boat alongside the larger one, and Kysen joined him. Before anyone else could get in, Meren shoved the two vessels apart with his oar. Abu gripped the mast and stared after them, then settled down to follow at a distance.
Kysen sat facing his father, who resumed his placid, zigzag course downstream. Meren began as if Kysen had been in the boat all along.
'We haven't found Tcha again, have we?'
'No. He isn't at Ese's, and she has searched for him too.'
'He might have seen something, perhaps even Eater of Souls. If he's still alive, he might be able to tell us where to find her.'
'I should have kept hold of him when I met Othrys, but he disappeared while I was dealing with him and his supposed scribe. I think Tcha would have told us if he knew where the creature dwells, though, in order to protect himself.'
'Perhaps.' Meren turned the boat toward the east bank.
Kysen could no longer contain his impatience. 'You should not have gone out alone. The demon could have attacked, and you would have had no aid.'
'Look around, Ky. How could anyone approach without me seeing them?'
Kysen glanced over the flat expanse of the river. Several skiffs hugged the steep banks, but here there were no great papyrus swamps or thickets of reeds as there were farther north.
'That dead farmer,' Meren said. 'Min said that the only remarkable thing that happened to him was nearly getting run down by a chariot. That was why he was drinking at the tavern, to recover from the fright.'
'I knew it!' Kysen exclaimed. 'You've discovered something. I told Bener and Isis you wouldn't have vanished if you hadn't learned something important.'
He waited, but Meren avoided his gaze and turned the boat toward the west bank. 'The tavern woman entertained many customers the night she was killed. We're tracing them through the tavern keeper, but some he knew only by the goods they used to pay him.' A distant look appeared on Meren's face. 'The tavern keeper said Anat left before her work was done. He was furious, because her next customer was a man of good appearance who could have paid well. But when Anat refused him, he left much offended.'
'And Tcha's partner in thievery had just tried to rob a nobleman's house,' Kysen added.
'I need to question Tcha. I want to know which nobleman he and his partner visited that night.'
Kysen stared at his father, who was calmly surveying the course downriver. 'You've discovered something.'
'I don't know,' Meren said. 'There seems to be nothing that would relate the dead ones, and yet… I keep thinking about them-a careless farmer, a negligent tavern woman who leaves her work early, a thief who dies after committing a robbery. And then there's Mugallu, who was killed after nearly provoking pharaoh into a war.'
'And you,' Kysen said quietly.
'And me.' Meren shifted his weight and pulled the steering oar toward him. 'Eater of Souls attacked me, but why?'
'Because you are searching for her.'
'Would a demon care?'
'If you interfered in her work, yes.'
Furrows appeared between Meren's brows. 'You find nothing remarkable about this group?'
'Father, their hearts were stolen.'
'Then perhaps I'm wrong,' Meren said to himself.
Kysen would have pursued this discussion, but he felt the boat suddenly change direction to veer away from the riverbank. Meren nodded toward a spot where the bank sloped gradually and water lapped at the soil. The waters churned. The black mud suddenly rose up and grew jaws and teeth. Spine-backed crocodiles snapped at something beneath the water. One rolled over and over between the writhing bodies of its fellows. Kysen knew what that twisting wallow meant. Lacking the ability to tear with its jaws, the crocodile used this method to rend its victim's flesh into manageable chunks.
'About these three men of whom your pirate is so afraid,' Meren said.
Kysen dragged his gaze from the crocodiles. If Meren wasn't worried, the victim must have been an animal.
'Dilalu the weapons merchant, Zulaya the Babylonian, and the Egyptian officer called Yamen.' There hadn't yet been time to deal with the knowledge Othrys had given him.
'Yes,' Meren said. 'Dilalu and Yamen are in Memphis, but Zulaya is not. I have heard of Yamen, but not the other two. But none of these men had positions at court during Akhenaten's reign. One of them may know something about Nefertiti's death, but his role must have been indirect. Once Eater of Souls has been caught, or ceases to prey among the living, we will discuss methods by which we will explore the activities of these three.'
'None of them is important,' Kysen said. 'Not to me. What is important is keeping you safe. Will you come home now?'
'Am I not sailing back to the city?'
'Don't pretend surprise, Father. And I'm not going to be distracted. You've had the look of a man who has seen the lakes of fire in the netherworld ever since Eater of Souls attacked you. You're not a coward, but I saw your face when Parenefer accused you of sin that provoked an attack by Eater of Souls. What is wrong?'
Meren shoved the steering oar against the current, and the boat turned slowly. Kysen waited, knowing he dared press no harder for an answer. There were some secrets Meren told no one. Some he guarded with his very life. Abu's boat was drawing nearer, and as it approached, Kysen gave up hope of a response.
'What has changed in Memphis that would draw the attention of the gods and Eater of Souls?' Meren asked in a harsh whisper.
'Nothing has changed.'
Meren leaned forward to hiss at Kysen. 'Something has changed, my son. Search your heart, your intelligent heart. What has changed is this-you and I seek the murderer of a queen.'
'I don't understand.'
Meren leaned back and worked the oar. 'Nor do I. But I do understand that the queen's death was part of an intricate game of power, a game that isn't over. Someone is still playing, Ky, and I can't tell which action is a move in that game and which is not.'
'Then what are we going to do?'
'At the moment,' Meren said as he guided the boat toward Abu, 'we're going to try to stay alive.'
Kysen grinned. 'I always try.'
'An admirable goal,' Meren said with a slight smile. His gaze drifted ahead to a trading vessel loaded with ivory tusks, ebony logs, and cages of birds with iridescent blue and orange feathers.
Kysen noted that look of vague reverie. 'You're still troubled, and not about the nature of the demon's victims.'
'I'm sure I've missed something, but I've gone over everything-the white feathers, that sandal print, the places where the murders were done. No sign or object leads to any particular person. Assuming that Eater of Souls is a person, that is.'
Kysen rubbed his chin. 'I think you're angry with yourself, Father.'
'And I think you're impudent,' Meren said mildly.
'You're angry because you didn't defeat Eater of Souls when you fought; you weren't even able to see her clearly.'
Meren pounded on the steering oar. 'Can you see across the garden by the light of a few distant torches?'
'No.'
'I'll tell you what I saw,' Meren snapped. 'I saw a leathery snout filled with jagged teeth, a lion's mane, and those evil bronze claws.' He glanced at the cuts on his arm before going on. 'I saw a yellow eye with a slit of a pupil. That's what I saw. Otherwise, all I saw was a cursed ax blade so honed and polished it gleamed in what little light there was. You've been in battle, Ky. You know the things you remember. I can remember those teeth, those lifeless animal eyes, and those bladelike claws as if they were before me at this-'
Meren's hand went still on the oar. Kysen almost spoke, but instinct warned him not to interfere with
