by N. L. Holmes
Why did Lady Meryet-aten get me involved? If she knew I would use Neferet as a source, why didn’t she make use of her herself?
He crossed the external court and made his way out the pylon, deeply preoccupied. To his surprise, in the street, Maya popped up from the sliver of shade cast by the wall. “Maya, my friend. What are you doing here? Nothing wrong at home, I hope?” Hani remembered anxiously another occasion when Maya had been sent as a bringer of bad news.
Maya beamed. “None at all, my lord. Lady Nub-nefer told me where you were, and I thought I’d come down to see the palace myself. I thought you might have need of a secretary.”
Hani clapped him on the back affectionately, and the two men fell into stride, although not the same stride. “Maya, I had a very troubling interview with the younger great royal wife,” Hani said in a low voice. “Apparently, Neferet told her I could help her.”
“You’re getting quite a reputation among the king’s women,” said Maya with a naughty grin.
But Hani let out a snort. “This is a rather scary assignment.” He proceeded to describe the meeting to his son-in-law, who would inevitably get drawn into the investigation.
Maya gave a low whistle. “Court intrigue at its worst.”
“Yes, and now I’m expected to get my young daughter involved in it—spying for me, you might say. Gods help us both if she lets slip any of this.”
They walked in silence for a moment, then Maya asked hotly, “But what about the murder of the Babylonian? You’re closing in on Amen-nefer. Can we just drop that? It was the king himself who gave you that order.”
“Clearly, that takes priority.” Hani didn’t know how to sort all this out, although it certainly wasn’t the first time he’d been given conflicting orders.
“So are we going back up to Djahy?”
“I think we’ll have to. But on the way, I want to make a little stop in Hut-nen-nesut. I’m still wondering what Amen-nefer was doing there seven years ago when he had his run-in with Pa-aten-em-heb’s sister. This must have been immediately before his elevation to commissioner.”
Maya nodded. He said with a smirk, “And you can see the flamingos.”
Hani grinned. “You’re too smart for me, son.”
CHAPTER 13
Lord Hani broke the seals and unfolded the papyrus that a messenger had laid in his hand just as they marched aboard the northbound ferry. “It’s a letter from Pa-kiki.” His straight, tufted eyebrows rose. “He’s on his way back.”
He and Maya were standing side by side at the gunwales of the ferryboat bearing them downriver. “They’re finished with their reconnaissance, my lord?” asked Maya in surprise.
“Apparently so. Pa-kiki says they’re going to stop off in Hut-nen-nesut to visit Pa-aten-em-heb’s family, then come down to Waset.” Hani looked up, his little brown eyes shining. “What a divine coincidence! If we can intercept them, it will make our work there a lot easier.”
“How so?”
“Our officer is from Hut-nen-nesut, remember? He must know of people who know people. Maybe his own family can give us some insights.”
“But how are we ever going to coordinate our arrivals? We don’t even know when they left Djahy.”
“Well, this letter was sent by military courier, so it probably took a rather short time to reach us. They’ll be marching to the coast with all their supplies, then it’s at least ten days back to Men-nefer, then a few more to Hut-nen-nesut. I think we’ll get there before they do.”
Maya made a dubious noise.
“My gut tells me this is a valuable opportunity to gather information, Maya. There’ll be a breakthrough. You watch.” Hani was suddenly quite buoyant. He shaded his eyes with a hand and gazed around over the water then audibly drew in a deep, luxurious breath and expelled it, his wide mouth settling into a smile.
As for Maya, he was rather less optimistic. They’d decided to start their inquiries at the local barracks, thinking Amen-nefer’s fellow officers would surely know something about his posting—if any of them were still around after so many years. Hani was convinced there would be records at least, but Maya wasn’t so sure. Seven years was a long time.
They stood in silence, watching the swirl of the water and listening to the rhythmic splash of the paddles as they raced ahead of the current. From the far bank, afternoon shadows had begun to stretch over a river the deep, earthy green of bloodstone. It was almost too hard to look in that direction. Maya turned his back to the gunwales and gazed up into the dry blue sky, but Lord Hani continued to squint pensively into the west. After a while, a low rumbling began to emerge from him, which Maya realized was off-key humming. Maya suppressed a snicker. For all his many and considerable talents, Hani certainly couldn’t carry a tune.
⸎
In midmorning, they disembarked at Hut-nen-nesut, sacred to the Lord Haru, and clattered down the gangplank, followed by the scribal staff and a few servants. Hani had offered to take Bin-addi to see his people, but he’d begged not to go back. Clearly, he feared that nothing good awaited him in Djahy.
The City of the Sun was a beautiful place—a veritable garden, located as it was on the west bank, at the juncture of the River and the great canal that fed Lake Pa-yom. The finest fruits and vegetables were grown there in the rich soil, irrigated year round by the teeming marshland, so unlike rocky, arid Waset.
“I’ve arranged to stay with the mayor. We can unpack our things, then you and I will make a little trip to the garrison to see if Pa-aten-em-heb is here yet.”
The gods’ protection was definitely still upon them, because Pa-aten-em-heb and his company had only just arrived. Hani and Maya waited in the garrison reception hall while a messenger went to fetch him. Hani gazed around him in satisfaction. Everything was going well, which permitted him to scrub from his mind the disturbing mandate laid upon him by the young queen. But a shadow fell over his good humor as he remembered the look on Nefert-iti’s face at the ceremony of his gold of honor. Could she possibly know what her daughter is up to? And if she knows, does her father, Ay? Meryet-aten had indicated that her mother was ignorant of the switch of babies, but perhaps she’d been in connivance with the plan. Better walk wary, my boy, he warned himself.
Not long after, Pa-aten-em-heb strode into the office with Pa-kiki at his heels.
“Father!” Hani’s son threw himself into his father’s arms for a long, affectionate hug. His superior watched their greeting with a benevolent smile. “It was good of you to sail to meet us here. But we were coming back to Waset.”
“I confess, my noble soldiers, that Maya and I have come to Hut-nen-nesut on business.” He shot a significant glance at Pa-aten-em-heb out of the corner of his eye. “We’re hoping our good commander here can be of some help, since he’s a native of the city.”
Pa-aten-em-heb seemed to understand and said to Pa-kiki, “Why don’t you go and unpack all the documents, my friend.”
Pa-kiki looked surprised and disappointed, but Hani was pleased to see him acquiesce without demur. He obediently took off across the courtyard, a big, lumbering, muscular boy. The last one you’d ever suspect of being a scribe. Hani smiled fondly after him.
“How can I help you, my lord? Is this about the commissioner?” asked Pa-aten-em-heb in a low tone.
Hani nodded in a gesture full of meaning. “I’ve been wondering what brought him to Hut-nen-nesut seven years ago. According to him, he was still on duty in Kumidi at that point. I think this must have been just before he was named to his present office.”
“I suspect we can find that out right here in the garrison, my lord. What if I talk to the archivist? I don’t know how far back the records go.” Pa-aten-em-heb’s face had grown hard. He, more than anyone, had an interest in understanding just why his sister’s attacker had been in the city.
“Shall we wait here for you, then, or meet this evening?”
“Wait for me. It shouldn’t take long to see if we even have a hope for information.” He fi
sted his chest in a conspiratorial salute and took off with a brisk stride into the dark corridors that led away from the reception hall.
As soon as he’d disappeared into the shadows, Hani and Maya exchanged a long look. “He’ll find something,” Hani said confidently. “I just hope it will be something useful.” In fact, he wasn’t quite as optimistic as he managed to sound. It would be interesting to know why Amen-nefer had been in Hut-nen-nesut, but the knowledge might shed no light on his guilt in Shulum-marduk’s murder.
Pa-aten-em-heb was gone a long time. By the time he finally returned, with an older man in civilian dress in tow, Hani and Maya were sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the wall—much to the puzzlement of the officers who passed in and out around them. The scribes scrambled up at the approach of the two men.
“This is Lord Hani, the king’s investigator,” said Pa-aten-em-heb to his companion. “Lord Hani, this is Wah-ib-ra, the garrison archivist. I’m sorry it took us so long to return, but I needed to get the commandant’s permission to bring Wah-ib-ra along.”
The archivist bowed to Hani. He was an elderly, dried-up-looking man with a long, drooping nose—taller than Hani, but Hani thought he probably could have picked Wah-ib-ra up and heaved him across the room, had the need arisen.
“My lord, I have combed the archives for any postings of this Amen-nefer son of Ah-hotep-ra,” said the scribe in a reedy voice. He pulled out a stack of potsherds upon which he had written notes. “Shall I read them to you here?”
“Let’s go to my office,” said Pa-aten-em-heb. He led the way to a small, faceless cubicle resembling the one in Waset where Hani had met with him before. There the four men stood, almost filling the room.
“Maya, my friend, take notes for us, will you?” Hani asked.
The secretary seated himself and prepared to write.
Wah-ib-ra said, “These are only abbreviated copies of the main records, which are in Men-nefer. But here is what I found, my lord. How far back do you want me to go?”
“About twenty years,” said Hani, suddenly thinking of Baket-iset.
“That’s about the time he was transferred from the cavalry to the infantry.” Wah-ib-ra dragged his finger down the potsherd, skimming it.
“Is that normal?” Maya asked.
“Normal? It certainly isn’t common. Normal?” Wah-ib-ra shrugged. “It was by the command of the head of the cavalry, Lord Ay, and our Generalissimo Ra-mes, so I suppose they had their reasons.”
“Where was he seventeen years ago?”
“Let’s see... in Waset, my lord. He was assigned to duty for the jubilee of our lamented Osir Neb-ma’at-ra. He was there for the year. Then he was sent to... Kush, where he helped put down the insurrection. He received the Golden Fly there. It was his second, I believe.”
The mark of conspicuous bravery. He must be a savage on the battlefield, where polite custom isn’t holding him back from violence.
“From there, he was sent to Ullaza for two years, then back to Waset, under Lord Ay’s orders. Let’s see... to Djahy, where he won another Golden Fly when his troops were ambushed. Back to Waset for a month, and then Djahy again. Then, about seven years ago, he was posted here briefly, with the assignment to escort a woman from the House of Royal Ornaments back to the capital. That would be the new capital, my lord.” The scribe looked up with his dark-ringed eyes as if to be sure Hani understood the geography involved.
But capital wasn’t the word that had caught Hani’s ear. “To escort a woman, you say? What woman? One of the Royal Ornaments?”
“A servant, my lord. It just says a servant woman.”
Hani and Maya exchanged a puzzled glance. That sounded like a bad combination—Amen-nefer and a lower-class woman who would be at his mercy, together on a boat for weeks.
Pa-aten-em-heb said skeptically, “I’m not sure why a servant needs an escort. And Amen-nefer is an officer. Were they carrying some sort of secret cargo?”
“It says ‘request of the God’s Father,’ my lord. I can’t tell you anything else.”
But you just told us something very interesting. “What’s next, my good man?”
“Then shortly after... he was sent back to Djahy, where he earned another Golden Fly. And then he was appointed commissioner of Kumidi.”
At whose instigation, I wonder? “Any record of censures? I had heard he was reprimanded for fighting a time or two,” Hani said.
“Yes, my lord. But you didn’t say you wanted those records.” Wah-ib-ra looked back and forth apologetically between Hani and Pa-aten-em-heb.
Hani answered for them both. “Not for now. I think we have the general picture. Thank you for your cooperation.” He smiled genially, although within him, anger was starting to build up like steam in a closed pot.
The archivist bowed, pleased. “Anything for the royal investigator.” He bowed again, a gesture that included Pa-aten-em-heb, and padded away on his bare feet.
Hani and the officer were left staring at each other.
“Why does Ay keep recurring in his dossier? The God’s Father got him transferred to the infantry.” Pa-aten-em-heb looked thoughtful.
“And he wasn’t even God’s Father twenty years ago,” Maya said, getting to his feet.
“No, just a cavalry officer. And then he calls him back from overseas to escort a servant woman to the capital. What’s that all about?” Hani stroked his chin, pondering. “One gets the feeling that Ay was using him as a sort of personal agent, beginning with Amen-nefer’s years in the cavalry. I guess that’s not too unusual, but that he got him switched to the infantry and still continued to give him orders...”
“Well, Ay was the late king’s brother-in-law and cousin as well. I suppose he had more clout than the average cavalry officer, even then,” said Pa-aten-em-heb with a sneer. “He certainly picked a fine specimen to be his personal agent. A soldier who was repeatedly censured for brawling.”
“Perhaps that’s what attracted him to Amen-nefer—his propensity for violence. If the tasks Ay had him carry out were, let’s say, assassinations or roughing people up...” Hani had a suspicion that was true, but it would be hard to prove. And if it were true, then obtaining any kind of justice for Amen-nefer had just grown immensely more unlikely.
“Surely all the things we know he did do will weigh against him, my lord,” said Maya as if he’d read Hani’s thoughts.
“I think we need to go back up to Djahy. I want to talk to Lord Ptah-mes about all this, see if there’s any other information on our criminal from his record of overseas postings. It was Ptah-mes who first told me he was a despicable person. He must have been getting that from somewhere.”
Pa-aten-em-heb said, “I’m sorry I won’t be able to accompany you, Lord Hani, but I’ll send some men as an escort.”
Hani grinned and clapped the officer on both arms. “Thank you, my friend. You’ve been more than helpful. Will you visit your family while you’re here?”
“I will indeed. And I offer to take you to see the marshes in the lake, if you have time.”
Longing overwhelmed Hani as if it were teasing his heart out of his chest, drawing it toward the placid waters of the lake and the birds that lived there. A trip without goal on the water, with the spectacle of the flamingos and the beauty of the summer morning... It seemed like a million years since he’d floated quietly on his little reed boat among the peaceful reeds, where no crimes disturbed his tranquility. “I’m afraid we need to get back up north,” he said reluctantly. “But I’ll hold you to that promise.”
The men parted company, and Hani and Maya left the shadowy confines of the garrison offices.
They made their way, silent except for the clopping of their sandals, across the spacious court and out the gate, where two pairs of soldiers kept guard. No one spoke until they’d gone some distance down the street toward the mayor’s residence.
“What do you think, Lord Hani? Sounds like our man is in thick with the God’s Father.” Maya’s e
yes were bright with the fierce light of discovery.
“It does. But I can’t see that that has any connection with the murder of a Babylonian diplomat.”
“What motive might Lord Ay have for provoking an international incident, do you think?”
“None that I can see. Unless he is, in fact, angling for the throne and wants to embarrass Nefer-khepru-ra.” Hani added sarcastically, “Life, prosperity, and health to him, of course.”
They walked on in pensive silence once more. After a while, Maya said, “Maybe that’s exactly it.”
Hani rolled that over in his thoughts. Is it conceivable that Ay directed Amen-nefer to do away with a member of the embassy from Sangar, hoping to stir up trouble between Sangar and the Two Lands? As close to the king as he was, the God’s Father would no doubt have been aware of the mission of the Babylonians, and he might well have told Amen-nefer to be on the watch for them. Hani gave a bark of bitter laughter.
“What would we do without Lord Ay to blame for everything? It’s just as likely that the commissioner lost his temper with Shulum-marduk and flew into a murderous rage.” The affair left a sour taste in his mouth. Amen-nefer’s whole record marked him as a dangerous man, yet no one had ever—successfully—called him to account. Instead, he’d been promoted.
Is ma’at never served in this kingdom? If someone had actually stopped him early in his career, he wouldn’t have pushed Baket-iset from the boat. He wouldn’t have defiled Pa-aten-em-heb’s sister.
Hani marched in disgusted silence for a while, and then he said with a sigh, “We’ll leave tomorrow for Azzati.”
⸎
Hut-nen-nesut wasn’t far from the coast of the Great Green, so barely two weeks had passed by the time Hani and Maya set foot in the administrative capital of the northern vassal states. Ptah-mes welcomed them with evident pleasure. “How goes it, Hani? Neferet told me your daughter had been ill.”
“She was, my lord. But thanks to Neferet and her friend, she pulled through. It was almost miraculous,” Hani said, thinking of the Serqet amulet. “My daughter has been writing you?”