Senemut rolled over, covering her body withhis. “My love,” he breathed, claiming her lips again.
Fire leapt through her veins as she returnedhis kiss.
Suddenly, the curtain flew aside and a darkfigure darted into the room. “Watch out!” Hattie gasped, her voicemuffled against his shoulder.
Senemut tried to rise, but the figure wasalready at her bedside. She saw the intruder’s arm rise and fallsavagely, and heard Senemut groan as he slumped down on top of her.“Senemut!” she cried. “Senemut, are you all right?”
There was no response. He lay sprawled acrossher, a dead weight. The attacker disappeared as quickly as he hadarrived.
“Guards!” she screamed. She put her armsaround Senemut and rolled him onto his back, wriggling out fromunder him as she did so. She felt a patch of wetness on her chestand stomach. Was it his blood? Where were the guards? She neededhelp and she needed light!
At last, two guards appeared with torches intheir hands. “May we assist you, Majesty?”
“Someone has attacked Lord Senemut. Find theassassin at once, or I will have your heads,” she snapped. “Give meone of those torches. And send Nesi to me. Go!”
“Aye, Your Majesty,” they stammered inunison, turning pale under their tans, and hastened to do herbidding.
Hattie stuck the torch in a wall bracket overher bed and examined Senemut more closely. Blood was everywhere andit seemed to be spreading out from underneath him. Gently, sherolled him onto his side and leaned over to examine his back. Shegasped as she saw a gaping stab wound to the right of his spine,just above his waist. Blood pumped from the laceration and she knewhis life force was ebbing with each spurt. Seizing the linen sheet,she wadded it up and pressed it against the wound, but it seemed tobe to no avail. Blood quickly soaked through the sheet and flowedbetween her outspread fingers.
“Senemut, you cannot die. You cannot! How amI to live without you? Please, open your eyes, Senemut. Speak tome,” she begged.
His eyelids fluttered open for a minute andhis lips moved as he struggled to focus on her.
“What is it, Senemut?” She leaned closer,watching his face intently.
“I…I love you, Hattie,” he whispered. “I amsorry…” His eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped againsther.
“Nay, Senemut,” Hattie sobbed, shaking him.“Do not leave me, please!” But her heart felt as empty as it had inher nightmare, and she knew that this time, Senemut was gone.
* * *
Hapuseneb grunted with satisfaction as hestraightened from bending over a worktable in a tiny, torchlit roomin the secret innermost reaches of the temple of Amun. “So, theusurper is dead at last, is he?”
“Aye, so he is,” Snefru said, rubbing hishands together. “And high time! He has been more difficult todispatch than a wily jackal. The hired assassin has been silencedand his body dumped in the Nile. No one will trace him to us…if hisremains are ever found.” He grinned. “I believe the crocodiles willbe of great assistance there.”
“Good! Then it is only a matter of timebefore we are rid of Hatshepsut also,” Hapuseneb said.
“I have taken care of my part of ourarrangement,” Snefru continued. “What about you? Are you finishedwith the spell for the necklace?”
“I am just beginning. Would you care toassist me?” Hapuseneb beckoned to him, reveling in the look ofsheer terror that crossed Snefru’s face.
Snefru held up his hands and backed away.“Nay, I would not. I have never dabbled in black magic, and I donot intend to start now. I will not take the risk of angering thegods and having them send out their khefts to steal my soul.” He stumbled and nearly fell over a smallstool. Righting it, he stammered, “I will take my leave now. I wishyou success in your venture.” He turned and fled theroom.
Hapuseneb chuckled. “Snefru, you were everfearful of powers you cannot see and touch. Fortunately, I have nosuch apprehensions.” He returned his attention to the necklacespread on the table.
It was a fine piece of craftsmanship, andunfortunate indeed that the maker had met with a fatal “accident”.A golden falcon formed the central portion of the pectoralnecklace, the symbol of pharaoh’s authority to rule over Egypt andhis protection by the falcon-god Horus. The falcon’s outspreadwings were resplendent with beads of turquoise, lapis lazuli, goldand colored glass, glittering even in the weak torchlight. Thepiercing green jasper eyes seemed strangely alive.
Hapuseneb had dictated the hieroglyphics tobe inscribed on the body of the bird to a scribe, whose journey tothe afterlife had also regrettably been hastened. The hieroglyphicsrepresented a prayer to protect the life of pharaoh; only Hapusenebknew the prayer was offered for the life of Tuthmosis, notHatshepsut. Now, all he had to do was cast the spell on the thing,and it could be presented to Hatshepsut and send her to herdoom.
First, he burned a pinch of incense in asmall pottery bowl with a lotus flower motif and raised it over hishead. “Hear me, Maat, goddess of justice and truth. It is I,Hapuseneb, High Priest of Amun, who calls. May my words be pleasingto your ears, as this incense is pleasing to your nostrils,” hechanted, as the sweet smoke rose and curled to the ceiling. Theflickering torch threw grotesque shadows of Hapuseneb’s upliftedarms on the walls.
He set down the bowl and lifted thenecklace, passed it back and forth through the incense smoke seventimes, then raised it toward the ceiling. “Oh, Maat, I ask you toimbue this golden necklace with your power. Let Hatshepsut be takenfar from Egypt when she touches it. Let her be toppled from thethrone of Horus and thrust into the darkness beyond the grave. Nofemale should be allowed to rule all of Egypt—let her reap thereward she so richly deserves. Let there be maat in the land of Egypt again.”
A ferocious wind arose and swept throughthe room. The torch sputtered and went out. “It shall be as youdesire, Hapuseneb, High Priest of Amun,” a spectral voice howled,coming from everywhere and nowhere. “Hatshepsut shall receivejustice, maat shall berestored, and you shall receive what you deserve aswell.”
“Thank you, Maat, goddess of truth,”Hapuseneb cried above the roar of the wind, dropping the necklaceand
