Benermerut bowed low. “It shall be done, Majesty.”
Thut sat down. He took a deep breath, calmed himself. Then he leaned back in his throne, apparently satisfied with his day’s work. “Now we shall all go to the Temple of Amun and give thanks,” he announced. He started to rise again, then looked in my direction, almost as if I was an afterthought. He sat.
“Meryetneith.”
I slowly moved to the open space, next to Nefer. “Majesty?”
“You have served my sister long and faithfully, from the very beginning of her life. I now release you from those bonds.”
I heard Nefer’s sharp intake of breath.
“Majesty?” I was instantly confused and afraid. Was Thut separating me from Nefer because I had chosen her over him so many times? Was he really that cruel? Was he changing our agreement? Did he have something else in store for me?
“You’ve been my friend all my life, Mery. You know the love I bear you on that account. If you wish, you may depart the per’aa this day, beholden to no one in my kingdom. You may settle wherever you like in the land of Kemet. You may marry whomever you wish, start a family. I will provide for you. You will never want for anything. Ask of me what you will and I will grant it, to you and your children after you.” His eyes bored into mine. “Even were you to accept the fondest wish of my heart.”
I heard the whispers in the room, saw heads bent close together, felt eyes upon me. Thut’s cryptic words had set everyone to speculating. Iset’s brow furrowed. My heart started pounding. I knew precisely what he wanted me to ask him for, for it was what I too desired. Thut wanted me for a wife immediately. He didn’t want to wait for Nefer to give him a son. He loved me and I loved him. If I said the word I could share his bed this very night. I longed to. The time we’d spent together on the royal boat traveling south from Abdju was fresh in my mind. No doubt he was counting on it to sway me. Then my eyes met Nefer’s and brought me back to reality. She regarded me, curious. After all Nefer had endured this day, I could not pile more hurt upon her. The reasons Thut and I had to wait to marry had not magically disappeared, just because my heart wanted them to.
I threw back my shoulders. “Majesty, I ask only to continue serving your wife, Neferure.”
Thut breathed deeply. His eyes were resigned. He’d known my answer before I gave it. “You’d share her fate?”
I saw Iset sneer.
“Nefer’s fate, Majesty? To be your wife?” My voice rang throughout the hall. “There could be no happier fate in the land of Kemet!”
I glimpsed Iset, her face suddenly crimson with rage. What she had seen as humiliation for Nefer I was proclaiming as a triumph.
“Majesty, I’ll gladly serve My Lady in her glorious fate!”
A half–smile, somewhat wistful, crossed Thut’s lips. “So it shall be,” he commanded. “Meryetneith, you will continue as Neferure’s lady.”
“Thank you, Majesty,” I said.
“Further, I give you two titles – Great Companion of the King, and Great Companion of the King’s Wife. This shall be proclaimed throughout the land. The door of my per’aa shall always be open to you, without hindrance, to come and go as you please.”
I bowed my head, grateful at Thut’s generosity.
“Now, Mery, take Neferure to my quarters, and prepare her.”
Nefer and I made our way towards the king’s rooms. As we left the audience hall I whispered a prayer of thanks to the gods. Nefer was Thut’s wife, as she always should have been. I would remain at her side, her friend and confidant. As an added benefit, I would see Thut more often, now that I too would reside in his harem along with Nefer. Let Iset believe she had defeated Nefer. Yes, she had deprived Nefer of title and status, but not of life. Iset had won a battle, but I had every confidence that Nefer would prevail against her in a long war. After all, Iset could not live forever. In years to come, Nefer would surely prove herself indispensable to Thut. She would eventually rise to the place she deserved, beside him on his throne. Nefer was the most beautiful woman in the Two Lands. She’d draw Thut under her spell. It was inevitable. No, today was just the first step on a long path. Even in the midst of heartbreak, I saw hope for her.
***
Once in the king’s bedroom, Nefer broke down in my arms and cried until she could cry no more. The audience had been so much worse than either of us had expected. I comforted her as best I could, though I knew my words brought her no peace. After a very long time she calmed a bit. She wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“I could have ruled Kemet, Mery. I could have been king. I could have challenged Thutmose for the throne. I may even have taken it, with everyone who backed me… But I yielded, against everyone’s advice but yours. I counted on Thutmose wanting me to rule with him. I counted on him to give me power, as he promised you. Instead, he’s taken all I could have been from me. I’m nothing now. I’ll exist the rest of my life, Mery, but I won’t live. I’ve lost everything. Thutmose even destroyed tradition – he made a commoner God’s Wife of Amun. And what he did to our friends, and Mother… I hate him for that, Mery. I’ll always hate him.”
I stroked Nefer’s long hair, over and over. “As hard as it may be, you can’t, Nefer,” I said. “You have to forgive him, or at least tolerate him until you find it in your heart to forgive him. Otherwise, today was all in vain. Don’t give up yet. I beg you. Your whole life you’ve been victimized by Iset and your mother. Iset lied about you. Hatshepsut kept you and the king apart. You’ve survived and even thrived in spite of them. And now you’re Thut’s wife. Its what you always should have been. It’s the first step on your road to power. You’ve prepared yourself to be king. Thut doesn’t see what you can do for him yet, because Iset has blinded him to you with her lies. But you can prove your worth, maybe not at once, but gradually, by your words and actions and counsel. Fight for Thut, change his mind about you, make him see you as you really are, of what you both together can be. Never forget – he had to behave as he did publicly to assuage Iset and his advisors. I can’t believe he’ll treat you so cruelly in private, now that you’re his wife.” I linked our fingers. “Remember the lotus, Nefer, folding up each sunset, opening again each morning, reborn. If a flower can be renewed, so can you. Make Thut rely on you. It may take years, but it will happen. Then all will be right.” I kissed her brow. “I know it will.”
“Some things will never be right, Mery.” Nefer kissed my cheek. “Why did you ask to stay with me, when I’ve been relegated to the king’s harem? You could have gone anywhere, had anything, been anything.” I could see in her eyes that she wanted to ask me what Thut had meant when he referred to his fondest wish. But she didn’t. I suspected she had guessed, but that she feared my confirmation.
“Thut allowed me to have what I’ve always wanted,” I said lightly. “Your love and friendship mean more to me than anything. They always will.”
Hours later, just after sunset, Thut appeared in his room. A bit earlier, serving girls had lit oil lamps set on wooden stands. Their flickering light now cast a warm golden glow on the white linen sheets of Thut’s bed, and set shadows dancing in the corners.
I was sitting with Nefer on the edge of that bed, its draperies open wide, her head resting against my shoulder, her arm around my waist. We both stood at Thut’s entrance. I squeezed Nefer’s hand, lowered my eyes, bowed my head to Thut. I had bathed and anointed and painted and dressed Nefer; she was a vision, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. He wouldn’t be able to resist her this night. I wouldn’t allow myself to think of what was about to happen between them. The memory of our time on his boat rose before my eyes. It could have been me in this bedroom waiting for Thut instead of Nefer, me locked in his embrace. Was I as big a fool as Thut believed me for giving him up? I fought against the envy that threatened to poison my heart.
Nefer’s eyes betrayed misery. She was not looking forward to what was going to happen. I didn’t blame her, after how she’d been treated by Thut earlier. I
’d worked so hard for so long to make this day come about, for Thut and Nefer to be married. I’d always pictured it as a joyous occasion, the fulfillment of a mutual dream and desire. I’d never imagined them coming to their marital bed hating and distrusting each other, bound by duty and politics instead of love. I felt bad for them both.
“I’ll depart now, Majesties,” I said.
“Stay,” Thut said. “I bring news that affects you both.”
He moved to a chair near the bed and sat. I hastened to fill a cup with wine and handed it to him. He quickly drank half the liquid and set the cup down on a small alabaster table to his right.
“The King of Megiddo has challenged me to face him in battle before his walls.”
I gasped at the effrontery.
Nefer moved before Thut’s chair and stood respectfully. “So the Nine Bows seek to test you after my mother’s death, to see what you’re made of. As they always do during a transition on the throne of Kemet.”
“They always fail,” Thut said disgustedly. “But they never learn from the past.”
“Megiddo alone, against Kemet?” I asked.
Thut shook his head no. “The King of Megiddo has gathered many allies, from Yeraza in northern Retenu to the marshes of the earth. King Durusha of Kadesh has already moved his entire army to the city. More soldiers arrive daily from the region between the Orontes and Jordan rivers – the Amurru, tribesmen from Setjet and Aram and Retenu – forces under the control of at least three hundred leaders from an even greater number of towns and cities and villages – Damascus, Bezer, Hazor, Acco, Achsaph, Adamim, Anaharath, Geba–shemen, Mishal, Ophel, Shemesh–Edom, Shimon, Shunem, Taanach, Aphek, Gath, Yapu, Lod, Mahaz, Migdol, Ono, Socoh, Yaham, Rehob, Tyre, Jerusalem, Shechem, Sidon, Sumur – the list goes on. My spies estimate that Megiddo has or will have ten thousand men under arms to defend it, or more.”
I was taken aback at the extent of the rebellion. The number of wretches we’d faced at Buhen paled in comparison. “What’s driven them to form such a coalition?”
“While Neferure’s mother was busy building temples, the Mitanni were stirring up trouble for us, unchecked, from the far North. They’re behind it,” Thut said. “The Mitanni seek to create a buffer between themselves and us.”
“You saw this coming years ago,” I told Thut. “The decline in tribute, the slowing of trade. No one would listen to you.”
Thut nodded. “And now we pay the price.”
“The enemy challenges you to meet him on his own ground, in front of his own town? It sounds like a trap,” I said.
“Of course it is,” Thut concurred. “Or, at least, it is intended to be. But this is the day I’ve long prepared my army for, Mery.” Thut rose, made a fist of his right hand and slammed it into his left palm, began to pace back and forth. “The Nine Bows have ill–judged my boldness and readiness and strength. They underestimate the speed with which I’ll move to confront them. It’ll take them much time to mold soldiers from so many places into a unified fighting force, to work out the issues of command and control, for kings who answer to no one to willingly subject themselves to those they consider their equals or inferiors.” Thut laughed gleefully. “I’ll be upon them before they’re fully prepared, before they can exercise their strength!”
“Aachel was raised near Megiddo,” I volunteered. “She’s spoken of it to me many times, what she remembers of it.”
Nefer nodded.
“Tell me all you know,” Thut ordered us, sitting once more. “I know the desert approaches to southern Retenu, but have never been so far north.”
I refilled his cup. “Megiddo lies a few day’s march east of the sea, Thut,” I said, “north of Yapu, along the southwestern edge of the Jezreel Valley, in the highlands beyond the Mount Carmel range. That’s the first mountain range that’ll confront you as you move north from Kemet. Megiddo controls the main trade route between Kemet and Naharina.”
“Which is obviously why they’ve chosen it as an assembly point,” Nefer pointed out. “If Megiddo remains closed to trade, we’ll be cut off from the goods of the North.”
“Do not fear. I’ll crush this rebellion and make all Retenu subservient to me.” Thut pulled the nemes from his head, laid it on the table next to his cup. He ran a hand through his hair. “General Djehuty left an hour ago for the army base at Tjaru in Ta–mehi on my fastest boat to make my soldiers ready. I’ll follow in the morning. I’m going on campaign. I’ll depart Tjaru one month from today.” He gazed at Nefer appraisingly. “There’s been some discussion among my advisors about what to do with you in light of this situation.”
“Do with me, Majesty?”
“Despite your promise of loyalty today, and that of your bureaucrats and priests, and what I’ve taken from you, there are those who feel a rebellion here at Waset to put you on my throne is likely with me and my army far away from Kemet.”
“What more can I say to assure you I’ll take no part in such a scheme?” Nefer asked wearily. “I’ve publicly yielded to you and pledged fealty to you to stop these ridiculous whisperings. You’ve taken me to wife. You’ve stripped me of my titles and wealth. You’ve shamed and humiliated me in front of every important official in the land. Isn’t that enough?”
“Apparently not. My advisors judge it far too dangerous to leave you alone at Waset now, so soon after the death of your mother.” Thut drained the last of his wine, raised his eyes to Nefer. “Truth is, you resent me for what I did today, don’t you.”
“Wouldn’t you?” Nefer asked with dignity, locking her eyes on his.
Thut was the first to turn away. “Your resentment may fester and convince you to forget your promises, Neferure. You may decide to call upon your supporters to rebel after all, once I’m gone.”
“I would not!”
“Nevertheless, you’re going on campaign with me, Neferure, so you will not be tempted, and will not have the opportunity.” Thut looked at me. “And so, in service to my wife, Mery, you’re going to war too.”
Campaigning with Thut? Being with him every day, for months? Visiting lands I’d long studied but never dreamed I’d see? The gods were smiling on me. I couldn’t wait to leave. “You know how I crave adventure, Majesty,” I said eagerly.
Thut smiled wryly. “Well, then. It awaits you in Retenu.”
***
“They approach, General.”
General Djehuty stepped from inside his decorated leather pavilion and moved to my side a few paces from its entrance. In one hand he carried an ebony cane chased with hieroglyphs of gold, a symbol of authority given him by Thut two days ago. The sun was almost directly overhead and he shaded his eyes with his free hand, scanning the flat plain in the direction of Yapu. The town lay about a mile to our west. Fifteen horsemen slowly approached us, trailing a long plume of dust. Most of the riders were soldiers; one, an old man in a magnificent robe, I took to be the city’s governor. Behind them rose Yapu, its impregnable high mud–brick walls atop a steep one hundred thirty–foot high hill commanding both plain and harbor, sand–colored against the vast expanse of the deep blue sea. Our pavilion was equidistant from the city and the camp of Djehuty’s small force of soldiers that lay along a small creek a mile to our east. Smoke from several cookfires near the pavilion, tended by three serving girls dressed in linen skirts, curled upward. The scent of roasting meat carried on the wind. A dozen of Djehuty’s most trusted commanders milled about near the general and me, warily eyeing the approaching horsemen. Some two hundred very large sealed reed baskets were piled not far from the cookfires, the type usually containing fodder for horses. What we were about to attempt depended on the enemy believing they did. I felt sorry for the hand–picked soldiers who were concealed inside the baskets under layers of grain, broiling under the merciless sun, sweating, thirsty, keeping absolutely still to avoid detection. Djehuty was about to attempt to trick the enemy into freely opening Yapu’s gates to us, and the baskets were the key to his plan’s success. I whi
spered a prayer to Montu, god of war, that his ruse would work.
From the very beginning of this campaign against Megiddo Thut had pushed his well–trained men hard. Before leaving Waset he had gone to Ipet–Isut and sought the protection of the war god, receiving from him the khepesh, or sickle sword. Then he’d traveled to Tjaru and mustered his army, twenty thousand strong, and departed Kemet, marching beside the coast along the Ways of Horus, to Gaza and then Yapu, capturing numerous small towns and driving the enemy before him. He had moved with tremendous speed; we’d left home less than three weeks ago and were already nearly to the enemy’s gates. As he’d told Nefer and me, Thut was determined to strike the Nine Bows before they could get fully organized. He’d utilized his years of experience patrolling and visiting Retenu to pick his route north with confidence. We had covered more than fifteen miles a day since leaving Ta–mehi, traveling light, with the bare minimum amount of food needed to keep men and horses alive and in fighting condition. Thut had led by example; he’d been the first to wake each day, the last to sleep each night.
So far Yapu had been the only city to offer meaningful resistance to our invasion. Thut had spent two days trying to take it, then, since any delay posed a significant threat to the success of his campaign, he had given up, moving almost all of his men north and east towards Megiddo under cover of darkness. All of his advisors had warned against leaving an enemy force in his rear, particularly one directly on his line of retreat. So Thut had stationed General Djehuty outside the city walls with a mere five hundred soldiers, ordering him to keep the enemy bottled up inside while Thut himself attacked Megiddo. But General Djehuty was determined to capture Yapu and rejoin Thut in time for the assault on the enemy stronghold. And so this morning he had sent a message to Governor Jopa, inviting him to feast and talk on the plain between the armies.
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