Lady of the Two Lands Page 14

  Hattie winced as she watched him move painfully to her side, but she kept her voice light. “Aye, I see. Soon you will be hauling enormous limestone blocks to my mortuary temple on your back! I have no doubt.” She smiled. “Come, we shall walk side by side.”

  They moved through the halls together, Hattie clasping Senemut’s arm protectively and looking everyone they passed in the eye. After a surprised glance or gasp, all averted their eyes and bowed, from the servants to the most exalted noble.

  Let them stare! she thought. I will not let them intimidate me any longer. I am pharaoh, for good or ill, and I must behave so.

  After a time she relaxed, enjoying the color returning to Senemut’s cheeks and the life to his step.

  As they approached the throne room, Hattie heard the sound of running feet behind them. A messenger appeared and flung himself at her feet, panting and sweating. “They have returned, Majesty,” he gasped, and thrust a papyrus scroll at her.

  “Thank you.” She took the scroll, but paused before reading it. “It looks as if you have traveled a great distance. You may go to the palace kitchen and have the cooks feed you before you return to your post.”

  “I give you my thanks, Noble One,” the messenger said, then turned and scurried away in the direction of the kitchen.

  Hattie unrolled the scroll and scrutinized it. “Oh, Senemut!” she cried. “The expedition to Punt has returned safely. They will arrive in Thebes within the hour! Come…I must dress and make ready to receive them.”

  Senemut grinned. “I confess I am surprised they have returned. I should have trusted in you. You knew they would come back, did you not?” He straightened and started back in the direction of her rooms. “Come! We must hasten!”

  Laughing, they hurried down the hall together, arm-in-arm.

  Nesi worked her usual magic with Hattie’s clothing and hair, and in less than an hour she and Senemut were in the throne room, ready to receive Chancellor Neshi. The room was crowded with nobles and priests, all eager to hear about the fabled land, and a festive air was evident. Servants moved through the crowd, dispensing goblets of wine and beer. Senemut stood behind Hattie’s throne. She had tried to convince him to sit at her side, but to no avail.

  “It is not suitable,” was all he said.

  She resolved to keep a close eye on him and if he looked tired, she would put a quick end to the audience.

  Chancellor Neshi was announced. He strode into the room looking tired but sun-browned and fit, dressed in a clean white kilt, sandals and curled black wig. “Divine Majesty,” he said, bowing low.

  “Chancellor Neshi.” Hattie inclined her head, then pointed to a stool at the foot of the dais. “Please be seated. You have had a long journey, and we wish to hear every detail!”

  Neshi seated himself. “Thank you, Majesty. The journey was indeed long, but without peril—beyond the usual dangers of seasickness, spoiled food, confinement and boredom. We fell to our knees and praised Amun when we arrived safely and moored at Punt, Land of the God.”

  “Amun be praised,” Hattie murmured in return.

  “After mooring, we unloaded our trade goods onto small boats and made for the shore. There we found a small village and it was the most wondrous thing I have seen!” Neshi smiled broadly and gestured. “It was located in a crowd of immense trees that seemed to reach up to touch the sky. There were ebony, palm, and the sacred incense trees, and others I could not distinguish. I have never seen so many trees all in one place!”

  Hattie wasn’t surprised. There were few trees in the desert country of Egypt, where rain was scarce and water was in short supply.

  “The dwellings of the villagers were shaped like beehives and set high on poles,” Neshi continued. “They climb ladders to enter their homes each night. Defense is quite easy. All they do is pull up the ladders, and their homes are near impregnable. Playing in the trees surrounding the village were monkeys of every shape and size, while through the trees roamed animals of the most bizarre variety. We have brought some home for Your Majesty.”

  A ripple of wonder drifted through the crowd, and Hattie held up her hand for silence. “Please continue. Did you meet with the inhabitants of the village?”

  “Aye, Majesty. I entered the village carrying my staff of office, accompanied by eight of our soldiers and their captain. We made an impressive display, I believe, since the villagers fled at the sight of us.” He grinned. “But before long we were able to convince them of our peaceful intentions, and we were greeted by the King of Punt, one Parihu by name.”

  “Was he friendly? Did he wish to trade with Egypt?” Hattie asked.

  “He was most anxious to do so,” Neshi assured her.

  His prompt cooperation was no doubt due to the numerous axes, spears and soldiers accompanying Neshi, Hattie thought, but said nothing.

  “He had fine features, but masked them with a long beard.” Neshi shuddered. All Egyptian men prided themselves on being clean-shaven. “He wore numerous gold rings on his left leg, from ankle to thigh, and a dagger in his belt. We were also greeted by Queen Ati. Highness, I know not if I can do justice to a description of the queen. She was of normal height, but of enormous girth.” He spread his hands wide to indicate a grotesquely obese person. “Her costume was of the finest sheer fabric, which revealed and emphasized her unusual size. A small donkey carried her everywhere, as she was much too heavy to walk.” Neshi shrugged. “She was judged to be most beautiful in the eyes of her subjects.”

  Laughter wafted through the room, and even Hattie found it difficult to keep a smile from her lips. In Egypt, slender and trim forms were considered the height of beauty and were practical as well in a country of such great heat. No doubt the Egyptian soldiers had never seen a person of Queen Ati’s statuesque proportions before.

  “We presented to His Majesty King Parihu beads, bracelets, axes, daggers, fine Egyptian linen, bronze and copper mirrors, bread, fruit, and casks of wine and beer,” Neshi continued. “He, in turn, sent out a group of his best guides to lead our soldiers into the interior of Punt, to collect ebony and incense trees for Amun’s temple.

  “These and many other wonders we have brought back with us, for the glory of Amun and Your Majesty Maatkare.” Neshi inclined his head to Hattie and she nodded. “Before we set sail home for Egypt, laden with the goods of Punt, we erected on the shore a fine granite statue of Your Majesty and your sacred father Amun, which will be worshiped by all the land. We journeyed north by sea in our treasure-laden ships to the port of Quseir, dismantled and carried the ships and cargo across the desert to the Nile at Coptos, then returned by sail to Thebes.”

  Hattie stood. “Chancellor Neshi, you have completed a most remarkable and difficult task, and surely won the favor of Amun as well as my praise and thanks. Never has any ruler been presented with such a bounty.” She stripped a gold bracelet from each arm and held them out to him. “Please take these, as the first token of my gratitude. Be assured, there will be more.”

  Neshi went down on one knee to accept the bracelets. “Many thanks for your gift and your favor, Divine One. I live to serve you!” He rose and bowed. “Will Your Majesty accompany me now to the wharfs, so you may see for yourself all we have brought?”

  “Of course!” Hattie turned to Senemut and eyed him appraisingly. He was still a bit pale, but he grinned at her, obviously savoring her triumph. “Come,” she said, and held out her hand to him. “We will accompany Chancellor Neshi to the wharf.”

  She grasped Senemut’s arm and they passed out of the throne room together in Neshi’s wake.

  * * *

  Hattie, Senemut, and Neshi stood together on the wharf under a hastily erected canopy that provided some small relief from the stifling heat. Hattie had tried to convince Senemut to sit, but he refused to do so unless she sat as well, and Hattie was too excited to sit. The ships, riding low in the water from their enormous cargo of wealth from Punt, were being unloaded and the goods paraded along the street in the dire
ction of the temple of Amun, where Hapuseneb waited to receive them and dedicate the finest of the items for the use of Amun. Crowds of onlookers jostled each other for position along the street and wharf to see the bounty that Amun’s representatives had claimed in his name and the name of Hatshepsut and Egypt.

  Hattie remembered the excitement she’d felt as a child, waiting for the Fourth of July parade to begin. She felt the same thrill now, anxious to see what Neshi and his ships had brought back from Punt.

  First to be unloaded were the sacred incense trees. Sailors struggled to carry the frankincense and myrrh trees, each planted in a basket and hung in a canvas sling between two long carrying poles. Some of them would be planted at the temple of Amun, while others would grace Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple, Djeser-Djeseru, still under construction under the cliffs across the river from Thebes.

  Next came men carrying long planks of ebony and cedar wood, boomerangs the Puntites used to hunt, enormous ivory elephant tusks, gold both in nugget form and in jewelry, containers filled with precious ointments, and blocks of resin. The resin and ointments, Senemut explained at Hattie’s look of puzzlement, were used in the mummification process.

  Then a group of sailors maneuvered a herd of small, short-horned cattle down the gangplank and into the street. For a moment, chaos reigned as the cattle bellowed and charged this way and that, confused by the milling crowds of people, the noise and unfamiliar sights and scents. At last the sweating, cursing sailors got them under control and drove them down the street in the direction of the temple.

  Next out of the ship was a huge gray ape, the sacred animal of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. The ape wore a golden collar and leather leash and followed his single sailor guide meekly enough, though he bared his teeth at those onlookers who ventured too close, causing ripples of panic in the crowd.

  “Oh, Senemut,” Hattie said. “It is like a circus parade! What a wonderful sight.”

  “What is a circus, Majesty?” Senemut asked, frowning.

  “It is held in a tent…there are many strange animals and performers…food is sold and parents bring their children to see…” She waved her arms helplessly. “I cannot describe it better. It is like a festival, I suppose.”

  Senemut nodded, then directed her attention back to the ships, his eyes wide. “Look! What is that animal they bring out now?”

  Hattie clapped her hands. “It is a giraffe! Oh, Senemut, there are two of them! Are they not the loveliest creatures you have ever seen?”

  “Lovely would not be my description,” he retorted, one eyebrow raised. “They are most ungainly creatures. How does the food they eat manage to travel down that long neck and reach the stomach before they perish of hunger? And how do they reach the water when they are thirsty?”

  “They must spread their legs and bow in a most clumsy manner to drink,” she explained. “I have seen them do this in a zoo—”

  “Zoo?” Neshi interrupted. “What is a zoo, Majesty?”

  “A place where exotic animals are kept in cages so people may see them…” She stopped short at the blank looks on Neshi’s and Senemut’s faces. “Ai, never mind.” She waved her hand to dismiss the idea and turned back to the ships. “Look, Senemut, it is a rhinoceros!”

  He shook his head. “Another fanciful creature I would not have believed in had you described it to me. I suppose you have seen one of these also, in your zoo?”

  Hattie nodded. “As I recall, visitors to the zoo had to stay well back from the wall around the rhinoceros’s enclosure. It seems they tend to…ah…” She blushed. “They urinate to mark their territory, and they liked to do so in the direction of the wall.”

  Neshi grinned. “Then mayhap that explains the haste the people are making to remove themselves from the vicinity of the creature.” He gestured toward the street leading to the temple, and indeed, Hattie saw a wave of movement away from the street as the rhinoceros was led through the crowd.

  Next came bales of panther and leopard skins, followed quickly by a snarling black panther led by several very nervous-looking sailors, each holding a leather leash fastened to a gold collar around the animal’s neck. The panther’s sleek dark fur shone in the hot , and his sharp fangs gleamed. The crowd fell back in earnest at his approach and he was dragged, growling and protesting, toward the temple.

  A troop of chattering, shrieking monkeys emerged from the hold of one of the ships and they, too, were safely herded in the direction of the temple at the end of long leashes. A wave of childish laughter followed in their wake.

  “I confess I am glad to see the last of those creatures,” Neshi said. “They are like an undisciplined bunch of children given free rein to run about and behave as they choose. I look forward to my first good sleep tonight, without the sounds of their mayhem to wake me!” He sighed in exaggerated relief, and Senemut laughed.

  Last to emerge was a straggly, weary group of seven male Puntites. “Oh, Neshi,” Hattie cried. “Who are they?”

  “They are the emissaries of the King of Punt, sent to greet you in his name, Majesty,” Neshi replied.

  “Why did you not let them disembark first? It must be blisteringly hot on those ships.”

  “Majesty, the goods dedicated to the service of Amun take precedence over the comfort of foreigners,” he replied, looking surprised.

  Hattie shook her head but declined to engage in any further useless discussion. She clapped her hands, and a servant appeared almost at once. “See to it that my guests—” She gestured at the ambassadors. “—are escorted to my palace at once. Give them food and drink, and they will surely wish a bath. Then they are to rest undisturbed until tomorrow, when I will meet with them.” The servant bowed and hastened away to do her bidding.

  She turned again to Neshi. “You have done a wonderful job, Neshi, and I will see that you are suitably rewarded with land and with honors. I am very pleased!”

  Neshi bowed. “I will serve Your Majesty faithfully as long as I live.”

  * * *

  “I fear the gods are protecting her, as you have said,” Snefru muttered. “Mayhap we err in trying to rid Egypt of her. I have no wish to be struck down by the gods.”

  “Ast!” Hapuseneb said irritably as they watched the endless, weary procession of Punt goods flow into the courtyard of the temple of Amun. “She has been lucky, I grant you, but nothing more. I do not believe that Amun wishes a woman on the throne, or he would have placed one there before now.” And I certainly cannot allow a woman to remain on the throne, especially such a strong-minded one.

  “I am not so certain—” Snefru began.

  “Well, I am certain,” Hapuseneb cut in, glaring at him. “Am I not the High Priest of Amun? Who are you to question me?”

  Snefru’s face contorted into a belligerent frown, then smoothed out almost at once and settled into his usual expression of indifference. “Forgive me, old friend. I grow cautious and timid in my old age. I believe you, for if you know not the will of Amun, then who does? And truly, if Amun were angry at our meddling, would he not have struck us down long since?”

  Hapuseneb nodded, relieved at passing through yet another crisis safely with the impulsive general. “You are right. Sometimes I think we are nothing but playthings for the gods. They throw us down like the painted sticks in a game of sennet, and wait to see which of us will emerge victorious. Well, Hatshepsut shall not triumph over me! If it takes my lifetime, I will see her cast down from her throne and Tuthmosis ruling in her stead, assisted by his most loyal retainers.” He gestured at the panther being pulled into the temple. “It will just take us a bit longer now. But never fear. We will prevail. Of that I have no doubt.”

  Eying the bounty of Punt spread out in the courtyard, Snefru scowled. “May the gods make it so, for this triumph of hers will only strengthen the love of the common people for her. And once aroused from their usual torpor, the commoners are a force to be reckoned with.”

  “I have no intention of striking at her openly
,” Hapuseneb retorted. “We spoke of magic, did we not?”

  Snefru nodded. “Aye, we did. Have you hit upon the right spell to serve our needs?”

  “I think so. Hatshepsut is cunning, but she is a woman, and all women are easily lured by the sight of gold and jewels.” Hapuseneb rubbed his hands together. He hadn’t intended to discuss his plan in detail with Snefru, but Hatshepsut’s unexpected triumph in Punt had stung him severely. Praise, even from a fool, would soothe him. “I have had fashioned a most wonderful golden pectoral necklace with a central figure of Horus, encrusted with jewels. I shall present it to her myself. Hatshepsut will not be able to resist the combined seduction of gold and of Horus, which bolsters her claim to the throne. And when she touches it…” He paused dramatically.

  “Aye?” Snefru said, impatience warring with dread in his expression.

  Hapuseneb grinned like a toothy shark. “When she touches it, the magic spell I shall cast upon it will take hold, and she will disappear from our lives and from Egypt forever.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Back in her apartment in Chicago, Hattie was soaking in a warm bubble bath, a glass of chilled white wine on a low table next to the tub, soft jazz wafting in from the radio in the living room. A warm, fluffy towel and plush bathrobe awaited her, then a ticket to the orchestra concert. Her life was as it had always been, yet tears streamed down her cheeks and her chest ached from sobbing. She had never felt so alone. She was back home at last, so why did it seem empty and meaningless? Why did her heart ache as if it held a wound from which she’d never recover?

  She heard a small sound and turned toward the open bathroom door. Her jaw dropped as the figure of Hatshepsut materialized in all her ethereal beauty. “You!” Hattie breathed. “You did this to me, did you not?”

  Hatshepsut nodded. “You are almost finished with your task. When it is completed, I shall resume my life and you shall return here to your home. Is that not what you have wished for?”

  “Aye. Nay. I mean…” Hattie floundered for words. “I thought I wanted to return home. But I cannot leave Senemut! Wherever he is, there is my home. Without him, my life is barren and lonely.”