Chapter 20
Rae
“Put her in the tent, Buto. Quickly now.” Omari tipped his chin toward the young priestess. She’d stopped struggling in her bonds and stared at Rae with an intensity that was deeply unsettling.
Rae tried to look away but found that she couldn’t.
Had the girl cast some kind of spell on her?
She’d never witnessed heka before but knew from her father’s stories that it was real—a magic reserved for the rich and powerful.
Still, Neff had been gagged before she could have uttered a curse.
They’d made sure of that. Then why did Rae feel like she was falling into the girl’s gaze?
Into a deep well where a fearsome power lurked?
Beware…
“Rae?” Tam’s voice sounded far away.
The lamb.
Someone shook her by the shoulder. “Rae!”
The lamb.
Buto slung the girl over his shoulder, and the connection was severed. Rae blinked rapidly, stumbling back as she watched Buto carry Neff into the rebels’ tent.
“Are you all right?” Tam studied her with concern.
She felt chilled, struck by the memory of a blind old soldier on the streets of Sakesh, muttering words that at the time, she’d thought were only ravings.
The lamb, the lamb, the lamb…
“I’m fine,” Rae replied, her mouth dry. “A little shaken up, I guess.”
“I know. I didn’t like it either,” Tam whispered. “But hopefully Meryamun agrees to release the prisoners in return for his priestess, and we can wash our hands of all this.”
Hopefully, Rae thought. “We’d better return to the riverbank before we’re missed,” she said. She bent to repack the soiled laundry into the basket.
“We’re going, Omari,” Tam called out.
Omari nodded but didn’t meet the weaver’s eye. “Be careful,” he said to Rae. “Come back as soon as you have news.”
With a final uncertain glance toward the tent, Rae turned to the marshes.
“Omari doesn’t like me very much, does he?” Tam said as they pushed through the reeds.
“He’s worried, that’s all,” Rae said.
“Is it?”
Rae didn’t reply.
***
She and Tam were walking through the main hall of the palace when the guards came for her.
“Are you Ahura?” the head guard commanded. “Where have you been?”
“Doing the washing on the riverbank,” Rae replied, indicating the empty basket in her arms. “Why? Is something wrong?”
“Have you seen your mistress today?” he asked.
Rae glanced at Tam and shook her head. “Nefermaat leaves her laundry by the door every morning, so I simply pick it up and move on. I assumed she was still asleep.”
The head guard grimaced. “Come with me.”
Rae bowed her head and passed the basket to Tam, who gave her hand a secret squeeze before hurrying away. As Rae followed the guards through the corridors, she did her best to calm her racing heart.
This is all part of the plan, she told herself. We knew I’d be questioned about the priestess’s disappearance. I’ll simply say I don’t know anything, and that will be that.
They arrived at the door to the throne room and were approached by an attendant.
“I’m afraid that Pharaoh is engaged at the moment,” the man told them. “You’ll have to wait.”
The head guard shoved the attendant aside. “Not today I won’t,” he grunted, and pushed through the door.
King Meryamun looked up as Rae and the guards entered the throne room. Rae barely had time to register the extravagance of the chamber—the vividly painted walls and columns illuminated by sunlight—before the pharaoh was addressing them.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Meryamun demanded.
A priest was in the room with the king, along with two attendants bearing ostrich feather fans. Rae had seen the priest once before during a meal she’d serviced, the one when she’d learned of the plan for the prisoners. What was his name?
It took her a moment to remember.
Montuhotep.
“Humblest apologies, my king,” the head guard said. “But there is a matter of urgency I must bring to your attention. It concerns the seer Nefermaat. She is missing.”
Montuhotep’s eyes widened. “Ah! You see? You see?” he said to the king. “The girl knew she was about to be exposed, so she’s fled in the night. It is as I said, my king! Just as I’ve said! She’s been conspiring with your brother, working against you all this time!”
“Silence!” Meryamun snarled. He turned back to the guards. “Explain.”
“When Nefermaat’s attendants arrived at her chambers this morning to help her dress, they found their mistress gone and the room in shambles. A chair was overturned and items were strewn about. And there was this.” The guard held up a scrap of papyrus.
“Give it here,” the king said, rising from his throne and descending from its platform. The guard advanced just close enough for the king to snatch the note from his hand.
Rae watched Meryamun’s expression darken as he read the words scribbled in the common script. She knew what it said because she’d written the note herself.
Release the Sakeshi prisoners or you’ll never see the priestess again.
“It’s a blessing that she’s gone, really,” Montuhotep said as Meryamun crumpled the note in his hand.
“Though I’m sure you’ll want to send the guards to search for her.
Perhaps she’ll have run back to her parents in Bubas?
They should be questioned, to be sure. But you’ll have me at your side, my king, as it should be!
A high priest of Amun! Not some commoner from the—”
With the speed of a cobra, Meryamun whipped a dagger from the guard’s belt and slashed it across the priest’s throat. The priest stared at the king, mouth agape as blood trickled from the gash onto his pristine white robes.
Montuhotep looked down at the spreading stain, and with a disgusted, choking sound, he dropped like a stone.
Rae’s heart leaped into her throat.
The king thrust the knife back into the guard’s belt and sighed. “By Amun, that was a long time coming. I thought the man would never shut up.” Then he ascended the ramp to his throne and slouched into it with the grace of a panther.
“Remove that filth from my sight,” he said to his attendants.
They rushed to obey, lifting the priest’s corpse between them and whisking it into a back room.
“Can you believe the audacity of that man? He’d say anything to regain his old position—though accusing a child of political intrigue is certainly a creative effort.
” He paused as the attendants returned to wipe the blood from the blue and green tiled floor.
“I suppose I can’t fault Montuhotep for his ambition,” Mery mused.
“For some of us, there is little we wouldn’t do to get what we want. Isn’t that right, Ahura?”
Rae’s stomach lurched at the use of her alias.
“My king?” she said as the guard shoved her forward.
“That day in the courtyard. You wanted to work in the palace so much that you risked touching my arm to keep me from overlooking you. Isn’t that right?”
Rae nodded.
“I can respect that. And so could Neff, I suppose, which is why she chose you. You’re here, I imagine, because as her maidservant, you were one of the last to see her. Is that correct?”
Rae nodded again.
“And? What say you?”
“All seemed well when I attended her at yesterday’s midday meal. She was in a hurry to return to her studies, and she told me she didn’t wish to be disturbed until morning. She said she would be fine with some leftover bread and fruit.”
Rae paused and took a steadying breath. She’d heard from Tam, Neff, and many other palace servants that the young pharaoh was notorious for being able to sniff out lies.
It was part of his heka, they said, part of the innate magic that comes with having royal blood.
So she had to be careful not to lie, to tell the truth and tell it convincingly, albeit only part of it.
“This morning, Herit and I went to the priestess’s chambers earlier than usual, as we had other plans for later in the day. The priestess’s soiled garments were by the door as usual, and we gathered the laundry and proceeded to the riverbank.”
The king studied Rae’s face over his tented fingers. “And that is all? You didn’t see anything else?”
Perspiration began to bead at Rae’s hairline as her mind searched for an answer that was truthful but not damning. “As I said before, it was only a little past dawn and very dark. We saw very little. Only shadows.”
Meryamun frowned and, to Rae’s immense relief, turned his attention back to the note. “You care for your mistress, do you not, Ahura?”
“I do,” Rae said without thinking.
Meryamun nodded.
Rae swallowed hard. The king didn’t question her response, not because it was a lie he missed, but because it was true.
Damn you, Omari, she thought. I hate it when you’re right. Foolish as I am, I do care about the girl.
The king went on. “Then tell me, what would you do if a bunch of savage dogs from the south threatened to kill your beloved mistress unless you released a dozen traitors to the crown?”
Taken aback by his question, Rae struggled to speak. “B-but my king, I’m only— I’m not—”
“Don’t stand there gaping like a fish out of water. You’re the only other person in this palace who owes their life to Nefermaat the way that I do, so I’ve asked you the question. Now speak!”
Rae bit back a hundred angry responses, a thousand curses upon his wicked house, and instead replied with another truth. “I would give them whatever they asked to ensure the safe return of my mistress. No prisoner, no conquest, is worth the life of my beloved.”
King Meryamun raised his eyebrows and tilted his head appreciatively.
“Beautifully put. Particularly for a commoner such as yourself. The heart of a lion and the soul of a poet, quite a combination. Little Herit must thoroughly enjoy her revels with you—in fact, I know she does.” He traced a long finger across his bottom lip, his eyes knowing.
Rae’s cheeks reddened. She wanted to rake her nails across his face and tear the flesh from it.
Beneath her feet, the ground seemed to tremble.