Before the Throne

22

HORUS HAILED the court, “King Smenkhkara, King Tutankhamun, and King Aya.”

Thoth, the Sacred Recorder, read aloud, “Smenkhkara ruled for four years, Tutankhamun for six years, and Aya for four years. Their reigns were times of disturbance and corruption. None of them was capable of confronting the crisis.”

Osiris asked them to speak.

“I began my rule as coregent with Tutankhamun,” responded Smenkhkara, “but I was not able to restore the throne’s prestige.”

“Real authority lay with the priests of Amun,” said Tutankhamun.

“And the influence of the priests increased in my time,” admitted Aya. “I was weakened by age, and failed to achieve reform.”

“How could you repudiate me,” Akhenaten grilled Aya, “when you were the closest person to me, and I was your wife’s father?”

“I renounced you to avoid civil war in our country,” answered Aya.

“You were unfaithful to the One True God after you had proclaimed your belief in Him right in front of me.”

“My three sons were not suited for the throne,” Isis asserted. “Without the blind law of hereditary succession, not one of them would have sat on it, yet they deserve mercy, just the same.”

Osiris turned to them.

“Go to the Northern Gate,” he bid them, “which leads to the Realm of Purgatory.”