“You’re back!” said Zineb, stating the obvious.
Nikolas thought about making a sarcastic reply but settled for a weary nod. He was too tired to enjoy his usual verbal sparring with Zineb.
“Couldn’t you at least have sent word, so we could arrange our appointment time-table?” demanded Zineb with an official’s narrow mind.
“No,” replied Nikolas baldly. After several moments he continued “As you well know, the secret-police ranks are riddled with informers and spies. I know that it is supposed to be, but these work for the other side. We’ve found information that Pharaoh needs to know urgently. Please put us into his appointment list for this afternoon.”
Zineb spread both hands in a mute appeal for reasonableness in the face of adversity. “Pharaoh is otherwise engaged this afternoon and evening. The Hittite ambassador is currently in the Royal Audience Chamber. Negotiations proceed for a marriage to a Hittite princess…I forget her name…to Pharaoh. I believe she’s a younger sister of the last Queen from the land of Hatti, Maathomeferure. I was in conference until I received word that you were to be admitted. It’ll be late tonight, if at all, before Pharaoh can see you. Perhaps if you give me a report, I can pass this on to Pharaoh, and I’ll see what we can do?” continued Zineb.
Nikolas was not persuaded. He knew Zineb had his own agenda and any information passed on would be tilted in the direction he wished. Although Zineb was a man of small stature, and Nikolas had some experience in dwarf-tossing as a young man, Nikolas didn’t trust Zineb as far as he could be thrown. However, he did appreciate that royal marriage negotiations could not lightly be disrupted. Foreign peace treaties were always difficult things. Perhaps his news was not that urgent.
“We’ll need to make our own detailed report, there’s much that we must say,” said Nikolas. “To summarize, we’ve found rebellion in the South-Lands. Local lords raise armies to oppose Pharaoh and will strike soon. There’s disaffection amongst the lesser temples and amongst the people, and we believe that Nubia masses an army to invade northwards to unseat Ramesses. Oh, and the mines overseers are robbing the Royal Treasury blind!”
Zineb’s eyes bulged in astonishment. “Perhaps you can give me details?” he said.
Nikolas shook his head. “I see little benefit in telling the servant what must be repeated to the master. Please provide us with sleeping quarters and advise us when Pharaoh is available to meet with us.” Nikolas had never liked Zineb and clearly the feeling was mutual. If provided with the details, Nikolas had little doubt that Zineb would put his own interpretation, emphasis and embellishing details on what was presented to Ramesses – and possibly amend some of the details.
Nikolas and the others were shown along twisting corridors through the Middle Palace to plush and well-furnished apartments in the West Villas. After further refreshment and a brief discussion, Nikolas decided that for the heat of the afternoon he would adjourn to the apartment provided for his own use for rest until the cool of the evening or until being called to see Ramesses, whichever came first. As Kiya accompanied him, and given the lack of privacy that had recently been available on the journey, after bathing in the bathing-room located in the corridor of their apartment and their return to their apartment they had little rest until the late afternoon, when they dozed in each others arms.
They arose mid-evening and returned to Lorentis’ rooms.
Judging by the pleased smirk on Khui’s face and the happy blush on that of Lorentis, they’d also spent a pleasant afternoon. The evening meal came and went, servants clearing up as Khui pulled out a large mehen board which was part of the fittings of the room and placed two lion and two lioness tokens of different colours on the starting squares of the snake-shaped diagram incised into the wood. The others obliged and began to play, sipping cups of cinnamon-flavoured beer and laughing or moaning depending on the fate of their tokens as the game progressed. Near the door Hanuka and Zirman threw dice in a game of chance.
It was very late when a knock on the door announced a messenger, who advised that Pharaoh would be able to see them shortly. They walked through the quiet dark back-corridors of the palace, lit every twenty or so paces by oil lamps attached to metal sconces in the walls, and were shown at last into an audience chamber in the king’s private quarters.
This was a large room, twenty-five paces by ten paces, with two rows each of eight stone columns supporting a high ceiling. It was sumptuously decorated and furnished, gold-leaf gleaming on the doors and the walls and exquisitely-drawn paintings of wildlife scenes adorning the walls.
Ramesses sat on a gilt throne, being fanned by a slave on each side. Queen Bent ‘anta, a small attractive woman of about fifty years, sat on an elaborate chair to his left.
Nikolas looked with interest at the woman who held the positions of Great Royal Wife, God’s Wife of Amun and was both the wife and daughter of Ramesses; she was the most powerful and influential woman in the kingdom, and perhaps indeed in the whole world.
Chamberlain Zineb sat on a cushion woven from cloth-of-gold to the left of the royal couple and Grand Vizier Rahotep on another similar cushion to the right. Four guards with spears stood watch at the entrance doorway, one pair on the outside and the other pair facing the inside. Another four stood one in each corner of the raised dais on which the throne stood, facing outwards.
It was well past midnight and Ramesses looked worn, lines of tension and exhaustion showing on his face; dark puffy bags below his eyes indicated that this late night was not an unusual occurrence.
Ramesses looked every one of his eighty years and clearly not at all well as he sat bare-chested, a large torque of blue lapis lazuli and white gold hanging around his neck complimenting the blue and white striped royal nemes linen head-cloth and the golden uraeus circlet of royal rank on his brow. Despite the late hour Ramesses was due, as usual, in a little over four hours to preside together with Bent ‘anta over the morning sunrise rituals which formed an essential part of the religion of the country.
Kiya, Lorentis and Khui prostrated themselves before the throne. Nikolas gave his usual low-bow. Ramesses indicated that they should take a seat on cushions placed on the floor at the edge of the dais. As he waited as they did so, he rubbed the bridge of his large hooked nose with the thumb and index finger of his right hand.
“You seem to have had a fruitful investigation in the South,” commented Ramesses, in a firm but quiet voice.
“Indeed, Pharaoh,” replied Nikolas, who then continued at a gesture from Ramesses. “As you know, we maintained a separate investigation from whatever your other agents in the region may be doing. We separated and sought information in different places. Kiya and I sought information in the marketplace, amongst the …err… ‘ladies of the night’ and in the villages. We found that the price of gold and precious gems is down in the market, indicating increased supply. That your mines and quarries work overtime but the supervisors and factors take the surplus and sell in the open market, while at the same time stealing the supplies you send to your workers. The financial records confirm this. More workers and more supplies are being sent, for less and less return. While output is reported to be down, more donkeys and more ships are being hired for transport than ever before. We speak not of a few precious gems here or there, or a few pounds of gold, but perhaps as much as twenty percent of production.”
Ramesses, together with Zineb and Rahotep, looked both astounded and angry at this revelation.
Nikolas continued, “In addition there’s a plot against your rule. The local general Padiamun and local lords seem to be in treacherous communication with the tribes of Nubia. Padiamun and his staff have recently visited Nubia. I presume this was without your direction or permission. Lorentis sought gossip amongst the meetings of the landed gentry and found Khui.” Nikolas pointed to indicate to whom he referred. “Khui advises that Padiamun is hiring all the interpreters and translators he can lay his hands on, confirms Padiamun’s absence in a trip to the Far South an
d indicates disaffection amongst the minor religious sects. Kahun advises that the garrison at Aswan is placed on a war-footing, with accelerated training schedules, and the weapon-smiths are working all hours of the day. But our most important information is from a humble Nubian escaped slave called Umtau, who at our request joined the garrison at Aswan and was assigned to the quartermaster’s store. He discovered that the garrison at Aniba, which has less than 200 soldiers, receives over 15,000 daily rations each week – and that the supplies are actually dispatched by boat, not just misappropriated by corrupt officials.
“There is an army of 2,000 or more men near Aniba that doesn’t belong to you, and garrisons of your own troops of perhaps 2,000 more in Aswan and the areas further south on which you cannot rely.”
Ramesses carefully questioned each of Nikolas, Kiya, Lorentis and Khui about the information they had received, their sources and estimations of reliability. Finally a servant came into the Audience Hall to announce that the priests of Amun were waiting; dawn was near. Having worked all through the night, Ramesses removed the uraeus circlet from his brow and tiredly rubbed his temples with the heels of both hands. He ordered, “Rahotep, have General Minnakht prepare to move south. How many men can we spare?”
“Perhaps 2,500 men, but it may take a week to have them all ready,” replied the Grand Vizier. “We can bring more men in from Iunu and the other cities to the north to fill the empty barracks here,” he continued.
“Do it!” ordered Ramesses as he walked towards the door.
In breach of all etiquette Nikolas called out, “Pharaoh!” Ramesses turned towards him impatiently, nearly past the doorway. “May I suggest I call on you later in the day to discuss your health? I’m a herbal healer and I really am very good at what I do!”
Ramesses gave a brief nod, pointed at Zineb and then left the room for the short journey by royal barge to the Temple of Karnak before the disk of the sun rose above the horizon, propelled by the scarab-beetle god Khepri.
T T T T
A messenger from the palace called on them in the late afternoon. As the sun set over the hills to the west Nikolas and Kiya were ushered through a small gateway directly into Ramesses’ private apartments at the south end of the palace complex. Kiya couldn’t believe that Pharaoh wished their professional services. Their last consultation had been with a whore and the one before that with lepers. As they were shown into the apartments both Nikolas and Kiya noticed the royal physician Pa-ra-em-hat standing near the entrance door, casting the ‘the evil eye’ sign as a curse. As he entered the doorway, Nikolas half turned and gave him a slightly different sign in return.
They were conducted down a short wide corridor, the walls painted with vivid frescoes and with huge vases of fresh flowers positioned in wall-niches every few paces, before passing into a large private courtyard open to the sky. The courtyard was rectangular in shape, not overly large at about twenty paces by thirty, with an ornamental pool lined by a low wall of polished grey granite stones. In the light cast by a dozen hanging lamps, large colourful fish could be seen moving slowly just below the water surface, moving between the large water-lily leaves. The blue lotus flowers had closed for the day and the flowers of the white lotus plants were just opening. The courtyard was dense with ornamental plants, some in flower or fruit and some not. Delphiniums, lilies, irises, chrysanthemums, cornflowers, poppies and mandrake formed the lower planting; shrubs of myrtle, rosemary, christ-thorn and tamarisk; an upper-story of pomegranate and sycamore trees. Vines had been trained up to cover an overhead trellis. Rectangular slabs of mid-grey granite had been used for paving those areas not cultivated. Four stone benches sat close together in a square at one end of the courtyard, with a block of black granite acting as a table between them. At each corner of the square of seats a lamp cast its light, and on each side stood a small censer wafting sweet-smelling smoke. Nikolas thought he detected the scent of juniper and frankincense.
“Nice! This would be an idyllic spot even in the heat of the day,” he commented to Kiya as he sat on one of the stone benches and poured two cups from the jug of wine that sat on the table before helping himself to a handful of dried dates, fresh figs and nuts from the small bowls. Nikolas noted that the wine was a white from the Faiyum, of excellent quality although at a higher serving temperature than was optimal.
After a wait of about half an hour Ramesses walked into the courtyard without any fanfare or ceremony, accompanied by Chamberlain Zineb and another man who appeared to be a minor functionary, with four servants trailing behind. The day had been hot and the cool evening breeze was just starting to blow. Ramesses wore an immaculately clean and starched linen kilt and the nemeses headdress of blue and white, without the usual ornamentation of either the gold uraeus at his brow or the heavy gold and lapis torque about his neck. Nikolas and Kiya quickly stood, Nikolas giving a shallow bow and Kiya prostrating herself on the stone paving. Ramesses waved a hand in a dismissive gesture as he sat on one of the benches.
“Sit!” he instructed, as he did so himself. A servant quickly poured a cup of wine, which Ramesses sipped. He looked tired and massaged his temples with the thumb and middle-finger of his left hand. Despite his tiredness he still held his slight and wiry frame erect. “By the god Amun! What an afternoon! Damn the Hittite ambassador! Now Greek, you say your medicines can help me?” A small meal of bread, fruit and cheese was delivered and placed on the table. Ramesses used his fingers to help himself.
“They can certainly help you, but whether they will be more efficacious than your current medical regime, I don’t know. It depends on what medicines you are taking,” replied Nikolas.
“I don’t damn well know! Pa-ra-em-hat just pokes me, chants incantations to drive out the demons and gives me some foul-tasting shit to swallow! He also squirts some foul-smelling shit up my arse twice a day. You can ask him!”
“With respect, Pharaoh, I doubt I would receive much assistance from your current doctor. Does anybody within your household know?”
“Possibly Kawab, here. He arranges my food and medicine.”
Nikolas looked at the official who was standing rigidly nearby and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I don’t know what is in the medicines provided. Pa-ra-em-hat doesn’t say. I can ask him,” said Kawab.
Nikolas waved a hand in negation. “We’ll see how we go first. Now I have some questions to ask.” He sat back and looked up with his eyes going out of focus as he thought deeply for about a minute, before returning his attention to Ramesses. “I can see the problems with pain in the joints of your hands, with the finger-joints swollen.
Do you have pain in your other joints? Yes, your upper back? You’re not suffering from diarrhoea? No. Problems with reduced urine flow, and pain in the bladder? No, good! Hair loss, I can see you have thinning of the hair, do you wish to treat that? Yes, right. Do you have problems with your bowels? You say you have constipation? Yes, we can address that. Stomach cramps? No. You say you have dry nasal passages, which bleed frequently? Not unusual in dry desert conditions. An ointment of menthol, thymol and wool-fat will take care of that. Your heart is beating well and you have no chest pains. You say you are currently suffering flatulence? I’ll prepare some medications shortly from what I have in my bag.”
After the questioning Nikolas performed a brief physical examination of the old man, checking for hernias or any lumps in the abdomen, sounding the chest and back, checking hand-grip strength and range of movement in the limbs and spine, carefully examining the eyes by pulling aside the lids and having Ramesses follow a moving finger with his eyes. He then took the pulse at the wrist and neck.
“I’ll need to give some thought as to what medicines you ingest; most have several different effects, some of which may not be beneficial. Several I can think of immediately that will be beneficial for some of your treatment would also increase your urine flow, and I’m sure you don’t want to spend all day every day drinking water and urinating in the toilet, or
sitting and defecating. I’ll need to consider the benefits and weigh those against the side-effects. I’ll prescribe two different general tonics. One for the morning and midday, one before you retire at night. The first will have coriander, which is a mild stimulant and also aids digestion; cinnamon, which is a stimulant and digestive; willow-bark for pain; feverfew for the aches; ginger, which also treats bilharzia from which many of this land suffer, is a stimulant, an excellent tonic and protects from heart disease; peppermint, which relieves anxiety and settles the stomach.
“In the evening the infusion will be chamomile, lettuce-extract, willow-bark, feverfew and lemon balm. When you take your evening bath, use lavender-oil in the hot water to help you relax. The external applications are more easy. For your hands I’ll provide an unguent based on aloe, sweet marjoram, rue, peppermint, cinnamon and frankincense, in a hippopotamus-fat base. The frankincense and cinnamon also make it smell good, as well as being active ingredients. The herbs in the infusions I’ll provide will assist your other joint pains. A perfumed oil to rub on your head to retain your hair – oil of lavender for the scent and birch for the active ingredient. Rub it on twice a day. It’s more efficacious than oil of hedgehog, which Pa-ra-em-hat would probably prescribe. It won’t promote hair growth but should reduce hair loss.
“The worn teeth and back pain I can do little about other than to say that the pain-killing infusion will provide some assistance. And perhaps recommend chairs that are more supportive for your back than the thrones I’ve seen so far.
Murder in the Palace: A Nikolas of Kydonia Mystery Page 31