‘I have to confess, my friend, this is the strangest gift you have ever brought me. What have I done to deserve it? A boy’s lame body, the bones shattered, the face so curiously scored by needle-holes, and the eyes removed? I am at a loss, a complete loss, to understand whatever persuaded you to bring him to me, like a cat bringing home the remains of her kill…’
He was angry. And so, I realized, was I.
‘And to whom else should I bring him? Without expert attention he will die. But I have to keep him safely, until he is well. He is my only lead. Only he can tell me who did this to him. He might be able to help us identify his attacker. He will recover?’
‘He has a dislocated jaw. His arms and legs are both broken in several places. I fear infection in the cuts around his face and in the eye-sockets. And among all the great mysteries of the cruelties that have been so precisely inflicted upon this boy’s body, why does he have the marks of needles upon his face?’
I pulled the girl’s face from my bag and showed it to him. He turned away in revulsion.
‘We found this sewn on to his face. It belongs to a body we also found. The face belongs to a girl. Her name was Neferet.’
‘Please, put that thing away. I simply can’t talk to you while you are thrusting the remains of a human face at me,’ he cried.
I saw his point. I passed the face to Khety, who took possession of it reluctantly, fastidiously placing it back in the bag.
‘Now can we talk?’
He nodded.
‘I am not accustomed, as you are, to the more brutal acts of our kind. I have never been in battle. Never been robbed or attacked. Never even been in a fight. I abhor violence, as you very well know. The thought of it makes me sick. So forgive me if what, for you, is all in a day’s work, is for me something more of a profound shock.’
‘I forgive you. But tell me now: can you save him?’
He sighed.
‘It is possible, provided there is no infection. Bones we can set. Blood we cannot heal.’
‘And when might I be able to speak to him?’
‘My friend, this boy has been literally shattered. It will take weeks, months, for these injuries to heal. His jaw is a mess. If he lives, he will need time to recover from his blindness. It will be some time, a month at the very least, before he can speak. This is assuming his mind remains undamaged by the experience, and that he is capable of articulation and comprehension.’
I gazed down at the boy. He was my only hope. I wondered what he could say to me, and whether, in a month, it would all be far, far too late.
‘So what do we do now?’ asked Khety quietly, as we stood outside Nakht’s house. He looked shocked.
‘Have you got a lead on Neferet’s place of work?’
‘I’ve narrowed it down to a couple of places. We should visit them,’ he replied.
He showed me a list of establishments.
‘Fine. When?’
‘After sunset would be best. When they get busy.’
I nodded.
‘Meet me at the first one. Bring that with you,’ I said, meaning the face which he had replaced in its leather bag.
‘What are you going to do now?’ he asked.
‘I feel like going home and drinking a bottle of decent red wine, and feeding my son his dinner. But I have to return to the palace. The interviews of all those who have priority access to the royal quarters took place this afternoon. I should have been there.’
I glanced up at the afternoon sun, which was now descending to the west. I might already have missed everything.
‘Do you want me to come, too?’
I shook my head.
‘I want you to go back to the boy’s family and explain we’re taking care of him. Tell them he’s alive, and we have good hopes. And above all make arrangements for the boy to be guarded. Set a pair of guards inside the entrance to Nakht’s house at all hours. We don’t want anyone to hurt the boy any more. We can’t risk losing him.’
‘What happens if he dies?’ asked Khety quietly.
‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘Pray to the Gods he lives.’
‘You don’t believe in Gods,’ he replied.
‘This is an emergency. Suddenly I am reconsidering my point of view.’
18
I tried to stop myself breaking into a run as I made my way, by memory now, towards the royal quarters. By day, I noticed more people: groups of officials, foreign ministers, delegates and potentates being entertained in various chambers. I showed my permissions to the guards, who scrutinized them carefully before allowing me to pass. At least the security had improved.
‘Take me to Simut. At once,’ I commanded.
He and Khay were waiting in Khay’s office. As I entered, they both looked at me sourly.
‘I am sorry. I had another emergency.’
‘What emergency could possibly be greater than this one?’ wondered Khay, airily.
Simut silently handed me a papyrus scroll. I glanced down the list of no more than ten names: the chiefs of the royal domain; viziers of the north and south; Huy, Chancellor; the Chief Steward; the Chamberlain; the Fan Bearer of the King’s Right Hand…
‘All of those who have entered the royal quarters in the last three days, I have called together and interviewed. It is a pity you could not be there. They didn’t like being kept waiting, and they didn’t like being questioned. It is contributing to the feeling of uncertainty within the palace. I’m afraid I could find no evidence against any of them,’ he said.
‘You mean they all claim to have alibis?’ I asked, irritated by him and by my own anxiety at the lack of progress. He was right. I should have been there. He nodded.
‘Of course, we are now in the process of checking these, and I will have another report for you in the morning.’
‘But where are they now?’
‘I asked them to remain here until you could speak to them. What else would you have me do? It is now dark, and they are angry not to be able to return to their homes and their families. Already they claim they are imprisoned in the royal quarters.’ He snorted.
‘Well, given what is at stake, that is the least of our concerns. Who are these men? I mean, where do their loyalties lie?’
Khay pounced on me at once.
‘Their loyalties lie with the King, and with the Two Lands. And how dare you suggest otherwise?’
‘Yes, that’s the official version, I know. But which of these are Ay’s men?’
They exchanged an uncertain glance. But it was Simut who replied:
‘All of them.’
As I entered, the great men of the royal domain all turned as one from their discussion to gaze at me with frank hostility, but remained seated in a gesture of contempt. I saw abundant wine and food had been laid on for them. Khay as usual made a fussy introduction, and I interrupted him as soon as I could.
‘It is no longer a secret that, somehow, someone is leaving objects within the royal quarters whose aim is to alarm and threaten the King and the Queen. We have come to the conclusion that the only way these objects could
