Queen of the Heavens Read online

  My duties as Princess still included producing royal children, which, to my chagrin, required Sety’s participation. I had given birth to an heir, but life held great uncertainties, and a second male child would help to ensure the continuation of the dynasty in the event disease or accident shortened young Ramesses’ life.

  Despite the unpleasantness of our encounters, Sety’s and my efforts were not in vain and I once again became pregnant.

  The pangs of childbirth struck while in Memphis. Nebet assisted me as I gave birth… to another girl.

  “She has red hair like your son,” Nebet said as she handed me the infant after an attendant had washed from the child the residue of birth.

  “She, too, is of the lion people,” I replied. “She will grow into a lioness and help bring balance to her brother’s life.” I looked down at the newborn in my arms and felt great pride. “She has high cheekbones, like me.”

  “Yes, My Lady, and deep-set eyes as well.”

  I did not know how Sety would react to the birth of another girl, since she didn’t meet the criterion for an heir. My husband, though, responded with affection, as he had with our first daughter. While a dreadful husband, I could not accuse him of being a callous father.

  We named the child Hint-mi-re, this time after one of Sety’s grandmothers. Some months after her birth, while back in Thebes, I sat in the garden holding her in my lap as she slept. I marveled at how quickly the infant had grown.

  “You are a magnificent child,” I whispered. “You will grow into a beautiful and powerful woman. Of this, I am certain.”

  I leaned back in my chair, enjoying my daughter’s company, along with the fresh scent of chrysanthemums and the sweet taste of a fig, when an officer of the Royal Guard approached and bowed.

  “Yes, what is it?” I inquired.

  “I’ve been sent by your husband to bring you to him.”

  The officer’s reply surprised me. “He’s with Ramesses, on maneuvers with his soldiers, is he not?”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  “Why did he send for me?”

  “He did not say.”

  Being with Sety under the best of circumstances was trying enough, but the thought of joining him at an army encampment, away from the luxuries of the estate, repulsed me.

  “I will leave tomorrow,” I told the officer.

  “Sety’s orders are to bring you immediately. A boat is waiting at the quay.”

  I gave the officer a fractious look. “I’m quite certain Sety will not miss me if we wait until the morning to depart.”

  “I’m sorry, My Lady, but Sety’s orders were quite clear. You are to come immediately.”

  I could tell by the officer’s tone of voice that no amount of arguing would change his mind. I had the authority of a Princess, but he was acting at the behest of a Prince and he would not be swayed by my protest.

  “My servant will accompany us,” I informed the officer.

  I returned to the house with Hint-mi-re and left her with a wet nurse. I found Nebet and told her to take with her a cosmetics box and a fresh dress for me. Soon the officer, Nebet and I boarded a large chariot. The officer drove rapidly toward the river, leaving in our dust a detail of palace guardsmen who ran behind, trying in vain to keep pace. The speeding chariot bounced along the earthen path, making the short journey most uncomfortable.

  The moment we set foot on the palace boat, the Captain gave the order to cast off. Crewmen raised the sail, for we were heading up river and had the north wind to propel us. Even so, the oarsmen went to work, rowing at a brisk pace. To my surprise, they continued rowing by the light of the full moon.

  “The demons of the desert come to the Nile at night to perform their malicious deeds,” I informed Nebet. “What’s the urgency that the Captain would risk his boat by continuing only by moonlight?”

  “I don’t know, My Lady. Something must be terribly wrong.”

  Nebet’s reasoning was sound. Sety had not ordered that I be brought to him quickly because he desired the pleasure of my company. I cast a spell to ward away the demons and went to bed, but that night I slept fitfully as I wondered what this journey was about.

  The next day, with the sun disk high in the sky, we pulled into the riverbank by a small village. The officer, standing ankle deep in the water, reached up to assist Nebet and me as we stepped off a plank from the boat to the shore. The three of us boarded a waiting chariot, which the officer drove at a breakneck speed to an encampment at the desert’s edge. We stopped in front of the smaller of two large tents that had pennants flying from their center polls. Sety emerged from the entrance as we approached.

  “What took you so long?” he shouted at the officer, who dropped his head, but did not reply.

  I broke the silence. “We came as quickly as we could. The oarsmen rowed throughout the night.”

  “Come with me, alone,” Sety ordered, as he helped me from the chariot.

  He and I walked quickly to the larger tent, decorated inside with rich tapestries and fine furniture, including a gilded throne. The pungent odor of incense made from spikenard filled the tent, but it could not mask a sweet though sickening smell.

  Sety led me to the bed and pulled away a linen covering. I stood for a moment in stunned silence as I looked down at the swollen face of a dead man whose skin had begun to darken. He wore the nems and uraeus. It was Ramesses.

  “What happened?” I said, after regaining some composure.

  “A chicken bone.” Sety answered. “My father choked on a chicken bone. The arrows and swords of Egypt’s enemies could not kill Ramesses. Instead, he was struck dead by his evening meal.”

  Grief weighed down my heart. I felt great compassion for Sety, who loved his father so much, but Sety’s loss was also mine. Ramesses had welcomed me into his family and treated me with great respect. He had trusted me with the affairs of his estates, and sought to reconcile Sety and me after the death of our first child. The Pharaoh had become my champion, continuing to express great affection toward me, even though his son did not.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “We must take his body to the embalmers immediately.”

  “No, Tuya.”

  “Why do you say this? The temperature has grown quite warm. We cannot wait.”

  Sety looked at me, impassively. “There will be no need for embalmers if you bring my father back to life.”

  “What?” I exclaimed, not believing what I just heard.

  “You will bring him back to life.”

  “Sety, I cannot.”

  “Why not?” Sety asked, glaring at me. “You claim you brought the young Ramesses back to life. You say that as a child you restored life to your dead cousin. If you could do this for them, you can do it for my father.”

  Sety was quite right about young Ramesses and Rahotep, but the circumstances were so different.

  “The souls of our son and my cousin still lingered nearby when I performed these miracles,” I said.

  “My father’s soul still lingers.”

  “It does not, Sety. Your father’s ba has departed from the earthly realm. This is why his body putrefies. It is too late.”

  “If you are Isis, as you claim to be, it can never be too late,” Sety replied as tears gathered in his eyes. “Did not Isis resurrect Osiris after Seth cut his body into pieces and scattered them throughout the realm?”

  Sety’s grief obscured his reason.

  “Yes, but she did so after his flesh was mummified,” I said. “Osiris reigns again, but in the afterworld, as he presides over The Judgment of the Dead. After Seth killed him, Osiris never again ruled in the earthly realm. I will pray and chant for Ramesses’ soul, but that is all I can do.”

  “You must try to do more.”

  “No.”

  Finally, Sety’s tears spilled forth. “Please, Tuya. Try to bring him to life.”

  I reached out and grabbed my husband’s shoulders. “Sety. Even if I could, would you want your father’s soul to r
eturn to a body such as the one that lies before us? The Neters have ordained Ramesses’ death. It would be a sacrilege for me to attempt to interfere.”

  Sety sat down on a stool, held his head in his hands and sobbed. I knelt next to my husband and placed an arm around him.

  “My darling, shock and sorrow overcome you. Allow me to stay beside you and comfort you.”

  I felt Sety relax into my embrace. He turned toward me and cried into my breasts as if he were a child. I held him tightly and felt the energy of his heart enter mine, as the eternal in both of us joined as one. Through grief we felt love, but Sety’s body soon stiffened and he pushed me away. We rose and faced each other.

  “You, comfort me?” he said. “What makes you think you can comfort me, Tuya?”

  Sety walked to a basin filled with water, washed the tears from his eyes and dried his face with a cloth. “I will comfort myself,” he said, as he walked out of the tent.

  Alone with Ramesses’ corpse, I brushed away two flies that had alighted upon his eyelids and covered him again with the linen. I sat down on a stool next to the bed and cried for Ramesses, but also for Sety and me.

  Our love has not vanished, for it exists in the eternal within us. Why will Sety not allow himself to feel it?

  After a short while, I washed away my own tears at the basin and dried my face with the same cloth Sety had used. The officer who accompanied me from Thebes met me as I left the tent.

  “Ramesses is dead,” I said.

  “Yes, My Lady. Sety just informed me.”

  “The Pharaoh’s body must be returned quickly to Thebes. There’s no time to waste for the embalmers to begin working on him.”

  “The boat that brought you here will be taking him back immediately,” the officer said. “The Prince already has gone to the river and will accompany his father’s body. You are to stay here in his tent and await another boat.”

  I grimaced, stung by Sety’s refusal to allow me to join him.

  Nebet waited inside the tent with a cup of tea for me made from chamomile. I took a sip.

  “Ramesses is dead,” I told her.

  “I know. The word has passed quickly through the camp. I will pray for his soul.”

  “Pray for my husband as well, for now the responsibilities of Pharaoh fall upon him.”

  A glum expression crossed Nebet’s face. “If you insist, but I don’t know how sincere I can be. He treats you poorly, and I don’t like him for that.”

  “Sety’s treatment of me is of little consequence. He now must rule Egypt. Pray with sincerity that he be granted the wisdom and fortitude to succeed in his divinely appointed duties.”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  “Nebet,” I said, as she was about to leave the tent. She turned. “Pray for me as well, for now I must bear the responsibilities of being Queen next to a husband who despises me.”

  “I will say many prayers for you, My Lady.”

  I took another sip of tea, sat down on a stool and brought forth in my mind the image of Thoth.

  Grant me insight and give me guidance as I face the challenges ahead, I silently asked the god of wisdom. Then I began reciting aloud the spells that would assist Ramesses’ soul during the perilous journey through the demon-infested duat, and into the realm of bliss.

  XXVI

  The next morning, soldiers hailed a palace boat coming from Aswan. The hold was filled with spices and incense brought there from the mysterious land of Punt, a place far to the south where few Egyptians ever traveled. Fine pieces of red granite from the Aswan quarries cluttered the deck. Two minor provincial officials on their way to Thebes occupied the living quarters, but they debarked so Nebet and I could take their place.

  When we boarded, Nebet looked annoyed.

  “You deserve much better than this,” she said. “A Princess shouldn’t have to step around stones when she walks to her cabin.”

  “I prefer riding in this boat to waiting at the encampment for a more suitable one,” I told her.

  “At least the crew could unload it,” she continued. “The smell of all the incense and spices overwhelms the nose.”

  “That would take all day. I want to be home with my children, not waiting here.”

  “As you wish, My Lady, but you must be mindful of appearances. The people expect the royal family to travel only in luxury.”

  “I shall be,” I assured Nebet, recalling Lord Harenhab’s observation that the Pharaoh always stood at the center of the world. Since I would be standing next to him, I, too, would be at its center, with all eyes upon me.

  The gentle current, rather than a strong wind and oarsmen, propelled the vessel and we stopped for the night, so it took two days for us to reach Thebes. When I arrived back at the estate just before dusk, I found Sety on the terrace taking a meal of pigeon, lettuce and leeks. Though uninvited, I sat down next to him.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  “Not well, but I must remain purposeful,” Sety answered, staring into the distance. “There’s much to do in preparation for my father’s entombment. His reign lasted but two years. Why was he not allowed to rule longer?”

  “It is not for us to question the will of the Neters,” I said. “Perhaps Ramesses achieved all he was supposed to in this world and the time had arrived for him to move on to the next.”

  “I find that hard to believe, Tuya. He wished to accomplish so much.”

  “The mysteries of the Divine Pageant are many,” I replied. “Perhaps out of love for you his soul chose to depart from the earthly realm.”

  Sety looked at me, quizzically. “Love for me?”

  “Yes, so that you might ascend quickly to the throne and face the challenges that will enable your soul to progress in its journey to the afterworld.”

  “I could have waited. His reign was so short there wasn’t even time to fashion an adequate tomb. The passageway is but ten or twelve paces long. Men will labor throughout the nights to cut a burial chamber at the end of it. Then the artists will begin work.”

  “I’m certain Ramesses will have a fine tomb,” I said.

  “He had better.”

  Sety rose, leaving his meal unfinished. “After today, I will be living at the palace. I must be near my ministers and generals. You must prepare to move into the palace with the children.”

  A frown crossed my face.

  “Why so sullen?” Sety asked. “You should be pleased. As the Great Royal Wife, you’ll know greater splendor than any woman in the world.”

  “I would be pleased, if you and I could rekindle at least some of the passion we once knew.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “All things are possible.”

  “Is that so? Then why is my father not alive?” Sety snapped. “A few days ago you told me bringing Ramesses back to life was impossible. You were correct. I was a fool to think otherwise, but don’t tell me now that all things are possible.”

  “Your father’s body perished, but his soul survives, for it is eternal,” I replied in a gentle voice. “Our love is eternal and survives as well. Allow yourself to feel that love.”

  For a moment, Sety looked at me as if he might still feel love deep in his soul. Then his body stiffened and he glowered at me. “Please, Tuya. Permit me to mourn without having to listen to your silly musings.”

  I sat on the terrace alone for a while, then walked to the room where Hint-mi-re was sleeping. Though troubled by the encounter with my husband, I felt a touch of bliss as I stroked my daughter’s hair.

  In the next room, young Ramesses sat on the floor, his bottom wrapped in linen, rolling a ball back and forth with Nebet. Joy gushed from him when he saw me. He reached out as he stumbled in my direction. I lifted him in my arms and sat down in a chair.

  “Bow, bow,” he said, which was one of the few words he knew.

  I asked Nebet to fetch Ramesses’ toy weapon. He took it in his left hand and giggled as he pulled the string with his right again and again. W
hile he had held the bow often, I had not seen him draw it properly before.

  “You know how to use a bow without even being taught. This bodes well,” I said. The child was too young to understand my words, but he no doubt sensed my sentiments, and I noted a hint of pride in his expression.

  I held Ramesses for a while. He looked perplexed when I returned him to Nebet, but he didn’t cry out for his mother since he still had his bow to keep him occupied.

  In the garden, I found Tjia, trying to catch a hopping locust. The naked child ran to me and I stooped to hug her.

  “Father is very sad,” she said. “He told me Grandfather has gone west.”

  “Yes, he has, my darling.”

  “When will he be coming back?”

  “He won’t be returning. The Pharaoh’s soul has passed into the afterworld, in the direction of the setting sun.”

  “Does this mean Grandfather’s dead?”

  I sat down on a nearby stone bench with Tjia next to me, her legs dangling in the air. I put my arm around her.

  “It does,” I said.

  Tjia’s eyes filled with tears. “Then he won’t ever play with me again.”

  Tears filled my own eyes. “He will not play with you in this world, but you will see him again, when your own soul goes west many years from now on its own journey to the afterworld.”

  My daughter turned her head into my side and cried as I held her.

  “Do you promise?” she asked.

  “I promise,” I assured her.

  To mourn the Pharaoh’s passing, I shaved my eyebrows and secluded myself in the early morning and evening, chanting the ancient spells on behalf of Ramesses’ soul.

  During the daytime, I supervised servants as they filled trunks with the family’s belongings for shipment to the royal residence. I also collected Ramesses’ effects that were suitable for entombment with him.

  First, I sent amulets to be wrapped with many others in the linen of his mummy. They included six silver scarabs, a coiled ivory serpent, a golden vulture, and an onyx head of Sekhmet. I also sent larger items for the tomb, among them a gilded statue of Bastet, several alabaster plates for dining and faience chalices for wine.