Authors: Pauline Gedge

The Horus Road (59 page)

BOOK: The Horus Road

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Ahmose was carried back to the palace on an hysterical tide of enthusiasm, high above the seething, yelling people. Ankhmahor stood beside him as his Fanbearer on the Right Hand and Akhtoy held the ostrich fan on his left. Ahmoseonkh leaned against his calf and waved happily at the crowd. Aahmes-nefertari was following on her own throne behind them, with Tetisheri and Aahotep behind her in uncurtained litters. Harkhuf and the Followers together with Khabekhnet strode imperiously ahead. It would take a long time for the rear of the straggling procession to reach the reception hall where the guests would feast for the rest of the day and far into the night. As the palace hove into view and the gates were swung open, Ahmose glanced up.

Two figures were watching him from the roof of the palace. One was sitting with his back against the opening of the new windcatcher which was, Ahmose thought bewilderedly, impossible. The other was standing with his arms folded, gazing pensively out over the glittering expanse of the Nile to the line of rugged cliffs on the west bank. Ahmose blinked, then looked again. The roof was empty, of course it was, baking in the noon heat.

The bearers set him down, and at once Ipi was issuing orders to his assistants to remove the Horus Throne to its accustomed place inside on the dais and holding out one of the chests so that Ahmose could lay in it the Crook and the Flail. Aahmes-nefertari came close, slipping her arm through his. “Chief Treasurer Neferperet tells me that there are literally mountains of gifts about to be formally presented to you from foreign ambassadors and your grateful nobles,” she said. “I know that this is a very sacred and important day, Majesty, but it is also fun, is it not?” He smiled and kissed her hennaed mouth.

“Indeed it is,” he answered lightly. “Shall we go to the nursery and worship our son before parading into the reception hall for our own share of veneration?” Ahmose-onkh was tugging at his kilt.

“Majesty Father, the frogs have not yet found their way into the new pool,” he complained. “Some of them have, but the big ones, my favourites, are very slow.” Ahmose ran a loving hand over the boy’s brown skull and down the thick youth lock.

“The kerer are symbols of rebirth,” he said. “Be patient with them. They will come when they are ready. There is a perfect time for everything within the omniscience of Ma’at. Now let us go in.” The shade beneath the pillars was inviting. Hand in hand, the three of them left the brilliance of the courtyard and made their way into the coolness of the palace beyond.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ATLASES

Oxford Bible Atlas
. 2nd ed. London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

The Harper Atlas of the Bible
. Edited by James A. Pritchard. Toronto: Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 1987.

The Cambridge Atlas of the Middle East and North Africa
. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

JOURNALS

K.M.T. a Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt
. San Francisco.

Volume 5, number 1,
Hyksos Symposium at the Metropolitan Museum
.

Volume 5, number 2,
Amunhotep I, Last King of the 17th Dynasty?

Volume 5, number 3,
Decline of the Royal Pyramid
.

Volume 6, number 2,
Buhen: Blueprint of an Egyptian Fortress
.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

HEARTFELT THANKS
to my researcher, Bernard Ramanauskas, without whose organizational skill and meticulous attention to detail these books could not have been written.