Eye of the Moon (19 page)

T
he rowdiness and noise of the room hit me as we entered. When my eyes got used to the gloom, I saw the area was full of soldiers. They were a rough-looking bunch, disheveled and unshaved. Serving girls moved swiftly among them carrying trays of sweetmeats and palm wine. They were dressed flamboyantly in bright wraps with swathes of beads around their necks and gold trinkets
swinging from their ears, laughing and shouting and flirting as they moved about.

Tuthmosis pulled me back. “It's too risky.”

Anoukhet laughed. “What? Are you scared?”

“I'm not scared. But the soldiers make it risky,” Tuthmosis snapped as he turned to go.

I touched his arm. “We can't split up now. We've traveled so far together. We won't stay long. We'll have something to eat and drink and be off.” I glanced at Anoukhet. She was talking to a girl who was stroking the monkey and tickling her neck.

“What's its name?”

“Kyky,” Anoukhet replied.

Tuthmosis tugged at my arm. “Come! We're leaving!”

But at that moment two more girls sidled up on either side of us, obviously thinking of the money we might have to spend.

“I'm . . .” I couldn't think what to say. “We're hungry and thirsty! We've ridden through the desert.”

“Straight from the desert! But you're
not
Medjay! Not with your foreign accents and fine manners,” one of the girls said.

She clicked her fingers at a girl passing by. “Bring
some food and drink for these poor boys before they faint.”

I smiled and nodded. The palm wine ran down my throat like fire. I choked and spluttered. “I need water.”

“Poor baby! Too young for palm wine.” She tousled my head and laughed.

“Leave the boy alone!” Tuthmosis snapped.

She looked at him with flashing eyes. “Don't come in here and order me about.”

Tuthmosis pulled her roughly aside. “I said,
leave
him be!”

“What's it to you?” she demanded.

“He's my younger brother!”

“Don't think you can come in here in your smelly, filthy clothes and put on airs and graces far above yourself and then hand out orders as if you're royalty.” And with her free arm, she swung back and punched him hard in the stomach. It was so unexpected that Tuthmosis crumpled forward.

A group of soldiers gathered about us—sunburned men with bloodshot eyes. But they were well muscled and despite the rough wraps wore sickle swords in their belts. I could see they were foot
soldiers of the Egyptian army. They looked hardy and used to sleeping out in the open on rough terrain. Used to protecting themselves in all situations. Not men to be trifled with.

I shrank back but there was nowhere to go.

They formed a circle and eyed us. The room fell silent.

One, who stood a head taller than Tuthmosis, narrowed his eyes and turned to the serving girl. “Is he giving you trouble, Maya?” And without an answer he took a swipe at Tuthmosis's head with his fist and felled him. There was a bloody gash on the prince's temple, and as Tuthmosis staggered to get up, the soldier swung back his boot and kicked him hard in the stomach.

“Stop!” But before I could do anything, Anoukhet was at my side.

“Let's go!” she hissed.

Between us, we dragged Tuthmosis upright and shouldered him toward the entrance, with Kyky jumping up and down and shrieking and the sneers and curses of the women as well as the soldiers at our backs.

We crept into a secluded side alley next to the
marketplace. I held Tuthmosis's head in my lap while Anoukhet went to fetch water from the river. He lay without moving like when we'd first met in the labyrinth. Except now it was entirely my fault. He'd been protecting me.

Anoukhet returned and wrung out a cloth in the water she'd carried in her goatskin. She laid it across his forehead while I bathed the blood from the wound. “They'll come after us, won't they?”

“I doubt it.”

“Why not?”

“I settled it. I gave the girl I was talking to a gift. She'll protect us and see we're not followed. She promised to distract them.”

“What did you give?”

“My hair.”

I squinted back at her. “Your hair? Why?”

“She'd guessed I was a girl. When I saw there was going to be trouble with the soldiers, I made her promise not to tell we were girls. In exchange I gave her my hair to sell for a wig. They won't come after us.”

“She took more than your hair.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your silver bracelet with the animal charms is gone.”

For a moment Anoukhet looked startled as she glanced down at her empty wrist. Then she shrugged. “No matter! If I'm to be a boy, it's better I don't wear trinkets. But as soon as Tuthmosis recovers, we must move on.”

“Do you think his wounds are serious?”

“There's more blood than true damage. The cut's not deep but he'll have a couple black eyes. The soldiers will recognize us.”

“It's
all
my fault. He was protecting me.”

   
19
   
SERPENT OF THE DESERT

W
e slept in a doorway that night huddled together among the debris of broken pieces of pottery, mud bricks, and chicken bones. But it was a restless night with soldiers brawling, Tuthmosis groaning, and Kyky screeching every time a dog came sniffling or a rat ran by.

The noise of Syene woke me long before dawn. Tuthmosis stirred and moaned and complained of a
terrible headache. I went down to the river to fetch water to bathe his wounds.

The market was already busy even though it was hardly light. Girls still slow with sleep were setting out cucumbers and pomegranates and newly baked cakes on mats on the ground. Between them were jars of goats' milk covered by pieces of goatskin still shaggy with hair. A sleepy-eyed child was sprinkling water to settle the dust.

But it was the presence of the army that caused most of the hubbub. Under awnings strung with lanterns, skin merchants were scraping fresh hides, cutting them, and stretching them over frames to make into shields. Ironmongers, already black and sweaty, were casting molten liquids into molds around their fires. An array of spearheads and arrowheads lay in the sand and the air was filled with the hollow chime of anvils tapping off rough iron edges.

Some soldiers were encamped at the water's edge. In the pearly light, I scrutinized their faces to see if I recognized any of them. It was hard to tell. Going about their ordinary tasks, they seemed different from the brutes of the night before. Some were having their heads shaved. Others were sharpening swords.
The smell of bread baking and the aroma of sizzling meat made me hungry. But I knew it was unsafe to linger, so I pulled my cloak about me, scooped water, and left as soon as I could.

“The camel's gone,” Anoukhet announced as soon as I reached the doorway.

“Gone?”

“Stolen. One of us should've stayed awake to keep watch.” She took the water skin and began swabbing Tuthmosis's face.

“You hated that miserable camel anyhow!” Tuthmosis squinted up at me through swollen eyes. He attempted to smile but ended up grimacing with pain.

With his hand still bandaged from Anoukhet's bite and his face bruised and battered, he looked quite a sight.

“We'll need donkeys to get beyond the cataracts,” Anoukhet said as she dabbed gently at his face. She seemed to be trying to make amends with Tuthmosis. “We can hire ourselves out to load goods that have to be transported upstream. No one will think to look for the prince of Thebes on a donkey!”

A hubbub of shouts coming from the marketplace and a fearful drumming of boots against stone
at the end of our alleyway silenced us. Each soldier carried a copper-bladed spear and shield. In their belts were axes and swords.

“What's happening?” Anoukhet asked a passerby.

“Some Medjay rode in from the desert last night. They told of three felons who stole two camels and escaped after murdering their leader!” He spit in the sand. “
That's
no loss! But there're whispers that one of the felons is none other than Prince
Tuthmosis,
son of King Amenhotep.”

“What?” I couldn't resist. “I thought he'd died and his brother ruled in his place.”

The man shook his head. “It's said not. There's a rumor of skulduggery.”

“What sort of skulduggery?”

The man drew the wedjat Eye of Horus in the dust and looked over his shoulder. Then he came closer and whispered. “No one knows the truth—Syene being so far from Thebes. The news we get is muddled. But they say there was a plot afoot to have him murdered.”

“To have
who
murdered?”

“Prince Tuthmosis. It's said he didn't die of natural causes. It's said the high priests of Thebes were involved in the plot. They preferred the younger
brother so they could mold him to their wishes.”

Tuthmosis pulled his head scarf lower. “You can't believe rumors.” But after the man left us, he scrambled up. “We can't stay a moment longer. We have to move quickly.”

Down at the river the donkey men looked askance at us and laughed. “What? The three of
you
? We need strong-muscled men to shift the weight of the loads, not mere
boys
!”

Each one we approached had something disparaging to say, and they laughed directly at Tuthmosis when they saw his face. “Two black eyes! Been in a brawl, have you? We need tough workers here, not boys who are so easily knocked about. And not one with a limp like yours, either!”

I saw Tuthmosis's face drain and saw him clench his fists. I thought he might lash out and urged him on. His misfortune was in truth our good luck, as his two black eyes made him not so recognizable.

Kyky ran ahead, chasing lizards basking on the rocks in the sun and snatching up beetles that scuttled out of plaited mats or sacks being unpacked.

A man loading up his donkeys stopped to laugh at her.

“Have you any work?” Anoukhet asked.

He eyed us. “Come back when you've grown a little.”

“I'm strong!” Anoukhet said angrily.

The donkey man shook his head and laughed as he bent down to pick up a huge sack, as if to demonstrate his own strength.

Suddenly Kyky screeched. Anoukhet spun around, clutching her dagger, and threw. My heart stopped at the sound of it flying past my face. I expected the man to fall dead at our feet, the dagger straight through his heart.

But instead he jumped aside. Only then did I see what had happened. Lying right at his feet was a terrible-looking snake—long and scaly, with two horns that stood up behind its vicious eyes. It stared at us through narrow, black, vertical slits, while a thin, dark tongue flicked.

I leaped back as it suddenly flung its coils forward. But the snake was impaled. Anoukhet's dagger had pinned it firmly just below the base of its skull to the hard clay of the riverbank. Its coils twisted and thrashed uselessly.