The Egyptian Gods and The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Chapter 15: Nephthys

Day 29

As expected, both did not return to Goshen. They walked towards the river where the fallen soldiers were buried. While it was not strange if the frog disaster would commence from the river, Nephthys and Isis still wondered why it had to be started from the same place as the blood disaster. Was it because the place was where the conflict started? Did Yahweh intend to make some kind of constant reminder to this event?

Aaron raised his rod above the water and stretched his arms. Instantly, multiple pillars of water emerged from the water surface. When these pillars finally dropped, bubbles appeared on the exact spot of the pillars. Before long, frogs came out from those areas.

The animals swam towards the river bank. Shockingly, they kept appearing from the water. By the time none came out again, Nephthys and Isis estimated that there could be ten thousand of them.

In all the history of Egypt, the goddesses never witnessed such a large amount of frogs. They were even convinced that Heqet did not have that many. Curious about where they actually came from, Nephthys decided to jump into the water.

The first sight immediately shocked her. What used to be the graves of the fallen soldiers were now holes without any bodies. What's left inside each hole was only the linen to mummify the corpse and war armor. Nephthys no longer needed the answer to the origin of the frogs. With His unlimited and tremendous divine power, Yahweh had transformed all the corpses into frogs.

The frogs had begun to move towards the city when Nephthys swam out from the river. After chanting the spell to make her entire body dry again, she rushed towards Isis.

"These frogs were the corpses of the fallen soldiers."

"What?!" Isis responded incredulously. "Are you sure?"

"I saw it with my own eyes, so I can't be mistaken," Nephthys said. "The proof is that the graves no longer have the corpses. There were only linens and war armor inside each hole."

"But... There are thousands of frogs. The number of our fallen soldiers was not that many."

"I could only suspect that Yahweh made many frogs only from one body. Since He was the creator of all, there was nothing impossible for Him."

"That makes sense," Isis mumbled.

"Where's Aaron and Moses?" Nepthys glanced to the left and right, aware that the two Hebrews were no longer there.

"They left right after you jumped into the water."

"Did they return to Goshen?"

"It's not important whether they returned or not. Right now, we have to lurch into the city. Even though there's nothing we can do, we can still help the people there."

Nephthys agreed. With their chariots, they headed back to Pi-Ramses.

In no time, the frogs had invaded every building, leading to screams that broke the silence of the night. Everyone, including the civilians, attempted to trample or smash them with the rocks or other solid objects they could find. Astonishingly, the dead one would rise and turn normal again, even though they had been flattened or torn apart. A few soldiers then tossed some torches to the swarm. The result was still the same: they were scorched at first, only to rise again and have all the scorched melted away.

Nephthys and Isis knew that this time, they would not be able to kill the creation of Yahweh. However, they still hoped that Heqet, the goddess of childbirth who was the master of all frogs in Egypt, would be able to cast the spell to control them. They commanded two soldiers of Horus to pick up Heqet from Aaru, while at the same time informing the other gods who had not yet been there. After both soldiers left, the two goddesses released their inner energy to toss away the frogs. Usually, unless the humans prayed for it, delivering aid like this would require Horus' approval. Even something as simple as grabbing humans' arm would also need it. Nevertheless, in this case they agreed to ignore the rule, as the swarm had inundated most households in the city.

Before long, the gods started arriving at the scene. Amongst them was Heqet. She commanded her rider to bring the chariot near a well. There she stretched both her arms and began to chant the spell to control the frogs. Normally, when the spell recited had reached the middle part, the frogs would stop moving and glancing to the left and right. This time, they kept leaping and crawling, as if they did not hear anything from Heqet. Eventually when the goddess arrived at the last word, the frogs were still beyond control. Not wanting to make the situation more chaotic, Horus commanded all the gods to obliterate these amphibians.

The magic of fire, flood, wind and dirt were cast towards the swarm. Nephthys and Isis had actually informed Horus that they could not be killed, that they had to find another way to remedy the situation. But he needed quite some time until he learned the bitter truth that these frogs were undead. It was just like when the contaminated River Nile could not be restored. If they kept throwing their magic like this, then the only result they got would only be death.

"I have an idea on how to make the situation slightly better," Heqet said to Horus. "We could try the spell to make the frogs keep their distance from the humans."

"Do it now," Horus immediately ordered, making Heqet stretch her arms and start chanting the said spell.

It was thankfully working. Nephthys sighed in relief when she saw the frogs leaped from the humans and kept their distance from them. It surely did not solve the problem, but it was still better than having frogs crawl on the body at any time. The goddess looked towards the sky, secretly thanking Yahweh for allowing the spell to work as intended.

*****

On the next morning, after the maids helped her dress, Nephthys received news from Ramses' palace. The human king ordered the sorcerers to pray to Heqet, requesting her to send frogs to Goshen as a sign of revenge. Nephthys immediately ran towards the courtyard and ordered the chariot rider to bring her to Goshen.

Beside Nephthys, Isis, Shu and Tefnut also visited the Hebrews' habitation. At that moment, Heqet was already outside the gate. Nephthys jumped out from the chariot and approached her. "Is it true Ramses prayed for frogs attacking Goshen?"

"He is," Heqet confirmed. "I can indeed create frogs from the sands, but right now I'm in doubt."

"Because you don't wish to fight Yahweh, do you?"

"You're certainly right," Heqet said. "But as the prayer has been spoken, like it or not, I have to summon the frogs."

"We can only hope that Yahweh would see that your heart doesn't actually desire for this."

Heqet nodded. She faced Goshen again and stretched her arms. She then began to mutter the spells.

Protrusions started to materialize on the ground. Slowly they became a swarm of frogs. When the transformation was fully completed, Heqet commanded them to lurch into Goshen. The Hebrews who stayed behind for any non-labor works were all surprised upon seeing the invasion. They ran deeper into the habitation, informing the others by yelling. Nevertheless, when the frogs had just entered, they all instantly dropped dead. It surprised Nephthys and the others, but then they agreed that they should have predicted the outcome. One way or another, Yahweh would certainly do something to prevent this disaster from ravaging His people's home.

Moments later, Heqet dropped her arms. "No matter how many frogs I've sent, they will just die," she said as she sighed. "I can't keep doing this. I've exhausted much of my energy, and today I still have to bless twenty two pregnant humans for their delivery date."

"You've tried your best, Heqet," Nephthys said. "You should now return and fulfill your main duty as the goddess of childbirth."

"I will take my leave now, my Lady," Heqet said as she bowed down her head; she also did the same thing to Isis, Shu and Tefnut, before she walked back to her chariot and headed straight to Pi-Ramses.