Shadows of the Nile (19 page)

“It was a reprisal. The woman Ammon killed was having an affair with one of the guards. Because you escaped with Ammon's help the guard took his revenge out on your friend, Eboni.”

“So Eboni was murdered because she was my friend?”

“I'm sorry,” Thoth said once more. “If it's any consolation, Nephthys then had the guard killed, because he'd destroyed a lucrative asset of hers.”

“Oh, my poor Eboni.” The tears began to flow. Thoth kept wiping them with his hand.

“She would have had the most dreadful life,” he murmured, comforting her. “It would have been difficult to get her out of there after you escaped. Those girls suffer a lot at the hands of their clients.”

He paused, stroking her. “I'll erase all bad memories for you, Tadinanefer. When we make love the hurt will disappear, and when we emerge from our passion the hurt will be softened. We'll go back to our room, and I'll wipe the nastiness of the world from your mind.”

As they walked back she clung tightly to Thoth. She could feel the warmth of his body, and how much alive he was. How could it be that Eboni was no longer here on earth with her? She'd been so vital and young, and now she was gone.

*

“I have a gift for you,” Thoth said when they got back. “It's a shawl, made of the finest material and edged with a pattern of tiny snakes intertwined with each other. It will protect you. It came from the same place as your ring – from the Temple of the Snake Goddess.” He put it over her head and wrapped it round her neck. “You should cover your head at Karnak, Tadinanefer, because it is a holy place and we are all servants of the Gods.”

“Yes, Sire.”

He uncovered her head and put the shawl on a chair. He smiled at her making her tremble. She wanted him so much and still he seemed so proud and regal.

He pushed her shift up from her arms and over her head. It slipped to the floor. His eyes were deep and sexy.

“You're like a figure adorning a temple, and yet when I touch you I know you're real. I'll have you dressed in jewels and the finest clothes, but to me they will always be transparent and I'll see you just as you are now. I'll show you things, and you'll see them as I see them. I'll teach you, and your mind will be my mind. You'll become a part of me, an extension of my soul.”

He started to disrobe. He handed her his gold necklace, his precious headdress, the gold from his arms, his gold skirt and his sandals; she gazed in awe at them.

“What I have is yours,” he murmured. “And what you have is mine. All of your body and beauty is mine forever.” He took the clothes and jewels from her and threw them down.

“These are nothing,” he said, as his passion erupted. He caressed her face, her body, her legs. She responded fervently, kissing his face, his lips. He took her wrists and gently wrapped her arms behind her, forcing her to him, and pushing his muscular legs between hers. He drew her down to the floor and lay on top of her, and made love in a very experienced and assertive way; it gave her exquisite pleasure. Tadinanefer realised she needn't have worried that he no longer wanted her, and she could see how great his desire was for her.

*

She heard Thoth go out to pray the next morning. But later he returned with a face like thunder.

“What is it?” she asked apprehensively.

He took her hand. “I won't allow them to do it,” he stormed.

“Who? What?”

“The priests. They want you to be cleansed in the holy water.”

“But I've done nothing wrong.”

“That's exactly what I told them, and no one takes my woman and tells me what to do. Not even the high priests.”

“Is it because I was in a brothel and tainted by the atmosphere?”

“You came out of there as virginal as you went in.”

“Yes, but what about Eboni? That was partly my fault. If I hadn't escaped maybe she wouldn't have been killed?”

“If that's so then her blood is on my hands, not yours. I had you rescued, you didn't ask for it. Even so, these things happen. The person to blame for Eboni's death is the guard who killed her, and he's paid the price. No! I won't allow you to be subjected to a cleansing. You're mine and they'll do as I tell them.”

“Wait,” she said gently. “They are your priests. They're the priests to the royal family. Perhaps it would be better to do this. You said it's only immersion in the water. I've been under water before, when I was running from Ptah. I hid under a boat in the murky waters of the Nile, with my head under for quite a while. Surely it wouldn't be worse than that and it would prove I'm not afraid to show I'm innocent.”

Thoth thought for a moment. She could see he clearly didn't want it.

“Think of your standing with your cousin,” she reasoned. “You've taken a white woman who he might think is a prostitute, which may not please him. This way, I can prove my worth to him, and he might approve of me. Let me do it, Thoth, I beg you.” By this time she was on her knees.

“Very well,” he said at last, reluctantly. “But they tell me the water is very cold and you must take a deep breath just before they push you under.” He fingered his dagger. “If they hurt you, I don't care who they are, they'll answer to me.”

“They won't hurt me.”

*

The priests were waiting by the sacred water as they approached, hand in hand. Tadinanefer had been dressed by the servants in a plain white shift, with her hair tied back from her face. She was scared, but tried not to show it. She didn't like water, she didn't like the way it stung her eyes and filled her ears.

Thoth stood aside as three of the priests led her to the edge of the lake and tied her hands behind her. They walked her in until they were up to their waists, then turned her to face the shore. She could see Thoth, and took courage from him.

The priests made her wait. The water was cold, as Thoth said it would be, icy cold. All the priests started to chant a cleansing prayer. Then suddenly, without warning, they pushed her down – so quickly she hardly had time to take breath.

Strange thoughts went through her head. She could think of nothing except for the strange distorted sights. The priests' legs swam before her as their skirts were lifted by the swishing of the water. She mustn't take breath and yet her lungs were bursting. She must concentrate on something incongruous, like the fact that they wore little under their skirts. Not many people could know that, and certainly not a woman. Still they held her, pushing her further and further down. She wasn't going to make it. Once again death was imminent.

Then, without warning, she was pulled up; she took involuntary breaths as her head was yanked out of its watery prison. She couldn't see what was happening as the water still blinded her eyes. She coughed, taking gulp after gulp of sweet air.

She came to. It was Thoth who had pulled her out. He cut her bonds and stood holding her, brandishing his dagger.

“Enough,” he shouted. “You've gone too far. You left her submerged too long. Get out of our way. You're murderers, not priests. If anyone tries to stop us they'll be sorry.”

No one did. She was still shivering from the cold when they got back to their room. He tore off her wet clothes and dried her briskly, rubbing her all over and holding her with his warm body.

“You saved me. I couldn't have lasted much longer.”

“I'd like to annihilate the lot of them. They did it deliberately.”

“Why? They're good men.”

“Huh! You shouldn't have been in the water for more than a moment. By their action they made me violate the religious law.”

She thought hard. “They've discredited you. And made you take up arms against them. Why?”

“I have enemies.”

“Was it that or something else? I'm dry, Thoth.” She had to do something, and fast. She wasn't cold any more. She was thinking hard. She was certain they wanted her to prove something.

“You must do something for me, Thoth. Promise me on your love for me you'll help me put things right.”

“How?”

“I need your promise.”

She could see him battling with himself. He didn't want to put her in danger again.

“Only if it's reasonable.”

“Please go back to the priests and tell them I'll show them a different test of my innocence. Tell them I'll take on the most vicious cobra they keep here, and if I'm guilty it'll kill me.”

“No.”

“Please, Thoth. Trust me.”

He still hesitated.

“Very well,” he said at last. “But I'll have my sword ready.”

“No sword.”

“Yes, my sword, Tadinanefer. That's the deal.”

She sighed and nodded.

As Thoth went to the priests she called her servants once more and made them dress her in another white shift.

*

She didn't wait for Thoth to return. She reached the lakeside and could see the priests. Thoth was there, too, arguing with one of the men who'd taken her into the water, but he drew back when he saw her. There was a pot set at a safe distance from the priests; she guessed it held the snake.

She stood next to it, where everyone could see her. Her ring glistened. Her desirable body showed through her shift and her luxurious hair curled down onto her shoulders. Thoth swallowed and gripped his sword. Everyone waited expectantly.

The cobra came out very slowly. It paused, looking as if it might strike.

Tadinanefer raised a finger to Thoth, warning him not to move.

She looked into the snake's eyes, commanding it to obey her. It slid over to her, its head still ready to strike. She showed it her ring. The snake stared at it for a second then wound itself tightly round her legs. It slid round her waist and over her chest, and then coiled itself loosely round her neck, its head resting between her breasts. It stared arrogantly at Thoth and the priests. It took all of Tadinanefer's strength to hold the heavy snake, but she knew she must bear its weight until it was ready to leave her. Its tight hold exposed her every feminine part. The snake didn't move. It could have killed her, either by biting or merely throttling her, and Thoth would have been powerless to help. She stood for some minutes. No one dared approach her.

One by one the priests lowered their eyes and clasped their hands in supplication. Thoth stared at her, and as she smiled at him, he dropped his sword.

The snake, seemingly satisfied by the turn of events, slid quietly down her front and disappeared.

Tadinanefer went to Thoth and knelt. “Sire, I am nothing. The snake protects you, and those you want protected. The power of the cobra comes through me, but isn't inside me. I've now proved my innocence to the priests, have shown them I'm a servant of the great Goddess, and that I'm worthy of you.”

She now knew why the priests goaded Thoth into rescuing her from the water. It was only partly to do with the question of her innocence. Her reputation as being a servant of the great and mighty Snake Goddess had been made public. The snakes were her allies. She'd shown she was protected for a good reason – that she was meant for Thoth. The priests wanted evidence. As they were cleansing her, they had kept her under for longer than necessary to try to force the Snake Goddess to help her, but Thoth had intervened. She realised she needed to take the snake test directly. Now they were satisfied. She'd be allowed to stay with Thoth.

The priests began to disperse. Tadinanefer still knelt.

“I am nothing, Sire,” she murmured. She needed him to use her as an ordinary human. She picked up his sword and held it up to him. “If you can't treat me like a desirable female and bed me in any mood you wish, rough or gentle, then my life is finished and you must kill me now.”

She swept her hair aside and bared her neck.

“I could never hurt you.” Thoth's voice was thick with emotion. “I've known all along that you were sent to me by Wadjet. I found the ring and the shawl in her temple, and she told me they were meant for a woman from far away, who'd be in her mother's womb when she came to these lands. Your mother was a priestess. She married your father, and Wadjet sent them here. They were brought by the Gods for a purpose. She knew they would die, and that her baby would become the woman of one of the noblest men in Egypt.”

He took the sword from her.

“The ring will never leave my finger. It has embedded itself into my skin. It shows I'm part of you. The shawl also tells me I'm your woman, or whatever you wish. I beg you, Sire, treat me how you want. I'll follow you on my knees if I have to.”

Throwing the sword to one side Thoth picked her up.

“Knees! I doubt it. But I'll have you any way I can. You come from a race of women more spirited than most, and I admire that. But I am no ordinary person. I am a cousin to our Pharaoh and I dearly wish I could make you my equal. At this time it's impossible. Do you understand that, Tadinanefer?”

“Yes, Sire. That's how I want it to be. I'll always follow you and be in your shadow, because I love you.”

He carried her all the way back, not letting go of her, as he swiftly undressed her and imprisoned her in his arms for the rest of the day and the entire night, only letting her go when he departed in the early morning light.

*

Tadinanefer lay contented and happy, whilst Thoth had departed once more to attend to domestic or state affairs. He didn't say where he was going and she didn't ask. He was now her master, and she didn't question him. She was pleased to hear more about her mother and why she'd come to Egypt, such a dangerous thing for a person like her to do. She imagined her mother in a white robe, her long golden hair reaching to her waist, caged inside a stone circle, for life possibly. But then she was swept off her feet by her father, who desired her as his wife, and she probably had to renounce her holy orders. They wouldn't have been allowed to stay in the circle, but instead had been sent far across the sea on an important mission. A daughter had already been conceived and put under the protection of the great Snake Goddess long before her parents reached Egypt. Wadjet had smiled on this daughter. Tadinanefer was beautiful and foreign, and destined to serve Thoth.