‘No, no, listen.’ He held a hand up. ‘I loved Sobeck, Mahu.’
There was something in his voice, the direct gaze — I knew he wasn’t lying. On the one hand he was frightened but, on the other, my natural curiosity had also been stirred.
‘Are you going to repeat the lie?’ I swallowed hard. ‘Are you going to repeat the lie that you didn’t betray them?’
‘I didn’t.’ He waded through the water. ‘Mahu, this is freezing. You don’t have to stick my head beneath the surface. I’ll tell you what you want to know.’
I grabbed him by the arm and we climbed out of the pool. Picking up his drenched wig and necklace, I thrust them into his hands.
‘I’ll let you change.’
‘I’m not going back there.’ Maya wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. ‘I don’t like the way Horemheb and Rameses are staring at me, and I can’t stand the smell of that girl.’
I began to laugh.
‘Do I look so pathetic, Mahu?’ He turned. ‘Your knife is somewhere in the dark, isn’t it? Or you can take me back to the pool.’ He drew himself up. ‘Yes, you have got strong arms and wrists. You’ve also got the brain of a baboon. I never betrayed Sobeck, can’t you see that?’ He walked forward glimpsing the uncertainty in my face. ‘You stupid bastard!’ His beringed hand slapped my face. I didn’t flinch or retaliate.
‘You speak with true voice, Maya.’
I went and sat on the tiled edge of the pool.
‘If I had betrayed Sobeck,’ Maya followed me, clutching his robe, teeth chattering, ‘if I had betrayed Sobeck they would have asked me how I knew. We would all have been arrested. Have you got that through your thick skull?’
‘But you were a spy,’ I countered, ‘in the Kap. You discovered that I visited the Veiled One. You knew I had been entertained by him.’
‘What?’ Maya drew back. ‘Oh yes, I knew there was something between you and that grotesque. Don’t get angry with me, Mahu, that’s what he is. That’s why we had this party, isn’t it? So you could bully me? So he can show his face off and pretend he’s not a recluse? I never told anyone anything about you, Mahu. Who cares anyway?’
‘So the spy must be someone else?’ I countered. Try as I might, I couldn’t keep the stammer out of my voice.
‘Is that true, Mahu? Who will you have out next? Try and push Horemheb’s head beneath the water. He’ll cut your balls off. Or if he doesn’t, his trained viper will. Can’t you see, nobody in the Kap would tell the Divine One about Sobeck! I work in the House of Secrets, where it has been known for a messenger to be killed for the message he carries.’
I stared in disbelief. ‘Then who was it? They even knew exactly where Sobeck and the girl lay, the very part of the grove. Perhaps Weni was the spy?’
‘Weni?’ Maya started to laugh. ‘He didn’t know his crotch from his arse! Oh, in the early days he was good but in the end he couldn’t roll out of bed without a beer jug being thrust under his nose. Sobeck told me about the way you visited the pool. Do you think you know everything, Baboon? We all know why Weni died. He didn’t stumble or fall. He made fun of that grotesque and paid with his life.’ Maya clambered to his feet and, gathering as much of his dignity as he could, walked down the path toward the postern gate. He paused, head down and even from where I sat in the poor light I could tell he was crying. He turned and came back. This time the tears were more dignified.
‘Shall I tell you why I came here tonight? Do you think I wanted to be here? I came to see you, you stupid Baboon! We shared something in common — Sobeck. He liked you, even though he claimed you had no soul. I told him he was wrong, but in the end he was proved right. I came because I thought you might be my friend. I also came to thank you. Oh, the story is well-known. How you knelt at the feet of the Veiled One and begged for Sobeck’s life. You stupid, monkey-faced bastard,’ he spat out. ‘I came to thank you!’ He turned and walked away.
‘Maya!’
I hurried after him. He paused but didn’t look round.
‘Maya, I was raised by a witch. I had no friends. I was brought to the Kap because my aunt couldn’t stand me. You and the rest poked and bullied me. True, I gave as good as I got, but Sobeck was different. He was betrayed — don’t doubt that. The lovers were caught red-handed going back to the palace. The guards knew where they met.’
‘Oh, by the way,’ Maya interrupted, speaking over his shoulder, ‘you mentioned Weni. He was dead long before Sobeck and his playmate used to meet in the grove.’
‘I am sorry, Maya. For the first time in my life, I am apologising. I was wrong.’
I thought he’d ignore me but he sighed, turned round and came back, hand extended.
‘Mahu.’
I clasped his hand.
‘Mahu, I am still in your debt. I couldn’t believe what I heard, that you pleaded for Sobeck’s life. I couldn’t do that nor could the rest. I won’t forget that. I’ll never be your friend but I will be your ally. Moreover, if you are looking for a spy then don’t look amongst the children of the Kap.’ He shook his wet robes. ‘Give my apologies to your master and the rest. Tell them I feel slightly sick and wish to go home.’
He plodded away. I went through a side door up to my own chamber. My robe was dishevelled, the bracelet I had worn was now in the pool. I remembered the dagger and went down into the darkness to recover it.
‘Is everything all right?’
I whirled round.
‘Are you well, Mahu?’
Imri, sword drawn, stood under the outstretched branches of a sycamore tree.
‘I’m well,’ I called back. ‘I shall be with you shortly.’
I returned to my chamber, stripped myself naked and cleaned myself with a cloth. I refused to wear a wig for such occasions. I dried my hair cropped close to my head, cleaned my face, dabbing fresh black kohl under my eyes, and put a pair of sandals on my feet to hide the dirt between my toes. I fumbled in my jewellery box to replace the bracelet.
When I rejoined the feast, nobody commented on how long I had been away or the whereabouts of Maya. Huy was now busy with a girl. Horemheb and Rameses had already exchanged their partners. The Veiled One was sipping at his cup. By the empty cushions on his left, and the look on his face, his brother had left, not on the best of terms. I eased myself onto the cushions, picked up a piece of grilled chicken and chewed it carefully.
‘Maya won’t be returning?’ the Veiled One whispered.
‘No.’ I raised my cup to hide my face. ‘Maya is an ally, not a spy.’ The Veiled One stiffened.
I glanced quickly around. The soft plucking of the strings of the musicians and the noisy merriment hid our conversation.
‘When we first met, Master, in the grove, whom did you tell?’
‘Why, Mahu, no one except my mother. From that day you were marked.’
‘Yet Hotep knew. He taunted me with the knowledge.’
The Veiled One drank greedily from his cup; his sallow face became flushed. ‘Think, Mahu,’ he urged.
I closed my eyes. I recalled sitting in the glade, the journey to the house, poor Sobeck slipping through the trees, hand in hand with his illicit love. Both the place where I had first met the Veiled One and the olive grove lay between the Silent Pavilion and the House of Residence. My mind teemed. The Great Queen Tiye would never betray her son. Was this some game by my own master — some devious ploy? But how had he learned about Sobeck? And I recalled his outrage, not because one of his father’s concubines had betrayed him, but at the insult offered to the majesty of his office. Moreover, Sobeck’s misalliance had taken place for a considerable period of time before the army marched into Kush. So was it a matter of betrayal? Perhaps Sobeck had been glimpsed and followed — but by whom? I recalled the basket of figs, the vipers lurking there, the poisoned jar of wine and that murderous assault down near the riverside.
‘Master?’ I dipped my finger into the wine and drew the first letter. ‘I think I know the name of the spy.’