“No, I don’t suppose they will. And all the while our other plans solidify. I’m most pleased.” I had a pang in my heart with the realization that it was entirely possible that the woman who had put all of this in motion might not live to see our good fortune return.
So it came as a great surprise when I was awakened one night by Nyla, who had rushed from the temple to my house to get me.
“It’s bad, Mother,” she whispered to me. “Come quickly.” I threw on my robe and together we hurried through the quiet streets of the city where only the cats were about hunting their nightly meals of mice and the occasional rat.
“Alright, what is it?” I asked as soon as we entered my quarters. Instead of answering directly, she turned me around to peer out the window that overlooked the palace. What I saw made my heart sink, for deep in its center the light of many candles burned bright.
“He’s exposed Ti-Ameny!” Nyla said.
“Who?” I asked, my heart racing, although I already suspected the answer.
“The black mut... Nekau. He somehow found out that Meryt… I mean, Mery, has been poisoned. I… I don’t know how he found out. But I am told they are questioning her now.”
I paced around the room, weighing our options, yet I did not feel panic, for I knew that Ti-Ameny would never reveal who conspired with her, even under torture. Ti-Ameny was already dead, if not tonight then in a day or two. Instead, I weighed in my heart how her being caught might affect our plans.
“Nyla, find out all you can. I need every bit of information you can gather. I’ll call in my informers, too. We meet again, here, after morning prayers.” As soon as Nyla left I wrote a cryptic set of prayers and instructions to the Head Priestess in Dep, who would know to deliver it to Bakht and Khnum, and called in my trusted Kainefuru. She left within the hour for Dep.
In a ten-day, allowing time so as not to arouse suspicion, for now Amka’s spies followed me openly, I left to make my rounds of the Delta temples. On the second night after my arrival, I met secretly with Khnum and Bakht.
“How bad is it?” Khnum asked anxiously. “How did they find out?”
“It was Amka, no doubt,” Bakht said.
“No, it was Nekau. Eventually he suspected a poison for in Ta-Sety they have similar ones to the one that you gave me. He blames himself for not recognizing it earlier. Then he laid a trap for Ti-Ameny and caught her in the act of administering it. He grabbed Ti-Ameny by the throat and held her in the air until she confessed.”
“What is to become of her?” Bakht asked.
“We don’t know. The palace is keeping a very tight lid on this.”
“The fact that she has not already been executed speaks loudly of The Abomination’s weaknesses,” Bakht suggested. “The two were close, so she will have a difficult time bringing herself to issue the order to execute Ti-Ameny.”
“And Meryt?” Khnum asked purposely, knowing that I refused to refer to her by her masculine name.
“She’s still gravely ill, but Nekau’s ministering to her, but they must have ten Horus physicians at her bedside. That black mut took the poison himself, in small doses, to experience the symptoms and understand how he can best treat her. She’s recovered slightly, but she’s not her former self. The poison affected her liver… just as you said it would,” I noted, turning to Bakht. He bowed slightly.
Khnum stood and began to pace. “So, we must strike now!” he said, punching his fist into his other palm.
“That’s unwise,” I said. “Herihor and Amka are in control now. They’re taking a hard line. Herihor’s mobilized the army. They’re strong and well trained, thanks to the inflated treasury. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“We can’t stay here and do nothing. It’s our last chance!” Khnum yelled. “We must act now!”
I stood up and paced opposite Khnum. “I’m not suggesting that we do nothing,” I said. “I’m suggesting a different strategy, though. Think of it as the tactic that will lead to our final act. I don’t understand why we haven’t thought of this before.”
Khnum immediately sat down, his eyes riveted on me. Bakht actually smiled. “Here, then, is my idea. We kidnap and kill Zenty.”
It was as if I had sucked all the air out of the dank room. Khnum actually gasped. Bakht remained silent, his eyes now nothing but slits, so that he gave the appearance of a serpent ready to strike.
“You’re joking, right?” Khnum finally said.
“Does she look like she is joking?” Bakht responded, never taking his eyes off me.
“This is madness,” Khnum protested, jumping back up. “We can’t just kidnap and kill the future King.”
“Why not?” I asked as calmly as I could. “Either way, once we take power he’d have to be eliminated anyway. Why not now?”
“Well, for one thing we do not have the soldiers to do it. For another…”
“But, suppose we were able to do it,” Bakht interjected. “I agree with you, my master, that on the surface it appears to be a crazy idea. However, if we could do it now, then think what it would mean.
“By my calculations, The Abomination is too weak, her liver too destroyed, to ever function as she did before. She wavers even now in the decision to execute Ti-Ameny. And the scandal with Ti-Ameny proves to those who sit on the fence deciding whether or not to support us that there’s significant opposition to her rule. Now, if the future King is suddenly eliminated, people will be desperate… they’ll clamor for someone powerful to take over the reigns and restore ma’at. Unification is still new enough so that people will accept our contention that the Two Lands should remain separate but equal.”
Despite Bakht’s eloquence, in another three days Khnum was still not convinced that Ra was ready to shine light on a new era for Kem, at least not using the methods that Bakht and I advocated. And so, we agreed to meet one last time before my duties called me back to Inabu-hedj.
“Tell us again what your objection is to eliminating the boy,” Bakht said to Khnum.
“First, you make it sound like we will be snatching a child. Zenty is fifteen and already a well-trained soldier at Herihor’s and Akori’s hands. Second, he is assigned to an army unit. Do you suggest we walk in and ask his commander to kindly hand him over to us so we may send him on his way to the Afterlife?” Even I laughed at Khnum’s humor, but I was already wondering about his usefulness to us after we assumed the throne. “And even if we were to kidnap him, he might be worth more to us alive than dead, at least for a while.”
Upon Khnum’s last point I thought to myself that there might be merit to that notion, for Mery, Amka and Tepemkau certainly realized that the hopes for the continuation of their dynasty rested entirely with Zenty. They would therefore attach much value on his life and we could exact concessions and considerable treasure and, more importantly, needed time to grow our troop strength. Once the people of the Delta found out what had happened, they would undoubtedly flock to our side.
“You know, Khnum, I have been pondering how to win you to our side for the past few days,” Bakht said.” And I thought I had come up with a solution, yet something was missing. But with your suggestion to keep Zenty alive, it only adds strength to the solution I propose.” By now our eyes were on Bakht and he relished the moment.
“We forget that we have the most capable ally imaginable. I have kept close contact with General Panahasi since The Abomination forced him out. He has not lost any of his hatred for that whore. In fact, her falsely claimed role in the victory over the Ta-Setys only inflamed his anger.
“He still has loyalists in the army and he need only give his word and they will flock to his command. He can easily find out where Zenty is stationed, the troop strength and any details he needs to mount an expedition. With a relatively small force of our men, well trained by him, of course, I am certain he could do this.”
And so, with the agreement of Khnum we set upon a path that had no return. In one month I was back in Inabu-hedj, in the midst of prayers, when
rams horns began blaring from the palace. By the end of the day it was confirmed. Twenty-six soldiers in Zenty’s unit were dead and the fruit of The Abomination was in our hands and would never bear seed.
SCROLL SIXTEEN
Meryt-Neith
Oh, Horus, how cruel you can be! Isis, my Isis, where are you now? Neith, my namesake, my huntress and protector. Have you all abandoned me? What will be next? Will Ra deem us unworthy and not rise in the sky? Why is this all happening?
There are times during the day, every day, when I cannot even stand up, when the pain in my abdomen is so great it feels like fire will burst from my body. Most days I can tolerate only one meal and then my stomach hurts for hours afterward. And the pounding headache never leaves me, although it has decreased in severity since Nekau has taken over my care.
I wake in the morning to his wide black face smiling at me and forcing me to drink cup after cup of water, until I am sure I will float away down the palace walls and join Mother Nile in her journey to Wadj-Wer. He prepares potions that he requires me to drink three and four times a day. And while I complain that he devises new and devious ways to torture me, I am grateful that come evening he forces everyone from my meeting rooms and makes me retire to my bed early so that sleep can continue to heal my body.
The potion he gives me at night quickly sends me off to the world of dreams, but I have not told him that it lasts only so long. In the hours between when I awake and Ra’s appearance, that is when the nightmares of my present life confront me. Yet I would rather face them in those quiet hours than be in a constant haze from the medicines that Nekau and Amka concoct.
One of my recurring nightmares comes when I think of the gift we sent to Nubiti as she prepared for her evening offerings to Isis. For days, even ten-days we debated Ti-Ameny’s fate. To this day I could not say which is worse, my bodily torments from the poison or Ti’s betrayal, for if ever I loved a woman with all my heart and ka it was Ti-Ameny. It was she who taught me the mysteries of men, who attended me during Zenty’s birth and who was my personal healer. Herneith, I am certain, now suffers in the Afterlife over Ti-Ameny’s disloyalty.
Once the betrayal was discovered, Herihor, Amka and Nekau tried to persuade me to allow her to be tortured, for how else would we obtain the information as to who was behind this grievous act? When a goat suddenly disappears under Mother Nile’s swirling waters, do you wonder what has taken it? I asked them. It was now clear beyond any doubt who our enemies were and torturing Ti-Ameny would accomplish nothing except plague me for eternity.
The next issue was not whether to execute Ti, but how. Coming right after my poisoning was discovered, my heart was too muddled to sort through the complex arguments. I attended the meetings and in the end my closest advisors decided the matter for me. The deed was done and a wood box sent to Nubiti at the Temple of Isis. In the box was Ti-Ameny’s headless body and on her arm the gold Isis priestess armband she always wore with pride.
I understand the priestesses spent the night preparing her body as best they could and placed her in a rekhi grave dug at the outskirts of the temple’s burial ground, for without her entire body she could not answer Anubis’ questions and would not be granted the privilege of an Afterlife. We sent her head by armed escort to Dep, where it was impaled on a pole directly in front of Narmer’s statue, his penetrating stare looking down at Ti-Ameny with contempt.
Amka’s argument was that the beheading would show our enemies that we were serious and that I, as King Regent, was not to be taken lightly. Herihor believed it would serve as a lesson to others who were considering aligning themselves against the Royal family. I hope it accomplished its purpose, for Ti-Ameny surely accomplished hers. Her betrayal damaged my body, but its real effect festered deep within my ka. I no longer knew who I could trust.
In two ten-days I called a meeting with Amka and Tepemkau, since Tepemkau was already in Inabu-hedj to train a new group of priests as scribes. They arrived just after I awoke from an afternoon nap.
“How are you feeling today, my dearest Meryt?” Amka asked.
“Better, thanks to yours and Nekau’s ministrations. Not well, but better.”
“The poison took long to act and it will take even longer to cleanse from your system,” Tepemkau ventured. “You must be patient.”
“And I would be more patient if my trusted advisors did not bring me so many problems.” Amka thought me serious. “I am only teasing you, teacher.” He bowed slightly and I could see that age and the many problems he carried on his shoulders continued to take a toll on him. His right hand shook as it gripped his staff.
“In any event, I have called you here to discuss a critical issue with you and that is Nubiti. It weighs greatly on my mind. We must finally resolve it.”
“Resolve it? Meaning what?” Tepemkau asked.
“I need to know what the law allows me to do with her.”
Tepemkau and Amka looked at each other curiously. “My dear,” Amka said slowly, “you are the law. You are the King and may do whatever you feel is in the best interests of ma’at and Kem.”
“What I may do and what is right might be different. What I am asking is for you to research the holy scrolls. You have always told me, dear teacher, that our history still lives, that it can teach us many lessons. I want to know what Narmer, blessed be his name, and his father and grandfather before him did in similar situations, if there were any such situations.”
“Ah, the precedents,” Tepemkau offered.
“Yes, the precedents.” And so Tepemkau left in a few days for Nekhen, where the complete collection of original scrolls was housed. He took with him Amka’s best scribes and legal scholars.
During this period of my recovery, I keenly felt the absence of Zenty. Ever since his birth he lit up the room for me as well as Ra ever could. I wrote to him every other day, but his responses were sporadic and brief. As Herihor explained it, he had placed Zenty with one of his toughest and most experienced field commanders and had sent his unit to the Eastern desert along Wat-Hor, the Way of Horus, our most important trade route to Babylon. Zenty would have little time available to sleep, let alone write for the unit commander was sure to be tough on the future King.
But I was still plagued by my decision to let Zenty go, for I had seen with my own eyes the awfulness of war. I had smelled the stench of the battlefield and still wake to the dreadful screams of dying soldiers. I still live with the nightmare of seeing that enemy warrior’s tortured face as I plunged a knife between his ribs. In the end Amka and Herihor presented a powerful argument that the future leader of Kem needed to prove himself worthy in Horus’ eyes. Military service was crucial for his rule, although serving on the Wat-Hor, they assured me, meant that his worst enemies might be vipers and scorpions. I relented.
Nor was my writing to Zenty easy for me. I would start dictating a letter to a scribe and soon my thoughts would wander to a simpler time when Zenty and I lay sprawled on the floor of his nursery playing a game with his carved wooden soldiers as we waited for his father to return. When I taught him Senet as a child, his cat, Bastet, ruined our first game when she stepped onto the game board and he did not know whether to laugh or cry and just sat alternating between the two, his tiny stomach heaving in and out. In moments like that I could still smell his baby unguents on his scalp or feel his soft child’s side-braid brushing against my chest. Even though he now served in the army, my breasts would sometimes ache with the memory of his suckling.
I remember once, he had just turned 13, and he wandered into my quarters after a morning of reading one of Anhotek’s scrolls and debating its merits with Amka. Zenty still dwelled on the border between childhood and manhood and on this afternoon, tired and hungry, he sat next to me and gently placed his head on my shoulders. How sweet was that moment; how unexpected and therefore even more memorable.
Moments later Anhotek was announced and as he entered my room, Zenty winked at me, although I knew not why.
“You kn
ow, mother, today Amka had me read one of Anhotek’s most important scrolls, or so he says.” Amka immediately stood erect, his hands on his staff.
“Really?” I said playing along. “Well if Amka said it was important, I imagine it was.”
“Except in this case I do think he was testing to see if I could tell the difference between an Anhotek scroll and a forgery.”
“A forgery?” Anhotek asked in amazement. “What are you talking about, Zenty?”
“You know, a scroll written by a lesser being, like a Horus priest, for instance.”
“Need I remind you that Anhotek was a Horus priest?” Amka replied, but I could see that Zenty had already gotten his goat.
“Oh, of course, of course,” Zenty said. “What I meant to say was that this scroll that you had me read was… how can I say this? It was not of the caliber of Anhotek’s usual thought. It was… hmmm… ordinary. Yes, quite ordinary, that’s it.”
“Ordinary, you say?” Amka responded, and I would hardly be accused of exaggerating much when I say steam was about to rise out of poor Amka’s head. “Ordinary! The greatest Horus priest who ever walked the Two Lands, the most brilliant vizier…”
At that Zenty began to laugh heartily, and Amka, knowing full well he had been played, made as if he chased Zenty around the room, about to beat him with his staff. “If I catch you, you…”
Just dictating this recollection, images from Zenty’s childhood played in my heart, and when I came back to the present moment, there were my scribes waiting for my next words.
The only pleasure I could indulge in during my recovery was sleeping with Herihor, although in my state such pleasures did not extend very well to matters sexual. I would sleep restlessly after taking Nekau’s sleep potion, until Herihor slipped between my sheets later in the evening. Then I would sleep deeply and peacefully in his arms until I awoke before Ra’s appearance. To his credit, and my eternal gratitude, Herihor’s sole concern was my recovery, even though sexual enjoyment was infrequent, indeed.
The Dagger of Isis (The First Dynasty Book 2) Page 30
