Horemheb suddenly stalked over to the guard and said, 'Yes. I suggest you do as the divine one commanded before I make you.'
When the Nubian remained silent, Meren sighed and said, 'I see I must remind you of our conversation in the shrine, Mose. The desert, your family? Speak.'
His gaze darting from Horemheb to Meren, Mose opened his mouth. Ebana's dagger prodded him in the ribs from behind, and the words came out at last.
'Majesty, life, health, prosperity.'
At first there was silence. Then the king took several steps that brought him closer to Mose, and Meren joined him.
'Say it again-no-say this. Say, 'Majesty, where are you?' '
As if the words were dragged from him like pyramid blocks on a sledge, Mose complied. 'Majesty, where are you?'
Slowly the king turned to face Meren, his face pale. 'Like you. His voice sounds like yours. There isn't even an accent.'
'Yes, majesty. And now we must ask who bribed him to pretend to be me and feign that attack on you, and why. I think you'll find, Horemheb, that Mose has suddenly acquired much wealth.'
'Mose,' the king said. 'I command you to respond.'
But Mose wasn't attending to pharaoh. As Meren watched the Nubian, alarm writhed like a cold snake in his belly, for Mose's gaze was directed over the pharaoh's head, over the heads of the men surrounding them, at the rooftops. When the guard's eyes widened in terror, Meren moved. At the same time, Mose lunged at them. His hands fastened on the king, and the Nubian dragged the boy against his chest like a shield. Instantly Meren tore the king from Mose's grip and felt a stinging jolt in his side. Ignoring the pain, he twisted and plunged to the ground with the king beneath him.
Above him all was confusion and noise.
Horemheb shouted, 'Not the one on the roof, the Nubian! Get the Nubian Mose!'
Dust flew into Meren's face as men ran by. He heard arrows whistling and blades clashing, but he was more concerned with lifting himself so that he could assess the danger to the king, who was swearing and spitting dirt underneath him.
Planting his hands on the ground beside pharaoh's head, Meren lifted his upper body. Pain arced through him, and his left arm collapsed. The chaos above him descended and wrought havoc with his senses. He seemed to be living just outside his body.
With vague surprise he looked on as Horemheb pulled him off the king and laid him on his back. Tutankhamun rolled over, crouched beside him. Pharaoh's mouth moved, but the sound of his words seemed delayed. Meren was even more astonished when the king bent and gripped something sticking out of the ground close to Meren.
When Tutankhamun broke the end of an arrow, the agony that resulted told Meren that the missile was buried in his side, not the ground. Meren searched for the wound and clamped his hand over the point of entry. Horemheb was still beside him while the king propped Meren's head on one leg.
'What are you doing here?' Meren snapped at the general. 'Find the bowman.'
'Every man I have is chasing him and Mose, including your son and your cousin and your charioteers. Don't tell me how to hunt criminals, Meren. I found you, didn't I?'
'You let Mose get away?'
'Damn you, Meren. The men closest to the king were trying to protect him from the bowman, and the ones farther away didn't know Mose was a criminal.'
'My apologies, old friend,' Meren said.
Grimacing, he looked around at the wall of men surrounding pharaoh, then up at the king. Tutankhamun was regarding him with a mixture of anxiety and relief.
'It wasn't necessary to prove your innocence in so dramatic a manner,' the king said. He placed his hand over Meren's bloody one. 'I already believed you.'
Meren smiled, but his lips contorted with pain. 'My heart exults in thy majesty's safekeeping.'
Pharaoh said something in reply, but to Meren the king seemed to recede into the distance. He blinked, which was a mistake, because he found he couldn't lift his eyelids. The noise and confusion returned, grew louder, and then faded into a whirlpool of blackness.
Chapter 21
Nefertiti watched Akhenaten stalk along the edge of the reflection pool at the riverside palace. In spite of the heat, he wore a cloak over his robe and paused often to lift his face to the sun. His gold leather sandals sent pebbles flying into the water as he scuffed along. Finally he returned to the shade of the acacia tree beneath which Nefertiti's chair rested and stood before her.
'I no longer remember how many times we've argued about this, beautiful one. I'm weary beyond enduring, and your discontent grieves me.'
'I've always told you the truth, husband. The army grows restless with the Hittite jackal prowling the borders of the empire.'
'And I repeat-the Asiatics live in chaos. It is their normal state. Once Mitanni held sway; now the Hittites dominate. One day the Assyrians may claim that right. Such internecine squabbling means little to Egypt, as long as our trade routes remain safe.'
Nefertiti rose and put her hand on Akhenaten's arm. 'And how long will they remain safe, husband, if the Hittites come to think Egypt is soft?'
'Fighting unnecessary battles wastes the blood of my people and displeases the Aten,' Akhenaten said as he patted her hand.
Moving closer, Nefertiti looked into her husband's obsidian eyes and made her voice low and rough. 'My love, is it not better to fight a few small battles to warn the Hittites than to allow them to mistake Egypt's resolve? If they become stronger and thus overconfident, it's certain that we'll have to spill much more blood later than if we push them back now.'
'Hmm. Perhaps, beautiful one, perhaps.'
Nefertiti watched her husband's interest fade. It was becoming more and more difficult to get him to attend to foreign business. He was engaged in some inner struggle having to do with the Aten. That much she knew. But the nature of the struggle and what it meant for Egypt was still a mystery to her.
Akhenaten was smiling at her. Drawing her along with him, he strolled beside the reflection pool. Slaves scurried up to ply fans above their heads.
'I'm so fortunate to have my beautiful one as great royal wife,' Akhenaten said. 'You relieve me of many burdens, my love, and free me for more important work with my father the Aten. Because of your help, I'm beginning to receive complete Maat-divine truth-from the sun disk. Soon all of Egypt will live in truth.'
Nefertiti stopped and turned to look at him. 'But the- the difficulties with some continue.'
The black fire of his convictions flared in Akhenaten's eyes and then vanished with frightening abruptness.
'Fear not, my love. All will be resolved in time.' He smiled and began walking again. 'Let us not speak of such unpleasant things. You're going to your sister again. I don't like it, these visits to the city of the false king of the gods.'
Akhenaten directed a sideways glance at her, but Nefertiti only gave him a smile of amusement.
'The temple is closed, the priests dispersed or dead, and Amun is gone. Otherwise I wouldn't go to Thebes, even to visit my dear sister.'
Kissing her cheek, Akhenaten said, 'It is a great comfort to know that you live in truth as I do, my beautiful one. I don't know what I would do if that weren't so.'
Court business delayed Nefertiti's journey to Thebes for a few days. As the stubble in the fields shriveled under the heat of the Aten, so her ka withered in ever-present grief for her children. While she struggled in silence,
