Queen of the Heavens Read online

“It will be done, My Lady, I promise you. Your son will have no more devoted a subject than Hemaka. His loyalty to the young Ramesses will last forever, even in the afterworld.”

  “Good. Devotion gives meaning to life. It also can give meaning to death.”

  I returned to the chariot and continued toward the palace, with the vast throng following two and three abreast. At the plaza outside the palace gate, thousands of people had gathered to greet the new Pharaoh. The crowd grew considerably when all those streaming behind me blended into it.

  The charioteer guided my conveyance up a ramp that cleaved the steps before the palace gate. Nebet and I stepped off at the top. She disappeared into the background, while I took my place under a red linen canopy, among priests, nobles and government officials who bowed to me in honor of my royal status. I acknowledged them with a nod.

  Before long, trumpets and drums announced the approach of the Pharaoh and his entourage. Musicians led the way as the royal procession entered the plaza. They were followed by temple dancers, young and shapely women who scattered flower petals in front of the Pharaoh’s litter as they twirled before it. Ramesses, wearing the double crown of Egypt, kept his eyes fixed forward. A priest holding a burner spewing incense walked in front of the Pharaoh and a fan bearer walked on each side.

  Sety followed in a gilded chariot, skillfully guiding two plumed pure black horses at a walk. Behind him marched spear-carrying soldiers four abreast, and behind them, to the delight of onlookers, came a troupe of acrobats and a menagerie of caged animals.

  Ramesses, Sety and a small number of soldiers headed up the ramp as the rest of the grand procession marched on to the plaza’s edge.

  The litter bearers set down the Pharaoh, while Sety handed the reins of his horses to a groom. Ramesses walked to the fore and faced his subjects, all of whom were bowing from the waist.

  “Rise and look upon your Pharaoh,” shouted an officer.

  After a few moments, Ramesses began speaking in a powerful voice. “I return from Thebes having buried the great and beloved Lord Harenhab. He who buries the Pharaoh becomes the Pharaoh, and I stand before you as your new ruler with the authority to intercede on your behalf with the gods.”

  “Hail Ramesses,” the officer shouted.

  “Hail Ramesses,” the crowd bellowed again and again.

  The Pharaoh raised his hands to quiet his subjects.

  “A new dynasty begins. With me is my son Sety, who someday will stand before you in my stead.” Ramesses gestured with his arm toward me. “There stands Princess Tuya, who has given birth to a healthy son who will become the second Pharaoh Ramesses. The dynasty is in place for three generations, and will continue for many more beyond that I am sure.”

  Again the people cheered, and again Ramesses raised his arms in a call for silence.

  “Our country is a beacon to all others. The power of the heavens is drawn down to Egypt by the Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza and the magnificent temples throughout the land. As I speak, work begins at the Great Temple of Amun on the immense Hall of Columns conceived by Lord Harenhab. I will honor the Neters by expanding this and other temples, and by building new ones in every corner of the realm. I will continue to rebuild our armies as well so our country can avenge the humiliation inflicted upon it by the Hittites years ago. Honor the Neters. Honor your Pharaoh, and Egypt will prosper as never before.”

  The crowd erupted once more into a cheer, but this time Ramesses made no effort to silence it. Instead, he walked over to me and smiled.

  “You look quite beautiful today, Tuya. More beautiful than I have ever seen you.”

  “Thank you, My Lord.”

  “How is the infant?”

  “He’s healthy and strong. He’ll be a great ruler.”

  “I’m sure. Tomorrow you will bring him to the palace so I can meet my namesake.”

  “It will be my honor to do so.”

  The Pharaoh moved on to greet a general and was replaced before me by Sety.

  “You seem well, Tuya,” Sety said without a hint of affection.

  “As do you, my husband,” I replied, in the same manner.

  Sety gave me a cold stare. “Later we will talk.”

  I looked back in kind. “I have no doubt.”

  After exchanging words with all those around them, the Pharaoh returned to his litter and Sety to his chariot and they passed through the palace gate. I returned to the estate, followed again by a stream of people seeking solace and strength by being near to me.

  At home, I nursed Ramesses, then played the harp on the terrace to settle my mind. Nebet brought me a pitcher of water with mint leaves soaking in it. She poured me a chalice of the liquid and I savored the fresh scent along with its soothing taste. I ate one of the plums the old woman had given me that morning and found the offering to be as sweet as her devotion and love.

  All sensual delight vanished as soon as Sety entered the room.

  “Take me to my son,” he demanded, without so much as an exchange of pleasantries.

  I led my husband to the adjacent bedchamber where the infant slept, with the statues of Thoth and Sekhmet watching over him.

  Sety looked down at the sleeping child. “He’s a fine-looking boy.”

  “Why would he not be?” I said. “He has fine-looking parents. His birth has been blessed by the Neters.”

  “A story has spread throughout the realm that the infant Ramesses was born dead and that you commanded his soul to enter his body. Everywhere I went people talked about it. Is this true?” Sety asked.

  I was not surprised the story spread so quickly. “Yes, it is true,” I said.

  “Why did you not tell me about this before I left for Thebes? Why did I hear the story from priests and officials along the way instead of from my wife?”

  “You were with me for so short a time. Besides, my husband, I find I can no longer tell you anything.”

  Sety let my comment pass as if he had not heard it.

  “Because of the circumstances of Ramesses’ birth many people believe you are Isis returned,” he said as we walked back to my chambers.

  “So I have been told.”

  “I was struck by the size of the crowd near the palace today. I thought the people were there to see the Pharaoh and me. Now I discover many were there to be near you. I even had difficulty passing through the gate of this estate because so many gather outside the wall.”

  “The people follow me wherever I go.”

  “The tale of Ramesses’ birth impresses them.”

  “Why would it not? I also made a lame boy walk.”

  “What?” Sety said. “Who is this boy?”

  “Hemaka. The grandson of a peasant woman.”

  Sety’s voice escalated. “You’re healing peasants? The wife of the heir to the throne is healing peasants?”

  “I’ve done it before and I will do it again.”

  “You’ll do nothing of the sort. You’re a Princess who someday will be Queen of Egypt. The woman who is to become the Great Royal Wife doesn’t consort with peasants.”

  “Why do you say this?” I asked. “Do the people not look to the royal family for protection?”

  “They look to the Pharaoh and me to protect them. We build temples to manifest the power of the gods and bring prosperity to the land. We raise armies to combat Egypt’s enemies and ensure that all are safe. The people revere us, but to maintain our authority over the people my father and I must not mingle with them. Neither must you.”

  “I don’t mingle with the people. I heal them.”

  “You make too fine a distinction, Tuya.”

  “A distinction that didn’t always matter to you,” I replied, refusing to cower before Sety. “Years ago on the day we first met you asked what gift I would like if we became husband and wife. I told you a temple for my healing work, and you said you would build it when you became Pharaoh.”

  “I don’t remember,” Sety said, though I knew he did. “Besides, I’m not yet Phar
aoh.”

  “Your father would not deny you my request.”

  “My father won’t receive such a request.”

  “How can you deny me a temple after the miracle of the infant Ramesses’ birth?”

  “It was no miracle,” Sety snapped.

  The comment surprised and shocked me. “What do you mean? How can you say such a thing?” I demanded.

  “Isn’t it apparent to you? If you could command the soul that gave Ramesses life, why did you not do so with my first son? He would be alive today if you were a goddess with the power to command souls. Ramesses must have been alive all the time. He just happened to begin crying when you spoke.”

  Sety’s words entered me like a dagger. They angered, yet grieved me. Might I have saved my first son had I made a greater effort to marshal all my strength, as I had done for the lifeless infant Ramesses? Had I failed in my duty to the royal family and to Egypt by allowing the boy to die? I thought back to the consoling words of Lord Harenhab on the day he gave me the ankh, then calmed myself and spoke in a steady voice.

  “Our first son had no soul.”

  “What?”

  “He emerged without life because the soul that is to succeed you as Pharaoh was not yet ready to be born again.”

  Sety threw up his hands and turned his back on me. “You suffer from delusions, Tuya,” he shouted.

  “It is so.”

  “It is nonsense. Tomorrow you will tell the people gathered outside the wall that you did not bring Ramesses to life. You will tell them he was alive all the time.”

  “What do I tell them of the lame boy who now walks because of me?”

  Sety turned toward me once again. “You will tell them nothing. Other people perform healings but this doesn’t mean they are divine. The people now worship my father as a god. Someday they will worship me as a god, but they will not worship you as the goddess Isis.”

  “Worshipping one divine being doesn’t mean they can’t worship another. Many gods and goddesses help us through our journeys in this world and the next.”

  “No, Tuya. It is not to be. I will have no rival as Pharaoh.”

  “I don’t seek to rival you, Sety. I desire not to rule humans, but to serve them.”

  “You will serve only me. Tomorrow you will announce to the people gathered outside the wall that the story of my son’s miracle birth is false and that he was alive all the time. You will tell them you are not Isis, but Tuya, a very human Princess.”

  I would obey my husband in virtually all matters, as would any wife, but Sety would have had me deny the truth and abandon my purpose in the earthly realm.

  “No,” I told him, with resolve in my voice.

  “What did you say?”

  “Your heard me. No.”

  “You will do as I command.”

  “You cannot command me to deny my soul’s purpose. In such a matter I answer only to the divine source of the Cosmos, not to you.”

  Sety raised his hand as if to strike me, but I did not retreat.

  “You will do as I say,” he shouted.

  “Beware, Sety,” I shouted back. “Osiris watches, and you have not yet passed his Judgment.”

  Sety stayed his hand then dropped it to his side. Rage consumed him, but he would dare not strike me for he understood the import of my words.

  “As you wish, Tuya, but I’ll order the soldiers to disperse the crowd, with force if necessary, and not allow the people to gather again.”

  “You would have soldiers hurt other Egyptians who wish to do no more than honor your wife?”

  “I would have them disperse those who challenge the divine authority of the Pharaoh by worshipping you.”

  “They don’t challenge that authority, and neither do I.”

  “Yes you do, Tuya. If you refuse to tell the people you are not Isis, then I will forbid you from leaving the estate. You’ll stay within its walls and have no contact with the people outside. You will leave only to accompany me on affairs of state. I’ll not have the future Queen consorting with peasants and pretending she is Isis.”

  “Beware of your anger, Sety, lest it destroy you.”

  “Beware of your delusions, Tuya, or it is you who will be destroyed.”

  Sety stormed from the room. I walked onto the terrace. First he denies me passion. Now he makes me a prisoner in my own house, I said to myself. I poured another chalice of mint water, but drinking it did nothing to remove the bitterness left in me by my husband’s tirade.

  In the other room, my son whimpered as he stirred from sleep. I went to comfort him, and he reached up and grabbed one of my fingers.

  “My, you’ve become so strong in such a short time,” I said. “Wait. I have something for you.”

  I separated my finger from Ramesses’ tiny hand and he began to cry. I searched through a nearby chest until I found the tiny bow Sety had brought home for our first son.

  “Here. Take this.”

  The infant grasped the toy weapon. He stopped crying immediately and soon began smiling and giggling.

  “You’ll be a great warrior, Ramesses, but you will have a gentle side your father has never known,” I said. “As you grow older, practice with a bow ceaselessly. Though a fearsome weapon, it will teach you many lessons and enable you to love.”

  I took back the toy after a few moments and set it on a table next to me, picked up Ramesses and sat down in a chair. I recalled my boat ride on the river, and as I began nursing Ramesses all bitterness inside me vanished as the love of the Cosmos entered my heart.

  I will live life as if on a boat in the middle of the Nile, free from the travail and anger in the world around me, I thought as I looked down at the child. Healing is but part of my soul’s purpose. You are the other part, my son, and Sety will not deny you your mother’s love.

  The infant released my breast and rested in my lap. “With you in my life, your father’s anger cannot hurt me,” I said to my son. “I will love you. I will nurture you, and heal you if I must.”

  I stroked my child’s forehead. “You will be the greatest Pharaoh Egypt will ever know, Ramesses. You will sit on the Throne of Isis throughout eternity.”

  XXV

  My love for young Ramesses and Tjia sustained me in my marriage, as did the words on the stone scarab the old scribe Pentu had given me on the day of my final lesson with him. I kept the scarab on a table by my bedside. In the morning and evening, I would read what he had etched into it: Happiness for the soul lies not in the external worlds, for they will vanish. To find true happiness, look to the eternal within yourself.

  I must never forget this message, I would tell myself, for in it lies salvation.

  Does not everything in the earthly realm vanish? Honey on the tongue gives delight, but the sweet taste passes quickly. Beer and wine bring intoxicating pleasure, but it lasts only for a short time. The sensations of lovemaking take men and women into bliss, but then they vanish, causing lovers to seek them again and again.

  I would look at the young Ramesses and think back to when he took my nipple in his lips for the first time. The tiny, helpless infant had vanished. He had grown stronger and larger and now was beginning to walk. So, too, had Tjia vanished as an infant, for now she was talking and playing with dolls.

  They are the same children to whom I gave birth, but different children, I realized. From moment to moment they vanish, then reappear anew.

  My parents had vanished as well, at least in their earthly form, causing me despair. First Mother took ill and passed to the west. Father, unable to bear his grief, followed but a few months later from a broken heart. I prayed often for them, and from time-to-time could sense their souls’ presence, which provided at least some solace for me.

  When I looked into a brass mirror, I saw a beautiful woman, but my youthfulness had vanished, replaced by the maturity of womanhood. I was the same Tuya who had played with friends on the riverbank and sat under the yew tree with my teacher Maya, but I was a different Tuya.
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  Someday my body will wither and die, but the eternal within me is constant, and the source of true happiness, I told myself.

  To reach the eternal part of me, I spent much time in meditation, often before the statue of Thoth. As my consciousness dissolved into the Cosmos, the spot between my eyebrows tingled and my head filled with the color indigo. As it did so, I felt myself absorbing Thoth’s wisdom and knowledge, and I experienced joy even Sety’s anger could not disrupt.

  I could not remain in meditation all the time, however, for I had duties to perform as both a mother and a Princess.

  My husband and I maintained decorum, and the illusion of a compatible marriage, as I accompanied him to festivals and ceremonial affairs of state. I looked forward to performing my royal duties, for these were the only times Sety allowed me to leave the estate.

  On one occasion, I accompanied him to the investiture of a new High Priest at the Great Temple of Amun and to the banquet that followed. Sety and I sat side by side at two small tables sipping wine, looking out at the milling guests. The High Priest came over to us, exchanged pleasantries with my husband, then looked at me.

  “It is a pleasure to finally meet your wife,” he said.

  A scowl crossed Sety’s face.

  “I spent some time at the Temple of Ptah several years ago,” the High Priest continued. “A fellow priest named Siptah told me how as a young girl you restored his sight after he had been blinded by a spitting cobra.”

  “Yes. I have fond memories of that day. How is Siptah?”

  “I have not seen him for a number of years, but back then he was in good health, and his eyesight was better than anyone’s. He prayed often to Isis and performed many rituals to honor her. As many as he performed to Ptah.”

  “He owes his sight to Isis,” I said.

  “Isis or Tuya?” the High Priest asked. “Siptah told me there is no difference.”

  I smiled, and dropped my head in a gesture of modesty. The High Priest smiled as well, nodded and left.

  “Your admirers are many,” my husband noted, gazing forward rather than at me.

  “Does this trouble you?”

  Sety took a sip of wine and bit his lip. He did not answer, or speak to me for the rest of the day.