Child of the morning

by Gedge, Pauline, 1945-

  Senmut hesitated at the door, longing to go back into the room and comfort the woman whose sobs came to him audibly though muffled, but he wisely left her alone, pressing his great seal beside the others on the paper on Anen's lap and walking home to his palace in the murmuring night.

  Thothmes was not so subtle. He stood by the bed, leaning down in inarticulate sympathy and stroking the heaving shoulders. But when he tried to raise her, she shrugged from his grasp angrily, and after a helpless moment of indecision he left her. It pained him to know that she had been defeated, and it pained him to know that he would never understand her complex mind. But after all, he thought guiltily as he made his way back to his own chambers, she is in truth the Child of Amun, his true and certain likeness in Egypt, and it must be hard for a God to die without leaving another Cod to rule. The finer points of the situation made him tired, and he had had an early rising, so he went to bed and slept heavily.

  In the nursery Neferura looked at her new sister with dubious awe, and her mother finally fell into an exhausted, grudging sleep.

  Aset had made Thothmes promise to send her word the moment Hatshepsut gave birth, and before he got onto his couch with a sigh, he ordered his Herald to take her the news. He could well imagine her reaction, and he wished a little wistfully that she was not quite so spiteful, so grasping. But after all, he told himself as his slave settled the sheet over him and bowed out, even a Pharaoh cannot have everything.

  Aset's reaction was indeed predictable. The Herald found her in the garden, tossing a ball for her son as he ran to and fro between the trees and tried to leap the flower beds. At the sight of the tall man striding toward her over the grass, two bodyguards flanking him like twin lions, she rose, her heart in her mouth, and the ball slipped from fingers gone

  suddenly cold. The Herald and the two Followers of His Majesty bowed, and Aset shaded her eyes with one shaking hand. ''Well?" she snapped. ''Is the Queen delivered of a boy or a girl?"

  The Herald smiled faintly. "The Divine Consort, Beloved of the Two Lands, has given birth today to—a girl. Highness."

  Aset's eyes narrowed and began to glow, and all at once she began to laugh. She laughed until the tears ran down her thin face, laughed until she could no longer stand upright. The three men watched her incredulously, unable to believe this show of complete disrespect. Thothmes ran to her, picking up his ball and hugging it while his eyes grew round, and still she laughed until her belly ached and she could laugh no more. Finally she straightened, gasping and wiping her eyes on her linen.

  The Herald waited coldly, his face impassive. "Do you wish me to carry any message to Pharaoh?" he asked her.

  At the chill in his tone, she drew herself up and met his gaze with impudence. "No. Tell him only that today I am well—and very happy."

  He bowed stiffly and spun on his heel, walking away with his back rigid.

  Aset went down on one knee before little Thothmes, stroking his shaved head and his strong brown arms, in a paroxysm of joy. "Did you hear, little Prince? Did you? You will be King! Pharaoh Thothmes the Third! How grand you wifl be, in your shining Double Crown, and how mighty! I, a humble dancer from Assuan, am the mother of a Pharaoh!"

  But her expression was far from humble as she took the ball from him and threw it with afl her might. It sailed up, up, and disappeared into the sun, falling neatly behind the wall that separated her domain from that of Hatshepsut. Then she laughed again, in triumph at the sign; and snatching her son's hand, she led him slowly inside.

  Somehow the word was passed, and in two days all knew that Second Wife Aset had laughed loud and long at the Queen's new daughter and had even had the effrontery to send a message to Pharaoh himself, telling him how happy she was.

  Yamu-nefru had sneered, discussing the matter with his friend Djehuty as they dined together one evening. "What else can be expected of a skinny upstart who fancies herself a Queen?" he said, selecting a pastry with care and nibbling at it daintily. "I have never heard of such bad manners."

  Djehuty agreed, smiling. "If Pharaoh had been more like his blessed and iflustrious father, the bitch would have been sent packing immediately," he observed, "but seeing we have a ruler of uncertain talents, such breaches of true breeding happen afl too often."

  ''I am surprised that she has lasted this long." Yamu-nefru finished his pastry and dabbled his long fingers in the scented water bowl. 'Thothmes has no taste in women."

  'Ton speak of Pharaoh!" Djehuty warned him, eying the servant who silently filled their goblets. For a moment they did not speak. Then Djehuty continued. ''Even so, my friend, Aset has a son by Pharaoh, and by right of law he will indeed be Pharaoh in his turn. It sticks in the gullet of the Flower of Egypt, but she knows that it will come to pass one day."

  ''It would stick in my gullet, too, if the son were more like his father." Yamu-nefru sipped his wine with relish. "But you know, Djehuty, I like the child. He fears nothing."

  "He is not the first Pharaoh who has sprung from a commoner's body and done great deeds, yet the Queen will not see it like that."

  "The Queen wishes to be King," Yamu-nefru said softly, "and I have no doubt that if anything untoward happens to Pharaoh, then Aset must guard her little princeling with her life."

  They looked at each other over the rim of their goblets, in perfect understanding.

  Djehuty shrugged. "It is no light matter to be the Daughter of the God," he said. "You and I, Nefrusi, must simply get about our own business and serve as well as we may."

  The news finally trickled through to Hatshepsut, babbled to her by her hairdresser one morning, and with a mounting rage she kept her mask of indifference until the silly woman had gone. Then she swept her cosmetics to the floor in one violent, crashing movement and marched to Thothmes' audience chamber, pushing his guard aside with such force that the man stumbled against the wall and dropped his spear. Although her body was still sore and a little weak, she strode to the foot of his throne, where Aset perched at his feet and his courtiers gathered, and she ordered them out.

  "You, too, you hussy!" she shouted at Aset, and her face held an expression of such animal ferocity that Aset jumped up and dodged past her, her customary cheeky aplomb deserting her.

  Thothmes got down, aghast, and Hatshepsut strode to him, thrusting her blazing face into his so that he had to step back a pace. "Your fumblings I can stand!" she shouted, "and your blatant ineptitude and your silly posturings, but to be insulted in my own palace, under the very nose of a high official of the court, by a peasant girl dressed up as a Princess, this I will not have!" She shook her fist at him and spat upon the floor, then she whirled and began to stride up and down, her earrings swinging and her bracelets jingling angrily.

  "I have put up with her, Thothmes, for your sake. Pharaoh is within

  the law, I have said. He may take another wife, I have said, because that it liis privilege, even though his choice is a woman whose blood and profession offend the very air I breathe! She is stupid and mean, Thothmes, and will not learn the graces she cannot obtain by birth. But the crowning blow, the last trial of my patience and my full cooperation, for you have had both"—she held out a rigid finger at him, and he shrank —**is that in leaving such rudeness, such blasphemy, to go unpunished, you are saying to the whole city: 'See! My wife laughs at my wife, and I laugh, too!' " She ran out of breath and came to a halt, fists clenched and face white.

  But she had not finished. ^'Furthermore," she said more calmly, walking toward him, ''if you do not order her confined to her rooms until my anger is abated, I myself will have her whipped. I can do it, Thothmes, and you cannot stop me. Aset must be checked, and it must be done now, before her vaunting greed and ambition take her to the executioner."

  Thothmes fidgeted unhappily with the rings on his fingers. Her rage did not impress him, for she had a temper speedily roused and as speedily forgotten. But he knew her words were just, and in his own cowardice he had allowed the breach of protocol and decency to go
unpunished.

  "I am truly sorry, Hatshepset, and you are right," he offered, seeing that she was already limp with the aftermath of her outburst. "Of course I shall punish Aset, but you must understand that she was not brought up gently, as you and I were. She has had a rough and diflRcult life."

  "Oh, Thothmes," Hatshepsut said wearily. "Many people are born with nothing and yet can live humbly and rightly in the service of the God and their fellow creatures. There is not another woman in Thebes who would display the same hardness of heart to her worst enemy, and I am not Aset's enemy if she did but stop to think on the matter. I could have been her friend."

  "She fears you," Thothmes pointed out. "She is not secure; she is ever looking over her shoulder. And the Queen is, to her, a formidable rival."

  Hatshepsut laughed abruptly. "How dare she think in terms of rivalry! For I am the God, and what is she? She may look over her shoulder in vain, for she is her own enemy."

  "I am sorry," Thothmes repeated. "Shall I have her flogged?"

  Hatshepsut glanced at the worried, frowning face with contempt and pity. "That is not necessary. Not this time, at any rate. But if she persists in her foolishness, it may be the only answer. No, Thothmes, only lock her in her apartments, and forbid the garden to her. I do not wish to see her again for a very long time, not at dinner, not on my walks, and not on any public occasion. I am going back to my couch." She bowed briefly.

  absently, and went to the door. Suddenly she turned back, a wry, self-deprecating smile on her mouth. ''What do you think of your new daughter?"

  He shuffled uneasily. ''In truth, Hatshepset, I do not know. She is certainly more robust than Neferura, but her features are indeterminate. I can see no likeness in her to either me or you or her grandparents."

  Hatshepsut grimaced. "Neither can I," she said lightly. "Ah, well, it was not the will of Amun to give me a King!" And she went out, closing the door softly. Outside she paused. "Did I hurt you?" she asked the guard.

  Surprised and pleased, he shook his head. "No, Majesty," he replied. "I am only sorry that I stood in your way."

  "You were brave," she answered. "Not many dare to stand in my way." She touched him lightly on the forehead and went swiftly down the hall.

  The child was named Meryet-Hatshepset, and Hatshepsut accepted it without a tremor. It was a good, safe name, a name that held for her no memories or premonitions, and the baby was duly carried to the temple and offered to the God. Senmut felt no fears for this daughter. She was very healthy and seemed to grow every day, but he could not warm to her as he had to the dainty Neferura, and he was glad that he had not been appointed Royal Nurse to her as well. He was relieved to see that Hatshepsut recovered quickly from the birth and within weeks was back in her offices. Once more the palace hummed like a great beehive, drawing in the nectar of gold and sending out scouts, workers, and messengers who traveled the length and breadth of Egypt on the business of the Queen.

  Hatshepsut swallowed her disappointment. But like Senmut, she found that she could not warm to her second daughter. She wondered if it was perhaps because she had so desperately wanted a son or because she had refused to hold the child in its first hours of life. Whatever the reason, the tiny red face, with its thin features, did not move her at all, and she was sorry. As Meryet-Hatshepset grew toward her first birthday, Hatshepsut saw in her a dismaying likeness to Aset, not so much in appearance but in disposition. The girl was a whiner, often in tears that could have been genuine but more often than not were squeezed out to accomplish some end. Her nurses had their patience tried by her day after day. The nursery became a noisy place, and in the end Senmut requested that Neferura be moved to her own little apartment. Hatshepsut agreed, and the Princess was lodged next-door to her mother in servants' cells that were redecorated for her. So it was inevitable that Queen and future consort should grow closer while the ill-tempered baby, who screamed constantly, was left to the ministrations of hired women.

  Hatshcpsiit did not intend to neglect Meryet. She went often to play little games with her and comfort her, but she was a busy, hard-pressed woman. She found it easier to take Neferura with her, talking with the little girl as she passed steadily from temple to oflRce to dining chamber. The baby was left to stamp her little feet in impotent rage as she saw her mother and her sister go oflF together, leaving her to the nurses who gathered around her. Very early on Meryet-Hatshepset learned jealousy.

  ^^^i^

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  ^4^

  Early in the month of Thoth, when the river had already begun to rise and the fellahin worked desperately night and day to gather in the harvest before winter's angry waters spilled over the fields, Thothmes caught a cold. He had refused all food for some days beforehand, complaining that his head ached. When he began to sniffle and his temperature rose, he took to his couch at once. His physician prescribed hot lemon juice with honey, mingled with cassia, and Thothmes miserably drank his medicine and surrounded himself with amulets and charms. After three days the fever had not abated, though the symptoms of his cold were gone. Alarmed, the physician went to Hatshepsut. Ineni was with her, and they were going over the accounts of the temple for the last month while Neferura played with her dolls in the corner.

  ''How is Thothmes today?" Hatshepsut asked the man quickly, her eyes still on the scroll before her and her mind on Ineni's figures.

  The physician stood awkwardly, one hand about the golden scarab hanging on his sunken breast. ''Mighty Horus is not wefl at aU," he began. When she heard his tone, Hatshepsut turned swiftly, her attention now fully on him.

  "The cold has left him, but the fever will not abate. His Majesty weakens.''

  "Then cafl the magicians at once! A fever is a matter of spells and charms. What have you done for him?"

  "I treated the cough and the stuffed nose. Majesty; they fled. But I can do no more. Pharaoh asks that you visit him, but I do not advise it."

  "Why not?"

  "His breath is fufl of foul humors. Forgive me for saying so. Majesty, but I do not think you should approach him."

  "Nonsense! Since when have I feared an evil smefl? Ineni, we are finished here for today. You can take the scrofls back to the scribe."

  "Is my father very ifl?" Neferura had left her dofls and crept forward, her dark eyes on the face of Pharaoh's physician. The man looked helplessly at Hatshepsut.

  She swiftly knelt, straightening the unruly youth-lock and kissing the

  pale check. "He is ill, but 1 do not think you should worry about him," she said gently. *'Is not Pharaoh immortal?"

  Hie child nodded solemnly. "Are you going to see him now? May I come, too?"

  "No, you must take your dolls and go and find Senmut. If you like, you can go with him to see the animals while I am busy. Would you like that?"

  Nefcrura nodded again, but she did not run to pick up her toys. Hatshepsut left her standing there, staring, while Ineni gathered together the scrolls.

  In Thothmes' bedchamber the air was stifling, and it stank. He was lying on his back, moaning a little. As she bent to kiss him, his skin was fiery and dry to her touch. She drew back, alarmed.

  "Hatshepset," he whispered. His head rolled toward her. "Tell these fools to bring me water. They will not let me drink."

  She looked at the physician, startled, words of anger on her lips.

  The old man was firm. "His Majesty can only sip," he said, "but His Majesty insists on half a heket of water. I have told him that to drink so much at once will induce great pain."

  "To Set with your mumblings!" Thothmes moved restlessly under the thin linen, and his breath reached her, a stench in her nostrils.

  "He can at least be bathed!" she snapped. "Bring warm water and cloths, and I will wash him. And lift the hangings from the windows! How can he sleep in this heat?" The slaves who huddled in the corner ran to do her bidding, and she sat on Thothmes' retiring stool. "Come here with that fan!" she barked.

  Thothmes closed his eyes as the air o
ver his body began to move. "I am burning up," he whispered again. He began to shiver, clutching the covers in shaking hands, his teeth chattering.

  She looked at him with real fear, smoothing the pillow. "Do not worry, Thothmes," she said. "I have ordered the magicians, and soon the fever will be driven from your body."

  He tossed and moaned, not answering.

  A slave approached with a bowl of hot water. She bade him set it beside her as she took off her rings. She added a little wine to the water, dipped the cloth in it, and began to wash his face. He smiled faintly, his hand finding hers. She gently removed the sheet and washed him all over. His body had an unhealthy sheen that was not sweat. He seemed to be slightly swollen, and she pursed her lips as she worked. Whatever it was, she did not think that spells would be of any use.

  When she had finished, she washed her hands in clean water and put on her rings, slipping each on thoughtfully. As she sat, the magicians were

  announced. Bending over him, she said into his ear, "Thothmes, the magicians are here. I must go now. I am expected elsewhere, but I will return as soon as I may and wash you again. Would you like that?"

  He smelled her perfume, a faint and pleasant cloud. He wanted to turn and open his eyes, but the effort was beyond him, and he only nodded, once.

  She rose. ''Begin at once,'' she ordered the silent, cloaked men. ''Do not stop until Pharaoh leaves his bed to go hunting!" She smiled at them briefly, and before she closed the door, the deep chanting had begun.

  She sent a message to Aset, telling her that she had permission to visit Thothmes but that she must on no account take her son with her. She ordered the bodyguard who carried the message to wait and see that it was obeyed. She spent some time with Tahuti in his workshop, a large, open room that nonetheless always seemed full of the fumes of hot metal. They discussed his progress on the floors of her temple. They were all to be of gold or silver, and he was responsible for their beating and laying. While she was there, he showed her some chests of copper that he was making for the Master of Mysteries. She was impressed. They were delicately wrought and carefully, lovingly put together. She made a mental note to talk to Ineni about the solemn, humorless youth.