"Do you know what a scandal you're creating?"
"It's not my fault Sennefer accidentally killed his wife. Now go away. I've business to attend."
Idut quickened her pace when he did. "Oh no, Meren. You're not running away this time. Why can't you see that Sennefer killed himself because of remorse at Anhai's death? Why must you keep the family and Wah like prisoners? All the intrigue at court has twisted your wits. Everyone wants to go home. Nebetta and Hepu wish to be free to mourn their son, and Wah grows more anxious with each hour that passes."
As they neared the dock, Meren lengthened his stride, but Idut only walked faster. "Sennefer didn't kill himself, Idut. Only you would think of such a tale, because only you, and possibly his parents, are capable of ignoring how little Sennefer cared for Anhai. He wasn't greatly disturbed because she was dead, he was disturbed because he'd been the unwitting cause."
"Then it must have been Bentanta who poisoned him," Idut said as they stepped onto the dock, "but you're too delighted at having an excuse to blame Ra to admit it."
Meren stopped suddenly and stared at his sister. "You believe that I-" Idut wasn't looking at him. She gazed over his shoulder, her mouth falling open, and pointed.
"By the mercy of Amun, what is happening?" she asked.
Coming toward them with the current, a small freighter zig-zagged back and forth on an erratic course that threatened the early traffic on the river. Fishing boats and skiffs scattered before the careening vessel. On its deck, a bald-headed man screeched at the two men manning the oars. As he did so, he gripped the steering oar and dragged it with him as he danced across the deck in his agitation.
Meren cursed as he heard a low, steady thud accompanied by the watery slap of many oars cutting through the water. Wings of Horus rounded a bend in the river and aimed at the freighter. The steersman on the smaller craft looked over his shoulder at the sleek black vessel and screamed. He jumped and scurried back and forth in his fright, then lost his grip on the steering oar. The boat spun around, then settled sideways in the current as Wings of Horus gained on it. A sailor at the bow of Meren's craft yelled a warning. Long lines of oars lifted up out of the water.
Standing on the dock beside Meren, Idut cried out as well. "Look, it's Paser! Paser, make way, make way!"
Paser was too busy scrambling about the deck of his freighter in terror. Kysen appeared at the bow of Wings of Horus to shout at Paser, to no avail. Meren watched in irritation as the prow of his ship smacked into the freighter amidship. There was a loud crack of wood against wood, and the sound of bodies hitting the water as men dove for their lives.
"If he's damaged my ship, I'll take payment out of his hide," Meren said.
"What is Paser doing on a freighter?" Idut asked as they watched Kysen's men throw ropes to those in the water. "And why was he trying to sail it himself?"
Rolling his eyes, Meren said, "Go home, Idut."
"And where has Kysen been this early in the morning?"
"He said he was going to Green Palm. Now will you go home while I see what's happened to that fool Paser?"
"You're not making sense, Meren. Kysen wouldn't take Wings of Horus for so short a sail."
"Damnation, Idut! Perhaps he wanted to impress a woman. I know not, and it isn't important. Are you going to go home, or do I have to take you there myself?"
"I'm going, I'm going. But don't think I'll let you get away with this high-handedness much longer. The whole family is going to revolt against you if you don't release them from this half-imprisonment." Idut glanced at the men pulling Paser on board Wings of Horns. "Bring Paser to the house. I'll find some clothes for him."
Meren's head was beginning to ache, and he rubbed his neck. "Just go home, Idut."
Once his sister was out of sight and his ship docked, Meren walked across a plank and hopped onto the deck of Wings of Horus beside Kysen, his face set, his jaw tense. "Where is he?"
"In the deckhouse. I shoved him in there to contemplate what we might do to him."
"Good." Meren walked toward the deckhouse and paused under its awning. He glanced over his shoulder. The pomegranate colors of sunrise lit the horizon. "I don't want to bring him to the house. You saw Idut, and she's already curious. The whole family is furious with me, except for your sisters."
Kysen nodded in the direction of a group of men squatting around a brazier full of coals. "I thought you wouldn't want any delay in getting the truth out of our simple-witted spy." One of the men held a long bronze rod, the end of which was embedded in the white embers.
Meren touched the wristguard over the sun-disk scar. Three deaths. Three deaths on what was to have been a respite from murder and treachery. "You're certain you've captured everyone on that freighter?"
"I still have men out searching, but the villagers said there were only three in the crew, and we have them all if you count the dead one."
"I don't like this, Ky. I know Sennefer's killing Anhai had nothing to do with our sacred charge across the river, but still, I don't like it that these deaths have happened so close together. Oh, I know what you're going to say. My ka is riddled with distrust from being raised at court. I'm trying to control my suspicions. Let's get on with it."
Kysen picked up an alabaster lamp that had been resting near another brazier and preceded Meren. Inside, Paser sat hunched on a stool between two charioteers. He blinked at them as lamplight filled the antechamber. The charioteers saluted Meren, and Paser, who had been staring at Kysen, widened his eyes. Meren walked over to him and surveyed his shaven skull and face.
"What were you doing spying on my men?"
"Spying? Spying?" Paser croaked. "I know naught of spying. I was but taking a pleasure sail in my new boat when your son pounced on me as if I were some nomad bandit."
Kysen set the alabaster lamp on a stand. Meren picked up the stand and placed it nearer Paser.
"I'm not going to spar with you," Meren said. "That was a freighter you were on, Paser, not a yacht. And you've shaved your face and head. Tell me what you were doing."
Paser tried to stand up, but the charioteers shoved him back down on the stool. "My friends at court will hear of this abomination. I'm a free man. I may sail the Nile as any nobleman might."
Listening to Paser's ranting for a few moments, Meren abruptly picked up the lamp and tipped it. A thin stream of oil poured down on Paser's head. Paser yelped and jumped from the stool. The charioteers moved with him, but stayed at a distance while he howled and rubbed his head.
"Curse you, Meren, that was hot!"
Meren set the lamp down and folded his arms. "I shall explain your situation only once. One of your men was found skulking around a deserted temple that happens to be near my ancestors' tombs. There have been two murders at my house, and I find you sneaking around. I want to know why. You're in trouble, Paser."
"Murders!" Paser was still rubbing his red scalp. "I know nothing of murder."
"You've been following me for days," Meren said. "Why?"
Paser gave him a sly, sidelong glance. "I was traveling in the same direction as you, not following."
"I've no patience for your clumsy lies," Meren said. "Kysen, tell them to bring in the brand."
As he finished speaking, Paser's eyes grew round. He gave a squeak, sprang past Meren, and was outside before his guards could move. Kysen ran after him, and Meren was close behind. As he left the deckhouse, Paser sprinted across the deck. He saw the men around the brazier, swerved, and ran for the railing. He might have jumped overboard if his foot hadn't tangled in a coiled rope. Paser tripped, fell forward, and banged his head on the railing.
At the sight, Meren slowed to a trot and joined his son in kneeling over Paser. They turned him over. He was bleeding from a gash on his forehead. One of the charioteers pressed a wad of cloth to the wound.
"Knocked senseless," Meren said with a frustrated smile as they stood. "I wonder which god I've offended to be so cursed with ill luck." His smile faded. "This isn't good, K
y."
"Depend upon it, Father. Paser knows nothing. We discovered his man before he could tell what he knew."
"But he might have been spying at the temple before last night."
"Do you think even Paser would be foolish enough to remain if he'd discovered what was in the temple?"
"Perhaps not." Meren began to walk back across the deck. "I sent more men to the temple before dawn, but that meant there were but two to stand guard over the family. I had to use doorkeepers to watch Bentanta and Ra. Send for me when that fool wakes. I'm going back to the house."
By the time he reached Baht, the household was stirring. He could hear the bray of donkeys in the granary court and the steady grinding sound of the querns. Hurrying to his office, he dismissed Reia and sat down with a pile of reports from the interviews his men had conducted with the household. He tried to fix his attention on them, but visions of Djet and Bentanta kept distracting him.
Wincing at a particularly vivid scene his imagination had called up, he dropped the reports on the floor and brought out his juggling balls. Tossing one in the air, he threw another from one hand to the other and caught the falling sphere. The rhythm established, he began to walk around the office while he concentrated on the balls.
He was desperately worried. The family was furious with him for the way he'd treated Ra and Bentanta, Idut especially. Nebetta still wouldn't speak to him and continued to blame him for Sennefer's death. And he hadn't found Sennefer's murderer. That is, he didn't think he'd found him. Or did he simply not want to admit he'd found him? If he didn't solve this murder soon, he was going to send the women to Memphis. Bener wouldn't like it, but she would have to go. He couldn't take any more chances with the murderer, not when this new danger threatened.
He needed more time, and now that the secret at the haunted temple was threatened by that worm Paser, he wasn't going to get it. Paser was part of Prince Hunefer's faction. Could Hunefer have found out about the desecration of Akhenaten's tomb? Secrecy was vital if another atrocity was to be prevented. There were still many at court who would love to deprive the king's brother of eternal life by destroying his body. He must make Paser speak. And he would, of that he was certain. Paser wasn't just dull-witted, he was a coward. It wouldn't take long to break him, once he woke.
Until then, he would do what he shouldn't-try to think of anything that would cast suspicion of Sennefer's murder elsewhere than on Ra. His plan to prove his brother's innocence hadn't worked as he'd thought. True to his contrary nature, Ra had cast even more doubt upon his own innocence.
He returned to the casket that held his juggling balls. Catching the three he'd been using, he took out a fourth. He held two balls in each hand, then began to toss the two in his right hand. Then he started with his left. When he had the rhythm going, he tried the exchange and missed. He grabbed for balls in two directions. They all fell.
Sighing, he picked them up and set the fourth ball aside. Soon he was juggling three again. Trying to add a fourth made him feel as frustrated as he'd been at the feast of rejoicing. He recalled that burning irritation, that trapped feeling he'd suffered while surrounded by bickering relatives. His temper was already short, and now Paser had added a new dose of disaster to his already overflowing cup.
Meren's hand froze in mid-toss. Balls dropped to the floor and skittered across the room. Virulent suspicions returned. Paser's invasion might be related to Sennefer's death. No, Kysen was right. Too many years at court had driven him to suspect that every event had a hidden meaning, every person a secret design. Sennefer had never been important at court. No one at the feast had been influential.
It was true that Anhai had once served the Great Royal Wife Nefertiti, as had Bentanta, but neither was high in the favor of Tutankhamun's queen, Ankhesenamun. Wah had been Nefertiti's steward for a brief time before her death, but Wah had no place at court. He had no power, and Meren didn't think Wah even knew Paser.
But still, he didn't like it that Paser and his spies appeared at the same time he was hunting a murderer. And there was something bothering him, something about the night of the feast, about his relatives, all gathered around him talking, talking, talking. Ra talking to Anhai. Bentanta whispering with Sennefer. Wah whining at him. Hepu moralizing. Meren was certain he'd missed something, something important.
Bending over his ebony chair, Meren fished beneath it to grab a juggling ball. He was feeling sorry for himself when Sennefer was the one to be pitied. Sennefer had lived in fear of having his impotence exposed. At the feast, he must have been terrified when Anhai threatened him. No wonder he drank so much pomegranate wine, both before and after her death. And when he'd been poisoned, Meren had assumed he was only drunk or ill… only drunk or ill. Holding the one juggling ball, Meren suddenly sat down in the ebony chair.
"By all the gods of Egypt," he murmured. After a long silence, he began to toss the ball in one hand, slowly, as he cast his thoughts back to the feast of rejoicing one final time.
Chapter 18
Kysen hurtled upstairs to his father's office and burst through the door. He started talking at the same time Meren thrust himself out of his chair and spoke.
"Paser's awake, and he says he'll only talk to you."
"Ky, I was wrong about the poison."
"What?" Kysen stared at Meren, breathless.
Meren hurled a juggling ball into its casket and brushed past Kysen. "There's no time. Curse of the gods, I hope I haven't endangered anyone else."
Kysen ran down the stairs after Meren. "Wrong about the poison! How wrong? Father, wait."
Meren vanished around a turn in the stairs, and Kysen didn't catch up with him until they ran down the hall to stop before Ra's chamber door. At the threshold squatted a doorkeeper who cradled his head in his hands.
"Where is my brother?" Meren snapped.
The man groaned. Suddenly cries issued from the central hall. This time Kysen was right behind his father as they ran into the chamber. The family was supposed to be partaking of a morning meal. Now they and several servants had gathered in a huddle around Aunt Cherit's carrying chair like geese around bread crumbs. At the rear door of the long chamber an ovoid wine jar had been tipped from its stand. Its shards littered the floor, and wine stained the mats.
"What's happened?" Meren asked as they reached the group. "Ra is missing."
Cherit was patting Nebetta's hand as she wept. "He came charging through here like a netherworld fiend, and he would have escaped except that your men blocked his way when he tried to go through to the front."
"He went out the back?" Kysen asked.
Cherit nodded. "Simut and the other guard ran after him."
Kysen moved toward the rear entrance, but Meren put a hand on his arm. He glanced around the group. Cherit was muttering imprecations against foolish young men who ruined good wine. Isis was calmly munching on a slice of melon while Nebetta snuffled.
"Where are the rest?" Meren said.
"Why aren't you chasing that murderous brother of yours?" sobbed Nebetta.
Kysen grew alarmed at the killing look Meren gave her.
"Isis, where are the others?" Meren asked.
"Uncle Hepu is working on a tribute to Sennefer in his chamber. Aunt Idut and Wah left before Uncle Ra came, and Bener followed them." She finished the last bite of her melon and continued. "She was going to spy on them. I told her not to, but she never listens to me."
"The guards let them go?" Kysen asked.
"They were only going to the garden for a moment, and they promised to come back quickly," Isis said. "You know how Aunt can be. She wouldn't leave poor Simut alone until he consented. Then, when Simut and the other guard chased Uncle Ra, Bener stole away."
Kysen heard a lurid curse from Meren, who was already through the door. Kysen ran after him, calling over his shoulder, "All of you, stay here."
Racing out of the house, he caught up with Meren as he shoved open the garden gate. They charged inside only to come up short at th
e sight of Idut screaming at an acacia tree that grew next to the side wall.
"Bener, you contentious, wretched girl, come back here at once!"
They sprinted over to Idut.
"Where are they?" Meren asked.
Idut threw up her hands. "This is what comes of your soft discipline, Meren. That girl has been sneaking around the house for days, spying on everyone, asking impertinent questions, implying things."
"Idut!"
Even Kysen jumped at Meren's roar. Idut cried out, then glared at her brother, but she stopped babbling.
"Where did they go?" Meren demanded.
"He said the walls of the house were crowding in on him. He's sensitive, you know, what with all this death. They'll be back in a moment."
"Idut," Meren said as he jumped up to catch a limb of the acacia, "you have the wits of an oryx."
Kysen swung himself up into the tree after Meren and joined him on top of the wall. This section of the wall was also the outer privacy wall for the compound. From it they looked past a couple of sycamores and a vegetable garden. Beyond them ran the canal that fed water from the Nile to fields that marched past the house. Meren pointed to a leaping figure in a shift. Bener flew across a field at a diagonal to the canal. Her course would allow her to intercept a skiff being paddled rapidly toward the river.
"We have to catch her before she reaches him."
"Who?" Kysen asked, but Meren had already leaped from the wall.
Kysen measured the distance to the ground, then lowered himself over the side of the wall before dropping. His caution put him behind Meren and forced him to put on a burst of speed to catch up. For the second time in less than a day, Kysen found himself hurtling across a field littered with stubble and hard clods of earth baking in the sun.
As he ran, he saw the skiff reach the junction with the river and turn toward the dock and Wings of Horus. Bener reached the bank while the occupant of the skiff paused, then stood up, balancing with the long pole used to shove the little boat along in the water. Kysen got his first good look at the man and nearly tripped over his own feet.
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