Without warning, there was a shriek from the deck of the ship. Paser stood at the railing, one hand on his injured head, the other pointing at the intruder in the water below. At the sound, the intruder hefted the pole, swung it, and bashed Paser in the head. Paser dropped like a fishing weight over the side. At the same time Bener stooped, picked up a clod of earth, and hurled it at the attacker. It hit the man square in the back.
Both Meren and Kysen cried out a warning as the man was thrown off balance and almost fell into the water. Meren hurled himself at Bener at the same time the attacker turned on her. Kysen shouted a warning as the pole swung at Bener's head. Meren pushed his daughter out of the way, ducked under the stone-crushing blow, and grabbed the pole. He jerked it toward himself, then jammed the end into the attacker's chest.
"Huh!" The man doubled over, still gripping the pole. Meren jerked on it again and pulled the assailant off his feet. He landed half in the water and half on the bank, where he scrambled for footing. He thrust his upper body up out of the mud. Kysen palmed his dagger and stuck the tip of it under the man's dirty chin.
"Quitting our hospitality so soon, Wah?"
Wah went still as he felt the point of the dagger. His kilt and chest were caked with mud.
"Get up," Kysen said.
Meren pulled Bener behind him. "Slowly, if you value your life."
"What madness is this?" Wah asked as he complied. On the dock, charioteers had jumped from Wings of Horns and were running toward them. Sailors were fishing Paser from the river. Women who had come to the river to do laundry, fishermen, and travelers began to gather at a discreet distance and stare.
Bener poked her head around Meren's bulk and beamed at him. "You see, Kysen. I knew it. I knew I'd discover who the murderer was if I was vigilant."
"Be quiet!" Meren turned on her. "What madness possessed you to take such a risk? You should have come to me, not chased after him yourself. He tried to kill you, you lackwitted goose." Bener pointed at the skiff. "He might have escaped if I hadn't followed him."
"Father," Kysen said with a nod toward the curious onlookers. "Shall we retire to the ship?"
Meren glanced at the fishermen and the women with their laundry, then glared at Bener. "Go home, daughter. I'll speak to you later." Without waiting to see if he was obeyed, Meren turned and marched toward the dock.
Kysen shoved Wah in front of him, and soon they were on board and surrounded by charioteers and sailors. Kysen held his dagger on the prisoner while Meren went over to the soaked heap of flesh and linen being guarded by several men. He bent over Paser for a moment, then returned to confront Wah. "He's dead."
Meren turned and walked to the deckhouse awning. He took a seat in a folding chair of carved cedar. Kysen pushed Wah over to kneel in front of his father. Then he signaled the charioteers. They lined themselves around the perimeter of the awning so that neither Meren,
Kysen, nor Wah could be seen. Wah glanced at the wall of soldiers as he wiped mud from his face and chest.
"What folly is this, my lord?" he asked. "I but wished to take a bit of respite on the cool water after being cooped up inside those walls for so long."
"And murder Paser along the way?" Kysen asked as he sheathed his dagger.
"Oh, that was an accident. Idut told me you'd captured him for some reason. I thought he was trying to escape when he cried out, so I tried to stop him." Wah gave Meren an uneasy glance, but when his captor remained silent, he went on. "And then-and then your daughter startled me by hitting me with a dirt clod. I–I reacted without thinking."
Kysen gave me an impatient laugh. "Wah, you're a fool if you think we're going to believe that tale."
Wah gushed with a deluge of protests, but as he babbled, Kysen was distracted by Meren. His father had remained silent far longer than expected, and he was sitting there absently rubbing his sun-disk scar. Kysen could tell from his distant expression that Meren wasn't listening to Wah at all. Then he caught a glimpse of something in Meren's eyes, a haunted look of dread that appeared and vanished in less than the space of a breath. Finally Meren stirred and beckoned Kysen. Kysen went to his father and bent down to hear his whisper. "We must question him alone. No guards, no one else except us."
In moments Kysen had snatched Wah and thrust him into the deckhouse. Charioteers and sailors alike responded to Meren's command and left the ship. Only Reia remained on board, standing guard at a distance from the awning so that he wouldn't hear anything said inside the cabin.
Once the ship was almost deserted, Kysen followed his father inside the deckhouse. They hadn't brought a lamp, and the only light filtered in from the high, rectangular windows. Wah was facing the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and looking from Meren to Kysen and back,
"I don't understand this rough treatment, my lord. I swear by the feather of truth that I-"
"Wah."
Meren had spoken barely above a whisper, but Wah broke off with a cry and backed away from him. Kysen almost felt sympathy, for Meren's manner was disturbing.
"You've been under a great strain for a long time, haven't you? Keeping unspeakable secrets, fearing retribution, in terror of discovery. And finally, when you were beginning to think yourself safe again, my garrulous sister told you about seeing Paser," Meren said calmly. "That's why you lost your sense and ran. You knew I had him, and that I'd force him to talk. You were afraid of what he'd say."
"Paser had the wits of a goat!" Wah cried. "He was trying to ingratiate himself with Prince Hunefer by spying on you. The ass was stumbling around and keeping you alert and wary when I was trying to gain your favor. That's all there is to this matter."
"Keep quiet for a moment," Meren said in that same calm, pitying tone. "There will be no more dissembling, Wah. I know there's more to this than Paser's blundering. Do you understand what I'm saying? Ah, I see that you do. Then you know I cannot allow you to continue. I hope you understand that well enough to abandon this absurd pretense."
Kysen was growing more and more uneasy. He knew Meren had discovered that Wah killed Sennefer, but that didn't account for his father's gravity, or his carefully concealed fear. Meren was frightened, and that made apprehension crawl down Kysen's spine on scorpion's legs. Wah was mumbling more protests, but they faltered
Z
when Meren continued to look at the man as if he were already dead and lying in a sarcophagus.
At last Wah stumbled against the back cabin wall and asked in a weak voice, "You know?" He swallowed hard as if he might vomit at any moment. "How did you find out?"
"I remembered the conversation between Anhai, Sennefer, and you at the feast of rejoicing." Meren glanced at Kysen. "But I haven't had a chance to tell my son, who doubtless already has concluded that you murdered my cousin."
"But why?" Kysen asked.
Meren walked back and forth in front of Wah. "You weren't there when Wah arrived at the feast, but Anhai and Sennefer were, and Anhai remembered Wah from the days when they both served in the household of the Great Royal Wife Nefertiti."
"But what has that to do with Sennefer or Anhai?"
Meren's path took him back to Kysen, where he paused and asked, "Do you remember how Sennefer died? The fever, the mad visions, the loud voice of his heart, and then the stupor that ended in death? He died so unexpectedly that I failed to relate the features of his illness with any other event. Anhai's death was different from his. And Paser's spy was killed by a crocodile in a seemingly unrelated matter. But I am suspicious, as you have pointed out, and when Paser and his men appeared, I couldn't help suspecting some common influence might be responsible for the other deaths. I began to go over what had happened at the feast, but I found nothing odd until I remembered Wah speaking to Sennefer and Anhai."
Meren glanced at Wah, who was looking at his captor in horror. "You see, Ky, they had been making conversation about Nefertiti and mentioned her death. But it wasn't until just before you came to my office that I realized that the quee
n's plague closely resembled Sennefer's poisoning."
Wah whimpered, and Kysen turned a wide-eyed stare on him. The kohl around the man's eyes had smeared yet again and streaked his face. In spite of his lankiness, he seemed to be shrinking.
"It was Anhai who made the mistake, wasn't it?" Meren asked. Wah nodded, his bony knees seeming to turn to paste. "You see, Ky, Anhai said that she hated to think of the queen as she'd been while suffering from her last illness-her skin red and dry, the voice of her heart so loud, and the visions. All of these Sennefer suffered, and his body convulsed as well. But Sennefer had been poisoned and died quickly. Not like the queen, who died over the course of days. I would have seen the similarities sooner, but the two deaths were separated by many years, and the queen died when others were succumbing to the plague."
Meren approached Wah and said, "One died slowly, the other much more quickly, yet they suffered the same complaints. If Sennefer was poisoned, then the queen must have been poisoned too." Meren paused, but Wah said nothing and avoided his gaze. "You thought Sennefer was threatening you when he said his wife had mentioned you many times, didn't you, Wah? You had carried your secret for so long without anyone suspecting, and then without warning, Sennefer and Anhai appeared and began to speak of Nefertiti's death and of how they'd talked about you together. You were terrified, weren't you? You expected to be exposed or forced to pay for their silence."
Wah paled, even to the folds of skin beside his mouth and over his eyes. He licked his lips, tried to speak, then simply nodded.
"You must have been delighted when Anhai turned up dead in the granary," Kysen said in wonder. "Was that it? Did you decide to take advantage of the confusion and get rid of Sennefer before he could threaten you?"
Wah's voice croaked. "I thought you would blame the Lady Bentanta or Lord Nakht, or both."
"I was close to it," Meren said. "Until Paser blundered and made me suspicious. What has he to do with any of this?"
"The dullard! He thought you were about some secret business for the vizier or General Horemheb. I told him you were simply going home for a rest, but he wouldn't believe me. I should have killed him sooner."
Kysen shook his head, trying to accustom himself to this strange twist to what should have been a murder for private reasons. Sennefer hadn't been killed out of revenge by Ra or to conceal Bentanta's transgressions. He'd been murdered for what Wah thought he knew.
Looking at Meren, Kysen said, "But Sennefer didn't-"
Meren banged his fist against the cabin wall. "No! Sennefer knew nothing. That's the worst evil of all. This bastard killed my cousin for nothing. If Sennefer had known such a secret, he would have told me. He may have been an ass about women, he may have lied to conceal his weakness, but he wasn't a traitor." Meren whirled around and stalked over to Wah. "And now I want the truth, you murdering piece of refuse. Who told you to murder Nefertiti?"
Wah backed away from Meren. His mouth clamped shut, and he whipped his head back and forth.
"You're going to tell me," Meren said. "My patience is gone. I warn you. You're going to die, Wah. Your only choices are how slowly, and in how much pain. I want to know who ordered the queen killed. I'll ask you but once more. Tell me the whole of it."
Clutching his head, Wah finally gave way to his terror. He doubled over and began to moan. Meren raised his eyes to the ceiling, and Kysen winced at the noise. He raised his hands to his ears as the moans turned to a high screech, and thus was unprepared when Wah suddenly sprang at him, grabbed his dagger, and knocked him to the floor. Caught off guard as well, Meren leaped after Wah, who scuttled out of the cabin with a cry. "Worse will happen to me if I speak!"
Chapter 19
Meren hurtled out of the deckhouse after his prisoner. Wah scrambled out of the cover of the awning, hesitated when he saw Reia with his back turned, then charged at the charioteer, dagger pointed, bellowing as he ran. Startled, Reia whirled around to face a shrieking madman. As he moved, he brought his spear around to fend off the attack. Meren shouted a warning, but Wah rushed forward, raising his own weapon.
Reia tried to back away, but Wah jumped at the last moment and lashed out with his blade. Reia's spear thrust forward, knocking the dagger aside, then swept back in a defensive move that brought the tip into Wah's path. Meren heard a grunt and the muted sound of flesh being punctured. He reached the two as Reia pulled the spear out of Wah's gut and tossed it aside. Wah was still standing, clutching his belly while blood streamed through his fingers. Kysen appeared at Meren's side as he and Reia lowered Wah to the deck.
"He rushed at me deliberately," Reia said. "What madman charges a spear with a dagger?"
"A man who wants a quick death rather than a slow one," Meren said as he surveyed Wah's distorted, sweating features. Blood wet his arm when he touched the man. "Wah, can you hear me? Tell me who commanded you."
Wah stared up at him. "A pity I used all the poison on Sennefer." Blood seeped from his mouth. "You were going to tell the vizier." A long spasm of coughing stopped him. "Ay w-would have staked me out and flayed the skin from my flesh while I begged for death."
"Don't face the weighing of your heart in the hall of judgment without telling me the truth," Meren said. "Wah?"
Wah's eyes were closed now, and he began to gasp. Meren leaned close, turning his ear to the man's lips, but all he heard was a bubbling gurgle. At the familiar sound, he straightened and moved away from the man. Kysen, who had been holding Wah propped on his knee, allowed the body to slip to the deck.
"Lord, forgive me," Reia said as Meren stood. "He attacked so suddenly that I had no time to think."
"I know," Meren said. "He caught us off guard as well. Who would have expected that a fawning place-seeker would do himself such violence? Wrap the body and take it to the house with Paser's. Kysen, I want to talk to you."
He walked back to the deckhouse with a calm pace that belied his apprehension. When they were alone, he took a chair and beckoned his son to him.
"All this time it was Wah," Kysen said as he sat on the floor beside Meren. "He thought Sennefer knew he murdered Nefertiti and was threatening him?"
"He wasn't thinking clearly. If Anhai and Sennefer had suspected him of such a crime, surely they would have confronted him years ago." Meren rubbed his neck. The muscles felt tight enough to snap. "I think bearing such an. evil secret for so long warped his reason. He lived with the fear of discovery for many years. I think he'd begun to count himself safe, or he wouldn't have sought my favor."
Kysen slapped his thigh. "And just when he thought he glimpsed a path back to power and riches, Sennefer and Anhai blurted out his presence in the household of the dying queen."
"And Sennefer's death had nothing to do with Ra or Bentanta after all."
Kysen glanced up at him. "You don't look relieved."
"Ky, Nefertiti was murdered, and we don't know who was responsible. Wah wouldn't have done it on his own, and once word of his death gets about-well-you saw his terror. Even the Devourer doesn't evoke such fear."
"Then we have to find out who his master was."
"How do we do that? Do we start telling royal ministers, high priests, and our friends we think the queen was murdered?"
"Dangerous?" Kysen asked.
"Extremely. I wouldn't wager on our chances of living out the year."
"Then what do we do?"
Meren rested his chin on his fist and thought for a while. Then he said, "Paser's death was an accident, as was Wah's. He tripped while we were showing him how to spar with a dagger."
"Two accidents on the same day?"
"Everyone knows it's a miracle Paser's stupidity hasn't killed him before now. As for Wah, people may suspect there's more to his death, but no one will challenge us. After all, he was going to marry Idut, so we had no reason to want him dead. I know there will be talk, but nothing can be proved. If we say nothing, the rumors will die for lack of nourishment."
"There's little choice, I suppose."
"Keep silent about the queen's death, Ky. One word could get us both killed."
"You're just going to leave it?"
"No, but we have to be careful. This matter is intricate. We don't know why Nefertiti was killed, much less who commanded it and who benefited." Meren touched Kysen's arm. "We don't even know if Ay knows the truth."
"If he did, wouldn't he have searched out Wah and killed him?"
Meren hesitated, wondering whether to voice his own suppositions. "He may already have discovered and dealt with the one who commanded Wah…" The less Kysen knew, the safer he'd be. "Yes, most likely you're right. He doesn't know."
"So we're left with a tale of lies," Kysen said. "Sennefer killed Anhai, then killed himself?"
"Yes."
Lifting a brow, Kysen said, "The story will please Idut."
"But not Nebetta and Hepu. However, I suspect they will be anxious to keep secret Sennefer's impotence. Remorse over accidental death makes a better explanation than admitting your son was cursed by the gods and less than a man."
They lapsed into an easy silence broken only by the sounds of Reia and the men working outside.
"Father, how much danger is there?"
Meren sighed. "A great deal. In the last years of Akhenaten's reign, many factions vied for power. There were those who tried to use the king by professing devotion to the Aten, and those who suffered because he wouldn't support our foreign allies and vassals. And there were some who decried Nefertiti's influence, either because she failed to stop him from casting out the old gods or because she refused to use her power to enrich them. She also protected and favored Tutankhamun, may he live forever."
"And if we make inquiries about Wah?"
"If we're clumsy, we could be inviting death. I'll have to think about this carefully to decide upon a course." Meren rose. "Meanwhile, there seems to be no threat to the haunted temple, but we've still the family to deal with."
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