Shadow of the Sun (The Shadow Saga) (40 page)

“Help,” yelled a boy who wielded a sling. “I killed a sacred bird!”

“Her Majesty has fallen,” wailed an elder woman with few teeth.

A crowd circled. A worker cradled me in his arms and raced back toward my enclosure. When I woke, Amaret tended my needs. She tried to drizzle fruit juice into my mouth and offered me comforting words.

That only made me more upset.

“I want Meti,” I sputtered.

Amaret put her hand upon Pentu as an anguished look clouded her face. He put a cool cloth to my head.

“Merit-Aten, she is not here,” replied Pentu. He plucked cactus needles from my flesh. I shrieked. My blurred vision improved. Amaret’s owl and falcon perched nearby. I smelled the stench of my dysentery.

“Did the vulture eat at me?”

“A boy hit it with a rock before anything calamitous happened,” said Pentu. “The villagers brought you home.”

“Dearest, you have heat vexation. It is never wise to leave this underground room during the worst of the day,” added Pentu.

I strained to gaze up the ladder of this burrow that had been carved out for me. That clever Imhotep had devised a way to insulate my quarters by having a pipe pour cool water from the Nile over the limestone roof.

My cot and turquoise rug had been positioned in the corner along with my clothes chest and toys. On the far wall a colorful relief of my father, mother, and me showed us paying tribute to the Aten. The solar disk’s rays ended in little hands putting an ankh to my nose.

“Will Meti come?” I asked with cracked lips.

“She is in Thebes. We just received word that she is pregnant with twins and cannot travel in this heat,” said Pentu as he administered a poultice to my head.

“Has she forgotten me?”

“I will take you to Thebes,” Pentu said and patted my hand.

I repeated my father’s words. “There is nothing for me in Thebes.”

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

“Pentu, do you miss your mother and father?” I whispered with a hoarse throat.

“My mother was a Semite and my father was from the outer lands. When I was an akh, the Hittites set fire to my village. I saw a boar with huge tusks growing from its face kill everyone else. It terrified me. I hid in a tent and survived because a pole hit me, knocking me unconscious. It left this scar on my head, which seems to itch in the blazing heat or when I get upset. The enemy thought I wested. Later, someone took me to the Temple of Heliopolis where I studied and took my initiations. I have been content.” He patted my hand.

“But you have no family.”

His eyes welled up. “You are my family.”

“Pentu, do you think Mery-Ptah could visit his family in Thebes?”

Pentu roughly scratched his head. “What made you think of Mery- Ptah? He was banished to Aswan so he will not ever be allowed to return to Thebes.”

“You must still be hallucinating. Rest,” said Amaret.

* * *

W
ith each passing day my strength improved. Netri wrote a new
Hymn to Aten
. He let me give suggestions. Amaret sang lovely songs and taught me to write poems. Pentu taught me to heal by using the energy from my hands and activate the wheels of light within my body. Finally, I could see my colors of swirling energy within me.

“Is there anything else I may do for you?” asked my physician.

“Yes. The workers wish to toil at night and rest in shelter during the day,” I said with determination. “I wish for roofs to be built over their huts to give them shade.”

“Your Highness, you know your father has expressed his orders that no roofs be allowed in Akhet-Aten. Everyone is to be in full view of the physical sun during the day, and Vega, the cosmic sun at night,” replied Pentu.

“Then let them sleep in the palace with us.”

Pentu bowed with his arms crossed over his collar bone. “Your suggestion is quite admirable. I shall advise your father and the Imhotep of your royal request. Perhaps we can build shaded huts in their village.” “Make it so, Pentu-Aten,” I said with a flourish of my hand to dismiss him. Meti did this often and it always met with favorable results.

* * *

O
nly a fortnight later, it pleased me to hear that a workman’s village had been sanctioned and the laborers started construction. Tents of heavier linen, woven in the village, were pitched that morning. All constructors would shift their working hours from sunset to sunrise. Fires were lit in great stone pits so they could see. They could now sleep during the daylight hours. This news pleased me.

That night, as I readied myself for a bath in the glow of my candles, I stripped off my sweat stained sheath. Standing before my mirror, I gasped.

What is that aberration?
I looked closer. It couldn’t be. Hair grew on my nether regions. I covered myself, feeling ashamed, and unsure of how it happened. Perhaps Sit-Amun had cursed me so hair would now cover my entire body. I had to find a way to free Mery-Ptah or she would render me as an abominable beast. I had to cover it, keep this hidden or I would be cast away. Meti and Grand Djedti Ti-Yee didn’t look like this. I had seen the smooth sex of many of my elders.

I pulled my pack from under my bed and dug into it. When I found the wrapped item, I unfolded the precious woven cloth with care. The moonstone glistened, enchanting me. Little wisps of color danced around it and hypnotized me.

“I want Asgat. I want my cat,” I said.

The moonstone pulsated within my hand like a heartbeat. It throbbed as if awakened from a slumber. A red wisp shot out of the crescent and plunged into the earth. Orange, then yellow puffs emerged and followed the first. My eyes grew wide.
What would happen? Would I get my wish? I blew upon my burning fingers.

The ground beneath my feet trembled and cracked opened. I started to scream but then something miraculous happened. Asgat materialized from the underworld. The ground closed beneath her paws. Such glad tidings. I got my wish. Asgat had returned from the dead.

Here, Asgat.

She meowed in a garbled voice as if she hadn’t made a sound since she perished. But this time she came to my call. I embraced her for the first time. Something had changed. My heart raced with joy as I held that hairless feline and rocked her.

“There. There. You are fine. I shall feed you and love you.” Her purr made my heart content.

As I rubbed her body, her claws contracted and released against my leg. I scratched her ears, and this pleased her so much that she drew a long scratch of blood across my skin. Oddly, I felt no pain.

Did I displease you?
she thought and cocked her head.

Her eyes looked strange. Perhaps the light made her Nile-blue eyes appear foggy and dull. But what could I expect? She had been tethered in the underworld for years. She had grown older. Of course that had to be it.
Come lie by my side.

A
man screamed in the night. I woke with a start. Asgat had left.

Perspiration soaked my linens. Something terrible had happened, but the eerie stagnation of the desert night air dulled my senses. My mouth felt parched and my tongue hurt. Pentu yanked open my door with a start. He peered into my shelter.

“Your Majesty, are you well?”

“Of course. Who screamed?”

“I did. I am sorry to alarm you, but something scratched my face and hands in the middle of the night. I thought I saw a cat. Perhaps a stray. Sorry to have disturbed you. I do not know why I felt compelled to come find you. Please forgive me. Go back to sleep.”

“Pentu, wait, did you say a cat hurt you?”

“Yes, but it can wait until morning.”

“What color was it?”

“White. Yes, white. A scrawny and hairless little thing. Reminds me of that cat that died by the arrow. But we can talk about it in the morning. I just needed to know that you are all right. When I woke, I felt I needed to protect you. To warn you. But the sudden jolt made me forget why.” He put his hand up to the two red claw marks. Then he dropped the lid to my sunken enclosure. I shivered. It couldn’t be Asgat.

* * *

“M
erit-Aten, I shall post a third guard near your chamber at night. I have had some disturbing news that an animal is terrorizing the villagers at night,” said Netri that night at dinner.

I gulped and kept my eyes down. “What kind of animal?”

“The reports claim it to be a feline. An elder worker claims she woke up and saw a white ghost scratch her baby. A little while later she claimed that the infant had fevers from the infection,” replied Netri as he chewed his meal. His head tilted in sorrow.

“I am concerned that the Amunites have unleashed a watcher.” Pentu gazed off into the distance. “It doesn’t seem likely that the creature can do damage, but you know how the Sesh fear these things. It makes for gossip and accusations.”

“I shall hunt it down,” replied Amaret, who then slurped a large portion of beef stew and smacked her lips. I grimaced. She had terrible table manners, but it was even more worrisome that she could hurt Asgat. I kept my hands wrapped in linens, claiming that I liked to wear wraps, but the truth was that my fingernails singed around the edges every time I touched that moonstone. Sadly, I couldn’t keep my hands off it. The moonstone called to me and begged me to use it to make even bigger wishes.