“Whoa, what’s in that monstrous huge jar you’ve got there? It’s bigger than you!”
“Looks like a beer jug to me. Is that it, girlie? You bringing the lady some beer?”
Nava’s voice came through the door: “It’s not beer; it’s wine. Princess Sitamun sent it. She said not to drop it or spill even one splash or I’m in trouble.”
“Hmph. Must be pretty good wine, then.”
I heard a slap and then an exasperated: “Of course it’s good wine, you dung-brain! From a princess for a princess, it’s not going to be like that sour swill you and I get to drink when we’re lucky. By Bes, I hate that stuff!”
“You drink enough of it when you can.”
“Well, it makes a change from beer.”
Nava spoke up again: “It is good. Really good. I tried it.”
“What, a little tadpole like you got to drink royal wine? You’ve got a generous mistress if she’s giving you this stuff.” There was a silence, then the guard’s voice again: “Ohhhh. So that’s how it is. Look at that guilty little face! She didn’t give you any; you helped yourself.”
“Let me see that jar,” the other guard said. “Aha! The seal’s broken.” Both of them clucked their tongues so loudly that there was no doubt they were clowning.
“Please, Master, don’t tell Princess Sitamun!” Nava cried.
“Welllll … maybe we won’t tell if you share a little of that wine with us,” one guard said. The other chuckled.
“Oh, I can’t do that!” Nava said. “This is for Lady Nefertiti.”
“That didn’t stop you from dipping your beak into it, my fine little goose.” The men were enjoying this. Guard duty was tedious, and they were glad to have any kind of diversion.
“Come on, just a taste,” the other wheedled.
“No.” Nava was unbending. “You can’t have a taste. You can’t have any. I won’t let you!”
“We’ll see about that,” came the good-humored response. There was a scuffle and the sound of Nava’s protests, though they weren’t very loud. Judging by what I heard next, the guards were passing the jar back and forth between them.
“Say, this is good.”
“Save some for me, you guzzler.”
“Stop whining, you had some.”
“And you’re having plenty! Give it back.”
“Stop it! Stop it!” Nava cried. “You’re going to drink it all! Don’t you dare, or I’ll—I’ll—”
“Oh ho, making threats now?” one guard said. “I’m so scared. I guess we’d better obey her before—” He took such a big slurp that the noise carried through my prison door, followed by the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground. “Awww, too late. Sorry, girlie.”
“You’re mean! I hate you!” Nava exclaimed. I pressed one eye to the crack between the door hinges and saw her pelting away while the guards doubled over laughing.
I sighed. Some men were nothing but overgrown boys who never got over the “fun” of teasing girls, just to get noticed. They’ll be sorry about this in a little while, I thought. They’ll apologize to Nava when she returns. I knew she would—how else was I going to receive Sitamun’s next message, the one that would tell me the plan to free me from prison?
I looked up at my window. Night had fallen. I caught a glimpse of the moon, showing half his face. I hope she comes back soon. I gathered up the loose material of my dress and secured it with the pin Sitamun had left me. I wanted to be ready. Then I sat down on my sleeping mat and pricked up my ears, waiting to hear the guards hailing Nava’s return and begging their “little girlie’s” pardon.
Time passed and I heard nothing, not even the sound of the guards’ voices. Where was Nava? What was wrong? Had Sitamun’s scheme to free me been discovered? If Thutmose had found out what his sister was planning, everyone would suffer for it. Not Nava, I prayed. Please, sweet Isis, not the child!
I was praying fervently, my eyes closed, my arms extended in supplication, when I heard the creak of the door edging open.
“Nefertiti?” Nava clung to the doorpost, her face painted with the oil lamp’s dancing shadows.
We crept away together, past the sprawled and snoring bodies of my guards. Nava took impish joy in telling me how she’d tricked the men into drinking the “funny wine.”
“Master Henenu went to that old doctor and told him he couldn’t sleep. Then he gave the medicine to Princess Sitamun, and she put it in the wine, but it was me who got them to drink it, every drop! That’s because I told them no.”
I patted her head and murmured praises. I did feel a pang of pity for those men—Thutmose would have their hides for this—but my life was at stake, and now others’ as well.
I found everything as Sitamun had described it. The small building where I’d been kept was all by itself in a deserted enclosure; the wall that Nava led me to was high, but not so high that I couldn’t boost her to the top and climb up after. The beautiful sound of the sacred river’s flowing waters came to us from a distance. I jumped down from the wall and caught Nava in my arms as she dropped. With the child’s hand in mine, we moved swiftly to the riverbank, seeking the boat that Sitamun had promised.
By the moon’s weak light, I saw a dark shape rocking in the shallows. The small vessel was the same type that poor Mahala had used when she saved me from drowning, made of bundled papyrus lashed together and curving up at both ends. The ferryman crouched by the oar, his bent body cloaked head to heels, though the night wasn’t that cold. I couldn’t see his face, only one hand silently beckoning us to board. As Nava and I picked our way forward, I saw that the bottom of the boat held bags of supplies and bulging water-skins. I thanked Sitamun in my heart and hoped she’d also sent me another dress to wear.