The anxiety I had felt through most of my time with Seth returned but stronger now, because I did not know what to expect if I was caught. Was Horus secretly as fierce and pleasure-seeking through pain as his counterpart, or did he expect something else from me?
Which direction should I even go? WherewasI?
And why was the looming threat of Horus at my back still strangely alluring?
I heard rustling from the trees behind me and to my right. Should I look? Would one faltering step mean he had me?
I veered left just in case, straining my eyes through the verdant thickness. The sandy-white color of stone caught my attention even more to my left, and I hastened my sprinting toward… sanctuary, I hoped? A cave?
Atemple, I soon saw, as I exited the thickest copse of trees into a semi-clearing. I paused for as long as I dared to gauge whether I could still hear rustling behind me, and after an answeringsilence, I hurried into the temple proper to allow myself a moment’s rest.
In truth, it was more of a shrine, and very small for being built of such fine stonework, with everything carved to royal perfection. It was the type of structure that, if larger, would have meant worship for one of the greatest gods, but in this simple shelter with low roof, close walls, and two open archways as an entrance and exit, it wasn’t one gods’ greatness being worshipped, but two, and not the entirety of those two, but their brief time spent together.
The hieroglyphics on the walls told the story of the contendings of Horus and Seth.
I was drawn to the depictions, each scene, each challenge, laid out before me. It didn’t even start by showing the murder of Osiris, as most would, but straight to when Horus appeared before Seth, demanding he return the throne. The other gods interfered in their initial quarrel and, unable to agree on who was the true successor, ordered the pair to face one another in fair and varied challenges.
A test of constitution, for example, through who could hold their breath the longest beneath the Nile. A race in stone boats. Battle after battle to prove strength and cleverness. Trial after trial before different overseeing gods, some of which were stories I had never heard before, for there were many disparities to this tale, and it was said the contendings had lasted for nearly a century.
What was clear when I got to the fourth and final wall was that the seduction of Horus had played out exactly as he had told me. They had battled once more when Horus denied Seth’s offer, more viciously than any of their previous bouts, ending in the loss of Horus’s eye, but he was inevitably still named the victor, and Seth’s punishment was decided when he conceded his loss.
The very last panel of images showed Horus in deep mourning, up in the sky, while Seth was in his cave below, awaiting his next battle against Apophis. Horus was shown thinking of happier times, of the fun experienced between them, and how much both had enjoyed the chase.
That was what he wanted from this. From me.Fun, like children playing before the midday heat, only with a culmination fit for grown men.
The rustling came again from just outside the archway where I had entered. I let the thrill of nervousness fill me, wondering if it was feathers against leaves I heard or feet in the dirt. Probably both.
I heard the rustling in the other direction and spun about to face it. Horus was toying with me, making me second guess the angle of his attack. I backed up toward the first entrance, straining my ears for clues as to his location. Despite the pounding in my head, blood pumping hotly all throughout me, once I was certain of where he lurked, I stayed my course, back and back andback, until I stood framed in the archway.
A hand slipped beneath my loincloth and brushed against my thigh.
“Better run, little hare, before the jawssnap.”
I sprang forward, missing the heat from his touch the moment it left me, but I knew the game now and burst out of the temple exit, debating my next path. The ground beneath my feet was changing as I ran, with softer and softer sand, while the trees were growing less dense. After a few more paces, I saw why.
Water.
I raced toward that tempting pool as the sweat began to drip more and more from my brow, from the places where my dancer’s attire touched skin, and down between my thighs. To my right, left, and forward beyond the pool were yet more trees,as if the oasis went on forever, but at the pool I was vulnerable, in the open, exposed.
I reached the water’s edge and knelt, scooping some of the clear and surprisingly cool water into the cup of my hand to drink. I knew Horus could see me, knew he was watching me, and leaned over the pool, practically on all fours, so the back portion of my loincloth fell to the side, exposing even more of me like a resigned prey baring its throat.
I heard the rush of wind as he no doubt used his wings to cut the distance between us, and as soon as he was almost upon me, I scooped more water into both hands and spun about to fling it in his face.
Horus yelped, startled, but wasn’t slowed enough for me to make my escape. When I tried darting along the bank of the pool, he was still close enough to pounce and tackled me at my knees. I pitched forward, landing hard in the grass, which momentarily winded me. I scrambled to right myself but barely managed to turn over, putting Horus’s face between my thighs as he clung to me.
Finding some of the sweat dripping there, he lapped at the slowly traveling drop and followed it higher until his nose buried in my musk with an animal grunt. I bit back a whine, knowing this was too soon for the chase to end, and hooked my ankles around his chest. I rolled with my entire body, slamming him onto his back halfway in the water, and clambered atop him.
I lunged, sinking my teeth deep into his neck. His renewed yelp was more of a moan now, as he bucked up into the clamp of my hips, and I licked the punctures I had left, whispering, “Some hares bite back.”
I leapt up again while he recovered and took off where I had intended.
I felt him reach after me, fingers brushing my ankle, but I was already gone.
I was exhausted, spurred on only by desire and giving Horus what he needed. He would have some offer for me eventually, I knew, something to tempt me with and divert me from my path, but for now, I was havingfun, and he deserved to have some too.
I fled once more into the trees, heading away from the temple. I had a better headstart this time, but Horus had wings, so I listened carefully for their telling whoosh as I veered left, right, left, right, zigzagging sporadically—and saw Meryt through the trees.
I nearly tripped. I couldn’t dare stop, but I had definitely seen him, as if the usual archway had appeared between tree trunks.
