“Where is Sitamun?” I asked as the child seated herself on the floor and prepared to play. Nava didn’t answer, but her fingers glided along the harp’s wooden frame until they touched a piece of papyrus stuck to the wood. She strummed a few notes with one hand and began to sing loudly while the other hand peeled the note from the harp frame and gave it to me to read.
What happened last night? Thutmose summoned me this morning. He was ranting about something you’d done, calling you an unnatural woman, but I couldn’t piece together anything sensible from his ravings. He forbids me to see you. He says the guards are ordered to turn me away if I come. I pray that they will let Nava pass. A child is harmless. Tell her everything and send her back to me. Whatever you did has set a monster free. May the gods shield you, my sister.
I didn’t want to do it. How could I tell Nava what had almost happened to me? It would petrify her.
Yes, but if I spare her, I may lose my chance for freedom, I thought. My chance for life.
“Nava?” I whispered. “Nava, can you be brave?”
Nava left me shortly after I gave her my message. My little Habiru didn’t go straight back to Sitamun. I listened at the crack of the door as she talked with the guards. They were charmed.
“You remind me of my little sister, when she was a tyke,” one of them said. “Except she couldn’t even get decent sounds out of a sistrum!” They all laughed.
“What would you like me to play for you?” Nava asked sweetly. They called for a few popular tunes and clapped mightily as she finished each one. “I have to go now,” she said after the fifth song. “But I can play some more when I come back later.”
“You come back any time you like while we’re on duty, girlie!”
“Bah, just come any time,” the second man said. “We’ll tell the lads who’ve got the other shifts that you’re all right.”
“Poor donkeys,” said the first guard. “They got their ears yanked off them by Prince Thutmose. Any idea what they did?”
“Don’t ask me.” I could picture the other guard shrugging. “It doesn’t pay to rub shoulders with anyone that gets on his bad side.”
“I heard he’s having fits because something happened to that cat of his and that this one”—he rapped on my prison door—“is to blame.”
“What, that cat he used to take everywhere, the one with the white star on its forehead? Huh. I could’ve sworn I saw a cat like that just yesterday, when I was passing through the royal quarters.”
“And all the lads know why you were in that part of the palace,” his friend teased. “So, you’re romancing the queen’s hairdresser and you noticed a cat? That’s not what catches my eye when I’m with my sweetheart. Hey, little girlie, take some advice.” He was talking to Nava again. “Never marry a man who puts you second to a cat.”
“No, Master,” Nava said docilely.
“Good girl. You remember that and grow up to be a smart woman, eh? Keep your nose clean and your mouth shut and you won’t end up like the one we’ve got behind this door.”
“Yes, Master.”
“All right, all right, let’s see that pretty smile of yours again. That’s it. And you remember what I told you: Come back and see us any time.”
“Oh, I will, Master! Thank you very much.” I heard the sound of her little feet running off.
Clever Nava! Thutmose might not forbid her to return, but the chastened guards might have gotten more officious and done it. She’d prevented that by opening a good path between them. I wanted to cheer, but all I could do was smile. I couldn’t wait to see her again and praise her for her shrewdness in making my guards her friends.
I didn’t wait long. I heard one of the guards call out, “Well, look who it is!” and then: “What’s this, sweetheart? Brought us something, did you?”
“It’s cake,” Nava said. “Honey cake, my favorite! My mistress, Princess Sitamun, wants you to have it so you’ll treat Lady Nefertiti nicely, because she likes her.”
“Hmmm, something for us from Princess Sitamun?” The second guard sounded dubious. “She’s not allowed to visit anymore. You think we should trust this stuff?”
There was a lot of muttering on the other side of the door and then Nava’s voice saying, “Can I have it if you don’t want it?” Then I heard her gobbling.
“Hey, save some for us!” Soon the guards were digging into the cake as well. I could still hear them stuffing their faces when they let Nava into my room.
This time Sitamun’s message was folded up small and tucked into the wide belt of Nava’s dress: The child told me everything. I am so afraid. If you stay, I know Thutmose will try again to kill you, and this time he won’t underestimate you. He’ll see to it that you have nothing you can use as a weapon, then he’ll destroy you and make it seem to be mischance. May Imhotep heal my brother, he has a demon in him. You must flee tonight. I am doing all that I can to make this happen. We have help—I won’t say who, in case this message reaches the wrong eyes. May the gods grant that we meet again in this life, my sweet sister, and not in the Field of Reeds.
I gave the papyrus back to Nava, who was strumming her harp but not singing yet. “Did you read this?” I asked under my breath. She looked embarrassed, but she nodded. “Good. Because—don’t stop playing, Nava—because this means that when I leave, you’re coming with me.”
“Oh, I knew that,” Nava replied. She smiled at me and began to sing. Soon the two of us were singing together.
She left me when the servant came with my dinner and to light my lamp. I didn’t have any of the extra oil left, but that didn’t matter. I wouldn’t need it tonight. Who’s going to go out first, me or the lamp? I thought, trying to hearten myself with a lame joke.
The servant was the same man who’d brought my breakfast, so I ate my dinner just as confidently. Even so, I sniffed everything I was given, food and drink alike, just to be sure nothing smelled like last night’s beer or that “funny milk.” As I was disposing of the last mouthful, I heard the guards take notice of something.
“Well, look who’s back! It’s our little girlie. Brought us more honey cake?”