Scattering Osiris

A DAY OF sunbathing coming to close, a rattlesnake begins the evening hunt quickly sighting prey. Scrambling across the pebbled desert floor, a pack rat struggles with its own prey, a gold ring. Moving with practiced precision the hunter positions itself within striking distance. Sensing peril, the little creature drops its treasure and scurries off. The snake makes a belated move in time to be crushed into the dirt by a black hoof. The pack rat returns and being wary of the lanky corpse it drags the ring, made heavy by the severed digit still encircled, toward its den.

…

The sun hangs low in the sky behind a corpse of a man astride an old mule. The waning light casting his shadow long in front of him, a dark road from which he cannot veer. His long coat obscures his form, barely clinging to his boney shoulders as his spindle arms dip and fly wildly into the air. In his lap sits a large bag, the contents being snatched and flung into the empty desert. Each morsel is a unique puzzle piece landing in the dust. The man is covered in gore. The soaked and flaccid bag is collapsing as the man is rapidly reaching the end of his task. As the bag is emptied of the larger lumps there is only a soupy remnant of the bag’s previous tenant which is poured onto the ground as the mule complacently ignores the madness on his back and continues on the dark road.
The man known as Set gingerly climbs down off his mount, rolls up the large leather sack, and stuffs it into his saddlebag. He wipes his blood stained hands on the mule’s neck and births a mason jar out of the saddlebag. He moans as his knees crack in unison while he bends to sit on a rock. Amber liquid sloshes in the jar as gangly fingers grip the lid, cracking and flaking dried brown-red crust covering his knuckles revealing the pale yellow skin beneath. After considerable effort, the seal gives and the liquor is freed from its glass prison. He fills his mouth and slowly replaces the lid, dreading the swallow. His chest swells and the liquid is forced down. His face, initially showing relief and even ecstasy, quickly turns to grimace as his chest falls and nauseous burning sickly warms his chest. Shaking off the shock of the liquor he puts the jar on the ground and contemplates emerging stars through watery eyes. As his head begins to nod the nicker of a horse reaches his ears from far behind. A second nicker confirms the reality of the first as he bolts from the rock, mounts his sullen steed and kicks it into motion.
Patting its strong neck, a tall shadow of a man soothes and quiets his horse. Turning, he takes survey of the area. There are eastward hoof tracks and strewn to either side of this road are dusty masses of meat, entrails, and the occasional bone fragment. He takes a few steps and kneels to observe an object in the thin light of dusk. In the gravel is a spherical mass of ants, he touches the object and the ants scatter to reveal an eye. In the dry desert air, with the aid of the ants the eye was beginning to raisin. He picks up the organ, places it on his waiting tongue and continues his twilight scavenging.

…

Slowing the pace of his weary mule, Set passes the first edifice of an approaching derelict village. His eyes, accustomed to the monochrome of night, scan the settlement for cleansing water. Not a soul is conscious of the passing nightmare outside the safety of their dreams. He leads his steed through the main thoroughfare. Standing at the center of the town is a cylinder of stacked rock with a round wooden plank covering a moist cavern in the earth. Next to the low rock wall a bucket, leashed by a braid of jute twine, is bottom up in the dust, a rock weighing the empty vessel against the wind. Stopping his complacent companion, Set lowers himself to the ground and approaches the well. Grabbing the bucket by its tether, he exposes a small rattler placed as a sentry over the life giving water of the town. Slowly, he raises his boot as the creature readies its own strike, one downward thrust and twist of the ankle grinds the serpent into oblivion. The trunk writhes and thrashes, tearing itself from the destroyed appendage and spilling blood in the dust. Bending down, he picks up the weight rock. He places the rock in the bucket and tosses it over the lip of the well. The tether slides through his calloused hands and stops as the tell-tale splash is heard. Waiting a short time, he is satisfied that the bucket is full and pulls it up. As it reaches the top it is quickly grabbed and brought immediately to his face. Drinking deeply, the water runs over his cheeks and down his neck making clean streaks in the dust and blood covering his skin. As the water is drained the rock at the bottom shifts and falls solidly against his nose. Wincing back tears he drops the bucket to the ground as a trickle of blood runs over his lip and into his mouth. He hangs his head over the lip of the well and listens to the steady drip of his blood tainting the water of the town. A second supply of water is used to wash the previous death from him. Set picks up the twitching headless serpent still at his feet and drops it into the well. Leaving the rust colored water in the pail he pulls out the rock and tucks it under his arm.
Set turns around to observe the town. He is standing at the well in the center of the broad main trail with a row of buildings on either side. As he takes in the lay of the area his mule shatters the silence with a short series of brays and snorts quickly silenced by a fist to its nose. Reaching into the saddlebag he draws a small pouch and a compass. Divining direction he follows the arrow’s line along the north row of hovels to where the open desert begins. Standing in front of the first dwelling he reaches into the pouch. He draws a white tooth, drops it to the ground and moves to the next house. He pulls three more white teeth from the pouch and steps in front of the fifth house. Standing in the moonlight, Set draws a blackened tooth, drops it and tucks the empty pouch into his breast pocket.
Relieving his underarm of its heavy burden Set grips the rock tight in his right hand and casually walks to the door. Finding the door barred he side-steps the window and raises it with ease. Breaching the three-room hovel he stalks slowly letting his eyes adjust to the light. Reaching a cracked door he tests it for squeak. It gives a high squeal, almost inaudible, as the required width is attained. Stepping sideways into the room he hears the steady hiss of air through dry sleeping lips. Counting three, he focuses on the middle form lying on its side. Slowly approaching the frame he softly runs his finger over each bump of the spine. He stops and draws a long spike with a leather wrapped handle from a belt loop. Holding it firmly in his left hand he brings the point to the small cleft between the vertebrae at the base of the neck at a forty-five degree angle. Raising his right hand he swiftly hammers the spike’s handle with the rock, burying it inches deep, permanently rendering the body nil. With the impact, eyes open wide then roll and a quiet sigh is heard. Leaving the spike in place Set wraps the body in the bedclothes, hauls it off the bed and out of the house. Leaving a serpent trail in the dusty road behind him he drags it to the mule and flings the limp body over its hindquarters. Adding his own weight to the overburdened beast he kicks its flanks and it carries them out of the settlement. The sun is still fast asleep.

…

The dark man locates the last fragment of death in the dirt and ingests it, completing this work. The sun is glinting above the horizon as he mounts his black steed and continues onward. His long shadow leaves a long dark road behind as he nears a small settlement. He approaches a well in the center of town and notices a small diamond head crushed in the dust next to a pail of water. He bends to the pail and cupping his hands he drinks the crimson water. Standing, he sees a serpentine path in the dusty ground and follows it. Lying in the dirt in front of a noisy house is a black tooth. The dark man picks it up and plants it into the last vacant spot amongst the other teeth inside his mouth. He returns to his steed and rides out of town with haste.

…

Set is lying asleep in the shade of a large bush, his captive staring wide-eyed at the sky. Ants crawl undeterred all over the exanimate body, the only movement being the gentle rise and fall of the chest. Approaching hoof beats, heard only by vigilant ears, grow louder and cease nearby. One set of eyes watch a dark man approach the two unmoving bodies.

…

The dark man walks toward the captive whose head is attempting flight in fear, while the lifeless body anchors it in place. The man bends and rolls the body on its side, removing the spike. He rolls the body back, kisses the captive on the brow and whispers, Go. The captive’s body springs to life and carries it away into the desert.
The dark man, once known as Osiris, stands over Set and gives a wide black-toothed grin. Countless souls swim behind his dark eyes.

…

Riding into the sunset Osiris scatters with just vengeance the god once known as Set far and wide across the desert.

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Tags:

egyptian, fiction, gods, horror, mythology, vengeance and western