with one slip of his dagger. Then Horemheb remembered his place and moved toward the door.
“Wait!” I cried, surprising myself. The general stopped. “I have mint and basil. It may cure your men, and we wouldn’t have to go ashore for a physician.”
Amunhotep tensed, but Nefertiti appeared in the cabin door behind him. “Let her go,” she urged.
“I could use a cloak,” I said quickly. “No one would even know I was gone.” I looked to Amunhotep. “Then the people would think your orders have been obeyed and the lives of your soldiers would be spared.”
“She studied herbs in Akhmim,” Nefertiti explained. “She might be able to cure them. And what if the dysentery should spread?”
General Horemheb looked to Pharaoh for his decision.
Pharaoh raised his chin, feigning an air of munificence. “The Sister of the King’s Chief Wife may go.”
My mother’s face was disapproving, my father’s eyes unreadable. But these were men’s lives. To let them die when we could save them would go against all the laws of Ma’at. What would the gods think if on our way to Memphis, to the start of a new reign, we let innocent men die? I ran to my pallet and collected my herb box. Then I threw on a cloak and in the shadow of darkness followed Horemheb onto the deck. Outside, the wind of the Nile rustled my cloak. I was nervous. I wished I could bend in quick obeisance to Bast, the god of travel, for safe journey. But I followed the general in front of me, who said nothing. We boarded the vessel, where the men were suffering and the stench of sickness was overwhelming. I put my cloak to my nose.
“A squeamish healer?” the general asked, and I dropped the cloak in defiance. He led me into his own cabin. “What do you need?”
“Hot water and bowls. We can soak the mint and basil and make it into tea.”
He disappeared to collect what I needed and I studied his chamber. The cabin was smaller than the one that Pharaoh and Nefertiti were sharing and nothing hung on the walls, even though we had been on the river for almost twenty days. His pallet was neat and folded, and four armless chairs were arranged around a Senet board. I looked at the pieces. Whoever had been black had won the last game. I guessed it was Horemheb or he wouldn’t have let the pieces remain.
“The water is heating,” he said when he returned. He didn’t offer me a seat. I remained standing.
“You play Senet,” I remarked.
He nodded.
“You were black.”
He studied me with an interested expression. “They said you were the wise one.” He didn’t add whether he believed them now, but he indicated a seat with his hand. He took one himself, crossing his arms over his chest while we waited for the water to boil. “How old are you?”
“Fourteen,” I replied.
“When I was fourteen, I was fighting for the Elder against the Nubians. That was eight years ago,” he said thoughtfully.
So he was twenty-two now. General Nakhtmin’s age.
“Fourteen is an important age,” he added. “It is a time when destinies are decided.” He stared at me in a way that was unnerving. “You will be your sister’s closest adviser in Memphis.”
“I advise her in nothing,” I said quickly. “She takes her own advice.”
He raised his eyebrows and suddenly I wished that I hadn’t said anything. Then a soldier came into the cabin bearing a steaming pot of water. A second followed with dozens of bowls.
I was surprised. “How many of the men are sick?”
“Twenty-four. And there will be more by tomorrow.”
“Twenty-four?” What had Amunhotep allowed to happen? It was half of the ship. I worked quickly, tearing leaves of mint and placing them in each of the cups. The general watched, appraising my work, and when I was finished he said nothing to me. He took away the steaming bowls and led me out the way I had come. I thought that nothing else would pass between us, but as we reached the king’s barge he bowed deeply. “Thank you, Lady Mutnodjmet.” Then he turned and disappeared into the night.
Our fleet of ships was docked close enough together that a sailor could stand at the stern of one and speak with a sailor on the prow of another. This is how talk of what I had done for Horemheb’s men spread from ship to ship, and whenever the barges docked for the night, word began reaching me