River of the Sun, Chapter Nine

The Priestess Calls

Anzety, high priest of the Isis temple, watched from the east of the temple as his sister, Neferaset, the prime figure of authority on the island, entered through the opened portal of the west. The symbols of her status as high priestess, worn at forehead and throat, reflected the candle lights and seemed to shimmer as she moved. With her were Amkhren, the novice priest to be initiated, and Snefer, his only surviving relative and the woman who had raised him, fighting frailty and pain to do so. Neferaset held her hands behind her, bringing both of them into the temple space with an unusual gesture of equal status.

The only noise in the temple was the movement of Neferaset’s golden slippers, as their leather made subtle sounds of sliding contact, carrying the priestess over the crystalline white floor in a…