‘You did not see fit to invite me to the last rites of the King?’ he demanded.
Ay faced him.
‘I am King. I have performed the rites, and taken the succession. I will announce my accession and my forthcoming coronation in the morning.’
‘And what of you, Queen? Did you think so little of my offer that you failed to discuss it with me before making whatever decision has led to this sorry situation?’
‘I considered everything. I am the widow of Tutankhamun, Restorer of the Gods, and the granddaughter of Amenhotep the Glorious. And you are not noble.’
‘How dare you question my nobility!’ he growled in his low, menacing voice.
She paused. The moment had come. Horemheb was impatient to hear what she would say.
‘Information has come to us, privately and secretly, which has astounded and disappointed us. It concerns the reputation and integrity of the army.’
She let the dangerous words hang in the dark air.
‘The reputation and integrity of the army is untarnished,’ replied Horemheb, menacingly.
‘Perhaps, then, the general is not aware of everything that is happening within his own division. There are elements within the army which are trading with the Hittites, our ancient enemies, for personal profit,’ she said.
He approached closer, his breath pluming in the cold night air.
‘You actually dare to accuse my divisions of treachery? You?’ He gazed at her in derision. But she confronted him.
‘I am reporting that which was told to me. Perhaps it is not true. But then again, perhaps it is. The opium poppy, I hear. Transported across the lines of battle. Trading with the enemy? It would be most unfortunate if such a suggestion were to reach the offices, the temples, and the general ear,’ she said.
Horemheb swiftly drew out his curved sword, its polished outer blade glinting in the moonlight. For a moment, I feared he would slice off her head. He held his weapon aloft in his gloved fist, and his soldiers instantly aimed their elegant, powerful arrows at our hearts, in preparation for an order to slaughter us all in silence. Simut stepped forward to protect the Queen, his own dagger now raised at Horemheb. The two men stared at each other, tense as dogs before a vicious fight. But Ankhesenamun held her ground and intervened.
‘I do not think our assassination would help your cause. You do not have sufficient power to take control of all the offices and temples of the Two Lands. Too many of your troops are fighting the war. Think carefully. Listen to my proposition. All I desire is order for the Two Lands, and therefore an equitable sharing of the powers necessary to maintain that order between the three of us. Ay will govern as King, for he controls the offices of the kingdom. You will remain as general. The secret trade must stop. If it does, then there is much to be gained for you. There is the future.’
Slowly Horemheb lowered his sword, and gestured for his men to lower their bows.
‘And what is that future? Will you marry this shambles of age and infirmity?’ he asked, gesturing with contempt at Ay.
‘My King is dead, but only I can bring forth a successor, a son who will be King in turn. That is my destiny, and I will fulfil it. As for the father of my son, I will choose him carefully, the fittest and the best among the best of men. I will choose him myself, and no man will have authority over me. Whoever proves himself to be this noble man, I shall take as my husband. And he shall become King, beside me. In due course, we will rule the Two Lands together. Perhaps you, sir, will prove yourself to be this worthy man.’
Ay, who had remained silent throughout this exchange, now intervened.
‘Those are the terms. You should know that there are a thousand palace guards stationed above us, and at the entrance to the Valley. They are prepared to do whatever is necessary to secure our safety. What is your answer?’
Horemheb looked up, and there on the escarpments on either side were new lines of dark figures holding bows.
‘Did you think I would not anticipate everything you could have thought of?’ continued Ay.
Horemheb considered them both. Then he approached them very closely.
‘Wonderful: an old man with toothache and a feeble girl with dreams of glory grasping at the reins of power, and a useless Medjay officer who knows now his family will never be safe. Listen-’
And he opened his arms to the vast silence of the night and the desert that dwarfed us.
‘Do you know what that is? It is the sound of time. You hear nothing but silence, and yet it is roaring like a lion. There is no god but time, and I am his general. I will wait. My hour is nigh, and when it arrives, in triumph and glory, you will both be nothing but dust, and your names will be nothing but dust, for I will erase them, every single one, from their stones, and I will usurp your monuments, and in your place there will be a new dynasty, carrying my name, valiant son succeeding each strong father, generation after generation, into the future, for ever.’
And then he smiled, as if victory were assured, turned away and marched off into the dark, followed by his troops.
Ay gazed after him balefully.
‘That man is full of wind. Come, there is much work to be done.’
He suddenly winced and grasped his jaw. It seemed that all the power in the world could not alleviate the pain of ruined teeth.
Before she departed, to her uncertain future, Ankhesenamun turned quietly to me.
‘I came to you, asking for help. You have risked everything to help me in these days. I heard his threat against your family. So be sure I will do all within my power to ensure their safety. You know I wish you to become my private guard. That offer remains open. It would make me happy to see you.’
I nodded. She looked sadly at the sealed entrance to the tomb of her late young husband. Then she turned away, followed by Khay and the other nobles, and they all took to the chariots that would carry them back on the long paved way to the palace of shadows, and the merciless work of fashioning and bringing to pass the secure future of the Two Lands. I remembered what Horemheb had said about power; that it was a rough beast. I hoped she could learn to ride it well.
Simut and I stood watching them go. Darkness was falling quickly from the dawn air.
‘Horemheb is right, I’m afraid. Ay will not live long, and the Queen cannot govern without an heir. Not while Horemheb is waiting.’
‘True. But she is becoming a powerful woman. She has her mother in her. And that gives me hope,’ I replied, with a feeling of optimism that caught me by surprise.
‘Come, let us walk to the top of the hills and watch the sun rise on this new day,’ he suggested.
So we scrambled up the tracks, like scars on the rough, dark, ancient hide of the mountainside, and soon before us lay the vast panorama of the shadowy world: the rich, ancient fields, the endlessly flowing waters of the Great River, and the sleeping city with its glorious temples and towers, its rich, silent palaces, its prisons and hovels, and its quiet homes and poor districts, in the dark distance. I breathed in the cold, fresh air. It was bracing and fortifying. The last stars were fading, and there was a hint of red on the horizon beyond the city. The King was dead. I thought of his eyes, and his gold face, down in the dark, perhaps-who knows? — now seeing the Otherworld appear before him as the light of eternity dawned and his spirits rejoined him.
As for me, what my eyes beheld of the world was enough. Smoke from the first fires began to twist into the still, pure air. Far off I heard the first birds begin to sing. I rested my hand on Thoth’s head. He gazed at me with his wise, old eyes. My children and my wife would still be asleep. I wanted very much to be there to greet them when they woke. I needed to find a way to believe we could be safe, despite the perils and threats of the future to come. I looked up at the indigo sky, and the horizon that was brightening with every moment. It would soon be light.
