Although she smiled, her dark eyes were haunted by sorrow.
'Oh, Taita, I do not know how we have done without you,' she told him, and buried her face in his beard. He stroked her head, and at his touch her gaiety evaporated. Her whole body shook with sobs. 'I thought you would never return and that Nefer and 1 had lost you also, as we have lost Khaba and little Unas.'
“I have been told of your bereavement. 1 grieve with you,' Taita murmured.
'I try to be brave. So many mothers have suffered as I have. But it is bitter to have my babies taken from me so soon.' She stood back and tried to smile again, but her eyes were welling and her lips quivered.
'Come, 1 want you to meet the other children. Most of them you know.
Only the two youngest have never met you. They are waiting for you.'
They were lined up in two ranks. The boys in front, the princesses behind them. All were stiff with awe and respect. The smallest girl was so overcome by the stories of the great magus her siblings had told her that she dissolved into tears as soon as he looked at her. Taita picked her up and held her head against his shoulder while he whispered to her.
She relaxed at once, sniffed back the tears and wrapped both arms round his neck.
'I would never have believed it if I did not remember the winning ways you have with children and animals.' Mintaka smiled at him, then called the others forward one at a time.
'I have never laid eyes on such beautiful children,' Taita told her, 'but, then, I am not surprised. They have you as their mother.'
At last Mintaka sent them away and took Taita's hand. She led him to her private apartments, where they sat beside the open window to catch the faint breeze and look out over the western hills. While she poured sherbet for him she said, 'I used to love to gaze out over the river, but no longer. The sight breaks my heart. Soon the waters will return, though. It has been prophesied.'
'By whom?' Taita asked idly, but his interest quickened when for answer she gave him a knowing, enigmatic smile, then turned the conversation to the happy times, not long past, when she was a beautiful young bride and the land was green and fruitful. Her mood lightened and she spoke animatedly. He waited for her to finish, knowing that she could not long resist returning to the mysterious prophecy.
Suddenly she dropped the reminiscences. 'Taita, do you know that our old gods have become feeble? They will soon be replaced by a new goddess with absolute power. She will restore the Nile, and rid us of the plagues that the old, effete gods have been unable to prevent.'
Taita listened respectfully. 'No, Majesty, this I did not know.'
'Oh, yes, it is certain.' Her pale features glowed with fresh colour and the years seemed to drop away. She was a girl again, suffused with joy and hope. 'But more, Taita, so much more.' She paused portentously, then went on in a rush of words, 'This goddess has the power to restore all that has been lost or taken cruelly from us, but only if we dedicate ourselves to her. If we render to her our hearts and souls, she can give back to us our youth. She can bring happiness to those who suffer and mourn. But, think on this, Taita - she even has the power to resurrect the dead.' Tears started in her eyes again, and she was so breathless with excitement that her voice shook as though she had run a long race: 'She can give me back my babies! I will be able to hold the warm, living bodies of Khaba and Unas in my arms and kiss their little faces.'
Taita could not bear to deprive her of the solace that this new hope gave her. 'These are matters almost too marvellous for us to comprehend,'
he said solemnlv.
'Yes, yes! It has to be explained to you by the prophet. Only then does it become clear as the brightest crystal. You cannot doubt it.'
'Who is this prophet?”
'His name is Soe.'
'Where is he to be found, Mintaka?' Taita asked.
She clapped her hands with excitement. 'Oh, Taita, this is the very best part of it,' she cried. 'He is here in my palace! I have given him sanctuary from the priests of the old gods, Osiris, Horus and Isis. They hate him for the truth he speaks. They have tried repeatedly to assassinate him. Every day he instructs me and those he chooses in the new religion.
It is such a beautiful faith, Taita, that even you will be unable to resist it, but it has to be learnt in secret. Egypt is still too steeped in the worthless old superstitions. They must be eradicated before the new religion can flourish. The common people are not yet ready to accept the goddess.'
Taita nodded thoughtfully. He was filled with deep pity for her. He understood how those driven to the extremes of suffering will clutch vainly at the air as they fall. 'What is the name of this wonderful new goddess?'
'Her name is too holy to be spoken aloud by unbelievers. Only those who have taken her into their hearts and souls may utter it. Even I must complete my instruction with Soe before it is told to me.'
'When does Soe come to instruct you? I long to hear him expound these wondrous theories.'
'No, Taita,' she cried. 'You must understand that they are not theories.
They are the manifest truth. Soe comes to me each morning and evening.
He is the wisest and most holy man 1 have ever met.' Despite her bright expression, tears began to stream down her face again. She seized his hand and squeezed it. 'You will come to listen to him, promise me.'
'I am grateful to you for the trust you place in me, my beloved queen.
When will it be?'
'This evening, after we have had supper,' she told him.
Taita thought for a moment. 'You say he only preaches to those he selects. What if he refuses me? I would be distraught if he did so.'
'He would never turn away anyone as wise and renowned as you, Great Magus.'
'I would not want to take that chance, my dearest Mintaka. Would it not be possible for me to listen to him without disclosing my identity just yet?'
Mintaka looked at him dubiously. 'I would not wish to deceive him,'
she said at last.
'I plan no deception, Mintaka. Where do you meet him?'
'In this apartment. He sits where you now sit. On that self-same cushion.'
'Are there just the two of you?'
'No, three of my favourite ladies are with us. They have become as devoted to the goddess as I am.'
Taita was studying the layout of the room carefully, but he kept asking his questions to distract her. 'Will the goddess ever announce herself to all the peoples of Egypt, or will her religion be revealed to only those few she chooses?'
'When Nefer and I have taken her deeply into our hearts, renounced the false gods, torn down their temples and dispersed the priesthood, the goddess will come forth in glory. She will put an end to the plagues and heal all the suffering they have caused. She will order the Nile waters to flow . ..' she hesitated, then ended in a rush '… and give my babies back to me.'
'My precious queen. How I wish with all my heart that this will come to pass. But, tell me, has Nefer been made aware of these events?'
She sighed. 'Nefer is a wise and excellent ruler. He is a mighty warrior, a loving husband and father, but he is not a spiritual man. Soe agrees with me that we should reveal all to him only at the appropriate time, which is not yet.'
Taita nodded gravely. Pharaoh will be moved to learn, from his own beloved wife, that his grandfather and grandmother, his father and mother, not to mention the holy trinity of Osiris, Isis and Horus, are to be summarily renounced, he thought. Even he is to be stripped of his divinity. I think I know him well enough to predict that it will not happen while he lives.
That idea loosed in Taita's mind a swarm of terrifying possibilities. If Nefer Seti and his closest councillors and advisers were no longer alive to keep her in check, the prophet Soe would be left in control of a queen who would carry out his commands without question or resistance.