House of Illusions (27 page)

“There is no time for that!” Kamen said impatiently. “We must find another hiding place and do it immediately. And you, Takhuru. What are we going to do with you? If the daughter of such an illustrious house goes missing, Egypt will echo from one end to the other with the furore!”

“That might not be so bad,” the girl mused. “The greater the uproar the more difficult it will be for the General to quietly dispose of us. Already the situation is getting out of hand. First he plans the nice neat assassination of two anonymous people far from the seat of power. But that fails. The two victims are now right in the middle of a city teeming with life night and day. And to make matters worse, he must add a third, the daughter of a very prominent family who will not disappear without a palace investigation. Perhaps he will throw up his hands and relinquish the whole scheme.”

“If Hui knew, he would forbid the murder of Takhuru,” Thu said. “I know him better than any of you save Kaha. He is cold and manipulative but he is not wantonly cruel.”

There was a thoughtful silence in which I became aware of the not unpleasant heat of full noon invading the room and the intermittent sounds of the routine of the house going on below us. Thu’s mild taunt to me rankled, and as I sipped my wine I considered what I should do. I had not looked past my duty to salve my conscience by warning her and Kamen of their danger, but it was not going to be enough. I must purge away my old self completely, repudiate Hui and everything he had meant to me. The conviction that such a thing had to be done brought a pang of homesickness to me, but I reminded myself that Hui worked by deliberately cultivating just such a dependency. The wine filling my mouth tasted like old blood and I swallowed it with an effort and put down my cup.

“I see it thus,” I said. “Lady Takhuru, it is necessary for you to collect your things and move to Kamen’s house for a while. I was going to suggest that you hide on Men’s estate in the Fayum but I do not think that Kamen would allow you out of his sight and his protection.” Kamen, eyebrows raised at my words, nodded briefly.

“Go on, Kaha,” he prompted.

“You and I, Kamen, will tell your father everything, and ask him to beg an audience of the Prince. It is no use trying to see Pharaoh. He is ill and the affairs of government are now mostly in the hands of his Heir. If Men accepts our story, we will tell Nesiamun where his daughter is and why she is with Kamen. The Prince may refuse audience to Men but he would see one of his most influential nobles without demur.”

“What reason will you offer for disturbing the Prince?” Thu asked sharply and I smiled.

“The kidnapping of the daughter of the Overseer of the Faience Factories,” I replied. “Takhuru is right. Such an act would impel the involvement of the palace soldiery.” I turned to Thu. “Nowhere is safe for you,” I told her. “The only place you can hide is deep within the bowels of the city. Kamen, do you trust Akhebset?”

“Yes, but I do not like the direction you are heading, Kaha,” he said. “I will not abandon my mother to the vagaries of life on the streets of Pi-Ramses.” Thu put a hand to his cheek and patted him gently.

“This is no time for sentiment,” she chided him. “Do not make the mistake of building fond fantasies around me, Kamen. After all, I survived the hazardous maze of the harem. The alleys of Pi-Ramses pose no great threat to me.” She met my eyes, and in that moment the relationship that had bound us years ago was reborn, an affection and mutual respect older than any other in this room. We had our own history. “You intend to set me loose in the city and use Kamen’s friend as a go-between,” she stated. “Good, Kaha. Very good. I never did have a chance to investigate the brothels and beer houses of Pi-Ramses.” She put up a hand to forestall Kamen’s angry protest. “It will be easier for me to evade the General’s hunters,” she said emphatically. “Do not waste your concern on me. Concentrate on your betrothed.” Takhuru slid from the couch and approached Thu, her eyes sparkling.

“I want to go with you, Thu,” she said. “I too have never had the opportunity to explore the city.” At that Kamen exploded.

“Absolutely not!” he shouted. “I have told you before, Takhuru, this is not some game of invented adventure. Now do as I say! Pack up the things you will need and we will leave.” Takhuru flushed. Her chin rose and she met his angry gaze, but hers was the first to drop.

“I do not know how to pack,” she objected sulkily, and Thu moved forward.

“I do, my Lady,” she said kindly, but there was a quiver of mirth in her voice. The two women disappeared into the other room, and Kamen and I looked at each other.

“It might work, Kaha,” Kamen said in a half-murmur. “And if it does not, we will have to deal with Paiis and Hui by ourselves.” There was a hard glint in his eyes that came from Thu herself.

“We must hurry,” I said aloud. “We must leave this house while everyone is enjoying the noon sleep.” There was nothing more to add and we waited resignedly for the women to emerge.

Thu had divested herself of everything that could betray her as a member of Nesiamun’s staff. Gone were the sandals, the yellow sheath and ribbon, the copper armband. She was barefoot and clad in coarse, calf-length linen. It was Takhuru who now wore the livery of her father’s household. Behind her she dragged a large and bulky leather bag. Kamen picked it up and swung it onto his shoulder. “We will go down and leave by the servants’ entrance,” he said. “Mother, there is a beer house on the Street of Basket Sellers called the Golden Scorpion. Akhebset and I drink there often. Meet him there every third night for word from me.”

We stood ready to go, but all at once we were reluctant to move. Thu had folded her arms and was staring out the window. Takhuru was pulling at her unfamiliar sheath and Kamen, with pursed lips, gazed at the floor. I did not want to leave the quiet security of the room either, but each of us knew that its safety was spurious and its walls no protection against nightfall. At last Kamen looked up and was about to speak when a knock sounded on the door. “What is it?” Takhuru asked sharply.

“Your pardon, my Lady,” came the muffled reply. “Your father’s visitor has gone and your mother wishes you to know that the noon meal is prepared.”

“Tell her that I ate late this morning and I will see her after the sleep,” Takhuru called, and we heard footsteps receding along the passage. The girl smiled wanly. “I do not like the thought of worrying my mother,” she said. Kamen reached out and smoothed her hair.

“It will only be for one night,” he said with a trace of purely masculine impatience. “Would you rather stay here and risk being murdered in your bed?” Her eyes flared.

“I am not a fool to wish to spare my loved ones grief,” she snapped, and went to the door. Kamen murmured an apology and we followed her.

We left the house cautiously but without incident. Nesiamun and his wife were eating in the dining hall. As we crept down the stairs, we could hear their voices and the deferential answers of the servants who waited on them. The rest of the house seemed empty. The members of the household who were not needed had retired to their quarters to rest. The garden also was temporarily deserted, the gardeners’ tools lying beside the winding path. Takhuru led us to the enclosing wall of the estate, far to the rear, and crossing just out of sight of the servants’ domain, we came by a circuitous route to the servants’ entrance far beyond the main gates. It was guarded but the lone soldier on duty waved us through sleepily without more than a cursory bow.

We found ourselves on the path beside the water. At once we set off, walking in silence through the drowsy hour when occupations were laid aside, until we came to Men’s gate. Here, in the shade of his wall, we halted. Thu embraced Kamen, holding him tightly. “The guards on the Lake do not seem to care who leaves the precincts, only who comes in,” she commented as she let him go. “I will be able to go out without trouble. In three nights I will be at the Golden Scorpion. May Wepwawet open a way for us out of this predicament.” She did not linger. Turning on her heel she strode briskly away and Kamen sighed.

“That is how I first saw her,” he said. “Clad in rough linen with her feet bare. I pray I do not have to remember her that way. Well, let us go in.”

As at Nesiamun’s house we were careful not to be seen. It was vital that no servant spy us, at least until Men had returned, for although I knew all Men’s staff and they were loyal servants, a chance word to a questing ear could destroy us. Luckily no one had decided to work through the daily lull. Kamen escorted Takhuru through the somnolent house to his mother’s rooms and I went straight to Pa-Bast.

He was lying on his couch naked. He had unrolled the reed mat on his window so that the hectic brightness of the early afternoon could not disturb him and he was snoring gently as I moved through the dimness and shook him carefully. He came awake at once, struggling to a sitting position and running a hand over his cheek where the pillow had dented it. “Kaha,” he said thickly. “Is there a problem in the house?”

“No,” I answered. “But Kamen is here with Takhuru. He has put her in Shesira’s quarters. It will be impossible to keep this secret, so you must go down to the servants’ cells and impress on them the necessity for keeping their mouths shut. Lives depend on it, Pa-Bast.” He was wide awake now, and he fixed me with the penetrating stare that all Stewards seemed able to develop in their dealings with inferiors. But I was not an inferior. My place in the household was equal to his.

“Thank all the gods Kamen is safe,” he said. “You had better tell me everything. I suspected you knew more than you were prepared to disclose, but now I must ask you to confide in me if I am not to send to Nesiamun at once. I presume he does not know where Takhuru is.”

“No. I do not think he has discovered her disappearance yet but he will in a matter of hours. It is a long story, Pa-Bast. Will you swear to hear it to the end without anger?” He nodded.

“You have always had my respect, Kaha,” he said. “I will listen.”

So I told him everything, and by the time I had finished the hour of rest was over. He interrupted me with a few pointed questions but otherwise listened attentively, his face betraying nothing, hiding his reactions as a good Steward should. I fell silent. Presently he left the couch and began to gather up his clothes, the long, loose Stewards’ robe, the bracelet of his office, the red ribbon of Men’s house that went around his shaved skull. He dressed with an automatic precision. I could tell that his thoughts were far away. Then he said, “I know Harshira, the Seer’s Steward, very well. I know the General’s Steward also. Not the slightest whisper of any of this has come to me through them.”

“Of course not,” I retorted. “They are loyal servants of their masters. They do not gossip. Neither do you, Pa-Bast. But I tell you that I know Harshira better than you. I lived in his company for years. He lied for Hui and so did I. I beg you to give me the benefit of your doubts and reserve your judgement until the Master comes home tomorrow.” He finished tying on his sandals and stood for a moment looking at his small shrine to the Apis Bull, his totem. “I will swear by Thoth, the god who guides my life, that what I have told you is true. Speak to Kamen if you wish.”

“I shall,” he said heavily. “And I will do as you ask but only until the Master makes a judgement. Of course the Lady Takhuru must be chaperoned while she is here. Unfortunately the women’s body servants went to the Fayum with them. I shall summon one of the house servants to see to her needs.” He looked at me, frowning. “It is a terrible story, Kaha,” he commented. “Full of evil if it is true.” I breathed an inward sigh of relief. I had him.

“Thank you, Pa-Bast,” I said.

We parted, he to talk to Kamen and to warn the servants even now rising from their pallets and I to go to my room. I had little to do until the regular dispatches arrived in the morning when I would make sure that all correspondence was up to date in preparation for Men’s return, and I was profoundly glad. Shedding my clothes, I lay on my couch exhausted. I thought of Thu, surely mingling now with the crowds in the markets of the city. She would go unnoticed for some time. I would like to have known whether an official search for her was underway. If it was, then other soldiers besides those of Paiis’s would be hunting her. Where would she sleep? What would she eat? And what if all this was in vain? What if the gods had not relented towards her, if her years spent in expiation were not enough? It was said that if the gods cared nothing for you, they allowed you to live without consequences. Then surely they must care for Thu, who had suffered the consequence of her crime many times over. Did they care so much that they would allow her to die, struck down by an anonymous hand in some dark alley? Kaha you are imagining rubbish, I told myself sternly, and whispering a quick prayer to Thoth on behalf of all of us, I fell asleep.

I spent the long, anxious hours of the evening in Kamen’s room with Takhuru. Pa-Bast had assigned a shy house servant to wait on her. The girl was in awe of her illustrious charge, clumsy and apologetic, but to Takhuru’s credit she endured the fumbles with good humour. The Steward had given orders that Nesiamun’s daughter was to be accompanied at all times, so the three of us had no opportunity to talk about our private affairs.

A late meal was served in Kamen’s quarters. I was invited to join the two of them. The girl served her new mistress and having done so, mindful of the Steward’s admonition, she retired to a corner where she sat watching us, her eyes wide. Our conversation was fitful and innocuous. Depression gripped all of us and the room was often full of a gloomy silence in which Kamen and I stared into our wine cups and Takhuru fingered the playing pieces of the board game Pa-Bast had provided to amuse her. Kamen looked very tired. His eyes were shadowed and the skin around his mouth seemed pale. I had no doubt that his thoughts were on his mother as darkness fell.

I was descending the shadowy stairs on my way to my room when I saw Pa-Bast talking to a man in Nesiamun’s livery who was standing just inside the entrance. My heart stopped. Crossing the floor, I came up to them. A servant stood with them holding a lamp. They turned to me. “The Noble Nesiamun has sent to enquire into the whereabouts of his daughter,” Pa-Bast explained swiftly. His face was a mask of polite concern. “She has been missing since mid-afternoon. Seeing that the son of this house is also missing, the Noble Nesiamun asks first if we have any news of either of them and second that our Master see him as soon as possible after his return.” The servant’s hand trembled and the lamp’s flame flickered wildly. I shot him a warning glance.