“It is you, the great Apis bull, the god Osiris that will regenerate and ordain me, the pharaoh of Egypt with a long and prosperous reign. With this offering of food, you accept and honor my request!”
Meri-Ra reached into his sack and handed Teppy a slab of raw oxen flesh and a dagger. Teppy sliced off a piece of the flesh and fed it to the bull. The animal turned its head away refusing to eat it. The more Teppy tried to force it into the beast’s mouth, the more the beast rebuffed him. A deafening crack of thunder roared, then the rain sprinkled the courtyard. It had to be the work of the Amun god, conspiring with the Apis bull and Seth, the god of the storm, Teppy deduced, all part of the Amun priests’ plan to humiliate him in front of the crowds and his family. Without the Apis bull’s blessing, how could he gain the respect of the people?
After three more failed attempts to feed the Apis bull, Teppy relented. He tossed the oxen flesh to the ground and limped out of the courtyard, shamed and humiliated as the rain poured down on him.
FOR THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS Teppy spoke not a word to Nefertiti or his children, secluding himself from everyone except his mother, the one who had always comforted him with her strength and wisdom. Now broken, he needed to be convinced of his worthiness and reassured of his connection to the Aten god.
When he entered his mother’s chamber, he walked right into her arms without saying a word and wept. The queen welcomed him with a full embrace as she had when she protected him as a child. Teppy rested his head on her shoulder, ashamed to look his mother in the eye.
“I am as my father said I was—an abomination,” Teppy said.
“How dare you repeat such a thing! It has been your destiny since the day you were born to be pharaoh of Egypt. Not even the deficiency of your body parts could stop what the Aten god had planned for you. You are a son not of your father, but of the Aten. You are strong Teppy, you are a god.”
His mother’s words were like rays of sunlight. Why should he act defeated when he still stood strong, chosen by the powerful Aten? Teppy wiped his eyes dry with his garment.
“The Amun priests are strengthening their authority over me. I have to stop them,” he said to her.
“My son, the authority of the priests relies on the people’s faith in the power of their gods. If you reduce the power of the Amun god to nothing, the priests will cease to have influence over the Egyptian people.”
“What are you saying?”
“You told me before the Sed-Festival that the Amun priests uses trickery with their statues to appear more powerful, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“Then destroy the statue where their Amun god resides. Every god they worship, destroy its statue, and you will destroy the Amun priesthood,” said Queen Ty.
Her words of wisdom jarred Teppy’s memory.
“When I was a child I remember you telling me a story. It was about the Habiru people who were enslaved by Egypt in the time of our great pharaoh, Thutmoses the Third, in the cities called Pithom and Raamses. Do you remember the story, Mother?”
“Vividly.”
“You told me how one of the Habiru slaves was raised to be as Egyptian royalty, and how he grew to resent them, longing to free his people. He was a prophet with the power of one god, and he returned to Egypt to challenge the pharaoh’s gods for the freedom of his people. And when the pharaoh refused to free them, the Habiru’s god plagued Egypt tenfold with unspeakable plagues until he finally allowed the Habiru slaves to leave.”
“Your memory serves you well,” said the queen.
Teppy’s excitement grew.
“So this one singular god of the Habiru defeated all the Egyptian gods? Including Amun and his magic-practicing priests?”
“It was the story that was written and passed down to my grandmother.”
“Then tell me, Mother, if I was to do as you say and destroy their gods, do you believe the people would be more inclined to accept the Aten as their one true god as I have?” asked Teppy.
“My son, though the story came to pass over a hundred years ago, there are many among the people that will remember it and will embrace the Aten as their one true god as you have.”
His mother’s affirmation invigorated him.
“I have told no one this, not even my wife Nefertiti, but for many days I’ve had this vision of the Aten. It appeared to me, Mother, not in its form of the sun-disk, it was in the form of a man, a mysterious man who glowed like the sun. He instructed me to sail north, away from Thebes until I find the place where the two mountains cradle the sun. And there, he told me that I must build a new city to the Aten, where no other god will be served and worshiped. He said my loyal ones will follow me and abandon Thebes, this evil city of the Amun priests.”
Teppy gazed into his mother’s eyes. “I will destroy their gods, then we will leave this city. I will build a new capital city, Mother.”
Queen Ty caressed Teppy’s face. “My dear son, you don’t have to abandon this city in order to destroy their gods. Thebes is our home.”
“It is not our home,” Teppy snapped. “It belongs to Amun and its wicked priests. We will have our own city where the Aten will be our only god. Will you stand with me, Mother?”
Queen Ty hesitated before she answered. “Always,” she said and kissed him on the lips. “Carry out what is in your heart to do, my dear son.”
CHAPTER 19
Reeling from the humiliation he had endured at the Sed-Festival, Teppy still found it agonizing to be in the company of his family. To prevent the children from pressing him for attention, Nefertiti took them with her on a short chariot ride to her father’s home. When they arrived, her sister Mundi and stepmother Teyla greeted them all with flowers, fruits, nuts, and kisses.
Nefertiti embraced her sister and stepmother and presented them with gifts of perfume and gold jewelry. They were pleasing things to Mundi, but what Nefertiti craved most of all was to be alone again with her sister.
It was rare that she and Mundi could share their time and secrets with each other. Becoming a queen of Egypt brought Nefertiti isolation from her old family that weakened the bond she and Mundi had shared as children. So, while Senpaten slept and Meketa and Mayati played with their grandmother, the sisters found a moment to steal away into a private chamber. At once, Mundi bowed perfunctorily in front of her sister. “So what may I bring you to eat and drink O’ great ‘Queen Nefertiti’?” Mundi teased.
Nefertiti laughed. “Oh stop it. Don’t call me that.”
“But you are Queen Nefertiti.”
“Maybe to everyone else, but to you I’m just Sete,” said Nefertiti.
Mundi sat on the platform bed and Nefertiti sat next to her.
“You first,” said Nefertiti, eager to hear about the developments in her sister’s life.
“No, you must tell me first,” replied Mundi.
“I’m a guest now in your home, so I get to choose, and I choose you.”
Mundi smiled. “Fine, I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else, not even our stepmother. Agreed?”
“I’d never share your secrets,” said Nefertiti.
Mundi moved closer to her sister. “I have a lover, and we’re planning to marry.”
Nefertiti looked shocked. She had always known her sister to be particular about suitors, often critical and fault-finding. It surprised her that Mundi had settled for someone after so many years of celibacy.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Not yet, it’s your turn now. Tell me your secret,” replied Mundi.
“And you promise not to share it, right?”
“I’d never.”
“We are leaving Thebes,” Nefertiti blurted.
“Where will you be visiting?”
“It’s not a visit. We’re leaving this city permanently.”
Mundi’s eyes widened. “Why? It’s the only city of royalty. Where would you go?”
As quickly as Nefertiti had blurted it out, she regretted telling her. Now she wo
uld have to reveal the whole sordid story of the Amun priests and their plan to overthrow Teppy. It was depressing news she didn’t feel like repeating. Fortunately, Teyla entered the room interrupting their conversation and gave Nefertiti a way out.
“Nefertiti, your husband has sent a messenger here requesting your return to the palace immediately.”
“But why should she leave us now when she has only just arrived?” said Mundi.
It concerned Nefertiti that Teppy would order her return to the palace so soon after their departure. Had the priests tried to retaliate? Or did they possibly need to escape the city sooner than they had planned?
“It’s all right, Mundi,” Nefertiti sighed in relief. “I imagine it’s because he misses the children already. I’ll return to you soon and explain everything.”
With questions still unanswered from both sisters, Nefertiti gathered her children and returned to the palace as Teppy had ordered.
MERI-RA WAS SPEECHLESS at the sight of Ay in the Aten temple. The pharaoh’s chief adviser was known to be a servant of the Amun god, and no follower of Amun dared set foot inside the temple where the Aten resided.
“I know you were not expecting me,” Ay said, “especially here, but I need your help.”
“Why would a worshiper of the Amun god need the help of an Aten priest?”
Ay ripped his garment open, revealing the bruise Sia had left on his chest long ago. It had spread downward to his abdomen over the years.
“Can the power of the Aten reverse a spell of an Amun priest?” asked Ay.
Meri-Ra barely glanced at it before responding.
“Why would an Amun priest conjure a spell against one of its own?”
“I am not of the Amun priests. I am a manservant and advisor only to the Pharaoh. Please, tell me. Can the Aten god remove this bruise from my body?”
Meri-Ra scanned Ay’s torso. “There’s nothing there.”
“You don’t see it?” asked Ay, pointing to his chest. “It’s right here, the mark of the twin priest, Sia. Can the Aten god remove Amun’s curse or not?”
“There is nothing there,” replied Meri-Ra again.
Befuddled by his reply, Ay looked down at his chest and abdomen to make sure it was there. “I’m not mad, my chest is covered with a bruise that’s spreading, and it will soon kill me. It’s been said that only a magic-practicing priest taught by the Heka god itself could conjure such a thing.”
“You must listen precisely to what I tell you,” said Meri-Ra, resolute in his instruction. “There is no real bruise on you, nor magic from the Heka god. The Heka cult disappeared from Egypt hundreds of years ago, and their teachings have been long buried and lost. What you’re seeing is what Sia convinced you was there. If you allow yourself to believe what I am telling you now, you won’t see it. Look again, it’s not there.”
Ay looked again. The bruise was still in its place.
“It would be better for you to admit that you have no power from the Aten god than to be proven to be an imposter,” said Ay.
When he turned to leave, Meri-Ra shouted at him. “Remove the image from your mind!”
It startled Ay and he stopped in his tracks. Ay closed his eyes and imagined the bruise was not there. He then opened them and glanced again at his chest. And just as Meri-Ra had told him, it was gone. The bruise that had once appeared to be spreading from his chest to his abdomen like a plague had completely vanished.
“You mustn’t allow yourself to be fooled by what you can or cannot see. The Amun priests have no such power,” Meri-Ra said as he handed Ay a new garment. “They can deceive you with illusions because you were once loyal to them. It’s part of the same trickery they employ to control the people of Egypt,” he said.
“I don’t understand. My sister Ty saw the bruise as I did.”
“Because you unknowingly placed on her the same suggested illusion they had placed upon you,” Meri-Ra replied.
Ay put on the garment, enchanted by Meri-Ra’s knowledge of the Amun priests’ secrets.
“So that you can be assured that I no longer have loyalty for the Amun priesthood. I will tell you the pharaoh’s plan,” said Ay. “He has made an order to destroy the rigged statue in the Amun temple, and furthermore to strike down any Amun priests that are harboring statuettes of gods related to Amun. Today, at the setting of the sun, the Amun priests’ days of trickery and illusions will be over.”
Instead of expressing exuberance for the pharaoh’s decree, Meri-Ra shook his head, looking concerned.
“Is not this the day of salvation that the Aten priesthood has yearned for?” Ay asked.
“You must postpone it,” answered Meri-Ra. “The Amun priest Neper is defecting from his twin, Sia, and the Amun priesthood. I am assisting him in his conversion to the Aten priesthood. He’s making one last visit to the Amun temple to gather his belongings. He must be spared from the pharaoh’s order.”
Ay nodded. “I will advise the pharaoh to postpone until the next day as you requested.”
Ay had no intention of speaking to the pharaoh. Teppy’s orders were already set in motion. He had instructed his guards to post scrolls of his proclamations throughout the city of Thebes declaring his rejection of the Amun god and all the other gods that were worshiped along with it. Ay had delivered Teppy’s petition directly to the citizens, inviting them to sail the river along with the royal family in discovery of a new land far away.
At sunset, Teppy’s five hundred and fifty royal guards were dispatched throughout the city fulfilling his orders to cut down the statues of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu with their battle axes and hammers until not one remained. Wherever the name of Amun was found engraved or written, it was to be carved out or defaced. Once the false gods and its priests were destroyed, they would have no power to retaliate. The people would be free to make their own choice without fear, and Teppy believed that most of them would choose to be loyal to him and follow him to the new land of the Aten.
When the guards reached the Amun temple, the priests were scrambling to hide the smaller statuettes. They were powerless at the hands of the pharaoh’s guards, who searched every cubit of the temple until they found them all and crushed them. The last remaining idol was the nine-cubit-high gold Amun statue, the treasure of the priesthood, and the source of their many illusions and trickery against Teppy and the citizens. A squad of Teppy’s guards struck at it until the base cracked.
Neper raced into the temple, his loyalty to the Amun god reignited. “No!” he shouted.
The destruction of the statuettes he had worshiped his entire life gave rise to paternal instincts to save what had always been part of his family. Neper flung himself in front of the golden Amun statue, shielding it from the swing of an enraged guard’s ax.
CHAPTER 20
A fleet of ferryboats cluttered the banks of the great river. Thousands of Thebans and their families gathered up all their possessions and placed them into the sailing vessels. Massive barges had been loaded with building materials of limestone, granite, marble, and alabaster that would be used to build the new capital city. Livestock and grain were loaded on storage boats as pilots, helmsmen and oarsmen prepared to navigate through what was mostly treacherous waters.
The royal riverboat was a pleasure boat with multiple decks that featured lavishly decorated cabins and dining rooms; even the oars were made of ebony and decorated with gold. The pharaoh’s children were the first to board, excited to embark on the great adventure. Queen Ty escorted them, mimicking their excitement in a ruse to hide her anxiety over leaving Thebes. She wanted to be supportive of her son, but in her heart she believed they were making a terrible mistake. Only the thought of never having to see another Amun priest consoled her.
The queen caught a glimpse of Teppy’s smile the moment he arrived on the boat. She returned the gesture by placing her hand over her heart and nodding at her son with the same loving smile.
Teppy took his position at the helm, and spoke out to the citizens
that could hear him, encouraging them with words inspired by the Aten god itself.
“This is not my revolution, it’s yours!” he yelled. “You must abandon your statues of Amun and all the other useless gods who have enslaved you. Their oppressive priests claim to have power from the gods but instead they have used illusions to deceive you. This city of Thebes is infected with their corruption. We have the Aten: the sun-disk, the only god we need. We will sail to a glorious place where we can build our new capital city, a land unaffected, and of unimaginable beauty. The Aten will give us all a better life.”
The people cheered at Teppy’s declaration. It was a welcome revelation to see how many of the citizens of Thebes supported him against the Amun god and its priests.
Nefertiti encouraged the children with her own display of cheers and excitement at Teppy’s declaration to the citizens, but like Queen Ty, she hid her angst about leaving Thebes, fearing what could happen to them if the new land turned out not to be as Teppy envisioned.
Nefertiti was comforted by the sight of Mundi stepping onboard the ship. Now at least she would have the company of her dear sister on their long journey. But where are her belongings? Mundi’s hands were empty.
“Where are your things?” asked Nefertiti.
Mundi was hesitant to respond. Nefertiti could tell her sister had been crying.
“Mundi, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t go with you.”
“What do you mean? The entire royal family is going: Father, our stepmother, everyone.”
“I know they are, but I can’t.”
“Why?”
Mundi paused before revealing the last thing in the world Nefertiti expected to hear from her. “I’m in the third month of pregnancy.”
Her confession jarred Nefertiti. The pain of it swelled throughout her body. It was unthinkable that her sister would wait for months before sharing the secret of her pregnancy—an occasion sisters yearn to share with each other from the beginning.
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