''Even if it might — no, will — kill you?''
''I'm not afraid of dying. If I die defeating the gods, it won't have been in vain.''
David detected no hint of bravado in the statement. Steven meant it. He believed it.
''All right then,'' he said. ''That leaves me with only one option.''
''What?'' said Steven with a wary laugh. ''You're going to clonk me on the head, knock me out and carry me off over your shoulder? Spirit me out of the country?''
The thought had crossed David's mind, if only flickeringly briefly.
''No,'' he said. ''I'm going to join you.''
''Come again?''
''I said-''
''I heard. I just… Really? Join me?''
''Someone needs to keep an eye out for you. Someone has to watch your back. Someone to make sure you don't do something really, truly stupid. Might as well be me.''
Steven was momentarily dumbfounded. ''Dave, I hoped… Well, that's why I brought you here. I thought I might be able to convince you to… And now you… Fuck. This is great. You're on board? Seriously?''
''Seriously.''
Steven cheered, grabbed his brother in a fierce embrace, punched him manfully on the shoulder, did a little dance on the dusty earth.
David let him celebrate, feeling pleased that he had given Steven what he wanted. Pleased, too, that he had put himself in a good position to try and steer his brother away from the suicidal course he was on.
But not happy.
Far from happy.
14. Relations
The First Family are a confusing lot, especially when at home, in their Palace of Unity. There, in a building that appears to have an infinite number of floors but actually has only one, they dwell together, inseparable — father, mother, son, daughter, all seemingly alike, hard to tell apart despite their many differences. Shu, of the air, is married to his sister Tefnut, of the rain, and their son Geb, of the earth, is married to his sister Nut, of the sky. But Geb is effeminate, so much so that he and Nut could almost be twins. And Geb is also a mummy's boy, so enamoured of Tefnut that he once even raped her. For this crime he was never punished, and it has been speculated that the rape was not perhaps a one-sided affair, that Tefnut was at least a half-willing participant. So they are a close family in many ways. Too many, perhaps.
All this passes through Ra's mind as he manifests in the First Family's living quarters and eyes the bed which dominates the room. It is a bed of enormous dimensions, a world unto itself, and it is festooned with mountainous cushions and oceanic counterpanes of damasked silk, upon which the four members of the Family recline, naked, entwined, semi-asleep. It takes him a moment to distinguish one from the other, to identify this leg as Shu's and that breast as Tefnut's, this hip as Geb's and that shoulder as Nut's. They are a mass of disrobed divinity, like some protean, many-limbed organism. Even their glowing headdresses, though varied, seem similar.
Roused by Ra's arrival the Family members separate, out of politeness. They sit apart on the bed, at each of its corners, and Shu shows himself to be a wizened, weak-eyed old man, crowned with a feather, and Tefnut a flowing-haired old woman with a cobra shimmering above her. Geb, meanwhile, takes the form of a young man who, though girlishly handsome, has a goose-like cast to his features, and Nut becomes a beautiful young woman in a night-blue, star-spangled dress, her head haloed with the outline of a water pitcher.
As one, they formally greet their visitor, who responds no less formally even though he is impatient to get down to business.
''First Family,'' Ra says, ''upholders of all there is, I come in supplication, craving a boon.''
''From us?'' says Shu in his thin, wispy voice. ''The almighty Ra, seeking our help?''
Geb cackles gleefully and chants, ''Ra, Ra, he's come far, he wants our help, he's asked our pa.''
Both his sister-wife and his sometime-lover mother hiss at him to be quiet.
''Forgive my son, O Sun God whose secret name is known only to Isis,'' said Tefnut. ''You know how lacking in self-restraint Geb is,'' she adds with an indulgent smile.
Ra bows in a manner that implies understanding, if not absolution.
Nut yawns and stretches languorously, arching her back, and briefly she is a firmament, the glittering heavens, spreading vast and forever. Then, a woman once more, she says, ''Whatever is in our power to do, Ra, we shall.''
''I'm grateful,'' says Ra. ''I should warn you, though, that the favour I require of you is one that, simple as it sounds, may well prove impossible.''
''Name it anyway, Uncle,'' says Shu.
''I wish you to bring peace among your offspring.''
No sooner have the words left Ra's lips than the First Family burst out laughing.
''You could more easily bid the wind to stop blowing,'' says Shu.
''Or the rain not to fall,'' says Tefnut.
''Or the stars not to shine,'' says Nut.
''Or the ground not to tremble when there's a great big rumbling earthquake!'' cries Geb.
''I understand,'' says Ra, ''and I agree. The enmities that exist between them, between Osiris and Set particularly, seem implacable and irreconcilable. However, if anyone were able to find a way of resolving the matter, it would surely be you four, who are the very essence of oneness. You have set an example by overcoming your own disagreements. That places you well to persuade your descendants to follow suit.''
''Undoubtedly,'' says Shu. ''But the truth is, we are unable to help.''
''We would like to,'' says Tefnut, ''but cannot.''
''Too tired,'' says Nut.
''Too bored,'' says Geb.
''We are old, like you, Ra,'' says Shu. ''Old and very weary. Our battles with the other pantheons have left us worn out and drained.''
''We continue to exist,'' says Tefnut, ''but zest for life, for anything, is beyond us.''
''That's why we bequeathed the earth to our descendants,'' says Nut.
''Too much like hard work, running that place,'' says Geb.
''It seemed wise to let them inherit it,'' says Shu. ''It seemed no less wise to divide it up between them in more or less equal portions, for the sake of fairness.''
''In hindsight,'' says Tefnut, ''a mistake.''
''Their old animosities and rivalries would not stay buried,'' says Nut.
''Like Osiris himself!'' says Geb. ''Can't keep him underground for long!''
''We hoped that they would learn to work together,'' says Shu, ''instead of which their arguments only grew more vehement.''
''It wasn't our intention that the world should suffer the consequences, either,'' says Tefnut.
''But events on earth mirror events in the heavens,'' says Nut. ''That's how it's always been.''
''As above, so below,'' says Geb.
''It's a misfortune of our own making,'' admits Shu.
''We feel responsible,'' adds Tefnut. ''But not guilty.''