The Queen Of Gods

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

For some reason, going to Ma'at's chambers was more nerve wracking than visiting Horus, or having Amun turn up in my bedchamber unannounced. Perhaps because she was scarier than both of them combined. I'd never considered that about her before, which seemed silly, given that she fed the hearts of sinners to a demon if they failed her test to enter the afterlife.

"Your Eminence, come this way," one of her priestesses said as I entered the room.

I smiled at her, though I was certain the gesture didn't reach my eyes.

She led me through the main chambers, and through a set of ornate doors. The trickle of water reached my ears as we walked among a series of pools, each one with beautiful decorations and sweet perfumes lifting up from them. Why hadn't I thought of having a room like this built? It was beautiful, and calming.

While none of the pools were deep enough to have been a bath, there were small seats by them for people to sit on while they dangled their feet into the cool water. It almost made meeting Ma'at worth it.

"Hathor is here, Your Eminence," the priestess said as she drew back one of the gauzy curtains to reveal Ma'at sitting by a pool and reading from a couple of scrolls.

"Thank you, Edrice," she said. "Can you make sure we're not disturbed?"

The priestess dipped her head. "Of course."

"Please, take a seat." Ma'at indicated to one of the empty benches. I threw a longing look at the pools, but curbed my desire to dip my feet in.

Instead, I sat down, focusing on the conversation that was to come. No doubt it would be at least a little uncomfortable, given that Ma'at would want to know about my progress with the other gods. And that was lackluster at best.

"Would you like some fruit and wine?" she asked.

I shook my head. No part of me intended to be here long. If I took refreshments, that would only extend the time in her company, and I wasn't willing to do that. I didn't dislike her, per-say, but we also weren't friends, and I didn't intend on changing that. Allies was good enough for me.

"How are things going?" she asked. Right to the chase.

Good. I could appreciate her wanting to keep this as short as possible.

"Badly, overall," I admitted. "Khonsu is here already, and willing to join the cause, but the others are proving a little trickier." That was a nice way of putting Horus being hateful and Amun randomly turning up. "Though I have a lead on where Atum is." Finally.

"That's good. We need him on side almost more than the others," she admitted.

"Oh?" Could I get away with not turning Horus?

"You know who he is..." she started.

"Yes. The creator of all, including himself." At least, that was what he'd claimed to the humans, and they'd believed him. I was skeptical about some of it, but there was no doubt Atum was older, and more powerful, than most of the rest of us. He'd probably only lost a small portion of his magic too. He wasn't as well known in the modern world as me or Ra, but he'd also had more power to begin with.

Ma'at nodded, not feeling the need to explain further. I appreciated that. She clearly recognised that I was intelligent enough to get to the right conclusions without her prodding.

"Several of the others have told me they won't even consider coming over to our side until Atum is here."

"Even with Ra?" My eyebrows knitted together at that. While Atum was powerful, I wouldn't say he was the most influential.

Ma'at grimaced. "Ra's made himself a lot of enemies."

"Ah." I hadn't had much to do with him in the past few thousand years, but I'd heard the rumours. Everyone had. And they hadn't been helped by Sekhmet's return and anger at him. A lot of not very flattering things had ended up being said about him, and I'd heard them all. Which meant others had too.

"And how flexible are you about getting Horus and Amun on board with this?" I asked, hoping she'd say it didn't matter, and that I could stop trying to convince them.

"I'm not," she assured me.

Damn. Just what I'd expected.

"We need all of them, Hathor," she added. "We need as much power as we can get. Seth has turned some of the still powerful gods to his side, who knows what he can do with them."

"Hmm. That is a problem," I admitted, thinking back to what Anku had said about there being a god among the men who'd destroyed my temple. Of course, that didn't mean anything. Seth could be recruiting demi-gods to worship those of his gods who had lost some of their magic. It wouldn't restore them to full power, but it would do enough. Having some allies he didn't have to do that for would certainly make things easier for him.

"Exactly. And if we don't sway them to our side, then we risk Seth managing to do just that."

I sighed deeply. "No one is going to be allowed to stay neutral, are they?"

"No," she acknowledged. "And not because of me."

"I think it's a little bit because of you," I countered. "Would Seth be doing what he is if you weren't interfering?"

"You know he would be," she insisted.

"No. I know he'd be plotting something. He's Seth, he's always trying to unleash chaos. But people seem to forget that he has two sides to him, like we all do. And one of them isn't bad."

"True, but he doesn't seem to be showing much of that one at the moment," Ma'at supplied.

"Which doesn't mean he won't. So far, Seth has never managed to destroy the world." I wasn't even completely sure that was what he wanted. It wasn't very clear at all. "And there's no reason to believe that this time is going to be any different."

"It feels it."

I raised an eyebrow. This wasn't a side of Ma'at that I was used to seeing. She was stubborn.

"Has anyone tried talking to him?" I couldn't believe this was the direction I was going in after he sent people to destroy my temple and scare my priestesses. But when it came down to it, I wanted to protect the most people possible, and an all out war with Seth wasn't going to do that.

"We sent envoys," she said. "Ra himself went. Nothing came of it except an attempt to destroy his retinue."

"Ah." I should have known. Despite what I was saying, I knew that the chaotic side of Seth wasn't one that could be reasoned with. "And what are you planning on doing with him once you've stopped him?"

Ma'at grimaced. "I don't know," she admitted.

"It's probably something you should figure out." Especially as killing him wasn't an option. Not only couldn't we do that, but it also wasn't a good idea to. The world needed chaos. Just like it needed all the other things. That was why there was a god of it in the first place.

When she didn't reply, I decided our conversation was over. She hadn't exactly told me anything I didn't already know, but it didn't matter. I had Horus to blackmail, and Amun to convince of something. I wasn't too sure what yet. He didn't seem to be particularly interested in what was going on.

"Where are you going?" Ma'at asked.

"To do what you want me to." I didn't add to my statement, and walked off, ignoring the inviting pools surrounding me. If I liked Ma'at more, perhaps I'd ask to come back here at some point.

As I was approaching the door to the private sanctuary, Maahes appeared. The two of them weren't doing much to hide what was going on between them then. I supposed they could claim to be planning a war, which was partly true, but I doubted it.

"Hathor." He dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Maahes," I returned. "She's by the fourth pool on the left," I told him.

"Thank you." He slipped past, hurrying towards where the goddess of truth and justice sat.

A pang of jealousy shot through me at the sight. No one wanted me that way. I didn't think I'd wanted them to, but now I was seeing it in front of me like Ma'at and Maahes, I wasn't too sure. Perhaps it was something I wanted.

Amun's face swam through my mind, but I pushed it aside. I barely knew him. Other than being physically attracted to him, there was no reason for me to want him. And yet, something about the way he'd acted while in my room made me want more.

No. I couldn't think of him right now. Not when I needed to blackmail Horus. That should be my main focus right now. I could work out the complicated emotions I was feeling about someone I didn't know later.