Agatha Christie - Death Comes as the End

Hori said with sudden bitterness:

"All Egypt is obsessed by death! And do you know why, Renisenb? Because we have eyes in our bodies, but none in our minds. We cannot conceive of a life other than this one - of a life after death. We can visualize only a continuation of what we know. We have no real belief in a God."

Renisenb stared at him in amazement.

"How can you say that, Hori? Why, we have many, many Gods - so many that I could not name them all. Only last night we were saying, all of us, which Gods we preferred. Sobek was all for Sakhmet and Kait prays always to Meskhent. Kameni swears by Thoth, as is natural, being a scribe. Satipy is for the falcon-headed Horus and also for our own Meresger. Yahmose says that Ptah is to be worshipped because he made all things. I myself love Isis. And Henet is all for our local God Amun. She says that there are prophecies amongst the priests that one day Amun will be the greatest God in all Egypt - so she takes him offerings now while he is still a small God. And there is Re, the Sun God, and Osiris, before whom the hearts of the dead are weighed."

Renisenb paused, out of breath. Hori was smiling at her.

"And what is the difference, Renisenb, between a God and a man?"

She stared at him.

"The Gods are - they are magic!"

"That is all?"

"I don't know what you mean, Hori."

"I meant that to you a God is only a man or a woman who can do certain things that men and women cannot do."

"You say such odd things! I cannot understand you."

She looked at him with a puzzled face - then glancing down over the valley, her attention was caught by something else.

"Look," she exclaimed. "Nofret is talking to Sobek. She is laughing. Oh -" she gave a sudden gasp - "no, it is nothing. I thought he was going to strike her. She is going back to the house and he is coming up here."

Sobek arrived looking like a thundercloud.

"May a crocodile devour that woman!" he cried. "My father was more of a fool than usual when he took her for a concubine!"

"What did she say to you?" asked Hori curiously.

"She insulted me as usual! Asked if my father had entrusted me with the sale of any more timber. I'd like to strangle her."

He moved along the platform and, picking up a piece of rock, threw it down to the valley below. The sound of it bouncing off the cliff seemed to please him. He levered up a larger piece, then sprang back as a snake that had been coiled up beneath it raised its head. It reared up, hissing, and Renisenb saw that it was a cobra.

Catching up a heavy staff Sobek attacked it furiously. A well-directed blow broke its back, but Sobek continued to slash at it, his head thrown back, his eyes sparkling, and below his breath he muttered some word which Renisenb only half heard and did not recognize.

She cried out:

"Stop, Sobek, stop - it is dead!"

Sobek paused, then he threw the staff away and laughed.

"One poisonous snake the less in the world."

He laughed again, his good humor restored, and clattered off down the path again.

Renisenb said in a low voice: "I believe Sobek - likes killing things!"

"Yes."

There was no surprise in the word. Hori was merely acknowledging a fact which he evidently already knew well. Renisenb turned to stare at him. She said slowly:

"Snakes are dangerous - but how beautiful that cobra looked..."

She stared down at its broken, twisted body. For some unknown reason she felt a pang at her heart.

Hori said dreamily:

"I remember when we were all small children - Sobek attacked Yahmose. Yahmose was a year older, but Sobek was the bigger and the stronger. He had a stone and he was banging Yahmose's head with it. Your mother came running and tore them apart. I remember how she stood looking down at Yahmose - and how she cried out: 'You must not do things like that, Sobek - it is dangerous! I tell you, it is dangerous!'" He paused and went on, "She was very beautiful... I thought so as a child. You are like her, Renisenb."

"Am I?" Renisenb felt pleased - warmed. Then she asked, "Was Yahmose badly hurt?"

"No, it was not as bad as it looked. Sobek was very ill the next day. It might have been something he ate, but your mother said it was his rage and the hot sun - it was the middle of summer."

"Sobek has a terrible temper," said Renisenb thoughtfully.

She looked again at the dead snake and turned away with a shiver.

II

When Renisenb got back to the house Kameni was sitting on the front porch with a roll of papyrus. He was singing and she paused a minute and listened to the words.

"I will go to Memphis," sang Kameni, "I will go to Ptah, Lord of Truth. I will say to Ptah, 'Give me my sister tonight.' The stream is wine, Ptah is its reeds, Sakhmet its lotus, Earit its bud, Nefertem its flower. I will say to Ptah, 'Give me my sister tonight. The dawn breaks through her beauty. Memphis is a dish of love apples set before the fair of face."

He looked up and smiled at Renisenb.

"Do you like my song, Renisenb?"

"What is it?"

"It is a love song from Memphis."

He kept his eyes on her, singing softly:

"Her arms are full of branches of the persea, her hair is weighed down with unguent. She is like a Princess of the Lord of the Two Lands."

The color came up in Renisenb's face. She passed on quickly into the house and almost collided with Nofret.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Renisenb?"

Nofret's voice had a sharp edge to it. Renisenb looked at her in faint surprise. Nofret was not smiling. Her face looked grim and tense and Renisenb noticed that her hands were clenched at her sides.

"I am sorry, Nofret. I did not see you. It is dark in here when you come from the light outside."

"Yes, it is dark here..." Nofret paused a moment. "It would be pleasanter outside - on the porch - with Kameni's singing to listen to. He sings well, does he not?"

"Yes - yes, I am sure he does."

"Yet you did not stay to listen? Kameni will be disappointed."

Renisenb's cheeks felt hot again. Nofret's cold, sneering glance made her uncomfortable.

"Do you not like love songs, Renisenb?"

"Does it matter to you, Nofret, what I like or do not like?"

"So little cats have claws."

"What do you mean?"

Nofret laughed. "You are not such a fool as you look, Renisenb. So you find Kameni handsome? Well, that will please him, no doubt."

"I think you are quite odious," said Renisenb passionately.

She ran past Nofret towards the back of the house. She heard the girl's mocking laugh. But through that laugh, sounding clearly in her memory, was the echo of Kameni's voice and the song that he had sung with his eyes watching her face...

III

That night Renisenb had a dream.

She was with Khay, sailing with him in the Barque of the Dead in the Underworld. Khay was standing in the bows of the boat - she could only see the back of his head. Then, as they drew near to sunrise, Khay turned his head and Renisenb saw that it was not Khay but Kameni. And at the same time the prow of the barque, the serpent's head, began to writhe. It was a live serpent, a cobra, and Renisenb thought: "It is the serpent that comes out in the Tombs to eat the souls of the dead." She was paralyzed with fear. And then she saw that the serpent's face was the face of Nofret and she woke up screaming: "Nofret - Nofret..."

She had not really screamed - it was all in the dream. She lay still, her heart beating, telling herself that none of all this was real. And then she thought suddenly: "That is what Sobek said when he was killing the snake yesterday. He said: 'Nofret'..."

FIRST MONTH OF WINTER, 5TH DAY

Renisenb's dream had left her wakeful. She slept after it only in snatches, and towards morning she did not sleep at all. She was obsessed by an obscure feeling of impending evil.