Egypt by Nick Drake Read Free Book Online

floor, the walls, and even the ceiling. Elegant fish swam beneath my feet. Wild ducks rose up from the papyrus reed beds of the Great River. The painted water was clean and the painted flowers were perfect. It all seemed like wishful thinking.
    With nothing to do but wait, I drifted back to a reverie of one of the last times I had entered this palace. I had returned from the royal hunt with the corpse of Tutankhamun, who had been killed in a hunting accident. For this, I had incurred Ay’s wrath, and his unending enmity. And Ankhesenamun, the King’s young wife, the daughter of Nefertiti, had known at once that her own destiny was changed for ever. Instead of the new enlightenment which she and Tutankhamun had intended to bring to the empire, she had been forced to marry the vicious old Vizier, Ay. She had had to acquiesce to his ascension to absolute power in order to prevent an even worse outcome: a military coup by General Horemheb. And now, with Ay’s impending death, it seemed that that great disaster had only been postponed, and would soon be upon us.
    As I was pondering these matters, footsteps approached. I looked up to see a friendly face. It was Simut, Commander of the Palace Guard. A Nubian, he was statuesque and broad-shouldered, and possessed a face of burnished integrity. We had been together with King Tutankhamun when he had died.
    â€˜Have you put on weight?’ he asked, assessing me.
    â€˜Probably,’ I said. ‘I wish I could say the same of you. You always look so absurdly fit and healthy.’
    He laughed quietly and invited me to sit on one of the gilded benches near by.
    â€˜What brings you back to the palace after all this time?’ he asked.
    â€˜I’m accompanying the royal envoy, Nakht. But in a private capacity, as it were. I’m really only here for show…’
    â€˜Ah,’ he said, delicately grasping my meaning. ‘Well, it’s good to see you. How long has it been?’
    â€˜A while,’ I replied, carefully.
    â€˜Best not to dwell too much in the past,’ he offered. ‘Although the present isn’t promising, either. And as for the future…’
    He shrugged his big shoulders. And then he added quietly: ‘She still asks after you, from time to time, you know.’
    I felt ridiculously gratified to hear the Queen still remembered me.
    â€˜I hope all goes well with her,’ I said.
    He glanced up and down the corridor to check we were alone.
    â€˜The Queen’s position is delicate. She is greatly admired, and many still love her with the old devotion. But when Ay dies she will be extremely vulnerable. People in power are weighing up their alternatives. Without Ay she will not be able to control the army–indeed, no one could. Horemheb is on the warpath all right…’
    â€˜I thought he was far away, in the northern lands, fighting the Hittite wars?’ I asked.
    â€˜Indeed, he is supposed to be. But…’ he leaned in closer, and lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘… no one knows exactly where he is. He might be in Memphis, or he might be with his battalions. Things have changed, you know, especially the business of war. He’s taken it all into his own hands, built a new network of garrisons, changed the whole management of the conflict. The grand old days of heroic and mighty armies clashing on the field of battle in blood and bravery are a thing of the past. Now there’s a new strategy–low-key occupation of cities and towns. The garrisons control the ways and the trade routes. And…’ he lowered his voice even further, ‘… he’s set up a very efficient new system of army messengers. Basically, he’s created his own intelligence network, independent of the palace—’
    I was about to ask Simut more about this when the huge, gilded ceremonial doors before me suddenly opened. We both leapt to attention. Nakht appeared, but instead of