'You killed the porter.' He shook his head and couldn't keep the broken quality from his voice. 'Oh, Tanefer, not you.'
Tanefer's gaze held bitter amusement. 'I knew you were close, damn you. You've forced me to move too quickly.'
Meren took another step, but Tanefer jabbed at him with the sword. Spears aimed at him. He halted and lifted his arms away from his body. He remained calm without, while feeling as if his heart had been sliced in half.
'None of this has been about revenge upon Akhenaten, has it?'
Tanefer smiled. 'You always were the cleverest of us. No, vengeance was an added but unnecessary sweetness. I needed gold for my men.'
'The Mitanni prisoner,' Meren said as he thought rapidly. 'You killed him to stop us from questioning him.'
'Yes, but when my men reported to me that you'd gone to the colossus and to Qenamun's office, and then here, I knew you were close to the truth. So now I must do what I'd wanted to put off until you were more isolated at court, when you were desperate.'
'What is that?' Meren moved to the side, but Tanefer moved with him, keeping himself between Meren and the door.
'It's like I've been telling you, my friend. The empire is threatened by the Hittites. Without a strong leader, Egypt could fall to them just as my country did. Can you imagine proud, rich Egypt under the whips of those barbarians?'
'No.'
Tanefer moved closer and rested the tip of the bloodied sword on Meren's broad collar. Meren remained motionless and stared into the too-calm eyes of his friend.
'None of you ever really understood what it was like. My mother was the daughter of a king, sent to a foreign land where she was tossed into pharaoh's palace and ignored. She should have been chief queen and I the heir, and year after year she endured the insult of giving place to those of less-royal blood. But she raised me in the secret knowledge of the superiority of my heritage.'
'But you've had great honors. You never-'
'After she died, well, there was no one to remind me of my heritage, and I was so young. I was content.'
Tanefer's breathing quickened. 'Until I saw my mother's homeland for the first time. Great cities ravaged, armies defeated, women and children carried into slavery. And the warriors-proud, brave men brought low because of the cowardice of pharaoh. It took me a long time, but I finally realized that I had to act. I tried to tell you that time by your reflection pool. Weren't you listening to me?'
Meren surveyed his friend, the way his brows drew together, the brightness of his eyes, like the lakes of fire in the netherworld.
'I was listening, but I don't think I heard the inner meaning of your words.'
'No, you didn't, or you would have remembered that had Egypt come to my uncle's aid, he wouldn't have lost his throne. I could have been king after him, if not for that. With the support of Egypt, I could have had my own empire. But Akhenaten helped destroy Mitanni. His brothers have been no better. A line of kings that could allow such destruction deserves to perish.'
'Egypt will never accept a foreign king.'
'Only half foreign,' Tanefer said. 'And she will, if I'm married to the Great Royal Wife, and if I have the support of the great ones of the land-if I have your support, Meren.'
'You ask my support while you hold a sword to my heart?'
Tanefer lifted the blade, and Meren turned away from him, pretending to consider what had been said to him.
'I'm giving you a choice, brother of my heart, because of all of them, I can least bear killing you.'
Meren couldn't bring himself to reply to that. Horemheb would laugh at him if he were here, at his failure to pry deeply enough into Tanefer's soul. He'd been so furious at Ebana for stoking the fires of their enmity that he had been distracted from perceiving danger in other directions.
Finally he said. 'You and Parenefer have been planning this for a long time.'
'Parenefer? That old fool knows nothing of me. I had Ahiram approach him through Qenamun about looting Akhenaten's tomb. He thought the aim was vengeance upon the spirit of the king.'
'So the foreign stragglers and refugees have come to Egypt at your invitation.'
Tanefer nodded. 'I planned well, and yet some evil fiend cursed me when that priest overheard Qenamun and Ahiram at the temple discussing plans for the disposition of the tomb goods.'
'Unas,' Meren said.
'Aye. And when I heard you'd discovered fragments of Qenamun's cursing bowls, I had Ahiram dispatch the lector priest. Unfortunately, you alarmed him with your constant inquiries and your reputation for discovering crimes.'
'So you arranged to kill him at your hippo hunt.'
Tanefer gave a wave of dismissal. 'Necessary. In his state, sooner or later he would have broken.'
'But you failed, and he ran, so you sent some of your Mitanni mercenaries after him.'
'They followed him the moment he left the city. Did he live to tell you anything?'
'Only that you would betray me as you did him.'
Tanefer smiled. 'That's not true. You and I have been friends far too long. We admire each other. And after all, I did save you from being eaten by a hippo.'
Meren shook his head. 'You can't succeed.'
'You don't know how long I've been suborning royal guards and building companies of renegade Mitanni soldiers.'
'You've been stocking the military with your minions. That's why Rahotep has so many under his command. And your renegades, where are they?'
Laughing, Tanefer lifted his sword again, and Meren backed away.
'You can't think I'd tell you. Not yet, not until you've committed yourself to me.'
He had to delay, pretend to be swayed, or Tanefer would kill him. Abruptly, a small detail flitted into his mind.
'Saustatar,' Meren said. 'That captured Mitanni kept mentioning Saustatar.'
'Ah, yes, my name among my people. I've taken one more suitable than my Egyptian one. You see, Meren, I intend to be as great a conqueror as my ancestor. Greater, for my empire will stretch from Egypt to the Euphrates and beyond. And I hope you'll consent to join me in creating it.'
'You know how I feel about pharaoh.'
'The boy who has just cast you aside like a soiled loincloth?'
Now was the time. Meren turned his back and lowered his head, hoping Tanefer would take his gesture as resentment against Tutankhamun. He couldn't fight nine men, especially not if one of them was as good as his friend was.
Tanefer had come close again. 'You have great influence and power, brother of my heart, and you command the respect of the royal charioteers, the infantry. And you can help me with Ebana.'
Meren's head came up.
'Ebana?'
'The priests of Amun have begun to suspect me. Too many deaths. They may balk at the need for my small palace revolt. But if you talk to Ebana-'
'No.'
'Don't decide in haste, old friend, for your life depends upon your answer.'
He couldn't appear to capitulate too easily, for his affection for pharaoh was too well known. Time was what he needed, time to be missed. He cursed himself as he realized Tanefer's men were guarding pharaoh. He and Ay had trusted Tanefer. Biting the inside of his cheek to keep from losing governance of his rage, he shook his head gently, as if wavering because of Tanefer's forceful arguments.
'I shall give you a few hours to think,' Tanefer said.
