now, to have been futile. Everything she had achieved had been destroyed by the storm, as if it had been clearing the playing board, making many new and unforeseen developments possible.
‘Perhaps you could commission a poet to rewrite the story of today to make the storm seem like part of your grand plan after all. The Poem of the Triumph over the Storm. The Queen returns in glory from the Otherworld, the god of chaos tries to vanquish her, but all his might could not blow down the city of the Aten, nor frighten its Queen.’
‘I’m frightened now.’
She looked at me for a moment. I wanted more than anything to hold her as she sat with her arms wrapped tight around her legs, trying to keep warm-or trying to stop herself shaking. My heart was suddenly inappropriately tripping and fluttering like a schoolboy’s. She was so close. I could sense the warmth of her skin across the cool night air; I could see the potency of her eyes in the dark. She was distant and sad. I reached out and gently let my hand touch hers. I feared the mountains would rumble and the stars fall from the sky. But none of that happened. She did not move. I believe, now, her breath stilled for a moment. We sat like that for a long moment. Then, with something I hope was reluctance, she slipped her hand out from under mine.
It was then that I heard a very faint trickle of grit and tiny stones nearby on the slope below us. It could have been a desert rabbit, but it was not. I looked up to see Khety gesturing at something. I stood up slowly and backed towards the tomb entrance, trying to make no sound, trying to shield the Queen from whatever was coming up out of the darkness. Another faint trickle, then a clearly audible step being taken closer up the slope, a foot seeking purchase. But the stranger remained in the realm of the shadows. At least we had now reached the entrance to the chamber, which offered us some temporary sanctuary; we lacked the means, other than our daggers, to defend ourselves. I pushed the Queen back into the shadows of the chamber and waited.
A shadow rose up from the slope. It was somewhat out of breath. I recognized immediately the outline of the bulky, powerful body, the brutal shape of the head. I recognized too the dark panting bulk that followed him, faithful and dumb.
‘This is a strange place to spend the night.’ Mahu’s voice was tense. He was trying to disguise his breathlessness.
‘We were just looking at the stars,’ I replied.
‘You could use their help. Where are they? Are they safe?’
‘Why are you asking me?’
Then Nefertiti slipped past me, holding a lamp. Mahu looked relieved, and immediately got down uncomfortably on his knees, like a monster before a child.
‘I offer prayers of thanks to the Aten for the safe return of the Queen,’ he said.
‘Give me your report.’
‘May I also report to our Lord?’
‘He is resting.’
Mahu looked unhappy ‘But-’
‘He is well,’ she insisted.
There was steeliness in her conduct. Mahu was caught out. There was a moment of silent tension between them during which she yielded nothing; and then he nodded. But he had not yet given in.
‘That man must leave. I will take charge now.’ He pointed at me, his eyes full of loathing. The encounter with Ay still smarted. Good.
‘Why? He has protected and saved me, he has brought the royal family to sanctuary, he has performed well. What have you accomplished? What have you to say to us that he should not hear?’
It was hard not to smile. I did not try too hard.
Mahu’s head moved about nervously on his bulky shoulders. He was like a baboon trapped in a cage, seeking an escape. He was still dangerous to me. He would savage me in a moment. But Nefertiti remained implacable and absolute.
‘Speak,’ she commanded.
‘The city is in chaos,’ he said. ‘The Great River is jammed with traffic. All who can are leaving. The tent accommodations were blown away. Scaffolding has collapsed, killing citizens and blocking ways. Many food stores have been ruined by the sand. Wells that were uncovered have been spoiled. The supply of sweet water is unreliable. There have been many deaths in the panic.’ He hesitated. The harder part of the report was obviously yet to come.
‘And what else?’
‘There is disorder.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Authority has collapsed. My troops are few, and unable to control the situation. The temple stores have been ransacked, all the supplies of grain, wine, fruit-all dispersed among the mob. They have even butchered sacrificial animals in the temple precincts for food. The people have become barbarians overnight. There has been fighting on the streets between different nationalities for possession of food and shelter. The ambassador of Mittani and his family and followers were assassinated in the confusion. We suspect Hittite forces. We could not protect them. We accommodated as many of the important families and leaders as we could within the Great Palace, and we have set up temporary shelters in the Small Aten Temple.’
‘Why have you failed to maintain control over the city in our name?’
His face darkened. ‘Horemheb elected to take command, over my own authority and that of the Medjay. He has deployed his soldiers around the city and commanded the support of reserves. They arrive in the next day or two. He has won military control of the area, until such time as…’ He paused again, having reached the moment of the unspeakable.
‘Speak.’
‘Until you return to meet with him.’
Her face remained impassive, but this was bad news.
‘Has he sent you here? As his errand boy?’
Mahu glared at her, pride triumphing over respect. ‘I am not now, nor have I ever been, other than a loyal servant. I am no errand boy. I came to warn you of his intention.’
She allowed a slight relaxation of her features. ‘Your loyalty is greater than gold to us.’
It was strange to see the power of a few words of praise upon such a man. Mahu’s fierceness melted away.
She spoke quickly now, alive to the imperatives of the new situation. ‘I shall return. But to command, not to negotiate with Horemheb’s army.’
This statement did not quite have the expected or desired effect on Mahu. There was something he was not revealing. An argument? Bad news? An assassin’s knife, even? The Queen glanced quickly at me, having observed this too. I decided to move closer.
Mahu growled at me. ‘Stay away from me.’
Nefertiti nodded imperceptibly, and I stepped back again.
‘You must speak truthfully,’ she said. ‘Hide nothing. Otherwise I return to the city flawed in my knowledge and understanding.’
I glanced up to where I’d last seen Khety, but I could not spot him up there in the darkness. Surely he was listening though.
Mahu made up his mind and spoke with a hesitation I had not thought he was capable of. ‘There is…another thing.’ He paused, dramatically.
‘Do not expect me to interpret silence. Speak.’
Then out of the silence and the darkness came a hissing sound, and a dull thud. Nefertiti and I stared out into the unknown. Mahu made no move. His expression changed to puzzlement, as if he could not quite remember the beginning of his thought. Then a dribble of blood appeared at the side of his mouth. He reached up and touched it slowly, surprised at the redness on his fingertip. Then he shook his head, and slowly fell forward like a beast with too great a burden, onto his face.
We crouched down and ran over to his body. An arrow had split his spine. It was lodged deep between his shoulder blades. I looked at it carefully; it bore a familiar hieroglyph: the cobra. My mind raced back to the memory of the charred arrow on the burning boat. The warning sign sent to me before I’d even arrived. And here it was
