Post by Stirling on Sept 11, 2006 20:14:47 GMT 1
The legend of the twins Maharet and Mekare were twin sisters and powerful witches living in a beautiful valley not far from modern Egypt six thousand years ago. They had curly red hair and green eyes. They were hereditary witches who could communicate with spirits. This attracted the attention of the the young queen of Kemet (now known as Egypt), Akasha, and she sent them an invitation to visit her when they were sixteen years old. They refused, sensing something ominous about the request. Akasha's next request came in the form of violence. The twins were performing funeral rites for their mother when the queen's soldiers descended on the village, killing everyone in their path and dragging the sisters away. When the twins arrived in Kemet, they were looked on in awe and fear by all who saw them. These people had never seen red hair, and twins were taboo in this country. They answered with truth all the questions about spirits and gods put to them by Queen. However, as their answers did not fit with Akasha's beliefs, they were labelled as blasphemers and were thrown into jail. The next morning, the Queen sent and put the same questions to them. Mekare called on a mischievous spirit named Amel, against the wishes of her sister, to display her power. This terrified the queen and her husband, King Enkil, and they were thrown into jail again for three nights and days before they recieved their punishment. Their punishment was to be raped by the King's steward, Khayman, in front of the whole court. Khayman was not one to accept violence and hated to do the task but nontheless had to obey his sovereigns' orders. The sisters were allowed to go home after the rape. They had a hard time returning to their homeland but they did it eventually and there Maharet bore a child, Miriam, from Khayman's rape. The sisters put their trials behind them, and settled in to rebuild their life in the valley. But their peace was shattered a year later when Khayman came with an army to the valley. He took them back to Kemet, and on the journey there told them what had happened since their departure. The spirit Amel, furious at the humiliation of the twins, had run amok. He pestered the king and queen day and night, throwing and knocking things over, driving the pair mad. It had also been tormenting Khayman for his part in the rape, ripping his house apart and unearthing his father's body from its tomb. The nobles were displeased with their monarchs for bringing this trouble on them, and had plotted to kill them. The followed the pair to Khayman's house, where they were pleading with the spirit to let them be, and attacked them. But somehow Akasha and Enkil had survived, and all the nobles were killed. Since then, the King and Queen had only been seen at night, and would not leave their palace. People were disappearing, and Khayman had resolved to bring the twins back in hopes that they could put an end to all these troubles. Upom reaching Kemet, the twins learn what has happened to Amel. He had developed a taste for blood, and one of his favorite torments was pricking people and causing them to bleed. The nobles and stabbed Akasha and Enkil, and as they lay there bleeding to death in Khayman's house, the spirit of Amel could be seen in the form of droplets of blood. The spirit was seen to dive into Akasha's body, and she was somehow regenerated in a new form. She fell upon Enkil, draining him of the blood that was left, and then feeding him her own. They were the first blood-drinkers. Akasha and Enkil had summoned the twins in the hope that the witches could educate them on the form that they had taken, and how they could satisfy their endless thirst for blood. They were of little help, however, and thrown into jail to be put to death the next evening, but not before Mekare's tongue and Maharet's eyes were cut out. Three hours before dawn, Khayman came to them in despair. He had been betrayed by his king and queen, whom had turned on him and made him one of them to test their new abilities. He made Mekare into blood-drinker, and in turn she made Maharet into one. They escaped the prison and made more blood-drinkers as they went, hoping to create an army to defeat the evil king and queen. These later became known as the First Brood. Several weeks later, they were captured in Saqqara. The twins were put into stone coffins, and set adrift in the ocean, Mekare to the west, Maharet to the east. Maharet landed on the southern coast of Africa, and wandered for the next six millenia, tracking the bloodline of her daughter Miriam and searching for Mekare. It is not known for sure what became of Mekare, but pictures were found thousands of years later in South America of a red-haired woman. Similar pictures had been found in Africa. Maharet and others suspect that she went wild and spent all that time in the jungles, avoiding civilization. Khayman wandered throughout Europe, losing his memory every few centuries. He never saw the twins again until Queen of the Damned, when Akasha brings them together in California. There, the vampires defeated Akasha. Maharet and Mekare consumed her heart and her brain, and Mekare became the Queen of the Damned. Maharet makes a brief appearance at the end of Memnoch the Devil, when she chains Lestat in a monastery after he goes mad from his latest adventure. She appears again in Blood and Gold, where she receives new eyes at the end, and one more time in Blood Canticle to offer her assistance to Lestat and Mona Mayfair in tracking down the Taltos.