Nefertiti

8

We passed through the guard gate and into a vast courtyard that spread out in the direction of the river. The sight of its flowing evening colours, and the feminine orchestra of the water birds, revived my spirits. And above me, looking out to the river, towered yet more statues of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. A man and a woman carved as gods.

We turned right into an enclosed courtyard, and then right again into an antechamber. Beneath my feet I noticed pavements of painted scenes: beautiful waterways with fish and flowers, and stones and butterflies. We were approaching the heart of the palace, for more and more officials, men of status in fine white linens, passed us. They quickly assessed me, curiously, dispassionately and without warmth, as a stranger in the city. Clearly this was a place where everyone knew everyone but none were friends.

Khety spoke to an officer of the court. Tjenry gave me a quick and inappropriate gesture of encouragement, and then I was ushered alone into a private courtyard as into the cage of a lion. It was exquisitely beautiful. Shuttered panels carved with filigree patterns ran around the edges until they opened on the side of the river. A fountain played in a translucent bowl balanced over a long pool. Flowers and river ferns flourished, nodding gently. The cool shade served only to sharpen the outline of a figure who stood, framed by the shutters, on a wide balcony giving on to the great panorama of the river and the greater one of the sunset, apparently gazing deeply into the dazzling consort of lights, the water’s dance, that surrounded him. Then he turned to face me.

At first I could not make him out. ‘Life, Prosperity, Health,’ I said. ‘I offer myself to my Lord and to Ra.’ I kept my eyes lowered.

Finally he spoke: ‘We have need of your offering.’ His voice was clear and light. ‘Look up.’

He seemed to gaze upon me for a little while. Then he stepped carefully down and out of the last red light of the setting sun.

Now I could look at him properly. He was both like and unlike his images. His face was still quite young; long, slender and almost beautiful, with precise lips and intelligent eyes that conveyed absolute power: it was both hard to look into them and impossible to look away. It was a fluid, alive face, but also one I could imagine hardening in an instant into ruthlessness. His body was disguised under his clothes, and a leopard skin was cast over one shoulder, but I had the impression of a slender, refined physique. Certainly his hands were fine. A beautifully wrought crutch was tucked under his right arm. He seemed at once brittle, as if with one light tap he would turn to dust, and immeasurably powerful, like someone who has been smashed to pieces and then restored, the stronger for the shattering. A rare creature, not quite of this world. Something of beauty and something of the beast.

Akhenaten, Lord of the Two Lands, Lord of the World, smiled. His lips revealed teeth that were thin and widely spaced. And then the smile vanished. He shuffled to a throne, his right foot dragging slightly, and lowered himself into it. A very ordinary, human sigh of relief.

‘The work of creating the new world is challenging. But it is the way we will return to our ancestors and the great truth. Akhetaten, the City of the Great Horizon, is the portal to the eternal, and I am rebuilding the way.’

He paused, waiting for my response. I had no idea what to say.

‘It is a great work, Lord.’

He considered me. ‘I have heard interesting things about you. You have new ideas. You can trace the clues of a mystery to their hidden source. You persuade criminals to confess without torture. You enjoy the dark and dead ends of the crooked labyrinth of the human heart.’

‘I am interested in how things happen, and why. So I try to look at what is in front of me. To pay attention.’

‘To pay attention. I like that. Are you paying attention now?’

‘Yes, Lord.’

He gestured for me to approach closer, concerned not to be overheard. ‘Then listen. There is a mystery. An alarming mystery. The Queen, my Nefertiti, the Perfect One, has vanished.’

This was the worst possible news for me. A confirmation of a nagging concern that had been growing since Ahmose first approached me. I felt oddly calm for a man who suddenly found himself poised precariously on a high precipice.

He waited for me to speak.

‘Permit me a question: when did this happen?’

He paused, considering his reply. ‘Five days ago.’

I did not quite know whether to believe him.

‘I have tried to keep this a secret,’ he continued, ‘but in this city of whispers and echoes it is not possible. Her absence is already the cause of considerable speculation, mostly in quarters who seek to profit from it.’

‘This is motive,’ I said.

He looked annoyed suddenly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, it may be that she has been…sequestered by such persons.’

‘Of course. There are forces of ignorance working against us, against the enlightenment. Her vanishing will seem an opportunity to question all that we have made and open the way to a return to the darkness of superstition. Their timing would be perfect. It is too convenient.’

I must have looked a little blank then.

‘Have those who recommended you committed a gross error?’

‘Forgive me, Lord. I was told nothing of the mystery or its circumstances. I was informed only that you wished to speak to me yourself.’

He gathered his thoughts, quickly and effectively. ‘In ten days the capital’s inauguration Festival will take place. I have commanded the presence and tributes of all the kings, governors and tribe leaders, together with their ambassadors and retinues from around the Empire. It is the revelation of the new world. It is what she and I have worked towards for these many years, and it cannot fail just as we are about to achieve our glory. I must have her back. I must know who has taken her, and I must have her back!’

He was suddenly shaking with rage-more, it seemed to me, with those who had taken her than with the loss of the woman herself. He whacked his staff across a table in fury. Then he shook his head, stood up shakily, turned away, calmed down, and pointed his gold staff at my face.

‘Do you understand the trust I place in you by speaking in this way? By revealing such considerations?’

I nodded.

He stood up and walked to the fountain where he observed the water pulsing. Then he turned back to me.

‘Find her. If she is alive, save her and bring her to me, together with those associated with the act. If she is dead, bring me her body so that I can give her to eternity. You have ten days. Call upon what resources you require. But trust no-one in this city. You are a stranger here. Keep it that way.’

‘May I speak?’

‘Yes.’

‘I will need to question everyone who had access to the Queen. Everyone who knows her, who works for her, who cares for or does not care for her. That may include your own family, Lord.’

He looked at me, taking his time. His face darkened again. ‘Are you implying that maybe your motivations exist within my own family?’

‘I must consider every possibility, no matter how unacceptable or unthinkable.’

He was not pleased. ‘Do what you must, with my authority. I will give you permissions. However, remember that this authority brings responsibility. If you betray it in any way I will have you executed. And if within ten days you have not succeeded, know this: I will also kill your family.’

My heart turned to a stone. The worst of my fears was confirmed. And he knew it. I could see it in his face.

‘And as for that little journal you keep your thoughts in, if I were you I would burn each scroll as you write it. “Somewhere between a mule and a mother-in-law”? I was not flattered. Remember your own advice. Take care.’

He poked his staff at me, stared hard, and then I was dismissed from his presence.