Drinker Of Blood

Nefertiti shifted her position so that she rested on one hip. The lamplight flickered. A shadow shaped like a wing moved across the face of the offering table. Nefertiti got to her knees and reached out with one hand. Was it the dead king's soul, come in bird form to visit her?

Suddenly a shout made her whirl around to face the door. As she moved, the wing shadow vanished. The shout had come from another room. Sebek too was looking in the direction of the shout, his hand on the scimitar at his belt. There was another shout, louder this time. Alarmed, Nefertiti ran out of the cella. Sebek launched himself after her, and they raced through the temple until they reached the outer hall. Great papyrus-bundle columns flanked an open court, where a crowd milled around two men.

Sebek thrust an arm in front of Nefertiti. 'I'll go first, my queen.' He gripped the hilt of the scimitar and walked up to the group of men. Nefertiti was close at his back. Sebek stopped beside a young priest at the edge of the crowd. 'Make way for the great royal wife Nefertiti.'

Shaved heads turned. Backs bent, and bodies scuttled to the side. They made their way to the crowd's center, where two men were shouting at each other as if they were in a beer tavern. Nefertiti recognized Wadjnas, chief priest of the mortuary temple. The man's face was contorted with fury, and he clutched the folds of a hastily donned robe. A wig sat awry his bald head until he clamped it straight with his free hand.

Wadjnas roared at the man facing him. Mery-Re. What was the high priest of the Aten doing in pharaoh's house of eternity? That was the question Sebek voiced in Nefertiti's name. The arguing ceased at once, and there was a moment of quiet while the men bowed low before Nefertiti. Although both men appeared startled at the presence of their queen, Wadjnas recovered first.

'Majesty, this-this heretic is going to erase the names of the gods. He says pharaoh ordered it. He says he will even wipe out the name of Osiris.'

Nefertiti heard a mass intake of breath from the other priests. Her insides churned, and she waited for the gods to rend Mery-Re into small pieces. Osiris, renewer of life, the god who died and had been reborn-such a blasphemy could not be imagined. And yet these newcomer priests seemed confident in their sacrilege; she could see their puffed-up conviction in their faces. For years Akhenaten had been recruiting obsequious men whose sole qualification for membership in the Aten priesthood was a blind acceptance of his religious decrees. This was the result.

'The divine Son of the Sun orders the names of the usurpers to be expunged,' Mery-Re said. 'They are an abomination to the Aten.' He motioned to the men at his back.

Nefertiti glanced at the hammers and chisels in the hands of the Aten priests. She noted their armed escort. Mery-Re was watching her. What could she do? Pharaoh's word was absolute. A cold fog invaded her body. While she hesitated, the soldiers corralled Wadjnas and his followers in one corner. Mery-Re directed his men to a wall depicting the judgment of Amunhotep's soul. Amunhotep stood before Osiris, while Anubis and Toth weighed his heart against the feather of truth. A priest pointed his chisel at the name of Osiris. Nefertiti cast a glance of appeal at Sebek, but the warrior lifted his hands in an unaccustomed movement of helplessness. The priest drew back his hammer.

Even now pharaoh might be undergoing judgment. The mist that shrouded Nefertiti's thoughts evaporated. The hammer arced toward the chisel. Nefertiti shouted, leaped at the priest, and caught the hammer in mid-swing. Pulled off balance, the man dropped the chisel. Nefertiti jerked the hammer out of his hand.

'You won't destroy pharaoh's ka.' The priest shrank from her as she dropped the hammer.

Mery-Re swept toward her, two soldiers at his side.

'Thy majesty is misguided, distraught. Take the queen back to the palace.'

The soldiers and Sebek moved toward each other as Nefertiti drew herself up to her full height. She stared at Mery-Re as if he were a maggot on the tip of her sandal.

'Mery-Re, you sniveling place seeker, you forget your lowly station.'

'Nefertiti.''

It was Akhenaten. Nefertiti was left standing in a sea of crouching figures. Pharaoh stalked to her, followed by a squadron of charioteers bearing swords.

Coming close, Akhenaten took her hand and searched her face. 'What are you doing here? You're pale. Are you well?'

'Yes, majesty.' Nefertiti stared into her husband's black eyes. 'Majesty, did you order Mery-Re to wipe out the gods' names?'

'Of course,' Akhenaten said as he gazed about the temple. 'Words in stone make for permanent lies. The Aten's name shall replace all gods. What are you doing here?'

'I came to visit pharaoh's ka.'

'Then you shall witness the beginning of reform. Mery-Re, begin.'

Without thinking Nefertiti raised her voice. 'No!'

Akhenaten had been surveying the temple walls with a preoccupied, hungry look on his face. At Nefertiti's shout, his eyes widened. He looked down as if to be sure that word had come from her.

'No? Did you say no?'

Akhenaten took Nefertiti by the shoulders and pulled her close so that he glared into her eyes. She put her arms on Akhenaten's shoulders and braced herself. She had gone too far this time. Either her husband would listen, or pharaoh would denounce her and send her away in disgrace. Nefertiti lowered her voice so that only Akhenaten could hear.

'Husband, you promised Queen Tiye you wouldn't interfere with pharaoh's provisions for the afterlife. Please don't make the gods angry.' Nefertiti gasped as Akhenaten shook her.

'Blasphemy! There are no gods to make angry. Say it.'

Nefertiti twisted the shoulders of pharaoh's robe in her fists. Anger began to replace her fear; she had always hated being bullied. Akhenaten became her unreasonable husband rather than pharaoh. She pounded Akhenaten's chest and spit out the words of a long-dead king.

'He is a fool who makes light of the judges of the dead.'

Nefertiti was released suddenly, causing her to stumble. Akhenaten made a frustrated sound and snatched her arm. Nefertiti shied away as her husband thrust his face down into hers.

'The little hawk has talons,' the king said.

The temple was so quiet she could hear her own breathing. Akhenaten was still glaring at her, but she refused to let him frighten her. Lifting her chin, she scowled at him. Her risk was rewarded. She could see him respond to the challenge of her defiance. He was still angry, but beneath the anger was excitement.

'By the Two Lands, you're as stubborn as my father ever was. I'm trying to save his ka.'

Nefertiti jerked her arm free and poked a finger in her husband's chest. 'If the Aten is all-powerful, why can he not see into your father's heart and judge him accordingly?'

'We've spoken of this many times before, Nefertiti. Father denied that the Aten was the one god.'

There was no arguing with Akhenaten. No appeal to reason or the ancient ways would affect a man who knew he was the arbiter of all things. Nefertiti imagined her father-in-law's ka annihilated by the monster Eater of Souls in the Hall of Judgment. A silent cry went through her. Osiris, help me. She gazed up into Akhenaten's angry countenance. The wide, fleshy mouth looked as big as the maw of a demon. Moving so that her body almost touched Akhenaten's, she lifted her head so that her lips were near his ear.

'You promised,' she whispered.

'What?'

'You promised you'd leave pharaoh's temple alone. Didn't you mean what you said?' Akhenaten released her arm, and Nefertiti moved back a step to gaze up into his black eyes. She kept her voice low and slightly rough. 'I always thought I could trust you. I believed in you. How can I believe in you if you do this to your father?'

Her voice seemed to drain the anger from Akhenaten's countenance, leaving only excitement and affection. 'You must believe in me.'

'Then help me believe,' Nefertiti said. 'Keep your promise.'

Nefertiti nearly cried out when Akhenaten took her hand and asked in a tone that was half teasing, half menacing, 'Do you defy me?'

'No. I've never done that.' Nefertiti made herself meet her husband's eyes, even though she was sure Akhenaten could see how much she hated to plead.