by Paul Doherty
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.
‘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.’
Three days later the Veiled One summoned me and Imri to a meeting out in the garden pavilion. My master was puce with rage. In his hand was a piece of papyrus which he waved in front of our faces. ‘Envoys from the Hittite King are coming to the Divine One’s court! They will be officially received by my father and my mother. Tuthmosis will be there, but I have not been invited.’ He closed the door of the pavilion, his strange eyes bright with anger. I could tell by his jerky movements and slurred speech that he had been drinking. ‘But I shall go.’
He ignored Imri’s gasp of astonishment and gestured with his hand for silence.
‘I shall go! It is but a simple walk away with my guard and household. I,’ he struck his chest, ‘am a Prince of Egypt. I have a right to wear the Uraeus. I have the sacred blood in my veins. I will not be challenged on this!’ He made a cutting movement with his hand. ‘I shall inform God’s Father Hotep,’ he spat the words out, ‘and others at my father’s court that I will make my presence known and show my face to the envoys of the Hittite King!’ He shook his fist. ‘I am not some pet monkey or a bird to be kept in a cage. My days in the shadows are over.’
A week later, on a balmy afternoon when the sun was setting slowly and the mountains to the west of Thebes were undergoing a dazzling change of colour, the Veiled One decided to go hunting. The Nile was full and lush, sweeping majestically, drenching the papyrus groves and bringing its richness to the Black Lands. A soft breeze cooled the sweat and refreshed the soul, and the eye was no longer blinded by the harsh heat and desert dust. The Veiled One decided he would hunt for birds amongst the papyrus reeds. Since his declaration a few days earlier about meeting the Hittite envoys, he had been strangely silent. Now he’d roused himself. He, Imri and I, armed with bow, arrows and throwing sticks would hunt marsh birds in the thickets along the Nile.
The Veiled One dressed simply for the occasion in a long white linen robe, tied round the middle with an embroidered sash, folded so it hung in a brilliant display of colour against the white robe. He wore a straw hat and carried his pet cat which always accompanied him on such trips. Imri advised keeping to the canals along the Nile but the Veiled One was insistent.
‘No, we’ll find more quarry on the river, particularly at this time of day. The birds are heavy and slow-moving.’
We went down. Imri had prepared an imperial skiff with seats in the stern and middle and a small throwing platform in the prow on which the hunter could stand. All three of us were expert with the pole. On this occasion the Veiled One did not immediately go along the jetty where the skiff was lashed but sat cross-legged on a rocky outcrop, face towards the sun, lips moving soundlessly, lost in his own world of prayer. I stared down at the river, still slightly swollen as it swirled by the thick groves of papyrus and overhanging willow trees. This stretch of the river was now fairly deserted, as it usually was just before evening.
‘I am ready!’ The Veiled One opened his eyes: he put on his hat, followed me down the path onto the jetty and into the skiff. As I clambered in after Imri, I noticed the Veiled One was carrying a leather bag which he placed carefully in the stern. I unloosed the rope, Imri grasped the pole and skilfully push
ed the boat out into midstream. Occasionally, other craft passed us: fishermen, merchants, and an imperial barge full of soldiers and archers. These were followed by a flotilla of small craft, the statue of some god in the stern. Across the water drifted the smell of incense, the clap of hands and the faint music of the sistra and the lute.
‘Probably taking their god for a swim,’ the Veiled One laughed.
He issued instructions. We headed towards the far side of the Nile and a lush outcrop of water trees, bushes and papyrus groves. Imri looked askance at me. Such places were often the haunt of crocodiles, especially at this time of day, when they’d absorbed the heat of the sun and became more agile and aggressive in hunting their quarry. The Veiled One, however, insisted that Imri find a path through the papyrus groves. As we did so, birds burst from their cover in a brilliant display of plumage. I settled my feet on the shifting platform and loosened my throwing stick. The quarry were easy. Time and again I hit the mark and a plump body would fall in the water. Imri would pole skilfully towards it. I would scoop the bird out, make sure it was dead and place it in the basket. I heard splashes and glimpsed a crocodile, eyes and cruel snout jutting above the water.
‘Master,’ I knelt at the Veiled One’s feet, ‘this is dangerous. We have taken our tally. I think we should return.’
The Veiled One ignored me. ‘Imri, pass me the pole. I’ll show you how it can be done.’ The Veiled One gestured at me to move aside. Imri, his face laced with sweat, handed over the pole. The Veiled One held it as a soldier would a spear, rolling the edge a few inches from Imri’s chest. ‘The Hittite envoys didn’t come to Thebes.’ He picked up the leather bag. ‘Mother has written to me.’
The sweat on the back of my neck grew cold. An ominous silence quietened all sound in the papyrus grove: no more the squawk of birds or the flurry of wings. The barge swayed slightly. Imri the Kushite stood, muscular chest drenched in water, sweat and flecks of mud. He turned his head slightly, his good eye intent on the Veiled One.
‘Master?’ He spoke as if his throat and mouth were dry.