'You have neglected me too long,' Pharaoh accused him, as he burst through the doorway and paused to stare at Taita. 'Yes, it is truly you. I thought you might continue to flout my many summonings.'
Nefer Seti wore only open sandals below a linen skirt that covered his knees. His upper body was bare. His chest was broad and deep, his belly flat and rippling with muscle. His arms were sculpted by long practice with bow and sword. His torso was that of a warrior trained to perfection.
'Pharaoh. I salute you. I am your humble slave, as I have always been.'
Nefer Seti stepped forward and took him in a powerful embrace. 'No talk of slaves or slavery when teacher and pupil come together,' he declared. 'My heart overflows with joy to see you again.' He held him at arm's length and studied his face. 'By the grace of Horus, you have not aged a single day.'
'Nor have you, Majesty.' His tone was sincere, and Nefer Seti laughed.
'Although it is a lie, I accept your flattery as kindness to an old friend.'
Nefer had set aside his formal horsehair wig, and his skin was devoid of paint, so Taita was able to study his features. Nefer's close-cropped hair was grizzled, and the crown of his skull was bald. His face was etched with the passage of time: there were deep lines at the corners of his mouth, and a cobweb of wrinkles surrounded his dark eyes, which were weary. His cheeks were hollow, and his skin had an unhealthy pallor.
Taita blinked once and opened the Inner Eye; with relief he saw that Pharaoh's aura burned strongly, which betokened a brave heart and an undiminished spirit.
How old is he? Taita tried to remember. He was twelve when his father was killed, so now he must be forty- nine. The realization jolted him. An ordinary man was considered old at forty-five, and was usually dead before fifty. Ramram had told him the truth: Pharaoh was much changed.
'Has Ramram arranged lodgings for you?' Nefer Seti demanded, and looked at his chamberlain sternly over Taita's shoulder.
'I thought to allocate him one of the suites for the foreign ambassadors,'
Ramram suggested.
'By no means. Taita is not a foreigner,' Nefer Seti snapped, and Taita sensed that his formerly even temper had quickened and was now more readily aroused. 'He must be lodged in the guard room at the door to my bedchamber. I want to be able to call upon him for counsel and discussion at any hour of the night.' He turned back to face Taita squarely. 'Now I must leave you. I am meeting with the Babylonian ambassador. His countrymen have tripled the price of the grain they sell us. Ramram will apprise you of all the most important matters of state.
I expect to be free by midnight, and I will send for you then. You must share my dinner, though I fear you might not find it to your taste. On my orders the court enjoys the same rations as the rest of the populace.'
Nefer Seti turned back to the secret doorway.
'Majesty.' Taita's tone was urgent. Nefer Seti looked back over one broad shoulder, and Taita hurried on, 'I am in company with a great and learned magus.'
'Not as powerful as you.' Nefer Seti smiled affectionately.
'Indeed, I am a child beside him. He comes to Karnak to offer aid and succour to you and your kingdom.'
'Where is this paragon now?'
'He is encamped without the city gates. Despite his learning, he is immensely aged, and feeble in body. I need to be near him.'
'Ramram, find comfortable quarters for the foreign magus in this wing of the palace.'
'Meren Cambyses is still with me as my companion and protector. 1 would be grateful to have him close at hand.'
'Sweet Horus, it seems I must share you with half the earth.' Nefer Seti laughed. 'But I am delighted to hear that Meren is well, and that I am to have the pleasure of his company. Ramram will find him a place.
Now 1 must leave you.'
'Pharaoh, one more instant of your gracious presence,' Taita cut in, before he could disappear.
'You have been here but a moment, and already you have wrung fifty favours from me. Your powers of persuasion are undimmed. What is it you still need?'
'Your permission to cross the river and pay my respects to Queen Mintaka.'
'If I refused, I would place myself in an invidious position. My queen has not lost her fire. She would treat me mercilessly.' He laughed with real affection for his wife. 'Go to her, by all means, but return here before midnight.'
A soon as Demeter was safely ensconced in the palace Taita summoned two of the royal physicians to attend him, then called Meren aside. 'I expect to return before nightfall,' he told him.
'Guard him well.'
'I should go with you, Magus. In this time of want and starvation even honest men turn in despair to brigandry to feed their families.'
'Ramram has given me an escort of guardsmen.'
It seemed strange to mount a horse, rather than a boat, to cross a river like the Nile. From the back of Windsmoke, Taita gazed towards the Palace of Memnon on the west bank and saw that many well-trodden paths led through the mudbanks between the turbid pools. They rode out along one. A monstrous toad hopped across the path in front of Taita's mare.
'Kill it!' the sergeant of the escorts snapped. A soldier couched his spear and rode down on the toad. Like a wild boar at bay, it turned ferociously to defend itself. The soldier leant forward and drove the point of his spear deep into its pulsating yellow throat. In its death throes the hideous creature clamped its jaws on the spear's shaft so the soldier had to drag it along behind his horse until it released its grip and he could pull his weapon free. He fell in beside Taita and showed him the shaft: the toad's fangs had scored the hard wood deeply.
