I sensed now a welcome sparkle of candour between us.
‘Perhaps there are a few things I have not told you,’ she continued. ‘I will tell you everything I can.’ Her face hardened. Suddenly she was made of stone. ‘I have a plan. It requires your assistance. I can promise you only that I will return in time to save your family from the sentence of death.’
‘When?’ I asked.
‘By the time of the Festival.’
I nodded. Suddenly we were agreeing a deal. The politician in her was now paramount.
‘I need to know now whether you will accept. If not, of course, you are free to do as you wish-to go home to your family. But I will say this: if you do, the future will turn out only one way, and I promise you it will be a time of darkness. If you decide to stay, you can help me save us all, and take part in a great story. You will have something exceptional and true to write in that little journal of yours. What is your choice?’
I was taken aback by her sudden coldness. I tried to calculate the options in my head. I still had the best part of a week’s grace before Akhenaten’s sentence of death on my family could be confirmed, but Mahu could still move against me while I was missing. Perhaps I could get a message home to warn Tanefert; perhaps he would not make so open a move before he had proof of my failure. And what of Ay, whose name I had invoked so recklessly? It seemed clear to me that the only way truly to protect the lives of my family would be to see this through to the end. Otherwise we would always be walking in fear, every shadow seeming dangerous.
‘What do you want me to do?’ I asked.
She looked truly relieved, as if I could have answered differently.
‘I need you to protect me when I return,’ she said. ‘In order to do that I need you to find out who is plotting against my life.’
‘Can I ask you some questions?’
She sighed. ‘Always questions.’
‘Let’s start with Mahu.’
‘I do not think it wise to prejudice you with my own opinions about individuals.’
‘Tell me anyway.’
‘He is as loyal as his dog. He has served us well. I would trust him with my life.’
I couldn’t believe my ears. Surely she was wrong.
‘He tried to kill me. He loathes me. He wants me dead.’
‘That is because his pride, which is great, has been insulted by your presence. But that does not mean he does not want me found for the right reasons.’
‘I don’t trust him.’
She said nothing.
‘Who else?’ I asked. ‘Ramose? Parennefer?’
‘These are key players. They all have their motivations. Ramose is a wise counsellor. I have never seen him act out of meanness, revenge or personal ambition. This is rare. He seems like a castle-strong, harsh, defended. But he loves beauty and appearance. You have noticed how well he dresses? He was once Master of the Wardrobe.’ She smiled at my look of surprise.
‘And Parennefer?’
‘Parennefer likes order. He has a horror of messiness. His desire for precision goes very deep in his personality, and is very powerful.’
I tried my trump card. ‘And Ay?’
She could not dissimulate the fear that flitted across her face like a hunted animal. What had I touched upon? A name to conjure with. The name I had used against Mahu.
‘Can you tell me about him?’
‘He is the uncle of my husband.’
‘And?’
‘He will attend the Festival.’
She looked cornered.
‘Are you afraid of him?’
‘Your simple questions, again.’ She shook her head anxiously, then continued. ‘He will be arriving in the city shortly. Along with all the players in this drama, and with the heads of the army; and with them all the tribal chiefs from north and south, all the city dignitaries from across the lands, all those who pay tribute, whose children are retained in the royal nurseries, whose daughters are married into the Harem. In short, every man and woman of power and family will arrive in the city in the next few days. I have to act decisively against my enemies, and with my friends, in the certain knowledge of who they are, and what they plan against and for me.’
‘And when and how will you return?’
‘I will tell you when the time is nearer.’
This made me angry. How dare she keep me in the dark like this?
‘I have spent the last few days trying to track you in the words of the people in power,’ I said. ‘Now you wish me to return, openly, risking everything, and walk further into this nest of snakes? And you will not tell me what you plan?’
She did not flinch from my anger. ‘Think. What if you are caught? Akhenaten would do anything to have me back. I am all that stands between him and disaster. What if Mahu tortures you, or hurts your family? Could you hold back from saving them? I doubt it. What you do not know you cannot tell.’
‘They would torture me and my family anyway.’
She took this in. ‘I know. What else can I do? Trust me in this. I can give you guidance and information. I can offer you the assistance of one or two loyal supporters. And a promise that I will tell you everything, when I can.’
Here I was again, having to choose between the only attractive decision-walking out of there-and the inevitable one-following this through to the end.
‘The only loyal supporter I have been granted so far is a man who cannot tell the difference between a fine wine and well water. And even his loyalty is not beyond question.’
‘I see.’
She went to a door, which I had not even noticed before, and knocked quietly. It opened, and into the chamber stepped a familiar figure, on his face an expression of profound amusement struggling to masquerade as respect.
‘Morning, sir.’
‘Khety!’
He bowed to the Queen.
‘Khety has been under my command since you arrived. I would trust him with my life. I trusted him with yours, although you did not know it. He will escort you to a safe house in the city and inform you of the things you need to know. ’
I didn’t know whether I wanted to punch him or hug him. He had certainly sustained the illusion of a young fool very convincingly. I turned to the Queen and bowed.
‘We will talk further,’ she said, ‘but now you must rest, before we move forward together.’
We followed the dawning light up the staircase and emerged into an enclosed courtyard, full of plants. At the centre, water pulsed into a stone basin. Birds experimented with short calls and trills.
We separated to rest.
So I sit and write this down, in sunlight, in the warmth of the new day. I know what I have to do, and why. I know Nefertiti is alive, and why she has cast me in a role whose purpose is greater than I had imagined. My feeling of foolishness is dissolving slowly, leaving me with a new sense of purpose, and, I must confess, a wish above almost all other things to earn again the smile that had graced her face. Would it be possible to accomplish the task? She, Khety and I are almost alone against the great forces at work against us, with all their advantages of knowledge, security, wealth and power. But we have one advantage: we are invisible. No-one knows where we are, whether in the next world or in the shadows of this one.
30
Khety continued to look unnecessarily pleased with himself. ‘Oh, the great seeker of mysteries…’ He kept nudging me and winking like a stage fool, as if there was now between us a complicity of trust, and not only that, but an equality of accomplishment. So when he said ‘Did you really not work it out?’ for the third time, I had to reply.
‘Khety, your impression of an idiot was so good that it never occurred to me you had a sand grain’s worth of sense in your whole character. Perhaps the reason is that you were not altogether acting a role. Perhaps there was some truth in it.’
He looked hurt for a moment. ‘Well, I told you several things about myself that were completely true. And by the way, I do like wine and I love almonds.’