"He's not at home," Tanefer said.
The king rushed on. "He's not anywhere in the city.
Tanefer searched and found that he sailed north before dawn."
Meren tried to read Tanefer's expression, but his friend had resumed his perusal of the flat rooftops of the city with his back to the room. Princes did not flee the capital without reason.
"Damnation, Meren," said the king.
"Yes, majesty."
"What has he done that he runs away in fear?" the king asked.
"Aye, majesty," Meren said. "This is a question that must be answered."
Tanefer looked at Meren at last, his face still blank. "I've asked to be allowed to pursue Ahiram, but the divine one's word was to send for you."
The king began to pace back and forth on the balcony and bang his fist into his thigh. "He's done something, and he fears to remain in my presence. Which means I can't trust his men."
"Thy majesty speaks well," Meren said. "You've dismissed them?"
The king nodded. "I've called Tanefer's men and my whole war band to duty. You know what I want, Meren."
"Aye, majesty," Meren said, even as he turned to leave. "I will try to capture him alive."
Suddenly, Tanefer knelt before the king. "Please, divine one, allow me to go with Meren. I know Ahiram well, and might be able to persuade him to surrender."
The king met Meren's gaze over Tanefer's head. "No. There's too much strife here at court, and I need men here I can trust. This act of recklessness requires Meren's particular skill. Indeed, I'd be willing to wager some secret machination of his may have caused Ahiram to run. Am I right?"
Meren wasn't about to admit how confused he really was, so he merely bowed to the king. "Thy majesty's perception is divine, as always."
"Farewell, Meren. Next time, before you scare one of my guards into fleeing, you might consider telling my majesty about it."
Chapter 13
Kysen strode around Ahiram's bedchamber while Meren questioned the only servant left behind by the prince, a porter. Their men were searching other parts of the house. Ahiram's family, a wife, her three small sons, and a daughter, had been sent to the country several days ago, while the prince remained in Thebes. The trip had been sudden, and one for which his wife had been unprepared. Ahiram had insisted that most of the servants go as well. In less than a week, Ahiram had emptied his house of nearly anyone who might have observed his activities.
This knowledge had roused Meren's suspicions to even greater heights, so much so that he'd delayed his departure. There wasn't much time before he would have to sail. Tanefer had questioned the man earlier, but Meren was doing it again. As he walked across a finely woven mat, Kysen watched the man shake his head, bow, and leave. Tanefer hadn't mentioned those abrupt departures, but then, Tanefer wasn't accustomed to making inquiries for pharaoh.
Ahiram's house wasn't as large as Meren's, but it was richly furnished. Kysen paused by the bed of polished cedar. Its lion's-paw legs and footboard were trimmed with gold. The chamber itself bore a frieze of lotus flowers around the top of the walls and along the bottom as well. Clothing chests lay open, their contents strewn over the floor, chairs, and bed. Ahiram had packed and left so hastily there had been no time for his servants to put the house in order.
A box had been overturned near a recess in the wall opposite the bed. Within the recess sat a small statue of the foreign goddess Ishtar. Someone had picked up the belts, bracelets, and other contents of the box and set them in the recess and in the lid of the box.
Kysen picked up a belt of gold and turquoise, then replaced it in the niche near the statue, alongside a reed pen holder shaped like a papyrus-bundle column. His hand strayed to a bracelet, a wide, hinged band of gold upon which had been applied a decoration in the form of a stylized boat. Within the boat rested the round, blue disk of the moon, which sailed across the sky each night. Meren interrupted his inspection by dismissing the porter and joining him.
"The porter knows little, since his post offers him no intimacy with his master," Meren said as he picked up the moon bracelet. "He says Ahiram sent his family away before Qenamun was murdered. Only three servants were left in the house, including the porter.
"After the royal physician tended to him yesterday morning he came home much disturbed. What interests me is that he ordered the house guarded the moment he came home. All three servants were set to keeping watch, although he didn't say what they were supposed to guard against."
"He was frightened," Kysen said.
"From the moment he came home, and I can't divine a reason for it." Meren lay the moon bracelet aside and propped his back against the wall beside the shrine. "You've found nothing?"
"It's as Tanefer says. He left hurriedly, without putting the house in order. Food is still in the kitchen, although all of it has been put away." Kysen swept his arm around. "And if there was ever anything to find here, he took it with him. There aren't any papers."
Meren's gaze darted around the chamber, taking in the discarded clothing and other personal possessions. Disorder, but a disorder that arose from haste rather than violence. He rubbed his chin and gave Kysen a sideways glance.
"I asked the porter if he'd noticed any cobras about the house."
"Well?"
"No," Meren said. He folded his arms and studied the frieze of lotus flowers. "It's just that I can think of no other happening of import which might cause Ahiram to flee, and he was acquainted with Qenamun."
"If you'd caught a bunch of snakes, where would you keep them and how?" Kysen asked.
"I'd keep them in baskets somewhere isolated," Meren said. "But not for long. They'd be hard to conceal because they would need feeding… rodents."
"And in a prince's house, there are few places of concealment because of the number of servants."
Meren shoved away from the wall and began walking toward the chamber door, with Kysen close behind him. "Aye, so if I wished to conceal my collection of cobras, I would want to find a deserted place, something hard to find in a city like Thebes. Therefore I'd catch them quickly and get rid of them quickly. And the need for haste would mean I would have to find a convenient nearby hiding place."
"One of the storage rooms," Kysen said as his father led him to the kitchen.
Abu and another charioteer joined them. Meren walked across the kitchen to a stairwell that led down into darkness. Kysen found a lamp and preceded his father and the others downstairs. Below they found the usual evidence of household activities-the making of bread dough, weaving, and storage of oils, wine, and spices.
"No cobras," Kysen said.
Abu whirled around to face him. "Cobras!"
He and his assistant were gazing at him, brows lifted to their hairlines. With caution, Abu began opening any jars that weren't sealed, as did the other charioteer. Meren walked past a mortar and pestle sitting on the floor along with a stack of trays and pottery cups, rounded a group of oil jars, and stopped. He signaled for Kysen to join him, and they stood looking at seven wicker boxes, a row of three stacked on top of a row of four against one wall. Meren drew closer, reached out, and shook one of the top boxes.
"I think it's empty."
"I hope you're right," Kysen said.
"I will open it, lord." Abu's tone as he stepped between them and the boxes bore no hint that he was asking permission. The second charioteer drew his dagger. Abu lifted the lid of the box, taking care that it opened away from his body. He flipped the box on its side and jumped back at the same time. Nothing. He shook the next box. Something rattled, but it sounded like pottery. Inspection revealed pieces of a broken tray.