by Overton, Max
We reached the caravan road as the moon started its downward slide toward the west. For a moment I was unaware of the difference but I found I was walking on packed gravel and sand, no longer the shifting sands of the desert. I stopped and looked to left and right at a barely discernible ribbon of road that stretched out into the night.
"This is it?" I asked, disappointment in my voice.
Khu nodded and pointed. "South. Come on."
I was tired and my feet were sore, my calf muscles aching, but I followed, unwilling to show myself as a weak pampered girl. Khu offered to carry my bundle as well as his but I refused, determined to show him I was strong. Later, I wished I had let him relieve me of my burden, particularly as my hobbling pace became slower and slower, and more and more often he had to stop and wait for me to catch up. Dawn came, pink light leaking over the horizon, the moon paling in the west.
"We can't be far," Khu said, shading his eyes, staring along the road. "We have been slower than I hoped but we should still be close." I silently blessed him for saying 'we' instead of blaming me for our slow pace. We trudged on, weary but now slightly afraid as the sun rose swiftly, dispelling the desert night chill. Back in Akhet-Aten I would just be breakfasting, eating cool fruit and bread on a shady verandah, but here I had a swallow of tepid water, the sun already rippling the air around us. The sand beneath my feet started heating and I knew I would soon be missing my sandals.
At last, just as I was starting to panic, my feet feeling as if they were blistering, we saw the rounded boulders of the fort ahead of us. I was all for rushing forward, wanting to get into the meager shade and replenish my water, but Khu held me back.
"We don't know who might be there. Other people use this road beside traders. There might be soldiers, or even worse, bandits." He advanced slowly; scanning the road ahead and the boulders for movement, for any sign of life, but saw nothing. He beckoned me and I joined him, limping and sore.
The rock fort was set back from the road about fifty paces and an old well, stone lined and fitted with a wooden cover, sat in a slight depression near the boulders, its low surrounding wall almost topped by the drifting sand. Khu lifted the lid and dropped a pebble in, listening for the delayed but satisfactory plunk as it fell into deep water, the sound echoing up the hollow column of the well. The air in the shaft was cool and moist and very inviting.
"How do we get it?"
"There must be a rope and bucket somewhere," Khu replied. He wandered off to the rock shelters and presently came back with a small bucket and a rope coiled over his arm.
The water was sweet and cold and tasted like a fine wine after the tepid liquid in our water jars. We emptied them out and, after we drank our fill and washed the dust off our bodies, refilled them. I soaked my headdress and put it on. It cooled my head delightfully.
Khu looked around at the desert and along the empty road in both directions. "We must wait here for a caravan."
"But what if one doesn't turn up?" I asked, dismayed at the prospect of just sitting around doing nothing. Having started for Waset I wanted to continue. "Can't we walk?" I asked, forgetting the blistering sand and my lack of footwear.
"I don't know where the next water is," Khu explained, shaking his head. "It's easy to die out here. No, we wait for a caravan." He led the way back to the shifting shade of the rock fort and stretched out where he could watch the road. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you at noon."
I knew I was too excited to sleep despite walking all night but to please him I lay down in the shade and closed my eyes...and woke with the sun in my eyes. "Is it noon already?" I asked, squinting against the glare.
"Mid-afternoon. I didn't have the heart to wake you. You were snoring like a pig."
"I was not." I worked my mouth, trying to get the saliva to flow. I swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and looked at my companion as he sat there in the shade, yawning. "Have you slept?"
"No. If you are up to keeping watch, I'll get some sleep."
"Of course I am, but why do we have to watch?" I said, matching his yawns. "Won't a caravan make enough noise to wake us?"
"Caravans aren't the only people in the desert." Khu yawned again and rolled over, presenting his back to me. "What if your uncle Ay found out you were going to Waset an' sen' sol'ers affer 'ou?" His voice drifted and slurred. "Or bandiss?"
"What was that?"
He didn't answer, his breathing deepening and slowing. After a while Khu started snoring and I turned my attention to the desert and the deserted track. The sandy desert is one of the most boring places I have been, though at the risk of getting ahead of myself I must say I found plenty of interesting things there later in life. At the time, I found the lack of anything happening sent me to sleep. After drifting off and jerking awake a few times I got up and wandered around, exploring the rock fort. Aside from a scorpion under a rock and a slight shifting of the sand near another, there was no sign of life. The rudimentary shelters under the boulders were primitive and dirty and showed signs of repeated occupation. I supposed the caravan traders slept the night here sometimes. A pile of firewood occupied one shelter. I wondered at someone leaving precious fuel behind, but thought that caravans might leave supplies behind for other travelers on the road.
There was one shelter that was more interesting. Formed from a jumble of boulders with another making a curved roof, a thin angled crevice receded into shadows. I peered inside and taking a stick I found near the stone-circled ashes in the open area between the boulders, I poked into the darkness in case there was a snake. Nothing moved or made a sound so I went in. It was a tight squeeze but I am a slim girl so I managed it. I doubted that Khu could enter though. All I could see was a dimly lit sand floor and the bright slash of light in the entry passage. I came out and wandered off, paying it no further attention.
Nothing else in the rock fort interested me so I went back to where Khu lay in the shade, snoring. I grinned and thought up a couple of choice descriptions of his noise to tell him when he woke. The afternoon passed very slowly and I looked at Khu impatiently, wanting him to wake up. I tossed a small pebble at him, hitting him on his hip, but he just grunted and turned over. I felt guilty so I did not throw another. Instead I sat facing the road north with my handful of pebbles and made a competition of throwing the stones at a stick lying in the sand. I got rather good at it. I found my natural inclination was to throw from the shoulder, using my whole arm and swinging my body, usually missing my target by several paces. Then I remembered how I'd seen Smenkhkare throwing years before, using a flick of the wrist. I tried it, and with practice, got better. After a while I was hitting my target two times out of five.
So engrossed was I with my game that I did not notice the riders until they were quite close. Already I could make out details of the clothing of some dozen horsemen as they moved at a slow walk from the north, the late sun throwing long shadows over the sand. The men appeared dirty and unkempt, and I remember thinking that they must have had a long journey. Then I wondered where their trade goods were. There were no pack animals, just the horses they rode. I felt unease grip me and I stood to get a better look. I suppose the movement caught the eye for one of them yelled and pointed.
I dropped and ran over to Khu, shaking him awake. "Riders," I yelled. "Coming this way."
He leapt to his feet and ran out into the open, took one look at the horsemen spurring toward us and pushed me back. "Run!" He whirled to face the men as they came through the gaps between the boulders, only paces away.
I hesitated, then as he yelled again for me to run, fear seized me and I raced back to our little rock shelter. I grabbed my meager belongings, saw Khu's old bronze dagger and snatched it up too and ran for the cover of the rocks. Looking back, I saw Khu fall beneath a rider as they urged their horses past, toward me. I dropped my bundle but still gripping the dagger ran between the boulders, the rock crevice I had found earlier beckoning me.
A rider rode past me, the hooves of his horse throwing
sand up in my face. With a yell, he jumped from his mount and lunged for me. I dodged and he slipped and fell. The dark crevice loomed ahead and I threw myself at it, feeling the man's hand flick my kilt as I scrambled in, squeezing past the smooth stone surfaces. The man yelled and tried to follow, his hand scrabbling and clawing after me. I slashed with the dagger and he withdrew cursing.
All I could see now was the bright splash of light from the crevice entrance. The sounds from outside were muffled but I could hear voices. Nobody came near me for many minutes, then I heard the sound of the well cover scraping back and the splash of the bucket. I suddenly realized I was thirsty and looked for my water jar before remembering I'd dropped it along with everything else I owned. All I had now was the kilt I wore and Khu's dagger.
Remembering Khu's dagger made me aware that he had his problems too. Or was he past his? I'd seen him fall beneath the horse. Did this mean he was dead? I cried at the thought but was confused about whether I cried for him being dead or for me being alone.
Alone? There were a dozen men out there. Bandits probably, certainly not people I could trust. I was young and fairly trusting but I'd overheard stories of what lawless men did--my mind shied away from the thought. Instead, I forced myself to think about my present situation. They couldn't reach me in here and even if one of them was small enough to wriggle in after me, I could stab him with my dagger. On the other hand, there was only one way out. Maybe I could sneak out after dark? Maybe they'd all be asleep and I could escape? To where? My mind latched onto all sorts of romantic and daring possibilities--stealing a horse and riding to Waset; finding soldiers and leading them back here.
Then reality came crashing back. I was a twelve year old girl, well, almost thirteen, but still young and almost totally without experience of life outside the palace. I had no water, no food, I didn't know how to ride a horse and I'd be willing to bet there would always be a guard awake and alert. After all, they knew I was here and sooner or later...
A shadow fell over the remnants of daylight entering my little refuge. "Come out, girl." A pause, then the voice called again, a touch of amusement in the tone. "You'll have to come out sooner or later. You must be getting thirsty."
I didn't reply, just crawled deeper into the shadows. I could hear low voices but not what was being said. The shadow came again and a grimy, bearded face peered in, trying to see me.
"Don't make me come in there and get you, girl. If you come out you won't be harmed." Someone laughed behind him and he turned; anger in his voice. "Keep quiet you motherless turds." Then back to me again. "Come on girl. We have a fire against the cold, we have food and drink and warm blankets. It gets cold at night. I won't let them touch you."
His eyes must have grown accustomed to the darkness because he suddenly reached out and grabbed my foot. I screamed and slashed with my dagger. He released me with a curse and fell back. The voices came again, my attacker louder and more vocal though I found I could not make out the words. I heard a command, then silence.
The shadow again, though the light behind him had lessened. "Last chance, girl, or we kill your man."
My heart felt as if it cramped in my chest. "How...how do I know he's alive? I s... saw him fall."
"Scarab." It was Khu, without a doubt. "Scarab, stay there, don't ..." A blow and silence.
"He's still alive, Scarab," said the voice. "For now. But if you don't come out I'm going to start cutting him. He'll be a long time dying and you'll have to listen to him screaming."
My mind blanked out and my vision blurred. I felt warm liquid on my leg and knew I was in the grip of panic. I leaned back against the rock and struggled for breath.
"Have it your own way," the voice said. "Strip him boys. Time for a little fun."
"No. W... wait." I fought to calm myself, knowing there was no way out. I could stay holed up in my cave, eventually dying of thirst and heat, but then Khu would die, painfully. Or I could come out--but then what? "You...you promise you won't hurt him...us...if I come out?"
The man laughed. "On my word of honour, girl."
"You'll let us go?"
"Have I not said so?"
I thought about it again but nothing new occurred to me. I had to come out and trust this man. "Stay back, then. I...I will come out." The shadow backed away. I put the dagger out of sight in the back of the cave and edged out into the dusk where I stood alone in the middle of a circle of leering men.
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Chapter Thirty-Three
"She's gone, I tell you."
Ay stood in Nefertiti's chambers and stared at his daughter as she paced like one of the lions in the cages in the Waset palace gardens. "And why should this concern me?"
"Is it not obvious? She knows."
Ay turned and went back out through the antechamber and looked into the corridor. He returned and closed the great cedar wood doors. He did the same with the door to the queen's bedchamber, before crossing to the window and looking out. Satisfied, he confronted his daughter.
"How could she know? Have you told anyone?"
"Of course not, father. Have you? What plans have you been making? Has one of your conspirators talked?"
Ay shook his head. "Only I know the reason behind anything I have set up. It will go as smoothly as I have planned if you don't lose your nerve. Besides, there is no reason to suppose her disappearance is connected."
"Then why has she gone?"
"At the moment we do not even know she has. Tell me what you know, from the beginning."
Nefertiti took several deep breaths, calming herself. She crossed to the window and looked toward the river, staring into the distance. "The maids went to rouse her this morning, to bathe and dress her. She wasn't there." She held up a hand as if to forestall comment though Ay had not stirred or even drawn breath to speak. "She is a young woman, a girl still, and nobody took much notice. She was off somewhere, playing, or with the other princesses. But she did not turn up for the noon meal, nor had Ankhese or Nefer seen her. The overseer of the keepers of the jewelry came to see me when it was discovered Beketaten's jewelry was missing."
"So she's wearing her jewelry."
"A man's comment," Nefertiti muttered under her breath. "Would she wear three necklaces? And a dozen bracelets? The colours clash too."
"Very well, I will accept what you say about the necklaces. Go on."
"She left all her clothes behind, except a blue wool cloak she had requested the previous day."
"Curious. Still, what makes you think she knows something?"
"The night before last the king goes insane, I walk out and we make plans to remove him. The next night Beketaten disappears, apparently wearing nothing but her jewelry and a blue wool cloak. You do not think this is even a tiny bit suspicious?" Nefertiti glared at her father.
"I think your concerns are premature. Still, if it will ease your mind, I will make a search for her."
Ay left the North Palace troubled. He did not like coincidences and this business with Beketaten was too much of a coincidence for comfort. Still, even if she had heard something, what could she do? Who could she tell? He crossed the road and sat down on a stone bench inside one of the city's parks determined to think the problem through before acting.
There are two possibilities . Either she heard nothing or she heard something. If she heard nothing then there is a simple explanation for her absence. She has gone shopping or is on some other frivolous female errand. One of those fool maids miscounted her clothes and she is not wandering the streets naked after all .
But what if she did overhear us--never mind how? Who would I tell if I was her? The king? She is his sister, after all. He may listen. Who else ? Ay racked his brains, thinking of all the senior court officials and who might be powerful enough to move against the Grand Tjaty. He couldn't think of anyone. Who outside the court then? If they were in Akhet-Aten ?
Paatenemheb and Smenkhkare. But the general is off somewhere in t
he north, who knows where? Smenkhkare is in Waset--maybe...but how does she get there ? Only two ways, overland or by boat. Overland she needs a horse or a caravan--check if there have been any horse thefts, or caravans leaving since yesterday. Boats? What has left for Waset in the last day ?
Ay sat back on the bench and nodded. The other thing I have to decide is--do I bother? She cannot possibly get to Waset and tell her brother, then have anyone here to stop me in less than a month. She cannot stop me, so why should I care ? He scowled. Because the little bitch thinks she can stop me. Well, I'll find her and she can try telling her brother from the underworld .
He got up and hurried back down to the main palace, where he rounded up men dedicated to his service, giving them instructions. "You have until sunset. No later. I want something definite from each one of you, now move."
All except one returned by the appointed hour and reported, quietly entering the Tjaty's private chambers and leaving again by a side door.
"There have been no horse thefts in the city, nor any sold to a girl."
"Nobody in the city has seen her."
"A man at the wharves may have seen her yesterday but the girl was wearing a servant's kilt."
"A barge left for Waset yesterday afternoon."
"No caravans have arrived or left the city."
"A rowing boat was stolen last night."
Ay sent for Mahu, the chief of the Medjay. "The princess Beketaten has robbed the queen of a costly necklace and fled the city. I know, it is hard to believe, but you must find her, and quickly. And quietly too, use only trusted men. She has either stowed away, or maybe paid for passage, on the barge that left for Waset yesterday; or else she stole a rowing boat and may be headed either up or down the river." Ay got up and came around his desk. Taking Mahu by the shoulder he leaned close, talking quietly and confidentially. "Mahu, treat her with care when you find her and let her talk to no-one. In fact, it would be best if you had her gagged immediately you lay hands on her." He sighed and sat down on the edge of his desk. "It pains me to say so, but she made a threat against the queen's honour and threatened to go to the king unless she was paid off. I don't know what she might say, how she might blacken the queen's name if she was given the opportunity to talk."
