Orders
Going inside the warm temple was too much for the amemit at first. It squealed and ran into pillars, overly-excited [sic]. But Set caught it to put the collar back on and HAL, the amemit, remained calm. [Note--I believe this is explained in the original version of Horus or somewhere, but "HAL," my stupid acronym for Amemit (I didn't know back then that "Amemit" is a name and not a generic noun!), stands for "Hippo, Alligator (Crocodile), Lion." As I said, stupid.]
A falcon came out of a room and, seeing Set, started to hiss.
"Quiet, you," Set said, "I'm your uncle."
The falcon stopped but eyed him suspiciously.
Hathor looked at Khnum, who looked like he was near tears. "What the heck's wrong, Khnemu?" [Note--notice how Hathor's tendency to call the gods by their lesser-used names, most recently utilized in the rewrites of the City Of The Sun stories, was evident even in one of my earliest depictions of her!]
Khnum only chattered.
When they came to the first room, Set sat [sic] the scales down. He saw, from the side of the room, Anubis the jackal, looking at the scales as if they were the most facinating [sic] things in the world.
"Do you want them?" Set said, gesturing towards them.
Anubis looked at him suspiciously, then went over, picked up the scales, and walked off to polish them up and oil them. HAL, unchained, followed, not having anything better to do.
Set had sat down to rest when Bast and Thoth, an ibis, came in. Thoth stopped short in the doorway.
"Where in the world did you come from?" he said.
"The west," Set answered, smiling cruelly.
"That would be impossible," Thoth said. "Ra does'nt [sic] let anyone escape from Cerberus." [Note--ah yes, playing fast and loose with Greek and Roman mythology...while I stand by my decision to have Hathor, goddess of love, shoot arrows in my more recent writing, I do not stand by my early decision to utilize Cerberus in the Egyptian underworld. Sorry about that. Nowadays I would use the Akeru!]
"Not that west, you dolt," Set snapped. "The west. The direction, you know, where the sun sets."
Thoth shook his head and walked off, his eyes always in Set's direction. As he went out, he grabbed Bast by the arm and led her out into the hall. [Note--eh...I forgot to mention it earlier. Nowadays, I much prefer to refer to this goddess by the name Bastet. Just sounds nicer. In the old days, I called her Bast, and once in a while even mistakenly used her city name, Bubastis. I can't help it! One of my sources back then SAID that was a name of hers!!]
"Whatever you do," he said, "never let Set and Osiris be alone. Do you understand? Never!" So saying, he walked off down the hall.
[Illustration: An Eye of Horus. Text reads: "Eye of Horus (Ho'-ruhs)--Horus the Falcon's eye after it was gouged out by Set's spear. It now is used as a charm to ward off evil and to protect against injury."]
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