Sphinx's Queen (13 page)

He bent his head over me, and I felt his breath on my hair. “I can’t walk fast or far until my foot has healed. It will be my fault if Thutmose catches up to us and we lose Ta-Miu. Won’t that be the true waste of the gods’ kindness? Are you so sure this gift is meant for us, Nefertiti?”

“Amenophis …” I turned my head so that there was only a fingertip’s breadth between our faces. “Amenophis, I—I feel—” Why couldn’t I tell him the words that had come to my lips so readily when I spoke to Thutmose?
I love Amenophis. With all my heart, I do
. He had been the awkward one when we’d first met, but now it was my turn to be gawky, clumsy, tripping over my words the way he used to trip over his own feet.
He’s grown up since those days
, I thought.
He’s more sure of himself, less timid, more—more of a
prince.
And I’m the timid one. Dear Isis, why is it so hard to say such simple words as
I love you
? If Amenophis has found the way to be bolder, why can’t I?

But all that I could manage to do was turn my head away from him again and say, “If it was meant for me, it’s meant for us. I won’t accept it any other way. If you can’t travel fast or far, then we’ll have to choose a path that offers us plenty of places to hide from Thutmose until you’re fully healed.
Then
we’ll race to plead my case before your father.”

He rubbed his chin. “Places to hide … I might have an idea about that.” He sounded confident, but his expression was uncertain. “Not even my brother would imagine us taking refuge there. You’re right: The important thing is that we keep Ta-Miu with us.”

I clasped his hand. “The important thing is that we stay together.”

6
T
HE
S
ERVANTS OF
B
AST

This is not a tomb
, I told myself as I sat with my back to the cool stone wall and looked out over the deserted, moonlit landscape.
It’s
not.
It’s a cave, an ordinary cave, not something made by human hands, not a sacred place, not consecrated to the dead
.

It was the same recitation I made to myself every night since we’d come here, to a place so close to the great valley of tombs that it might as well have been a part of that august royal burial ground. I don’t know why I felt the need to go through such a ritual. There was no need to convince myself that we’d taken refuge in a cave and not … elsewhere. We
were
in a cave—that was Ma’at’s own truth. We would never have committed the sin of trespassing on a tomb, even if it was one that was still under construction or, worse, one that had been despoiled by thieves.

But the place of the royal tombs cast a long, invisible shadow. It was impossible to turn my eyes in that direction and not picture what lay hidden there. The dry riverbed valley where so many of Amenophis’s ancestors were at rest drew my imagination with its mysteries and made my heart tremble in awe. The steep, rocky paths that climbed its cliffs wound their way past an unknown number of hidden burials. The bodies of kings, princes, men of power, and their families were preserved for eternity in carved stone rooms piled high with all the luxuries and treasures they would need to enjoy the afterlife. Their safety had been guaranteed by generation after generation of priests who sealed those tombs with potent spells and curses on anyone impious enough to break those seals and take those treasures. The whole valley seemed to echo with all of the threats and warnings that had followed the royal dead into the heart of the mountains.

This is not a tomb
, I repeated over and over again in my mind.
Isis, shining goddess, you are my witness: We’ve done no wrong in coming here. We’ll be gone as soon as Amenophis is well enough to travel again
.

But when would that be? We’d reached this cave two days ago, after a fear-driven march. None of us had slept well on the road. Amenophis pushed himself too much, trying to get us away from the flat land surrounding the abandoned house, away from the possibility of Thutmose’s guardsmen spotting us too easily. A healthy man would have found the pace tiring, and Amenophis was still sicker than he’d admit. He didn’t speak up when his wounded foot began hurting more and more. He wouldn’t let me touch him, not even to hold his hand, for fear that if his fever had come back, I’d discover it. Now he lay stretched out on the floor at the back of our cave, drained to the bone. I heard him toss and turn, groaning in his sleep, and covered my face with my hands, feeling helpless.

“Nefertiti, are you crying?” Nava squatted in front of me and leaned against my updrawn knees.

“No, dearest,” I said, looking up. “I’m just tired. See? No tears.”

She glanced back into the cave. “I think he’s getting better. His foot’s not swollen anymore, and it’s the right color.” She looked at me. “So why won’t he get up?”

“I don’t know. It could be that he just needs to rest more. He needs to rebuild his strength.” I remembered the scrawny boy I’d met in the royal palace. Amenophis had the look of someone who’d been battered by childhood illnesses. He’d already shown that he could be as strong and commanding a presence as his brother, but the ghost of past ailments lingered near him.

I stood up and walked into the cave. We had no light because we had no fuel in this barren place, so I had to feel my way and do my best to remember where I’d stored our things during daylight. I located our last bag of provisions by touch. The only food we had left of what I’d carried away from Thutmose’s tent was some bread that was now as hard as the rock walls around us. What would become of us if Amenophis still couldn’t move after the last crumb was gone? The goatskin bags had been drained days ago, refilled when luck led us past a natural stream, and now were nearly empty again. I’d put them near the mouth of the cave, next to Thutmose’s bow and quiver so that they’d be easy to find, but I had no idea where to look for more water.

“Murrr.” Ta-Miu wound her sleek body around my ankles in the dark. The cat was the only one of us who seemed to have no worries about finding another meal. For a pampered pet who’d been born and raised in a palace, she was quite the talented huntress. Whenever she left the cave, she always returned with some luckless rodent in her jaws. Sometimes she even laid the bodies at our feet, as if trying to teach her hunting skills to a trio of very stupid kittens.
Why do you furless fools sit there looking so hungry when the world out there is full of all this wonderful food? Go on! Get it! Do I have to do everything for you?

“It may come to that, Ta-Miu,” I said, stroking her back. “How many jumping mice would you say I’ll have to pounce on to feed all of us, hmm?”

“Less than you think,” Amenophis called from the deeper darkness. “You can have my share.”

I crawled toward the sound of his voice. “If I do resort to catching mice for our meals, you’ll eat them,” I said, finding his hand in the darkness. “The only thing wrong with you now is hunger. If a diet of mice is what it takes to cure you, I’ll feed them to you with my own hands.”

“Yes, O Hathor, great healing goddess. You speak and I obey.”

“You shouldn’t mock the gods, Amenophis.”

He sighed. “You’re probably right. We can’t afford to have them angry at us. I was only joking, but if I’ve offended the lady Hathor, I’ll make a generous offering when I ask for her forgiveness.”

“It sounds as if you’re offering her a bribe.” A trace of bitterness touched my words. “And if the servants of Hathor are anything like your brother’s tame Amun priests, they’ll be happy to tell you the exact price that will buy the goddess’s pardon.” I clicked my tongue, tsk-tsking impatiently. “Sometimes I wish I worshipped Nava’s god. All she has to offer the One is song, but that seems to be enough.”

“It would be more pleasant to visit the shrines without feeling like we were entering the marketplace,” Amenophis admitted. “Still, Nava’s god is very strange. We spoke about the One while you were in Thutmose’s encampment. She says her people don’t have images of him because he doesn’t even have a face.”

“The Aten has no face, either, only the burning disc of the sun. Does that mean we shouldn’t give thanks for the light?”

“I’d give thanks for some light now.” Amenophis sounded downcast.

“Why don’t you promise the Aten a gift greater than anything that’s ever been given to the other gods?” I joked. I couldn’t light our refuge, but I could lighten the mood. “If this cave fills with sunlight, we’ll know the priests are right: The only way to reach the gods’ ears is to fill their laps with offerings.”

“Now
who’s mocking the gods?” The sound of Amenophis’s chuckle made me smile. “But the priests might be right. My family builds huge temples to glorify the gods; we heap their shrines with treasure. Nava’s people offer only words of prayer and songs of praise. Tell me, Nefertiti, who rules the Black Land.” He was too good-hearted to say
And
who lives here enslaved?
but he must have been thinking it because he added, “How powerful can one lone, faceless god be?”

“Only you could turn our talk from mice to gods,” I said.

“Ah, so you’ve uncovered my scheme to distract you. Now I’ll have to eat mice after all. Don’t forget to skin them first. We can use the hides to make you a nice pair of sandals.”

I laughed. “You always know how to cheer me, Amenophis. No wonder I love you.”

“What?” His startled question echoed in the cave.

Oh, gods, how had
that
slipped out of my mouth? I wasn’t ready to say such things to him, not yet! Not yet!

“If you won’t eat mice, I guess I’ll have to find you something else, you ungrateful thing.” I chattered like a stork clacking its bill, trying to bury his question in a rockslide of words. “You have to eat much more than bread if you’re going to be able to walk out of here. We need more water, too. I’ll have to find a source. Maybe I ought to watch Ta-Miu and follow her wherever she goes. She could lead me to more prey than mice. Would you stoop to eat a lizard, O great prince? Think about it because I might not give you a choice. Mmm, lizards …” I smacked my lips clownishly and scuttled out of the cave before he could say anything more.

Nava was sitting in the moonlight just outside the cave mouth with Ta-Miu in her lap, lost in her own thoughts. I bent forward to touch her shoulders. “What do you see out there, little one? Or are you dreaming with your eyes open?”

Nava misinterpreted my question. “Do I
have
to go to sleep now? The night’s so pretty, and look at how the moon shines!”

“It is bright, isn’t it?” I knelt and carefully poured the last of the water from one bag into the other, then slung the empty one over my shoulder. Thutmose’s richly decorated quiver joined it. Last of all, I picked up the royal hunting bow. “Wish me luck, Nava.”

“Where are you going?” Her voice went high with fear.

“Dear one, don’t make this hard. I have to go. We need food, but we won’t live if I don’t find us some water. Don’t worry, I’ll be very careful and I won’t get lost.”

“You will if you go too far,” Nava said mournfully. She made a sweeping gesture at the scope of the deserted landscape. It did look as if the barren hills went on forever.

“Don’t you trust me, Nava?” I asked with a confidence I didn’t fully feel. “If I could find my way through the royal palace, a few trails won’t confuse me. If I wonder which way to go, I’ll climb to the top of the nearest cliff. I won’t be able to miss spotting this cave from up there.”

“In the dark?” The child was unconvinced. “We don’t have a fire. How will you see us?”

“Look, we have two fires.” I indicated the green glow of Ta-Miu’s eyes.

Nava was a smart girl and refused to be sweet-talked, but I couldn’t argue the matter with her anymore. Putting on Aunt Tiye’s air of command, I told her that whether or not she believed my promise to return, I
had
to go. “I
will
find my way back,” I told her. “Because I’ll know that
you
will be waiting.”