Shadow of the Sun (The Shadow Saga) (29 page)

“Too many choices will confuse them,” added Ptah-Mose. “Then the masses will revolt against you. Beware, Atenists. You are disillusioned. The light has blinded you. Amun provides safety.”

Netri stood, tall and proud. He pointed his scepter, and stared at the three men as if none had uttered a word. Then my father spoke and I shivered. The Aten rang through his voice using him as a divine spokesman. “As of this moment, I decree that Mery-Ptah, Ptah-Mose and Ases-Amun will relinquish their positions. You shall be given transport to Nubia, to the three most distant quarry fields. You will be in charge of the acquisition of building materials for my new temples. I entrust you with this honor in service to Khemit.”

“This is an outrage!” shouted Mery-Ptah. “My family goes back five generations. I refuse to surrender my position to the whim of a usurper. This is heresy.”

A blood-curdling yell echoed through the stone hall. Sit-Amun stepped from behind a pillar. “Mery-Ptah, my beloved. You cannot be taken from me! You Atenists will pay for this.” She pointed at us. The guards rushed in to apprehend the disgraced fallen trio. The impenetrable Amunite wall which had withstood eons of opposition was now cracked.

“I will not go,” stated Ptah-Mose. He bared his teeth, like an angry hippopotamus protecting his territory.

“Ti-Yee, need I warn you it is by our grace you are allowed to rule,” said Ases-Amun with umbrage as he waved his yew staff. I cringed. Dark caves of gloom and misery peered at us beneath the hollow of his hood.

The broken priest threw back his hood and lifted a bony finger and warned, “We will not tolerate this kind of insult. I admonish you now to silence your ungrateful son or I will be forced to.”

I couldn’t gaze upon that face ravaged from a lifetime of malediction.

His decaying flesh barely clung to his skull.

With that announcement, the commander arrived with backup guards and seized the three. There was no doubt my father’s intentions would be carried out.

“Threats are not welcome in my court,” replied Father. “I grant you the opportunity of a renewed life. You broke the law when you attempted to steal the Ben Ben stone. Now you have caused unparalleled damage to my country. Yet, instead of imprisonment or death, I grant you a chance of redemption.”

A guard presented a scroll for my father’s signature and stamp. He waved the document in front of the trembling three who now understood the severity of this order. “A transport has been arranged for your immediate departure. I shall provide ample provisions to ensure your safe journey. Horemheb and his military force will escort you to your new life in the rock quarries.”

Sit-Amun rushed forward, her face mottled and red. “You cannot take him from me. I warn you.” She stared at my father. I could see livid red flames shoot out from her lower body and attack me and my family. I trembled. My stomach ached. If she could summon a crocodile for Hep-Mut, she could do worse to us.

“Sit-Amun, this does not concern you,” said Netri before facing the Hanuti. “Threats will not be taken kindly. I have instructed the guards to protect you three for all time. You shall be kept under their watch so that no harm will come from any enemy, although no one will ever be allowed to visit.” Netri raised his eyebrows at Sit-Amun to make his point clear. Ases-Amun drew a rat from his sleeve and began to chant. A low hum at first almost inaudible. Then Mery-Ptah chimed in followed by Ptah-Mose, whose belly jiggled with each in-breath.

I couldn’t understand what they said. But from each of their mouths a black cloud of smoke emitted and snaked its way toward my father. Ases-Amun threw the rat to the floor and it skittered away. The two multiplied and doubled again and again and darted toward the people in the room.

Please, do not hurt us,
I thought.
Retreat. Retreat.

The guards thrust their spears at the vermin. With a gnashing of razor sharp teeth, the rats scampered about, inflicting severe bites upon the guards’ sandaled feet.

I pointed and started to shake. “Meti, the smoke.”

“Get up,” replied Meti. She made me climb upon my throne above the raging rats, which so far had avoided us.

Couldn’t she see it? No one seemed to notice the smoke that now licked the face of my father. The rats created a diversion, clever chaos amidst the court.

“Get them, now,” ordered Ti-Yee as she unleashed her pair of lionesses.

The beasts sprang upon the rats and flailed them like playthings.

“Horus. Isis. Consume the rats,” commanded Amaret, and set her birds of prey to assault the vermin.

Sit-Amun joined the chant. That Red Ram apparition once again swelled up. Angry scarlet eyes admonished us while curled horns threatened to impale us. The transparent image snorted fire and stomped its cloven hooves. The Amun ram glowered and tilted its head, ready to butt my father. Sit-Amun maneuvered the specter like a puppet. She breathed that black smoke right into its flaring nostrils . Amaret heaved bolts of lightning that paralyzed the red ghost. I raised my hands and blue electricity shot out and hit Sit-Amun in the chest, knocking her back so hard she hit the wall. She sank down into a rumpled heap. Guards seized the chanters and bound their hands before shoving them toward the door.

A forlorn Mery-Ptah wailed, “Sit-Amun,” before a soldier gagged him. Sit-Amun pulled herself up and glared at the Pharaoh. “Think twice, Akhenaten,” she growled out. “Do you really want me to take something equally as precious away from you?”

The Pharaoh turned his stern gaze back on his aunt. “I have warned you about making threats. Do no test my determination to take a strong stand against evil.”

Sit-Amun backed down.

I felt Sit-Amun acquiesced too easily. Somehow I didn’t believe she would cease her attempt to destroy my family. And that, made me very afraid.

“W
ake up. Amaret will arrive any moment for scrying. You will not want to miss this,” Meti chided while rubbing my arms and legs to draw me closer to this world. Three fortnights passed since my father’s decree, and our astronomer predicted that March eighteenth would mark the closure of Karnak Temple. My spine still tingled and ached from sending too much blue electricity from my hands. This powerful untapped emanation poured through me and I couldn’t control it.

“Mutnodjmet was invited too, so I expect you to show respect to my younger sister. No more frogs in her bed. You know this vexes her.” “She made Meket cry,” I responded, still dizzy from sleep. “Meti, what is scrying?” The cold limestone floor chilled my bare feet as we made our way down the darkened hall toward a starlit room.

“Scrying allows us to see the present or the future by looking into a sheet of obsidian. We will view the closing of the Amun Temple without being in harm’s way.”

The copper ceiling of the small reception chamber glistened with a myriad of cut-out stars that filtered in a heavenly radiance. The gathered women communed in pleasantries. Candles twinkled their luminous kisses to the rise of the moon-shaped orange alabaster holders.

Grand Djedti Ti-Yee sipped hibiscus tea. Her meticulous wig was styled with gold beaded plaits, her regal robes the color of rose petals dipped in gold.

Tiy, the consort of Ay, conversed with Great Grand Elder Tuya, Tefnut- Aten and Khephri-Aten, the two Gem-pa-Aten temple priestesses. These women interwove stories of family and friends into a familiar tapestry of their lives. Everyone had lost loved ones and property in the recent catastrophes, and the pain and shock were etched forever in our hearts.

“My entire family wested in the wave. I have no one left,” said Priestess Tefnut-Aten.

“My home was burned to the ground by the falling ash,” added Priestess Kheprhi-Aten.

My Great Grand Elder Tuya blew her nose. “It took me years to earn the money for my land and gardens. The earthcrack destroyed everything. My consort, Yuya, fell and hit his head during the earthcrack and now he cannot even remember my name.”

I stood. “Nineteen of my classmates never returned to school. Our teacher says they wested. We did blessings for each one. Their empty mats make me cry.”

The others offered their condolences and shared their own heartwrenching stories. The soft chatter of women in this circle made my heart ache. Silent tears streamed down my cheeks.

I had no friends to share secrets with. Hep-Mut had taken all of my confidences to her watery grave. Thinking of my loss made me angry. I clenched my fists. Meket-Aten and I loved to paint and hide from our handmaidens under the bed. But so often Meti forbid her to play due to her coughing spells. Ankhi, being only a toddler, didn’t understand that six-year-olds didn’t want to play baby games like splashing in the tub or pulling stringed toys. I didn’t even have a pet. I wished I could have found my white cat and her kittens.

My mind wandered to my classmates. The older girls distanced themselves in honor of my ruling status. The agony of loneliness crept upon silent toes to kick at my heart. Had I been too busy to notice? The brick load of my days had been filled with duties and held together with the mortar of the gossip of court life. But I craved a friend, my friend and one I didn’t have to share. One with whom I could lie awake all night, counting the shooting stars and giggling about secret forever-pledges.

Netri would understand my pain. We shared an inexplicable bond. He surrounded himself with confidants, advisors and protectors. Yet, with the exception of Pentu, I didn’t believe even he had ever truly savored the dish of authentic companionship. Would his lofty inner dwellings prevent him from anchoring into this temporal existence? I envied him, for I feared I might not be as fortunate.

“Where is Netri?” I asked.

“Meditating,” said Meti. “We cannot disturb him.”

“Will he lead the closure of the temples?”

“No, Merit-Aten, it would be too risky. Counselor Ra-Mesu and General Horemheb will use their military expertise.”

“Mmmmm, Horemheb,” said Mutnodjmet batting her eyelashes.

“He is so strong and handsome.”

The women snickered and nudged each other “Oh, handsome enough if you keep your eyes closed,” said Grand Djedti Ti-Yee.

“It is not his rugged looks that make women flock to him like randy goats in heat. He is the size of an ox,” said Tiy in a gossipy tone as she extended her hands wide.

Mutnodjmet, who tried to act so grown up, blushed “Why, I would choke if I ever saw a penis so large.”