Noreen
Doyle
Egyptology
Nautical Archaeology
Fiction
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Noreen
Doyle
Egyptology
Nautical Archaeology
Fiction
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| FICTION: excerpt About My Fiction Stories in Print Anthologies |
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Shadow of the Pyramid
During the reign of my brother the king, Khufu, Lord of the Two Lands, the Gray-Men came to Egypt. The Nile was about to flood as it does every year. In this season, while the high waters are laying rich new soil across the fields, farmers can neither sow nor plow. So the king called north to the marshes of the Delta and south to the hills of Nubia. "You cannot work your fields today for the Nile will flood them tomorrow," he said. "Come to me, for I have work for you. I will feed you and I will clothe you. Come labor for me and if you die here I will give you a burial finer than you would ever receive in your little villages. Come work for me!" His summons was heard, it was obeyed. The governors of the provinces assembled men of strength and skill and care and sent them forth. As the Nile inundated the fields, a flood of people came by boat and bare foot to the region of Memphis. We saw lights in the sky during those days. Our priests know the sky well and declared that these were not the lights that fall to earth from time to time in the form of black stones. No, these were like slender, bright fish that swam in the heavens, and never once did one fall. "Are they gods?" the king asked of the priests. The priests did not know. Wise men from foreign lands assembled before the throne, speaking in strange tongues and smelling of strange perfumes. From Syria and Sumer and beyond Nubia they came, but they did not know. Magicians spoke to ghosts in bowls of oiled waters, and they did not know. "Should these omens delay construction of my tomb?" Khufu asked of his ministers. Now, these ministers did not want to delay construction of the pyramid. The royal tomb was their purpose and their power. I know this to be true, for I, Kanefer, the king's royal brother, am foremost of his ministers. "No," I said. "Let us not delay construction of your tomb, my lord. Twenty thousand men sit along the riverbank, awaiting royal orders. Quarries are pregnant with stone. Let us raise a monument to your majesty, that these fish in the sky will see your might and be afraid!" Upon his order we began construction of his great pyramid. With tools of copper, wood and stone, quarrymen broke limestone from the hills. In wooden barges, sailors shipped them down the swollen river. On sledges of wood, along tracks slicked with water, laborers dragged the blocks into place with ropes. One course, two courses, three courses of stone, it rose, year after year. The king's pyramid, his house of eternity, grew toward heaven. Still the fish flashed in the sky at night, at dusk, at dawn, at midday. Although afraid, the laborers knew that their king would protect them; after all, did not archers and spearsmen stand ready? Because Khufu gave them food and shelter and promise of the sweet afterlife, because he was their king, the workmen did not let the fish in the sky devour their courage. read the rest of the story in Bruce Coville's UFOs (Avon, 2000)
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 Historical science fiction short story (middle grade) Bruce Coville's UFOs edited by Bruce Coville Avon/Camelot 2000 Amazon other excerpts: Ankhtifi the Brave is dying. Callum's Feast The Chapter of Bringing a Boat into Heaven The Chapter of Coming forth by Night The Chapter of the Hawk of Gold The Dovecote The Execration Horizon Shadow of the Pyramid Trading Places |
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