Sphinx's Queen (16 page)

A chorus of blood-chilling yowls resounded from the clifftop and the passageway behind me. Nava, Amenophis, and Kawit were putting their whole hearts into their part of the performance. I saw the robbers shrink back and heard Samut undermining what was left of their courage with his own horrified whimperings. I wished that there was something I could say to urge them into flight, but it had been my idea that I stay silent unless it became absolutely necessary for the “goddess” to speak. A closed basket can hold a honey cake as easily as a cobra. Let the thieves’ own imaginations and uncertainties feed their fears. I saw the wisdom of my plan working as the men continued to back away. The next step was Nava’s.

The Habiru child’s sweet voice rose in song from her hiding place at the top of the crag behind me. Her true talent was the harp, but she also had a gift for setting words to melodies. In this case, finding the right words was no challenge:

“Free him, free the child, return him to his father or feel the wrath of Bast, her curse, your doom! Your hearts will be torn to pieces by her claws; your bones will crack between her mighty fangs; she will devour their marrow; she will lap your spilled blood from the stones!” Somehow, hearing such horrible things set to delicate music, all sung in a child’s innocent voice, made them infinitely more terrifying. “Free the child or the lady Bast will hunt you by day and by night. She will slash the flesh from your bones! Return him and leave this place, never to return, or she will turn your eyes into lumps of salt. She will burn your bodies to ashes in the fires of her fury. She will—”

Really, Nava was having a little
too
much fun. At least her taste for bloodcurdling stories had turned into something we could use.

And, oh, how well it was working! Kawit’s brother began to blubber for mercy. His partner stood like a stone, teeth chattering. Samut continued to do his part to build the illusion, falling to his knees, prostrating himself, and begging “Bast” to spare him. Meanwhile, Nava kept up her litany of all the deliciously awful ways the “goddess” was going to punish the would-be desecrators of Lord Iritsen’s tomb, interwoven with orders for them to release Samut’s son and go away.

The thief who’d turned to stone was the first to crack. “Holy Lady Bast, compassionate one, have mercy, forgive me, and I’ll do exactly what you say! This whole evil adventure wasn’t my idea. I never wanted to come here and do this! I’m your devoted servant, your
slave
. I’ll bring the brat—the boy to his father immediately, I swear!” He started to move in the direction from which the child’s cry had come such a short time ago.

“What in Set’s name do you think you’re doing?”
A new voice boomed in the night, and a burly man came out of the shadows dragging a small, weeping child along behind him by the arm. Samut’s piercing cry of relief at seeing his son alive and well was cut off abruptly when he saw the man put a dagger to the little boy’s throat. “What’s wrong with you stinking cowards? Here we are, about to get our hands on more treasure than you hollow-heads ever dreamed of, and you’re shaking like dry reeds? Pissing yourselves on account of a
girl?
Are you crazy?”

“You’re the crazy one!” Kawit’s brother yelled. “What
girl
looks like that?” He gestured at me with trembling hands. “What
girl
appears in the middle of the night, in the land of the dead, with a sacred cat attending her? Her face in bathed in blood! She summoned up the fires of the sun!”

“Ha! Sounds like the fires of the sun cooked your brains, if you ever had ’em.” The burly man sneered. “I see a girl and a couple of campfires. The gods know why she’s got a cat with her, but—”

“The gods
do
know!” the cold-voiced man cried. “And I’m not sticking around to get punished for
your
stupid scheme.” He sprinted away before the big man could say another word.

“And I curse the day I ever let you talk me into getting mixed up with this unholy business,” Kawit’s brother whined. “You’ve brought the vengeance of Bast herself on us! Let the boy go!”

“I don’t take orders from mice.” The third thief yanked Samut’s son by the arm, making the child squeal in pain. Samut started toward him, but the dagger’s point moved closer to the boy’s neck and a warning hiss from his captor froze the father in his tracks. “If I don’t head back to Per-Bast with a basketful of gold from that tomb, I’m leaving this valley over the bodies of this brat, his father,
and
that so-called goddess up there. You hear me, girl?” he shouted, turning his head sharply in my direction.

I dropped Ta-Miu before his eyes reached mine. As the cat leaped away, I swept one arm down to pick up the hunting bow, plucking an arrow from the quiver with the other. An instant was all I needed to pull back the bowstring, aim, and let the shaft fly. It whizzed through the darkness and struck him in the shoulder with such force that he lost his hold on Samut’s son and staggered back, dropping his dagger. Samut snatched his child into his arms and ran.

“I hear you!” I shouted back at the writhing, sobbing villain who had dared to threaten a helpless child. “Now you hear
me!”

7
A P
RINCE IN
D
ENDERA

With his son safe at home once more and back in Kawit’s care, Samut summoned every able-bodied worker in his village to sweep through the surrounding countryside and capture the would-be tomb robbers. They found two of the three soon enough—the cold-voiced one was discovered hiding in a dry streambed, and the one I’d hit didn’t get very far before the men tracked him down by following the scattered drops of blood from his wounded shoulder. Samut told us how the two of them had been marched off to Thebes for judgment.

Kawit’s brother remained unaccounted for.

“She has him hidden in her house,” Samut told us when he came to our refuge the next morning. “She’s going to send him back north to Per-Bast as soon as they stop searching for him. I think that this time he’ll try to make a different sort of life for himself once he gets there.”

“He might succeed if he finds better companions,” I said.

Amenophis wore a long face. “He’s as guilty as the others of abducting your son and of beating you. How can you let him go free?”

Samut looked sheepish. “He was the youngest of those three, and a weak-willed soul. Even when we were growing up together, he was always too eager to be everyone’s friend, too willing to do anything in order to be accepted. And he’s Kawit’s kin; she still loves him, even though she says she wants to break his head open and stuff some common sense into it. I can’t stand the thought of how heartbroken she’d be if Pharaoh’s officers took him into custody. Let him have a second chance, for her sake; that’s what I say.”

“It’s
wrong
—” Amenophis began.

I laid my hand on his forearm. “It was Samut’s son in danger. If he can forgive Kawit’s brother, can’t you?”

We spent that day enjoying more of the tomb worker’s generosity. He brought us plenty of food and drink, as well as a new dress for me, one that had belonged to his late wife. There were even treats for Ta-Miu, the fish I’d promised her.

“I wish I could entertain you properly, in thanks for all that you’ve done for my boy and me,” he told us. “Why can’t you come out of this place and stay under my roof?”

“We have our reasons,” I replied. “Please don’t insist on hearing them. I can swear by any god or goddess you choose that we’ve done nothing wrong.”

Samut bowed low. “Forgive me, my lady. I’m a fool who puts his nose where it doesn’t belong. Of course you’ve done no wrong! I only asked because I yearn to do something more for you, to show my gratitude.”

“Do you have a boat to take us to Dendera?” Nava asked pertly.

Samut had no boat, but he saw to it that we did soon enough. He left us on our own for most of the day, and when evening came, Kawit was the one who brought our food and more.

“Make yourselves ready,” she said, setting down her basket. “My Samut—I mean, Samut has arranged for you to travel onward.” The covered basket that held our evening meal also contained a razor, a container of kohl, and a tiny flask of scent.

I pounced on the kohl with a happy cry. The black powder was more than just a way to make our eyes look larger; it protected them from the glare of sunlight and kept insects at bay, too. “It’s been ages since any of us painted our eyes! No wonder mine feel so tired. Come here, Nava, and let me do yours for you; then do you think you can do mine?”

“Allow me to do that for you, my lady,” Kawit said. “But first, let me fetch some water and I will shave your head for you, young master.” She inclined her head to Amenophis. “Samut regrets he doesn’t have any fine clothes to give you, but if you smell important, people will treat you better.” She handed him the vial of perfume.

“I couldn’t take this from him.” Amenophis raised his hands. We both knew how costly such a thing was and how precious the flower essences must be to our friend Samut. Why would a tomb worker spend his hard-earned livelihood on such a thing if he didn’t pine to own it? Every human soul I ever knew was happier if he or she could find some small touch of beauty to adorn their lives—a jewel, a hair ornament, a brightly colored belt, or this dab of sweet scent. “And why would he think I’d need to … smell important?”

“You’re going to Dendera, aren’t you? Samut said to me there’s got to be a reason for you three to head there now, when Hathor’s festival’s making the whole city rejoice. Folks feel more generous and forgiving at such times.” She got a knowing, conspiratorial look in her eyes. “Maybe even the same folks who don’t want you two to marry, hmm?”

Sweet Isis, she thinks we’re love-struck runaways with disapproving parents!
I thought. I was about to correct her when a second thought crossed my mind:
Oh, dear. That really isn’t so far from the truth
. I could just imagine Aunt Tiye’s reaction when she found out that Amenophis and I were more than friends. It was as if Thutmose’s unfounded, jealous suspicions had been so strong that they’d become real. And what would my own parents have to say about it? If I ever fought my way free of Thutmose’s false, vicious charge of blasphemy and could reclaim a normal life, how would Father and Mery react if I married Amenophis?

My cheeks turned hot. Marry Amenophis? Wasn’t I rushing things with such childish dreams? He said he loved me, but the Black Land was filled with songs and stories about young men and women who fell madly in love only to go their separate ways when love faded away. How could I know if his heart yearned for us to be together always? I was building a future out of sand.

In the end, Amenophis accepted the gift of perfume to please the giver, and neither he nor I bothered to correct Kawit’s romantic notions about us. We didn’t have the opportunity. The sturdy woman let us know that we were going to be moving out of the cave, like it or not, in the dim time before the next morning’s dawn. “Samut’s been busy working for your benefit, running up and down the riverbank, seeking a boat whose master is willing to take on some passengers,” she informed us as she scraped the stubble of travel from Amenophis’s head. “It cost him his best necklace, the pretty blue one that he loves, but he was glad to do it. He kept talking about how you were the ones responsible for bringing him back his only
real
gem.”