Queen of the Heavens (16 page)

“It doesn’t hurt to take precautions,” I said, not wanting to alarm my husband by telling him the tale of the demon that attacked me downriver from where we had stopped. Sety slept soundly that night, though I remained awake. To my great relief, no demon appeared.

A few days later, on a moonless night, I sat alone on the deck looking up at the sky. The stars shone so brightly it seemed as though I might reach up and pick them as if they were low-hanging fruit. As I gazed at the heavens, Thoth’s words came to mind.
“One became two, two became three, and three became the myriad of things,”
and I realized the force within me that sustained my life was the same one that caused the stars to sparkle. With a profound sense of connection with the Cosmos, I returned to the cabin to be with my husband.

“Would you like to play
senet
before we retire?” Sety asked.

“I would enjoy that,” I answered. I had played the game several times with Sety. He always defeated me, but my skills were improving and I knew it was merely a matter of time before they equaled his.

The tosses of the sticks at first favored Sety. I resigned myself again to losing, but midway through the game the numbers I desired appeared frequently, and I masterfully moved my pieces to block my husband’s. Sety played adroitly, but in the end I tossed the five I needed to seal victory.

“I win!” I beamed, expecting a compliment for my skillful play. Instead, Sety spoke not a word.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He didn’t answer.

“Sety. Are you all right?”

He glared at me. “No, I’m not all right,” Sety shouted. With a sweep of his arm, he scattered the game’s pieces across the cabin and stormed outside.

Stunned and confused, I fixed my eyes on the empty
senet
board.
What caused such fury? A demon within him?
I asked myself.
This is the rage Ramesses spoke about
.

I gathered all the
senet
pieces I could find, placed them back on the table, and lay down on my bed shaking. I curled up in a ball, making myself as small as possible. The world seemed to have toppled down upon me, crushing me with its weight. My consciousness descended into a dark place, void of all feeling but fear.

After some time, Sety returned and sat on the bed next to me. To my great relief, the anger had left him.

“I’m sorry, Tuya, but I don’t like to lose.”

Slowly, I uncurled myself and sat up. “Nor do I, but one cannot win all the time.”

“As a soldier I must always win. If I don’t, I surely will die.”

I touched my husband’s shoulder. “
Senet
is but a game, not a battle.”

“I know. I said I was sorry.”

We embraced, reclined on the bed and lay silently next to each other.

“Let us make love and pretend this never happened,” Sety suggested, and I concurred.

The two of us didn’t speak during coupling or look into each other’s eyes, but Sety’s gentleness soothed my spirit and I fell asleep in his arms. The next morning, Sety was pleasant enough, and we uttered not a word of the tumult from the night before.

I wondered at first whether the spell I cast failed to protect Sety.
Did a demon enter him without my noticing?
I asked myself. If one had, it seemed to have departed, and by the time we reached Memphis I thought not at all of demons. How could I, with the Neters continuing to fill my life with so much love, joy and comfort?

Ramesses owned another estate in Memphis, smaller than the one in Thebes but still quite grand. Sety and I lived there, while Ramesses again took up residence in the royal palace. The estate was near my parents’ home, so Mother visited regularly. Father’s work kept him busy, but he came with her from time to time and I was always glad to see them.

To my delight, I found my husband paying even more attention to me. On occasion, he would ask me to join him late in the day after the heat had moderated as he guided a small boat through the reeds of the Nile hunting waterfowl with a throwing stick.

On our first excursion together, Sety killed two ducks then took aim at an ibis.

“No,” I shouted, “not the ibis.”

My cry frightened the bird and it flew away before Sety could fling his stick. My husband looked at me, perturbed. “Why not?”

“Because Thoth took the form of an ibis, and I have a special affection for Thoth.”

“Near the tomb of Imhotep, they raise ibises, then kill and mummify them,” Sety said. “Merchants sell the mummies to pilgrims as offerings. Do you object?”

“That’s different. Imhotep was a great healer. People make the offerings to him so they might enjoy good health. You kill ibises merely for their feathers and for sport.”

Sety humored me. “All right, Tuya. When you’re with me I won’t hunt ibises, but I make no promises for when I’m alone.”

“I can expect no more, but when you kill an ibis say a prayer to Thoth and ask that its spirit be reborn in another animal so it will continue to grace the Earth.”

A look of exasperation crossed Sety’s face. “All right, Tuya. I’ll say a prayer to Thoth.”

“Good. The merit you gain by doing so will serve you well in your journey through the afterworld.”

On days we didn’t go to the river, Sety and I would walk hand in hand at dusk through the gardens of the estate. We enjoyed the aroma of the flowers, the humming of the locusts and the singing of the birds, but most of all we took pleasure in each other’s company. Afterward, with great diligence and delight, we’d continue our effort to conceive the heir to the throne.

In Memphis as in Thebes, life with Sety seemed perfect, though he and I did not play
senet
with each other again.

XVI

Life for me in Memphis flowed as smoothly as the waters of the Nile, until I became ill one morning and lost my meal from the night before. The next morning, I became ill again, which surprised me for I always enjoyed good health. Sety summoned a court physician who arrived before midday. He placed his hand on my wrist to feel the blood coursing through my body, examined my tongue, checked for fever, but found nothing amiss.

“When was the last time you experienced your normal bleeding?” the physician asked.

“Some time ago,” I answered.

“Before the last full moon?”

“Probably.”

“I wouldn’t worry. I’ll send you a tonic of juniper berries and honey. Take it before you sleep and after you awake. It will settle your stomach and help you to keep down your food.”

“Will I be all right?”

The question amused the physician.

“I think so,” he said, smiling at me. “You’re not suffering from an illness. You’re bearing a child.”

The joyous news I had been awaiting came as a shock. Not that many years before, I played games with Peshet and my other friends on the riverbank. Now I was a wife and a mother-to-be.

Am I ready for this?
I asked myself. Within minutes calm and confidence engulfed me.
Of course I’m ready. I’m fulfilling my destiny. I’m accomplishing the task assigned to me by the Neters.

Sety returned from the palace later that day to find me in a particularly good mood.

“What did the physician say?” he asked.

“He told me I have a condition common to most women at some time in their lives,” I answered. I embraced Sety, rested my head on his chest, looked up and smiled. “We are to have a child.”

Sety was as shocked to hear the news as I, though given the depth of our passion, there was no reason either of us should have been surprised. Sety hugged me tightly.

“Our son will be a great Pharaoh and a brave warrior,” he proclaimed.

“Typical of a man,” I said. “My darling, the son you so desire may be a daughter.”

My remark deflated Sety, though just a bit.

“Of course,” he stammered. “In which case she’ll be a beautiful Princess, and we’ll try again to have a Prince.”

“Don’t worry, my husband. Now or later, I’ll give you a son to inherit the throne.”

That night Sety and I slept next to each other, our affection deepened by the knowledge that a new life was forming inside me.

“Because of the child, may I make love to you?” Sety asked.

“Yes, but be gentle.”

Sety was, and the lovemaking we shared was sublime.

Sety left the next morning for the palace looking stronger and more confident than I had ever seen him. His demeanor stood in marked contrast to mine, since I again was ill. I took the tonic prescribed by the physician and accepted my discomfort without complaint now that I knew the reason for it.

Later in the day, Ramesses, accompanied by a half-dozen members of the Royal Guard, came by chariot to visit me.

“Sety told me the good news,” Ramesses said. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

“Thank you, but I have all I need,” I answered.

“Take care not to do too much. You must direct your strength to the child within you.”

“I will, but I can’t neglect the affairs of your estates.”

“My estates are of little consequence when compared to your pregnancy. Within you develops the future of Egypt.”

The following afternoon, I was summoned to the royal palace by Lord Harenhab, who sent a chariot to fetch me.

“Tuya my dear, Sety and Ramesses told me the good news,” Harenhab said after I had bowed before him.

“I’m very excited, My Lord,” I replied, pleased by the royal attention.

Is there anything I can do for you?” Harenhab asked.

In answer to the same question I told Ramesses “no,” but with the grandfatherly Pharaoh I felt more comfortable asking for favors.

“Yes, My Lord. I request your prayers, and the prayers of the priests and priestesses throughout the land that the child be a boy so he might someday inherit the throne. This would mean so much to Egypt.”

“This shall be done, though the Neters may have their own opinion on whether the child should be a boy or a girl,” said a smiling Harenhab.

“Scribe,” he shouted. A short, old but spry man came from an anteroom with writing box and papyrus in hand and sat down at a small table. “Send a decree in my name to the temples in Memphis, Heliopolis, Thebes and beyond ordering the priests and priestesses to beseech Ra, Amun and Maat, Isis and Osiris, Ptah and Sekhmet that Tuya’s child be a boy. Be quick about it. I want the messengers to leave before nightfall.”

“Thank you, My Lord,” I said.

“What else would you like, Tuya?”

“Nothing. I have all the material things I need to be comfortable. I ask only for prayers.”

“You will have them, my dear, in abundance.”

The next few months passed quickly for me. While Harenhab, Ramesses and the court returned to Thebes, I decided not to travel in my condition, and to remain in Memphis. Sety chose to stay with me, though he spent most of his time away from the city, familiarizing himself with the military installations, granaries and other government facilities in the delta. Given my developing condition, our passions ceased, and Sety found release with concubines. Yet, our love seemed to grow stronger, knowing that together we would raise to maturity a future ruler of Egypt.

We ordered clothing to be made for the child, and found blocks and balls and other toys with which he might play. I even located the wooden lioness from my childhood, whose jaw opened and closed by pulling on a string.

One day, Sety brought home a tiny bow with an arrow.

“I had a craftsman at the armory make it for our son,” he said.

I was aghast. “He’ll lose an eye, or a playmate will lose an eye,” I shouted.

My tone surprised my husband, as I reacted like a lioness protecting a cub.

“You worry too much, Tuya. The arrow has no tip,” Sety said.

“It’s a mother’s job to worry. Obviously fathers do not,” I replied, raising my voice even higher. “The arrow still can hurt a child.”

“Our son will be a warrior. He must learn early how to handle a bow and arrow,” Sety snapped back.

“At least let him learn to walk first, or will you have him driving a chariot before his first birthday?”

“I don’t expect him to hit anything with the arrow. I just want him to learn to be comfortable handling the weapon. I want him to feel like a bow is a part of his body, like an arm or a leg. In battle such a feeling could save his life.”

I knew there was truth in Sety’s words, but this didn’t override my concern for my child’s safety.

“Then he can keep the bow to play with, but not the arrow,” I declared.

Sety knew he was defenseless when faced with the wrath of a mother so he accepted my compromise. “All right, Tuya, but our son will face many enemies and the better he is at handling his weapons the better the chances he will survive.”

I shared Sety’s desire for our son to be a great warrior, but I also wanted his warrior instincts to be tempered by gentle pursuits.

“He will be a scholar,” I informed Mother during one of her visits to the estate. “He’ll learn the secrets of temple building that Lord Harenhab speaks about. He’ll study mathematics and hieroglyphs. He’ll read all of the sacred texts, and learn the techniques of transcendence so that he might converse directly with the gods.”

“You expect a lot of him,” Mother said.

“As you expected a lot of me. It’s because of Father and you that I can read and write as well as any man.”

“You had special gifts.”

“My son will have special gifts as well. The Neters will make certain of that.”

To cultivate those gifts, I placed statues of Thoth and Sekhmet in what would be my son’s room. The combination of Thoth’s wisdom and knowledge and Sekhmet’s physical strength would serve a future Pharaoh well.

As the day of birth approached, the joy shared by Sety and me increased.

“He’s kicking. Come feel,” I said one evening to my husband. Sety placed his hand on my womb.

“He’s strong and he can’t wait to get out. How soon will it be?” Sety asked.

“The court midwife says another thirty days, but the way he feels, it may be sooner.”

That evening, in the state between waking and sleeping, the violet hue appeared and I heard Isis’ voice.