'Lord,' Reia said. 'Captain Abu would flay the skin from my body if I allowed you to go in there without me.'
'Abu answers to me-oh, very well. You'd think I was an untried youth. But I can't speak to these women if you hover over me, so you stay away. Watch from a distance and try not to look intimidating.'
'But you're you, lord. It's not I who will frighten them.'
'I haven't been to Green Palm since before my father died. No one knows me.'
Reia gave him a skeptical look. 'As you say, lord.'
Meren went inside, leaving behind the white light of the new day for the darkness and dim yellow glow of pottery lamps. The main room of the tavern was long, with a central fireplace filled with dead embers. Reed mats lined three walls, and on these were thrown cushions and pallets. Several women reclined in a group on the cushions, while some distance away a man snored on one of the pallets.
Against the fourth wall sat a table on which rested jars of varying sizes and stacks of cups. A man came through a door at the back, his arms loaded with beer strainers, clay straws, and more cups. A girl followed him with two baskets, one filled with bread, another with melons.
The man piled his burdens on the table and began arranging the cups. Meren went over to him, but he didn't look up from his work. 'I understand Lord Nakht was here on the night of the feast at Baht.'
'I don't flap my tongue about my customers,' the tavern keeper said.
'He recommended your tavern to me as a place of comfort and pleasure.'
The tavern keeper looked at Meren for the first time. He took in the fine linen, the bronze pectoral necklace, the leather sandals.
'Ah, good master, I'm honored. Yes, yes. Lord Nakht was here and had a merry time drinking my fine beer. My family has brewed the best beer in the entire nome for generations. And I have the most beautiful of women.'
'These women, my friend said he liked them well, and I'm interested in seeing them.'
'Of course, good master.'
The tavern keeper hurried around the table and ushered Meren over to the women. None of them got up. There were three, each wearing a beaded girdle around her hips and nothing else. Although they were more painted than the young female servants of Meren's household, he found none of them more remarkable. The tavern keeper pulled one of the women to her feet.
'This is Tabes, one of the women Lord Nakht favored. Greet the good master, woman.'
'Stop snarling at me, Kamosi.' The woman bowed to
Meren and kept on lowering her body until she was lying on her cushions again.
Kamosi glowered at her, but Meren dismissed him. 'I'll spend a while with these lovely women.' When the tavern keeper went back to his beer table to serve Reia, Meren sat down among the women.
'We seldom receive visitors so early in the day,' Tabes said with a yawn. She reached out with a languid hand and patted Meren's thigh. 'But for so handsome a visitor, I would rise before dawn.'
'My thanks,' Meren said.
'Oh,' said another, who had great painted eyes. 'I would rise in the middle of the night.' She sat up on her cushion and smiled at him while plucking a lotus from a bowl and handing it to him.
The third woman, small and with quick, darting eyes, touched his ankle with her toe. Meren moved out of reach.
'Good women, I'm here only for conversation.' He watched surprise give way to disbelief among the three, so he hurried on. 'I understand Lord Nakht was here with several friends the night of the feast at Baht. Tabes, he was with you?'
Silence. The small woman got up and left through the back door.
'Was he here?' Meren asked.
'A tavern woman with a loose tongue soon finds herself cast out of her village,' Tabes replied.
Meren leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. 'You may speak to me. I'm Lord Nakht's brother.'
'But he only has one broth-Gods!'
'Shhh.'
'Tabes, this is Lord M-'
Tabes jerked the girl's arm. 'Be quiet, Aset. Let the great lord conduct his business in peace and with the secrecy he desires.'
'You've an intelligent heart, Tabes.'
'The lord is kind,' Tabes said with a bow from her sitting position. 'The lord wishes to know if his brother was with us on the night of the feast. He came late and in a merry mood. He bought several jars of beer for the entire tavern, and we danced for him.'
'He was here the whole night?'
Aset began to chatter. 'Oh, the whole night, great lord. He went upstairs with Tabes, Sheftu, and me. Ra is quite generous. He gave me a shift of fine Delta linen, and he gave Tabes a bottle of perfume from Byblos. He kept us busy far into the night. Ra is so funny. He even makes jests while we're-'
'Aset!' Tabes quelled her friend with a severe look. 'Lord, we all have great affection for your brother.'
'He was here until morning?'
The two women glanced at each other, then at him.
'I woke first,' Tabes said. 'Around dawn, I think, and he was already gone.'
'With Sheftu,' Aset chimed in.
'Who is Sheftu?'
'Our other friend,' Tabes said. 'She's the one who just left, lord.'
'Where has she gone? I want to talk to her.'
'There's no need for alarm, my lord. Ra and Sheftu probably went to her house. Her grandmother is a wise woman known for her preparations of herbs to enhance pleasure. Sheftu often provides them to those who can pay, and Ra always has plenty of grain or other goods.'
Meren's heart battered in his chest like a war drum. He drew closer to Tabes and said, 'Herbs, preparations. You mean potions?'
'Aye, lord.'
'Flowers, seeds?' Meren asked. 'Berries?'
Tabes looked at him curiously. 'Yes, lord.'
Closing his eyes against pain, Meren spoke again. 'I want to talk to this Sheftu who deals in herbs and potions.'
Chapter 15
Meren kept his eyes closed as Tabes rose and disappeared into the back of the tavern. He opened them when she returned, leading Sheftu, who hung back and had to be pulled along. Recognizing her fear, Meren questioned the girl gently, assuring her that she wasn't in danger.
'Yes, lord. Ra woke me while it was still dark. He was drunk, but sober enough to want one of grandmother's preparations. We went to my house, which isn't far away.'
'You gave him what he asked for?'
'Yes, lord, and then we went to sleep again.'
'Both of you?'
Sheftu hesitated. 'I fell asleep first, but I'm sure Ra did too.'
'And he left the next morning?'
The girl nodded.
'When?'
'I know not, lord.'
'Why?' Meren asked quickly.
'He was gone when I woke,' Sheftu said.
