Lynda Robinson - Drinker Of Blood

The king walked over to it. "Bring him."

The Nubians hauled Kysen to the basket. At pharaoh's command Ay opened the container. Within lay hands. Right hands. Kysen counted eleven pale gray extremities, each with its dressing of blood and chopped veins.

Kysen had been in battle. He lifted his gaze to the king's and raised a brow. Tutankhamun clapped his hands again, and another basket was set beside the first.

"Lift the lid," pharaoh commanded.

His body numb, unable to refuse though he feared what he would find, Kysen fastened his hand on the wicker lid and opened it. A face stared up at him with parched eyes. Thin lips drew back over dry yellow teeth. Puckered skin covered the stalk of a neck that had no body to go with it.

Kysen almost smiled at the horror. "I know him not."

Pharaoh moved around the head sitting in its wicker nest in a cloud of sweet-smelling linen to stand close to him and speak as softly as a concubine in a private garden. "This is but a thief, the bandit leader we defeated before your father tried to kill me." The king leaned closer and whispered. "I cut off his head myself, Ky. I wanted to know what it felt like, to hack at flesh with an ax. Tell me where your father has gone and why he tried to kill me, or by the gods I'll do the same to you."

For a brief moment Kysen's eyes closed as revulsion claimed him. Then he opened his eyes, knelt, and exposed his neck.

"Thy majesty must deal with me as he has with the bandit, for I don't know where my father has gone."

A barrage of curses startled him. The king's air of viciousness disappeared in a fit of rage. Guards scuttled out of his way as Tutankhamun stalked back and forth, hurling epithets. Abruptly Kysen lowered his gaze to conceal his suspicion that the king had been engaged in a ruse that had failed. When the stream of curses ceased, pharaoh pointed at him.

"Meren told you I promised not to punish his family, didn't he?"

Confused, Kysen could only shake his head.

Tutankhamun stalked to him, halting but a pace away. "I am pharaoh, and pharaoh keeps his word. But I shouldn't have given such a promise. I see that now." Crossing his arms over the electrum-and-turquoise broad collar on his chest, Tutankhamun eyed him. "But I never promised not to question his family. Shall I question your sisters, Kysen? Ah, fear at last."

"Majesty." Kysen's voice shook, and he paused to control it. "I beg to speak to you privately."

Maya spoke for the first time. "Impossible."

"Go away, Maya." The king glared at his escort. "Stand at a distance, all of you."

When they were alone the king sighed and said, "Get up, Ky. I hope what you have to say will ease my grief. To lose Meren…" Tutankhamun looked away. "Speak."

"I swore to my father that I would never reveal what I know," Kysen said. "But his life is forfeit if I don't speak. Many weeks ago Lord Meren and I discovered an old and evil secret, one that will cause more grief to thy majesty."

Tutankhamun gave him a sharp glance. "Out with it."

"We discovered that Queen Nefertiti did not die of the plague but was poisoned."

To Kysen's admiration, pharaoh gave no hint of astonishment or outrage. The cloak of royal dignity remained, and the only indication of the king's distress was the great stillness that came over him. At the boy's slight nod, Kysen continued.

"Lord Meren has been trying ever since to discover the evil ones who were responsible, for he knew at least one still lived. We searched for the queen's favorite cook, but she and her husband were murdered before we could question them. Only a short time ago, we obtained the names of three men known to have the power and the opportunity to devise such evil. My father contacted two of them, and as he was about to summon the third, these evil rumors began. Then someone tried to destroy Lord Meren with this attack upon thy majesty."

The king had been watching Kysen closely. "You're lying to save your father. If this story was true, the evil one would have simply tried to kill Meren."

"No, majesty, for my father is hard to kill, and even if he was killed, I would still remain." Kysen smiled bitterly. "And if they killed my father, I would hunt the evil ones from here to the lakes of fire in the netherworld. And if I was killed, Abu would take up the task. No, disgrace is far more effective. Is thy majesty not separated from the one man who can tell the truth?"

Tutankhamun shook his head wearily. "The murder of a queen, a fantastic tale that seems conveniently designed to relieve Meren of his guilt. And if he wishes to tell me the truth, why is he not here? And why have most of his charioteers vanished?"

"Golden one, Meren has served loyally thy whole life-"

Kysen stopped because the king suddenly narrowed his eyes and drew a sharp breath.

"Yes," Tutankhamun said softly. "He has. When I was a child, he was appointed as one of my tutors and guided me faithfully-once Akhenaten and Nefertiti were dead."

Dread enveloped Kysen's heart. "Thy majesty doesn't suspect my father of murdering either."

"To be pharaoh, Ky, and stay alive is to suspect where one least wishes to. Your father taught me that."

The king eyed him silently for a moment. "Your father was with Queen Nefertiti a great deal in his capacity as Ay's aide, was he not?"

"Yes, majesty, but-"

"And if she'd lived, the queen would have been regent and Lord Meren but one of many who served her father. She would have been first in my heart, and she would have had power until I came of age."

"If thy majesty would but send for the three men my father suspected-" Kysen began.

"Let your father give himself up to my majesty," the king said. "Convince Meren to surrender, and I will listen to this wild tale again." The king turned and signaled to Ay and Maya.

Kysen spoke rapidly before the two reached the king. "Golden one, I am a prisoner in my own house, and I don't know where Lord Meren is."

The two councillors joined them.

"Ay, withdraw the guards from Lord Meren's family."

Maya uttered an exclamation of dismay. "But, majesty-"

"My majesty is convinced that Lord Kysen is a loyal subject."

"But-" Maya closed his mouth when Ay put a hand on his arm.

Bowing, the vizier said, "Yes, majesty."

Kysen knew better than to trust such generosity. The fisherman might loosen the net; he didn't take it away altogether. "Golden one, I've told you the truth."

"Of course."

Kysen darted a glance at the king as he bowed. Gone was the hurt and distraught boy. In his place was Nebkheprure Tutankhamun, Lord of the Two Lands, Son of Ra, the young ruler who spoke of hacking the heads of criminals from their necks. Meren had taught the king well. Once his suspicions were aroused, the king would trust no one until this mystery was solved. And he no longer trusted Meren, in spite of the many times his councillor had almost died to protect him. For pharaoh, the risk of such trust was too great, no matter the impulse of his heart.

Kysen glanced at Maya, who seemed torn between his friendship for Meren and his love of the king. And Ay? No one could tell what Ay was thinking.

The king was watching him impassively. "Mose, escort Lord Kysen home."

"Please, majesty," Kysen said as Mose approached and clamped a hand on his arm.

"My majesty will hear no more."

Shrugging off Mose's hand, Kysen bowed and turned to follow the Nubian. Ky.

He looked back to find that the king had come after him. Kysen dropped to the ground. "Yes, majesty?"

"You may be assured, I'll never condemn your father unheard."

"Thy majesty is wise and merciful, but I fear Lord Meren won't be allowed to live long enough to be heard."

Horizon of the Aten, the independent reign of the pharaoh Akhenaten