the hurt in his eyes. 'I spent a lifetime in the army, facing the enemy on the field of battle, and I worked my way up from common recruit to lieutenant. All he had to do was write a letter.'
'I understand.' The words sounded lame to Bak's ears, but his heart ached for a man so ill-used. 'Will Woser soon right the wrong he had no choice but commit?'
Senn stopped twenty paces from the next sentry, too far away to be heard. 'He told me the day we learned of
Puemre's death that as soon as the lord Amon comes and goes, I can again lead my company. For now, my task as watch officer is more important.'
Bak allowed him time to inspect the sentry before asking his final question: 'I must know when you last saw Puemre and how you account for your time after Woser's meeting.'
Senu accepted the question easily; Bak was sure he had expected it. 'I parted from him and the others outside the commander's residence and never set eyes on him again. From there, I went directly to my home in the lower city, where my wife and children awaited me.'
Another man whose patience Puemre had stretched beyond endurance, Bak thought. Another man who claimed to be with people who would willingly repeat any story he told them.
Bak hastened along the lane, plowed past a half-dozen spearmen walking away from the commander's residence, and hurried inside. He was late for his next interview, this with the lieutenant who led the archery company. A scribe directed him to the living quarters on the second floor. He dashed up the enclosed stairwell, taking the steps two at a time.
'You never learn, do you?' A man shouting, his voice familiar yet unfamiliar. 'First Puemre and now this snake Bak.'
Bak stopped so abruptly he came close to stubbing his toe on the next step.
'Can I help it if men find me beautiful?' Aset's voice. Bak td no use for eavesdroppers, and his conscience urged him not to listen further, but he did. Shamelessly. 'You have eyes for every man in Iken except me!' The man's voice again.
'Can you take me away from this garrison? This awful place of endless sun and heat, where my face will wrinkle and my skin turn to leather before I'm twenty? Can you offer me servants and a fine house and give me beautiful dresses and jewelry?'
'You know I can't!'
'Then go away and leave me alone.' 'Aset, Few men have that kind of wealth.'
'Puemre did, and Lieutenant Bak has the same confident demeanor, a self-assurance born of wealth and security.' Me? Bak wondered. Can she really be so naive she sees nothing beneath a man's skin?
'If riches are all you want, go to him!' The man's voice cracked, betraying his pain and anger. 'Give yourself to him! See if I care!'
'I will. You just wait and see!'
Rapid footsteps came toward the stairwell. Bak shot upward, refusing to be caught listening. As he hit the top step, the man burst through the door. They slammed together, knocking the breath from them both, and fell to the floor, arms and legs entangled across the threshold.
'Oh, no!' Aset, wide-eyed and gaping, ran toward them.
She knelt at their heads and, paying no heed to Bak, bent over the other man, her look of surprise and shock melting to concern. Both men straggled to sit erect, forcing her back, and stared at one another. The man with whom she had quarreled was Nebseny, the one who had dragged her away from Bak's quarters the previous evening.
'You!' Nebseny spat. 'I should've known.'
Aset, seeing he was unhurt, deepened her look of concern and turned to Bak. Placing a hand on his arm, she gave him a gentle and worried smile. 'Are you alright? Did this clumsy oaf hurt you?'
Bak, noting the fury on Nebseny's face, scrambled to his feet, distancing himself from both of them. He reached out to the gangly young man, offering to help him stand. Nebseny spurned the hand with a resentful glare and rose without aid.
Aset stood up and strode across the courtyard, her back stiff with purpose. Two servants, watching wide- eyed from a portal opening to the rear of the house, hastily withdrew lest she spot them. She stopped before a bow and a leather quiver filled with arrows leaning against the wall beside the door to Woser's reception room. She picked up the bow, almost as long as she was tall, and the heavy quiver and brought them back.
'Take this trash with you and get out!' she commanded, shoving them at Nebseny. 'I never want to see them or you in this house again.'
Bak cursed the gods and Aset, too. Nebseny was the man with whom he had come to talk.
'This is a place of business as well as your home, you selfish.. ' Nebseny controlled himself, and added with a sneer, 'Don't worry, my sweet. I'll not darken the door again except when summoned by your father.' Shouldering his quiver and bow, he pivoted toward the stairwell.
Bak stepped into his path, barring his way. 'I've come to speak with you about Lieutenant Puemre's death.' 'Get out of my way!'
'Commander Woser promised you'd talk with me.' Nebseny spoke through gritted teeth. 'I had nothing to do with that snake's death, nor do I know who slew him. I wish I did, for he did us all a good deed by cleansing this garrison of scum worse than that found in a stagnant pool.' Bak knew jealousy was speaking, but what else? 'Was he an accomplished archer as well as infantryman?' 'His skills with a bow were adequate, that's all.' 'You were fortunate then. He had no basis to usurp your men and duties.'
Aset slipped around Nebseny to stand beside Bak. She stood so close he could feel the heat of her shoulder next to his, her hair brushing his arm. Her voice was honeysweet. 'Lieutenants Nebseny and Puemre had much in common. One was a mere soldier who wanted the good things in life; the other had the good things but wanted more to be a good soldier.'
Her words were designed to goad the archer, as was her proximity to Bak. What did she want? he wondered. To set one against the other?
Nebseny affected to ignore her. 'You've talked to Huy, I see, and to Senu. I can add no more.'
Shouldering Bak aside, shoving him against Aset, the archer hastened down the stairwell, never looking back. The girl clutched Bak's arm as if for support and looked up at him with the large brown eyes of the lady Hathor in her guise as a cow. She raised moist red lips toward his, inviting intimacy. He was too angry with her for ruining his chance to talk with Nebseny to feel any kind of warmth. Nor did her father's proximity. entice him, nor her determination to escape Iken with wealth and position.
Gently but firmly, he pushed her away, pivoted on his heel, and followed Nebseny down the stairs. He left the building with a sigh of relief and a rueful laugh at his own expense. For the first time in his life, he was running away from a beautiful woman.
Not until he was halfway to the towered gate did he realize how much he had learned without exchanging more than a dozen words with Nebseny. The young officer was in love with Aset, crazed with jealousy. He had implied that the girl had, at the very least, encouraged Puemre's attentions. If that wasn't a reason for murder, Bak did not know what was. As for Aset, could she have slain Puemre, he wondered? She might well have had reason, especially if he spurned her, but she was too slightly built, he felt sure, and not strong enough.
Chapter Eight
'Haven't seen either man this morning.' Sennufer lifted a crumpled cloth from the top of a game table and wiped away the sweat rolling down his face, neck, and wiry torso. 'If they show up, I'll tell them you're looking for them.'
'They'll come,' Bak assured him from the doorway. 'We were to meet here sometime after midday.'
The house of pleasure reeked of sweat and fermenting bread. The heat hung thick and cloying in the air. A half dozen men, sailors from the look of their sun-toughened skin, sat on the hard-packed earthen floor, playing a game of chance. Each time one threw the gaming sticks, they yelled or cursed according to their luck.
'Have you seen the craftsman who dreamed of murder?' Bak asked. 'Or remembered anything more about
