by Dee, Debbie
“I’m Tiy.”
“I know who you are. Everyone knows you. You are the one who saved Prince Amenhotep.”
Tiy shook her head. “Not so much saved as happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Merymose raised an eyebrow. “That isn’t what I heard.”
Tiy leaned in to whisper, “Do you believe all the palace gossip?”
Merymose seemed to like her close proximity. He leaned in as well and whispered. “I believe all the wonderful things people say about you.”
Tiy straightened. Wonderful things? What wonderful things were there to say? She wanted to ask what he’d heard, despite how self-indulgent it would have sounded, but Amenhotep nudged her, and she forgot all about what Merymose had said.
“Tiy, what are you two whispering about?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” Tiy said shrugging, happy to turn her attention back to Amenhotep. “He’s under the same delusions as everyone else.”
“And what delusions are those?”
“You know what people are saying, that I saved you from the desert storm. You and I both know you would have eventually figured out a way to save yourselves had I never shown up.”
Amenhotep’s jaw set and his mouth formed a line. “You don’t really believe the nonsense that just came out of your mouth, do you?”
Tiy folded her arms and matched his hard stare. “Of course.”
“Tiy,” he said, his voice low with exasperation.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. Anyone would have done what I did.”
“Not everyone would have known what to do in a sandstorm of that magnitude. It came naturally to you.”
Tiy opened her mouth to protest again, but he held up his hand, “Please,” he said, his voice turning soft, “don’t insult the memory of my friend. He died, and I would have too had you not been there.”
Tiy clutched her writing board to her chest, wishing she could hide behind it. She never intended to disrespect the honor of Heru.
“What else were you whispering about?” Amenhotep asked after a quiet moment.
“Merymose offered to be my guide in Giza, since I have never been there.”
Amenhotep examined Merymose as if meeting him for the first time and then whispered in Tiy’s ear. “Do you want him to be your guide?”
Tiy shrugged. “Sure. I don’t want to get lost.”
Amenhotep pursed his lips and then nodded, resuming his animated discussion of Giza with the others. Tiy slumped. Did she say something wrong?
A flash in a tree across the yard caught her attention, and she looked up to see a shadowed figure clinging to the tallest branches. Tiy cocked her head and squinted. Was it an animal, or a person? A long stick with a metal end emerged from behind a crop of leaves. Tiy’s heart dropped from her chest. It was no animal. It was a man, with an arrow trained straight for Amenhotep.
Chapter 13. Nubian Threat
In a knee-jerk reaction, Tiy flicked the wrist that held her wooden writing board, bringing it up to cover Amenhotep just as the arrow struck. The force of the hit knocked the board from Tiy’s hands and into Amenhotep’s chest before it dropped to his feet.
Everybody screamed except Tiy and Amenhotep. He looked at her with wide eyes, his mouth open a little. He held her gaze as the entire class swarmed them.
“Quiet!” Menkheper shouted over the screams. “Bows down!” He turned to Amenhotep. “What happened?”
“There was a man in that tree,” Tiy said.
Everyone turned to look up. The tree was empty.
“I promise. I saw a man up there!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t one of the student’s arrows?” Menkheper asked. “It could have been a stray arrow.”
“I know what I saw.”
Menkheper bent to pick up the writing board, his hand closing around the arrow protruding from the center. He ran a finger along the shaft and his face paled. “All right, everyone inside.”
Tiy turned back to Amenhotep whose eyes were still wide. “That makes two,” he said evenly.
Tiy shook all over, flustered by what had just happened. She flinched as several students pressed closer to them. “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said.
“I understand,” he said, seeming to notice the chaos surrounding them for the first time. “I’ll handle everyone. We’ll talk later.”
Good, she thought. He could deal with all the attention from everyone. Better him than her. Kepi pushed her way through the students and threw her arms around Amenhotep, a thousand tears on her cheeks. Her friend sobbed even louder, lavishing him with kisses on his hands and feet. Tiy rolled her eyes and slipped outside the crowd where Petep and Merymose stood with their arms crossed.
“I saw that,” Petep said, still watching the throng of people surrounding Amenhotep. He seemed to be enjoying the attention, smiling from ear to ear like a chimpanzee.
“Me too,” Merymose said.
“You saw the man too? Tiy asked. “In the tree?”
Petep gestured toward Amenhotep. “I meant how you saved Egypt’s heir. Again. I didn’t see anyone in the tree. Did you Merymose?”
Merymose shook his head.
Petep scanned the trees. “We should go inside. We all should. Merymose, will you make sure Amenhotep follows us, or at least goes inside? I’m afraid he might be trapped out here for hours, placating his admirers for once again defeating death.”
Merymose smirked and nodded. “It looks like Ramose is already taking care of that.”
Tiy glanced at Amenhotep and sure enough, Ramose was pulling him toward the palace.
“Good,” Petep said. “At least someone has some sense around here.”
Petep took a hold of Tiy’s hands. “Come, there is something I want you to see,” she said.
She led Tiy to her to her private chambers where a jungle of living plants spread from corner to corner. Potted trees lined the walls with stone chests tucked in between, each chest holding a different type of plant. A high screech sounded from the leafy tree tops and Tiy jumped. She grabbed Petep’s arm and pulled her behind a row of potted shrubs.
Petep laughed and broke Tiy’s grip. “I want you to meet Ta-Miu, my monkey.”
Tiy rose from her crouched position. “Your monkey?”
“Well, he’s a baboon, but he doesn’t like to be called that.” She held out her arm and whistled. A screech filled the air again followed by a dark animal bounding into Petep’s arms. Petep laughed and squeezed him close. “My father brought him home from one of his expeditions. Isn’t he adorable?”
Tiy nodded even though she thought it looked more like one of her mother’s wigs than an actual pet. But it was sweet and cuddled close to Petep, and Tiy began to understand why the hairball appealed to her so much.
“May I?” she asked, gesturing to Ta-Miu.
“Of course,” Petep said, handing the monkey over. “Is this what you saw in the tree? What you think shot at Amenhotep.”
Tiy shook her head. “It was much bigger.”
“Ta-Miu sometimes stretches himself when he is climbing and—from a distance— might look like a person to me if I didn’t know better.”
“It was a man, I’m certain of it. I saw his face and the arrow before he released it.”
Petep frowned. “It has begun, then.”
“What has begun?”
Petep gestured to a break in the foliage where a rug of the whitest fur graced the floor. Tiy let Ta-Miu down and followed Petep as she sat with her legs crossed.
“My father has been trying to find the Nubian rebel leader for these past few months. His men keep bringing him rebels they believe to be the leader, but they are only decoys. The rebels know my father will only leave when he believes their leader is dead, so they keep sending men claiming to be the rebellion leader.”
“Don’t the decoys know they will be executed?” Tiy asked.
Petep’s mouth turned down as she nodded. “They know. It woul
d be much easier for them to recruit fighters if my father’s men weren’t around, so they are willing to die for the cause, I suppose. They are a fierce people, willing to do anything to break free from Egypt. What they don’t realize is that Nubia isn’t stable enough to support itself. If they break from Egypt’s rule now, many of their people will suffer.”
“Do you think the man I saw in the tree was a Nubian rebel?”
“I think the rebels know that until my father kills their leader, the only thing that will bring him back to Memphis is if one of his family members dies. Especially if it is Amenhotep.”
Tiy shuddered. “Then you are in danger too.”
Petep shook her head. “I doubt they’d target anyone other than Amenhotep. Nothing would fuel the rebels more than to take away Egypt’s last heir. How can a nation rule without her king?”
A servant girl shuffled into Petep’s room and bowed low, her long kalasiris dusting the ground. “Please, Princess Petep, you are wanted in the Audience Chamber.”
Petep took a long breath and rose to her feet, her silver bangles clinking musically. “We should meet together more often outside class. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Tiy nodded and looked around the room once more. If anything, she’d be curious to know why Petep had a jungle for a room. The servant girl showed her to the door. Tiy turned in the direction she thought was her courtyard, but after several long minutes of wandering unfamiliar corridors and then passing through them again—although she could have sworn she’d never turned around—she stumbled into a courtyard where she knew she didn’t belong.
Thick with growing vegetation, the outdoor space held more plants than all the other courtyards combined. Flowers bloomed on every branch, filling the air with the scents of sweet jasmine and honey locus. Dozens of trees stretched toward the sky, their palms rustling in the breeze. She had a good idea this courtyard was Pharaoh’s courtyard, as well as Amenhotep’s, as it was furnished with golden statues and opulent furniture.
She knew she should leave, the air seeming to shimmer with a richness someone of her station didn’t deserve to breathe, but she couldn’t bring herself to abandon such beauty. A large fountain graced the center where a lotus flower had been carved from white stone, the blossom open to reveal an emerging falcon. Water spilled from the center of the lotus bloom, cascading into the pond below. She crept closer, her curiosity overwhelming her better judgment once again.
Tiy sat on the edge of the fountain, gliding her finger across the clear water and enjoying a few moments of stolen serenity. Someone cleared his throat and she jumped in alarm, glancing around for the source of the sound. She saw no one. Her heart beat like a drum. Was the Nubian rebel near?
“It’s just me, Tiy,” Amenhotep said, emerging from the other side of the fountain. “Relax. You look like your head is about to be chopped off.”
“I shouldn’t be here,” Tiy said, turning to leave.
“Do you want to sit with me for a while?” He seemed uncertain, as if he didn’t believe she would agree to stay.
Tiy shrugged and joined him at the fountain. They were quiet for a while, enjoying the air as it turned crisp for the evening.
“Thank you,” Amenhotep said.
“For what?”
“For today.”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” she said, hoping he’d catch the discomfort in her voice and drop the subject all together.
Amenhotep chuckled. “I knew you’d say that.”
“Well, if you knew it, why did you bring it up?” She smiled at him before turning her gaze back to the darkening sky.
“Because I wanted to show you gratitude more than you wanted to avoid it.”
Tiy squirmed. She didn’t even understand how she’d known to lift her board at the exact right moment or how she’d known to put it in front of his chest. What if the assailant had aimed for his head? Or his stomach? She shivered.
“I don’t know how you did it again, Tiy, but I am truly grateful.”
“Who do you think that man was?” she asked. “Petep thinks he was a Nubian rebel.”
Amenhotep was quiet.
“Do you think she is right?”
“Petepihu is a smart girl,” he said. “She thinks about things that most people never consider. If she thinks he was a Nubian, she is probably right.”
Tiy gripped the sleeve of her kalasiris. “What does this mean? Will someone try to kill you again?”
Amenhotep shrugged. “It means the Nubian rebellion is getting worse.” He was quiet again for a few minutes, the gurgling of the fountain filling the silence.
“I’m glad you were here today,” he said. “It seems Osiris wants to claim me into the Underworld. I don’t know how you keep saving me from his grip.”
Tiy sighed. “I don’t know either.
“Some are calling you my Desert Guardian.”
“Some people are stupid.”
Amenhotep shook his head. “Ramose was sitting next to me on the wall, and he didn’t see the arrow coming. He was in the desert with me, too. You remember.”
Tiy nodded and examined her wringing hands. She didn’t want to be reminded of the storm.
“You were the one to pull us out. And you were the one to prevent the arrow from piercing my chest.”
Hearing the two put together like that made her heart flip in panic. “You won’t tell Pharaoh, will you? About what happened today?”
Amenhotep creased his brow. “No, but that doesn’t mean he won’t hear about it from someone else. Why?”
She rolled her head back. “Because the last thing I need is my mother dictating another request from Pharaoh. It was her idea for me to come here.”
“You didn’t want to come to Memphis?”
“Not at first.” She admitted.
“Why did you ask to come here, then?”
“My mother said I had to. I had no choice.”
Amenhotep’s face seemed to fall a little.
“But I’m glad I came,” Tiy said. “It may not have been my own choice, but it turned out to be the best choice.”
“You should be allowed to make your own decisions about your life.”
The corners of Tiy’s mouth twitched. “Not all of us are princes.”
Amenhotep lifted his chin to gaze at the stars as they slowly began to take their places on their night-time stage. “Tell me, Tiy, why did you follow me into the desert.”
She bit her lip. What was she supposed to tell him? That something inside her couldn’t help but follow him? That she felt a curiosity for him she didn’t understand? She looked away. Anything she said would sound pathetic because it was pathetic. She had tried convincing herself that she had followed him for his safety, but she knew the truth, and he probably did too. What was the point in lying to him? “I was curious about you,” she said.
He dropped his gaze to the ground and nodded. “I thought that maybe you followed me because some force pulled us together, that we were meant to be friends for some reason.” He seemed embarrassed by his confession.
Tiy smiled, liking his reason so much more than her own. Perhaps the gods had pulled them together for a purpose neither one of them could understand. Perhaps they knew she needed just one friend she could open herself up to, one friend who might even help her feel comfortable in her own skin. She nodded in agreement, but she didn’t think he noticed.
He sighed and stood. “Do you want to meet me in the morning before we leave for Giza?”
“Here?”
“No, there is a place by the Nile just outside the third pylon. It’s hidden from view from most of the palace so you might have to pass it a couple of times before you spot it. I found it by accident a few years ago. I’ll be there at first light if you want to come.”
“Will it be safe for you outside the palace? Maybe we should wait to go to Giza until we find this man who tried to kill you.”
Amenhotep jabbed her shoulder playfully. “Not you too! Ramose thinks I sh
ould lock myself up in my chambers until my father returns.”
“Maybe he is right, just until they figure out who is behind this.”
“Where is the fun in that?” He flashed a smile.
Tiy couldn’t help but smile in return. “Okay, I’ll meet you in the morning. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“Of course it will. You’ll be there!”
Tiy barked a laugh. “Right, because I’m your Desert Guardian. That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Amenhotep shrugged. He pointed her in the direction of her courtyard and wished her a good night. He left rather suddenly, she thought. She shook her head. What did she know of the habits of a prince? She left the royal courtyard with a smile on her face. Tomorrow she would meet her friend in a secret oasis.
Chapter 14. Stubborn Beast
Tiy found Amenhotep the next morning lounging on a wide rock with his feet dangling in the Nile. He was right about it being hidden from view—she was lucky to have even found it. Surrounded by trees and thick shrubs, it was a perfect haven that far exceeded the privacy and comfort of her quiet little spot in Akhmim.
Amenhotep was lying on his back, his hands clasped behind his head. His eyes were closed and a comfortable smile warmed his face. His relaxed pose reminded her of how she had been resting the day his barge drifted down the Nile and changed her life. It seemed so long ago.
Tiy took a deep, refreshing breath, enjoying the sweet coolness entering her lungs. “Hello,” she said.
“Hi,” he replied, his eyes still closed. He looked so comfortable.
Tiy shifted from one foot to the other. She wanted to lie down too. She wanted to dangle her feet and feel the swells of water swirl around her ankles as she gazed up into the trees. But she knew it wouldn’t be appropriate to rest next to the future king as if she were his equal. Not to mention the gossip such a scene would stir. She squirmed a little, her feet thirsting to splash in the cool water, her body aching to stretch on the cool stones beneath them. She snuck a peek over her shoulders to see if anyone was nearby. Surely Amenhotep wouldn’t mind if she made herself comfortable?
