Dreamers (39 page)

the palace Tuya could hear the sounds of chisel and cudgel,

ax and saw. The laborers worked from the rising of the sun

till the setting of it, and as his house rose from a hilltop near

the palace, Zaphenath-paneah conducted his affairs from

Pharaoh’s throne room.

Egypt had known viziers before, but never one with this

much power. With Pharaoh’s full authority, Zaphenath-paneah

divided the kingdom into tracts of land and classified them

according to their fertility. He specified three categories: lands

that regularly received the Nile’s fertile flood, lands that some-

times flooded, and lands that seldom or never did. For the next

seven years, Zaphenath-paneah proclaimed, taxes would be

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calculated according to the flood state at various locations

along the river, beginning at the isle of Elephantine near the

first cataract. Based on this measurement, crop quotas would

be assigned. Four-fifths of the land’s expected bounty would

belong to the people who worked it, but one-fifth would

belong to Pharaoh, and must be surrendered for storage in

Pharaoh’s granaries.

Tuya wondered how well Asenath had come to know her

husband, for almost immediately after his appointment Yosef

set off on a tour of Egypt to determine if the present nomarchs

would be capable of gathering the harvest from the coming

years of plenty. A corps of scribes, accountants and engineers

accompanied him on his travels, and Pharaoh received daily

reports of his vizier busily collecting records of all the houses

and estates in Egypt. While the scribes questioned the

nomarchs about their past administration and the collection

of taxes, engineers surveyed the land to determine where the

huge, cone-shaped granaries should be built. In cities where

the vizier found the nomarchs resentful, unscrupulous or

inept, new officials were appointed to oversee the gathering

of the earth’s bounty.

Tuthmosis had been wise, Tuya realized, to appoint a vizier

to handle the complicated details of taxation, for now the

young king was free to concentrate on the work he loved.

Already he had restored the ancient Sphinx to its former

grandeur; now he concentrated on raising the fallen obelisk

of Tuthmosis III at Karnak. Many ancient temples and monu-

ments had fallen into disrepair, and Tuthmosis the dreamer

was far happier restoring the glory of the past than working

out the details of a complicated present.

Not only did Yosef have to contend with the coming fam-

ine, but to him also fell the traditional duties of a vizier. The

viziers of Egypt’s past had filled at least thirty major func-

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tions, including Manager of the King’s Palace, Guardian of

the Public Works, General of the King’s Army, Commander

of the King’s Peacekeepers, Patron of the Royal Artisans,

Dispenser of Justice and Keeper of the Law, Judge over the

High Court of the Land, Overseer of the Royal Farms and

Granaries, Hand to Distribute Food to Laborers and the King’s

Officials, and He Who Gathers in the King’s Taxes.

Perhaps, Tuya thought as she listened to one of the reports

Yosef sent to Tuthmosis, the Almighty God prevented her

from marrying Yosef because Egypt’s second in command had

no time for a wife. But still her heart leapt with joy when she

heard that Zaphenath-paneah had finally returned to Thebes.

With difficulty she curbed her eagerness and waited two ten-

day weeks before joining the others who assembled each

morning at the palace in the hope of gaining an audience with

the king’s vizier.

“Dress me carefully,” she told her handmaid, but she dared

not speak the reason for her concern:
because this morning I

have decided to face Yosef.

Knowing Yosef’s preference for simple things, from her

wardrobe chest she selected a gown of cream-colored linen

and a narrow band of gold for her throat. Modest leather

slippers completed her outfit, and in her hand she carried a

single lotus blossom, a symbol of their hours together in

Potiphar’s garden.

Leaving Yosef in the care of his nurse, Tuya slipped out of

her chamber and down to the hall that had been designated as

a temporary reception room for the vizier. A throng of digni-

taries and nobles waited outside the chamber’s closed doors,

yet the crowd parted like the petals of a flower as she ap-

proached. No one dared question her presence, for anyone

might approach the vizier and offer a word of advice or con-

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gratulation, but Tuya spied more than one lifted brow. Intui-

tively, she knew it would not be wise to speak with Yosef

alone. The more witnesses to her audience with him, the safer

they both would be.

Every morning the vizier went first to Pharaoh’s chamber

for an intimate council, so the esteemed Zaphenath-paneah had

not yet arrived to face his visitors. Tuya waited, hoping Yosef

would not leave her long with the men who cast furtive glances

in her direction, and within a few moments she heard the steady

tramping of an approaching entourage. Surrounded by a host

of scribes and nobles, Yosef swept past her, but his eye caught

hers and his lips mouthed her name:
Tuya!
She caught a

glimpse of fondness in his gaze as his guards pulled him away,

and her heart fluttered at the knowledge that he remembered.

For an hour, she waited. Those who had previous appoint-

ments came and went, then finally a servant dipped his knee

before her. “Queen Tuya, the vizier bids me call for you,” he

said, motioning toward the reception chamber. Tuya rose and

followed the servant.

Yosef sat on a gilded chair not unlike Pharaoh’s throne. A

thick carpet lay under his feet, the baton of state across his

hands. The books of Egypt’s laws, forty-two volumes contain-

ing all the wisdom of the world, stood open on stands behind

his chair. An assortment of Pharaoh’s officials and ministers

clustered around the vizier, expressions of curiosity on their

faces as Tuya approached.

She smiled at her husband’s ministers, then turned to Yosef.

On the night of his release from prison he had appeared as

wild as an unbroken horse. Today he seemed no less powerful,

but Zaphenath-paneah looked as Egyptian as any man born

along the Nile. He wore a fine pleated kilt and a mantle of

leopard skin, the traditional garb of a prince. A handsome wig

covered his head, and his paint-lengthened eyes crinkled at

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the sight of her. “I am honored, Queen Tuya,” he said, his

voice reaching her as if from worlds away.

If not for the memories that came crowding back at the

sound of his voice, she would have thought Yosef the Hebrew

a figment of her imagination. She could see little of him in

the king’s vizier. Gone was the thick, unruly hair, the falter-

ing accent, the boyish laugh. This stranger was an exquisite

man, but he was not the youth she had known and loved.

He gave her a careful smile. “To what do I owe the honor

of visiting with Pharaoh’s wife?”

“One of Pharaoh’s many wives,” she said, searching for the

meaning behind his greeting. Had he chosen those words as

casually as his tone implied? Or was he trying to gently

remind her that they were not the people they once had been?

“I come, my lord vizier, to welcome you to the palace.” She

bowed her head in a gesture of respect, grateful for the op-

portunity to lower her eyes as she forced out her next words:

“And to congratulate you on your marriage.”

“Thank you.” He hesitated. “I hoped we would have a

chance to speak, gracious lady.”

“Truly?” She lifted her head. His eyes snapped with some

urgent message he could not speak before the ministers who

listened to every word. She tightened her hand around the flower

she carried.Yosef wanted to speak freely—what would he say?

With a graceful economy of movement he stood and

clapped his hands. “Clear the room of all who await business

with the vizier,” he ordered. “Queen Tuya should not have to

speak before the common crowd.”

“Let your servants remain, my lord,” she whispered, catch-

ing his eye. Rash actions would arouse suspicion, and as

much as Tuya wanted to speak with him alone, she knew she

did not dare. Pharaoh’s court was quicksand; she had seen

how petty jealousies and ambitions could flare to injure the

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innocent. Amenhotep’s court had been rife with strife, and

Tuthmosis was young enough to be easily misled.

“Of course. My servants shall remain, but my scribes—”

Yosef gave the three men who sat at his right hand a deter-

mined smile “—will wait in the anteroom. The words of

Pharaoh’s wife do not need to be recorded.”

The grumbling men gathered their pens, parchments and

books and left the room, casting curious glances over their

shoulders as they exited. When everyone had gone but the two

servants who lingered at the door, Yosef stepped from the dais.

The stiff guise of the Egyptian vizier fell away, and the ex-

pression in his eyes brought heat to Tuya’s cheeks. For a

dizzying moment the room whirled around her.

“Steady,” Yosef murmured in a low voice. “You must

remember where you are.”

“I’m all right.” She pressed her hand to her throat and

breathed deeply, aware that servants watched from the far

side of the room. No doubt other faces were pressed to the

narrow opening between the doors.

“I have wanted to thank you, Zaphenath-paneah.” She

strengthened her voice so the eavesdroppers could hear. “You

have done my husband and the kingdom a great service.”

“God has brought us to this place,” Yosef answered. “But

I am enjoying the work.”

She turned her back to the spies at the door. “I have prayed

to your god,” she confessed in a whisper. “I prayed for

Taharka’s release. When I saw that your god could deliver

him, I prayed for you, too.”

Yosef laughed. “And I thought my prayers did all the

work.” He thrust his hands behind his back and regarded her

with what looked like honest affection. “It is comforting to

know I was in your thoughts.”

A feeling of glorious happiness warmed her heart. “I nearly

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gave up. But when I heard Potiphar had spared your life, I

knew your god would preserve you. Even though I thought

you guilty at first—”

“Speak no more of the past.” Yosef lowered his voice. “I

have prayed for you these many years, and I have begged God

for an opportunity to speak to you.”

His words stole her breath. Was he about to confess he still

loved her? Would he suggest a rendezvous? For what pur-

pose? If they were to meet, even as friends, questions would

be asked. She stared at him, her mouth agape.

“I have dreamed again.” His eyes darted toward the doors

at the rear of the room; his voice became a thin whisper in the

space between them. “The vision was another warning from

God, Tuya. You and your son are in danger.”

“Yosef?” she cried, momentarily forgetting everything else.

A corner of the vizier’s mouth curled in a half smile. “Your

son is called Yosef?”

“It is his baby name,” she answered, feeling heat rise in her

face. “Pharaoh does not know what it means. I thought that

since I couldn’t have you, at least I could love my Yosef—”

“You must take care, Tuya,” he whispered, his voice dark

with warning. “I don’t know where the danger lies, but this

evil would not hesitate to destroy Pharaoh as well.”

Tuya gave him a rueful smile. “Like Tuthmosis, you are

always dreaming. Is there danger in the court? Certainly, for

even the suggestion of impropriety could spell exile for me

and my son. But I am no threat to anyone. I hold no ambi-

tions, I do not take much of Pharaoh’s time. And Tuthmosis

is a good king. He wants to do right and he has surrounded

himself with wise counselors.” She lifted a brow. “As you

should know.”

Yosef ignored the compliment. “Even so, you must be

careful. When I first had the dream, prison walls hindered me

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from warning you. And now—” he grasped his hands “—I am

hindered in other ways.”

“I know,” she cut him off. Again the conversation threatened

to pick up the strings of time, and emotion choked off the

words she wanted to say. She took a step toward him, hoping

he could read her heart, but he lifted his hands in warning.

Tears stung her eyes. “Yosef—” she stared at the floor

as she strained to push her embarrassment aside “—you

need not fear me. I will not bait you as Sagira did. I will

not touch you, I will not linger in the hall for a glimpse of

you. I will not give anyone cause to say I am unfaithful to