Tiy and the Prince of Egypt (11 page)

The others followed along the base of the pyramid,
Merymose joking that the top of the pyramid was the other way. Although he was such a loyal friend to Amenhotep, and very kind most of the time, he irritated her at the moment.

“I know what I’m doing,
Merymose!” Tiy said. Once she reached the east corner she was almost twelve cubits from the ground, twice the distance she had reached when she tried going straight up. It took four times as long, but she didn’t care. Progress was progress.

Tiy turned
around to face the west corner again and worked her way across, gaining a little altitude with every step. She kept a strict eye on the smooth stones beneath her, basking in the shouts of encouragement coming from Amenhotep and Petep. Fifteen minutes later, once she reached the west corner again, she was at least twenty-five cubits off the ground.

Merymose threw up his arms. “Well,
obviously she isn’t going to fall anytime soon. I’m going up.” He took an extra large step up onto the pyramid and followed Tiy’s careful steps.

Ramose followed him,
but Amenhotep was faster and soon created a good distance between himself and the other boys. Petep was the only one to wait at the bottom, claiming she needed to pack their things for the return trip.

An hour later and a
quarter of the way up, the knot in Tiy’s scarf began to loosen under her chin, the wind blowing up underneath the soft linen and picking it up off her wig. She didn’t dare remove her hands from the pyramid to secure it, but feared that, at any moment, her yellow hair would be exposed. Only Amenhotep knew of her strange locks, and seemed to think nothing of them, but would the others still accept her? She had been so careful to keep her hair hidden since her arrival two years before, but with her hands balancing her every step, she feared she would lose precious control if she tried to tighten the scarf. She said a silent prayer to Shu that he wouldn’t blow her scarf off before she reached the top, hoping he wasn’t still angry at her for forgetting to offer obeisance during the sandstorm.

At the halfway point, S
hu ignored her pleas and blew her scarf into the heavens. Tiy gasped, almost losing her balance, and waited for the exclamations to sound from below. But for whatever reason, Shu had granted her a little dignity and her wig remained as snug as ever. She breathed a sigh of relief. She would earn more freckles than she cared to think about, and Kepi would have another hundred reasons to taunt her, but in that moment she didn’t care. Even halfway up Khufu’s pyramid she felt like the queen of the desert. How much more like a queen would she feel when she reached the top?

Tiy chanced a glance below
and her stomach clenched. Petep looked so small, the ground so far away. Panic spread up her spine until it wrapped its cold hands around her neck. What was she thinking, climbing up slick stone with nothing bare hands and feet? Her right foot slipped and Tiy slapped her hands against the pyramid. But that was not enough to stop her. Wet handprints showed dark against the stone as she began to slide. Pressing her body closer to the surface and spreading her arms and legs wide, she managed to keep from falling any more. Her fall only lasted for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough to send her heart careening to her feet.

“Having trouble?” Ramose
teased.

“No!” Tiy said, hoping he didn’t notice the tremble in her voice. “I’m just taking a break.”

Her heart beat against her chest, threatening to push her away from the stone.

“You don’t have to go all the way to the top,” Amenhotep said. He was ahead of Ramose, but still a good distance from her. “You’ve already made it much higher than Ramose ever dreamed of reaching.”

“I’m going to the top,” she practically growled. There was no way she was going to let Ramose see her give up. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the nauseating distance below her and pressed forward.

After
another two hours of climbing and well after she thought her limbs would turn into mud, Tiy saw sky in front of her rather than stone. Her heart quickened. She had reached the top.

Amenhotep was next to reach the top, then Ramose and finally, Merymose. Petep’s tiny voice cheered for them as she jumped up and down, her voice carrying surprisingly well for someone who looked like nothing more than a tiny bug at the bottom of a hill.

The top of the pyramid had erod
ed to a small flat surface big enough to fit the four of them if they sat back to back with their legs dangling down. North, south, east, west; they all had their direction to gaze toward. The sight was incredible.

Tiy faced west where the red sun slipped below the horizon. She could almost see the Semktet boat carrying Ra into the Underworld. A dazzling display of oranges and yellows trailed in its wake and melted into the black sand.

Although Amenhotep faced north, he watched the west as well, in reverent awe of the setting sun. None of them spoke as the yellows darkened into orange, the oranges into red and finally into the blackness of night. Thousands of glittering stars spread out above them like a thick blanket of twinkling lights.

Amen
hotep turned his head to whisper in her ear as if a voice much louder would shatter the wonder they felt being so close to the heavens.

“Look over there,” he said pointing to the sky. “Do you see those three bright stars in a line?”

“Yes.”

“Well, they aren’t in a perfect line, but they are three stars of the belt of Osiris, god of the Afterlife.”
Amenhotep pointed out the additional stars that made the shape of Osiris.

“Osiris is a companion to the sun god,” he continued in a whisper. “In his belt, there are two brighter stars in line with a smaller third star that is not quite in line with the others. Do you see?”

“Yes.”

“Now look at the pyramids. We are in the middle of three, two larger and a smaller one built not quite in line with the others.”

“Amazing,” Tiy said. “Do you think Khufu intended the pyramids to match the stars?”

“I believe so. See that long cluster of stars spreading across the sky?
That looks a lot like the Nile to me.”

Petep
screamed and Tiy’s hand shot to Amenhotep’s arm. “Get down here right now!” Tia shouted. “I swear I just saw the spirit of Khufu in full battle attire!”

Amenhotep
sighed. “I suppose we should rescue Petep from being courted by Pharaohs of the past.”

“Death by
deity isn’t such a bad way to go,” Tiy said with mock seriousness.

The four of them chuckled.

Petep screamed again and Merymose shifted. “You don’t think she really saw Khufu, do you?”

The wind wound its way through the four of them, whispering of Egypt’s past
. Tiy shuddered.

“Maybe we better go
down sooner rather than later,” Ramose said.

“How are we going to
do that without breaking our necks?” Tiy asked, peering down toward where the ground should be, her stomach churning. She saw blackness, nothing more.

Amenhotep cleared his throat. “I think if we lean on our backs and follow our feet, we should be
fine.”

“And we
should be able to control our speed if we keep our arms spread out,” Merymose added. “We probably shouldn’t go too fast or our sheaths will tear and our backs will look like raw meat.”

“Great.” Tiy mumbled.

“I’ll go first,” Ramose said glancing at Amenhotep. “If I have any problems, I’ll let you know.”

“We’ll be fine,” Amenhotep said. Tiy could almost hear
his eye-roll.

“We should have gone down when we could still
see,” Merymose said. “We’ll have no idea when to brace for the landing.”

“You aren’t helping,” Tiy said.

Merymose smirked. “We’ll probably break our legs. Or worse yet, snap our necks.”

“It’ll be fine, Tiy,” Amenhotep said. “Just keep your feet in front of you and you’ll be on the ground before you know it.”

“You might die, though,” Merymose said with a chuckle.

“Merymose,” Amenhotep said in a growl.

Ramose put his hands up to cup around his mouth. “I’m coming down Petep!”

A few second
s passed before she answered. “It’s about time!” she called.

Ramose took the plunge and slid
feet first. Tiy held her breath for several long, agonizing minutes of silence until he let out a loud whoop. “Prepare yourselves for the thrill of a lifetime!”

At the insistence
of Amenhotep, Merymose went next. When he called up with a hurrah, Amenhotep took hold of Tiy’s hand.

“Do you want to go together?” he asked.

Tiy shook her head. “No, I can do it.”

She scoo
ted closer to the edge and leaned back, losing her breath the moment she fell into darkness. She wanted to scream, but the wind pushed it back into her throat. With her feet firmly below her and her palms open on either side, she slowed herself and maintained a reasonable pace she could be comfortable with. She opened her eyes wide to take in the black emptiness all around her and found herself laughing with exhilarating terror as she plummeted into the unknown.

Not far into her de
scent, the wind rushed underneath her wig and sent it whirling into the darkness. Without thinking, Tiy reached out with both arms—one hand whipping across her chest to stretch with the other—and her body flipped onto her stomach. Panicked, Tiy kicked a leg behind the other, hoping to flip back over, but the only thing she accomplished was to turn her body clockwise so that she was sliding head-first to the bottom. She threw her hands over her head, terrified she would crash into the hard ground at any moment. Merymose was right—she would break her neck.

No longer able to
restrain her speed, she flew down the side of the pyramid like a bird falling from the sky, her eyes squeezed shut against the biting wind. Her linen kalasiris tore from the neckline to her waist and the stone grated against her skin like sandpaper. She reached out with her arms in quick, jerky motions, hoping to recreate the same motion that had gotten her into her predicament in the first place, but nothing worked. All because of her stupid, stupid wig. The air turned warm and she knew she was nearing the bottom. At any moment, her neck would snap.

In one last desperate attempt to right herself
—and save herself from becoming a heap of broken bones—she twisted her legs to the left and her arms out to the right. Her body twisted again, and although she was still sliding down on her stomach, she was feet first. A definite improvement.

She used her hands to slow her momentum,
pressing her palms against the smooth stone with all her strength. It worked enough so that when her feet hit the ground her legs buckled, but didn’t break. The air whooshed into her lungs for what felt like the first time in ten minutes, although it couldn’t have been more than one. She smiled, despite almost having lost her life. She knew that if she could do it again, she would. But without the wig.

Tiy
pushed onto to her knees and stretched to her full height. Her kalasiris was torn, but with a few tugs, twists and knots, she was able to remain decently covered and hide the sorest portions of her skin. Fortunately, her skin was still intact, even if it burned as if on fire.

“Tiy?” Petep called from the dark.

Tiy’s hands shot to her hair and she groaned. Her pale yellow hair cascaded down her back in waves of color so close to white that it shone like a beacon in the moon’s glow.

Amenhotep landed next to Tiy
in a crouch, his lean body as steady as a panther. He took one look at her bedraggled state and pulled a cloth from his tunic, wrapping it around her hair with a knowing smile.

“Thanks,” Tiy said.

“What are friends for?”

“Right.”
She could never have asked for a better one.

“What happened?”

While everyone mounted their camels, she whispered to him of the wind and what it did to her wig.

“It was probably Khufu trying to make us pay for desecr
ating his tomb,” Amenhotep said.

Tiy’s eyes widened. “No it wasn’t,” she whispered.

Amenhotep nodded gravely and then, catching her eye, he chuckled. “No, you just seem to be having a life-long disagreement with Shu. His winds are after you.”

Tiy’s eyes widened further. “No they aren’t.”

Amenhotep laughed louder, his shoulders shaking with mirth. “I’m beginning to think you’ll believe anything I tell you.”

Tiy crossed her arms across her chest and bit back
a smile. “I’m beginning to think you are a better liar than I first considered.”

Amenhotep nudged her shoulder. “You don’t mean that.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” Tiy smiled, nudging him back.

She sat
in front of him, both her legs to one side and her shoulder against his chest. They murmured back and forth to one another until the soft, rhythmic motion of the camel’s gait lulled them into silence. Tiy let her head drop to his shoulder and dozed in and out of sleep the rest of the way.

They reached the palace at sunrise,
where a team of soldiers awaited at the gates.

“Oh no,” Ramose said. “You’re in trouble now, Amenhotep.”

Amenhotep chuckled. “No more than you, Ramose.”

A
commander broke free from the others and rushed up to Amenhotep.

“Forgive me
, Prince Amenhotep. I have news from the front, but we had no idea where to find you.”

“What
is it?” Amenhotep asked. “Did you find the Nubian leader?”

The commander shook his head and bowed low. “
Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV has passed on to the Afterlife.”

Amenhotep stumbled back a step. “How? What happened?”

“A Nubian archer, Great One.”

Amenhotep swallowed and after several long moments of silence he spoke with authority. “A
proclamation should be sent to my people. It must declare that Pharaoh’s Ka left his body naturally, from old age.”

The commander paused.

“We don’t need to cause alarm,” Amenhotep said. “This is essential. The people cannot know the rebels killed Pharaoh.”

The commander nodded. “I’ll inform the scribe.”

Amenhotep stared at the ground. “Yes, do that.”

Tiy placed her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry, Amenhotep.”

Amenhotep looked at her. “I…I need to go,” he said. He ran across the courtyard and disappeared into a dark corridor.

Tiy looked at the others, knowing their shock mirrored her own. What would Egypt do without her king?
Tiy swallowed. Amenhotep was Egypt’s last hope.