“Her highness is generous,” mumbled Iram. “I am honored to witness such nobility—”
Soromeh shouted in frustration from the next room. “Misha! Come and help me take this necklace off! The latch is caught in my hair!”
Misha smiled with a touch of exasperation and went to help her mistress.
Chapter 2
Blood on the Sand
The council chamber was frozen in an uncomfortable silence. The nobles sitting around the table exchanged worried looks. Sethy and Kamilah, on each side of their father’s empty chair, stared at each other with annoyance.
“It’s a tradition as old as our dynasty,” said Kamilah in a firm voice. “If our father is dying, it’s our duty to send a member of the royal family to make the necessary offerings at the temple of Horus.”
“The trip to the temple of Horus takes two days, on the Nile and through the desert,” opposed the prince. “I can’t leave for so long.”
“I am able to take care of the palace during your absence. You can leave without fear.”
“I have to supervise the funeral rites.”
“I cannot travel the desert in my current state. I am barely recovering after a complicated pregnancy.”
Soromeh, who was listening despite her boredom, stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She knew her older sister could go through a sandstorm without a single perfectly coiffed braid leaving its place. The same night she had given birth, she was back to correcting the palace accounts.
Soromeh looked at the council members. Every one of them, from the tiny chief accountant to the massive army captain, shared the same uncomfortable expression. Damon did not have the right to interrupt the royal heirs, but she could see in his face that he had many opinions on the subject. Soromeh grew impatient.
“It’s simple,” she said in a clear voice. “I’ll go.”
Her two older siblings turned to her in an eerily identical move.
“You are not father’s only children, despite what he seemed to think. Since neither of you wants to leave the palace, that leaves me.”
“You are right,” Kamilah admitted. “But I still fear for your safety. You are still young. I dislike knowing that you’ll be outside the palace walls without one of us with you.”
“We just talked about my wedding! If I’m adult enough to get married, I’m adult enough to go make the offerings. Anyway, you’ll probably stick me with thirty armed guards.”
“Fifty,” Kamilah corrected.
“I’m still not sure I trust you after what happened this morning,” said the prince with a frown. “What proves to me that you won’t try to escape again?”
“I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to run off in the desert.”
The prince thought for a moment, then nodded.
“We will prepare the procession and offerings. You shall leave tomorrow at the earliest.”
The last discussion point over, he put an end to the long council meeting. The noblemen stood up painfully and went to give their respects to the heir. Kamilah called Soromeh over with a delicate wave, and they both walked to a deserted corner.
“What did I do, again?” asked the youngest. “I made an effort!”
“You did well. Next time, you should try paying more attention, but progress has been made.”
“I thought we were only going to talk about my wedding and my escape, not pore over the accounts of every town from here to the Nile delta!”
“Some matters do not wait after the whims of princesses. Do not think that you will avoid consequences. Your guard will be doubled.”
Soromeh stopped herself from whining. Her brother would have allowed a more childish answer, but not Kamilah. She nodded and hesitated before speaking.
“You oppose everything Sethy says, but you didn’t speak when he talked about my wedding,” she said with bitterness. “Are you two finally agreeing on something?”
“I agree with our father’s will,” corrected the eldest. “Despite his impertinence, Damon is a trustworthy man. You have both been protected from the nobles’ ambitions because you’ve been promised to each other since your childhood.”
“But—but—” tried Soromeh, “don’t you think I’m too young to get married?”
“It’s the age at which I married Menkaurê, may his ka rest in peace.”
Soromeh did not want to pursue that delicate subject. Kamilah kept her emotions hidden, especially when it concerned her arranged marriage to a friend of their father and of her husband’s accidental death, a bit earlier in the year.
“May the gods bless your travels,” said the eldest sister, kissing her brow.
Soromeh waited for her to leave the room before joining Sethy and Damon at the head of the table.
“That was very… official,” she said, sprawling on Kamilah’s chair. “A bit heavy on the accounting side, and maybe try to avoid provoking an internal war every time you have to speak to our sister, but for your first council meeting without father, it went great!”
Sethy hit his head on the table with a groan.
“You’re not helping, little scorpion,” said Damon.
“She’s right,” muttered Sethy against the wooden surface. “I’ll do my best to calm things down. I just want Kamilah to stop countering me at every turn.”
“Well, you’re not asking for much,” said Damon with sarcasm. “You’d have better luck if you wished for the desert to grow flowers.”
Sethy lifted his head and massaged his temples.
“The worst part, in all of this, is that she doesn’t even want the throne right now,” he sighed. “If she wanted it, she would have convinced father to name her as the heir. No, she’d rather put the council and the country on her side and wait for me to falter.”
“What are you going to do?” Soromeh asked.
“Steal a chariot and flee the palace.”
“No way!” laughed Damon. “With you gone, Kamilah would turn against us in her power games! I’d rather leave the joys of ruling to you!”
“The joys of ruling,” repeated Sethy in a mocking tone. “Mountains of work, swarms of honey flies requesting audiences, rumors, assassination attempts… A real felucca cruise on the Nile! Look where it all led Father!”
He realized he’d spoken too much, and both turned to Soromeh. She had lost her smile and was frowning at them.
“Don’t look like that, I know the king threw himself off his balcony,” she said with resentment.
“How do you know—” started Sethy.
“It may have been an accident—” tried Damon.
She got up and replaced her skirts.
“Stop assuming I’m an idiot. People talk, in this palace. To be honest, I care little about it being an accident or a conscious choice.”
She grit her teeth, turned her head to hide her expression, and left.
* * *
The royal ship lazily sailed up the Nile. Misha spent her day closely following Soromeh, even gripping her dress when she came too close to the railing. The princess walked back and forth, her eyes full of wonder, trying to see the plantations, fields, and river birds. She waved to the peasants, who waved back with smiles.
That evening, they reached a small town that welcomed them with a feast. In their small room, Soromeh slept soundly, while Misha jumped at every noise.
The convoy left again, right before sunrise. The temple oasis was at a half-day walk, a bit more with such a big group. Thirty camels loaded with offerings and as many servants walked in a line on the dusty road. They were protected on both sides by the royal troops. Soromeh and Misha rode in the middle, surrounded by the best soldiers. Five of them, wearing the colors of the royal family, walked next to their camels. They were the princess’s personal guards.
“I need to get down,” whined Soromeh. “I’m nauseous. I hate these monsters.”
The animal rocked her, front to back. She was hanging tightly to the leather saddle, her joints turning white.
“Yo
ur majesty,” said Misha with patience, “I understand your fear, but I’m sure that if you tried to relax—”
“You swore to me that I would never have to get on one of these beasts again after the last one threw me head first in the garden pool, Misha!”
One of her guards snorted, then turned toward her, horrified, about to grovel for forgiveness.
“You!” she pointed. “You’re new, aren’t you? What’s your name?”
“Ookami, your highness.”
“Guard Ookami, let me ask you something. Have you ever seen a snake in the royal gardens?”
“I am not allowed in that part of the gardens, but I guess not?” He threw a nervous glance at Misha.
“Of course not,” scoffed Soromeh, “because the gardeners have a whole team whose sole purpose is to scout the grounds twice a day to remove any kind of menace to our royal feet. But that morning, the day of my first camel riding lesson, guess what appeared under the hooves of the foul beast?”
The soldier threw a panicked glance at his superior. The chief nodded discreetly.
“I don’t know, your Majesty,” said Ookami after a moment. “What was under your camel?”
“A snake! Long as my arm, orange and black like a desert cat, there, sound asleep on the grass! The camel panicked, ran through a procession of priests, and threw us both, the old Menefer Sef and me, in the main pool!”
“Your Majesty,” started Misha, “I know what you’re about to say, but—”
“I KNOW it was Sethy!”
“His highness the prince?” asked Ookami.
“Himself! He was acting suspicious all morning and had insisted on helping me get on the camel. I’m sure he took the opportunity to drop the snake nearby! And Damon is obviously as guilty. those two are always plotting together when it’s—”
“A moment, your highness,” interrupted Misha. “Someone is coming.”
One of the horse-riding scouts was heading back towards them. He was accompanied by a nomad riding a camel. They stopped near the convoy and talked to the captain. Their voices carried to the princess and her entourage.
“She was traveling alone, a bit further away, and requested an audience,” said the scout.
The nomad removed her veil. She had a dark face and short braided hair. Her eyes traveled over the convoy and stopped, for a single moment, on Soromeh, before going back to the captain.
“I wish to join your convoy for my own safety,” she said. “Many travelers have been attacked on this road since the beginning of the season.”
Misha turned to the chief of the closest guard.
“Pa-Heb, is this true?”
“If it is, the captain didn’t see fit to inform me,” he said with annoyance. “Though I wouldn’t worry. There’s too many of us.”
The captain forbade the stranger to approach the core of the convoy, but allowed her to ride with the scouts. The nomad pressed her lips and followed. They both disappeared over a dune.
Misha turned back to the princess and saw that she had taken the few moments of inattention to dismount.
“Your highness!” yelped Misha, following her.
“If I’d stayed a single moment more up there, I’d have thrown up everything I ate this morning, all over my nice traveling cloak!”
“We shall walk then, but stay covered,” said Misha, replacing the veil over Soromeh’s head. “If I can see the skin of your shoulders or your face, so can the sun. I refuse to spend the whole trip back home with you whining in pain.”
“You don’t have to walk with me. I know you hate getting sand in your sandals. Get back on that horrible creature.”
“And allow you to run away once more?”
“Ha! Do you really think me able to run from fifty soldiers?”
“Your majesty, I believe that you can escape from the entire royal forces,” sighed Misha.
Pa-Heb begged them to get back on the camels, but Soromeh refused. Her mood was better, now that her feet were on the ground. She kept telling her story to Guard Ookami, who seemed unsure if he had to laugh or remain impassive.
The scout and the stranger suddenly rode back over the hill.
“Footprints!” yelled the scout. “Dozens of footprints leading right here! It’s a trap!”
There was a shout to their left, and another to their right, and soon there was shouting all around them. Dozens of men burst from the sand of the surrounding hills, bows at the ready.
A wave of arrows fell before the captain of the convoy was even done calling the alert.
The royal guards raised their shields, but the arrows were aimed at the camel handlers. Many of them fell and released the beasts.
Pa-Heb grabbed Soromeh and covered her with both body and shield. Ookami did the same with Misha. The remaining members of the close guard stood at the ready.
The rest of the convoy soldiers closed ranks around the princess and the offerings. Many servants were left outside the protective core. Three of them were felled by the following wave of arrows.
“They’re attacking the tail of the convoy!”
“Stay in position!”
The third wave of arrows stuck a camel. The others heard it cry in pain and got nervous.
One of the raiders shouted an order. A dozen half-feral dogs burst from the sand. They ran down the hill, barking, avoided the soldiers’ spears, and surrounded the camels of the rear guard, biting their legs. The beasts panicked and ran straight to the convoy core.
“Grab the camels!” the captain shouted.
Several soldiers were crushed by the stampede. Ookami and Misha barely avoided them, but Pa-Heb didn’t have the time to push Soromeh to safety. He turned around to absorb the shock with his back and dropped the princess, who hit the ground head first. She laid there, unconscious.
“Soromeh!” Misha screamed.
“Don’t move—the others will take care of her!” shouted the guard Ookami, restraining her. “Stay covered, Lady Misha!”
Another rallying roar. The men from the hills attacked. The royal troops were still disorganized by the camel stampede. The strongest soldiers, standing at the outer layer of the core, were still holding their ground, but no one had noticed the princess and her lady-in-waiting were not covered anymore.
Several camel handlers were trying to calm the panicked beasts. The other three closest members of the guard brought Soromeh and Pa-Heb further away.
“What do we do?” asked a guard to Pa-Heb, who was trying to remain conscious despite the blow.
“Got to be ready to flee with the princess,” he groaned. “If they learn of her presence… they won’t be satisfied… with gold…”
He fainted.
The fight kept on going around them. Several soldiers had been hurt by the camels. The beasts that hadn’t managed to run were still frantic, pulling on their leashes and jostling the guards around them. The dogs were still running around, pursuing the animals and biting the men.
One of the mutts ran their way, barking aggressively. The close guards tried to stop it, but it avoided their swords and jumped towards Soromeh, its ferocious maw open.
A dagger landed on its flank. It fell to the ground in a whine of pain.
The nomad was behind them, riding her camel. Her beast was nervous but still under her control.
She drew another dagger from the folds of her tunic and killed another dog.
“Nomad!” called Misha. “Is your mount fast?”
The Celestial Conspiracies Page 3
