Eye of the Moon by Dianne Hofmeyr Read Free Book Online Page A

anoints his head
with her flames. Through her, the terror that he inspires is made more. Such is her power!
    She sat on the pharaoh’s brow with her hood flaring, ready to spit poison at all his enemies. Ready to burn them with her fiery glare. But she was a fickle goddess. Not just the defender of the pharaoh. She could be
against
him as well. Her bite could cause the pharaoh’s death.
    As I stood there, I felt I was calling up her anger. I clasped my arms quickly across my chest and held my hands to my throat for protection against her deadly bite.
    â€œHurry, Isikara!”
    On another wall Hathor was drawing Amenhotep along, wearing an exquisite dress of turquoise beads clinging in a cloudlike net to the curves of her body, carrying the moon on her head, a turquoise broad collar around her neck, flaring cobras with burning carnelian eyes dangling dangerously from her ears. I begged her for protection as I passed.
    Beyond her, my eye caught a glimmer and sparkle of things in great heaps in some side chambers.
    Tuthmosis saw my glance. “It’s my father’s treasure.His gold chariot for his ride across the heavens. His gold bark to carry him along the river of the Underworld. His throne embellished with ivory, bloodstones, and lapis lazuli. His gilded cheetah bed. His servants are all there, too, sculpted in terra-cotta, and his gold hunting bow, along with a gold statue of his favorite hunting dog embedded with emerald eyes.”
    â€œSo much?” My whisper echoed into the dark spaces.
    â€œEven more. Rolls of fine linen, leopard-skin cloaks, gold-bladed jewel-encrusted daggers, headrests made of glass, chests filled with golden goblets, scarabs, amulets, necklaces, bracelets, breastplates, rings set with stones of every shade of the rainbow, alabaster jars filled with the best wine and olive oil and caskets of ox and goose meat. Not just his favorite chariot. More than six chariots. All has been catered for.” Tuthmosis nodded toward some paintings of men bearing gifts. “The princes of Syria, Palestine, Babylon, and Nubia lavished him with turquoise, amethysts, perfumed oils, gold, ivory, and skins. And here it all is!” He swept his arm around the darkness.
    We entered into a passageway and were prevented from going farther by a well shaft carved into a sharp right turn. The shaft was flush with the walls and wide enough to prevent anyone from jumping across it. Its sides fell straight down into the heart of the mountain. Deep below, I caught an oily black reflection of water. There were no footholds to give access to the opposite side.
    â€œHow’ll we cross?”
    â€œStone slabs originally bridged the gap. They’ve been removed to prevent anyone from reaching my father’s treasure. But there’s another secret way out. My father sculpted a series of vaults, with sliding doors and secret passageways meant only for his trusted vizier so he could enter and inspect the well and ensure it collected and prevented water from running down the passages into the burial chamber.”
    â€œIt can’t be so secret if workmen knew of it.”
    â€œEach team of builders worked on only a section of the secret labyrinth. No one but my father’s vizier knew the final plan.”
    â€œNo one but the vizier and
you
!”
    Tuthmosis ducked behind a small pillar. A statue of Anubis glared at us from a niche. A metal collararound Anubis’s neck was linked by a heavy chain to a metal ring in the stone floor. The prince pushed against the niche and it swung open.
    â€œA secret door?”
    He nodded. “It swings back to rest in place again.” He was about to allow it to shut behind us.
    â€œWait! What about my father? How’ll he know it’s a secret door?”
    Tuthmosis pulled off one of his sandals and wedged it in place so that a small gap showed.
    I’d lost track of time. It was hard to tell how long we’d been in the passageways.