(Spell 90: The Book of the Dead)
Chapter 15
I sat back on my heels and stared at Akhenaten. He was enthroned in the centre of the garden, Nefertiti on his right, Ay on his left. Nakhtimin’s guards kept all approaches secure. Akhenaten’s twin daughters played at his feet, their younger sisters were sleeping in the nursery. The girls looked like little worms, heads shaven, bodies naked except for jewelled anklets. They sat facing each other, hands clapping as they cooed and cried.
‘O King,’ I intoned, continuing the formal protocol. ‘Mighty in waking, great in sleeping, for whom sweetness is sweet. Rouse yourself, O King.’
I had asked for this formal audience and invoked the usual liturgical rite by intoning a hymn to the power of the King. Only by doing this did I convey the seriousness of the situation and the dangers which confronted us. I wouldn’t dare raise such matters in the Royal Circle where the advice of friends and allies would be listened to most carefully by sworn enemies and foes.
Akhenaten sat rigid, staring at me; for a moment, fear flared in his eyes. Nefertiti, her hair hanging undressed down to her shoulders, had also shooed away her maids. They had been squatting around her discussing the different perfumes and creams: how terebinth gum, mixed with moringa oil and nutmeg, removed wrinkles, whilst the juice of lotus, pink lily, papyrus and isis, with a dash of myrrh and frankincense, provided the most fragrant perfume. They had been laughing at how a concentration of cow’s blood, gazelle horn and putrefying ass’s liver might halt greying. Akhenaten and Ay had been standing near a Pool of Purity deep in discussion. My entrance had ended all that.
I had knelt on the cushions, pressed my forehead against the ground as Akhenaten returned to his thronelike chair. Nefertiti and Ay had joined him whilst the servants were dismissed. Now all was quiet, the silence broken only by the chatter of the children. Ay sat, agitated, plucking at his lower lip, head slightly turned as if fearful of what I was going to say. I told them all everything, though Sobeck’s name was never mentioned. I talked directly and quickly. Nefertiti hid her mouth behind her hand: Ay’s fingers went to his face. Akhenaten went ashen, eyes blazing with fury. Furrows appeared round his eyes and mouth, a nest of wrinkles, and a vein high in his head bulged and pulsed. When I had finished, he breathed out noisily.
‘Do you not nose the ground before the Lord of the Two Lands, before the living image of the One!’
Down I went, back bent, forehead flat against the ground. Akhenaten rose to his feet, almost pushing his children aside. He walked over to me and I could see his sandals, thonged with gold and silver; an anklet round his left ankle depicted the Sun Disc. He walked past, came back and kicked me viciously in the ribs. I rolled on my side, hand going for one of my daggers. Akhenaten kicked me again, face mottled, froth bubbling at his lips. His eyes seemed like glowing coals. He stood at a half-crouch, hands hanging down, his breathing laboured. He’d wrenched off his head-dress and his robe hung askew. I remember his loincloth being stained at the front, the vein streaks high in his legs. The pain in my stomach and side were intense. For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe; bile gathered at the back of my throat.
‘I did better than anyone!’ I shouted back, tearing the collar of office from my neck and throwing it at his feet. ‘I am not your dog! Go, ask your ministers why they didn’t know! Where was Ay? Where?’ I scrambled to my knees and pulled myself up, holding my bruised side. ‘Get yourself another dog, Pharaoh. Cut me loose and I’ll run.’
Akhenaten started towards me. The babies were shrieking; Ay remained seated in his chair, petrified by fear. Nefertiti was the one who came between us. Running over, she knelt down and put her soft arm round my neck and pulled my face towards her, pressing herself against me. My nose was full of her perfume. My pain was forgotten as her warm softness seemed to envelop me, her breath hot upon my cheek.
‘Mahu, Mahu,’ she whispered. ‘Haven’t you heard? Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between the message and the messenger.’ She turned to her husband, her voice high above the cries of the children. She spoke fiercely, I think it was in Sheshnu. Akhenaten’s eyes still gleamed with madness.
‘Go, Mahu!’ she ordered. ‘Wait outside!’
She pulled me to my feet and pushed me towards the gate out of the enclosed garden. In the courtyard beyond, Nakhtimin and his men, alarmed by the shouting had drawn their swords. I waved them away and slumped against the gate-post nursing my bruised ribs. From the garden rose shouting and screams. Nakhtimin was called in, then he hurried out. I noticed the collar had been pulled from his neck, the side of his face was blood-red. The shouting continued, then there was silence.
At least an hour must have passed before the gate opened. Akhenaten came out, grasped my hand and raised me up. He was calm, his eyes clear, his mouth smiling. In front of the guards he clasped me close and kissed me full on the mouth, on each cheek, finally on the forehead.
‘Don’t leave me, Mahu,’ he murmured hoarsely, ‘because my just rage and divine anger spill out! Come.’
He led me back into the garden. Nefertiti and Ay, all composed, standing hand-in-hand, smiled at me. Akhenaten made me sit in his thronelike chair. He refastened the gold collar round my neck, took the Aten ring off his finger and slipped it on one of mine. Then he patted my shoulder, staring down at me, smiling before squatting on the cushions, gathering his children on his lap.
‘I am sorry, Mahu,’ he said. ‘I truly am.’ He kissed the head of one of his daughters. ‘You are not a dog but my close friend, my brother. But to learn that I am to die within three days?’ He pursed his lips, his strange eyes sad. He kissed his children absentmindedly, stroking their little bodies. I felt embarrassed to be on the throne. Akhenaten’s mood had so profoundly changed.
‘For what you discovered today,’ he continued in a half-whisper, ‘you shall always be Pharaoh’s special friend.’
Nefertiti gripped my right hand, her sensuous fingers thrusting into my palm. Ay took my left hand, clasping it by the wrist. Akhenaten continued cuddling his children, asked a few questions, nodding vigorously at my replies. He dismissed my warnings.
‘I shall go into the Valley of the Shadows.’ He raised a hand, fingers splayed. ‘My Father and I are one. He is with me. All who are against me are against him. You are my Father’s messenger, Mahu. You are part of me as I am part of you. When the Revelation comes, he shall show his face to you and smile on you.’ Akhenaten grew solemn, traces of the anger returning. ‘These assassins will not know peace either in life or after death. You shall protect me, Mahu. You are my Father’s messenger, you shall be with me. You shall be the instrument of our justice and our vengeance.’ He pointed his hand at the sky. ‘My Father will direct me.’ He picked up one of the twins, cuddling her close, turning to kiss her cheek and head. All the time those dark, brooding eyes, unblinking in their gaze, watched me.
‘Kill them, Mahu.’ He leaned forward. ‘Kill them all and send their souls into eternal night.’
Akhenaten was determined to confront the danger, to prove that his Father had not deserted him, but the details of the grand design were left to me. Nefertiti and Ay urged that I tell as few as possible and only let them know what I had to. I became feverishly involved in the preparations. Horemheb, Rameses and Nakhtimin were ordered into the Palace and given temporary command of the chariot squadrons of Hathor, Anubis and Horus, troops whom I reckoned to be the most loyal to us in the Egyptian army. Ostensibly they were to engage in manoeuvres, to be despatched North on training exercises. Secretly they were each given confidential instructions about where to gather, at what hour and what signals they should expect. Mercenaries were brought in by night. They, and trusted units of the Imperial Guard, were ordered into full battle-dress, provided with cold rations and water. Late in the evening, before the day of the expected attack, they were moved secretly into the Valley of the Shadows, to remain hidden in the caves, gullies and hollows. Each man was to be instructed that if he left, or betrayed his position, he would face instant execution. Snefru’s comrades were also prepared. They were brusquely informed how Snefru had been sent on a secret errand: they would join him soon, but until then they would be under the direct command of Djarka. I looked at their scarred faces, men who might have served me well. I could not save them. They were tainted and therefore dangerous.