“Oh…” Ariennu mopped her head with the back of her hand as if another wave of revelation had just come to her, “and the Crown Prince in the same meal. Dear Goddess!” It hadn’t been a good lie, but it had been enough to get her into the room to check on the king.
King Menkaure appeared dull-eyed, but calm. He nodded to Ariennu affectionately as his grooms quickly dressed him in a simple khaftan, and thoughtfully adjusted his nemes before they touched up the kohl lines on his eyes.
She went through the motions of sampling the broth, the minced pie, and warm sweet cakes the prince and his father would share. After she sniffed at the pickled fish sauce, she left the room. She had accomplished her real goal: satisfying herself that the king was in full possession of his wits.
Ari hurried to the women’s apartment to get food that may have been brought there for the women and their maids to share, hoping her detour by the royal bedchamber and office hadn’t caused her to miss any of the honey-pepper loaf she’d smelled earlier. As she crossed the wide, sunny plaza, she saw the prince approaching in the distance. She waited for him to arrive at the steps, and then lowered her gaze with a bow and a sigh as he grew near. She pretended she didn’t know him personally. Ariennu contemplated breaking decorum to ask him about Naibe, but at that moment she saw the young woman trailing through the gates some distance behind him. Porters brought her basket of things in and called nearby servants for the guards to the women’s rooms so she could be led there. Prince Shepseskaf had turned to acknowledge her deep bow, and looked as if he was about to tell her what she already saw. Forgetting all about the food and the prince, Ari broke into a run to hold and caress Naibe-Ellit.
“Brown Eyes!” she cried out. Ari would have wept happy tears if she had been the crying kind. “I have so much to tell you! Are you really here now? For good?”
Naibe’s quiet nod told Ari she was exhausted from the fairly short trip between the two estates. With her arms slung around her sister-in-fate, Ariennu led Naibe-Ellit to the women’s bedrooms and waited for the maids to set up a bed for her. The two women sat on Ari’s bed. “What happened?” Ari held and rubbed Naibe’s arm.
“I’m sent here to be a maid, I think,” Naibe’s voice sounded almost as drained as it had almost two weeks earlier when they had been separated.
Hmmm… that’s not good. Ariennu considered, then cuddled the young woman with the thought: Talk to me like this then.
Nobody wants me Ari. The prince and his wife sent me away. She hates me and so does Wse’s wife. I could have been an asset, but…
The king might, Ari smoothed Naibe’s dark wavy hair in an uncharacteristic tenderness that startled the young woman into looking up. He’s been asking about you, baby. Ariennu continued passing her thoughts to Naibe. He tells me he was really worried for you that night when we were all chosen. I’m worried about His Majesty, babe.
The king? Why? Naibe instantly understood that every ear in the room waited on some chatter-worthy morsel to come from either woman.
You’ll see. Just… well, everyone here is always…
You’ve been with him, Ari? Already? her young face grew wide-eyed with amazement. Doesn’t he have other maids? I thought…
I need to slap you, Ariennu laughed inwardly. If you think it’s because I got the Children to let me look older, think again. I think he’s just tired of these spoiled little girls. He had me in there the first night, but after the business part, he just wanted someone to talk to. He misses confiding in the women in his life. The girls he can use, if the mood comes to him. He knows that I keep secrets and so he can talk to me.
The king… Naibe’s thoughts repeated and she grew reflective, watching the women finish her bed.
For only an instant, Ariennu wondered if Naibe would be relegated to the corps of pretty girls the king invited to his couch, but then her instincts told her Naibe would be much more to him.
He just needs people around him to count on. I don’t mean the old high priest, either.
Naibe gasped aloud at the thought of Hordjedtef from Ariennu. He’s here? she scooted closer when one of the girls paused in her work. Her gasp gave the girls who were preparing her bed the idea that the two sojourning women were somehow communicating.
Far too often! Ari continued, hovers over him like a damned tent! Talks to him about matters of state when the vizier is off on a task or a journey. Stays at him until the poor man breaks a sweat and needs to drink his special herbed wine and take a rest.
Can’t he just order him away? Naibe wondered.
Ari moved to look as if she was whispering to Naibe, then shook her head. I wish he would. I wish Majesty would order that old man straight to the bottom of the river, I do. You wouldn’t know the Count is doing anything wrong by him, though. King Menkaure trusts everything he tells him about people… almost. He didn’t listen to too much about us I guess, or we wouldn’t even be here, especially at the same time. I bet that chokes the old man’s neck. Continuing louder and in Kemet, Ari tossed out a scrap for the benefit of the women making up Naibe’s area. “Hey, I have to tell you though. He’s been nice.”
“How so?” Naibe tugged her basket of clothing closer to herself so her bed could be finished.
“The count is being sweet as a dim-witted grandfather to me, advising me on proper etiquette and behavior.” She spoke and then added in silent thought: trying to work his way into my heart, as if I didn’t know what he was doing. Last night, I asked Majesty if I could share his evening wine and he let me drink it with him, Brown Eyes. I could swear the old fart is poisoning him… You know I used to be able to drink strong men to the ground when you first came to us in the sand wastes before I got sick. Quarter a cup of that wine he was drinking knocked me silly last night. I think the old man’s made Majesty needful of it, too. We have to watch out for him, Naibe. I don’t like him at all,” she paused, thinking about what the young woman had said about the princes’ wives ‘hating’ her.
Ari sensed Naibe had become so tired that she had nearly lost her wits. Her thought-voice, instead of being the confident and loving multi-layered Ashera voice, had sounded like the voice of a little girl on the verge of weeping. At first she rejected that thought, but she had sensed it the day they were told Marai had died. Ari had hoped a success at one of the royal houses would return the girl to her own inner strength.
And what’s this about them hating you? No one really hates you, girl.
Ariennu remembered the day, just a week and a half earlier, although it seemed almost like an eternity. A very sad and dejected Wserkaf brought young Naibe to Shepseskaf’s palace and collected Ari herself to take her to the royal estates to begin serving in the king’s household. Princess Bunefer wanted a fertile woman who might have a child by her husband. When her illusion was discovered, Ari knew she had only narrowly escaped. Princess Bunefer had considered having her banished from the royal side of the river. Ari had quickly suggested that she be given a chance to be a kind of elder handmaiden, since the king’s wife no longer resided with him. For her courage, and partly on a whim, the young prophetess had offered her to serve at the palace.
“So why did the inspector bring you the crown prince, when he clearly desired you?” Ari whispered in Kina, constantly glancing at the servants who were readying the bed. Naibe’s finger went to her lips gently and she began to send thoughts to her elder friend.
I didn’t think it could happen so soon after I knew Marai was gone, Ari, but Wse and I… she struggled to assemble her thoughts, because it didn’t make any sense to her that she could have fallen in love with another man so soon. I wanted to hate him for what he did, but the more he spoke, the more I knew he meant no harm to Marai. The Count lied to him about us, too. When Wseiri was teaching Marai, he realized this. That’s what he told me, anyway. Naibe shook her head dismally. I know you’ll think I’m stupid and that I was just desperate and scared, but… She shed a little tear, now I’ve lost both of them… no all three if you add Shepse
skaf now, Ari. My heart dies a little more each time. I don’t know how much more I can take.
“Nah,” Ariennu hugged the young woman tightly to console her, speaking along with her thoughts for that moment to satisfy the women again. I came out to this place in his chair. We talked about it. I think he loved you, alright. He was pretty torn up about having to send you away. Ariennu almost told Naibe something else that had happened that day, but shut the thought away with all of her gift of covering. If Naibe hadn’t been remembering her own sadness that day she might have exposed another layer of intrigue.
I truly wanted to stay with him, to begin something nice, but his wife couldn’t even bear me as a second. Maybe it was because of what happened with his son, she began and then shrugged because just the thought of it again reminded her of how impossible it would have been.
Son? You didn’t… Ariennu looked at Naibe as if she had gone both mad and stupid in the same moment, signing what she thought in a series of gestures as well to further confuse the eavesdroppers.
No, Naibe gestured shook her head. The boy saw me swimming one day and disrespected me to Wse. They fought and Wse hurt him. She simply restored order to her home as any good woman should.
Ariennu shook her head. You and men. They all get so stupid and silly around you I should be so lucky. Imagine me lying about all day and night, men on me making my womb’s thunder roll without ceasing.
Go ahead, Ari, you take that from me then, Naibe thought back, I just wish Marai…
“So what happened at the Crown Prince house? Why’d they want to get rid of you?” Ari asked in a Kina dialect that she was almost certain none of the other women knew. She felt she had to say some words or risk looking too odd as she traded thoughts with Naibe.
Naibe’s face brightened mischievously. It was heka, her thoughts whispered, because she definitely didn’t want the young ladies to have a chance of understanding it. “I was all set to run away and find Wse the first night. But my father moon was so warm and his light the color of Marai’s hair. I wanted to offer a dance to Marai, to his spirit in the moon so I might gain some of my power back and be strong enough to stay instead of running away like a child. Ashera came into me, and the prince saw me and had to take me right then. I don’t exactly know what Ashera-in-me did, but even though I was with him, his wife was too. After that night, the prince couldn’t keep his hands off me. Still, every time he came to me, I made sure he ended up with his wife. I knew I was enchanting him. He kept trying to do it over to see if he could remember what happened the first time and every other time,” she snickered. Naibe thought of the riot she had quite innocently started and began to giggle. Soon, both women laughed and played, swatting at each other and teasing.
Ariennu called out: “Ooh you wicked little kuna, you didn’t! Oh my sweet goddess, I need to be in that house right now to see that going on! Him running her down like an elephant in must!” Ariennu laughed until she fell back on her couch.
Naibe smirked, then bent forward to kiss Ari lightly on the brow.
So strange, Ari. I mean, I was with Shepsesi but I wasn’t with him. I felt his ways, Ari; felt him up inside my womb! I want to say my spirit entered the princess and bore her to his bedchamber, but that’s not what it was either. It was like… I was in two places at once, but the princess was too! I think we must have traded back and forth… only she didn’t remember anything but waking with him, and I remembered all the rest! That’s what upset her, I guess. I just wasn’t the kind of breed cow they were looking for!
Ariennu laughed so hard she started to snort and slap her hand on her couch.
Naibe hugged the elder woman and then settled into her embrace.
“Stop, you! I’m dying… Princess Dainty Mittens all lathered about you! Must have made her want to scream. You bested her and she’s the one with all the skill and training!” Ariennu composed herself a little more, continuing to hear Naibe’s story.
“Oh! She said I was Lilitu and tried to put up with me for a few days, but then they both sent me here. I didn’t think she would know to call me that name. Now there are two of us. Seems like they’d be even more worried something would befall their king in both of our hands,” Naibe saw her bed was ready and nodded her polite thanks to the maids who had assembled it. She bent to see if it had been roped and pegged securely after the maids left for the garden, frustrated that they had understood nothing of the women’s conversation.
Ariennu sighed, a little more content in knowing Naibe was still happier to be at the palace. There would be more rules and decorum to observe than in either of the other estates. Naibe’s little gesture urged the elder woman to take their conversation back into thought because too many of the handmaidens were straining to understand their words as they worked. She shook her head and motioned for Naibe to rest a little. The young woman wriggled her shoulders in the bedding and checked the padding on the headrest first, but soon drifted to sleep.
Ari lay on her own bed for a few moments. She wondered what anyone who had seen them today might be whispering now. Lilitu… avenging hand of the goddess. Now that’s special. Wonder what the old man’s plan is now, to let two she-wolves at his majesty. Maybe I can get her to see His Majesty before the old man comes today. If I’m lucky, maybe he’s away on his own duty or in bed with some old man ailment. If King Menkaure could know we’re both here and eager to help him before he can be told otherwise… Ari quickly decided that as soon as Naibe had rested, she would take her to see the king in his bedchamber. If it was just after the middle of the day, when it was hottest, she knew the king would have eaten a light soup and bread for his midday meal. He would be resting a little before attending to his afternoon audiences. Hmmm. He didn’t call for me to rub his neck, she thought. Breakfasted and had business with Prince Shepsesi. Maybe it was pleasant. Still, he should know Naibe is here. He should have sent for her as he did for me when I came. Thinking again, Ariennu realized that it was indeed odd that the king might not know they were both here, given how there were so few secrets within the estate walls.
As soon as Naibe opened her eyes, Ariennu got the young woman up and freshened. The women went to the bottom of the grand stair up to the king’s open and breezy stateroom that overlooked everything. Instead of seeing the guards on the stairs, the women saw them coming out, looking worried.
“Majesty is…” One of the men waved the two women away. His expression indicated that a physician had been sent for.
“Damn it!” Ariennu cursed herself for having spent so long getting Naibe settled. She got a quick nod from the other guard, but towed Naibe-Ellit past the beaded entry curtain and into the stateroom before either of the men could object. A new woman being brought in to meet the king when he was in less than godly condition was strictly forbidden.
“No you…” one of them started to grab for her, but Naibe’s head snapped around to face him.
Ariennu cast a shadow over both herself and Naibe, understanding the young woman had just shown the guard her null face; a dark, but beautiful face that had the power to paralyze anyone who approached her. If either of the illusions failed to hold the guards, they would be slaughtered on the spot. She had an idea.
Suddenly, the guards stepped back, somewhat confused because they had heard their monarch’s quiet command.
It is well that I receive these lovelies. Put away your weapons and allow them to come.
The king lay on his couch limp and stretched out. His head tilted backward on his padded neck rest and his mouth gaped. He had been seized by some misery that made him gasp and suffer to the point of fainting.
“Oh no…” Moved with pity, Naibe-Ellit darted further into the room and dropped to her knees by the right side of Menkaure’s couch. “Ari, I knew the night I first saw him that he suffered. Now look at him,” she touched the king’s lips tentatively.
The guards moved behind her, roused from the temporary dazzling effect of her enchantment. They waited for the king’s next comma
nd, but paused when they saw his fingertips rise slightly in a gesture for them to stop.
“I didn’t think it was this bad, Ari.” Naibe-Ellit beckoned Ariennu to come closer. “Was he so this morning?” she looked up into her elder friend’s face.
Ariennu knelt on the other side of the king’s couch to check his breath sounds. She frowned, puzzled, wondering if her charade about the poison might have been a real premonition. He had been groggy this morning, but rested. His grooms had been changing his clothing from his official starched and pleated temple shendyt and golden regalia designed for sunrise offerings to Ra, to the casual sheer, loose linen tunic and informal nemes for breakfast meetings.
“We have to do something,” Naibe glanced quickly at her older companion. She took the king’s hand in hers for a moment, remarking, “it’s so cold.”
Ariennu took the king’s other hand and blew her warm breath on it. In a moment, she saw his eyelids flutter and a look of very slight relaxation overtake him.
“There, Majesty,” her throaty voice soothed him. “Your Lady Ariennu has come to help you now.”
King Menkaure stirred a little and then tensed, realizing he had lapsed. “Is it time?” he whispered. “Is it time?” he repeated and gasped a little. Raising his head, he noticed Naibe, then startled even more. He scooted up on his couch, but his strange weakness made him fall back again. His eyes looked around. He sought his gold cup of spiced wine.
Ariennu knew he was drunk and that it was shockingly early for such a state, but knew he had consumed more than just spiced wine.
“Here,” Ariennu jumped up to fetch a bowl of lukewarm duck broth which had been put on the edge of the smoldering coals in the brazier. “Naibe, give him this, not that wine he’s wanting.”
Naibe eased her hand under the king’s neck and lifted his head. The guards paced restlessly, waiting for the order to punish the women for their intrusion.
Going Forth By Day Page 26
