Chapter Six

Several days later, Kevinkare visited Meritaten for the last time.

“You’re foot is looking very well. Let’s try it out.” He helped her up.

From being off her feet for so long, Meritaten was a little wobbly. She started walking with baby-steps toward the balcony. Kevinkare walked with her, matching her pace.

All of a sudden her foot slipped and she went sprawling towards the floor. She put her hands out in front of her to catch herself and slammed her eyes closed. She didn’t feel the impact of the hard, marble floor but of soft, supporting arms.

She opened one eye to look up into Kevinkare’s eyes--the same shade as Hathor’s jewels. She remembered the goddess of love, one of the few old gods she kept in secret.

He smiled down at her.

She blushed, but she didn’t pull away. Slowly, she stood on her own two feet.

Kevinkare didn’t pull his arms away.

Meritaten didn’t know what to do, but in the end, she decided to go for it. She stood up on tip-toe and kissed him.

Startled, Kevinkare couldn’t force himself to pull away.

When they pulled away, Kevinkare slowly stepped away. “I can’t do this, Meritaten. I want to, but if I’m caught...”

“Yes, I know, but I don’t care. Treason or not, I want to be with you.” The past few days, what had been simple attraction had flowered into love.

Kevinkare couldn’t deny his feelings for her anyhow. Nefertiti wouldn’t mind, and he was already betraying the king. Why not go right into it?

He moved toward her and encircled her in his arms, lowering his face to her own.

*****

Later that day, as Kevinkare held Meritaten in his arms, he told her about The Cause.

“I don’t want there to be any secrets between us,” he told her. “You don’t have to agree with us.”

“Kevinkare, I love you. Whatever you’re involved with, I want to be also.”

He grinned at her.

When he truly smiled happily, Meritaten would shiver with joy.

“I’ll join your Cause,” she promised.

“You wouldn’t betray us?”

“Kevinkare!” she glared at him. “I think you’d trust me.”

“I do, I do. I’ve been here for a while. I’m going to have to leave.”

“Here.” Meritaten led him toward the far wall. She pressed a hieroglyphic in and the wall panel swung open. “Come to me this way from now on. I’ll sneak out to see you too.”

With a final kiss in parting, Kevinkare tore himself away.

*****

Three and a half months passed.

Through Nefertiti and Meritaten, they gathered interesting and substantial information that they could use against the king. However, no time was ever right for them to come out and subtly dispose of him.

Brianamun had spent his time off conducting secret meetings with supporters.

More than a few times, Nefret had been sent to him. Through her, Brianamun and Nefertiti had forged a friendship.

One day, Brianamun was packing up to return to Thebes and his priestly duties.

A servant entered. “You have a guest, my lord. She gives her name as Nefret.”

“Send her in then.”

Nefret walked in.

As always, Brianamun was overwhelmed by her other-worldly beauty. She looked like a goddess come to life.

Quietly, Nefret reported the current news from the palace. There wasn’t much to tell.

“What’s the gossip?” he inquired, returning to his packing--unable to watch her.

“They say Nefertiti has found a secret lover, and that’s why she is happy and youthful again.”

Brianamun chuckled. “That’s not Nefertiti’s style.”

“No.” She was uncharacteristically shy.

“Nefertiti also told me to tell you that if anything comes up, I will be sent to Thebes to report it to you directly.”

Brianamun looked up and thought a moment. “That’ll be difficult. They won’t trust me with a pretty girl like you... You’ll have to sneak at night.” He brought out a map of the wrecked Karnak, Amun’s once great temple. He pointed out a fairly large house within it. “That’s where I live. Sneak in a window. I’ll leave one open for you.”

She blushed and nodded. “Hopefully something won’t come up too important.”

“No, it may be just what we’re looking for.”

“If something minor comes up, I’ll tell Alexhotep or Kevinkare.”

A flustered servant, the same who’d introduced Nefret, came in. “A man says it is urgent that he talks with you.”

“Who?”

“He won’t give his name. He just tossed me in the direction of your room, my lord.”

“Send him in.”

Expecting some lunatic, Brianamun and Nefret were greeted by the tall, blonde frame of Nickathor. Happy to be back in Egypt, Nickathor pulled his friend into a hug.

“It’s good to be back,” Nickathor stated. “Nothing compares to good, ol’ Egypt.”

“Not even Greece?” Brianamun teased.

“Naw. Not even my home country.”

Nickathor turned to look at Nefret. “Who’s this? Have you found yourself a wife finally, Bri?”

Both Brianamun and Nefret blushed deeply.

“No,” Brianamun replied. “This is Kevinkare’s sister, Nefret. She’s with us.”

“The queen will be expecting me back shortly. I should be on my way,” Nefret murmured, hurrying out.

“Was it something I said?” Nickathor asked innocently.

“As always, I think that’s a yes. Sit down. We have a lot to talk about. First, tell me about what happened with the northern protectorates.”

Nickathor began to explain what he’d done over the previous four months. “I went to every fort imaginable. Everyone up there thinks Akhenaten’s a fool and that he’ll be easy to get rid of.”

“That’s where we’ve been wrong all along. We have people now who are extremely close to the king, and they tell us that he’s well guarded. He expects things like what we’ve been planning from the start. We need to outsmart him. He’s not as dumb as we’ve thought him to be. He may not be strong physically, but he has his well-being guarded by the soldiers, but his captain of the guard is with us. Yet those who protect him are loyal, but our man can easily change that. A holiday, a vacation, a change of the guard with the wrong guard. However, that’d be too obvious--”

“Who do we have in the palace besides Kevinkare, Howymose, and that girl who was just here?”

“Well, Kevinkare isn’t really that close to Pharaoh, but Howymose has a good position. But we have new people. Alexhotep has moved up. He’s now captain of the guard--”

“Good for him! I knew he’d become prominent to both Pharaoh and us! Who else?”

“Meritaten--”

“Meritaten?! The princess?!”

“Shhh!!” Brianamun hissed. “Keep your voice down. Yes. She and Kevinkare have become... er, close, and she’s come over to our side.”

“ ‘Close’? How close?”

“You know Kevinkare.”

Nickathor grinned. “Who else is new?”

“This is even more unbelievable than Meritaten.”

“Who?”

“Nefertiti.”

Nickathor started choking on his own saliva. “You’re kidding?”

“Not at all. Nefret became the mistress of her household, which is also the position of confidant to the queen. Nefertiti confided her desire to turn the country back to the true gods. Nefret told her of The Cause. Since I was too risky to bring into the palace and Kevinkare was already there, they sent for him.”

“Geez! Kevinkare gets all the luck.”

“It’s the grace of the gods, that’s what it is.”

“Any startling revelations that I should know about?”

“We’ve been watching Akhenaten forever it seems now, but he’s careful.

He hasn’t slipped yet, but when he does, we’ll be waiting. In this game, you have to have patience.”

“Yeah...” Nickathor sighed. Patience was not his strong-point. “Well, the north is with us and will support us if it the gods call for war.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. The only blood I want to shed is that of Akhenaten.”

“So where do we go from here?”

“I go back to Thebes. In a month, we’ll see what happens.”

“Anything can happen in a month.”

“And it usually does, but I will pray to Amun, make the offerings and rituals.”

“What am I to do here?”

“What do you usually do at home?”

Nickathor laughed. “We’ll see, we’ll see.”

“I’m sorry,” Brianamun went on. “My ship leaves today, and I haven’t finished packing yet. I’ll see you in a month.”

Nickathor embraced his best-friend once again (this time in goodbye) and left.

Towards early evening, Brianamun just made it before his ship cast off. He felt like he was leaving a part of him behind as he watched Akhetaten fade into the background. Normally, he’d have felt glad to leave, what was so different now? What had changed?

****

Nickathor left Brianamun’s house. He headed in the direction of the market. As he neared, scents of spices, perfume, and hundreds of different types of food met his nose.

He wandered through it. I’ll have to send a servant out to buy food, he thought. He was examining some food thoughtfully when he heard a commotion coming from an alley. One voice was talking forcefully in a whisper, while the other, obviously feminine, had no shame about who they were talking to.

“I didn’t take your darned perfume,” the girl snapped.

The whispered-voice hissed something in response.

Curious, Nickathor made his way over.

He saw a round, obese man glaring forcefully at a young girl. He had a firm hold on her arm--grip that looked like it must hurt.

The girl herself was glaring just as forcefully back at the man. She was small-boned with curly, black hair and ebony eyes. She was clearly a Nubian, and Nickathor was immediately attracted to her.

“Excuse me,” he interrupted. “What’s going on here?”

“She tried to steal from my cart.”

“Oh, really?”

The girl turned her sarcastic glare on Nickathor.

“Mind your own business,” she snapped. Toward her captor, “Let met go at once.”

“What did she try and steal?” Nickathor asked.

“A perfume.”

From Nickathor’s judgment, she didn’t look like the type to go around stealing scents if anything.

She turned back to Nickathor. “If you want to help me at all, make him let go of me.”

She wriggled in the man’s grasp.

The man was getting tired and finally let go of her. “Just get out of here, you brat,” he spat. “Don’t let me see you around my cart ever again.”

“Gladly.” She rolled her eyes and headed back out into the streets.

Nickathor followed. “Hey, wait up. My name’s Nickathor.”

“Aneski.”

“ ‘She belongs to me.’ Sounds more like a pet name to me.”

“Well, it’s my name.”

“Are you visiting Egypt, or do you live here?”

“I live here. I just came. My family’s all back in Nubia, but it was time for a change. Besides, I have... things to do here. Do you know where I can find a Brianaten?”

Nickathor flinched. “Why?”

“He offered me a job.” It was a one of the code-phrases. She was testing him.

“You’re going to work for him?”

“Yes.”

“He went back to Thebes.”

“Oh, yes, I meant to get here before he left.”

“I am his good friend and co-worker. Maybe I can help you.”

“Um, maybe not.”

“Work with me for a little while. I don’t know what I’m doing yet because I need to talk to Kevinkare, Brianaten’s second in command.”

“Okay then. I might as well hang around with you until I can find something better.”

Nickathor laughed. “ ‘Something better’....”

Chapter 7