Orphan of the Sun by Gill Harvey Read Free Book Online Page B

back home.’
    The household was quiet when Meryt returned. The two children were sleeping in the back room, and there was no sign of Tia or Nauna. Meryt padded softly through to the courtyard and saw that everyone had already eaten. The pot of leftovers from the day before had gone. She heard voices, and realised that Tia and Nauna were on the roof.
    Meryt fetched a leek from the store and broke off some bread from a loaf. As she did so, she realised that the two women upstairs were quarrelling. She crept closer to the stairway, and listened.
    â€˜She left the spinning unfinished,’ she heard Nauna say. ‘She’s a lazy good-for-nothing. The sooner she marries, the better.’
    Meryt held her breath. They were arguing about
her
.
    â€˜She has been spinning for most of the day,’ she heard Tia protest. ‘She is always willing to help. She is still young.’
    â€˜I was a wife at her age,’ Nauna retorted, her voice bitter and angry. ‘I had given birth to Senmut. She has been a burden on the household for too long. And Heria is only too anxious to see her son married.’
    â€˜Heria!’ Tia’s voice cracked with scorn. ‘Yes, she wants to see Ramose married. But it is a sad state of affairs when a man cannot make up his own mind about such a matter.’
    Pressed up against the wall, Meryt didn’t notice one of the cats enter the courtyard. It jumped on to a stool, clattering a copper pot that was resting against it.
    The voices upstairs fell silent.
    â€˜I’ll go and see what it was,’ Meryt heard Tia say, after a pause.
    Meryt fled to the back room, and crept under a cover next to Henut. As Tia peered in, she pretended to breathe deeply, and Tia went back to the roof. Meryt threw off the cover and lay silently, thinking. So it was true that Nauna as well as Senmut wished to get rid of her. The words about Heria were more difficult to understand. Ramose was her oldest son. She must surely be proud of him; and surely it was not in her power to make him marry against his will?
    For the next few days, Meryt felt as though time were suspended. She dreaded the return of Senmut from the tombs, for then she might be forced to give an answer about Ramose. Her sleep was dreamless and she despaired of receiving a clearer messagefrom the goddess, and puzzled constantly over the one message she was sure she had been given. Its obscurity infuriated her.
    The night of the men’s return came all too quickly – and with it, a flurry of energy that had everyone out in the streets. The men had come back in a state of high excitement and the village soon filled with the babble of voices.
    â€˜The
kenbet
is meeting!’ cried a voice, as Meryt sat on the rooftop, trying to see what was going on. Quickly, she ran downstairs. Senmut and Baki had just arrived home, and were being questioned by Tia and Nauna. The
kenbet
was the village council, which met once a week to decide on matters of dispute.
    â€˜There is trouble in the other gang,’ Senmut explained. ‘The men are saying that Nebnufer has been pushing them too hard and that the quality of the work is suffering as a result.’ He shrugged. ‘Nebnufer’s gang has always been the more disciplined. I don’t know why it has become a problem now.’
    â€˜But why is the
kenbet
meeting?’ said Meryt. ‘Can’t the matter wait until the usual time?’
    Senmut looked at his niece vaguely, and shrugged. ‘The foremen always want to nip any dispute in the bud. Let them meet. I shall not be going. I’m hungry. I hope there is plenty of food in the courtyard.’
    Meryt thought of Dedi, and her concern for her father. Council meetings were open events that anyone could attend, and she wanted to go – if she couldget away. She caught Tia’s eye, and indicated the doorway. Tia gave her a little smile, which Meryt took to be a sign of consent. She slipped away before