The Quest

'That is so, Pharaoh,' Taita agreed. 'I could tell you many such things, but one comes instantly to my mind. Do you remember when you were still Prince Nefer Memnon and not Pharaoh of the Two Kingdoms, when you were my student and ward and my pet name for you was Mem?'

Pharaoh nodded. 'I remember well.' His voice had dropped to a husky whisper and his gaze softened. 'But many others could have known such a thing.'

'I can tell you more, Mem. I can tell you how when you were a boy we set pigeon decoys beside the pool of Gebel Nagara in the wilderness and waited twenty days for the royal falcon, your godbird, to come to them.'

'My godbird never came to the decoys,' said Nefer Seti, and Taita saw by the flickering of his aura that he was laying a trap to test him.

'Your falcon came,' Taita contradicted him. 'The lovely falcon that was proof of your royal right to the double crown of Egypt.'

'We captured him,' Nefer Seti said triumphantly.

'Nay, Mem. The falcon refused the decoy and flew away.'

'We abandoned the hunt.'

'Nay again, Mem. Your memory fails you. We followed the bird deeper into the wilderness.'

'Ah, yes! To the bitter Lake Natron.'

'Nay yet again. You and I went to the mountain of Bir Umm Masara.

While I held you on the rope, you climbed to the falcon's eyrie high in the eastern face of the mountain to take down the chicks.' By now Nefer Seti was staring at him with bright eyes. 'When you reached the nest you found that the cobra had been there before you. The birds were dead, killed by the venomous bite of the serpent.'

'Oh, Magus, none but you could have known these things. Forgive me for not acknowledging you. All my life you were my guide and mentor, and now I have denied you.' Nefer Seti was stricken with remorse. He strode across the room and enfolded Taita in his powerful arms. When at last they drew apart, he could not take his eyes off Taita's face. 'The transformation in you defies my powers of comprehension. Tell me how this came about.'

'There is much to tell,' Taita agreed. 'But before that there are other matters we needs must deal with. First, there is somebody I would present to you.' Taita held out his hand and, once again, the air shimmered, then solidified into the shape of a young woman. She also smiled at Nefer Seti.

'As you have done so often before, you confound me with your

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magic,' Nefer Seti said. 'Who is this creature? Why have you brought her to me?'

'Her name is Fenn and she is an adept of the right-hand path.'

'She is too young for that.'

'She has lived other lives.'

'She is surpassing beautiful.' He looked at her with the eye of a lusty man. 'Yet there is something hauntingly familiar about her. Her eyes . ..

I know those eyes.' He searched for the memory. 'They remind me of someone I once knew well.'

'Pharaoh, Fenn is my consort.'

'Your consort? How can that be? You are a—' He checked his tongue.

'Forgive me, Magus. I intended no slight nor injury to your dignity.'

'It is true, Pharaoh, that I was once a eunuch, but now I am a man, whole and complete. Fenn is my woman.'

'So much has changed,' Nefer Seti protested. 'No sooner do I solve one riddle than you present me with another—' He broke off, still staring at Fenn. 'Those eyes. Those green eyes. My father! Those are the eyes of my father. Is it possible that Fenn is of my own royal blood?'

'Come, Mem!' Taita chided him gently. 'First, you complain of the mysteries I lay before you, and then you demand I heap more upon you.

Let me tell you simply that Fenn stands in your direct line. Your blood is her blood, but far back in time.'

'You said that she has lived other lives. Was it in one of those other lives?'

'Even so,' Taita agreed.

'Explain it to me!' Pharaoh commanded.

'Later we will have time for that. However, you and Egypt are still under threat. You already know of the witch, Eos, who stopped the waters of Mother Nile.'

'Is it true that you destroyed her in her lair?'

'The witch is no more, but one of her minions is still at large. His name is Soe. He is a dangerous man.'

'Soe! I know of a man by that name. Mintaka spoke of him. He is a preacher, the apostle of a new goddess.'

'Spelt backwards his name is Eos. His goddess was the sorceress. His purpose was to destroy you and your bloodline, and to usurp the double throne of Egypt for the witch.'

Nefer Seti's expression was horror-struck. 'This Soe had the ear of Mintaka, my principal wife. She believes in him. He converted her to his new religion.'

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'Why did you not intervene?'

'I humoured her. Mintaka was demented with grief for our dead babies.

Soe gave her comfort. I saw no harm in it.”

'There was great harm in it,' Taita said. 'Harm to you and to Egypt.

Soe is still a terrible threat. He is the last adherent of the witch, the last remaining vestige of her presence on this earth. He is part of the Great Lie.'

'What must I do, Taita? As soon as the Nile began to flow again, Soe disappeared. We do not know what has become of him.'

'Before anything else, I must capture him and bring him to you. Queen Mintaka is so deeply in his thrall that she believes all he tells her. She would have given you over to him. She will not believe evil of him, unless the confession of that evil comes from the mouth of Soe himself.'

'What do you need from me, Taita?' Nefer Seti asked.

'You must take Queen Mintaka away. I need to have the freedom of the Palace of Memnon on the west bank. Take her to Assuit to make sacrifice at the temple of Hathor. Tell her that the goddess appeared to you in a vision and demanded this of you both for the sake of your dear babes, Prince Khaba and his little sister Unas, who are now in the underworld.'

'It is true that I have felt the need to make sacrifice to Hathor. The queen and I will leave by royal barge in five days' time, on the night of the new moon. What else do you require of me?'

“I need Lord Meren and a hundred of your best fighting men. Meren must carry your Hawk Seal, which gives him your unbridled authority.'

'He shall have these things.'

No sooner had the royal couple embarked on their barge and sailed away than Meren and Taita, with the escort of guardsmen, crossed the Nile to the west bank. They rode up the hills to Mintaka's abode, the Palace of Memnon, and arrived with the dawn.

The household was taken by surprise. The palace vizier, with a detachment of the household guards at his back, tried ineffectually to oppose their entry. The palace guards, though, were soft from a life of good eating and high living. Nervously they eyed the hundred hard warriors that faced them.

Meren held up the Hawk Seaclass="underline" 'We are carrying out the orders of Pharaoh Nefer Seti. Stand aside and let us pass!'

'He bears the Hawk Seal.' The vizier capitulated and turned to the captain of the palace guards. 'Take your men back to their barracks and keep them there until I send you word.'

Meren and Taita marched into the entrance portico of the palace, their nailed sandals ringing on the marble slabs. Taita was no longer covered by the spell of concealment. Instead he wore a breastplate of crocodile skin and a matching helmet, the visor drawn down to cover his features. He cut a formidable and menacing figure. The palace servants and Mintaka's maids fled before him.

'Where do we begin the search, Magus?' Meren asked. 'Is the creature still hiding here?'

'Soe is here.'

'You are so certain.'

'The foul reek of Eos is heavy in the air,' Taita told him.

Meren sniffed loudly.

'I can smell nothing.'

'Keep ten of your men with us. Place the rest to cover all the doors and gates. Soe has the ability to change his physical shape and form so nobody must leave this palace, neither man, nor woman, nor animal,' Taita told him. Meren relayed his orders and the men marched away to their posts.