Out of the Black Land - By Kerry Greenwood Page 0,135

the King’s person,’ she yelled, and they fell silent. ‘Now receive the Aten!’

I saw lights and smelt smoke. For a moment, I wondered if there was some trick, and we were all to be burned to death in one great sacrifice. But it was not the case. The fire I had seen had been a long line of men bearing torches. A hundred men in the robes of Aten-priest filed into the courtyard and began to line the walls. They were solemn and silent.

I caught sight of Dhutmose in the ranks. He had seen me, too, and edged his way along, elbowing a few of his fellows, until he was directly behind Merope. His eyes widened at the sight of her, most beautiful of sisters. I turned Merope to look at him. They were almost breast to breast. She said, ‘Master Dhutmose?’

‘Adelphemou,’ replied the priest. This means ‘my sister’ in Kritian. Then he said Philimou, which means, ‘my love’ and Merope gasped, wept, and fell into his arms.

He had reason to hold her tight. The men with torches were given an order which I could not hear, and they just reached out and grabbed the nearest female. Fortunately, Dhutmose had Merope in a firm grip, and the man who mistook me for a Great Royal Divorcee retreated with a yelp as I kneed him in the groin. I slid behind Dhutmose as he and Merope edged their way out of a dreadful scene.

The Royal Women were not just being given away to the priests of Aten, politely and with order and precedence. The priests of that thrice-damned god were carrying them away, dragging them roughly from their friends without even time to say goodbye. The courtyard resounded with shrieks and slaps.

I saw my sister Nefertiti carried away on her litter, high above the chaos with a little smile on her perfect lips, and thought that it was much, much better that she should be burned rather than Ptah-hotep.

We were out of the courtyard of the Phoenix and into the broad approach to the palace before we stopped. I could not shut out the dreadful screams of ravishment and despair, and Merope kissed me quickly and said, ‘Come with me, sister, we can live together, my lord Dhutmose will have us both, do not go back!’

‘No, I have a task,’ I told her. ‘I will come and visit if I can. Farewell, dear sister.’ I embraced her closely, smelling the scent of her hair for what might be the last time. I looked Master Dhutmose in the eye and said, ‘Take care of her.’

He nodded. He was shaken by the events in the court of the Phoenix, but at no point had his hold on my sister’s narrow waist loosened. He kissed my hand and hurried Merope away. They had not searched her. She was still loaded with the Widow-Queen’s gold, and when Dhutmose lay down with her that night he would find that he had acquired a richer present than ever he had expected.

I went back into the palace through a side door. I did not want to see whatever else was happening in the court of the Phoenix.

I went to my own room to report to Widow-Queen Tiye on the disposition of her sister-queen Merope and found her gone and her servants with her. I scribbled a note on an ostracon which reported Merope safely bestowed and myself with Ptah-hotep; and went back to the quarters of the Great Royal Scribe, taking with me my own property, which was not much greater than it had been when I came to Amarna.

I and my bundle were halted at the door of the office by two soldiers wearing the bright feathers of the king’s personal guard.

‘You cannot pass!’ one announced, the sort of bone-headed statement I might expect from one of the king’s bodyguard.

‘Yes, I can,’ I explained. ‘I just open the door and go in.’

‘You cannot pass,’ he repeated.

‘Listen, you are stationed here to prevent the lord Ptah-hotep from leaving, aren’t you?’ I asked patiently, though I did not feel patient. The guards must have been sent after my departure for the Aten ceremony. They had not been there when I left.

‘On the direct orders of the lord Akhnaten may he live!’ agreed the soldier.

‘Yes, but there are no orders about who should go in,’ I told him, gambling on the fact that this would not have been covered. Who would be mad enough to join a doomed man on