keeper of the cattle of Ptah, which means he knows little except that he assigned the managing of the property to one of his servants. The actual owner lives in another town.'
'Find the real owner, Abu.'
'It will take time, lord.'
'Find him, and find out how the cook came to rent this place from him. Curse Reshep a thousand times. Seeing him has addled Satet's wits so that I fear she'll never regain them.'
'Lord, she had little left in any case.'
'She could make sense on occasion, if she really desired it.' Meren glanced around the kitchen. 'Someone has cleaned this house recently.'
'Satet, lord.'
'Perhaps. But the couple's possessions are still here. They should be here.'
'Aye, lord.'
Meren watched Reia free Beauty from her cage and toss scraps of bread to her. 'Abu, it would be well to discover if there is or was any connection between Reshep and the cook or her husband. There probably isn't, but thoroughness is a virtue.'
'Yes, lord, but it's almost dawn.'
Meren glanced up at the diffuse light coming through windows. Abu was reminding him that his duty demanded that he report the discovery of Eater of Souls to pharaoh.
'What am I to say to the living god, Abu? That Reshep killed people who interfered with his desires? That anyone who irritated him got his heart cut out? What monstrous fiend infested his ka?'
'He was possessed by a demon, lord.'
'And by the ghost of a mother who raised Reshep to believe in his own perfection and a father who drank and failed to attend to his son's raising.'
The light coming through the windows grew brighter. 'I must go to pharaoh with my report.'
Officially, Meren's task was to guard against anything that might threaten pharaoh or Maat in Egypt. He, and others like him, used their unique blend of clandestine knowledge-gathering and overt intimidation against the myriad threats to the divine order. Yet Tutankhamun seemed most enthralled with the more mundane aspects of Meren's duties.
Bound by rigid royal tradition and duty, he fed his desire for freedom and release from unending ceremony by listening to tales of the struggles and extraordinary behavior Meren encountered. This, as well as Tutankhamun's personal trust, was why Meren was one of the few in all the world who could ask for admittance to the presence of the living god at any time.
Such a privilege meant nothing if he couldn't find the king. Finding a living god wasn't usually a problem, since he was bound by dusty, creaking tradition that worked against deviations from the set royal schedule adhered to by noble servitors, ministers, and everyone else around him. Wherever he went, Tutankhamun moved in a cumbersome swarm of people-bodyguards, high-ranking priests, royal servants, courtiers, family, government ministers, and a host of slaves. But Tutankhamun had developed the ability to elude this suffocating hindrance.
Sometimes he simply rose before anyone else and left the palace with his bodyguards. Sometimes he ended an audience and vanished before his courtiers could come after him. At other times he waited until the middle of the night and stole out of the palace with only Karoya for protection.
Thus, when Meren went to the palace, he sought the king in the royal chapel, not knowing for certain if he would find the living god in his appointed duties or off on some unexpected excursion with the court in a frenzy of alarm. Luckily, he arrived just as Tutankhamun emerged from the dark inner chamber that held the altar and the sacred shrine in which the image of the king of the gods, Amun, was kept. Only the king and priests of the highest rank were allowed in this chapel.
Tutankhamun walked into the light of dozens of alabaster lamps. Heavy doors covered with sheet gold swung shut behind him with a boom. Linen-clad backs bowed low, Meren's among them. Pharaoh hurried down a corridor formed by slender wooden columns painted to resemble tall papyrus plants, but stopped and turned back to stand before Meren.
'Eyes of Pharaoh,' the king said.
Thus addressed, Meren straightened. He didn't expect what he saw. Tutankhamun's skin had been painted in gold with magical signs of warding, protective symbols, an idea that probably had come from the magician priests. He held a golden net such as would be used to catch harmful spirits in a magical ceremony.
The king came nearer. 'You have news.'
'Of a privy nature, O golden one.'
Tutankhamun turned around and addressed his waiting councillors. 'My majesty will confer with the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh.'
He waved a hand in dismissal, which caused a murmur of surprise. The dozens of people surrounding the king began to move all at once, except for the Overseer of the Audience Hall and one of the chief judges of the kingdom. The judge whispered to the overseer, who approached the king.
'Great king, thy majesty is to preside in a hall of judgment at this very hour.'
'The judges and the complainants will wait, overseer.'
Soon Meren was in the uncomfortable position of having to sit in a small pleasure boat while the king rowed on one of the vast palace pleasure lakes.
'This is the answer?' the king asked as he pulled his oars out of the water. 'A mad, petty noble who imagined himself greater than he was? It wasn't Eater of Souls?'
'Reshep was possessed, golden one, but I don't think Eater of Souls was in him. I can't believe Eater of Souls would serve such as he.'
Tutankhamun looked thoughtful. 'True. If Eater of Souls were to come among the living, she'd serve me.'
'Thy majesty speaks with the wisdom of his father Amun.'
'My majesty will order his name erased wherever it's found. Get rid of him, Meren, and I'll put it about that an outlaw was caught masquerading as Eater of Souls in order to rob the citizens of Memphis.'
Meren bowed, and they fell into an uneasy silence. Such was the fate of evil ones. Their names were erased from documents, monuments, family tombs. Their bodies were cast into the desert to become the fodder of hyenas and jackals. Denied their eternal house and the repository of the soul, these spirits were left to the terrible judgment of the gods. When their names were erased from the land of the living, their final avenue to existence vanished, and their souls perished.
Tutankhamun was staring at the reflection of a lone cloud in the water. 'I'm glad you refused to admit him to my presence. Do you think he would have taken offense at me?'
Meren went cold as he realized the king's meaning. Reshep had envied Meren's power; how much more hatred would he have had for a living god.
'Never mind,' Tutankhamun said. 'I can see it in your face. A danger escaped. Which reminds me. My scouts have returned and reported vicious bandit raids on villages just north of the great pyramids. Libyan tribes, they say. Testing my strength, trying to encroach upon my kingdom when they think I'm too young to defend myself. My majesty will not tolerate such transgression.'
'General Nakhtmin will send troops at once, divine one.'
'Oh no,' Tutankhamun said. He shipped his oars, stuck his hand in the water, and doused Meren with a spray of water. 'Your promise, Eyes of Pharaoh. I'm to go on the first suitable raid. This is the first suitable raid, and you're taking me, as you promised.'
Meren regarded the king solemnly, then sighed and leaned against the side of the boat. He touched his fingers to his brow and allowed his head to droop.
'It's of no use,' the king said.
'Majesty?'
Tutankhamun shoved an oar into Meren's arms and laughed when his courtier nearly lost his balance. 'Admit it. You were thinking of pleading weariness.'
'Thy majesty thinks I would deceive him?'
'If it suited you, yes. Fortunately, you've done yourself the ill favor of teaching me most of your tricks and wiles.' The king thrust the second oar at Meren. 'Resign yourself, my lord. We're going on a raid. As soon as my
