Out of the Black Land - By Kerry Greenwood Page 0,163

of Aten are too few to properly administer the cultivation and they are also accepting bribes,’ said General Khaemdua with distaste.

‘I hanged four scoundrels for terrorising a village, and the air is full of denunciations. My own scoundrels are under control, of course,’ he added, though no one would suppose he would tolerate an army that was not under control.

‘Bad, lady,’ agreed Menna, having consulted with Harmose as to who should speak. ‘Letters for the Pharaoh Akhnaten are not being dealt with, and our own chief is accepting gold to pass incorrect tax returns. Some of the Nomarchs are growing rich and some are reduced to beggary. The Watchers are overworked and are falling victim to corruption; some are even extorting money from their villages.’

‘Bad, lady,’ said Horemheb slowly. ‘I rescued Tushratta and put him back on his throne, but the watch on the borders has slept and my soldiers and those of my comrade Khaemdua’s are constantly being diverted to this mad work of destroying the Aten.’

‘The King is totally isolated,’ I said. ‘There is no honest Councillor left. Huy and Pannefer between them make sure that he hears nothing that does not please him. Divine Father Ay plots to own the whole world. His wife plots with him. The children know nothing, are not even literate, and no one sees them but their own court. Great Royal Wife Smenkhare is flirting with the king, using his body to excite whatever it is that can be excited in a eunuch. I fear that the atmosphere has completely corrupted him. The Great Royal Lady Meritaten is trying to seduce Smenkhare, to whom I am told she is also married, and the little ones have no chance, as far as I can see, of growing up sane. Though Ankhesenpaaten at least appears to have some maternal instincts, she looks after Tutankhaten.’

‘In a word, then,’ said Tiye heavily, ‘bad.’

‘The country is lurching along,’ said Horemheb. ‘Egypt has got used to being governed and many officials still hold to their truth which is in Maat. The situation is not good, but if the Nile floods next year then we will all eat, at least. Surely this utterly and uniquely-corrupt royal family cannot last long. Their own way of life, one would think, will kill them.’

‘Possibly,’ said Tiye. ‘We will see. Meet me regularly, my lords, if you please. Menna and Harmose will keep an eye on foreign affairs. The lady Mutnodjme will hear them if they have anything to say, for they are still teaching her the square letters and that is a task for a lifetime. Now I am freed from captivity there may be some words I can say to my sons which will moderate their behaviour. Off hand I cannot think of any rule of virtue which they have not broken, but there may still be some. We will take no action. Yet.’

This was agreed. Then we called in the musicians, and the feast became merry.

I was pouring beer through a strainer for my husband when I realised that I was happy.

Ptah-hotep

I was sitting in a shady spot on a wall with the three volumes of Imhotep’s House of Ascent: Building the Pyramids in my lap. I was not reading the puzzling and difficult script. I was looking at the horizon, where the pale line of dew was burning off the desert, and thinking about nothing at all. Kheperren had gone back to his army, Mutnodjme had married the general, and I was at a loose end.

Sitamen’s steward came to me and dropped to one knee at my feet.

‘Rise,’ I said lazily.

‘Lord, a man who was a priest of Amen-Re has come and wishes to speak to you urgently. He is unarmed.’ She didn’t need to tell me that. The guards would never have allowed an armed man into Sitamen’s palace.

‘Bring him here, with some of the light beer and some bread,’ I ordered, and the steward went away, returning after an interval with a small girl carrying a tray and a young man whom I thought I recognised, though I could not place him. I had seen him a long time ago, that was plain. The face was associated with fear and darkness. I rubbed my eyes.

‘Lord Ptah-hotep, who was Great Royal Scribe, now scribe of the Royal Lady Sitamen, one who was once a priest of the god Amen-Re kneels to your honour,’ he said.

I still could not work out where I had seen him before. A thin