Suzanne Robinson (6 page)

Horemheb tucked his thumbs into his belt. “Someone with the guile to win the confidence of the traitor in our midst.”

A sigh escaped both men. Each knew that the Two Lands was about to be scarified by a betrayal, an unparalleled blasphemy. They must find someone whom they could trust and in whom Tutankhamun would have faith.

Hauron lay on his side, his hands pressed to his head. He knew they crowded around his bed, these servants and slaves of his niece, but the pain in his head made it impossible to open his eyes. They’d put him in Rahotep’s old bedchamber. He lost track of time because he spent most of his conscious hours fighting nausea, dizziness, and shooting pains in his groin.

“Physician.” The word came out as a whisper.

“My lord?”

It was that old lizard Nebre.

“Physician. Tell him, more pain.”

The voice of the physician burst upon him and made him cover his ears.

“I’m sorry, my lord. I can give you nothing else. Not until tonight. The head injury forbids it.”

“Then get out.” Hauron sucked in his breath and groaned. “Thanasa.”

“Here, my lord. She hasn’t sought out the nurse, and she hasn’t tried to come home. We’ve searched the area around the village where she disappeared.”

“Find her.”

Nebre’s voice hovered somewhere over his body. “My lord, it has been almost a fortnight. Your men have found no trace of the thieves who took my lady, and there have been no other attacks on houses in that village. Are you well enough to tell us how they appeared?”

Hauron gagged and pulled himself to the edge of the
bed where a slave held out a basin. He retched into it and fell back on his side.

“You have your answer, old man. Go away. My men will find her, no matter how long we have to search. Go away.”

Anqet strummed the harp in her lap. She flexed her fingers and repeated a section of a love song she was to perform tonight. She had been in Lady Gasantra’s employ for three days, and life was beginning to settle into a routine. Her main tasks were to serenade the mistress whenever requested and to sing for guests, especially at events such as tonight’s feast. If she was not practicing, she was required to assist Tamit in any capacity the maid might require. So far, Tamit had not been able to bring herself to ask Lady Anqet to work for her, so Anqet quietly offered her help without being requested.

Each morning she would breakfast with Tamit and the house servants before practicing with the other three musicians kept by the mistress. None of the three could sing, and they were glad to have her in their group. Anqet enjoyed the musical mornings when she and the three women played lute, double flute, harp, and drums. Her enjoyment was usually short-lived, for the fear that Hauron would find her popped into her thoughts at unexpected moments. At night she had dreams of him lunging at her Though it had been seventeen days since she had fled, she still woke in the middle of the night, certain that she could smell the fumes of beer and wine she associated with her uncle. Yet she was blessed by the gods with luck, for she took her place in Lady Gasantra’s household easily.

Gasantra lived with her grandfather, an ailing old man who kept to his private garden and took pleasure in making constant, niggling demands on his granddaughter Despite this inconvenience, Anqet envied Gasantra, for the woman was a widow who tended her own affairs and determined her own life as Anqet longed to do.

A woman of little curiosity, the mistress barely spoke to her, hardly even glanced at her, once she had heard
Anqet’s voice. Anqet soon realized that Gasantra took no notice of servants or slaves, other than in a utilitarian way. The woman knew when service was satisfactory and when it was not. Beyond that, she interested herself not at all in the lives of those she employed or owned. Anqet was sure she wouldn’t even notice if Tamit were to become ill until it was time for her hair to be dressed. Then the woman would be annoyed at the inconvenience.

Gasantra’s attitude worked in Anqet’s favor, for the woman never bothered to inquire into her background. In addition, she displayed no jealousy. Gasantra disliked pretty women, but servants, of course, were not rivals.

Anqet’s main concern upon being hired had been Count Seth. The man was most unsettling, and dangerous, but after observing Gasantra’s attitude toward her, she concluded that the fabulous count would have forgotten her existence moments after she escaped him. Besides, she had been so disheveled, indeed dirty, that he wouldn’t recognize her in her musician’s garments.

But Anqet couldn’t help but feel an unexpected irritation at the thought that Count Seth had in all probability erased her from his memory like a misdrawn hieroglyph. Anqet squirmed on her stool and set the harp aside. It had been a piece of ill luck, meeting this auburn-haired creature. He had infested her dreams. She would see him swooping at her, reed-green eyes full of mockery and fire. He would catch her to his hard body and run his hands over her.…

Anqet moaned aloud and clenched her fists in frustration. The man was a tyrant, a seducer of women. Tamit had told her so. Anqet wanted nothing to do with such a man. Hauron had taught her a lesson. Far better to marry a boring old lecher like Oubainer than to be at the mercy of a man like Count Seth. What she would really like to do was to find a man who would be a suitable ally for both her and Nefer, talk to him, make agreements. It seemed to her a proper way to find a mate. No doubt Count Seth and his powerful friends would laugh at her if they knew her predicament.

Yes, Tamit had warned her about Count Seth. He was hereditary ruler of the Falcon nome of Annu-Rest, one of the provinces below Thebes. At twenty-four, Seth was one of General Horemheb’s top military commanders and a friend of Pharaoh. This despite his tainted blood.

Tamit chattered to Anqet about Seth’s scandalous background. His father had horrified the old pharaoh Amenhotep? I by bringing back a foreign bride from an expedition to the Peoples of the Sea. A captured chief’s daughter, the woman hated the Two Lands, and though she bore the old count a son, she never forgave her husband for keeping her away from her home. The woman raised her son with strange ideas from her tribal background. Seth’s father saw the danger of filling his son full of ideas unwelcome in the Two Lands, and the parents fought. Seth was sent to court at the count’s order. There the boy became one of the Children of the Kap, those sons of high lineage who were raised with the royal offspring and trained to take positions in the government of the Two Lands.

Eventually Seth came under the tutelage of General Horemheb. During the time of chaos, when Tutankhamun’s older brother ruled, Seth had been the general’s aide. It was said that the young warrior had a hand in making Vizier Ay aware of the impending collapse of the northern empire in Syria through the king’s neglect of the army and his Syrian vassals. When Tutankhamun came to the throne, Vizier Ay needed someone to train the king in the arts of war, and Horemheb recommended Seth, who was already a friend to the boy.

Anqet got up and stretched. She should be dressing for tonight’s feast, not sitting here in a trance. She knelt before a clothing chest and took out a sheer robe. She fished about in a casket for a bronze-and-faience broad collar and earrings borrowed from Tamit. She gathered her hair on top of her head and pulled on an ebony wig that fell past her shoulders. Taking up a bronze mirror, she began to apply her cosmetics.

Anqet giggled, remembering Tamit’s avid face as she
described Count Seth. “Everyone knows he’s a barbarian, my lady. Just look at him. You know why he’s named after the god of darkness and evil? His mother found out that those born with reddish hair are thought to be under the god Seth’s influence, and she named him that to show her contempt for our beliefs. But she was right to name him that.”

Tamit lowered her voice. “That man is under the rule of the Dark One. Did you know that he seduced a priestess of Isis? Right in the temple. The vizier was furious. But then it turned out that the priestess was quite happy about being debauched.”

“So he didn’t force her?”

Tamit shook her head, her eyes wide with vicarious horror. “He didn’t have to. Count Seth has never had to force any woman to grant favors.” She leaned close to Anqet and whispered. “He and his wild friends had midnight chariot races before the palace. He even took the king to one, but the divine father Ay put a stop to that. And the worst, or nearly the worst, are those depraved nights at the Tavern of the Serpent.” Here Anqet only caught hushed references to “many women,” “leading other young men astray,” and “strange, foreign potions mixed with wine.”

Anqet blushed and stalled with a question. “What did you mean, almost the worst? There’s more?”

“May Toth be my witness, my lady. There’s too much to tell. The worst is what he did to his mother. They say he—he took her body from the tomb where it lay with that of his father.”

A sickened shudder passed through Anqet’s body. “Why?”

“Because he’s evil. That’s why.” Tamit’s voice shook as she spoke. “He took her body out into the desert and burned it. Oh, think of it! He destroyed the home of her ka. There’s no place for her spirit to return to. She’s lost. Lost forever.”

“Did he do that to his father too?”

“No. He’s half mad, don’t you see? He buried his
father as a proper son should, here in the City of the Dead with his mother and all his noble ancestors. Perhaps his half brother Lord Sennefer wouldn’t let him bum their father. They always fought. Sennefer hates Seth. The poor man was his father’s only son until Seth came along. Just imagine. Burning your mother’s body.”

Anqet stared into her mirror and contemplated that horrific act. It was truly the act of a barbarian. Why did he have to be so beautiful and yet so evil? She buried the memory of his lean body as she had done all day and finished dressing.

When she closed the door to the room she shared with Tamit, she heard the busy sounds of a house in preparation for guests. For several days, a flurry of activity had disrupted the compound. An ox had been butchered, fresh waterfowl acquired. The cook and her assistants had been up before sunrise, baking bread and pastries. Extra servants had been hired to scour the house. Even the household children had been pressed into service. Three naked younglings rushed by her now, arms loaded with fresh flowers worked into garlands.

Anqet dodged the children and maneuvered through crowded passageways to the main hall. It was dusk. A slave lit alabaster lamps; another filled bowls with scented oil. The chief cook stood over her assistants while they decked small tables with food and flowers. Additional musicians waited in an alcove that opened onto the hall, hired by Gasantra to supplement the regular staff.

“Singer.” Lady Gasantra stood at the entrance to the hall and called imperiously.

Anqet went to her and made a low obeisance. “Yes, mistress.”

Gasantra’s long slanting eyes barely touched her.

“You have prepared the song I requested?”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Remember, don’t begin it until I signal.”

“Yes, mistress.”

Gasantra turned away without another word. Anqet hastened back to her place behind a harp. The instrument,
taller than she, was made of cedar overlaid with sheet gold. It was a costly piece, far finer than any she had ever played. She suspected that Gasantra had ordered it made only to impress her guests, for the woman was unmoved by music.

The lute player nudged her. Guests were arriving. She fought back an unreasonable fear that Hauron would be one of them. No, Hauron was far away. She and the other musicians struck up a sedate tune, suitable for the hostess to welcome her friends. Anqet could see Lady Gasantra standing beyond the hall entrance, groups of richly dressed nobles filing toward her. Over the strains of the music, she heard urbane, courtly greetings.

“May the grace of Amun be in thy heart, dear Gasantra.”

“Welcome, welcome.”

“I pray the gods grant thee health and life.”

Anqet began to enjoy herself. She had never witnessed such an illustrious and sophisticated gathering. Her parents had entertained, but on a modest scale. Here in Thebes, the great worked far harder at having a good time. At first the men and women kept apart, as was fitting. Beflowered ladies sat in ones and twos nibbling daintily at roast pigeon, teal, and goose. She saw two young men playfully struggle to break a haunch of beef in half. Wine, beer, and liqueurs circulated freely, poured by serving girls.

“Psst.”

Anqet looked over her shoulder at the sound. The leader of the hired acrobats signaled that they were ready. A drummer beat a rapid tattoo. Anqet and her fellow musicians struck up a staccato melody. Five girls tumbled into the hall to the delighted cries of the crowd, for Gasantra had hired the best performers in Thebes. Anqet’s jaw dropped as one girl did a series of backflips across the length of the room, her long, braided ponytail a black whip at her back.

The evening progressed with an ever-increasing consumption of liquor. The atmosphere in the packed hall became stuffy. Anqet, who had sung almost without respite,
left the hall for a few minutes and downed a cup of beer in the kitchen.

The mood of the party changed from formality to familiarity. Men and women mingled freely now. Some wandered out into the cool darkness of the garden; others gathered around a line of dancing girls. Anqet returned to her seat at the harp in a mellow mood after a second cup of beer.

She enjoyed being a singer. It was good to give pleasure to people and to see their heads turn at the sound of her voice. There was a feeling of power when her music brought a smile or a tear to a stranger.

Lady Gasantra appeared. “Where have you been?” she snapped. “Never mind. Await my signal.”

Anqet huddled behind her harp. This was the moment she dreaded, for she knew of only one person for whom Gasantra would want this song performed. There had been no way to refuse. Well, he wouldn’t be looking at her anyway, not with Gasantra clinging to him. From behind the instrument, Anqet searched the hall. She caught sight of her mistress slinking up to a tall figure in a long, transparent robe that covered a white kilt. She recognized those muscled legs and brown shoulders, even though Count Seth defied fashion and left off the intricate wig everyone else was wearing.