The Crocodile Makes No Sound by N.L. Holmes

Author:N.L. Holmes [Holmes, N.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: N.L. Holmes
Published: 2020-05-07T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Hani jumped backward like a frightened cat, his heart thundering, before he could wrap his mind around what he saw. “Amen-em-hut!”

“Hani,” said the priest faintly. He dropped the knife with a clatter. In the near darkness, he was a wraithlike bearded figure, wild-eyed and ready to bolt, like a cornered animal. The room stank of sweat and dung.

“By the Hidden One, man. What are you doing here?” Hani extended his hands to his brother-in-law, who took them, trembling. He seemed to have trouble standing up. Hani supported him to a seat on a sack of manure, where he slumped wearily.

Amen-em-hut squinted against the light, holding up a hand to block it. “I’m hiding. What do you think?”

“In my boat shed? Why didn’t you go into the house? The servants would’ve let you in.”

“I don’t want anybody to know I’m here, Hani. I’ve already endangered you and Nub-nefer by hiding on your property. I need to go somewhere else. Forgive me.”

“Not at all. Your only offense was not asking me for help.” Hani put an arm under the smaller man’s armpits and helped him stand. “Come inside with me, by all that’s decent. Nub-nefer would never forgive me for leaving you here like this.”

Amen-em-hut made a broken sound that might have been a chuckle or a sob. “I dared not tell her or Anuia where I was going. I know they’re worried, but if the medjay interrogate them, it’s better they know nothing.”

“Of course. But you can’t live like this for long. What have you been eating? You’re skin and bones.”

They moved up the path toward the house through the orchard, shuffling at the priest’s pace. He looked terribly weak and sick, holding a hand up to protect his eyes from the unaccustomed light.

“Not much. Your servants very conscientiously lock everything up at night. Fruit, when I could find some. Grain. What I could steal from your pigs.”

The poor man, Hani thought, his heart wrenched with pity. What an indignity. “Where did you sleep in there?”

“In your boat.” Amen-em-hut laughed giddily. “I could certainly use a bath.”

“Of course. The house is yours. Use whatever you need. Eat, for the sake of all that’s holy. Sleep in a bed. No one would ever look for you here.”

But Amen-em-hut seemed unconvinced of that. He shot a worried look at Hani. “I don’t want to bring danger down on you and Nub-nefer, Hani.”

“Don’t worry, my friend. I can send the servants to the city and leave you here alone if you want, but I really don’t have any doubts about their loyalty. Why would they even know the police are after you?”

They hobbled past the grain silos and the animal pens and into the garden. Unoccupied, the yard was utterly silent. The servants had fed the geese and the pigs and turned the cows out before they headed to the village for the festivities.

Hani pulled up the door bolt one handed and ushered his brother-in-law into the cool interior. “Are the police after

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