The Sleeper in the Sands (32 page)

King Amen-hetep shuddered with desire. ‘I am the Lord of the Two Lands!’ he cried out in sudden fury. ‘I can do with you what I please!’

‘Yet I would rather hurl myself from this roof,’ Tyi answered, ‘than serve as your whore.’

‘You cannot be my Queen.’

‘Why not?’

‘It is forbidden by the priests of the temple of Amen.’

‘And yet you said it yourself, you are the Lord of the Two Lands -- or is the High Priest of Amen the true King of Egypt?’

King Amen-hetep clenched his fists. ‘Very well,’ he nodded curtly. ‘It shall all be arranged.’ And so saying, he reached out to seize her again, but again she stepped away. ‘It must be proclaimed in every corner of the land,’ she insisted, ‘so that there can be no doubt.’ And then she kissed him lightly, and turned and skipped away.

The next morning, so sleepless had King Amen-hetep’s night been that he rose before dawn, and seated himself in Tyi’s favourite spot, on the roof above the Harim, overlooking the garden. When Tyi emerged there, King Amen-hetep thought again that she was lovelier than the sun, even as it rose from the east behind her head, lighting her hair with a halo of gold. He felt a chill of fire flicker up and down his spine, like the breath of a goddess, as Tyi smiled at him and then lowered her black eyes in mockery.

‘Do not be coy with me,’ he bellowed, rising to his feet.

At once he felt the breath of the goddess in his stomach, and he almost groaned with the agony. ‘O Tyi, O Tyi . . .’ He paused, for he had never before sought to put words to his love, never before having known what love might be. He stood, feeling stupid, as Tyi began to laugh; then he lumbered forward suddenly and seized her slim wrist. He sought to smother her with his bulk, pin her to the roof, but as before she wriggled and slithered from his grasp.

This time, when she met his stare, she did not look down. ‘Have you done as you promised?’ she asked him. Am I to be your Queen?’

King Amen-hetep breathed in deeply.

‘Am I to be your Queen?’

The King breathed in again. ‘You do not understand.’

‘Oh yes.’ Tyi hissed the words violently as she began to back away. ‘I understand all too well.’

‘No.’ King Amen-hetep gestured helplessly. ‘There is nothing I can do -- not without a sign of permission from the gods.’ He watched the glittering of contempt in Tyi’s eyes, and felt his cheeks start to burn, as though the goddess had begun suddenly to breathe on them with fire. At the same moment all his rage and frustration boiled up inside him, and he could no longer bear not to have Tyi in his arms. ‘It is no matter,’ he cried, lunging forward again and seizing her by the hair. ‘I am Pharaoh still, and may do as I please.’

She screamed, and twisted as hard as she could, but King Amen-hetep seized her arms and she could not escape. Then she felt him reaching for her legs and she at once fell backwards, away from his grip, so that she stood on the edge of the roof above the garden. When she glanced down at the courtyard she saw there was a crowd of people gathered there, gazing up at Pharaoh and herself, summoned no doubt by the sound of her cries. Then she turned round further, to look down into the garden. She could see the topmost leaves of the tallest trees, a long way below her. By a fountain, a lion was inspecting her lazily.

Ponderously, King Amen-hetep lunged forward once more and seized her by her ankle.

‘Shall I be your Queen?’ Tyi cried out.

But King Amen-hetep was shuddering now, so that all his flesh was quivering and rolling, and he did not seem to hear her. He began to pull on her leg, reaching upwards with his hands again, and Tyi closed her eyes, feeling the Harim roof beneath her -- how solid it was, how firm the stonework. Then she squirmed and twisted backwards - and suddenly she could no longer feel the Harim roof at all. Dimly she heard Pharaoh bellow with mingled horror and frustration, but the sound was already fading, lost upon the air as it rushed past her ears, and Tyi smiled, just for a moment, to think that she was free. Then she felt herself bounce against the side of something rough, and smelt the aroma of rare, precious leaves, and she knew that she must have hit the branch of some tree. But it seemed barely to break her fall, for she could still hear the whistling of air in her ears, and then all at once she smelt the perfume of flowers, and the dampness of soil, and then she cried out, as she felt her skull seem to melt.

The agony was a searing explosion of red light. Yet although the impact seemed to have crumpled her whole body, for she could feel her limbs twisted in peculiar ways, one single thought still remained with her, an island preserved above the tempest of her pain: ‘I am alive.’ The idea baffled her; and yet it was true. ‘I am alive.’

For a long while she did not attempt to move, merely felt the heat of the sun against her face, smelt the leaves of the acacia and tamarisk trees, heard the songs of the birds amidst the bushes of the garden. How many hours passed she could not tell, since she never once opened her eyes; but at length she could sense that the evening was approaching, for she could no longer feel the sun against her cheeks. But she was still, to her surprise, as warm as before, so that she imagined that something might be lying down beside her, until at last she stirred and found that something was.

She sat up at once. The pain, though great, was not unbearable -- and yet she was certain she had felt her skull cave in. She reached up to touch her head. There seemed no trace of a wound. How was it possible? Why was she not dead? She opened her eyes. Two lions lay stretched out on either side of her, while the third lay half-curled in a ball by her feet. Tyi almost laughed, watching the lions start to stir, to think that she had survived her fall only to be eaten by wild beasts -- but then the lions began to nuzzle her and to lick her wounds, as though she were not a girl at all but a lion like themselves. Their tongues felt very coarse against her battered limbs, but even as they licked her she felt the pain begin to fade. At last she felt able to rise to her feet, and the lions at once began to stretch playfully and roll upon their backs, and when Tyi stooped to tickle them they curled against her legs. Even when she began to walk towards the garden gates, they continued to play, padding around her like overgrown kittens. She paused by the gates, then unlocked the bolt and set the lions free. But they continued to follow her as she crossed the deserted courtyard and beyond the Harim, into a quarter of the Palace where she had never been before. Yet she remembered the descriptions of its layout which Ay had once given her, and so she knew where Pharaoh was most likely to be found. She passed through one archway, and then a second, where a couple of guards attempted to stop her. But then they looked her in the face, and then glanced down at the lions, and they stammered something and stepped aside in fear.

Beyond the archway there stretched further gardens. At first sight they appeared empty, but then, when Tyi stood still, she could hear the sound of two distant voices engaged, so it seemed, in a heated conversation. She began to walk towards them, her lions still padding silently behind her, until, by a pool lit a rippled silver by the moon, she paused, and listened to the voices again.

She could recognise her father’s now. It was very low, and seemed tense with a barely controlled anger. ‘I tell you,’ she heard him say, ‘she cannot be dead. It is impossible. Therefore I ask you again, O Pharaoh, where did she fall from? Where can she be found? I must go to her.’

‘She is dead.’ King Amen-hetep paused. ‘I saw it. And so it has been, O Yuya, all this day, that I have been unable to go to her and gaze upon her face. It is strange.’ He paused again. ‘It has not been my habit to shrink from seeing death.’

‘If you look in her face, I promise you, you will find she is still very much alive. For Tyi has been guarded by mystery since the day of her birth.’ And with such certainty did her father say this, and with such impatience, that Tyi suddenly wondered with a chill shock what it was her father knew. ‘I say again, O Pharaoh -- my daughter is alive.’

But King Amen-hetep laughed wildly. ‘If only she were!’

‘Yes? And what then?’

Why, then I would have my blessing from the gods! Then I could have her as my Queen after all!’

Listening, Tyi smiled slowly to herself, then glanced down for the first time at her reflection in the pool. Her face and limbs appeared cruelly battered, and her long hair was matted and tangled with blood. But with her lions ranged about her, she appeared almost like a goddess, and the moon upon the water crowned her head with silver.

She smiled again, then turned and continued along the path. As she approached them, both her father and King Amen-hetep fell silent. Her father’s face appeared frozen, almost appalled, but then suddenly he smiled and took her in his arms. She winced, and laughed, and then winced again, breaking free from his hold, so that she found herself staring into King Amen-hetep s eyes, which were wide with disbelief. ‘But . . . no . . .’ he stammered, ‘I saw you . . . you were dead . . .’

‘Did you not demand,’ Tyi answered him, ‘a sign from the gods?’

‘Yes.’ King Amen-hetep swallowed, then nodded violently. ‘Yes - yes I did.’

He reached for her and Tyi, despite the pain from her wounds, allowed herself to be clasped, allowed her lips to be kissed, allowed herself to smile with the pleasure of her conquest; for she knew, as she watched him and met his stare, that she had won. And so indeed it proved, for her new status was proclaimed that same evening through the Palace, and all who saw her wondered to find her still alive, so that it was rumoured that she was indeed a true heiress of the gods. Amidst the general consternation and the fever of gossip, no one paused to wonder at her blood-line, and to think that she was not a sister of Pharaoh; for it was repeated only how she had been brought back from the dead to be Great Queen.

But Tyi, even in the first thrill and excitement of her triumph, did not forget that there was still one final obstacle to cross. Nor was she surprised, the following morning, as she walked through the Palace surveying her new domain, to be informed by a servant that a priest of Amen wished to see her. She turned and saw, waiting for her by the entrance to the gardens, her brother Inen, his expression very grim. He waited for her to join him, then they walked together alone through the trees.

‘I believe,’ said Inen at last, bringing out something from under his cloak, ‘that you will be requiring this.’

He handed her a flask, and Tyi smiled as she inspected the black, sticky liquid, then dabbed a touch upon a scar across her arm. She stared in fascination as the wound began to fade. ‘It is truly,’ she whispered, ‘the most extraordinary magic’

‘Yes.’ Inen frowned. ‘And dangerous as well, for those who do not understand with what it is that they are dealing.’

Tyi looked up in surprise. Her brother’s face was even grimmer and more set than before. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked. ‘Are you going to try to forbid my marriage to Pharaoh?’

‘I cannot. The gods have spoken. They have brought you back from the very jaws of death, and so have marked you out as a worthy Queen.’

Tyi smiled. ‘Then it seems that the gods have changed their minds.’

Yes.’ His frown deepened, and he looked away.

Tyi hurried to keep abreast with him as he continued to stride ahead. ‘Inen,’ she asked, reaching out to touch his hand, ‘what is it? What do you know?’

He glanced at her impatiently, then suddenly his face seemed to crumple and he seized her hand. ‘I wish . . .’ he whispered. He shook his head, then kissed her fingertips. ‘I wish,’ he said again, ‘I wish that things were different.’

What things?’

‘That you were not. . . that. . . no.’ He smiled, and shook his head. ‘You know it is forbidden for me to tell you what is hidden.’

Tyi paused, then looked up at him through half-lowered lashes. ‘Did it surprise you to learn that I had not been killed by my fall?’

‘Enormously’

‘Yet it did not surprise our father.’

‘Indeed?’ His frown returned. ‘Indeed.’

‘Can you imagine a reason?’

Inen paused a moment, then shrugged and shook his head. ‘I cannot talk to you any longer,’ he said, ‘for I am afraid what I may otherwise give away’ He turned, but Tyi called out to him and he stopped, as though despite himself, and glanced round once again. ‘I am your brother,’ he said, ‘and I love you very greatly -- but even more I am a priest of Amen.’

‘But does Amen see fit to bless me in my marriage?’

‘Oh, indeed.’ He bowed. ‘Indeed, O Great Queen.’

Then he turned once more and hurried on, and Tyi did not attempt to halt him again. Even as she watched him depart, though, she felt troubled for a moment at the thought of his strange words and the note of warning they had appeared to convey. But then she laughed and shook her head, and began to skip along the path. ‘Why should I be afraid?’ she cried out aloud. ‘As Inen said himself -- am I not the Great Queen? There is nothing in all the world which is not mine now to command!’

Beyond the gardens she paused in a courtyard, for there were sculptors at work upon the brickwork of the gate. Tyi glanced up at the words they were carving, and as she did so she clapped her hands, before hurrying on her way into the Palace itself. Behind her, the workmen were finishing their work. ‘Tyi,’ they had carved, ‘the Heiress, Greatly Favoured. Tyi, Mistress of All Countries, Lady of Delight, who Fills the Palace with Love. Tyi, Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Queen of the Two Lands.’

But at this point, Haroun saw the approach of morning and broke off from his tale. ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ he said, ‘if you would care to return here tomorrow evening, then I shall describe to you the fortunes of Pharaoh and Queen Tyi.’

And so the Caliph did as Haroun suggested; and the following evening he returned to the mosque. And Haroun said:

Tyi did not take long, nor require much encouragement, to discover how delightful a Great Queen’s life could be. All that she had dreamed of from within the high Harim walls, all the manifold wonders of her imagination, now stood revealed as but the palest shadow of the truth, for the reality of the magnificence of Pharaoh’s court, its inexhaustible pleasures, beauties and wealth, seemed to lie beyond dreams. To be the mistress of such a world appeared to Tyi a glimpse of Paradise; for there too, she supposed, would be found luxuries beyond compare -- gold and silver, incense and perfumes, sweet-smelling woods and chairs built from ivory, the rarest of meats and the choicest of wines. Not a day went by when there was not a cruise upon the Nile, a hunting party out across the sands or festivities held within the cool of the gardens; and not an evening without a banquet at which Tyi would preside, the companion of her husband, the very greatest of Great Queens.