Shadows of the Nile

by Jo Franklin

  He ripped the shawl from Tadinanefer as Nephthys stuffed a cloth into what had been her finger.

  “Enough pain yet?” Ptah taunted. “You’ve no idea how much pain I’ve suffered because of you. You diseased my mind and now you’ve diseased my body. I said you’d pay. You’ve lost all your powers as a snake woman, if you ever had them. Do you think anyone will ever look at something like you again? You are powerless and mutilated. And just to finish any hopes you have, now watch this.”

  He seized a torch from one of the men. Slowly he put it to her shawl, and set light to it. It burnt like a furnace, turning into the shape of a fiery snake, before disintegrating into ashes.

  “Satisfied, Nephthys?”

  “Almost. Perhaps I’ll mete out a bit more punishment of my own later. I don’t really like all this blood and gore. I think I’ll go and get my slaves to bathe me and massage my aching joints and leave you to it.” She winked at one of the guards and swept out.

  Tadinanefer began to feel faint, slipping in and out of consciousness. She held her hand, trying to stem the blood.

  “Chain her leg to the animal post,” Ptah said. “We’ll look for the ring in the morning. Send in a woman to look at the wound, and let me know if she lives through the night.”

  “Chain me?” Tadinanefer whispered. “I’m in so much pain, how do you think I could possibly escape?”

  She looked up at Ptah. There was no compassion in his face. Even in her distress she could see how thin and gaunt he looked. He couldn’t be far from death.

  “Do it.”

  They pulled her to the animal post and secured the anklet. She sat against the wall. She didn’t see or hear the servant come in. She just felt her hand being bandaged and strong-smelling potions poured into her mouth.

  This was repeated several times during the night.

  *

  She realised as dawn broke that the woman hadn’t left her side.

  “I’m hurting so much,” she whispered.

  “You’ll mend. You’re young and strong. I’ve cleansed your wound in the old ways. See, it no longer bleeds. You must drink as much as you can, and I’ll give you my special medicines.”

  “You’re like someone else I used to know.”

  “There are several of us around. We help as much as we can. I have to go now, but I’ll be back.”

  However, it wasn’t long before Ptah suddenly reappeared, with two guards and torches.

  “Find the ring,” he yelled at them. “It’s in this filthy place somewhere.”

  They searched everywhere but there was no sign of it. Ptah was furious.

  “Search again later! Get out!”

  He glared down at Tadinanefer. “We’re moving on soon.”

  “I’m not well enough.”

  “Don’t answer me back, girl. I’m taking you, before Nephthys takes you.”

  “Nephthys?”

  “She wants you for her new whorehouse; she thinks you’ll make lots of money for her, having been Thoth’s slave. It’s me or her. Not much of a choice, is it?” He grasped a piece of her hair and twined it round his hands. “Still pretty, aren’t you, even after everything. And now you have my mark on you, until your dying day.”

  He went. Then it was Nephthys’s turn to come and taunt her.

  “Tadinanefer! You do look so, what’s the word… beaten. You’ve been punished, and now you truly know your place. Don’t worry, I’ll once more clean you up and send you to work for me. But this time if you don’t behave I’ll know just how to deal with you. More blood-letting I’m afraid, but of course it won’t come to that, will it?”

  “You let Eboni die.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  Thunder crossed Nephthys’s face. “I do with my slaves as I wish!”

  She grasped a handful of Tadinanefer’s hair and yanked it. “Wait till I get you under my control,” she snarled. She kicked her side as she left.

  The pain returned. She was given more medicine and fell into an uneasy sleep. Her mother rode around her on her white horse, her father on another white horse, and Thoth smiled down at her from his magnificent black horse. They rode round and round her, drawing a circle. It reminded her of the ring.

  She awoke with a start. She must find the ring! She must put it on another finger. Where was it?

  The guards hadn’t found it. She tried to stand and realised she could only get as far as the chain would allow. She’d seen it go flying with her finger towards the wall. She went down on her knees, finding it more comfortable, and she could stretch further if she lay on the floor. The wall was solid. And yet… One of the stones was loose. It concealed something. Tentatively she withdrew it. There was an object. It gleamed. It was gold, and it circled something which looked like a white stick. ‘My goodness,’ she thought, ‘that’s my finger!’

  She dragged them out; perhaps she could slide the ring off. But then a thought hit her like a thunderbolt. The ring and the finger were one and the same. Would it be possible to reconnect them? Steeling herself, she slowly took off the bandage. She scarcely dared to look at the mess. Very carefully she pushed the dead finger onto the bloody stump, holding it carefully. There was a sharp pain and she nearly cried out in agony, but knew she must stifle any noise. She watched in total amazement as the stump and the finger came together. The whole process looked so strange, almost in slow motion, as the dead finger wearing the gold ring linked evenly to her living hand. Even as she watched, she could see her blood flowing into the finger, giving life back once more to what had been hers. The pain ceased. Her hand was repaired.

  She crawled back across the floor. She had to get free. She heard someone coming. It was the woman. She quickly wrapped her hand up again, and asked to be left alone.

  The anklet was tight. She tried to pull it off, with no success. Then she looked at the post and realised the chain was only hanging by a link on a hook. No animal could reach up and take it off but she could. Quietly she eased it off. She’d have to carry the chain but that wasn’t a problem.

  Then she saw the cinders of her shawl. She was appalled.

  But suddenly she wondered. If the Gods could help repair her finger maybe they could help her to do something for the shawl? She rubbed the ring into the cinders. At first nothing happened, and she felt it was not going to work. Then suddenly the cinders started to move together, and the shawl began to reform! Soon it too was whole again. With a grateful sigh she wrapped it round her. She hid the chain inside as best she could.

  Now all she had to do was escape…

  Carefully she eased her way through the doorway, noting two guards who were standing away from it. They seemed to be preoccupied by something going on in the courtyard. She slid quietly along the wall towards the side of the building and round the corner to the comparative safety of the open field. Then she stopped. She could see what had taken the attention of the guards. Nephthys was standing in all her finery glowering at Ptah, whose obstinate stance showed they were having a row. Knowing it was unwise, Tadinanefer still couldn’t resist pausing and watching.

  “She is mine!” Nephthys was screaming. “You said if I helped you get her, and showed you how to disable her power, you’d let me have her for my brothel.”

  “She isn’t going to any brothel.” Ptah’s voice was low and dangerous. “I never intended that to happen. You’re merely a stupid woman who’s served my purpose. Tadinanefer is mine and always will be. You, Nephthys, are nothing but a whore yourself. I suggest you get out of here whilst you still can and before I have you put in prison for taking something which belongs to the mighty Thoth. They’ll torture you and tear you apart.”

  “You’re nothing but a gnarled old man, dying from a disease the Gods have inflicted on you,” Nephthys hissed. “I’ll have my revenge on you – and her.”

  She raised her arm and hit him hard. Because of his frailty he almost fell.

  “Where’s your strength, old man?” she screamed. “You’ll never make it with that s
exy, experienced young female. She’s outgrown you. She’s no sweet virgin. Thoth’s had her – and how many of his men have?”

  Ptah grew even more angry. He grasped his dagger.

  Nephthys ignored the threat. “You haven’t the strength to cut off a woman’s finger, let alone kill one!” She brought out her own jewelled dagger. “Let me carve a piece off you,” she taunted. “A piece I can give to Tadinanefer. She’ll put it in a box and treasure it.”

  She appeared to have forgotten Ptah’s long experience in fighting and protecting himself. Within a moment his dagger was in his hand, and in the next second he’d plunged it straight into her heart.

  For a long, long second she stared at him in total disbelief, her mouth wide open, her eyes staring. Her throat gurgled, and then, with a strange smile on her face, she fell in a heap on the ground.

  Tadinanefer looked on, totally shocked. She was unable to move. Ptah had killed Nephthys!

  But now he looked about to collapse and die himself!

  At that very moment two arms suddenly grasped her firmly from behind, pulling her backwards; a hand quickly covered her mouth. She tried to struggle. ‘Oh, how stupid I am, I should have run,’ she thought desperately.

  “Quiet,” a familiar voice whispered.

  “Thoth,” she mouthed. “Oh, Thoth, my Thoth.” She almost wept with relief.

  “Hush,” he said quietly. “We have to get to the safety of the trees.”

  He set off, pulling her. She tried to keep up with him but the chain she carried was heavy. Thoth stopped.

  “Have you been wounded?”

  “No. It’s this thing.”

  She let her shawl fall.

  “A chain!” Thoth’s face was like thunder. “Who dared to put that on you? Someone will pay for this.” He looked at her ankle. “We haven’t time to get it off at the moment.” Without hesitation he picked her up and ran with her to where there were horses waiting for them.

  He helped her onto one. Then he pushed the tip of his dagger into the lock on the chain. After a bit of manipulating it sprung open. He threw it onto the ground in disgust, then leapt up onto the other horse, and led them away. Behind them, the sound of fighting erupted from near the buildings. They didn’t get far before the noise ceased.

  Thoth reined in the horses. Within minutes Ammon came galloping up, his sword held high; it was covered in blood.

  “We’ve sorted them out, Sire. And taken one or two prisoners.”

  “Good. I’ll deal with them later.”

  “Ptah? Is Ptah still alive?” Tadinanefer’s voice was scarcely audible.

  “He’s dead.” Ammon’s expression as usual held no emotion.

  Thoth took Tadinanefer’s hand. “It’s for the best. He would go on causing trouble if he’d been allowed to live.”

  She bowed her head. Maybe someday she’d forgive Ptah for what he’d done to her, but at that moment she felt no remorse.

  *

  Thoth took Tadinanefer to one of his palaces and refused to leave her side until she’d been bathed and massaged and had fallen asleep in his arms. When she woke later in the day she dressed and sat waiting for him to return.

  She still felt uneasy. Even with her two main enemies now dead, both Nephthys and Ptah, she didn’t feel better. Perhaps she sensed there’d be new enemies. She’d become important to one of the noblest men in the country and that probably made her vulnerable. Someone could use her against him. Someone could hurt him by taking her just as Ptah had done and threatening him through her. And the next person could be far stronger than Ptah, who was merely a merchant.

  What about the powerful royal women? They couldn’t like her very much. Supposing they were planning her demise already? Thoth had already declared his love for her. It was well known that she was rapidly becoming far more important to him than any of his other females. She could be used as a tool for his downfall. She felt miserable. This wasn’t why she’d been saved for Thoth. It had been written that she’d love and protect him forever, but now she began to wonder if she was more of a hindrance. Yet she was the servant of Wadjet and knew above all she must serve and stay with Thoth.

  “You look tired,” she said gently when he returned. She guessed he’d been exacting revenge on her torturers.

  “No, I’m not tired.” Thoth smiled at her.

  “Let me look at your hands,” he went on, gently. He looked at her fingers, feeling them one by one. “Those people lied. They said they’d cut a finger off. What do you think was meant by it?”

  She was silent.

  “Tadinanefer?”

  He picked up her ringed finger and gently pushed the ring to her knuckle, closely examining the finger. He drew back suddenly.

  “You have a jagged scar there, hidden by your ring. I know every inch of your body and that scar is new; it wasn’t there when I last saw you. Tell me what happened.”

  “It’s true. They did cut my finger off to get at the ring,” she explained. “But the ring wouldn’t leave my finger and they both rolled under the wall. I know it sounds far-fetched but I somehow thought if I put my finger back onto my joint it would knit back together. It did. I can’t lose the ring, Thoth. It’s part of me, just like my arms and legs. It ties me to my destiny.”

  He unexpectedly knelt before her, kissing the ring. “They must have hurt you,” he said. “Hurt you because of me.”

  “I can take any punishment as long as I stay with you,” she murmured.

  He held her hands firmly between his. “And they say they burnt your shawl, until there was nothing left of it, and yet you have it on and it’s not damaged.”

  He waited for an answer.

  “It came together once more. The ring repaired it. That’s what happened, Thoth.”

  “Mm,” he murmured thoughtfully.

  He looked at her with sudden concern.

  “Tadinanefer, all along you’ve tried to explain things away, but there’s something more, isn’t there? You really are the daughter of a foreign High Priestess, commanded to bring you to this country to become my mistress. Up until now you’ve been protected by the mighty Snake Goddess, and she’ll continue to do so. But this world we live in is fraught with many dangers. In every corner lives someone waiting to harm us, perhaps even murder us. Have you thought just what she intends for us? Can we ever live a normal life, with children, in this world? Will we be forever worrying not just about each other but about our little ones, so much more vulnerable than we are? I love you so much, Tadinanefer, but is there any sort of future for us? You a white servant and me of royal descent?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer but got off his knees. “Undress for me.”

  She disrobed and stood before him in all her nakedness.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “Every time I look at you it’s like the first time I ever saw you. Your luscious brown curly hair, which I can intertwine through my fingers; your lovely brown eyes, so seductive and deep; your white body with gorgeous breasts and flat stomach; your enticing thighs and shapely legs; and your gentle arms which ensnare me and make me forget the world. There is such a depth of loveliness and desire about you which any man seeing you now as I do would find hard to resist.”

  Slowly he took off his clothes and stood near her, but not touching her.

  “Do you feel the magnetism between us? It’s like we are bound with heavy chains locking us together, and there’s no escape.”

  She said nothing but stood quietly until Thoth started running his hands through her hair and kissing her passionately, his whole body suddenly urgent for her, as he pushed her down. His demands were at their highest level but she met them with the energy of youth. When he was finally exhausted she lay on top of him as if to shield him from the world.

  “I’ll never leave you,” she said, yet again.

  *

  Tadinanefer had never lived in a palace before. She was told it was huge, but she was only allowed the few rooms assigned to her. After o
nly a day or two it became like an ornate prison. The only really good thing was that Thoth could come back when he was free and they could talk and make love. Otherwise, when Thoth wasn’t around, Ammon seemed to hover in the background, hardly letting her out of his sight.

  She began to get to know one of her serving girls, a pretty girl not much older than herself. She said she was called Femi, which meant ‘love’. She spent ages just combing Tadinanefer’s hair and bringing in jewelled necklaces to go with her flimsy white shifts.

  “I think your bodyguard is rather nice,” Femi said one morning, as she dressed Tadinanefer.

  “Ammon has a very good physique and is very strong.” Tadinanefer glanced curiously at the girl; did she fancy him? She’d learned from Thoth that Ammon was quite choosy in his choice of bed mate. He usually went for tall well-built women with big breasts, and Femi was slight and delicate. Tadinanefer hoped they wouldn’t get together. It would worry her that her servant was having an affair with her bodyguard and might use him somehow against her or Thoth. Maybe she should get another personal servant.

  Later that morning Femi shuffled in with her head bowed and a slightly frightened expression on her face. Ammon stood in the shadows, his hand on his dagger.

  “You have a visitor, madam.” She crept to one side and then knelt with her forehead touching the floor.

  Tadinanefer stared in amazement as a magnificently-dressed woman, smelling of the most seductive perfumes, swept into the room. She was like an upmarket version of Nephthys, but with the noble ancestry of a thousand years carved into her classical features.

  Tadinanefer stood to greet her, noting that the woman was slightly shorter than she was and older. Her wig was very bejewelled and she wore a very wide collar bedecked with precious stones, and her arms and fingers gleamed with gold. Her shift was black; it was weighted down with tiny gold pieces sewn into the fabric.

  The woman paused for effect.

  “I am Thoth’s wife, his first wife,” she announced in very loud and precise tones. “I take it you are the white witch who satisfies my husband when I allow it.” She examined Tadinanefer. “You are a very odd colour but I suppose men like something a bit different, a bit weird.”