Harmony layered upon harmony, my song echoed in a triple round. Their candles twinkled as did their eyes. The female workers welcomed me. Pink lights emitted from their hearts and warmed the frozen pain in mine. Baskets of plump red grapes and juicy pomegranates were presented with offerings of handmade necklaces of red faience beads. Casks of red wine flowed near trays piled with red safflower petals and withania berries. I understood the symbolism between the red gifts and my first blood. This wave of light parted in hushed reverence, allowing passage toward an altar positioned directly under the bursting gold moon.
Several of the women united their candles to light Amaret’s candle, which she extended to ignite my taper. “I stand before you and present Merit-Aten, beloved daughter of Per Aat Nefertiti and Pharaoh Akhenaten. She is the fruit of their loins and she has now awakened.”
The women sang, “Sweet, sweet of light, the daughter of the sun. Sweet, sweet of light, the first-born. She is the Royal Daughter. A beauty of a woman. A virgin untouched. Lovely brown are her eyes like precious wood.”
“Hail to Merit-Aten,” responded Amaret.
“Sweet, sweet the laughter and humor of the daughter of Aten. Whose mission is to bring others into the glory of Atenic light,” sang the crowd.
“Hail to Merit-Aten,” rejoiced Amaret. Then she handed me a golden goblet filled with wine. “Drink of the blood of life. Drink of the blood of the moon.”
I drank. A headiness enveloped me. Overwhelming love washed over me.
“Drink to the Deities of Love, for you have now come of age to choose a consort. Your body is ready to give birth. Hail to you, Merit-Aten, The Akh of the Sun, Shadow of her Mother,” chimed the women.
A cheer boomed at this proclamation. My head spun. Time to choose a consort and have a child of my own? My heart raced as I recalled the blond boy. The destiny Meti predicted had arrived. I would bear the heirs she craved and she wasn’t here to congratulate me. Was this the path Celestial Lords deemed in order for me to save my family?
“Extend your hands,” said Amaret.
“Why?” I whispered with great alarm. I hid them behind my back and shuddered.
“To receive your blessing. These new markings will signify your coming of age.” Amaret extended her hands, ready to accept mine. I quaked and slowly held out my hands. Then I remembered her blindness. Why worry? Amaret couldn’t see anything. I shut my eyes and prayed to Aten. Please let the night sky mask my shame and dark-rimmed fingers.
Amaret unwrapped my sloppy bandages. I bent my fingers to hide my nails. An Aten priestess took a fine brush and painted a sacred symbol in red pigment on the back of my hands then bound them with a loose rope of red linen. I felt thankful that in the dark no one noticed my nails.
Amaret held my hands within hers and I could feel the power come through hers. Then she suddenly yanked hers away. “Merit-Aten, what have you done?”
For my sake, Amaret waited like a gracious hostess until our guests departed. Then she squeezed my elbow and wouldn’t let me wander far from her side. When the last villager bade me goodnight, Amaret marched me back to my underground chamber.
“What mischief have you gotten yourself into? I can feel the evil that creeps upon cat toes around you. Your energy is unstable. You had better confess to me now. By love of the Aten, I must know the truth.” She would have glowered at me if she still had her sight.
“I, uh,” I stammered. I felt deeply ashamed. “I just wanted my cat. I wanted a friend. There is no one for me to play with. The villagers do not want me to join them because of my rank. I get lonely.” My tears fell because I admitted it out loud. I’d never voiced the deep sorrow locked within my heart. I didn’t want anyone to worry about me. Everyone had so much responsibility.
“A cat? Or a demon? Tell me you did not conjure up that ghost from the underworld. Where did you learn to do this magic?” Amaret jerked me toward her. Her perspiration spiked the night air.
My eyes grew large. I couldn’t tell her about my moonstone or the deal with Sit-Amun.
“Merit-Aten, if I put my hand upon your head, I swear that I will make your memories reveal themselves to me. I warn you, child, if you have done any conjuring, I shall thrash your bottom even if you are a woman now.”
“Amaret, if I tell you please do not tell anyone. I cannot bear to hurt my father or Pentu.”
“Tell me, now so that I can take care of your mischief.”
“Back at Abydos, Sit-Amun gave me a token. She promised me the power to bring back my cat, Asgat. So I agreed to help her.”
“Help her how?”
“To get Mery-Ptah released from his imprisonment at the Aswan quarry.”
“That is impossible. Yet you agreed to this abomination? You know Mery-Ptah is dangerous.”
“I told her I could not do it, but she made me take the moonstone and try.”
“So you took this amulet and wished for your dead cat?”
“Yes.”
“We must find that cat and send it back to the underworld. You brought back a mirror image of your cat, a shadow, but it belongs in the underworld, not here among the Sesh. It will bring nothing but misery. Then we must destroy that moonstone. Do you realize that Sit-Amun uses the stone to keep watch upon you? She feeds upon your energy and steals your essence.”
“How could she steal it?” I asked and shuddered.
“You are meant to do great things, Merit-Aten. You have to make a choice.”
“What choice?”
“You either walk the path toward the Aten or away. If you take the path of sorcery and magic, you will be lead to the dark side. That is the path of Amun, The Hidden One.”
“I would never take the path of Amun,” I said and jerked her sleeve.
“It never dawned on me that I would have to warn you of this treachery. I thought we had escaped Sit-Amun’s transgressions, but apparently we have not.” She held out her hand, “I must destroy that amulet.”
I dug deep into my basket of clothes. As I handed it over, my very touch made the fiery rainbows leap from it. Amaret snatched it from my hand and hurled it to the floor. She took my granite cat statue of Bastet and smashed the amulet to pieces and then scooped them up. My heart ached. I would never have magic.
“We must send that demon back. I will heal your hands and nothing more will be said.”
Amaret turned her back to me and started her incantations. I cried and said my goodbyes to Asgat. A brilliant gleam caught my eye. Amaret had missed one small piece of the moonstone. A tiny remembrance couldn’t hurt. I pushed it under my bed with my foot even though I knew that there was something bad connected to that stone.
Nefertiti’s glorious procession toward the Main Palace made me squirm with anticipation. Twenty rows of soldiers marched ahead. Young maidens threw flowers and silver into the throng of cheering well-wishers. Nubian dancers did acrobatics to entertain us. Nefertiti, She who Walks In Harmony, She Who is the Shining Emanation of the Sun, steered her electrum chariot drawn by four prancing stallions up the Royal Road.
When did she learn to steer a chariot? Grand Djedti would be irate. The regal Per Aat waved, drinking in the rejuvenating praises of her worshipers after the long barge ride from Thebes. For many of our ever-growing mass of citizens, it would be their first glimpse of the beauteous one whose legacy was cast over them like the fine silk of a spider’s web. They prostrated themselves to her Majesty along the sandy byways.
Their children would know of this. And their children’s children would be told of the day Nefertiti came home. My heart quickened like the red flags flicking upon her chariot. I would crawl upon bended knee in the desert for a hundred years to have her back. I would gladly repent all my wrongdoings.
Her protector, General Horemheb, drove behind her, snapping his whip at the red horses. The crowd roared. Lines of gilt palanquins followed carrying my sisters, Meket-Aten, Ankh-es-en-pa-Aten, the twins, Nefernefru-Aten the Younger and Nefernefrure plus their nurse- maids. The pa
geant wound its way up The Royal Road. My exhilaration heightened. Netri, usually calm and contained, issued constant orders to his administrators.
“Pa-Nesy, did they find fresh papyrus for the vases?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, the room servant picked them this morning.”
“And lotus? She prefers the blue ones floating in the pools.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, blue lotus and candles scented with rose oil float in all the viewing pools.”
“The elation of my Heart’s first visit to our new city of the Sun has me light-headed.” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, causing the ceremonial belt with the bull’s tail to swing against his starched linen kilt.
“Most Sovereign Grand Lord, all is in order,” replied Pa-Nesy.
My father and I positioned ourselves in the Window of Appearances on the three arched bridge over the Royal Road. The grand procession, now in full view, moved so close I could see the white of Meti’s smile. She wore the blue war crown, the signature of her triumphant defeat of Sit-Amun. The embroidery on her duckling-yellow sheath featured shells and turquoise beads, emphasizing the turquoise woven shawl drawn over her shoulder and tied under her exposed breast.
The dancers, flower girls, and soldiers dispersed to the sides as the Per Aat halted her chariot. Nefertiti raised her head like a flower blossoming in the first rays of spring. Those dark kohled eyes enticed us with her sensuality. She, the ladle of water, quenched our thirst in this barren desert. We stepped closer to the window. I waved with vigor as the golden beads on the long echeloned curls attached to my braided wig tickled my shoulders. Mother responded with a slight nod of indifference, making her ever more desirous. My heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe. What if she denied me?
With grand elegance, she dismounted her chariot and cast the reins to the stable boy. Standing there draped in the yellow rays of the sun, she lifted her hands in jubilation to the Aten. A whisper of a smile crossed her face. My father reached out the open window to anoint her with his love. Clusters of caretakers huddled over the well-adorned children like mother hens.
“Merit-Aten,” whispered my father.
“Yes?” I answered him, but it was Meti who garnered my sole attention. “Wave to the crowd. When we wave, our followers will feel the blessing of the Aten. See, like this.” He demonstrated. “Once we have addressed our citizens, we will receive your mother and her entourage in the privacy of our inner chambers.”
With my palm up, I waved with outward extending gestures. Our well-wishers dropped to their knees, bowed and extended their arms out straight. Nefertiti turned at a right angle and walked toward the door. She moved so fast that my father made a swift bow to the crowd and backed away from the window, hoping to reach the stairs to the reception chamber to precede her.
He steadied his hand upon my shoulder as we descended. We brushed past the guards and quickly strode down the hall so that nothing would deflect us from our destination. I took three steps to every one of his.
Golden violet light encircled his head.
“The first reception room to the right,” Netri ordered. We arrived only a fox snarl sooner than she did, huffing to quell our racing hearts.
“My Heart,” she said with demure smile. “How lovely to see you.” She went into his arms and he hugged her with a tenderness that made my heart ache with joy. Their lips locked in sweet embrace.
“Merit-Aten, you are a blossoming lotus,” she said, surveying the new curves of my body. Her eyes drew to the knotted sheath under my right bare breast. She noticed I copied her style.
“Congratulations for becoming a woman.” She draped a heavy golden collar laced with yellow and blue faience beads upon my neck.
The rose of my cheeks bloomed. “Yes, Meti, thank you.” I would run into her arms but the clatter of feet broke loose down the blue tiled hallway. Our attention turned to the uproar.
“Merit,” squealed Meket-Aten, pale and thin as she thrust herself into my arms. I kissed her shaved skull. Now eight, she looked like me except for her coloring.
“Meti,” wailed Ankhi, an angular five-year-old with a rounded head like Meti’s. She clung to her and whined. “I dropped my honey cake and Sotet says I cannot have another one. I want another one. Meket had two.”
“Is this my little Ankhi?” asked Netri with longing.
“Netri,” the girls screamed and ran to his open arms. He sprinkled them with kisses.
Lines of nursemaids and personal attendants scurried into the reception room. Their leather sandals sounded hollow on the tile. Two full-breasted women each carried an identical plump baby with an elongated skull.
The wet-nurses, I thought. So these must be my two new sisters.
“My Heart, allow me to present the fruit of your loins, your venerable daughters Nefernefruaten-Tasherit and Nefernefrure.”
My father held the babies with pride, displaying the precious bundles to the gathering crowd of his administrators and guards. Pentu approached the Per Aat. His shaved skull glistened with spikenard oil.
“Salutations, Your Highness. We are humbled to receive these beautiful daughters.” He straightened. “I trust your delivery went well with the twins? I prepared to be in attendance, but I did not receive any message.”
Pentu bowed from the waist with hands crossed over his collar bone. It was clear he thought it odd that she didn’t summon him.
“Greetings, Pentu, Humble Court Physician. Your services were not required. They attended me well at Denderah, I assure you.”
“That is a blessing. I thought I heard that your delivery was arduous and that complications of dehydration followed. I must be mistaken.”
“Indeed your information is erroneous.” Meti’s face tightened.
“The Aten has shined down upon you, for they are of good weight and color,” added Pentu as he touched the cheek of the baby closest to him and smiled with approval.
“I hired two wet-nurses to be in attendance at all times,” Meti said, and gave her golden earring a yank.
“Then you are not giving suckle to our children? But you have always deemed it a priority to nurse,” replied my father in a hushed tone of surprise. “Your essence must be transmitted through the nourishment in your milk.”
My mother pursed her lips then replied in kind, “My Heart, as you have never lent your breasts to two mouths in constant search, I did not consult you. My decision allows me a full night’s sleep, or to attend to the multitude of other duties for which I am still responsible.”
Netri’s face reddened, but in the open air portico with the sun’s unsympathetic rays, it would have been difficult for others to detect.
“Apuati,” said Pentu with the tone of a soothing salve, “Great Sovereign Lord of Light, this court is blessed with twins representing the dual light of the physical and the Cosmic Sun. Twins are rare and most auspicious, so the healthier these children of the Aten are, the greater your reign of glory will be. Let them drink and grow plump.”
“Ah, yes,” replied my father.
More attendants shot through the doors, chattering like peasants haggling in the market. They herded in a large group of adolescents. One angry woman wrapped in a green sheath pulled along a boy by his ear. He tilted his head down with respect. His halo of golden hair glistened. “What is that squawking about?” demanded Meti.
“Your Majesty, I am sorry, but this little ichneumon stole all my boiled eggs from the basket and ate them,” replied the enraged cook. I laughed at the cook, comparing the boy to a mongoose that crept up the papyrus stems to rob eggs from the nests.
The cook shoved the boy down at the feet of Meti. “Admit your thievery to your Per Aat.”
Shadow of the Sun (The Shadow Saga) Page 27