” said Arthur.

They ate a silent meal together, Arthur picking at his food and watching the darkened door expectantly. Evening deepened around them, the stars kindling in the wide black expanse above. When it grew too dark to see, two young temple acolytes came with torches in iron stands; they placed one at the table and on either side of the door of the guesthouse, and then withdrew.

Night drew on. Occasionally, one physician or the other came to the table for refreshment; Arthur went now and again to sit at his wife’s side. She slept the restless, troubled sleep of the sick, and though Arthur dutifully bathed her face and neck and feet with the cool water, it no longer seemed to bring her burning body any comfort.

As midnight approached, Xian-Li began to lapse in and out of consciousness. She moaned and murmured in increasingly fretful sleep, sometimes calling out, the words garbled and indistinct. Then, suddenly, she would wake and struggle to rise, fearful, no longer knowing where she was. Arthur did his best to calm her and soothe her restless spirit, all the time fighting his own growing fears.

The physicians, meanwhile, tried to get her to drink and continually refreshed the damp cloths. The last time she was able to drink, she vomited it all back up, and from then on could not be induced to take any more water. As the terrible night wore on, she began to sweat and shake with chills-so violently that once Khepri held her jaws together with his hands lest she shatter her teeth.

Gradually, the shaking grew less strenuous, which Arthur took as a good sign. But Khepri said, “Her strength is failing. The fire inside is consuming her.”

Arthur could but look on in helpless anguish as his young wife’s breathing grew ever more shallow and erratic. The sweating stopped. Her chest rose once and fell. Between one breath and the next, Xian-Li, her life devoured by the fever, expired. She was gone.

It took a moment for Arthur to realise what had happened, and even then he could not grasp the awful finality of it. The end had come so quickly, and right up until the moment she died he had been certain she would pass the crisis. He had not had time to prepare for the possibility that she might not survive. Uncomprehending, he simply sat and stared at her beautiful body as the lines of tension in her face and limbs eased and she relaxed into death.

A few moments passed, and then the two physicians bent over the body and began to unfold a linen cloth to cover the corpse.

“No,” murmured Arthur. “Leave her be.”

Khepri nodded to his father, who extended his palm in a gesture of respect and backed from the room. “I am sorry,” Khepri said. “It was the will of the gods. There was nothing to be done.”

“What?” Arthur roused himself. “What did you say?”

“We were powerless before the mighty will of the gods.” He glanced with sadness at the still body. “If you wish, I will begin making the arrangements for her embalming. It is best done quickly.”

“No,” Arthur said, shaking his head. “Thank you, Khepri, but no. I will make my own arrangements.”

“As you will, master.”

Anen came in then and, seeing what he had already been told had taken place, he embraced his friend and expressed his sorrow. Then, spreading his hands over the body, he intoned a chant for the dead. Arthur listened, unable to make anything of it. When the priest finished, he turned and asked, “If you wish, I will have the body prepared for its journey into the afterlife.”

“How long until the sun rises?” asked Arthur.

“Not long. The night is almost gone.”

Arthur turned and rushed into the courtyard. Cupping his hands to his eyes to shut out the glare of the torches, he quickly scanned the heavens. From among the billions of bright pinpricks of light, he located the one he hoped to see: a star of piercing intensity, easily the brightest light in the heavens.

“Then we must hurry. There is not much time,” he said, rushing back into the guesthouse. Bending over the pallet, he gathered the still-warm body of Xian-Li into his arms.

“What will you do?” asked the priest.

“I’m taking her to reclaim her life.”

Anen opened his mouth to protest. “But-”

“Please,” said Arthur, cutting him off, “I must be at the ley before sunrise.”

Anen saw from the set of Arthur’s jaw that it was no use arguing. “What do you require?”

“Your chariot-is it still here?”

“I will order another.”

While the priest went to fetch the vehicle, Arthur wrapped his wife in the linen cloth Khepri had left for him. Then, when he heard the sound of the horses in the courtyard, he gathered up Xian-Li’s body and walked out. Together, they laid the corpse on the floor of the chariot, and Arthur started to climb up.

“Have you ever commanded such as this?”

Arthur admitted that he had not.

“Then allow me,” said Anen, taking the reins from his friend’s hands. “Stand behind me and hold tight.”

Arthur took his place in the chariot, and they rolled out into the darkened street and were soon on the road leading out of the city. By the time they reached their destination, the sky was pearling in the east. Wasting not a moment, they lifted Xian-Li’s body and arranged it so that Arthur could carry it more easily.

As the first golden rays of the newborn sun struck the unnaturally straight path, Arthur started walking.

“Where will you go?” Anen called after him.

“There is a place beyond that star,” Arthur replied, indicating the solitary star still ablaze in the fast-fading sky. “If Xian-Li can be healed anywhere, it will be there-at the Well of Souls.”