by Overton, Max
The canal that connected the city with the easternmost branch of Iteru was busy, with scores of women scrubbing clothes with soap, rinsing them off and spreading them over the rocks and bushes to dry in the sun. Scarab looked carefully to see if she could spot the young Khabiru girl she knew, Meryam, but the faces were unfamiliar. She turned away and made her way into the city, looking all around for someone she recognised. After an hour, she realised that even the layout of the tent city had changed and all hope of slipping quietly into the fabric of Khabiru life was gone. She would have to attract attention by asking for directions. She selected a middle-aged woman struggling under a load of washing.
"Peace be with you, sister," Scarab said. "May I help you with that load?"
The woman looked round so quickly she almost dropped her washing. "Eh, who are you and what do you want?"
"I just offered to help you carry your burden, sister."
"Why?"
"Does not the Lord say we should help one another?"
The woman chewed this over for a moment, weighing up her heavy load against her suspicions of a stranger. "Alright. Take the robes on top, but be careful you don't drop them." She let Scarab take the robes, staring at the hooded figure. "Why do you hide your face?"
"I have an injury." Scarab held back the side of her hood just enough to expose her shut eye.
"You poor dear," clucked the woman. "Well, this way then. I live over here." She set off through the tent streets. After a few paces, she looked round at Scarab with growing curiosity. "What is your name? I can tell by your voice that you are not from Zarw."
"I...I am Khepri, Keffer in your tongue. I was raised in Waset but my mother came from Zarw."
"Your father was Kemetu? Well, never mind, you are obviously Khabiru through your mother which is the most important thing. Your accent is atrocious though." The woman shook her head. "I am Asherah. Why are you here?"
"I have come to see my family."
"And who is your family?"
"I was looking for Meryam, daughter of Abiezer, or her brother Eli. Do you know them?"
"What tribe do they belong to?"
"I don't know."
Asherah stopped and looked suspiciously at Scarab. "You don't know what tribe? How can you not know what tribe you belong to?"
"I...er...Meryam may be of my tribe. I do not know for sure because...because when my mother...when she died, she told me to find Meryam daughter of Abiezer, or her brother. That is all I know."
"Hmm. Well, I don't know them and it seems very strange to me."
"What about...what about Jeheshua of...of the tribe of Yuya? That was my mother's tribe."
"You know Jeheshua?"
"I have met him, yes, a long time ago. Do you know him?"
"Everybody knows Jeheshua. I will take you there."
Asherah set off again and very quickly came to a tent where she just lifted the flap and walked inside. Scarab raised her eyebrows in surprise but followed the other woman inside.
"This is Jeheshua's tent?"
"Of course not, but I'm not lugging my washing around the city. Put the robes down over there."
Asherah once more set off but this time she turned toward the city of Zarw and the stalls set out underneath the walls. As they neared the eastern gate, Scarab started to remember where she was. Why did I not think of that? Jeheshua the jeweller . She recollected the time, six years before, when she and Khu had first met the skilled Khabiru artisan.
The stall was in the same place near the gate, where the guards served also to keep an eye on his precious wares. Several trays of rings, armbands, necklaces and brooches covered the table and a tall, dark-haired and bearded man stood behind, directing people's attention to this item or that. He looked up as Asherah approached and his eyes glimmered with interest when he saw the hooded woman with her.
The women stood to one side until the last customer had left. Jeheshua beckoned and Asherah advanced and introduced Scarab.
"Peace, Jeheshua son of Yuya. This woman, Keffer by name, says she knows you."
The man stroked his beard and looked keenly at the hooded figure. "Indeed? Where do you know me from, Keffer?"
Scarab did not look up, keeping her face hidden in shadow. "From this very place, Elder Jeheshua. I...I admired a piece of your jewellery and suggested you take it to...to my brother."
Jeheshua stared. "I remember a woman but her name was not Keffer."
"No. She was named for the beetle that rolls the ball of dung across the sand."
The Elder sighed and nodded. He turned to Asherah. "Thank you, my child. You have done well to bring this woman to me. Return to your tent now knowing you have done the right thing."
Asherah hesitated, wanting to ask how she had done the right thing, why this strange woman mattered, and what she meant to this Elder, but having been dismissed, she dared not stay. "Yes Elder Jeheshua. Thank you." She bobbed into a curtsey and walked off, casting many glances backward.
Jeheshua waited until Asherah had vanished among the tents and another customer had admired his wares and departed before addressing Scarab again. "So, young Scarab, I thought you had died in the battle near Waset or disappeared into the wilds of Nubia."
"You heard about those things?"
"Oh yes, we may hear news a bit later than most of Kemet, but we hear it all."
"Then you know my brother Smenkhkare is dead--and my brother Tutankhamen as well?"
"Yes. Also that Ay has made himself king and Horemheb is in disgrace."
"That part is news to me. I felt sure that Horemheb would assert himself. Surely he had the loyalty of the army?"
"Only the northern legions and he was in the south. Now he has sworn an oath of loyalty to Ay." Jeheshua studied the bowed figure of Scarab and her hooded face, still in shadow. "What aren't you telling me, Scarab? Why do you hide your face from me?"
Scarab said nothing for a minute. "Ay tried to kill me. He failed in that but he hurt me badly." She raised her head and drew back her hood, her red-brown hair falling across her face. "I only have one living eye now."
"A strange way to put it," Jeheshua murmured. He leaned forward and examined the slightly reddened eyelid that covered her right eye. "Do you mean this eye is dead?"
"Not exactly." Scarab opened her right eye.
Her action shattered Jeheshua's equanimity. He reeled back, his hands lifting in an ancient warding sign. "Who...who did this to you, child?"
Scarab hesitated, knowing the Khabiru elder did not believe in her Kemetu gods. "The one who did it saved my life in the desert." She closed her eye so that Jeheshua would not have to see it while he came to terms with the facts.
The Elder took in a deep shuddering breath and let it out slowly. "I am glad for your life, Scarab, but at what cost was it bought? This is not the work of a man but surely rather that of a demon from the lonely parts of the desert. You should pluck out your stone eye and rid yourself of this evil."
"You are partly right. It was not a man, but neither was it a demon. Jeheshua, we have talked of this before. I have Khabiru blood through my mother but my father was Kemetu. My upbringing was Kemetu and my beliefs are Kemetu. I have accepted the Nine of Iunu and it was one of them, Geb, who healed me and gave me my new eye."
"What are you saying? One of your gods...?"
"When I lay dying in the desert, the Nine of Iunu appeared to me and gave me gifts. Geb's gift was of healing, which included my stone eye."
Jeheshua thought about this. "What were the other gifts?" he asked at length.
"A cooling breeze, water, a direction..." Scarab shook her head. "It does not matter. I am here in Zarw to see my son. Is...is he well?"
"He prospers, to the best of my knowledge. Your gods...did they appear to you?"
"What do you mean? You were going to keep an eye out for him. Have you not done so? And, yes, they stood before me as plain as you do."
"You are sure you did not imagine these...these beings?"
&n
bsp; "I was dying, with my eye hanging out on my cheek. Then I was made whole again with this stone eye filling my socket. It is hard to see how I just imagined it. Why have you not looked after my son as you said you would?"
Jeheshua wrung his hands and looked away. "Maybe...maybe it was the Lord looking after you, Scarab, and for reasons of His own appeared to you in the form of...Lord, forgive me...your gods." He nodded. "Yes, if I am to accept this, I must believe that. Scarab, will you show me your eye again?"
"First, answer me. Why have you not..."
"In a moment, I promise. Show me."
Scarab opened her right eye again.
Jeheshua paled visibly but he controlled himself, leaning forward to examine it. "Can...can you see with it?"
"No."
This seemed to calm the old jeweller. "It has a certain beauty, which makes me believe it comes from the One True God. It seems to be made of the gemstone called 'Lion's Eye' but I have never seen a specimen coloured quite like that, in that pattern. It looks like the gleaming eye of a cat." He reached out and touched, not the stone, but Scarab's eyelid. "The eyelid is inflamed. No wonder, for you no longer have an eye beneath it to keep it moist. Rub some olive oil on both the stone and the lid."
Scarab closed her eye. "Tell me of my son."
Jeheshua gestured to a stool behind his stall. "Sit. I will tell you everything." He waited until Scarab had seated herself and looked all around before starting. "You left your son Set..." he shuddered briefly, "Why did you name him for the adversary? Never mind, it is not important. You left him with the parents of your lover Paramessu, Judge Seti and his wife Pentere, six years ago when you voyaged south to aid your brother..."
"I know all this," Scarab interrupted, a touch of impatience creeping into her voice. "Tell me about my son."
"Yes, yes, let me get to this in my own way. I am trying to remember six years. Let's see...yes, for several months all was well. Meryam came to see him daily, accompanied by her brother Eli. At the same time, one of the kitchen maids of the Judge's household became the wet nurse. Just after he started walking, but before he talked..."
"How old was he when he walked? When he talked? What was his first word?" Scarab's left eye glistened with tears. "I missed all that," she whispered.
"I don't know. You will have to talk to Meryam. But just after that, Meryam started being turned away when she called. Not every day, mind, one in four or five maybe, then later one in three. Judge Seti said it was because the child was learning proper Kemetu ways."
Scarab nodded. "That is needful. He is part Khabiru but mostly Kemetu."
Jeheshua shrugged. "I called on the Judge and he was polite but determined. Meryam had been taking the child...I'm sorry, Scarab, it is hard for me to call him by his given name."
"No matter. Go on. What had Meryam been doing?"
"She would take the child through the city and among the Khabiru, particularly the families of your mother's tribe, the Sons of Yuya. That stopped when he was two and was learning things from us that the Judge frowned on."
"What sort of things?"
"The worship of the Lord, the proper..." Jeheshua broke off as a man approached the stall. After a few minutes, the man slipped a ring on his finger and handed over a small chunk of gold. The old jeweller stroked his beard thoughtfully as he turned back to Scarab. "He learned how to behave among his people, how to conduct himself before the Lord--useful things that every Khabiru should know."
"I don't know those things," Scarab said softly.
"Then stay among us and find out."
"Maybe. What of Set?"
"The Judge said he must start school and brought a scribe in from the Amun temple to teach him. Meryam could only see him within the household or walk within Zarw itself, and always with two soldiers. He said it was to guard the child and maybe it was, but it also cut him off from his grandmother's people."
"He should have contact with both peoples. That will change now that I am back."
"I am glad to hear it, but there is more. When the child turned five, he was denied access to anyone the judge deemed unsuitable. That meant all Khabiru. We have not been close enough to talk to him for over a year now."
Scarab shook her head. "Why would he do such a thing? I left instructions that Meryam in particular should always be able to visit him. I must see Judge Seti at once." She rose to her feet and slipped her hood over her head.
"Yes, you must see him, and your son, but I counsel showing him a mild tongue," Jeheshua said. "You disappeared for six years and the judge may feel you abrogated your parental rights. Speak softly until you know his heart. I'm sure he has the good of the boy in mind--as he sees it."
"I will be discreet," Scarab assured him. "Does he still live in the same place?"
Jeheshua nodded. "Come and see me when you have done. If I am not here, ask for me in the Street of the Goldsmiths." He embraced Scarab and accompanied her to the gates of the walled city before returning to his wares.
Scarab walked through the streets of Zarw now very conscious of the fact that there were far fewer foreigners in the streets. Her light wool robe attracted some looks and even a few comments that made her feel angry with her fellow Kemetu for displaying such boorish manners. What has changed to make people behave like that ? She considered, too, her arrival at Judge Seti's house and her imagination ranged from little Set not knowing who she was, to her scooping up her deliriously happy son and smothering him with kisses. The judge was the boy's grandfather and should always have a place in his life, but she was the mother and her place was pre-eminent. Either way, whether little Set knew her or not, he was leaving with her. They would stay in Meryam's tent for the time being.
The Judge's house stood in a great walled compound, the walls stark and bare though leafy trees topped the mudbrick and somewhere inside she could hear the sounds of falling water and the murmur of voices. She rapped on the wooden gate and waited. Presently, a small door within the door opened and a wizened face peered out.
"Yes? What do you want? If you are looking for alms, go round the back, near the kitchens."
"I have come to see Judge Seti. Please tell him that Sc...that..." She smiled. "That someone from the past has returned." I wonder if he will guess .
Grumbling, the face disappeared and the little door slammed shut. Many minutes later, the door reopened. "My master says to go away, whoever you are. He is too busy to see you." He started to close the door again.
"Wait. Tell him Scarab is here, the mother of Set. He will want to know," she called urgently as she was left alone.
A longer time passed and Scarab knocked again. A further wait and, as she wondered whether to try around at the kitchen doors, the porter returned.
"You are to follow me. The master will see you."
Scarab entered the compound, looking all about her in the hopes of seeing her son. Servants paused in their duties to watch her as she passed, but she heard no childish laughter, saw nobody at play. "Is the boy Set here?" she asked, but the porter ignored her. He led her into the main house and up a flight of stairs to an upper room where the Judge waited, seated behind a desk strewn with papers.
Seti, never a large man, had shrunk since Scarab had last seen him. The years had caught up with him, stooping and wrinkling him until he could do little except sit and stare with rheumy eyes at the passing world. He shuffled the papers on his desk, avoiding Scarab's friendly smile.
Scarab advanced and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Judge Seti. I have returned at long last."
"So I see," Seti said querulously. "Why have you returned?"
Scarab raised her eyebrows. "I came to see my son, of course. My friends too, but to see Set above all."
"You think you can just walk in here and take over as if nothing has happened? You have been gone all his life, over six years."
"I know. It was unavoidable. However, things have changed now. I can stay with him. I thought I would get a small house in the city where we can
live and Set and I can get to know one another." Scarab laughed, a little nervously. "I will seem almost a stranger to him."
"The boy has a place to live, here with his family. He will not want to leave with a stranger."
"I am not a stranger, I am his mother. Every child needs a mother."
"He will not know who you are. He has never known who you are, and he calls another woman 'mother'."
Scarab's left eye glistened and she lifted a hand to her mouth. "It is not the same; a servant, even a wet-nurse, can never be a proper mother. I am..."
"Young Seti has a proper mother, my daughter-in-law Tia. She has been a model mother for Seti who is, in truth, considered her son. She and my son have formally adopted little Seti."
Scarab stared. "Daughter-in-law? What are you saying? Has Paramessu..."
"My son has done his duty to the family and married again. Tia is from a good family and is an excellent wife and mother. Soon she will produce a child of her own body to raise as a brother or sister to young Seti."
"I...I thought he...that he would wait. There has been no one else for me."
"Then you are a fool. Find some young Khabiru man, as you are so fond of them, settle down and forget what might have been. Paramessu was always too good for you."
"You forget I spring from the loins of Nebmaetre," Scarab said tightly, feeling anger building within her. "Royal blood flows in me."
"Yes, and look what else," Seti sneered. "A heretic, a rebel and a weak boy who together brought our beloved Kemet to her knees. At least we have a strong king again."
"My son Set is also of Nebmaetre's line."
"And if the gods smile he will one day be king, but only if he is brought up properly. With you he would turn out a weakling and a wastrel."
