Three Novels of Ancient Egypt

“Do not fear, Mother,” he consoled her. “My devotion and loyalty to the throne will serve on my behalf with Pharaoh.”

“Nothing will serve on your behalf with him for anything,” she admonished, “when he discovers that you are his rival, whom the gods created to inherit his throne.”

The youth's eyes widened in disbelief. “Inherit his throne?” he cried. “How misguided a prophecy is this!”

“I beg you, my son, to put my heart at rest.”

He took her in his arms, pressing against her with compassion. “I have lived twenty years, without anyone knowing my secret,” he said. “Forgetfulness has enfolded it — and it shall not arise again.”

“I know not, Son, why I am frightened and apprehensive. Perhaps it is Zaya….”

“Zaya!” he exclaimed. “For all of twenty long years I called her my mother. If motherhood were mercy, love, and personal devotion, then she was my mother, too, Mama. Zaya would never wish evil upon us. She is an ill-fated woman, like a virtuous queen who has lost her throne without warning.”

But before Ruddjedet could open her mouth to respond, a male servant entered hurriedly, saying that Djedef's deputy Sennefer wanted to meet him immediately, without the slightest delay. The young man was taken aback, because Sennefer had been with him only a short time before. He reassured his fearful mother as he excused himself to go out to meet Sennefer in the garden. Djedef found the officer anxious, impatient, and upset. The moment Sennefer saw him he came up to him quickly, without any greetings or graces.

“Commander, sir,” he burst out, “by chance I have learned of sinister facts that warn of an impending evil!”

Djedef's heart raced, and he turned and looked unconsciously back at the guest room as he wondered to himself, “Do you see what new adversities the Fates have hidden from you?”

Then he looked at his deputy. “What do you mean by that, Sennefer?”

In bewildered accents, the officer told him: “Just before sunset today, I went into the wine cellar to pick out a good bottle. I was looking about waywardly — standing next to the skylight that looks out onto the garden — when I heard the voice of the crown prince's chief chamberlain talking in whispers with a strange person. Though I couldn't make out what they were saying clearly, I did hear him well when he finished by calling him, ‘Prince Khafra, who will be Pharaoh by dawn tomorrow!’ I was jolted by terror, as I was sure that His Majesty the King must have gone to be near Osiris. I forgot what I had been looking for and hurried outside to the soldiers’ barracks. I found the officers playing around and chatting as they usually do when off-duty, so I thought that the dreadful news had not yet reached them. I didn't want to be the bearer of evil tidings, so I slipped away outside, mounted my chariot and headed toward Pharaoh's palace, where I might establish the truth of the matter. I saw that the palace was quiet, its lights twinkling as always like brilliant stars, the guards going to and fro with no sign of anything wrong. Undoubtedly, it seemed, the lord of the palace was alive and well. I was stunned at what I'd heard in the cellar, and thought about it for a long time. I was worried and afraid. Then your person came to my mind, like a light leading a ship lost in the dark, at the mercy of the wind and waves in a violent storm, safely into shore. So I came to you urgently, hoping to take your wise direction.”

Agitated, Djedef asked him — having forgotten his personal troubles, and all that had taken him so much by surprise that day, “Are you sure that your ears did not deceive you?”

“My presence before you now is proof that I'm sure.”

“You aren't drunk?”

“I haven't tasted drink this day at all.”

The young commander fixed him with a frozen stare, and asked in what he imagined was a strange voice indeed, “And what did you understand from this?”

The officer fell fearfully silent, as though guarding his answer, leaving the commander to supply it himself. Djedef understood what lay behind his failure to speak, his heart pounding as he became lost in thought. At that moment, he remembered Prince Khafra's peculiar instructions: his order not to discharge his soldiers, and to await his commands at dawn — and to follow them, however unusual they might seem. These disquieting memories returned as he thought of what Sennefer, who stood before him now, had told him — on his first day as a guard to the prince — about the heir apparent's character, his short temper, and his severity. He recalled all of this quickly and with shock, as he wondered, “What else are you holding back, O World of the Invisible? Is Pharaoh in danger? Is there treason abroad in Egypt?”

He heard Sennefer say with passion, “We are soldiers of Khafra, but we swore our oath of loyalty to the king. The army altogether is Pharaoh's men — except for the traitors.”

He realized that Sennefer's suspicions matched his own. “I fear that the king is in peril!” he said, heatedly.