'It is seven. Since last we met I have journeyed to strange lands.'
'Then there is much that I must tell you about what has befallen us in your absence. Sadly, very little is good.'
They settled down on cushions facing each other, and at the chamberlain's bidding a slave served them bowls of sherbet that had been cooled in earthenware jugs.
'Tell me first, how fares His Majesty?' Taita demanded anxiously.
“I fear you will be saddened when you see him. His cares weigh heavily upon him. Most of his days are spent in council with his ministers, the commanders of his army and the governors of all the nomes. He sends his envoys to every foreign country to buy grain and food to feed the starving population. He orders the digging of new wells to find sweet water to replace the foul red effluent of the river.' Ramram sighed and took a deep swig from his sherbet bowl.
'The Medes and Sumerians, the sea people, the Libyans and all our other enemies are aware of our plight,' he continued. 'They believe our fortunes are waning, and that we can no longer defend ourselves, so they muster their armies. As you know, our vassal states and satraps have always grudged the tribute they have been forced to pay Pharaoh.
Many see in our misfortunes an opportunity to break away from us, so they enter into treasonable alliances. A multitude of foes gathers at our borders. With our resources so grievously depleted, Pharaoh must still find men and stores to build up and reinforce his regiments. He stretches himself and his empire to breaking point.'
'Any lesser monarch could not have survived these tribulations,' Taita said.
'Nefer Seti is a great monarch. But he, like the rest of us lesser beings, is aware in his heart that the gods no longer smile upon Egypt. None of his efforts will succeed until he can regain their divine favour. He has ordered the priesthood in every temple throughout the land to render ceaseless prayer. He himself makes sacrifice three times a day. Although he has tried his own strength to its limit he spends half of each night, when he should be resting, in devout prayer and communion with his fellow deities.'
Tears filled the chamberlain's eyes. He wiped them away with a square of linen. 'This has been his life for the last seven years, during the failure of the mother river and the plagues that have beset us. It would have destroyed any lesser ruler. Nefer Seti is a god, but he has the heart and compassion of a man. It has changed and aged him.'
'I am indeed cast down by this news. But, tell me, how fares the queen and her children?'
'Here, too, the news is gloomy. The plagues have treated them unkindly. Queen Mintaka was struck down and lay for many weeks on
the verge of death. She has now recovered, but is still much weakened.
Not all of the royal children were so fortunate. Prince Khaba and his little sister Unas lie side by side in the royal mausoleum. The plague carried them away. The other children have survived, but—'
Ramram broke off as a slave entered, bowing respectfully, and whispered in the chamberlain's ear. Ramram nodded and waved him away, then turned back to Taita. 'The conclave has ended. I will go to Pharaoh and tell him of your arrival.' He hoisted himself to his feet and waddled to the back of the room. There, he touched a carved figure on the panel, which turned under his fingers. A section of the wall slid aside, and Ramram disappeared into the opening. He was not gone long before a shout of surprise and pleasure echoed from the corridor beyond the secret door. Immediately it was followed by rapid footsteps and there was another shout: 'Tata, where are you?' It was Pharaoh's nickname for him.
'Majesty, I am here.'
'You have neglected me too long,' Pharaoh accused him, as he burst through the doorway and paused to stare at Taita. 'Yes, it is truly you. I thought you might continue to flout my many summonings.'
Nefer Seti wore only open sandals below a linen skirt that covered his knees. His upper body was bare. His chest was broad and deep, his belly flat and rippling with muscle. His arms were sculpted by long practice with bow and sword. His torso was that of a warrior trained to perfection.
'Pharaoh. I salute you. I am your humble slave, as I have always been.'
Nefer Seti stepped forward and took him in a powerful embrace. 'No talk of slaves or slavery when teacher and pupil come together,' he declared. 'My heart overflows with joy to see you again.' He held him at arm's length and studied his face. 'By the grace of Horus, you have not aged a single day.'
'Nor have you, Majesty.' His tone was sincere, and Nefer Seti laughed.
'Although it is a lie, I accept your flattery as kindness to an old friend.'
Nefer had set aside his formal horsehair wig, and his skin was devoid of paint, so Taita was able to study his features. Nefer's close-cropped hair was grizzled, and the crown of his skull was bald. His face was etched with the passage of time: there were deep lines at the corners of his mouth, and a cobweb of wrinkles surrounded his dark eyes, which were weary. His cheeks were hollow, and his skin had an unhealthy pallor.
Taita blinked once and opened the Inner Eye; with relief he saw that Pharaoh's aura burned strongly, which betokened a brave heart and an undiminished spirit.
How old is he? Taita tried to remember. He was twelve when his father was killed, so now he must be forty-nine. The realization jolted him. An ordinary man was considered old at forty-five, and was usually dead before fifty. Ramram had told him the truth: Pharaoh was much changed.
'Has Ramram arranged lodgings for you?' Nefer Seti demanded, and looked at his chamberlain sternly over Taita's shoulder.
'I thought to allocate him one of the suites for the foreign ambassadors,'
Ramram suggested.
'By no means. Taita is not a foreigner,' Nefer Seti snapped, and Taita sensed that his formerly even temper had quickened and was now more readily aroused. 'He must be lodged in the guard room at the door to my bedchamber. I want to be able to call upon him for counsel and discussion at any hour of the night.' He turned back to face Taita squarely. 'Now I must leave you. I am meeting with the Babylonian ambassador. His countrymen have tripled the price of the grain they sell us. Ramram will apprise you of all the most important matters of state.
I expect to be free by midnight, and I will send for you then. You must share my dinner, though I fear you might not find it to your taste. On my orders the court enjoys the same rations as the rest of the populace.'
Nefer Seti turned back to the secret doorway.
'Majesty.' Taita's tone was urgent. Nefer Seti looked back over one broad shoulder, and Taita hurried on, 'I am in company with a great and learned magus.'
'Not as powerful as you.' Nefer Seti smiled affectionately.
'Indeed, I am a child beside him. He comes to Karnak to offer aid and succour to you and your kingdom.'
'Where is this paragon now?'
'He is encamped without the city gates. Despite his learning, he is immensely aged, and feeble in body. I need to be near him.'
'Ramram, find comfortable quarters for the foreign magus in this wing of the palace.'
'Meren Cambyses is still with me as my companion and protector. 1 would be grateful to have him close at hand.'
'Sweet Horus, it seems I must share you with half the earth.' Nefer Seti laughed. 'But I am delighted to hear that Meren is well, and that I am to have the pleasure of his company. Ramram will find him a place.
Now 1 must leave you.'
'Pharaoh, one more instant of your gracious presence,' Taita cut in, before he could disappear.
'You have been here but a moment, and already you have wrung fifty favours from me. Your powers of persuasion are undimmed. What is it you still need?'
'Your permission to cross the river and pay my respects to Queen Mintaka.'
'If I refused, I would place myself in an invidious position. My queen has not lost her fire. She would treat me mercilessly.' He laughed with real affection for his wife. 'Go to her, by all means, but return here before midnight.'
A soon as Demeter was safely ensconced in the palace Taita summoned two of the royal physicians to attend him, then called Meren aside. 'I expect to return before nightfall,' he told him.
'Guard him well.'
'I should go with you, Magus. In this time of want and starvation even honest men turn in despair to brigandry to feed their families.'
'Ramram has given me an escort of guardsmen.'
It seemed strange to mount a horse, rather than a boat, to cross a river like the Nile. From the back of Windsmoke, Taita gazed towards the Palace of Memnon on the west bank and saw that many well-trodden paths led through the mudbanks between the turbid pools. They rode out along one. A monstrous toad hopped across the path in front of Taita's mare.
'Kill it!' the sergeant of the escorts snapped. A soldier couched his spear and rode down on the toad. Like a wild boar at bay, it turned ferociously to defend itself. The soldier leant forward and drove the point of his spear deep into its pulsating yellow throat. In its death throes the hideous creature clamped its jaws on the spear's shaft so the soldier had to drag it along behind his horse until it released its grip and he could pull his weapon free. He fell in beside Taita and showed him the shaft: the toad's fangs had scored the hard wood deeply.
'They are savage as wolves,' said Habari, the sergeant of the guard, a lean and scarred old warrior. 'When they first appeared, Pharaoh ordered two regiments to scour the riverbed and wipe them out. We slew them in their hundreds and then in their thousands. We piled their carcasses into windrows, but for every one we killed it seemed that another two rose from the mud to replace them. Even great Pharaoh realized that he had set us a hopeless task and now he orders that we must keep them
confined to the riverbed. At times they swarm out and we must attack them again,' Habari went on. 'In their own foul manner they serve some useful purpose. They devour all the filth and carrion that is thrown into the river. The people lack the strength and energy to dig decent graves for the victims of the plague and the toads have assumed the role of undertakers.'
The horses plunged through the red slime and mud of one of the shallow pools and rode up the west bank. As soon as they came in sight of the palace the doors swung open and the gatekeeper came out to meet them.
'Hail, mighty Magus!' He saluted Taita. 'Her Majesty has word of your arrival in Thebes, and sends joyous greeting to you. She waits eagerly to welcome you.' He pointed to the palace gates. Taita looked up and saw tiny figures on top of the wall. They were women and children and Taita was uncertain which was the queen, until she waved to him. He pushed the mare, and she jumped forward and carried him through the open gates.
As he dismounted in the courtyard, Mintaka raced down the stone staircase with the grace of a girl. She had always been an athlete, a skilled charioteer and an intrepid huntress. He was delighted to see her still so lithe, until she reached up to embrace him and he saw how thin she had become. Her arms were like sticks, her features drawn and pale.
Although she smiled, her dark eyes were haunted by sorrow.
'Oh, Taita, I do not know how we have done without you,' she told him, and buried her face in his beard. He stroked her head, and at his touch her gaiety evaporated. Her whole body shook with sobs. 'I thought you would never return and that Nefer and 1 had lost you also, as we have lost Khaba and little Unas.'
“I have been told of your bereavement. 1 grieve with you,' Taita murmured.
'I try to be brave. So many mothers have suffered as I have. But it is bitter to have my babies taken from me so soon.' She stood back and tried to smile again, but her eyes were welling and her lips quivered.
'Come, 1 want you to meet the other children. Most of them you know.
Only the two youngest have never met you. They are waiting for you.'
They were lined up in two ranks. The boys in front, the princesses behind them. All were stiff with awe and respect. The smallest girl was so overcome by the stories of the great magus her siblings had told her that she dissolved into tears as soon as he looked at her. Taita picked her up and held her head against his shoulder while he whispered to her.
She relaxed at once, sniffed back the tears and wrapped both arms round his neck.
'I would never have believed it if I did not remember the winning ways you have with children and animals.' Mintaka smiled at him, then called the others forward one at a time.
'I have never laid eyes on such beautiful children,' Taita told her, 'but, then, I am not surprised. They have you as their mother.'
At last Mintaka sent them away and took Taita's hand. She led him to her private apartments, where they sat beside the open window to catch the faint breeze and look out over the western hills. While she poured sherbet for him she said, 'I used to love to gaze out over the river, but no longer. The sight breaks my heart. Soon the waters will return, though. It has been prophesied.'
'By whom?' Taita asked idly, but his interest quickened when for answer she gave him a knowing, enigmatic smile, then turned the conversation to the happy times, not long past, when she was a beautiful young bride and the land was green and fruitful. Her mood lightened and she spoke animatedly. He waited for her to finish, knowing that she could not long resist returning to the mysterious prophecy.
Suddenly she dropped the reminiscences. 'Taita, do you know that our old gods have become feeble? They will soon be replaced by a new goddess with absolute power. She will restore the Nile, and rid us of the plagues that the old, effete gods have been unable to prevent.'
Taita listened respectfully. 'No, Majesty, this I did not know.'
'Oh, yes, it is certain.' Her pale features glowed with fresh colour and the years seemed to drop away. She was a girl again, suffused with joy and hope. 'But more, Taita, so much more.' She paused portentously, then went on in a rush of words, 'This goddess has the power to restore all that has been lost or taken cruelly from us, but only if we dedicate ourselves to her. If we render to her our hearts and souls, she can give back to us our youth. She can bring happiness to those who suffer and mourn. But, think on this, Taita - she even has the power to resurrect the dead.' Tears started in her eyes again, and she was so breathless with excitement that her voice shook as though she had run a long race: 'She can give me back my babies! I will be able to hold the warm, living bodies of Khaba and Unas in my arms and kiss their little faces.'
Taita could not bear to deprive her of the solace that this new hope gave her. 'These are matters almost too marvellous for us to comprehend,'
he said solemnlv.
'Yes, yes! It has to be explained to you by the prophet. Only then does it become clear as the brightest crystal. You cannot doubt it.'
'Who is this prophet?”
'His name is Soe.'
'Where is he to be found, Mintaka?' Taita asked.
She clapped her hands with excitement. 'Oh, Taita, this is the very best part of it,' she cried. 'He is here in my palace! I have given him sanctuary from the priests of the old gods, Osiris, Horus and Isis. They hate him for the truth he speaks. They have tried repeatedly to assassinate him. Every day he instructs me and those he chooses in the new religion.
It is such a beautiful faith, Taita, that even you will be unable to resist it, but it has to be learnt in secret. Egypt is still too steeped in the worthless old superstitions. They must be eradicated before the new religion can flourish. The common people are not yet ready to accept the goddess.'