Meren handed the dispatch back to Kysen, thrust himself out of his chair, and walked back and forth between it and the table. "Curse it. Very well. Find Abu and have him make copies of the report. Then send him to Horemheb and General Nakhtmin. He is to see them personally and alone. They will reinforce the border garrisons." Meren stopped beside Kysen's chair and glanced down. "I may have to go north myself. I don't like this talk of renegades at our borders, and I've a need to question a Hittite, if I can find one."
"You're going to the frontier alone?"
"I don't wish to be noticed and have my presence announced to the Hittite king or his allies among the Syrian princes."
"But you can't go without protection! If you're recognized-"
They turned at the same time as a knock interrupted.
"Enter," Meren said.
Abu came in, only to glance over his shoulder in surprise as Tanefer sailed into the room after him. Abu gave Meren a startled look, but Meren shook his head.
"Your man told me to wait, but you know how I hate that," Tanefer said as he dropped into Meren's chair and glanced at the papers Kysen had left in his own.
Kysen stooped and picked them up, and Tanefer grinned at him.
"Fear not, young one. I'm not a spy. I'm a simple soldier, good at killing, but not skilled at intrigue and deceit."
'Tanefer," Kysen said as he handed the papers to Abu, "you're a walking scandal."
"An accomplishment at which I labor ceaselessly."
"You haven't come to give me news of another murder, have you?" Meren asked.
"No, brother of my heart. Ay asked me to try to keep the king distracted. The divine one is anxious to be off on his first skirmish, but the viceroy of Kush is due any day with a fleet laden with tribute, and the king must be here for the reception ceremony."
Tanefer rose and slapped Meren on the back. "So I have organized a hippo hunt. There's a rogue male preying just south of the city. Killed three fishermen today. So we're all to hunt tomorrow morning. The king commands your presence, both of you."
"I have much to do," Meren said.
Tanefer nodded. "Ah, the lector priest. Have you found out who killed him?"
"No."
Kysen threw up his hands. "It seems as if the whole city visited the temple of Amun on the day those cobras were put into Qenamun's casket."
"The answer may be simple," Tanefer said. "Was Qenamun bedding another priest's wife? Did he stand in the way of another's advancement or threaten a superior?"
"No doubt he did all of those things," Meren said.
Tanefer wandered over to the table bearing Qenamun's documents and began to peruse them.
Meren quickly walked to the door and swept his arm in the direction of the house. "Will you take the evening meal with us?"
Tanefer looked up, then preceded Meren outside.
"You're as secretive as a virgin with her first lover, Meren."
"And you're too curious for a simple soldier." As Tanefer walked back toward the house, Meren whispered to Kysen. "Give Abu his instructions and then follow."
Meren walked beside Tanefer on the path that led from his office, between the servant's quarters and through a small gate in the wall surrounding the reflection pool and pleasure garden.
Tanefer paused beside the pool to gaze at a blue lotus floating in a nest of deep green leaves. The fiery solar barque of Ra had passed its peak in the sky and was chasing the western horizon. Meren thought of these moments just before dusk as the golden time of day, because the sun's rays turned the air and water to gold. Tanefer knelt suddenly and reached out to touch the petals of the blue lotus.
"I come from a line of warriors, Meren."
"The Mitanni have always been great fighters."
"Unfortunately, my uncle and his lineage never learned when to stop and negotiate. That's why he lost his throne."
Tanefer dipped his hand in the water and looked up at Meren. His eyes held the sadness Meren had seen when he first returned home from Syria.
"The empire is crumbling. A rival lineage seeks the favor of the Hittite king Suppiluliumas, and now Egypt will soon feel the edge of the barbarian blade."
"Suppiluliumas isn't a fool," Meren said. "He won't attack Egypt directly yet."
Tanefer got up and wiped his hand on his kilt. "No, thank the gods. Egypt will be spared, and the Nile won't turn red with blood as did the Euphrates." He gave Meren a half smile. "But how long do we have?"
"It's not like you to be so low of spirit."
Gazing across the water, Tanefer shook his head. "I tried to make Ay understand, but he won't listen. You know the Hittites, Meren. You know their unparalleled appetite for carnage. How long can we sit in our palaces and squabble like spoiled children?" He sighed. "It's Ay's fault, you know, for allowing pharaoh and his advisers to cavil and pick at trifles while ignoring the rest of the world."
"You think Ay is too much like Akhenaten."
With one of his loose, easy movements, Tanefer plucked a lotus flower and twirled it in his fingers. "I think we've let whole cities perish in our blindness while we've grown fat and moribund on the fruits of the Nile."
"I'm not blind," Meren said.
Tanefer gave him a sad smile. "No-no, you're not." He tossed the lotus to Meren and laughed in an abrupt change of mood. "Come, old friend, have you not promised to feed me? Give me some wine, and I may be able to help you decipher this puzzle of the murder of the magician priest."
Chapter 12
Before dawn the next morning, Kysen sat beside the royal oarsman in the king's boat, shivering in the cool dampness of a marsh. Two priests had been murdered, but neither he nor Meren could neglect attendance at the hippo hunt arranged for the king by Tanefer. Pharaoh was whispering excitedly with the chief of the royal hunt, while all around them, hidden in the tall reeds and papyrus plants, noblemen and hunters steadied their skiffs. The boats were arranged on either side of a break in the reeds at the riverbank that marked the place where hippos came ashore.
The king's craft was wooden, larger and much more ornate than the skiffs, but Kysen wished he was in the one that held his father and Tanefer. The skiffs were far more maneuverable and would close in first on their quarry, but much less safe. The king would only be allowed to approach once the hippo had taken a few harpoons.
In truth, Kysen had never accustomed himself to being pharaoh's companion. He'd been born the son of a common artisan, and hunting with a living god was not something he did as easily as his father.
He watched Ahiram pole his float by and take up a position on the opposite side of the marsh from Meren and Tanefer. On shore a hunter signaled to Tanefer, and word was passed from boat to boat. The man next to Kysen began to whisper.
"Divine one, there's a group of three headed this way. They think the rogue follows them."
Quiet settled over the hunters as they waited. Hippos came ashore at night to do their grazing and caused great damage to crops in their wanderings. Kysen gazed over the black water and could barely make out the lighter shadows that indicated the kilts of Meren and Tanefer. They had dropped to a crouch, the long shafts of their weapons thrusting out over the edge of their skiff.
He glanced at the king, a slight shadow in a gold-and-lapis broad collar, but he couldn't make out the boy's expression. Tanefer had voiced the hope that this hunt would relieve the king's strain. Kysen doubted it would prove more than a temporary respite. The court still seethed with contention between those who advocated war and those who favored diplomacy. He'd seen the cost of this division in his father's face.