Eie said, “Abdicate, Pharaoh Akhnaton, if you would preserve your life. Let Sekenre rule in your stead. Let him return to Thebes and make sacrifice to Ammon, and the priests will anoint him and set the red and white crown upon his head.”
But Horemheb said, “My spear shall maintain the crown for you, Pharaoh Akhnaton, if you will return to Thebes and make sacrifice to Ammon. The priests may growl a little, but I will quiet them with my whip, and they will forget their grumbling when you declare a holy war to conquer Syria again for Egypt.”
Pharaoh Akhnaton surveyed them both with a lifeless smile.
“I will live and die as Pharaoh,” he said. “I will never submit myself to the false god, and I will never declare war and preserve my power by blood. Pharaoh has spoken.”
With this he covered his face with a corner of his garment and went, leaving us three alone in the great room with the odor of death in our nostrils.
Eie spread out his arms helplessly and looked at Horemheb. Horemheb did the same and looked at Eie. I sat on the floor, for my knees had no more strength in them, and looked at both. Suddenly Eie smiled slyly and said, “Horemheb, you hold the spear and the throne is yours. Set on your head the two crowns you desire!”
But Horemheb laughed in derision and said, “I am not such a fool. Keep the dirty crowns if you want them. You know very well that we cannot go back to the old times again, for Egypt is threatened by war and famine. If I were to take the crown now the people would blame me for all the evil that must follow, and you would find it an easy matter to depose me when the time was ripe.”
Eie said, “Sekenre, then, if he will agree to return to Thebes. If not he, then Tut; he will certainly comply. Their consorts are of the sacred blood. Let them bear the hatred of the people until the times improve.”
“While you rule beneath their shadow!” said Horemheb.
But Eie replied, “You forget that you have the army and must meet the Hittites. If you can do this, there is no one more powerful in the land of Kem than yourself.”
So they disputed until they perceived that they were bound to one another and could come to no solution save in alliance.
Eie said at last, “I freely admit that I have done my best to depose you, Horemheb. But now you have outgrown me, you Son of the Falcon, and I can no longer dispense with you. If the Hittites invade the country, I shall have no joy of my power, nor do I fancy that any Pepitamon could wage war against them, suitable though such may be as spillers of blood and executioners. Let this be the day of our alliance. Together we can rule the country, but divided we both fall. Without me your army is powerless, and without your army Egypt is lost. Let us swear by all the gods of Egypt that from this day forward we shall hold together. I am already an old man, Horemheb, and desire to taste the sweetness of power, but you are young and have your life before you.”
“I do not desire the crowns but rather a good war for my ruffians,” said Horemheb. “Yet I must have a pledge from you, Eie, or you will betray me at the first opportunity, so do not gainsay me. I know you!”
“What pledge would you have, Horemheb? Is not the army the only valid pledge?”
The face of Horemheb darkened as he glanced about the walls in hesitation and scraped his sandals on the stone floor as if he sought to wriggle his toes into the sand. He said at last, “I would have the Princess Baketaton to wife. Indeed, I mean to break the jar with her though heaven and earth should fall, and you cannot prevent me.”
Eie cried, “Aha! Now I see what you are after; you are more astute than I thought and worthy of my respect. She has already changed her name back to Baketamon, and the priests have nothing against her. In her veins flows the sacred blood of the great Pharaoh. If you wed her, you win a legal right to the crown and a better right than the husbands of Akhnaton’s daughters, for behind them is but the blood of the false Pharaoh. You have worked this out very cunningly, Horemheb, but I cannot approve-or at least not yet-for then I should be in your hands entirely and lack all authority over you.”
But Horemheb cried, “Keep your dirty crowns, Eie! I desire her more than crowns, and I have desired her since the first time I beheld her beauty in the golden house. I seek to mingle my blood with that of the great Pharaoh, that future kings of Egypt may be the fruit of my loins. You desire only the crown, Eie. Take it when you consider the time ripe, and my spear shall support your throne. Give me the Princess, and I will not reign while you live-not though you should live long-for I have my life before me, as you say, and time to wait.”
Eie rubbed his mouth with his hand, musing. As he mused his face brightened, for he perceived he had a bait by which he could lead
Horemheb in the ways that best pleased him. As I sat on the floor listening to their talk, I marveled at the human heart, which allowed these two to dispose of crowns while Pharaoh Akhnaton lived and breathed in the next room.
At length Eie said, “You have waited long for your princess, and may well wait a little longer, for you have first to wage a desperate war. It will take time to win the Princess’s consent; she holds you in great contempt because you were born with dung between the toes. But I and I only have the means to incline her to you, and I swear to you, Horemheb, by all the gods of Egypt, that on the day when I set the red and white crown on my head I will with my own hand break the jar between you and the Princess. More I cannot do for you, and even thus I deliver myself into your hands.”
Horemheb lacked patience to bargain further and said, “Be it so. Let us now bring this nonsense to a happy conclusion, and I do not think you will wriggle overmuch since you so earnestly desire these crowns-these playthings!”
In his excitement he had quite forgotten me, but when he caught sight of me again he said, disconcerted, “Sinuhe, are you still here? You have heard things not fit for unworthy ears, and I fear I must kill you, although unwillingly since you are my friend.”
His words tickled me as I reflected how unworthy were these two men now dividing the crown between them, while I, sitting on the floor, was perhaps the worthiest man of any: the only male heir of the great Pharaoh whose sacred blood ran in my veins. Therefore I could not contain my laughter but pressed my hand over my mouth and tittered like an old woman.
Eie was greatly irritated and said, “It is unseemly in you to laugh, Sinuhe, for these are grave matters. We will not slay you, however, although you deserve it. It was well that you heard what passed. You are our witness. You can never speak of what you have heard here today, for we need you and will bind you to us. You too understand that it is high time for Pharaoh to die. As his physician you shall open his skull this very day and see to it that your knife goes deep enough for him to depart in the decent and traditional manner.”
But Horemheb said, “I will not involve myself in this, for my hands are already dirty enough from having touched the hands of Eie. Yet what he says is true. Pharaoh Akhnaton must die if Egypt is to be saved; there is no other way.”
I giggled again, then mastering myself I said, “As a physician I may not open his skull since there is insufficient reason and I am bound by the code of my profession. But be easy. As his friend I will mix him a good medicine. When he has drunk of it, he will sleep, never to waken again, and in this manner I bind myself to you so that from me you need never fear betrayal.”
And I brought forth the fine glass vessel Hrihor had once given me and mixed its contents with wine in a golden cup; the smell of it was not unpleasant. I took the cup in my hand, and all three of us entered Pharaoh Akhnaton’s room. He had removed the crowns; he had laid aside the whip and the crook and was resting on his couch with a gray face and bloodshot eyes.