The Women and the Boatman by Mark Gajewski

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

***

I crouched just inside the entrance of the wood and reed building sheltering Aboo’s burial pit later that same night, keeping watch. A slim crescent of moon hovered slightly above the rim of the plateau a few dozen yards to the west. A warm breeze caressed my face. This particular structure was complete, except for being plastered inside and out and painted. That was scheduled for the next inundation. The rest of the partially–constructed buildings of Aboo’s complex appeared ghostly in the dim light of the river of stars flowing high overhead, featureless, indistinct shapes. I heard a scuffing step. A dark figure was approaching, someone clearly trying not to make a sound.

“Amenia?” I called in a low voice.

“Nykara?”

She closed the space between us.

“Were you followed?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. I could still hear Uncle snoring halfway through the upper settlement.” She shivered, looked over her shoulder. “Why did you want to meet in the cemetery, at this time of night?”

“I didn’t want to risk us being discovered. Come inside. I’ll explain. Abar’s here, too.”

She was huddled next to a small bowl of oil with a flaming linen wick at the bottom of Aboo’s burial pit. It provided little light; it was as much as I dared risk. The last thing I needed was a bright light in the rulers’ cemetery to attract anyone’s attention.

Amenia sat down cross–legged next to Abar. Abar greeted her and smiled, her face barely illuminated by the lamp. She glanced from Amenia to me. “You know, this is the first time the three of us have ever been alone together.”

“I’d say it’s about time,” I replied.

Amenia nodded. “So, Nykara, why now?”

“Dedi made me his heir a few hours ago,” I said.

Amenia gasped. She looked first at Abar, then me. “But that means…”

“It has implications for all of us,” I interrupted. “But so do several things that subsequently happened. I wanted to tell you both at the same time so we can make a plan to deal with it.”

The two women looked at each other uncertainly.

“I’ll start at the beginning,” I said. “A few hours after Dedi and I returned from Maadi he met with the elites in his hut. Abar and I were there too.”

“It was raucous,” Abar interjected. “The elites criticized Rawer for over an hour. They didn’t hold back.” She smiled. “Neither did I.”

“After the elites and you left, Abar, Dedi summoned Rawer,” I continued. “He denounced Rawer scathingly and at great length for his assorted failures. He announced under no circumstance would Rawer ever have anything to do with his enterprise – fleet, craftsmen, trade, his workers. Then Dedi told me I was now his heir.”

I saw resignation on Amenia’s face. Her greatest fear, realized.

“I suppose Rawer threatened to go to Father to get him to overrule Grandfather,” Abar said.

“Surprisingly, he didn’t. The opposite, in fact. Rawer said the last month had humbled him. He said he’d thought he could manage Dedi’s enterprise, but he hadn’t grasped the complexities. The years he’d wasted in frivolity, he said, had finally come home to roost.

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