Nikolas explained that he intended that himself, Kiya, Lorentis and Khui would head north to Thebes as soon as a boat could be found. They’d be guarded by Hanuka and Idu and joined by the Nubian Zirman. Zirman’s employment as a door-guard of a local noble had yielded nothing of suspicion and also no information except that the noble’s wife had a paramour who visited her rooms when her husband was away on business and her cries of pleasure could be heard around the house.
After a brief clasp of hands Kahun and Pamose departed. Nikolas and Kiya slipped out of the back door of the tavern and away into the night. On reflection Nikolas had decided that walking alone through the town late at night was too dangerous for Kiya; he first walked her back to the ‘Black Raven’ hostel and collected his walking-staff before being on his way to Nakhtmin’s house for his appointment with Lorentis and Khui. He’d told Kiya that he’d stay overnight at Nakhtmin’s house and return in the morning.
Nikolas walked through the dark streets carefully, watching both where he put his feet amongst the slime and rubbish on the street and paying attention that no footpad followed behind. His limping gait and poor appearance seemed to attract no untoward attention.
As he walked he could hear the frenzied yapping of a dog disturbed by movement in the night and the shrill sounds of a woman berating a drunken husband. Men and women could occasionally be seen through open windows in lamp-lit rooms, going about their daily lives. He arrived at Nakhtmin’s house a little after the appointed hour and knocked at the wooden door to the street. Idu carefully opened the door and then stood back to allow Nikolas to enter.
Nikolas left his staff and noisome sandals in the vestibule. Lorentis and Khui were in the sitting-room, ensconced in comfortable chairs.
Khui rose politely as Nikolas entered. He looked a little the worse for wear, with puffy bloodshot eyes.
“Sorry I’m late,” said Nikolas. “The meeting with Kahun and Pamose took longer than I thought and so did the walk across town.”
One of the servants poured Nikolas a cup of beer while he settled into a well-padded chair. The servants then left the room, Hanuka standing outside the doorway to ensure privacy. Nikolas quickly filled in Lorentis and Khui on the lack of information from Kahun and Pamose and of Pamose’s imminent departure for Amada.
Khui then told the details of his meeting with Maakha, the priest of Aten. “Firstly I’ll give you some information about Maakha. He’s about my age, about twenty or twenty-one years. He’s a fat, lazy slug of a man who has chosen the priesthood because it gives him an easy, although not rich, living. I think he chose a minor sect out of favour with Pharaoh and the nobles because there’s little competition. The mediocre can rise to the top when they haven’t got far to go. He isn’t yet High Priest but is working his way up through the ranks. I knew I’d be able to see him this afternoon because he is too lazy to be out working the small plot of land he’s been given to supplement his priest’s stipend. I think I mentioned he’s a drinking acquaintance, and I knew that if I was buying the drinks he would stick like shit to a blanket.” Lorentis blushed. “Unfortunately, he has a pretty formidable capacity.”
Khui ran a hand tiredly over his eyes before he continued, “The worship of Amun is the State religion of the kmet and the priests of Amun wield great power, wealth and influence. The minor sects take what little royal largess is available to them and make what they can of being the local deities of the towns and cities. They have few full-time priests and rely heavily on a few literate and semi-literate local citizens who take positions in the temple in return for a small stipend, while retaining their outside occupation or trade.
“Maakha spoke of ‘portents’ and ‘signs’, but mainly how the priesthood is misunderstood and undervalued. He carried on about how valuable they are and how the temples should have more land, as if the useless bloodsuckers don’t already control too much of the country – particularly the temples of Amun. They’re worse than lawyers. I wasn’t able to get a lot of specifics from him. By the time he was talking about what I wanted, he was barely able to talk. But he indicated that the priesthood is not happy with the royal administration. He did mention the generosity of both Lord Osorkon and Lord Hapimen to the local temples. It seems that they’ve been trying to buy influence locally. He gave me enough that if I have another session with him I may be able to draw more information, as I already have a starting point and have put it into his mind that I’m open to corruption.”
“Would the temples really have much influence on the local people?” asked Nikolas.
Khui considered before he replied. “Not a lot of influence on the common people. The priests and temples have a strictly formal and ceremonial religious function. Other than a few temples having healers, mainly the priests of Sekhmet and the priests of Serqet, the common people have almost no contact with the priesthood. Formal religion means nothing to them other than the religious festivals they attend every few months, when they get drunk and gorge their bellies on the food and drink provided. They rely on the priests and Pharaoh making the required religious observances to placate the gods. Other than that they may have their own shrines to their chosen household gods and may make prayers or minor sacrifices if they have a specific issue they want a god’s assistance with, such getting a promotion or difficulty with conceiving a child. But the temples do own a lot of land and many peasants who work that land are dependent on the temple and would be influenced by what they say. There are some people of more noble birth who do have contact with the priests and consider what influence they may have with the gods. When you have a major figure, such as Pharaoh, influenced by what the priests say the gods want and what is needed to bring the favour of the gods onto the land, then that’s when real influence takes place.
“Here at Aswan and to the south I’d say the priests don’t have much influence in the practical sense that they alone can force change or action by the administration. The major temples may have that influence in Thebes, Memphis and Pi-Ramesses. But subtle pressures and some influence? Yes, they have that here and in all provincial towns.” With a change of topic he asked, “How did you get on at the Records Office?”
“Rekhmire and his people have been most helpful, but there’s a lot to go through. It would be helpful if the documents were better collated, or even if the same scribe consistently attended to the records from particular mines, farms or whatever. There’s no regular summary by the supervisor or the scribe. And there seems to be no checking and reconciliation of figures. It’s like a puzzle, finding individual facts of relevance and putting them together. If all the information was in one place and there was a monthly report that would be so much easier. For example, if you could tie together a new draft of slaves, a consignment of timber supports and a reduction in production to there having been a collapse in a mine-shaft. I’ll keep looking, but it’s going to take time.” After a sigh and shake of the head he continued, “Well, I’d better get some sleep if I’m to find a ship to get us to Thebes. Lorentis, can you get a servant find me a spare blanket for the night?” asked Nikolas.
“I can do better than that; the house has many unused bedrooms,” replied Lorentis. “But you’ll be wasting your time at the docks tomorrow. In two days time the Festival of Isis commences and lasts for four days. No ship will willingly set sail or be on a voyage at such an inauspicious time!”
T T T T
Lorentis was indeed correct. On the 27th day of the month of Hwt-Hr the goddess Isis sought the body of her brother/ husband Osiris, followed by the Day of Grieving, then the Day of Rejoicing and finally the Ennead Feast. No merchant would enter a serious agreement during such a period. Nikolas found that also no ship’s captain would sail until the day after the Feast finally concluded.
However, while they were delayed in their departure, Nikolas at least was able to find a suitable ship due to sail north and to finalize the arrangements for the trip, and to keep working at the financial records.
CHAPTER 13 – NO
RTH TO THEBES
Year 53. Month kA-Hr-kA. 4th Akhet.
Late November 1223 BC
Nikolas had chosen a small and fast vessel named Pride of Nubia. Not surprisingly it was captained by a Nubian. Lantl was a typically tall and black example of his people and most of the crew were also Nubian. The party consisted of Nikolas and Kiya, Lorentis and Khui, Idu, Hanuka and Zirman. There were a few other passengers, merchants and the like travelling north. Unfortunately, the small size of the boat meant that all the passengers had to sleep on the deck with the crew when the boat tied up at the shore each night.
While the two couples each shared blankets at nights, the lack of privacy made more intimate moments impossible.
This time the party made no pretence of who they were. They simply offered no explanation and rebuffed any questions advanced by their fellow passengers; the crew had little interest in them once they’d paid their fare. Nikolas and the others sat in the shade cast by the sail, sprawled comfortably against the bales of linen cloth that comprised the deck cargo, and watched the verdant black-lands slip by. The narrow fertile valley on each side of the river had been cut from the barren rock over the eons by the cycle of floods and the soil made rich and dark with the deposit of mud by the river; it was often as little as a hundred paces wide on each side of the river and at other times as much as a mile or more on each side.
Here in the South the flood waters were receding and the fields were hives of activity with peasants tilling the soil in readiness for sowing. In some fields bullocks dragged heavy single wooden ploughs through the heavy mud. In other fields poorer farmers had to make do with the labour of their own backs, with teams of half a dozen men dragging the plough through the ground, the men caked in dark mud to the thighs. Where fields stood prepared, entire families attended to sowing the seed, walking in line across the field and broadcasting seed carried in bags tied to their waists. Where available, animals were then driven through the sown fields to press the seed into the rich wet soil.
With the ebbing of the waters, waterfowl, which had bred in the flooded lands, had retreated to the riverbanks and congregated in noisy jostling groups. Crocodiles rested on mud banks in the river and on the banks, lying like wooden logs, often suddenly rushing into the water if a boat passed close by. Near each of the many towns and villages small fishing boats made of bound papyrus reeds bobbed on the water. Larger commercial craft could frequently be seen proceeding south, passengers and crew waving a greeting in passing; other ships also proceeded north.
Nikolas and the others enjoyed their respite from activity and the absence of danger. If it wasn’t for the lack of privacy, Nikolas would have been content for the journey to continue indefinitely. As usual, the boat tied up each night at a village and again Kiya obtained supplies to cook for Nikolas and the others. They clapped and sang together with the crew and other passengers around the cooking-fire on the riverbank each night. They sailed steadily north with winds consistently blowing favourably from the south and west. The flow of the river helped to carry them north even when the winds were not favourable. The Pride of Nubia made good time and covered the hundred odd miles to Thebes in less than three days.
CHAPTER 14 – REPORT TO RAMESSES
Year 53. Month Ta-ahbet. 1st Peret.
December 1223 BC
Pride of Nubia tied up at the wharf at Thebes just after midday. The city’s massive artificial harbour, some half a mile wide by one and a half miles long excavated on the west bank of the river to accommodate the myriad of ships calling at the large city, was packed with shipping. The stone wharves of the docks were crowded with stevedores handling a variety of cargoes and stores; sacks of grain, bales of linen and crates with all sorts of contents were stacked altogether; racks of amphorae, full and empty, stood in their open-sided wooden packing-crates.
Heaps of rubbish and spoiled produce, mainly rotten fruit and vegetables, lay scattered around. Rats and mice, fat and sleek, scurried around the rubbish-heaps, occasionally chased by hungry stray mongrel dogs or cats. The stench assailing the nose from the stink of sweat, rotten foodstuffs, animal and human excrement and the nearby mud-flats competed for attention with the cacophony of sounds including the shouted instructions of supervisors, the crack of whips, the cries of vendors, the braying of donkeys and bellowing of bullocks. The heat was oppressive with the sun as always beating down from a clear deep-blue sky.
Nikolas mused that he found the weather of Egypt the most annoying factor in what was otherwise an interesting and enjoyable land and culture; rainfall in both the South and at Memphis in the North was virtually nil; a cloud in the sky was a rare event. There were only two seasons. Hot in winter and Damned Hot in summer.
During the summer season daily temperatures were usually over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter they became a relatively cool 70 degrees. Today there was a hot and uncomfortable wind off the desert. Nikolas felt a pang of homesickness; he wanted to feel rain on his face, see snow falling on the hills, to live near the sea and hear the crash of surf on the shore and to sit next to a roaring fire for warmth.
Khui pointed out the features of the harbour to the others, the architect in him delighting in the engineering details. “The mounds are twenty-five cubits high, and more than eleven million cubic yards of material was removed. More than four times the mass of the Great Pyramid at Gaza!” he enthused.
“A great feat of engineering and much more useful than a stone monument or temple,” commented Nikolas. After they landed he engaged porters to carry their bags to the palace, located a few hundred paces to the west of the docks, instructing them to seek out Zineb’s assistant for payment. He then led the party to a nearby tavern for lunch. There was the usual choice of dockside taverns; fish stew, fish pie, fresh eels or fried fish, all with boiled vegetables.
Nikolas chose the fish.
“Well, I think that we’ve done as much as could have expected of us, if not more,” said Lorentis, as she carefully and delicately picked a small fishbone from her mouth and placed it on her plate with a small pile of others.
Kiya agreed. “Yes, I’m sure that Pharaoh will be well satisfied,” she said.
Khui waved his right hand in a negative manner as he took a deep pull from his cup of beer. “We’re talking about a king here,” he said as he licked beer-froth from his upper lip. “They are never satisfied.”
“If the man spends a fortune on his secret-police organization and then can’t rely on them when he needs them, then as far as I am concerned if he’s not satisfied with what we’re bringing him, he can go and get…” Nikolas remembered he was in polite female company and at the last moment forbore to complete the sentence. He belched. The beer was poor and gassy.
After calling for the bill, and after arguing about the charge for two serves of salted anchovies they had neither ordered nor received, Nikolas handed over two copper deben and stood up.
“Well, we’d best be on our way to the palace,” he said.
The palace was close to the dock, just sufficiently far away for the commercial noise and bustle to be muted by distance. The Per Hay ‘House of Rejoicing’ at Malkata was simply huge, the complex covering nearly eighty acres. The northern part largely contained official buildings, behind which was a collection of dwellings for use by the servants and minor scribes. The southern part contained the private chambers and residences and the harem. To the west were the villas and apartments provided to accommodate the more senior officials and administrators. The many separate buildings were all joined together by an elaborate series of corridors, creating what was virtually a maze. The buildings, mainly constructed of mud-brick, gleamed in the sunlight as their whitewashed walls reflected the sunlight. Despite its impressiveness, this was a building that with the creation of the new palace complex at Pi-Ramesses had become just one more official residence complex, outdone in splendour by the new palace far to the north – or so Nikolas had been told.
Presenting themselves at the main gate
and aware that dirty and sweaty individuals couldn’t just turn up at the gates and demand an audience with Pharaoh, Nikolas announced to the guards that they had an appointment with Royal Chamberlain Zineb. A quick check of the appointment lists failed to find their names. Nikolas insisted.
The guards refused. Nikolas got angry and blamed some unknown scribe of incompetence. The guard captain, now called by his subordinates, sent a message to Zineb’s assistant and they were eventually admitted.
Nikolas and his party were, as they were intended to be, impressed by the architecture and the splendour, which sought to intimidate by its sheer size and magnificence. While most of the large and sprawling series of buildings were made of mud-brick, the main entry façade was of pink granite with giant fluted stone columns carved at the top to represent papyrus stalks, with a huge bronze-clad double-doored wooden gate. Before they entered the official part of the complex they could see on their right the Amun Temple, Ramesses’ huge private chapel. This was one of the few significant works that Ramesses had caused to be built in the palace complex; although also built of mud-brick this temple, with its huge central court, was as large as the stone-built main temple to the god on the other side of the river at Karnak. Further north still were the stables, chariot houses and craftsmen’s quarters. The outside of the main audience-building was adorned with faience tiles in blues and greens and with plaster covered with gilt. Despite the heat of the day hundreds of people bustled about.
Entering the long entrance corridor they came to a large open courtyard and then a covered hall which was fifteen paces wide by twenty paces long with sixteen supporting columns and with the ceiling, walls and columns plastered and painted with geometric patterns in subdued hues. Instead of turning to the right into the Grand Hall they were conducted down a corridor and through a side-door into the administrative offices of the palace and shown to Zineb’s office. This room also was decorated in tasteful and restrained tones, intended to be a soothing place to work. Zineb was perched on a stool, the small-statured man peering over the top of his cluttered desk. He clapped his hands and called for chairs and refreshments.
Murder in the Palace: A Nikolas of Kydonia Mystery Page 30