The Shepherd Kings by Judith Tarr

Author:Judith Tarr [Tarr, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Egypt, Ancient Egypt, Hyksos, Shepherd Kings, Epona
ISBN: 9781611385243
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2015-06-16T07:00:00+00:00

VII

Kemni did not understand the quarrel between his cousin and the warrior woman Sadana, nor did he particularly want to. He was glad when Sadana was gone, though Iry paced and muttered and was difficult company for an interminable while. She did not go to dinner as she was expected to, nor would she go when she was summoned. A servant brought her something there, in the room she had been given, which she picked at and insisted Kemni finish; and after she had eaten what little she would, she retreated to her bed.

He supposed he should have asked her what was troubling her. But the glances she shot at him were not encouraging, and he was in an odd mood himself. It had struck him as he guarded her, that it had been a considerable while since he saw Iphikleia, or even dreamed of her. It was as if, once he had come into the Lower Kingdom, where he was born, where he was meant to be a lord and a warrior, the gods chose to vex him by day and leave him in peace while he slept.

But sitting in the corner that he had chosen for its clear view of the room and its ease of access to the door, he saw Iphikleia’s face as vividly as if she stood in front of him. He could almost have reached to touch her, or bent to kiss those ripe red lips.

She was sitting in a room he had not seen before, chin in hand, pensive, while Naukrates paced and gesticulated. There were others about them, shadowy figures, Cretan shapes: broad shoulders, narrow hips, the curve of a woman’s breast left bare in the fashion of that country. It was a dream, and yet not. He was seeing what passed in this moment, in Avaris as he supposed; and that must be the gathering of Cretan captains there.

Naukrates was lively but not urgent, Iphikleia pensive but not troubled. That comforted Kemni, though his heart ached to be there, with them, and not trapped here in this game that he had been a fool to play.

If he left now, this very night, found a boat and rode the branch of the river, he would be in Avaris by morning.

But he stayed where he was, listening to Iry’s deep slow breathing. She did not need him to protect her, he had no illusions as to that. Yet she needed the comfort that his presence gave her. He was the only one of her people who was allowed so close—and when he came to Avaris, he must leave her. He had his king to serve, and his queen whom he had been away from too long, and Iphikleia who was more to him than king or queen.

A face hovered over him, born as if out of his dream. But it was never a Cretan face. Not this one, with its blade of a nose and its fierce falcon-eyes.

“Get up,” Sadana said in terrible but understandable Egyptian.

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