by Jo Franklin
“Yes, Sire… Thoth.”
“Ride as fast as you can to Karnak. The horse will take you, it knows the way.”
“But surely the men outside won’t attack you. You’re too important.”
Thoth held her to him. “They don’t know who I am. They’ll kill first and ask questions later. Your so-called father, Ptah, is with them.”
“Ptah! Oh, no! He hates me. Give me to him. He’ll leave you alone then. It’s just me he wants.”
“Not any more, Tadinanefer. You’re no longer pure and virginal. You’re mine and he’ll kill anyone who’s touched you, irrespective of rank or title.”
She could feel her heart beating faster as she realised the gravity of the situation. There were perhaps five of them. They were outnumbered.
“They’re on horseback,” he went on. “We have to get them off the horses so we are equal on the ground.”
“How will you do it?”
“We have snakes kept here for various reasons. We’ll send out a couple. They’ll upset the horses and hopefully throw their riders. I’ll get one of the servants to set it up by opening the door and look as if he’s taking rubbish out in a basket, and that’s where the snakes will be. Stay here and don’t go anywhere where you can be seen.”
She watched him go. She didn’t want him to leave her. Thoughts were crowding her head. Ptah had found her. She’d found Thoth. And now snakes were once more being used to help them, she hoped. They must get past Ptah. She couldn’t lose Thoth now.
He quickly returned. She looked at him. His face was hard and distant, ready for the ensuing fight.
He took her hand. When they got to the door the two other guards were ready, and the servant with the basket.
“Just before we get outside,” Thoth said to her, “the snakes will be released. In the commotion you’re to run to the horses and then you must ride as never before. Do you understand, Tadinanefer? Obey me in this.”
“Yes, Sire.”
He gave her the smallest of smiles before nodding at the servant, who opened the door just wide enough to squeeze through with the basket.
After a moment or two they heard the squeal of the horses and the curses of the riders as they thudded to the ground. The servant didn’t return.
They were outside before she realised what was happening. She started to run as she heard the clashing of swords, but she was stopped. To her horror Ptah stood in her way.
“Tadinanefer! I’ve come to take you home, teach you a few lessons!”
She tried to run past him but he grabbed her, twisting her round so her back was against him. His arms went round her neck, throttling her. He started to drag her towards a horse.
“No,” she choked. She could see Thoth and his men fighting. They were holding their own, far more versed in the art of combat than Ptah’s servants.
“Get on the horse!” Ptah shouted.
“No.”
Tadinanefer remembered her dagger. She pulled it out of her belt and with all her might stuck it into one of his arms. Ptah screamed in agony and let go of her.
“You bitch,” he snarled.
Tadinanefer didn’t wait to hear the rest of his curses. She leapt onto the horse and headed straight for Thoth.
“Thoth, Thoth,” she screamed. “Get on!”
Thoth was behind her in two seconds.
“Come on!” he yelled at his men.
Ptah’s men, hearing his name, hesitated.
“That’s Thoth!” she heard one of them say loudly. “Ptah didn’t tell us we’d be fighting someone as powerful as him. We won’t fight him.”
They drew back, Ptah swearing at them. Thoth’s men left the affray and leapt onto the other horses.
As they raced through the awakening countryside Tadinanefer could feel the closeness of Thoth’s body as he held one arm round her, making sure she wouldn’t fall. She saw Ptah’s blood on her dress, and felt devastated. She’d injured someone who’d been like a father, but who’d changed so much. He was like a mad dog. She too had changed. She now had to protect Thoth above everything else. She would never let anyone hurt him. She’d die first.
*
They seemed to ride for ages. She needed the support from Thoth’s arm by the time they approached Karnak. She was totally exhausted from the night of lovemaking, the fight and the pounding of the horse.
Priests emerged quickly from the temples.
“Sire, what has happened?” they asked in astonishment when they saw the dishevelled riders.
“A fight. No one is hurt but the lady is exhausted.” Thoth leapt off the horse and pulled Tadinanefer into his arms. “You must care for her. She has become very special to me. Take her into your temples. She is the White Woman from afar, upon whom Wadjet has smiled. She must be cleansed, fed and clothed.”
“Please don’t go,” she murmured. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“You’ll stay here,” Thoth commanded gently. “You really will be safe here. This time you have come to the holiest of holy places and not a place of ill-repute. I have things to do. I need to secure a place for you with me, where we can be together. I promise I’ll be back very soon.”
She clung to him. He held her very close, and then pushed her reluctantly into the arms of a priest.
“I’ll be back,” he promised once more, as he and his men rode off.
As they went into Karnak, Tadinanefer was awed by the vastness of the complex. In the Hall of many columns she was handed to female servants, who took her far into the deepest recesses of the temples. After she was washed and dressed in clean clothes she realised how very tired she felt. She ate a little, then she fell asleep, dreaming of Thoth and their night of love.
*
When she awoke it was late in the day. Thoth hadn’t returned. The servants couldn’t answer any questions she put to them, either not knowing what was happening, or they wouldn’t say.
She waited.
*
He came at dusk. As he walked through the door he looked like an Egyptian god. He was different. He wore a magnificent gold necklace which hung down onto his muscular chest. His headdress was covered in precious stones which glistened in the pale light. His jewelled sandals showed just beneath his long gold skirt. His muscular arms were accentuated by wide gold bands worn just above the elbow. His dark eyes stared hungrily at her, but there was no hint of a smile as he stood before her, a symbol of total power.
She got up and immediately dropped to her knees. She’d done something wrong. She drew her veil over her head and clasped her hands together.
“You disobeyed me, Tadinanefer,” he said gently. “After you knifed Ptah you should have run. That was my instruction to you. By coming after me with the horse you could have been injured. That was not my plan. In the ways of fighting you must, in future, obey me.”
She lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry, Sire. I couldn’t leave you. I love you too much.”
Thoth sighed.
“Are all you white women like warriors?”
“They said my mother fought alongside my father if she had to.”
“But you’re not to fight, Tadinanefer. You’re not versed in the ways of it. You only fight to defend yourself, not to defend others. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sire.” Oh, Thoth, she thought to herself, I’d do it again and again. I’d have to help you, however cross you might be with me.
“Good.” He gently pulled her to her feet and held her at arm’s length.
“You are the most exquisite woman,” he went on. “I shall always remember how you look at this moment with your beautiful brown hair,” he ran his fingers through it, “and the loveliness of your face, completely fresh and unpainted. I love your white breasts, and your white body, so different to anything I’ve ever seen. When I see you unclothed, it’s as if you have come from beneath the earth to surface in my arms like a naked goddess. I thank the Gods for sending you to me. I do love you, Tadinanefer, and I’ll always protect you
.”
She stood, not moving. She dare not touch him. She knew her intense feeling for him would erupt in a second and she wouldn’t be able to control herself. In turn she studied him. She guessed he was probably a bit older than she was – but much more worldly-wise. She guessed he had wives and concubines, but the way he looked at her at that moment made her feel like the only woman in his life. Once again she felt the intense sexual desire between them – the chemistry about to explode if not controlled. Her innocence bowed to his experience. She trembled. The love between them was timeless.
“I want to walk with you,” he said, taking her hand. “I want to show you the sacred lake and how tranquil it can be in the moonlight. I want to talk to you and smile with you, and then I want to make love to you. Come, Tadinanefer. Let’s enjoy our moment together.”
*
Willingly, she strolled with him through the buildings, some of them quite ancient, amazed at what she saw. Finally the water came into view.
“They hold many important ceremonies here,” he murmured. “If you have sinned, you could be pardoned if you were immersed in the water. That is really only for the highest of our people.” He paused. “I know you were perfectly innocent in the brothel. Last night proved that to me. However, tell me about the men you met there.”
“There were only two, Thoth. The first one wasn’t at all interested in me sexually. He merely wanted to look at my body and take a piece of my hair. The second as you know was Ammon, whom you sent, and he didn’t touch me.”
Thoth smiled. “I sent the first man to you, also,” he confessed. “He isn’t interested in women at all – much prefers men. So I knew you were safe from any advances from him. You may look surprised, Tadinanefer, but I wanted to find out if you were really what they said, whether you were white or just painted. That’s why he prodded you and cut off a lock of your hair, which I asked him to do. That piece of hair is now kept close to me in a sacred place. Then I sent Ammon, who is my best fighting man. I knew he would get you out. He told me how you helped him by using a snake to kill one of the guards.”
Tadinanefer was silent.
“Also I knew the beggar I saw in the street wasn’t as he should be. I immediately sensed it was a woman, I don’t know how. The person had the appearance of a down-and-out and yet there was something about the way he held his body, proud and erect, not bent and grovelling in the dust as a tramp would. And his eyes were young and bright, not diseased and bloodshot. I nearly came back to disrobe you to see what was under all those rags. It’s a great pity I didn’t. Never mind. I finally found out where the old tramp had gone, and it was reported back to me that he was no tramp but the white woman, adopted daughter of Ptah.” Again he smiled.
“That was the first time I saw you, Thoth. Oh, I wanted to hold you so much.”
“Did you? You should have called out to me. We could have saved you your dreadful ordeal in the brothel if you had.”
He too was suddenly quiet, as if he was trying to find words to tell her something.
“You had a friend at the brothel.”
“Eboni. Yes! Oh, Sire, I’d be so grateful if you could rescue her for me. She doesn’t deserve to be there. We were together and we made each other laugh.”
He held her close, stroking her cheek. “I’m sorry, Tadinanefer… I have bad news… I don’t know how to tell you this,” he paused. “But Eboni is dead. One of the guards killed her.”
Tadinanefer stared disbelievingly at him. “Eboni – no! She can’t be. I saw her only two days ago. She can’t be dead.” She froze, in total shock.
Eboni’s face seemed to smile at her from the water. “How? Why?” she uttered, when she could speak.
“It was a reprisal. The woman Ammon killed was having an affair with one of the guards. Because you escaped with Ammon’s help the guard took his revenge out on your friend, Eboni.”
“So Eboni was murdered because she was my friend?”
“I’m sorry,” Thoth said once more. “If it’s any consolation, Nephthys then had the guard killed, because he’d destroyed a lucrative asset of hers.”
“Oh, my poor Eboni.” The tears began to flow. Thoth kept wiping them with his hand.
“She would have had the most dreadful life,” he murmured, comforting her. “It would have been difficult to get her out of there after you escaped. Those girls suffer a lot at the hands of their clients.”
He paused, stroking her. “I’ll erase all bad memories for you, Tadinanefer. When we make love the hurt will disappear, and when we emerge from our passion the hurt will be softened. We’ll go back to our room, and I’ll wipe the nastiness of the world from your mind.”
As they walked back she clung tightly to Thoth. She could feel the warmth of his body, and how much alive he was. How could it be that Eboni was no longer here on earth with her? She’d been so vital and young, and now she was gone.
*
“I have a gift for you,” Thoth said when they got back. “It’s a shawl, made of the finest material and edged with a pattern of tiny snakes intertwined with each other. It will protect you. It came from the same place as your ring – from the Temple of the Snake Goddess.” He put it over her head and wrapped it round her neck. “You should cover your head at Karnak, Tadinanefer, because it is a holy place and we are all servants of the Gods.”
“Yes, Sire.”
He uncovered her head and put the shawl on a chair. He smiled at her making her tremble. She wanted him so much and still he seemed so proud and regal.
He pushed her shift up from her arms and over her head. It slipped to the floor. His eyes were deep and sexy.
“You’re like a figure adorning a temple, and yet when I touch you I know you’re real. I’ll have you dressed in jewels and the finest clothes, but to me they will always be transparent and I’ll see you just as you are now. I’ll show you things, and you’ll see them as I see them. I’ll teach you, and your mind will be my mind. You’ll become a part of me, an extension of my soul.”
He started to disrobe. He handed her his gold necklace, his precious headdress, the gold from his arms, his gold skirt and his sandals; she gazed in awe at them.
“What I have is yours,” he murmured. “And what you have is mine. All of your body and beauty is mine forever.” He took the clothes and jewels from her and threw them down.
“These are nothing,” he said, as his passion erupted. He caressed her face, her body, her legs. She responded fervently, kissing his face, his lips. He took her wrists and gently wrapped her arms behind her, forcing her to him, and pushing his muscular legs between hers. He drew her down to the floor and lay on top of her, and made love in a very experienced and assertive way; it gave her exquisite pleasure. Tadinanefer realised she needn’t have worried that he no longer wanted her, and she could see how great his desire was for her.
*
She heard Thoth go out to pray the next morning. But later he returned with a face like thunder.
“What is it?” she asked apprehensively.
He took her hand. “I won’t allow them to do it,” he stormed.
“Who? What?”
“The priests. They want you to be cleansed in the holy water.”
“But I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“That’s exactly what I told them, and no one takes my woman and tells me what to do. Not even the high priests.”
“Is it because I was in a brothel and tainted by the atmosphere?”
“You came out of there as virginal as you went in.”
“Yes, but what about Eboni? That was partly my fault. If I hadn’t escaped maybe she wouldn’t have been killed?”
“If that’s so then her blood is on my hands, not yours. I had you rescued, you didn’t ask for it. Even so, these things happen. The person to blame for Eboni’s death is the guard who killed her, and he’s paid the price. No! I won’t allow you to be subjected to a cleansing. You’re mine and they’ll do as I tell them.”
“Wait,�
�� she said gently. “They are your priests. They’re the priests to the royal family. Perhaps it would be better to do this. You said it’s only immersion in the water. I’ve been under water before, when I was running from Ptah. I hid under a boat in the murky waters of the Nile, with my head under for quite a while. Surely it wouldn’t be worse than that and it would prove I’m not afraid to show I’m innocent.”
Thoth thought for a moment. She could see he clearly didn’t want it.
“Think of your standing with your cousin,” she reasoned. “You’ve taken a white woman who he might think is a prostitute, which may not please him. This way, I can prove my worth to him, and he might approve of me. Let me do it, Thoth, I beg you.” By this time she was on her knees.
“Very well,” he said at last, reluctantly. “But they tell me the water is very cold and you must take a deep breath just before they push you under.” He fingered his dagger. “If they hurt you, I don’t care who they are, they’ll answer to me.”
“They won’t hurt me.”
*
The priests were waiting by the sacred water as they approached, hand in hand. Tadinanefer had been dressed by the servants in a plain white shift, with her hair tied back from her face. She was scared, but tried not to show it. She didn’t like water, she didn’t like the way it stung her eyes and filled her ears.
Thoth stood aside as three of the priests led her to the edge of the lake and tied her hands behind her. They walked her in until they were up to their waists, then turned her to face the shore. She could see Thoth, and took courage from him.
The priests made her wait. The water was cold, as Thoth said it would be, icy cold. All the priests started to chant a cleansing prayer. Then suddenly, without warning, they pushed her down – so quickly she hardly had time to take breath.
Strange thoughts went through her head. She could think of nothing except for the strange distorted sights. The priests’ legs swam before her as their skirts were lifted by the swishing of the water. She mustn’t take breath and yet her lungs were bursting. She must concentrate on something incongruous, like the fact that they wore little under their skirts. Not many people could know that, and certainly not a woman. Still they held her, pushing her further and further down. She wasn’t going to make it. Once again death was imminent.
