Beauty of Re by Mark Gajewski

Author:Mark Gajewski [Gajewski, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B078ZML448
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

***

Nefer and I waited in the Place of Silence, the area outside the audience hall of Waset’s per’aa. We’d walked here along with everyone who’d been summoned by Thut this afternoon, through the entrance of the per’aa and the columned room with the window of appearances and the central court lined with columns, our steps echoing on the plastered and decorated floors. Nefer’s lips were drawn in a tight line; never in her thirty years had she been subjected to such an indignity, entering the throne room through the doorway used by courtiers and common supplicants. Just yesterday, after the seventy–day mummification process, Hatshepsut had been laid to rest in the tomb she’d prepared for herself in the Great Place, its door sealed by Thut using her signet ring. In a few moments Nefer’s fate would be publicly revealed by Thut, after fifteen years once again the sole king of the Two Lands.

I had prepared Nefer to expect the worst today. She had reluctantly agreed to all of Thut’s terms; in the end, she had simply not had the stomach to go to war with him for a throne that deep down in her heart she had never truly wanted. She knew for certain only that her life would be spared, that Thut would take her to wife, and someday, perhaps, he might utilize at least some of her skills and consider their son as his successor. She knew also that she would be made a spectacle of, to firmly cement Thut’s legitimacy and power as king. Needless to say, the night before had been both sleepless and tearful for both of us.

Hatshepsut’s advisors had not willingly accepted Nefer’s surrender to Thut. They’d argued against it for hours when she informed them, threatened to make her king in spite of her wishes, even threatened to put one of their number on the throne, but in the end Hori had supported Nefer’s decision, and with the very real possibility of a split in the priesthood the advisors had given up. Some, I knew, had even fled Waset before Thut’s arrival, afraid for their lives.

The Place of Silence was crowded with individuals, many of whom I knew, but no one uttered a word. That was against the rules. And, no doubt, no one wished to extend any kindness to Nefer, for fear one of Iset’s spies would label him a sympathizer and he would feel her wrath. Eventually the door opened and Intef, Thut’s herald, entered.

Intef was in charge of the audience hall, the man who managed the ceremonies of the court and per’aa, who communicated the king’s messages to the people. He scanned everyone. “I’ll arrange you in two lines now.” He surveyed the room. “At the head of the line on the left, Hapuseneb – Opener of the Gate of Heaven, High Priest of Amun, overseer of the priests of Upper and Lower Kemet.”

Hapuseneb slowly took his place. His shoulders were bowed with age and, I thought, despair.

“Next, Aametshu, vizier of Upper Kemet.

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