by Paul Doherty
I gestured at Sobeck to follow. The overseer was in the porter’s lodge, breathing hard in his agitation.
‘My lord,’ he gasped, ‘we were working in the gallery of the Royal Tomb. You’ve got to come.’
We hurriedly left the palace along the great eastern road, past the temples, through the market squares, up the dusty chariot paths and into the enclosure before the Royal Tomb. Mercenaries and workers milled about the entrance. They stood aside as the overseer led us through, down the steps and along the passageway. The secret chamber was on our right, but the overseer led us a further twenty paces and stopped where he’d placed a pole against the wall.
He grasped a flaring cresset torch and held it up, exposing a smooth expanse of plaster, carefully done to blend in with the wall. Once again it was surrounded with minute magical inscriptions. I immediately ordered the plaster to be broken. The workmen set to with mallets and hammers, the plaster cracked and fell away. I thrust the torch through the gap and gasped in amazement. This was no empty chamber but a storeroom of treasures. In the light of the dancing flame I glimpsed chariots, weapons, caskets of jewellery, their lids thrown back, beds, stools and tables.
I stilled the workmen’s cries. Sobeck grabbed a torch, and before I could intervene had clambered through. I shouted at him to be careful, but Sobeck was absorbed with what we had found, exclaiming in disbelief at the precious goods which filled the chamber from floor to ceiling.
‘A treasure house,’ he shouted. ‘Akenhaten’s House of Silver.’ I climbed through after him. ‘Nefertiti’s preparations,’ Sobeck whispered, staring round-eyed in amazement. ‘This is what she would have used for the Royal Burial.’ He picked up a beautiful gold-embossed fan and wafted his face. ‘Look at it, Mahu. Chairs and thrones, chariots and harnesses. We must keep this a secret,’ he chattered on. ‘We must prepare against the evil day.’
‘What evil day, Sobeck?’
‘When we fall from power.’
‘Then we fall from life!’
‘No, no.’ Sobeck pushed me deeper into this treasure house. ‘Mahu, one day the Prince will be a man. You and I will not be needed. What should we do in our old age, eh? Sit on a stool in our doorway, chomping on our gums?’ Sobeck gestured at the treasure hoard. ‘I am different from you, Mahu. I have fallen from power. I have spent months out in the prison oasis in the Red Lands. I’ve prowled the streets and alleyways of Thebes. I have sat with poverty and smelt its horrible stink. Why give this to the Lord Ay?’
I didn’t answer, but pushed my way through the various items. Crouching down, I opened a casket piled high with precious stones; beside it was a pair of gold-embossed sandals displaying scenes of a Pharaoh smiting vile Asiatics.
‘At least we know where Akenhaten’s treasure is,’ I declared. ‘Or at least some of it. Have you noticed, Sobeck, how much of this is heavy and couldn’t be carried away?’
‘You mean there’s more?’ Sobeck asked.
‘I know there’s more,’ I replied. ‘Akenhaten took some of the gold and silver bars, the precious stones, and left this. Nefertiti would have used it, melted it down and sold it, to finance her plans.’ I got to my feet. ‘We’ll leave this for the while. We’ll make a decision about it later.’
We left the secret treasure house. I gave orders for a wooden hatch to be placed over the gap. Sobeck was equally insistent, grasping the overseer by his tunic and threatening him and the workmen with the most dire punishment if they revealed the secret. Caught up in greed, Sobeck even distrusted me, demanding that some of his mercenaries join mine to guard the entrance.
‘Sobeck, friend.’ I tried to reason. ‘What is this?’
I had taken him further down the gallery away from the rest. Even then Sobeck was agitated, wiping the sweat from his face, staring back at the entrance to the treasure house as if fearful that robbers would break in.
‘It’s not yours,’ I whispered.
‘It is now,’ he retorted. ‘I went into the Delta with you out of comradeship; my loyalty deserves reward. If we had been captured, we’d now be rotting at the end of some pole. I’ve returned to Thebes and what do I see? The Lord Ay, Maya and Huy, swaggering rich and powerful. Horemheb and Rameses are no different, generals of the army showing off their collars of gold and silver bees of valour. That treasure’s mine, Mahu.’
‘No, Sobeck,’ I smiled, ‘it’s ours.’ The anger drained from his face. ‘But we’ll talk about that later. I wish to see the Stammerer.’
We returned to the palace and my own House of Chains, a small prison in the cellars beneath. I called two of my mercenaries and told them to prepare a room.
‘Just a bench and a stool,’ I declared. ‘And both of you go further along to another cell. You’ll hear the prisoner arrive. When you think it is appropriate, I want you to give the most chilling screams.’
Both men, Kushite archers, eagerly agreed.
‘And remember,’ I shouted out to them, ‘make it convincing.’
I waited for Sobeck to bring the Stammerer from the quayside. He arrived shouting and protesting at being pushed along by Sobeck’s retainers. He was a one-eyed, rat-faced man with lank hair and pitted skin. The robe he was dressed in was of fine quality, though it was stained and marked after his journey along the river. He was one of those petty palace officials, full of their own importance and always ready to take a bribe. He was all nervous, or pretended to be, as Sobeck thrust him down on the stool.
‘I wish to object,’ he declared. ‘I have been kidnapped, manhandled from my home. I have been given little food or drink and forced aboard ship to live with the filthy riff-raff of Thebes.’
Sobeck smacked him across the face.
‘That’s no way to speak about my cousins, my own kin.’
The Stammerer nursed his left cheek.
‘Why do they call you the Stammerer?’ I asked. ‘You chatter like a monkey.’
‘I used to stammer,’ the man declared, ‘but now it’s cured.’ He turned his head, peering at me with his good eye. ‘I have been told you are the Lord Mahu, Overseer of the House of Secrets. I wish to know why I have been brought here. By what right? Whose warrant? I am a citizen of Thebes. If I have done wrong, I should answer to the mayor.’
Sobeck smacked him again. The Stammerer would have jumped to his feet, but Sobeck pushed him back down. He was about to protest again when a hideous scream echoed along the passageway, a long-drawn-out cry of pain, followed by another. Even Sobeck started, whilst those on guard outside hurried along to see what was happening.
‘You are in the House of Chains.’ I spoke up. ‘And you are beginning to sweat with fear. You are not a reputable citizen. I think you are a murderer.’
‘I am an embalmer,’ the Stammerer yelped. ‘My services are well known in the House of Life.’
‘You have also got a reputation in Thebes.’ Sobeck leaned down. ‘I have heard the stories,’ he hissed, ‘about what you embalmers do with the corpses of comely women.’
‘That’s all lies,’ the man declared, wincing as Sobeck hit him again. ‘Stories put about by my enemies.’
‘We could put you on trial for that.’ I winked at Sobeck. ‘What’s the sentence for interfering with the dead? Impalement? Perhaps we could stage it on the river bank as a warning to everyone else. After you die, which will take hours, we could arrange for your corpse to be hung from the Wall of Death.’
‘What is it that you want? What do you want me for?’
‘You’ve forgotten to mention,’ I declared, but paused as another blood-curdling scream made the Stammerer quiver. ‘You’ve forgotten to inform us,’ I continued, ‘that you are no stranger to the City of the Aten, nor this palace. You once worked as an embalmer here didn’t you?’
The Stammerer stared longingly at the door.
‘Doesn’t that scream provoke memories?’ I asked. ‘One night three to four years ago, wasn’t it? In the imperial quarters of this palace. You were brought here to serve the great Queen N
efertiti!’
‘A treasonable bitch! She now—’
I hit him in the mouth.
‘My mistress,’ I said softly, ‘fair of form and fair of heart. A woman steeped in blood, but still my mistress, my Queen. Now answer my questions. You had a man murdered, didn’t you, and later embalmed his corpse. You shaved the hair and face and sent this miserable creature into the eternal night, having burned his heart.’
‘She murdered four men,’ the Stammerer blurted, wiping the stream of blood from the corner of his mouth.
‘Four?’ Sobeck asked. ‘Come, come.’
The Stammerer put his face in his hands and for a short while rocked himself backwards and forwards. ‘I promised,’ he murmured. ‘I took a great oath never to reveal what happened.’
I forced his face up. ‘Did you have a hand in these murders?’
The Stammerer nodded.
‘Years ago,’ he breathed out, ‘my family and I were fishermen. We hailed from the town of Akhmin.’
‘Ah,’ I sighed, ‘the same city as the Lord Ay. Now, would the likes of him have anything to do with fishermen?’
‘We were fishermen during the day, but at night we …’
‘You were pirates.’ I finished the sentence. ‘River killers. Men who lurked amongst the reeds, waiting for some hapless merchant; a swift arrow, and whatever he was carrying becomes yours.’
‘One night we were captured,’ the Stammerer continued. ‘We’d attacked a powerful merchant a few nights previously. He escaped and returned to set a trap. During the fight I lost my eye. We were taken before the courts and found guilty. We were sentenced to death, three others and me. The Lord Ay came down. He said he had certain tasks for us. We were taken to the nearby House of Life. He enrolled us in the Guild of Embalmers; at first we couldn’t believe our luck. We praised his charity and generosity.’
‘Go on,’ I urged. ‘And then the corpses began to arrive, the remains of those whom the Lord Ay wished to dispose of.’
‘Yes.’ The Stammerer swallowed hard, then moaned quietly as another hideous scream echoed along the corridor.
I nodded at Sobeck. ‘Do tell the guards to leave that prisoner alone. Give him some time to think. Perhaps he will agree to answer our questions.’
A short while later Sobeck was back. The Stammerer must have thought his smile was symptomatic of his sadistic mood, for he promptly fell to his knees.
‘My lord Mahu, pardon, mercy! The Lord Ay used us to embalm the corpses of his victims and sometimes we carried out other tasks for him.’
‘Get back on your stool.’ I prodded him on the shoulder. ‘You smell. I don’t like you too close.’
The Stammerer scrambled back.
‘Is that what cured your stammer?’ I asked. ‘The shock of being caught, the prospect of being impaled?’
The Stammerer nodded.
‘And of course when the Lord Ay moved to Thebes, you came with him?’
Again the Stammerer nodded.
‘You and your companions were given posts in the Necropolis. When Akenhaten and his court moved here you were given the usual licence and warrants to follow? What happened when Nefertiti used you?’
‘Four men had been caught,’ the Stammerer gabbled. ‘They were not Egyptians but Apiru. They were often seen in this palace, allowed to come and go carrying documents bearing the cartouche of Akenhaten. No one dared stop them. This was during the time of the Great Mystery.’
‘The what?’ I interrupted.
‘The Great Mystery: that’s what the Great Queen Nefertiti called it when Pharaoh, her husband, was seen no more.’
‘So did she not know what had happened?’
The Stammerer shook his head. ‘She knew that these Apiru had been visiting her husband. When he had been missing for three to four days, they were discovered near the King’s own treasure house. When the guards accosted them they showed their royal warrants, but,’ the Stammerer shrugged, ‘everyone realised something serious had happened. The officers became suspicious and brought the men before Queen Nefertiti. She had them imprisoned in a nearby chamber and asked me and my companions for our assistance.’
‘You tortured them?’ I asked.
‘They were brave men,’ the Stammerer replied. ‘Especially their leader, Yakoub; he was the last to die. The Great Queen asked where her husband was. What had become of him. She threatened them with public trial and execution, but Yakoub scoffed at her and asked how could they be accused of any crime.’
‘Who was present at this interrogation?’
‘Nefertiti’s mercenary captain, and others, two or three, men she trusted.’
‘Was Lord Ay there?’
The Stammerer shook his head again. ‘She asked them why they were in the palace so near to the treasure house. Yakoub replied that they had one more task to carry out for their master.’
‘Their master?’ I interrupted. ‘So that was when Nefertiti learned that her husband had left the palace but was still alive.’
‘That’s what I believe.’
‘Take him out.’ I turned to Sobeck. ‘Tell the guards to keep him in a nearby chamber.’
Sobeck pushed and shoved the man out of the cell, returning immediately.
‘So you now have proof that Akenhaten didn’t die here, but escaped?’
‘It’s not that,’ I whispered. ‘Why did he send a man like Yakoub and three of his followers into the Palace of the Aten?’
‘To take some treasure?’
‘No, I don’t think that was it.’
‘Then why were these Apiru found near the treasure house?’
I couldn’t answer Sobeck’s question. Instead I asked for the prisoner to be brought back. I thrust him down on the stool.
‘What happened to the Divine One,’ I whispered, ‘is neither here nor there.’
‘But I thought you wanted to know that?’
‘I’ll tell you what I want to know. Tell me again what Yakoub said.’
The Stammerer closed his one good eye, screwing up his face. ‘We were torturing him; being embalmers, we know a lot about the human body, where to inflict the greatest pain. By then the other three had died. Yakoub was beginning to fail. He spent a great deal of time cursing Nefertiti in his own tongue. She was seated in a chair behind us. She was dressed in the full regalia, as if she was at the Window of Appearances ready to give audience.’
‘Why was she there?’ I demanded. ‘What did she want from him?’
‘She asked why Yakoub had returned to the palace. He replied, “As I’ve said, to finish a task.”’
‘And?’
‘That’s all he would say. A day later, he died. Now the corpses of the other three were taken down to the river and thrown into a crocodile pool. However, Nefertiti ordered us to embalm Yakoub’s corpse, but not in the proper way. We were to take out his heart and place his corpse in a heavy bath of natron. We did what she asked. She had coffins brought from the Royal Treasury. We placed Yakoub’s corpse inside, soaking it in resin, and took it up to the Royal Tomb. There was a hidden chamber: its opening had not been sealed. We pushed the coffin through the gap. At the far side of the chamber stood a quartzite sarcophagus, I remember that.’
‘And the traps?’ I asked.
‘Nefertiti’s work. She told us what she wanted: the shaft holes for the snakes, the copper and brass embedded in the floor. We deliberately weakened the ceiling. We dug the pit, placed the stakes and covered that up. Nefertiti had the gap plastered over and ordered us to put the magical formula around it.’
‘Did you ask her why?’
‘She was terrifying,’ the Stammerer whispered. ‘My lord, she was truly frightening, face tight with anger, eyes blazing with fury. She reminded me of a panther. She walked so softly. I … I was terrified. She made me swear the blood oath.’ He shrugged. ‘The rest, my lord Mahu, you know. Nefertiti ended her days. I and the rest were only too pleased to flee back to Thebes.’
‘She rewarded you well?�
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‘A basket full of treasure, my lord, from the House of Silver. She said if we ever breathed a word …’ He left the sentence unfinished.
‘Go on,’ I urged. ‘You’re released from your oath. I have found the coffin and Yakoub’s corpse.’
‘She said she knew our crimes, that no one was beyond her reach as Lord Pentju—’ The Stammerer stopped, fingers going to his lips. I leaned across and dug my fingernails beneath his good eye.
‘Do continue. What do you know about the Lord Pentju?’
Sobeck got up and went and stood behind him.
‘The Lord Pentju?’ I repeated.
‘She had his family murdered. At the time the plague was raging. The physician was locked in his own house; a small mansion where he looked after the baby Prince …’
‘I know all that.’
‘She had them poisoned,’ the Stammerer declared. ‘She claimed that people thought they were victims of the plague. She sent them wine and other delicacies as a gift.’
‘By all that is Holy,’ Sobeck breathed. ‘She killed Pentju’s wife and children!’
‘And the others in the house,’ the Stammerer whined. ‘They were sheltering there. They all ate and drank. The poison was quick-acting.’
‘You know more, don’t you?’
‘We were sent in.’ The Stammerer spread his hands. ‘What could we do?’ he wailed. ‘One of my companions delivered the food and wine. We visited the house, pretending to be scavengers coming to remove the corpses of plague victims.’
‘And was Lord Pentju informed?’ I pressed my nails harder.
‘Lord Pentju was informed. I was the Queen’s messenger. I told him that his wife and family had died in the plague but that the Queen, recognising his duties, realised he could not leave the Prince. She claimed she would see to the funeral rites.’
‘And Lord Pentju?’ I asked.
The Stammerer hung his head. ‘He listened to my message and walked away.’
‘He walked away?’ Sobeck asked.
‘Yes,’ the Stammerer agreed. ‘He walked back to the gates of his mansion; the mercenaries closed them in my face. I remember the bar being lowered, the bolts being drawn. I went back to the Queen and told her what had happened.’