by Diana Ballew
At the mention of the horses, Khay straightened.
“So. Let us find a place for you among the men.” He scratched his bald head as if it helped him think. “We have a spare pallet in Kheper’s brigade, if I remember truly. One of the horse trainers turned his chariot and broke an arm; he went back to his village until he is fit for duty, so you can sleep there, for now. Have you belongings?” Besenmut asked as he ushered Khay out the door.
As they entered the hall, Tetisheri stood.
Besenmut eyed her before glancing back at Khay. “Wife?”
“No,” Khay answered. “My sister, Teti.”
“Step into the light, girl,” Besenmut ordered. “Let me take a look at you.”
Tetisheri nervously took several steps forward until the glow from the dying sun fell upon her face. When she saw how large and forbidding Besenmut appeared she gazed up at her brother with uncertainty in her pale eyes.
Besenmut made a clucking noise in the back of his throat before shaking his head. “Clearly, your sister cannot stay here. Discipline is difficult enough, but with a pretty girl about we’d never have the younger ones’ minds on their training. It’s best if we send her to the palace. Although she’s small she could work in the kitchen, perhaps. Come,” he commanded. “I’ll get you out of here before the rest of the men come back. We’ll go and see if the chief steward is about, he will know where to put you.”
Tetisheri looked to Khay, who merely nodded.
“You, too, young man. You will need to know your way around the palace anyway, so you might as well escort your sister to her new employment.”
Again Tetisheri looked up at her brother. “You won’t just leave me somewhere and disappear forever, will you, Khay?”
Outside the garrison’s entrance, Kheper and his two comrades had just returned from their mission north of the city. It had been a waste of effort. No bandits of any kind attempted to delay their passage. None of the villagers they’d questioned remembered seeing the bandits, even when offered a reward. He knew his cousins in the north were planning an assault to depose his father, his gut told him so — but in recent months all the usual sources of information had dried up like the edge of the river when the flood failed.
Well, he thought with resignation, they’d just have to lure the bandits out of hiding.
The only bright spot in his day had been the meeting with the young man from Abydos. Khay would likely make a very good decoy, once trained. And the girl … her strange green eyes were particularly appealing. And her feistiness — she made a pleasant change from the many pandering women of the household. She reminded him of his spoiled and willful sister, Iset.
Once a servant had taken his horse, Kheper went to the tall jar by the stable entrance and scooped a cup of water over his face. Orange rivulets formed on his throat and chest as the water mixed with the dust from the road. He removed his khat and his short fat braid fell to his shoulder. Taking a second cup, he sluiced the top of his semi-bald head and wildly shook away the excess like a dog dries itself after a swim in the river. The third cup he drank.
When he looked up, he caught a glimpse of Besenmut as he returned from the palace and crossed the yard to intercept him.
“Greetings, Besenmut.”
“May the blessings of Amun follow you, Kheper. Did you catch the bandits?”
Kheper drew his brows together as he fell into step beside his general. “Not a sign of them. I spoke to a merchant on the road, but he’d seen nothing unusual for several days. We rode as far as the bend in the river, but nowhere could we find fresh evidence.
“After the new moon, I think we should move the Ptah unit north to Memphis to prepare for the march against the Mitanni. We can stop at likely places along the river and send armed parties ashore to search. Perhaps we will get lucky.”
Besenmut nodded sagely. “Pharaoh will need to know your plans. It is nearing time for his annual return to the Midian territories to meet with his vizier at Ur, and he plans to travel to Canaan to find wood for the new Temple of Amun.”
“Yes,” Kheper agreed. “And we must secure a greater quantity of grain for the coming year. If the flood is again low, the people will blame Pharaoh for their empty bellies. It is bad enough we must face revolts to the north.”
Besenmut grunted his disgust and turned back toward the barracks.
“By the way,” Kheper called after him, “I sent a young man to you — did he come?”
Spinning about, Besenmut waited for Kheper to draw alongside. “Khay? Yes. He is with his sister in the palace, finding her a place. I did not think it wise that she remain at the garrison. A pretty young thing like that would cause too much disorder.” He watched the appreciative expression flit across Kheper’s face and knew he understood. “She is presently awaiting the chief steward. Khay will return as soon as she has been assigned work.
“I see why you sent him to me, he looks strong and able. Not feebleminded — and so like you he could be a brother. He will make a good substitute.”
“Yes, I believe so — if we can train him. I will go and speak with Pharaoh and Vizier Rekhmire. They must be told of our failure to find the bandits’ trail. I am beginning to think they are Kadeshi fighters attempting to distract Pharaoh from his upcoming sojourn in the north. My brother has sent messages that an uprising has begun near Babylon. It would not be the first time they have used such tactics.”
“Hmmm. Yes, indeed, you could be correct. Yes, indeed.”
As they parted, Kheper stared across at the barracks where his unit was housed. Lamplight spilled from the narrow door and a rare silence spread outward as the men washed and prepared for their evening meal. Already he could smell the heady mix of herbs and freshly baked bread emanating from the cookfires on the far side of the structure.
From the second new moon it was likely he would no longer sleep at the barracks with his men. The ceremony to celebrate his co-regency would occur very soon if he passed the tests, and then his life would be in more danger than ever before. He would become Amunhotep, Pharaoh of the Two Lands and all the empire besides, and he would be charged with keeping peace and prosperity in the two lands during his father’s absence in the north. It was a weighty and demanding task, one he’d been chosen for over his elder brothers. He would have to prove his fitness to hold the Two Lands without interference from the dissidents and assassins who seemed intent on rebellion. The Elohim, his royal ancestors, demanded it.
“So, sister, the bargaining has started,” Kheper said as he entered the small antechamber that sat behind his father’s audience hall.
Iset frowned at her brother. “I tell you, Kheper, if Pharaoh marries me to that Nubian prince, I will surely die!”
Always fascinated by her melodramatics, Kheper couldn’t help but grin. Though small, she made much noise as she tramped back and forth across the hall. And she was as strong willed as any man. He rearranged his short kilt as he sat on a carved chair with arms shaped as falcons.
“I will not be sent to that forsaken place. I don’t care how much territory they ceded or how many goldmines the Nubians are willing to give Pharaoh.” With that she crossed her arms beneath her small bosom and glared at him.
Kheper ignored her ranting. He hadn’t come to see her, anyway, but to see the new girl who’d been installed as companion to his sister. Tetisheri had eluded him since her arrival in Thebes a few days before, but he wanted to gaze upon her again before the men headed off to Memphis. Something about her attracted him, and since she was a free citizen he could court her for wife, if he so wished. Why he’d decided that was a good idea escaped him right at the moment, but the memory of those flashing green eyes had plagued his dreams from the time she’d wrested her arm from his grasp.
“Why are you alone here, Iset? Weren’t you given a new companion until this marriage bargaining is finished?”
Turning, Iset glared again, her big brown eyes glowing hotly in her rounded face. “What do you care?” Stepping cl
oser, she studied him and suddenly smiled. “Ah-hah! Of course. My brother has discovered a new female who needs to be seduced! Well, you can’t have her. Tetisheri is a meek and kindly girl, unaccustomed to the likes of you.”
Kheper’s eyebrows shot upward — surely she wasn’t talking about the same girl he’d met on the road to Abydos? That girl was fiery as a cheetah.
As if mention of her name had summoned her, the girl in question stepped through the portal. Her brother followed, and Kheper stood the instant he saw him.
“Khay — I thought you were learning how to groom Pharaoh’s stallions,” he said with impatience. “Who gave you leave to enter the palace?”
Khay stiffened. “Besenmut gave me permission to escort my sister back to her mistress.”
Iset crossed the chamber to stand before the twins. “I thank you, Khay,” she said with a sweet smile, surveying Tetisheri’s brother with obvious interest. “Please, feel free to come and visit her whenever your duties allow.” She slanted a narrowed gaze at Kheper that all but dared him to contradict the invitation. “I wouldn’t want either of you to fret for the other’s company. Teti has told me of the death of your parents; you must feel a great sadness in your heart.”
Kheper’s lips twitched. So. His sister had an interest in the boy from Abydos, did she? Iset was all but throwing herself onto the stone floor at his feet and from Khay’s glazed expression, it seemed he was not averse to such attraction himself — little wonder his sister didn’t want to be married off to the Nubian prince.
Actually, Kheper didn’t favor the Nubian, himself. As far as he could tell the man was a black-skinned savage. But Egypt needed the territory and goldmines he offered, especially if Pharaoh wanted to pursue his new campaign to the north.
Despite his personal feelings, he knew it was his duty to protect Egypt’s diplomatic future. Thus he needed to guard his sister from any close contact with Khay. If Khay came to visit his sister, then Kheper would have to accompany him if only to be certain that Khay could not taint Iset’s pure bloodline with his lust. And, at the same time, he would court Tetisheri.
Hmmm, he thought to himself — the notion held a lot of merit. But to do so meant he’d have to delay his departure for Memphis. Or if he couldn’t stay, maybe his sister and her companions could travel to Memphis with him?
As he studied the lovely young woman standing alongside his sister, his mind began to race, searching for answers. It was imperative the Ptah unit returned to Memphis soon. Pharaoh’s horses needed training with the new war chariots, and Pharaoh remained determined to begin the campaign before the yearly flood that left many idle from normal work. Less than a season away.
“Brother!” Iset interrupted his thoughts, making him wonder how long he’d been staring so boldly at Tetisheri. The girl’s face was now an attractive shade of scarlet, and he was willing to wager she was not accustomed to such open scrutiny.
“I said,” Iset continued in her most commanding voice, “with your permission, Khay will spend time with his sister before you depart for Memphis. Were you not listening? When do you depart? How long before my new friend is left all alone?”
Kheper glanced across at his sister, still distracted by his calculations to have her follow him to Memphis. “Another three weeks, perhaps. You have never been to Pharaoh’s stables, have you, Iset?” he asked, as if in passing.
She scowled thunderously. “You know not, brother. Twice I have asked Pharaoh for permission to see the horses, and twice I have been denied, though Pharaoh has not explained why I may not go. Any other free woman in Egypt may travel where she pleases, but not so Pharaoh’s daughters. No, they must stay hidden to keep their bloodline pure.”
The corners of her lips lifted as she sidled up to him and placed her hand on his forearm. “Khe-per …” she began in a little-girl, sing-song way, “maybe you can convince him that I might go to Memphis before he sells me to that ugly Nubian.”
Feigning dislike of the idea, Kheper shook his head. “Why would I take you? It would require extra guards and slower travel. And for what, so you can take a look at a few hundred horse?”
“But brother, you know it is my right to select a dowry token. I intend to ask for a fine stallion.”
Kheper knew from the hesitant look on his sister’s face that the thought had only just occurred to her. But whatever her reasons, the idea, if approved by Pharaoh, would play right into his hands. He drew his brows together and pursed his lips as if he considered her request problematic.
“Please, Kheper?” She gripped his arm and forced him to look down into her face. “You’re the only person besides Rekhmire who can sway Pharaoh’s decisions. Will you not ask? For me?”
With a beleaguered sigh, he said, “I will try, sister. But I promise nothing.” His eyes darted to Tetisheri and his chest filled with a rush of warmth. “However,” he added, turning back to his sister, “if I can convince Pharaoh, I will ask a boon from you, also.”
Iset’s eyes shot across to Tetisheri and back to her brother, before finally coming to rest on Khay’s broad back as he stood debating with his twin by the door of the small chamber. Ever the realist, she knew if she wanted to achieve her aim and escape the Nubian, she’d have to concede something in return. And who knew what was in Teti’s mind? Perhaps the girl would like to be seduced.
If she were not Pharaoh’s daughter, she was certain she would have allowed her own seduction long ago, and with Khay, she knew she would welcome it!
“I believe we have a bargain, brother,” she said, a touch too sweetly.
Chapter 13
The moon god, Khons, shone brightly over the small garden, casting eerie shadows upon the patches of lawn. Iset came here often; it was the one place in Pharaoh’s property where she could find solitude and make plans for the future. Right now it seemed that plans would be all she’d make — her father had negotiated a bargain with Nu-Tete, the Nubian prince, and even though her next home would still be considered part of Egypt, soon she would be sent into exile, to a province that cherished other gods and spoke a different tongue.
Looking up at Khons, she whispered her anguish; her frustration at being deserted to a fate that was beyond her control. All she could really do was hope that her brother would convince Pharaoh to allow her the short excursion to Memphis so she could choose a stallion as her bride-gift. And maybe, just maybe, she could find a way out of her dilemma in the meantime. Or, if the worst came, she could escape from Memphis on her new horse. She knew that Khay could be convinced to help her. She had seen the way he looked at Teti and knew what private thoughts flowed through his mind.
Otherwise, Mose might help her — if she begged.
A soft rustling intruded upon her imaginings. She turned to face the sound, expecting one of the many palace guards to appear behind her, waiting to escort her back to the chamber she shared with Teti and three of her sisters.
“Who is there?” she asked when no soldier stepped forward.
No answer.
She moved a pace closer to the spot where she thought the sound had originated and peered into the darkness. “As Pharaoh’s daughter, I command you to show yourself.”
Iset had deliberately chosen the darkest and most silent place in the palace garden to think and plan her escape from the Nubian — it hadn’t dawned on her that it would make her vulnerable, especially in her father’s house.
“If you do not show yourself, I will call the guards.”
Slowly, a tall dark form separated itself from the stand of small trees clustered at the far end of the garden. It was obviously a man, but the silhouette appeared like no one she knew. Whoever he was, he did not move any closer.
“Step into the light,” she commanded.
The man took one stride forward, and when the torchlight struck his face, Iset’s heart almost stopped. She had hoped Khay had stolen into her garden to capture her heart, but this man wasn’t Khay or any other man she knew. Her breath stilled as she studied him
. Where Khay was undoubtedly a beautiful youth, the person before her was truly a man. His face was just as handsome as Khay’s, but he appeared bigger and stronger, and his expression bore a knowing intelligence that Khay lacked.
“Is it safe for Pharaoh’s daughter to wander alone, late into the night?” the stranger asked, his voice deep and melodic.
Boldly, she moved a pace closer and raised her chin. “My father has guards everywhere — I need but call and an attacker would be dead before drawing his next breath.”
The stranger gave a cynical little laugh. “Then it is a good thing that I do not intend to attack.”
Iset surveyed his face more closely, noting that his appearance marked him as a northerner from the conquered territories, a Semite or perhaps even Apiru like her half-brother, Mose.
“Who are you that you disturb me in my contemplation?”
The stranger allowed the corners of his lips to lift, and again Iset’s breath caught.
“In the language of Egypt I am called Anen.”
“Anen.” The name tasted good on her tongue, and she returned his smile. “Well, Anen, you stand in one of Pharaoh’s private gardens, uninvited — why are you here?”
Edging forward, Anen pinned her with his pale gray gaze, “In all honestly, Princess, I stand before you because of a wager.”
Raising her brows, Iset cast him an incredulous look.
He glanced away, toward the doorway from where the soldiers who’d arrest him would emerge. When he could discern no movement, he whispered, “A friend, who drives a chariot in Pharaoh’s Sutekh unit, told me that Pharaoh’s daughters were among the most beautiful women in all Egypt. Of course, I did not believe him, so we made a wager. The only problem was that Pharaoh’s daughters rarely walk among the populace, so I had to contrive a way to discover the truth for myself.”