Sphinx's Princess (26 page)

“I’d rather be driving the chariot,” I said, in a bad mood because of my repeated failures with the bow.

“Wouldn’t you like to do both someday?” He gazed at me proudly. “I believe you could.”

What could I do after that but go back to wrestling with the bow? By the end of our time together that day, I’d gotten it to bend halfway, sending the arrow tumbling to the ground not far from my feet. Then Amenophis took some practice shots of his own. It was incredible how the bow changed him from an ill-assorted collection of knobby joints, spindly limbs, and bulging belly into a noble figure, fit to be included among the royal images at the great temple.

My arms were aching when I came back to my rooms that afternoon, but I didn’t mind. I found Berett beside the long pool, playing her harp for her own pleasure. I sat beside her, paddling my feet in the cool water, and said, “You’ll never guess what I did today.” She looked interested, so I told her all about it. We often had those one-sided conversations. I hoped that if I talked to her enough, the day would come when the countless silly, happy, pleasant, ordinary fragments of life
now
would beat back the past horror of her sister’s cruel death and let Berett speak once more. I ended my story as I always did, by asking, “And what did
you
do today, Berett?”

Usually all I got for an answer was a shrug, a smile, a few vague attempts at gestures that told me very little. Berett
would mimic the acts of wandering through the women’s quarters, of eating, of drinking, of writing. Sometimes, if she’d seen something remarkable, she’d draw a picture of it in the dirt for me.

This time, everything changed. Instead of her customary gestures, Berett got up, ran into our rooms, and came back with her practice tablet. She wrote out a few lines of clean, precise symbols, then handed it to me.

Now why didn’t we do this earlier
? I mused as I took the tablet from her and began to read:
My name is not Berett. I am Nava the Habiru. Thank you for being good to me. May the One bless you always. I love you very much
.

“Oh, Bere—Nava!” I cried, dropping the tablet and embracing her. “I love you very much, too.”

Even though Nava and I now had a better way of communicating with one another, I didn’t abandon my intention of getting her to talk again. What would help achieve that goal? What could have the power to draw her back into the world of voices? I kept my eyes open, eternally on the alert for some new trick to try.

I found one from an unexpected source: When the season of Harvest was nearly over, Thutmose came seeking me in the women’s quarters, his cat Ta-Miu in his arms.

“Nefertiti, I need you to look after Ta-Miu,” he said, putting the cat in my lap as I sat cross-legged in the shade, playing a game of Hounds and Jackals against myself.

“Well, since you ask so
nicely
,” I said. It was nearly a full year since I’d met Thutmose, and I no longer bothered to refrain from sarcasm when he annoyed me with his highhanded
ways. And why should I hold anything back? Nothing I said or did made any impression on him.

“I’m serious,” he said. “I have important things to do today and I can’t bring her with me.”

“She’s a
cat
,” I said, as if speaking to an infant. “She’ll be happy roaming the palace until you return.”

“If she wanders free, she’ll be caught. I can’t stand the thought of that happening again.”

“Again? You mean that time your mother used Ta-Miu to make you court me?” He nodded. “Why would she want to do that again?”

“Because
you
are a stubborn donkey.” Thutmose’s fear for his beloved cat flared up against me. “You know that you’ll have to marry me one day, but you insist on putting it off, making Mother angry, making her blame
me
when it’s all your fault! We haven’t spent any time together all this season except for when we have to share meals with the family, and she’s noticed.”

“I’ve—I’ve been busy,” I said, praying that he wouldn’t care enough about me to demand details.

“
You
?” His scorn was poisonous. “Busy with what? Your mirror? Your little songs and dances? I’ve been busy, too, but my time’s been spent on
important
matters. When I am Pharaoh, I still won’t be safe from those who plot against me. I’ll need strong allies to guard my back from traitors. That’s why I’ve spent so much time with the priests of Amun. They have as much wealth and influence as Pharaoh himself; maybe more. I want that.”

“If they’re so strong, don’t you think it’s foolish to give
them even more power?” I said. “Who’s going to rule this realm, Pharaoh or the Amun priests?”

He sneered at me. “Now you sound like Father. He’s tried to cut away some of their influence, and he’s had some success, but ultimately he’ll fail. No man can stand against the supreme god!”

“And you’re talking as if the priests
are
Amun and not just his servants,” I countered.

Thutmose shook his head. “I knew you couldn’t under stand. Try to grasp this instead—it’s simple enough: If my mother’s agents get their hands on Ta-Miu while I’m away, you and I are going to be spending a
lot
of time together, like before. Except this time, Mother might insist that we stay in each other’s company for as long as it takes to make you accept our marriage
now
.”

I put my arms around Ta-Miu protectively and kissed the white star that marked her brow. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”

Thutmose was amused. “That’s what I thought.”

I kept my word. There was no way I’d risk being shoved into a renewed “courtship” with him. Fortunately, Ta-Miu was willing to cooperate. The small, spotted cat was very affectionate, soaking up head scratchings and belly rubs like dry earth at the Inundation. She even let me tap her gold ear hoops with my fingertip as long as I atoned for my impudence by feeding her. I sent Kepi to fetch meat from the kitchens and was just giving Ta-Miu the last bite of a baked fish when Berett—I mean
Nava
—came in.

Those two took an immediate interest in one another. Nava awakened the kitten in Ta-Miu, and soon Thutmose’s
cat was bounding all over our rooms, chasing the supple branch Nava had plucked from one of the trees outside. When Thutmose returned to claim his pet, Nava’s sorrow was real.

“You know, if you ever need to leave Ta-Miu again, I’ll be happy to help you,” I told him.

He gave me a mistrustful look. “Why?”

“One, she was no trouble. Two, I like to watch her play. And three, we both know
why
no one else will guard her as faithfully as I will.” I crossed my arms, challenging him to argue that last point.

He couldn’t, and so Nava’s heart was gladdened nearly every day when Thutmose gave us Ta-Miu and went off to his strange business with the priests of Amun.

Now that the cat was a frequent visitor, I decided to try to use her as a means to coax Nava out of her silence. The child had gone almost a full year without speaking. I thought that was long enough. As we sat together one afternoon, I casually said, “Ta-Miu is such a pretty cat, but do you think she’s smart?”

Nava stopped feeding the cat—she was
always
feeding the cat, who was beginning to look like a fur-covered cheese ball—and nodded emphatically.

“Really?” I acted surprised. “But … how do you know? They’re sacred animals, yes, but so are some fish, and how smart are they? A dog will come when you call him, do what you tell him to do, answer to his name. It’s why we
do
give dogs special names, but not cats. They’re all called ‘cat’ or ‘she-cat,’ because it’s a waste of time naming a creature that doesn’t come when you call it. I knew at least twenty Mius
and Ta-Mius back in Akhmin, and not one of them understood a single word you said to them.”

Nava glared at me and shook her head again, with more vigor. Then she looked left and right, on the hunt for something.

“You don’t have to fetch your practice tablet, dear one,” I said mildly. “You could fill line after line with your opinions and I still wouldn’t be convinced. It will take proof I can see and hear to make me believe Ta-Miu is as smart as you think.” With that, I left the two of them alone in the safety of our rooms. I didn’t know if I’d succeeded in using Nava’s devotion to Ta-Miu to plant a good seed or a speck of dust. I hoped I’d stirred her up enough so that she’d find her voice again, if only to call out a cat’s name and show me I was wrong.

I made a lot of noise as I left, then stole back to our doorway to eavesdrop, silently praying that there would soon be something to overhear. The day was warm and still, with most of the inhabitants of the women’s quarters taking their midafternoon sleep. A child’s fretful cry drifted across the garden and was soon hushed. Ta-Miu’s purr from inside my apartments was loud.

Then I heard something else come from that room. Faint, tremulous, and hoarse, it was the tentative sound of someone clearing her throat. I held my breath, closed my eyes, and prayed.

“There you are!” Thutmose’s voice boomed in my ears, drowning all other sounds. He grabbed me by the shoulders from behind, spun me around, and pushed my back against the wall. His jaw was clenched, his face bloodless with rage.
“Traitor,” he rasped. The fingers of one hand dug painfully deep into my arm, the other shook a piece of broken pottery under my nose. I glimpsed a thread of writing, but I could only catch sight of a few of the words—“… meet me again …”

“Let me go,” I growled, giving Thutmose scowl for scowl. His grip didn’t slacken. “I said, let me
go
!” I shouted, and kicked his leg as hard as I could. My own legs were strong from many years of dance and from learning how to stand solidly balanced in a moving chariot. My heel struck his knee with all the force in me. He howled in pain and let me go.

“Don’t
ever
touch me again!” I shouted.

“You dare to tell
me
—?” Thutmose gasped, indignation overcoming pain. “After what you’ve been doing? I ought to—”

“Be quiet,” I said, dropping my voice abruptly. I held up a warning hand, laid one finger to my lips, and looked at Thutmose meaningly. “Listen.” My skin was prickling; I felt a host of curious eyes peering at the scene the two of us were making. The midday peace of the women’s quarters had become a low hum of many voices, a windstorm of whispers.

He looked around. Though no one else was in sight, he, too, could sense the hidden watchers. “In there,” he snarled, and dragged me into my own rooms before I could stop him from laying hands on me a second time.

We stood facing each other in the outer chamber. Nava and Ta-Miu were nowhere to be seen. They’d remained in the inner room, and after hearing Thutmose’s outburst—
the blessed dead could have heard that!—the two of them were probably hiding under my bed. I folded my arms. “Well done, Thutmose,” I said. “You just made a fool of yourself in front of all of your father’s women. And over nothing.”

“
This
is not nothing.” He waved the shard. “I caught my miserable brother in the act of writing this. The palace teems with people continually conspiring to rob me of what’s mine, rightfully
mine
, and Amenophis knows it. It’s been that way since I was born. Why must he be like them? Why is he trying to steal you away from me?”

“And why are you making me sound like a pair of earrings or a box of incense or—or a slave?” I returned. “I can’t be owned or given or stolen. Even if I could, your brother would never—”

“Don’t try denying that this is meant for you. Your name is here for anyone to read.” He threw the pottery fragment in my face.

I snatched it from the air before it could hit me. “Did you bother to read the whole message?” I said. “That’s no love note. Amenophis and I are friends, friends,
friends!
He helps me spend my days in this place happily, seeing new sights, learning interesting things, opening doors for me when everyone else keeps trying to seal me up behind stone walls! He
talks
to me.”

Thutmose’s upper lip curled. “He would. He’s got nothing better to do with his time, and he’s so soft, he might as well have been born a girl. What delightful times the two of you must spend, gossiping, dabbling with perfumes, trying on each other’s jewelry! Don’t let him wear anything too
heavy, Nefertiti, none of the big pectoral necklaces, no thick gold bracelets. The weight would snap his flimsy bones.”

The same flimsy bones that master a team of spirited chariot steeds
? I thought, fuming.
The flimsy bones that can bend a strong bow and send an arrow through the heart of a distant target
? I wanted to shout those words at Thutmose but thought better of it.
If I lie down with pigs, I’ll get up covered in the same muck as they. I won’t let his cruel words turn me into someone just as cruel
.

“You don’t know your brother very well,” was all I chose to say.

“I don’t want to. He’s useless to me. No, he’s even worse than that for stealing your attention from me.”

“My
attention
? ”I was flabbergasted. “If you wanted that, why did you leave me alone except when your mother forced you to keep me company?”

“
Pffff!
My brother’s given you a false idea of your own importance. You are a beauty, Nefertiti, and it will do me good to have someone as lovely as you for my Great Royal Wife, when the time comes. Meanwhile, it will please Father and keep his favor with me. But you’re the one who’s got the most to gain from this marriage. Marrying me will make you
somebody
. You’re the one who should be courting
me
.”

I was so angry by this point that I could feel hot tears rising.
I won’t let him see me cry
, I thought, clenching my fists.
But O sweet Isis, what I really want to do is kick him again, and I can’t—I
shouldn’t
do that
. With intense restraint, I answered him: “I see. So I have no one to blame but myself for my past loneliness?”

He smiled. “Well! So you
are
a smart girl. Maybe we can make a fresh start. I’ll make sure that Amenophis doesn’t take up any more of your time, and you can turn your attention to better things. You know, if you’re so terribly bored, all you have to do is agree to marry me immediately. Once you become the crown princess, you’ll have plenty of new duties to fill your time, and if you’re a
good
wife and give me a son as soon as possible, I’ll see to it that you get a nice present.”