by Anton Gill
‘You are honoured,’ said Samut, who was standing nearby.
‘Yes.’
‘I will not forget my promise to you. If you wish, you must stay with me until your house is ready.’
Huy noticed the new note of respect in Samut’s voice and smiled inside himself. Perhaps after all things would go well here.
Chapter Five
The house was raised above the level of the garden which surrounded it. A baked earth ramp into which shallow steps had been cut led up to the front door, which was heavy, and surrounded by a lintel as impressive as that of a temple, the expensive cedar wood oiled but otherwise left plain. The walls of the house were plastered and painted white, and the four high windows had their frames picked out in yellow. Above them were the roof vents which would catch the north wind and cool the interior.
To either side of the door stood a fig tree and a date palm, and in the garden, surrounded by ferns and lotuses, an oblong pool on which lilies floated. Senseneb had embraced Samut when he had first shown her the place, and even Huy, who did not care so much about where he lived, found that after the shortest possible time his ideas about looking for a farm began gratefully to fade. he had put up a token fight, but Senseneb had found him easy to defeat. She had in any case decided that if he remained stubborn, he would go alone into the countryside. One of her first visits in Meroe had been to the new House of Healing, and she knew that she could thrive here.
Samut, too, was a persuasive man, and even a cursory look at the trading district of Meroe half-convinced Huy that here were challenges to his resourcefulness which he would like to take up, and that the opportunities were such that even one possessed of as little business acumen as he felt he had could barely go wrong.
But it would not be straight away that he would be bargaining with those who brought the caravans of the goods from the south. It was not out of pure friendship alone that Ankhsi had met them on their arrival, and it took all the former queen’s courtesy and training in hospitality to allow them to settle before she broached the question of her problem. Senseneb’s engagement as her personal physician was taken for granted, but there had to be a formal ceremony of appointment and this was the excuse for Huy’s first interview. The scribe was eager to deal with the matter too, not least because a certain aloofness in Tascherit’s attitude perturbed him. He had no desire to start any kind of investigation without the blessing of Ankhsi’s husband.
Senseneb’s induction was brief, and few people were present, but it was conducted with all the ritual of major occasions, and Huy noticed here another example of the wealth of the town, for everyone’s clothes, from the tanned and lustrous skin of the spotted cat worn by the presiding priest to the jewel-encrusted girdles of the shemayet, who chanted their hymns to the accompaniment of the gold-handled sistra they rattled with their right hands, were of exquisite quality. It was an unselfconscious wealth, too: not such as Huy remembered seeing in the Northern Capital, where it was often displayed almost as a challenge to the more powerful capital of the south.
When he had asked Samut about it, the merchant had looked modest. ‘Most of what arrives here merely passes through on its way to the north; but yes, some crumbs fall from the table and these we glean.’ Huy knew when not to press further, and realised that in time he would find out more; but for the present he was impressed and curious. He wondered if Ay knew precisely how much of the Black Land’s riches were concentrated in Meroe? Of course it was a small town; but perhaps that was the point: the pharaoh would not like to think of a provincial trading centre able to provide the same show of status as his own capital. One of the principal introductions to the country after Ay had taken control of it was a reformed and thorough taxation system. Many had felt its effect to their severe cost, and there were men walking lamed in the streets of the cities and on the farms to show what happened to those who dared to oppose the collectors.
Huy kept his counsel. Ay had only been pharaoh a year; the decay – as he would have seen it – of the preceding two ten-year cycles could not be redressed in so short a time. He looked up the town hill to where the rebuilding work on the fortress-palace, where the pharaoh would stay if ever he visited his southernmost city, seemed to have been suspended. Was that on account of the accident Ankhsi had almost met with there? The thought crossed his heart that many goods of value could be written off against the cost of the refurbishment of that building – even if the refurbishment did not take place.
When he was conducted into the personal audience chamber at the Military Governor’s mansion – a jewel of a building, new, and boasting murals to rival the best of those in the Great Tombs – Huy found Tascherit lying on his back on a low blackwood couch, while a girl knelt over his head and removed the formal makeup he had worn for the ceremony. As they spoke, she reapplied oil to his brow and black mesdemet around his eyes. Huy noticed that the eye-liner was worn thicker down here – presumably, he supposed, because the sun was brighter. Huy also noticed that Tascherit had already had his first change of clothes of the day. he glanced down at his own. It was hotter and dustier down here, but perhaps he could put off his own first change until the Seqtet boat set sail.
Tascherit had a strong face. He was cleanshaven save for a neat black moustache and he wore his own hair, thick and short, like a black cap on his head. He beckoned Huy over to sit close to him. Nearby was a table with wine and dates, but Huy politely refused the offered refreshment. He was a man who had become too familiar with alcohol over the years to trust it before evening. The men exchanged formal greetings, which sounded odd as Tascherit lay in such an undignified position, but Huy wondered if the pantomime were not deliberate: he was not being accorded the honour of being received by a fully-ready Governor in his chair of state. Tascherit questioned him about his plans and ambitions, and made one or two polite but uninvolved enquiries about whether he was happy with his lodgings in the city, but otherwise the conversation was uninvolved. Huy thought that soon the conversation must lead up to Reniqer’s mission – the man had not been mentioned by anyone yet and Huy was not even sure if they knew that he was dead – but after a relatively short space of time Tascherit, who had remained as cool and aloof as he had been since Huy’s arrival, showed signs of winding up the interview. His makeup completed, he rose, adjusting the gold bracelets of office on his wrists. Huy stood too, to find the Governor towering over him, inclining his head slightly, his eyes now distracted with the expression busy men have when their hearts have moved on from the present business to the next. Huy felt the intended humiliation but trod down his anger. He had started to make his farewell utterances when they were interrupted by the arrival of Ankhesenamun.
Seeing him about to leave, she glanced swiftly at her husband. The glance was enough to tell Huy who the dominant partner was. And after all, Ankhsi had been a queen and was the granddaughter of the pharaoh.
‘What did he say?’ she asked Huy bluntly after Tascherit and his servants had departed.
‘Nothing. We exchanged talk of ordinary things.’
‘Did he tell you about the hunting here?’
‘No.’
She smiled a thin smile. ‘He loves to hunt. But I do not think you do?’
‘No. I am more comfortable in cities.’
‘But you have come here.’
‘Yes.’
‘Reniqer told me that you intended to farm.’
‘It was an idea.’
‘But no longer?’
‘I am no longer sure. And Senseneb is against it.’
‘Good. I need her with me and I also need you. Reniqer delivered my message, I think?’
‘Yes. I was surprised that the Governor did not mention it himself.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Why?’
‘Reniqer told me he was on a mission from both of you.’
‘I see. Well, he did not know you and I expect he thought that a message from both of us would carry more weight with you. I did not let him know how mu
ch I am already in your debt, Huy.’
Huy inclined his head.
‘And I am not sure,’ she continued, ‘if I would have had the courage to summon you – I mean, to ask you to come here – if I had not learned that it was already your intention to do so. There was also the question that you worked for Ay. But,’ she turned to him, ‘I need help and you are the only person who can give it to me.’
‘Tell me.’
She turned away again and paced the room, her attendants drawing back to the pillar-lined walls as she did so. She was not tall, and since the birth of her child her body had thickened at the hips, but she had lost none of her vitality, and her agitation now gave added energy to her movements. She wore a long, plain, close-fitting pleated dress tied between her breasts, which were naked under a light over-tunic. Her wig was fashionably short and tightly braided, and her turquoise and silver jewellery discreet and expensive. Huy noticed that she had not abandoned the habit of the women of the Southern Capital, and had kept her skin fair by hiding from the sunlight.
‘Reniqer told you about the accidents?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tascherit thinks that that is just what they were. He was angry with me for sending Reniqer – as angry as he dares be.’ There was a trace of scorn in her voice, but Huy could do no more than note it for the present.
‘Reniqer told me about the collapsing scaffolding and the barge on the River. Has anything happened since?’
Her shoulders slumped. ‘No.’
He spoke carefully. ‘But Reniqer is dead.’
She looked at him. ‘Yes.’ She did not sound surprised.
‘When did you find out?’
‘I still have my own people.’
‘I heard it in Napata, from Samut’s man.’
Her face betrayed nothing. Huy considered that she could hardly have got the news from any other source.
‘Did you also know that Reniqer was attacked in the Southern Capital?’
Now her face showed surprise.
‘Two accidents may have just been accidents,’ continued Huy. ‘Reniqer’s death may also have been unfortunate, but still a blow from the gods. Reniqer was sure he was followed up to the Southern Capital, but even so, the attack on him there might have been no more than a street robbery – we still have too many. These five elements coming together in a short time and connecting the people involved in them might have been concerted by Maat; but it begins to look indeed as if they came from the heart of a person.’
‘He was sure he was followed?’
‘Yes. How many people knew of his journey north?’
She waved an arm impatiently. ‘The whole town. It was not a secret.’
‘Yes, but how many knew of the message he carried from you to me?’
The former queen hesitated, ‘No one else,’ she said.
‘No one?’
‘No one.’ Her voice was firmer.
‘Not Tascherit?’
‘I told him afterwards. He was angry, as I told you.’
‘Why was he angry?’
Ankhsi looked at him. For a moment her look was that which a prisoner might give to someone who he thinks has a faint chance of freeing him.
‘He does not want me to draw attention to myself. He thinks it is bad. He wants us to stay here forever and – ’ she broke off, unable to finish, perhaps thinking that she had already gone too far. ‘I do not think he is ambitious.’
‘Is he fond of Imuthes?’
Now she smiled, but the smile was proud, not warm; proprietorial, not motherly.
‘He adores Imuthes.’
‘Is that what he calls him?’
She flashed a look of impatience at Huy. ‘Of course! No one here calls him by his royal name.’
‘Does anyone else know that he has been given it?’
‘Of course not! I am not a fool!’
Huy lowered his eyes.
‘All right, Huy,’ said Ankhsi, sitting down. ‘I had forgotten. You cannot help without asking questions.’
‘I had forgotten my position.’
‘What else occurs to you?’
Huy considered. ‘There is one thing more. It is important,’
‘Yes?’
‘Are you sure – please turn this over in your heart – are you sure that Ay does not know who his great-grandson really is?’
Ankhesenamun was silent for a long time. ‘I do not see how he could possibly know,’ she said finally and a little defensively. ‘It would be in no one’s interest to let him know that I was pregnant when I left the Southern Capital. So few people do know what is the truth that it would be child’s work to find out who had given Ay the information, if it ever did reach him. And Tascherit really thinks of him as his own son.’ She paused again. ‘He would like to see Imuthes succeed him here as Governor.’ Did Huy only imagine the hint of scorn once more?
He wondered if Tascherit wanted children of his own. There was no sign that Ankhsi’s birth-cave was filled now. But she had time. He thought about asking her, but decided that he dared not.
‘What will you do?’ asked Ankhsi.
It was the question he had dreaded. There was no recourse but to continue in truth. ‘I will wait.’
‘What?! For another accident to happen to me?’
‘What can I do? You suspect no one – ‘
‘It is for you to find out who is behind it!’ She subsided. ‘It must be Horemheb or Ay. They must have found out about my son somehow.’
‘But you have a bodyguard?’
‘Of course! Tascherit sees that I am well protected, and he has increased my guard since the attacks on me. Even though he thinks they were accidents. He humours me.’
‘I must talk to him more closely.’
‘I will ask him. But you know, I cannot command.’
‘I am not so sure,’ said Huy, cautiously. Ankhesenamun had lost none of her fire.
But the smile she returned him was unmistakably bitter. ‘You haven’t met the rest of the family yet. My sister-in-law and her husband. Takhana and Nesptah.’
‘To them, too, I must speak.’
‘I assure you that you will. But not yet. You must tell them nothing of my suspicions.’
‘Will Tascherit not tell them?’
She looked doubtful. ‘It does not matter.’
‘But he knows why I am here. He knows what we are talking about now.’
‘I have told you that he dismisses my fears; and I will tell him that you are sceptical. I will be downcast.’
It was Huy’s turn to hesitate. ‘Do you fear Takhana and Nesptah?’
Her eyes became veiled. ‘No,’ she said. ‘But I do not want to invite their ridicule. In any case, Nesptah is away on business to the north.’
‘And Takhana?’
‘She is very close to her brother,’ said Ankhsi, tonelessly. ‘She would do nothing to harm him.’
‘If you wish for secrecy, then my best course is to do nothing for the moment but keep watch,’ said Huy. ‘Do not worry. You are guarded. No harm will come to you.’
He left her soon afterwards. She watched him go from the window of her own day-room. The little figure hesitated in the street below. It would be one or two days yet before he learnt his way about the town. She remembered enough of the little scribe to know, however, that now that it was necessary, he would have committed every winding street, every granary, every dusty alley and blank windowless wall to his memory by the end of that time. It belonged to his job to do so, and she could tell from his eyes that the work she had offered him was a pleasure he had been too long away from.
She had not told him half of what was in her heart, but she felt less lonely.
When he returned to their own house, which looked modest despite the immense improvement in their material fortunes which it represented, in comparison with that which he had just left, he heard laughter from the courtyard.
‘Who is here?’ he asked the dark servant, a new one, to whom he gave h
is dust-cloak.
‘Samut. He brought gifts,’ replied the man.
‘And who are you?’
The man bowed. ‘I am sorry. I am Psaro. The lady was kind enough to engage me today.’
‘And you are from?’
‘Kush. But I have lived here long. I was in Samut’s service. Before that I was brought by Nesptah from the south.’
‘Please tell them I will join them,’ said Huy, containing his curiosity and going to bathe and change.
He found Senseneb and Samut with Hapu in the garden. One of the joys of her life in the Southern Capital, when she had lived in her father’s house there, had been the small menagerie she had collected. Samut must have remembered it, for he had brought with him two ro geese, which were inspecting their new home as a cautious team, two kittens, and two young hunting dogs. The delight Senseneb took in these animals was like sunlight on her face.
‘I thought a reminder of what your old home was like would be appropriate,’ said Samut. ‘And I noticed from your eyebrows that you mourned a cat.’
‘It is long since I could keep animals,’ said Senseneb. Huy wondered if her conversion from big city life hadn’t been a whisper fast. But he knew that life in the Palace Compound had constricted her as much as it had excited her.
‘This and new work in one day is a double blessing from Bes,’ said Senseneb.
‘She is to meet her colleagues at the House of healing tomorrow,’ said Samut. Beyond the mud-brick walls of the garden they could see the low desert hills turn golden as the sun dipped. The River was hidden from them, but to judge by the amount of water taken from it at Meroe to keep just such gardens as this green, there could be no doubt of a good Flood.
‘You seem to know how to live, in Meroe,’ said Huy.
‘It is a secret,’ smiled Samut. ‘But even if we did not keep it, no one would believe us.’