The King's Man (51 page)

A journey that should have taken a full two days was accomplished in a little over one due to the vigilance of Huy’s captain and the efforts of an exhausted crew to keep the craft just within the pull of the central current and free of the shoals hidden close to the western bank. Iunu sat on the river’s eastern bank. In the dark small hours of the morning the barge was finally tethered to the sunken mooring poles of Thothmes’ watersteps and the ramp was run out. Huy had left his remaining two vessels at Mennofer with the bulk of his staff, and only he, Paneb, Perti, and Kenofer walked towards the two soldiers guarding the entrance to Thothmes’ estate. Recognizing him, they both saluted.

“Go quietly up to your master’s house and find out if he’s awake,” Huy said. “If he sleeps, don’t allow him to be disturbed—I’ll remain on my barge until dawn.” Kenofer had been carrying a stool and Huy sank onto it with a secret relief. He himself had been unable to rest as the craft moved steadily north, and now his eyes burned and his back gave him a pang with every movement. He was not sorry at the wait. Slowly he absorbed the well-remembered aura of Thothmes’ arouras: the faint, delicate aroma of the flowers Ishat had commanded the gardeners to plant because they bloomed at night, the slightly rank odour rising from the lily-choked ponds and narrow canals channelling water to the vegetable gardens at the rear, and under it all an indefinable scent of grass, palm trunks, and sun-warmed mud brick. The flood was slightly more than two months away from its crest and by then the watersteps and much of the ground around Huy’s perch would be drowned, but for now he inhaled his own spate of poignant memories carried to him on the intermittent caress of the soft air.

He would have been happy to sit there dozing for the rest of the night, but before long he saw the pale glow of a lamp draw nearer and a man he did not recognize came to a halt in front of him and bowed. The servant who had been carrying the lamp ahead of him stepped aside.

“Forgive me for speaking first, Great Seer,” the man said, “but I have not had the pleasure of serving you before. I am Hay, chief steward in the household of the noble Thothmes.”

“Paser is retired? Dead?” Huy glanced into the face above him.
So many administrators look too young to cope with the responsibilities they have assumed
, he thought gloomily,
but the truth is that I’m just too old to remember the weight of accountability I myself used to bear
.

“He died and was beautified several months ago,” Hay explained. “My master has been awake for some time and is eager to greet you. Please follow me.”

Long before you were born, I could walk this path blindfolded
, Huy thought with unaccustomed rancour.
Why would you imagine otherwise? And why am I suddenly filled with this petty resentment so foreign to my nature?
Rising, he obeyed Chief Steward Hay’s request.

He sensed rather than saw Nakht’s house far off to the left. Thothmes’ father had been the Governor of the Heq-at sepat, and at his death Thothmes had inherited the title. Now Thothmes’ first-born son Huy lived in his grandfather’s house and ruled the district from Iunu, its capital. Nakht, Thothmes’ second son, had risen in the army to become commander of the Division of Ra, and Thothmes’ daughter Sahura, married to the Governor of the wealthy Ament sepat west of the Delta, had forged a lucrative business in her own right by obtaining royal permission to share in the profits from the vast natron deposits of the sepat in exchange for providing the workers with housing, food, and medical care. She also oversaw the cultivation of hundreds of grapevines that produced the famous Good Wine of the Western River.
Ishat
, Huy often thought,
would be proud of the accomplishments that have vindicated her own determination to become literate and her insistence that Sahura be more than an able household manager
.

At the imposing entrance to Thothmes’ home, the doorguard left his bench to reverence Huy. He had hardly opened the doors when Thothmes himself came hurrying forward, arms outstretched. “Huy! What a wonderful surprise! Nasha said you’d be unable to resist the opportunity to visit Iunu again once your task at Mennofer was over!” Huy’s own arms were flung wide and the two men embraced. Thothmes had always been shorter and more slender than Huy, but now, holding his dearest friend tightly, Huy was horrified to feel the jutting bones of Thothmes’ spine under his hands and the outline of ribs against his chest. He was forcibly reminded of the last time he had greeted Nakht, whose gaunt body was already ravaged by the wasting disease that had killed him. Thothmes was barefooted. He was wearing a loose white sleeping robe. His face, cleansed of all cosmetics, seemed all jutting cheekbones and deep furrows. As they broke apart, Huy noticed a slight stoop to Thothmes’ narrow shoulders that brought him a pang of dismay followed at once by a wave of love.

“How long has it been?” he said huskily. “I haven’t seen you since the court moved south to Weset.”

Thothmes made a face that instantly returned Huy to their school days together, and linking arms they moved into the reception hall. “I’ve often thought of making the journey,” Thothmes said, “but somehow I never did find enough energy to see my house turned upside down and then face those endless miles into desert country.”

“I know, and the King would never have released me for anything other than the most pressing emergency. I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” Thothmes shot him a quizzical look. “Nasha told me why His Majesty finally allowed you to leave Weset. Was it worthwhile, Huy? Is the search over at last?”

“Yes.” They had crossed the hall and had come to the foot of the stairs and the passage beside it leading farther into the house. “I need to tell you everything, Thothmes, but I must sleep and eat first.”

Thothmes nodded. His brown eyes, still full of the eagerness for life Huy remembered so well, swiftly scrutinized Huy’s face. “Hay’s been busy preparing for your arrival since your message was delivered. I’m longing to hear the news, Huy, but later. I don’t sleep much anymore, but tonight, or rather this morning, I know I’ll be able to. Incidentally, I can tell you with great glee that you’re showing your age at last, mighty mer kat! I think the gods have finally grown bored with you!”

Smiling, he snapped his fingers at the steward and disappeared into the dimness of the passage. The group scattered to their accommodations. Perti and Paneb shared a room beside Huy’s, and a pallet outside Huy’s door had been left for Kenofer. As the house settled into the deep hush of the hours before dawn, Huy lay on the familiar couch, drowsily relishing the sense of complete security the city of Iunu and Thothmes’ presence had always meant to him. He did his best to stay conscious in order to enjoy the feeling for a little longer, but a profound sleep overtook him and he did not wake until half the morning had gone.

There had always been a sanity to Thothmes’ house, compounded, Huy believed, of Ishat’s clear-headed honesty, Thothmes’ steady kindness, and the blessing of Ra upon a family dedicated to the laws of Ma’at. He felt it most strongly when visiting his friend after a long absence. Today, standing on the slab in the bathhouse while Kenofer scrubbed him with natron, it slowly uncluttered his mind, separating the maelstrom of his emotions from the enormity of the knowledge he had recently gained, so that by the time he lay on one of the benches in the shade outside to be shaved, plucked, and oiled, he was able to order his thoughts calmly.

The noon meal was served in the reception hall, and to Huy’s delight Thothmes’ sons, Governor Huy and General Nakht, were present. “I couldn’t pass up the chance to see you again,” the Governor told him. “There aren’t many official duties to perform at this time of the year. Of course I’ll be busy once the flood’s subsided, but until then I can amuse my children and please my wife.”

“There’s nothing much for a general to do either,” his brother remarked, dipping bread into the bowl of garlic-flavoured olive oil on the gilded table by his folded knees. “You’re responsible for the distribution of the divisions, mer kat. My soldiers need something to do. Perhaps a little war?” He grinned at Huy before biting into the bread, and in the lift of his mouth his resemblance to his mother Ishat made Huy’s heart turn over.

Nasha pointed her spoon at Huy. In her other hand the red liquid in her cup trembled. Over the years her liking for wine had not diminished, and Huy had often marvelled at her body’s ability to withstand its long-term effects. Unlike poor Anuket, she was not consumed by the need to seek oblivion in it. Her wit remained as acerbic as ever, and although she was older than Thothmes, she did not look it. Huy had greeted her warmly as he lowered himself to the floor beside her and prepared to eat, noting that her stay with her brother had done her good. Her eyes were clearer and her skin less sallow. Now she was frowning.

“What have you been doing to yourself in Mennofer?” she said sharply. “I’ve never seen swelling under your eyes before. Did you offend Ptah?”

“I don’t think so.” Huy’s tone was mild. Nasha’s concern for him invariably sounded like anger. “I’ve been reading a great deal, Nasha, that’s all.”

“Well, you look terrible. Shall we be staying here for long?”

Huy considered.
I should go home. My search has been concluded. Unfortunately, I have no reason to stay in the north
.

“You may stay as long as you like,” he replied reluctantly, “but I must return to court once I’ve talked to you, Thothmes. Their Majesties are waiting for information from me regarding a Seeing I performed before I left. I mustn’t keep them in suspense for any longer than is necessary.” He wanted to tell Nasha that she would be safer here in Iunu, that once he had unburdened himself to the King and particularly to Tiye his fall from favour could very well be immediate, that the only solution to the problem of the baby Prince he had arrived at so far would mean disaster for him and danger for everyone close to him—but such words could only be spoken in private. Meeting Thothmes’ eyes, he read a question there.

Nasha sighed loudly. “I might as well settle in here for a while, and besides, the days when I actually ran your household are over, Huy. You don’t really need me. I’ll miss my friends in Weset, but I don’t fancy a long and uncomfortable journey south just yet.” Draining her cup, she held it out to be refilled. Nakht laughed at her, making some caustic remark, and a general babble of conversatin began.

The meal ended happily. Governor Huy and his brother Nakht took a fond farewell of Huy and left, and Nasha made her way to her own room to sleep the afternoon away. Thothmes beckoned Huy. “Let’s go into my office, and someone can bring us something to drink,” he said. “I think that what you have to tell me is serious, isn’t it, Huy?”

His earnest words and look of concern brought a lump to Huy’s throat.
A mer kat can have no friends
, he thought as he followed Thothmes along the passage leading from the reception hall and through to the rear gardens.
He dare not confide in anyone. Therefore I thank the gods for your affection and incorruptibility, my old companion. Without you, my loneliness would be complete. In spite of Anubis’s warning I shall tell you everything and ask your advice, because as soon as I describe my vision to Amunhotep and warn him of what must be done, my own future will almost certainly descend into chaos
.

Thothmes turned in at an open door, waited until Huy was inside the room, sent a hovering servant for water and beer, and closed the door firmly. “Now, tell me everything.”

So Huy did so, beginning with the discovery of the end of the Book of Thoth, his reading and interpretation of the ancient heb sed rites, and finally, with fear and a secret rebellion, the details of the vision Anubis had shown him. He paused once, when a servant quietly set jugs, cups, and napkins on the desk and then withdrew. Thothmes did not interrupt him. He sat with legs crossed and arms folded, his eyes on Huy’s face. Even as Huy spoke, he was thinking how much older and more fragile Thothmes looked in repose. Without the cheerful expressions and gestures that animated him, he resembled his father the last time Huy had seen him, drawing in all his strength to celebrate Thothmes’ marriage to Ishat.
Let me die before Thothmes
, he begged to no particular god.
Please don’t deprive me of my last true friend
.

After he closed his mouth, there was a long silence unbroken by any sound from the slumbering house. Then Thothmes unfolded his arms and placed them on the desk. “Let me understand this. You believe that the Book together with the rituals of the heb sed actually initiate a magic that indeed transforms a King into a god. He enters the tomb, it becomes a womb, and as he emerges his flesh becomes sacred. Of course, I can accept such a construal. It merely confirms what all of us take for granted. A King and a High Priest are the only people allowed to enter the inner sanctuary of any temple. Each King stands before each god as the embodiment of Egypt herself, and to Egypt as the living personification of each god. I’m glad that you have been allowed to confirm this belief. But what does it have to do with the terrible future you saw when you took the baby Prince’s fingers?”

Huy poured himself water, drank it all, refilled his cup, and drained it a second time. His throat was dry and his tongue felt swollen. “If my vision showed me the truth, that child will grow up to destroy Egypt and corrupt the power and sanctity of the Horus Throne,” he said roughly. “His brother, the Hawk-in-the-Nest Prince Thothmes, will die. I predicted it. There’ll be no one left to wear the Pshent but he. It will be tainted from the moment it’s placed on his head. And his body, Thothmes—the vision showed me something very wrong with his body. Everywhere I looked, Isfet. Everything Anubis let me see, Isfet!”

Thothmes sat back. “A harsh judgment, Huy, and perhaps too swift? How can everything in Egypt become so twisted that the whole of the country is in opposition to Ma’at—is Isfet?”

“If the King who represents us to the gods is corrupt, then so is Egypt. He will repudiate every deity but the Aten. He will only worship the Visible Disc. I sensed this danger a long time ago, and so did Queen Mutemwia.”