An Evil Spirit Out of the West (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries) by Paul Doherty Read Free Book Online Page B

and titles but his power, whilst Prince Tuthmosis was finding his feet and wielding authority amongst the young men of the Kap. I, in turn, was becoming more curious about my surroundings. Years away from Aunt Isithia, I now began to crawl out of my shell or nest, the House of Instruction, and my first foray formed one of those threads which would later bind my entire life. I had been out with a kitchen servant, a sweet girl with beaded head-band and pretty gorget. We had gone deep into the orchards, then she left whispering how she would be missed and flitted away like a shadow through the trees.
    I lay for a while staring up at the branches and listening to the early morning call of the birds. It was one of those inauspicious days, decreed by the Priests of the Calendar to be touched by Seth the Red-Haired God. Accordingly, there would be no instruction, no school, nothing but boredom from dawn to dusk. I had stolen out, met the girl and now wondered if I should go back. Instead I decided to explore the orchard and, for the first time, approached the Silent Pavilion. I had heard of this place from chatter in the dormitory and the drill ground but had paid it no attention. It lay some distance from the Residence. It wasn’t really a pavilion but a two-storeyed house peeping above a high, whitewashed wall. From my vantage point I could glimpse date palms, sycamore trees and terebrinths. A canal from the Nile had been dug in to water the grass, gardens and herbs. I crept closer, moving silently amongst the trees, and discovered that the Pavilion had only one entrance – a spiked double gate of heavy wood painted a gleaming black.
    I approached the gate but froze. It was guarded by Kushite mercenaries, in fringed leather kilts, copper-studded baldrics across their chests; there were at least a dozen of them, some armed with the khopesh thrust through their sash, others with spears and shields bearing the insignia of the Isis and Ptah Regiments. A few archers also patrolled the area, heavy composite bows in their hands, quivers of cruel barbed arrows slung across their backs. They all wore the imperial blue and gold head-dress which stretched from their forehead down to the nape of their neck, each warrior displaying the Gold Collar of Bravery and the Silver Bees of Valour. Yet, even from where I crouched, I noticed they were all disfigured: one had an eye missing, another had suffered a deep scar which ran across his face and down into his neck: a third had his left cheek shrivelled, the eye pulled down as if he had escaped from some hideous fire.
    The sun had risen though a faint mist still clung to the trees. I had just decided to withdraw when I heard a shout, that of a boy playing in the courtyard beyond. I also noticed the heavy rutted tracks of a cart marking the entrance to the gate. Mystified, I crouched back and listened more intently. Again the shout. Memories flooded back of Aunt Isithia’s house. Was this a similar situation? A boy playing by himself, guarded by adults?
    I returned to the Residence. When I questioned my companions they were equally mystified, though Rameses smirked slyly, rubbing that beaked nose as if he knew a secret but was unwilling to share it. Huy whispered something about being careful, how the Silent Pavilion was forbidden territory. I went to see Weni, who was sunning himself against a wall, a jug of dark beer in his lap – an increasingly common sight. We had begun to lose our fears of him. He was slower; sometimes his speech was slurred, whilst he depended more and more on his subordinates. Since the incident of the goose he had shown me a little more respect. When I asked him about the Silent Pavilion, he sat up, slurped from the beer jug, opened his mouth to bellow at me but then shrugged.
    ‘Sooner or later,’ he mumbled.
    ‘Sooner or later what?’
    Weni stared slack-jawed.
    ‘Who’s there?’ I asked.
    Weni blinked and swallowed hard. He gazed round the courtyard then tapped