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Authors: Paul Doherty
An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries) (14 page)
BOOK: An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries)
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‘Should we kill the Baboon, Mother?’
‘If you kill the Baboon, master,’ I replied, staring at Queen Tiye, ‘then you have lost a true friend and a lifelong ally.’
I heard the bow being pulled back but I couldn’t move. I sat frozen. Queen Tiye was no longer staring at her son but at me. I heard a sharp intake of breath, the twang of the cord and the arrow whistled past over our heads to smack into the wall. Tiye’s face creased into a smile.
‘Baboon can be trusted. Come, my son.’
I heard the bow and quiver clatter to the ground. The Veiled One joined us on the daïs, plumping up the cushions, sitting down breathing quickly, eyes gleeful and bright.
‘Did you really think, Mahu, I’d put an arrow into your back? Do you know what you are, Mahu? You are my baboon. When the Medjay go through the marketplace at Thebes their trained baboons go with them to catch felons and thieves. I am surrounded by felons and thieves, at least beyond these walls. You must have many questions but you never ask them.’ He leaned forward. ‘Where do my mother and I go at the dead of night? Who are those strange visitors? One day you’ll know. In the meantime you are to catch the thieves and felons who want to take my life and send my soul into the darkness. He who ordains all things has ordained this.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘I listened to what my mother has told you, it is the truth. I do not intend to die, Mahu, but to live for my true Father Aten, the Beautiful One, who rides on the Far Horizon.’ His hand curled out. ‘In whose eyes, a million years are as yesterday, a brief watch in the night. Oh by the way, your friend Sobeck …’ He glanced sideways at his mother. ‘I am sure he was betrayed. My mother used her influence to ensure that Sobeck does not die in the Red Lands.’ He stretched across and tugged my hair playfully. ‘You have won great favour, Mahu. Never forget that.’ He leaned back and rubbed his hands together. ‘In the meantime, let’s have a party. We’ll invite your friends from the Kap – it would be good to see them all again, wouldn’t it, Mahu?’
His mouth smiled but his eyes were cold, devoid of any feeling. Bowing my head, I realised that for better, for worse, in this deadly game of plot and counter-plot, I could not escape.
‘Pressed in the lovely flesh of a woman
Any heart would run captive into such slim arms!
She lords it over the earth.
The neck of every male moves to watch her go.
He who held such a body tight would know, at last,
The supreme delight.
She would require the best of the bull boys,
First amongst lovers!
You men look at her splendid going,
Our lady of love to whom no rival can hold a light.’
The harpist plucked at the strings, sending out the bittersweet sound. His shaven head went down, even as we clapped and cheered at the beauty of his song about the glory of love. The Veiled One’s hall had been transformed for this feast, lit by scented candles and oil glowing in precious alabaster jars. We sat at our ebony-inlaid table which groaned under a splendid banquet: fish, fried and grilled in a sauce of olive oil, onions, hazelnuts, salt and freshly ground black pepper; white fish, their firm flesh coated with the sauce of pine nuts, almonds and garlic cloves; beef and lamb covered with chick peas and cumin; tajeens of beef and lamb in artichoke. Our goblets had been constantly filled with the finest wines.
The Veiled One had arranged the tables in a circle, seating me on his right hand, his brother Tuthmosis on his left. All the others were there. He had even arranged an empty cushion for Sobeck and had plates and goblets laid before it. Tuthmosis had vehemently objected but the Veiled One had laughed and insisted that even at a feast like this the ghosts were welcome. Each of us had a heset, a temple girl. Clad in thin, gauze-like gowns, their every movement was emphasised by the tinkling bracelets on their ankles and wrists; their long elegant fingers glittered with rings, their nails were painted a deep purple. They were there to entertain, to flatter, to soothe our hearts and satisfy our every whim.
At first the banquet had been difficult. This was the first time we had all met since Sobeck’s banishment. Horemheb and Rameses were resplendent in their officers’ uniforms, Captain and Lieutenant of the Sacred Band. They wore round their necks a collar proclaiming their membership of the most redoubtable regiments in all the hosts of Egypt. Huy looked more relaxed in his splendid robes. Pentju and Meryre hadn’t changed much but sat together, whispering across the girl in between. Maya looked distinctly uncomfortable in a perfume-drenched wig, his face laced with sweat, although he was as charming and vivacious as ever. The Veiled One was a perfect host. The setting of a place for Sobeck, the hosting of such a party and the invitation to Tuthmosis to join them were all part of a studied insult to his own father. He’d whispered this to me as I helped him dress in the cool of the evening.
‘I want my father to know, Mahu, that I will not remain silent, that I will not be kept for ever in the shadows and corners.’
The temple girls were trained courtesans but even they paused to study this strange-looking Prince. They would return to their temples, taking their stories with them: a message to the priests that the Divine One’s second son was not content to hide like a mouse or pass like a shadow through the courts of Egypt. It had been four days since that meeting with his mother in this very hall. The Veiled One had not discussed the matter again but I knew what he plotted, what he wished me to do. He had placed the swollen-throated Uraeus, the spitting-cobra of Egypt around his forehead.
‘The snake knows when to strike, Mahu.’ He turned from the glittering piece of polished silver which served as a mirror. ‘And so do you.’
For most of the meal my master had ignored me. Now and again he would whisper instructions and I would raise my hand for the steward of the feast or to summon Imri who guarded the entrance. The Veiled One became engaged in deep conversation with his brother. Only once did I catch fragments of their talk. Tuthmosis was urging his brother to be prudent, not to catch his father’s eye or incur his anger.
‘I already have.’ The Veiled One picked up his goblet and toasted his brother, then refused to answer the spate of insistent questions which followed.
I had mixed water with my wine but the heat and warmth, and the good food had made me sleepy. I was prodded awake by a sharp elbow thrust, and glanced quickly around. Maya was leaving the hall, alone. Horemheb and Rameses were showing off to their girls. Huy, cradling his wine cup, sat on the cushions, smiling beatifically to himself. Meryre was anxiously interrogating Pentju, probably questioning him about some ailment he suffered. Even as a boy Meryre, for all his confidence in the gods, had a secret dread of disease and infection. I waited my moment, excused myself, winked at Imri and followed Maya out into the darkness. I looked round. He was not in the courtyard so I went across through the half-open side gate. I paused and, from the sounds, I gathered Maya was relieving himself. I waited. He came stumbling back, stepped out onto the pathway and glanced up.
‘Why, Mahu?’
‘Why, Maya?’ I smiled. ‘I wish to have words with you.’ I put my arm protectively across his shoulder, turned him round and walked back to the small, tile-edged pool where the lotus blossom floated gently in the moonlight. ‘Sit down, sit down.’
He did so unwillingly, muscles tensed. ‘What do you want, Mahu?’
‘You are in the House of Scribes?’ I asked.
‘No, no.’ He spread his feet, rubbed his hands together, shoulders hunched. ‘I work in the House of Secrets.’
‘Ah, the place of spies! What do you do there?’
‘We gather reports from all over Egypt and beyond our borders; from merchants, traders, sailors, our allies in Canaan, our servants in Kush, our envoys in Punt.’
‘Very good. And you are doing well?’
‘Look, Mahu, I don’t need your sarcasm.’
‘But you do need your life.’ I took the dagger concealed beneath my robe and pushed the tip against his fleshy throat.
‘You’ve drunk too much.’ He made to rise.
I pressed the point harder. Maya yelped and sat back.
‘Sobeck,’ I insisted. ‘Did you betray my friend’s meetings with his loved one in the olive grove? You know I watched her die, or at least heard her screams. It was hideous ! I visited Sobeck in the Chains. He was condemned to the Wood but the Divine One relented. Now my friend and companion Sobeck is being cooked like a piece of meat in the heat of the Western Desert.’
Maya’s plump shoulders shook, and he trembled so much I thought he was having a fit. His face became contorted and he burst out crying.
‘You are a contemptible bastard, Maya! You betrayed one of your companions. Why? Because he wouldn’t lie with you? Because he wouldn’t play with the thing you’ve got between your legs?’
Maya’s sobs became uncontrollable. ‘I am sorry,’ he wailed, taking his hands away, the kohl round his eyes now running in long black streams down his cheeks. ‘I’m sorry about the girl and Sobeck. But you have it wrong, Mahu. I loved Sobeck, I always have, I always will, even though I know it’s wrong.’
Something about the petulant twist to his lips, the self-pity in that fat oiled face made me lose my temper. The knife clattered to the ground. I tore off his wig. Maya tried to resist but he was fat and never the best of soldiers; I kept him seated and forced his head back. He shouted and screamed. I put my hand across his mouth. He tried to bite me so I punched him then pushed his face beneath the water. He struggled and slid off. I stood in the pool forcing his head beneath the water, watching the bubbles break in the glorious moonlight, feeling his fat body thrash like a juicy carp caught by a hunter. All my rage bubbled, for Sobeck, for myself, for the insults I had suffered and, above all, for the dangers this man posed. Suddenly his body began to grow limp and I let go of his head. Gasping and spluttering he staggered up and cast about. I caught him by the front of his robe and pulled him up. We stood, the water almost up to our waists. Maya’s face looked frightful. I wrenched the necklace from his neck and threw it over my shoulder, hearing it clatter on the ground behind me.
‘I’m the Baboon Mahu. Do you remember why I was called that?’ I tightened my grip and pulled him closer. ‘Baboons have strong arms and wrists.’
‘You’ll go to the Wood for this,’ he spluttered.
‘I doubt it,’ I replied, ‘and if I do I’ll tell them you knew all about Sobeck as well as your love for him. Does the Master of the House of Secrets know about your private life, Maya? Do you go to the temple forecourts or into the marketplace to watch the pretty boys pass?’
Maya turned his head and spat some of the pool water out of his mouth. I let go of him, pushing him away.
‘You are right, Maya. I have no friends. But Sobeck was the nearest I ever came to it. What did he do wrong but love a girl? She was a Divine Ornament but the King of the Two Lands has more concubines than I have hairs on my head.’
‘That’s treason,’ he spluttered.
He moved away but I followed.
‘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.
BOOK: An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries)
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