The Egyptian Gods and The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Chapter 21: Horus

Day 34 (Morning)

The report about Nut summoning flies immediately made Horus leave his palace and rush to the surface with his own wings. Upon arriving, he saw his grandmother was struggling to break free from the insects overwhelming her. At the same time, there were screams originating from the city. Deciding to help her first, he lurched towards her.

Unexpectedly, she expanded her wings and leaped from the chariot. Strangely, she did not flip her wings; it made her keep falling. Convinced it must be the swarm that made it difficult, he maneuvered and increased the frequency of his wing strokes.

The swarm flew away as soon as he managed to catch her. After stepping on the ground, he commanded his soldiers to help the chariot rider who was still struggling with the flies, and to carry Nut back to Aaru. He then dashed towards Pi-Ramses.

"My Lord Horus," a soldier greeted after Horus arrived.

Horus took a moment before he responded. "Sobek said the spell to drive them away cannot be used," he said. "Is it true?"

"Yes, it's true, my Lord," the soldier said. "Earlier Lady Nephthys had tried to use it to drive away the lice, but it could not work."

"Some humans tried to burn these flies," another soldier said. "But as the insects crawl on the food, they eventually have to stop, or they will end up scorching the buildings and markets."

Horus observed again his surroundings. Indeed the flies only did what they naturally did, which was crawling on the food. It was not as harmful as the lice, which constantly bit humans' heads and necks. But as he could not think of any spells that could help them, something he never expected emerged inside of him.

Should I just surrender to Yahweh?

*****

The flies dropped dead in the night, just like what happened to the lice according to Sobek. As expected, soon after that, Moses and Aaron visited Ramses again. They asked him to let The Hebrews go, as he had promised it in the afternoon. But as the human king was still terrified of Geb's threat, he considered that promise to be non-existent.

The entire night Horus could not sleep. One side of him was still persistent with the urge to surrender to Yahweh, while the other was still hard as a rock. Strangely, he could not pin down the reason why this other side was hardened. Was it because he truly did not want to lose such a precious asset? Or was it because deep down in his heart, he was terrified of Geb?

"My love, I notice you haven't been sleeping since we went to the bed," Hathor said; she had rolled her body towards Horus.

"Am I bothering you, wife?" Horus asked as he also rolled and faced Hathor.

"You're not, don't worry about that," Hathor smiled.

Horus raised his hand and stroked Hathor's hair. "I'm just... preoccupied."

"You don't know whether you need to keep The Hebrews, or to just let them go as Yahweh commanded," Hathor guessed.

"Is it that obvious?" Horus chuckled, responded by Hathor with her chuckle too.

Hathor moved closer to Horus, and the king embraced her by placing her head on his chest. Still stroking her hair, he said, "I can't really say why there's a part in me that still wants to keep these slaves. I mean... is the reason because I don't want to lose them, or because I'm actually afraid of Lord Geb."

"Your grandfather is indeed intimidating," Hathor said. "No wonder why my sister Sekhmet can never be in harmony with him."

"I think even my father Osiris always tried to avoid conflicts with him," Horus said as he laughed a little. "My mother even once told me that if Geb was ever handed the throne of Egypt, then the kingdom would not be that much different than Set's rule."

Hathor slightly raised her head, fixating on Horus. "You do know that in this matter, I actually agreed with Lord Ra," she said. "However, whatever your final decision is, I will always stand with you."

"I'm grateful to have you as my wife," Horus said; he then went to kiss Hathor's lips and forehead. "Let's get back to sleep now."

Hathor nodded; she leaned back against Horus' chest. Stroking her hair and receiving her moral support was apparently effective for calming his troubled mind, as now the focus on her occupied more spaces in his head. In no time after he shut his eyes, he finally drifted off to sleep.

*****

Day 35 (Afternoon)

In the midst of the lunch, Horus and Hathor received news that all Egyptian's livestock were dead. The queen of the gods jumped from the chair and rushed to the reporting soldiers. "What do you mean by all livestock deceased?!" she screamed.

"That... ," the soldier who was asked left his words hanging; he also glanced to the left and right at his friends.

"Elaborate it, soldier," Horus said; he leaned against the backrest and placed his arms on the armrests.

"The dirt from the livestock area suddenly floated up and went into every cattle," the soldier at the most left said. "Not too long after that, they grew anxious. Later on they dropped to the ground and died soon after that."

"Dirt," Horus muttered; he leaned forward and placed the right arm on the table. "Do other gods sense Lord Geb's power in them?"

The left soldier nodded. "It was Lord Hapi and Lord Sobek who confirmed it."

Horus sighed again. "We haven't tried to restore grandfather again, yet for the second time he is now being used to wreak havoc on our land."

Hathor returned to her chair and dropped her head. Being the primary cattle goddess ever since Ra created her through the spell of Life Creation, she had constantly guided the humans to always nurture and utilize the cattle in a proper way. To get the news that they suddenly dropped dead without any symptoms surely broke her heart, as it made all her efforts like washed away into the sea. Seeing her wife became like that, a shred of disappointment towards Yahweh grew in Horus's heart.

"I want to see the situation," Hathor suddenly turned to Horus.

"If it just saddens you, it's better to just stay here for quite some time," Horus suggested.

"No, I want to see it," Hathor said sternly.

Horus sighed. "If you insist, there's nothing I can say," he said, then he turned to the three soldiers. "Soldiers, prepare the chariot now."