The Egyptian Gods and The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Chapter 8: Isis

Day 20

Horus, Geb and Nut were visiting the Hittites gods when one of his soldiers suddenly reported that Aaron was spotted not far from Pi-Ramses. Ra had no authority to decide anything, Osiris did not want to be involved, and the others simply wanted to wait for Horus. Nevertheless, as Isis and Nephthys were curious, they decided to wait for Aaron at the city front gate.

When the two goddesses arrived, six human guards were registering everyone queueing to enter the city. As usual, those who were not Egyptian stood at the left lane, while the others were at the middle and right lane. Amongst those at the left lane were Aaron and Moses. Upon laying her eyes on the escaped prince, Isis realized how he had drastically changed. Once a bright energetic man with Egyptian royal clothing, Moses was now a tousled-white-haired man with shabby robe and veil, holding onto a wooden staff. Occasionally he glanced to the left and right, eventually the brown-haired woman behind him put her hands on his right shoulder and calmed him. She was Moses' wife, and the two teenage boys on the donkeys beside her were their sons.

Moments later, the time for Aaron's registration finally came. "What is your name?" the guard asked as soon as Aaron, Moses and his family stepped forward. It seemed that he was not aware that the one standing in front of him was a Hebrew who was supposedly working at the time being.

"Aaron."

"Welcome to Pi-Ramses, Aaron," the guard greeted in a flat tone. He then looked over Aaron's left side; his eyes fixated on the donkeys ridden by Moses' sons. "I see you didn't bring a lot of stuff there. Are you not a trader?"

"I'm not."

Instead of responding with another question, the guard studied Aaron from head to toe. He then locked eyes with him. Isis assumed he had somehow found the man in front of him suspicious. Even though it was rather impossible for a checkpoint guard to recognize each slave, she still thought that Aaron would have to undergo a further inspection. Nevertheless, she was soon proved wrong, as the guard decided to just resume the interview.

"What's your purpose for coming to Pi-Ramses?"

"My brother and I would like to request an audience with Lord Ramses," Aaron blatantly mentioned, instantly surprising Isis and Nephthys.

"What did you just say?" the guard confusedly asked; his eyebrows knit together.

"We would like to request an audience with Lord Ramses."

"Why do you intend to meet the king?" the guard asked suspiciously. Almost at the same time, the guard standing behind this guard stepped forward; his left hand was already on his sword hilt.

"We've been commanded to free our people from this land," Aaron honestly stated, surprising Isis and Nephthys once again. It also made Isis wonder whether such boldness would cost him his head, as the second guard immediately pulled out his sword.

"Your people?" the guard's forehead wrinkled. Two more guards had also joined; obviously it was because their friend's sword had been unsheathed. "What people?" And who's the king who gave you such an order?"

"Yahweh, The God of Hebrews."

The guard scoffed. "The God of Hebrews? Who is he or she?"

"It doesn't matter who He is. All that matters is we've been given the mission to set The Hebrews free."

"You've been given the mission to set The Hebrews free," the guard repeated Aaron. "Then I've been given the mission to drive away crazy people like you."

"The command from Our God is absolute. We will never leave," Aaron boldly responded, making the guard look annoyed.

"I'm going to tell you one thing now, Aaron," the guard said as he leaned forward and placed his right arm on the table. "I'm usually not that compassionate to crazy people like you. I prefer to flog and humiliate you in front of the others. Probably it's even better if I just dump you into The Nile and feed your stinky body to the crocodiles. They cannot smell well so your stinky body won't matter to them."