Chapter 26

Carol’s halo as a divine goddess and her acceptance by mainstream opinion in Egypt were closely tied to the timing of her first appearance coinciding with the rising of Sirius.

Every year in June, when Sirius appears in the Egyptian sky, this ancient land welcomes the flood season of the Nile, its mother river. By October, as the floodwaters recede, they leave behind fertile soil that sustains the ancient people’s reliance on crops like barley and dates.

Half a year after Carol’s initial emergence, the Egyptian Pharaoh chose the planting season as the time for his grand wedding, symbolizing a fresh start and prayers for a bountiful harvest.

By then, the Nile’s water level had dropped far below the desolation Inanna had witnessed last time. Holding Carol’s hand, the two fell into the river. Carol’s shoulder, torn by a lion’s bite, bled profusely. The pain blurred her vision, making it impossible to recognize who came to rescue her. At the moment of the plunge, the water pressure on her wound caused excruciating pain, and she fainted instantly.

Inanna grabbed one of her hands and drifted downstream, the Nile’s current unwavering as it carried them toward lower ground. But soon, Inanna sensed something was wrong. Carol’s body felt unnaturally heavy, as if she were a stone, being pulled relentlessly into the unfathomable depths. This was nearly an irresistible force.

This was a matter of life and death. Clenching her teeth, Inanna resolved to fight. If Queen Isis had not cruelly deceived her, then Carol’s survival through multiple river plunges and her ability to traverse between two times were precedents worth risking everything for. If she could bind herself tightly to this miraculous girl, perhaps together they could pass through that elusive temporal gateway and escape their involuntary destinies.

But Inanna could not expect the same fortune as Carol. She splashed the water a few times, surfaced, and pulled an aluminum foil packet from her sewn-in belt. Biting open the packaging, she inflated a bright blue plastic device—an improvised “scuba” made from a condom—by blowing air into it. After tying it securely, she glanced at Carol, whose face was peaceful underwater, seemingly untroubled by the lack of breath.

Taking a deep breath, Inanna dove, allowing the lifeless golden doll dressed in a pure gold bridal gown to be dragged by the turbulent Nile.

Underwater, darkness prevailed. The fierce sunlight above fractured into scattered golden patches by the undulating water, offering no guidance. From the moment they entered the river, something felt amiss.

Carol’s face showed no pain, her chest no rise or fall—like a living corpse. Yet Inanna’s grip on her hand confirmed warmth and a steady pulse. Meanwhile, Inanna herself was buffeted by hidden currents, her limbs chilled by the water’s seepage—phenomena beyond scientific explanation.

Suddenly, Inanna recalled the martial arts novels once required reading for children in her homeland. In one such story, the hero Chu Liuxiang mastered a rare skill: breathing underwater through his skin, bypassing the need for mouth or nose, which he used to defeat a deadly aquatic foe.

Could it be that this blonde, blue-eyed international companion, barely a teenager, had mastered such an extraordinary art? Fear welled within Inanna. She, with so little to offer, had rashly followed this golden-fingered heroine into the unknown, unaware of what fate awaited.

Their time underwater was short—less than two minutes, not yet critical for breathing—but for those submerged, it felt like an eternity. Beneath their feet, river sand began to churn. Approaching a rocky riverbed cluster, the drop increased sharply, and a small whirlpool began to form.

If not submerged herself, Inanna would have broken out in cold sweat. She loosened the knot on the makeshift “scuba,” took a breath to add more air, pressed her feet against the rocks, and held Carol tightly, watching cautiously.

The whirlpool grew, its edges reaching their hands and feet. Carol began to be pulled toward the riverbed by the vortex’s gravity. At first, Inanna resisted, but gradually she had to push off the rocks for leverage to hold her.

Strangely, while the whirlpool pulled Carol inward, it flung everything else outward—mud, sand, dead leaves—clouding the once-clear water. Inanna’s fear mounted. Inhaling any of this detritus underwater would be fatal, and even with her “scuba,” she might not survive.

An unknown, mysterious force urged Inanna to let go. Exhausted after more than five minutes submerged, and with the whirlpool’s pull growing stronger, she was forced to release her grip. Carol was sucked in like flattened dough, disappearing swiftly into the black hole of the underwater vortex.

Inanna had seen sci-fi movies, but those were computer-generated. Witnessing such a supernatural spectacle firsthand weakened her resolve. She remembered how she might have been pulled similarly from the modern world and spat out near the Red River tributaries of Cappadocia.

As the last corner of Carol’s garment vanished into the whirlpool’s core, Inanna’s lungs burned fiercely from lack of oxygen. Having died once herself, she cherished life deeply, yet living in such peril she chose to gamble rather than surrender after all her effort. She drained the last breath from her “scuba,” discarded it, and kicked off the rocks, swimming toward the closing vortex.

The closing black hole reacted swiftly, like a vigilant gatekeeper, unleashing a roaring surge of water that violently expelled Inanna. Before losing consciousness, she glimpsed the whirlpool’s true form: a pair of enormous black wings, carved from basalt, an impossible riverbed sculpture for any modern hand.

Previously, while swimming here, Inanna had not seen this. She could not have missed it—the black wings were famous, guarding the young Pharaoh’s tomb entrance, symbolizing the curse god Amruwat.

This winged goddess, crowned with a solar disc and kneeling beside a blooming lotus at the Nile’s first bloom, brought death and curses to anyone disturbing the eternal rest of the king. Though Inanna could fight humans, she could not contend with divine power. Relaxing her vigilance, the current swept her far away.

The Nile’s daughter, attacked by a lion and gravely wounded, stirred turmoil across Egypt. During the vital planting season, Menphis mobilized vast manpower and resources to scour both banks of Africa’s longest river for the goddess’s daughter.

Meanwhile, Queen Isis of Lower Egypt received orders to coordinate, reversing her previous refusal to cooperate. She dispatched surplus troops under Nekto’s command, granting the envoy of Upper Egypt considerable face.

This was not out of goodwill or blessings for the wedding of her brother and the inexplicably detested sister-in-law.

First, Carol’s severe injury and river plunge had almost guaranteed her death and decomposition underwater. Second, the more Menphis deployed laborers, the fewer workers remained for the fields, threatening the harvest. Should relations between Isis and Menphis become irreparable, Isis would have a pretext to challenge her reckless brother.

As Egypt took action, the delegations gathered in Debe City for the royal wedding lingered, hoping to win a grand prize, lingering along the Nile’s banks.

Besides the envoys, numerous spies and scouts prayed for their nations’ deities’ blessings.

Perhaps the goddess Alina of Prince Izmi’s household heard the prayers of the Bitade people, for they made a discovery at the riverbank where Upper and Lower Egypt meet. After a day of searching, they found not the longed-for Nile daughter but the mute slave Inanna, brave and faithful to her mission.

Though disappointment touched all—from prince to lowly soldier—Inanna’s return greatly increased the chances of the Nile daughter’s survival.

Inanna had been spared death by the gods, who returned her to a reed-filled shallow shore. Exhausted, she lay face-down in the mud, despairing that her hope to return to civilized society through Carol’s hand was utterly shattered.

The unknown river force had warned her: this river was a VIP passage for the heroine traveling between two times, while unrelated supporting characters were left to wallow in mud on the banks.

Inanna was too weak to lift her hand, half her face buried in muck. In the dusk before nightfall, the reeds echoed with wild calls. A hyena discovered her first, patiently waiting nearby. Seeing no larger predator, it placed a paw on Inanna’s shoulder.

Its mouth, accustomed to carrion, drooled foul saliva. Inanna could not even fend off such a lowly predator.

Fortunately, a torch-bearing troop of Bitade soldiers arrived, hastening toward Lower Egypt amid chaos, searching carefully along the riverbank.

Leading them were Prince Izmi and General Hazas.

General Hazas used his torch to scare off the beast. The hyena yelped and fled into the reeds. The old general then asked the prince, “Your Highness, is Sukamum still alive?”

The prince said nothing, recalling when at eight years old he was cast into the Red River by kin and rescued from death’s brink by Master Labaru. Born to privilege, he had never faced such mortal peril; thus, his gratitude and reverence for Labaru were natural, like for a reborn parent, making him honor the master to this day.

Now, Inanna looked at him with yearning, intense eyes, like the young Izmi once did, as if he were the only truth in the world, her sole reason for existence.

Izmi, usually composed and self-controlled, felt moved deep within upon seeing such a gaze.

Author’s note: Why does Nana look at the prince like that?

Though I’d love to torment the prince, if he doesn’t like Nana, I just can’t!

Keep smiling, dear reader—you guessed Kun Ge’s setting right. The double-faced Amruwat deity of Egypt, embroidered in a tiny pouch, is my gift to you.

You may continue guessing the queen’s CP.

The Legend of Iz: The Daughter of the Nile, Chapter 26, now fully available for free reading.