Iry and I were traveling to Nubt by ourselves. We assumed any of Sabu’s men we might encounter in the desert wouldn’t suspect that a man traveling with a pregnant woman was trying to sneak into Nubt. I’d been with Iry from dawn until late every night the past week, going over battle plans with Scorpion and Mekatre and Niay. Niay was going to command the three boats of the strike force with its hundred soldiers; his oarsmen would fight too if necessary. With my knowledge of the stretch of river beholden to Nubt I’d been able to correct a few mistaken assumptions in Iry’s plan about the location of hamlets and the danger they posed and the feasibility of camping sites. Niay would have to make camp twice; his boats were fast with their sails raised but Nubt was a three-day journey from Hiw. Niay had vowed to make it in two, using both sails and oarsmen. I’d spent a great deal of that week alone with Iry, drawing the layout of the per’aa and the streets of Nubt, plotting how we were going to get into Sabu’s room to kill him and then escape Nubt without being detected. United in a common cause, the last of the barriers that had stood between us since my arrival in Tjeni had disappeared. Our only disagreement the entire time had been who would actually get to cut Sabu’s throat. We both had a compelling reason.
We reached the trail I’d traveled north on with Antef at midday. We found some shade and rested until late in the afternoon, when the heat was bearable. We continued until we could no longer see the trail, then camped without a fire, munching bread and some dried meat, drinking water from a leather pouch. I lay awake long after Iry had fallen asleep. I could hardly believe that after so many years and so much heartache I was finally going to make Sabu pay for his sins. He had only days to live. Only days to spread his evil through the world. I knew it and he didn’t. That made the thought that much sweeter. The sky was so bright with stars I could clearly see Iry’s face. I stared at him for a long time. I wondered if he was dreaming about Tamit. Or if he was dreaming about avenging her.
Three nights later found us camped at the tableaux I’d explained to Abedu when Antef had been transporting me to the North. It affected Iry much more powerfully than it had Abedu. In fact, when I awakened a little after dawn and crawled out of the cave he was sitting in front of it, staring at the images.
“Been awake long?” I asked, handing him a crust of bread.
“Since it was light enough to see. I feel like I did at Tiaa’s kiln in Nekhen, Matia. I feel the spirits of the ancients all around us when I look at the sheep and dogs.”
“And one of your father’s spies when you see the rest?”
Iry laughed.
I offered him the waterskin.
He drank deeply.
“I’m truly sorry I deceived you at Nekhen, Iry,” I said sincerely, sitting with my legs folded under next to him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was only thinking about what I needed back then, who I could use to stop Sabu. I didn’t consider how what I was doing would affect you.”
“I don’t blame you anymore, Matia. Tamit made me see that you were attacking Sabu the only way you could. You were the only weapon you could wield.”
“That’s how I thought of myself back then, Iry – a weapon. Frankly, I still do. Since I was five years old I’d been promised to Baki. I hated him. Father didn’t care. He’d given me to Baki and that was that. I was going to be his property. Father didn’t care that he’d denied me the opportunity to love the man I married. I think living under that sentence for so long killed my ability to love.”
“You didn’t love Pentu?”
“I chose him over Baki because he had power and Baki didn’t. I chose Pentu because he was more likely to stop Sabu than Baki was. Pentu was extremely good to me, Iry. He loved me deeply. I should have let myself love him back. But my obsession with Sabu kept me from realizing that until it was too late.”
“Do you think you could’ve kept up the illusion that you loved me if we’d actually married, Matia?”
“I would’ve tried, Iry. Frankly, I think I might have fallen in love for real with the man Tamit told me about, the man I saw her with that one week in Tjeni and ever since.”
“That man wouldn’t have existed without Tamit,” Iry said. “I’m better because of her.”
“The love you share with your daughters, Iry – I had that with my son, Pabasa. But Sabu took him away from me. I miss Pabasa so much.”
“I miss Tamit.”
I was shocked he’d finally admitted it to me. He’d been so private, so withdrawn with everyone except Sety, ever since her death. “I was lucky enough to get the briefest glimpse of Tamit, Iry. What was she like with you? If you don’t mind me asking. I understand if talking about her is too painful.”
“The first time I met Tamit she was filthy and sweaty and lugging a jar full of ivory figurines nearly as big as she was,” Iry replied. “She argued with an overseer and spoke to me as if she was my equal. In the next few weeks she spat at me, yelled at me in front of overseers and commoners, threw a leather pouch at me, called me a fool to my face.”
All the things Tamit had told me.
“Not only couldn’t I stand her, I was this close to exiling her from Ptah’s Settlement.” He held up two fingers, an inch apart.
“Then how did you two get together?”
“She forced me to change my opinion of her. Tamit had figured out how to control goods that flowed through Ptah’s Settlement, something I believed was absolutely crucial. I didn’t want to listen. She hounded me until I relented. Her idea was revolutionary. Too revolutionary for the harbormaster and other overseers. They refused to implement her idea. She went around them and did it anyway. That’s when I realized she was a treasure. When she knew she was right she wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in her way. I set aside my preconceived ideas and let her operate freely and she blossomed. She became my most valuable overseer.”
“I still can’t believe you appointed a woman as overseer.”
“Not just a woman, Matia. A commoner. A common woman who deserved to be an overseer. Talk about having to discard preconceived notions. Anyway, one day I realized I loved Tamit. It was like I’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. And when I found out she loved me too – it was the best day of my life.” Iry looked off into the distance. “I pictured us growing old together, more daughters, sons. But now… Anyway, I have my girls. And the memory of Tamit to hold on to. I’ll never love anyone again the way I loved her. Our love was once in a lifetime.”
“Maybe the gods kept us apart so you could find each other,” I said.
“The thought has occurred to me.” Iry smiled slightly. “Maybe someday, after Father dies, you’ll find love too, Matia. Seems to me you’ve endured enough suffering and loneliness in your life.”
“I appreciate that, Iry. Speaking of your father, it might amuse you to know I traveled this same obscure hunting trail and passed this tableaux on my way to Pe and Dep because Antef was afraid Scorpion had men watching this desert. Sabu told the guide he’d assigned to our caravan to take us this way.”
“Despite his bluster, deep down Sabu’s afraid of Father.”
I nodded. “This trail we’ve been following since yesterday afternoon intersects the caravan route into Nubt a few miles from here. It’s well-guarded. Permanent manned posts dot the high ground. Travel’s easy – the trail swings around the southern end of the cliffs that rise west of Nubt.”
“I suspect we’re not going to take that trail.”
“We’re going to divert to another hunting trail I know half a mile from this spot. It’ll take us to the north end of the cliffs, which is where we want to be – Harwa’s farm is north of Nubt. The trail’s much longer and more rugged than the southern route – it winds back and forth through numerous wadis and crosses many low rocky ridges, but it’s safer. Hardly anyone uses it, and we can’t be seen from a distance. The last part’s tricky – we’ll have to zigzag down the cliff face. Thing is, we have to walk the rest of the way from here. The ground’s too broken for donkeys.”
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Iry bit into the bread, then rose. “Let’s get started.”
We reached Harwa’s farm late that afternoon. We were hot and dusty and sweaty and our throats were parched. Harwa was cutting emmer with a flint scythe and Khentetka was following after, bundling stalks together and tying them with long grass stems. Khentetka spotted me.
“Matia! Majesty!” She rushed across the field to me and embraced me. “I thought you were dead! Murdered! We had word from Tjeni. Then months later we heard you were alive!” She stepped back, looked at my belly. “You’re really married to King Scorpion? You carry his child?”
“I do.” I took her hand. “How about you? Any more besides Little Matia?”
A darkness passed across Khentetka’s eyes. “She died, Majesty. She got sick a few months ago. She wasn’t quite four.”
“I’m so sorry, Khentetka.” I took her in my arms. “I didn’t know.”
“Thank you, Majesty. I’m sorry about Pabasa too. I tried to see you when I heard he’d died. They wouldn’t let me in the per’aa.”
“Sabu murdered him,” I said bitterly. “Just like he murdered Father and Pentu.”
Khentetka was shocked. “Everyone said you and Pentu killed the king.”
“Sabu lied.”
“I didn’t believe it, Majesty,” she said loyally. “Neither did Harwa. Not knowing you the way we do.”
I released her. I indicated my companion. “This is Iry, King Scorpion’s son.”
Her eyes widened in amazement. She bowed. “Majesty!”
“Get us out of sight before anyone sees us,” I said urgently.
“Of course.” Khentetka hustled us into her nearby hut. She unrolled the reed mat from the lintel once we were inside and dropped it to cover the entrance. “Would you like food and drink?”
“No time. Bring Harwa to me. We have much to do and little time to do it.”
“At once, Majesty.” She left.
I glanced around Khentetka’s familiar hut where I’d spent so much time as a girl. I knew where everything was. I poured Iry and me some beer. We’d barely settled ourselves when Harwa and Khentetka entered.
Harwa fell to his knees. “Majesties.”
Khentetka had obviously told him about Iry.
“Harwa, I need you to go to Nubt,” I said. “Along the river where the fishermen live. Find Bebi. Tell him to bring his five most trustworthy brothers and cousins to me here as soon as possible. Tell him they need to come separately and make sure they’re not followed.”
“I’m on my way, Majesty,” Harwa said. He dashed out. No questioning. No disputing. Blind obedience.
While we waited for him to return I filled Khentetka in on everything that had happened since the last time Pentu and I held a secret meeting in her hut – his and Father’s and Pabasa’s murders, the alliance, my escape, my marriage to Scorpion, Tamit’s death. The last had been particularly painful for Iry to listen to.
“My condolences, Majesties,” Khentetka said when I concluded. “You’ve come here to make King Sabu pay, haven’t you.”
It wasn’t a question. I nodded. “I’m going to kill him.”
“He’s a brutal man and he deserves to die,” she said.
Men began slowly trickling into the hut over the next hour – first Harwa, then Bebi, then his brothers Buneb and Ankhaf, then his cousins Hor and Huni and Parahotep. Khentetka had lit a lamp while we were waiting and we all gathered close around it. Khentetka stationed herself just inside the door, moving the mat slightly aside and peering out constantly to make sure no one was approaching.
“Is it true, Majesty? Is Scorpion’s army on the way?” Bebi asked me.
“It is, Cousin.”
“King Sabu ordered almost everyone into the fields two days ago – craftsmen, hunters, every woman and child from the settlement, herders – to bring in as much grain as possible,” Bebi reported. “He’s sent to Nekhen for more soldiers. Everyone’s spending nighttime carrying their possessions inside the walls. Everyone’s terrified that Scorpion will raze Nubt to the ground. They’re terrified what his soldiers will do to them.”
“Iry and I are here to prevent that.”
“How?” Bebi asked.
I looked at each man in turn. “I’m going to kill Sabu, with your help. Assuming the elites surrender peacefully afterwards, Scorpion will spare Nubt.”
“We’re with you, Majesty,” Bebi said without hesitation.
The rest nodded.
Briefly, I diagrammed my plan in the dirt. “We’ll sneak into the settlement a couple at a time. We’ll rendezvous outside the per’aa, in the shadows. Hor, Huni, Parahotep – you’ll overwhelm the guards at its entrance, then guard it. Bebi, Buneb, Ankhaf – you’ll go inside with Iry and me to secure the corridor. Iry and I will sneak into Sabu’s room and kill him. Then we’ll all sneak out of the settlement and hide on this farm until Scorpion arrives.”
I caught the sideways glances my cousins exchanged. Unenthusiastic glances. My plan was, admittedly, flimsy and risky and short on detail, with no certainty of success. What I dared not tell any of them, not even Iry, was that as long as I reached Sabu and killed him I didn’t care about escaping the per’aa alive. I didn’t dare tell them I was willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for Sabu’s too. But I was. What I’d experienced in Sabu’s service the past year had hardened me into a woman I scarcely recognized.
“What if we’re challenged outside the walls?” Buneb asked. “At the gate? At the entrance of the per’aa? At the gate when we’re leaving?”
“Kill anyone who tries to stop us,” Iry said menacingly. “No matter what – one of us has to get inside Sabu’s room and kill him. And, just as importantly, we have to make sure Matia stays alive afterwards. The valley’s future depends on it.”
“It’s going to be very difficult for you to make it as far as the per’aa, Majesty,” Huni warned me. “The streets will be filled with people moving their possessions in from the unwalled section. Soldiers will be stationed everywhere. Lots of eyes on you. Eyes that’ll recognize you. Remember – Sabu’s ordered everyone to kill you on sight.”
Murmurs of affirmation.
“Iry and I will do this by ourselves if we have to,” I said quietly.
“We will,” Iry confirmed grimly.
There was a long silence. My cousins continued exchanging doubtful glances with each other. I reflected that it’d probably be better if Iry and I snuck into Nubt alone. It’d be more difficult, but none of my cousins would have to die.
“There may be a way to get all of us inside the per’aa without raising suspicion, Majesty,” Bebi finally said.
“I’m listening.”
“The drawback is we’ll be very obvious.” Bebi addressed Iry. “Majesty, Sabu stripped me and my family of everything we own and made us fishermen after he seized the throne. Huni and I snagged a perch a few hours ago – six feet long, at least one hundred pounds. My cousins and I and you could openly carry it through the gate and all the way to the per’aa and tell the guards there it’s for King Sabu. No one would question so many men carrying such a heavy fish.”
“Catch the guards off guard, if you know what I mean,” Hor said.
Everyone chuckled.
“I like it,” Iry said. “Excellent idea.”
“Getting into the per’aa will be the easy part,” Bebi said. “We won’t have a fish to use as a prop on the way out. We’ll have to sneak out of the per’aa and Nubt one or two at a time, so we won’t attract attention. You’ll have to keep your face covered coming and going, Majesty. Don’t look directly at anyone. Stick to the shadows. The tricky part will be getting you past the guards at the gate. They check everyone who passes through.”
“If we have to fight it’ll be there,” Iry surmised. “Two of you should walk a dozen paces ahead of Matia and two more a dozen behind. The rest of us should walk next to her. If guards challenge her attack them immediately. Matia – run as fast as you can for Harwa’s farm.
We’ll hold them off so you can escape.”
“Understood.”
“What about me?” Harwa asked. “How can I help?”
“You’ll be useless in the per’aa, Harwa,” I said. “You’ve never been inside like the rest of us have. But there’s another part to our mission. Go to the granaries. Pour oil in them. Ruin the emmer.”
“We’ll starve!” Hor objected.
“King Scorpion will send enough grain from Tjeni to feed everyone in Nubt – as much as you need,” Iry promised. “Our granaries are overflowing with emmer and barley from the delta. I assure you, King Scorpion has nothing against the people of Nubt – only its king.”
“A sentiment we share,” Hor affirmed.
“I’ll help Harwa,” Khentetka said. “It’ll look less suspicious that way than a man walking the streets alone.”
“I’m grateful for your help,” Iry said. “All of you.”
“Iry and I will return here once Sabu’s dead,” I told everyone. “The rest of you should return to your homes as soon as we escape Nubt.”
We ate and drank and went over and over our plan until I judged it was late enough that Sabu had probably gone to bed. Then we set out for Nubt, separately, except for Iry. He accompanied me since he wasn’t familiar with the countryside and would have gotten lost in the dark. I was practically trembling with anticipation. A few minutes more and Sabu was going to be dead. I’d finally fulfill the promise I’d made to avenge Hetshet and Father and Pentu and Pabasa. We rendezvoused near the huts where the fishermen lived. Our conspirators were waiting with the perch. Huni was carrying a torch to light our way. The perch was huge. Bebi was right – no one would question the need for so many lugging it.
We made it past the guards at the gate of the walled section without incident. They were more interested in the perch than us. They didn’t even look at me. The lanes were packed inside, everyone frantic thanks to Scorpion’s approaching boats, no one paying particular attention to anyone else. A few people cursed us, dodging around our fish. Soon we sighted the per’aa.
House of Scorpion Page 46