I stood up and walked into the cave. We had no light because we had no fuel in this barren place, so I had to feel my way and do my best to remember where I’d stored our things during daylight. I located our last bag of provisions by touch. The only food we had left of what I’d carried away from Thutmose’s tent was some bread that was now as hard as the rock walls around us. What would become of us if Amenophis still couldn’t move after the last crumb was gone? The goatskin bags had been drained days ago, refilled when luck led us past a natural stream, and now were nearly empty again. I’d put them near the mouth of the cave, next to Thutmose’s bow and quiver so that they’d be easy to find, but I had no idea where to look for more water.
“Murrr.” Ta-Miu wound her sleek body around my ankles in the dark. The cat was the only one of us who seemed to have no worries about finding another meal. For a pampered pet who’d been born and raised in a palace, she was quite the talented huntress. Whenever she left the cave, she always returned with some luckless rodent in her jaws. Sometimes she even laid the bodies at our feet, as if trying to teach her hunting skills to a trio of very stupid kittens. Why do you furless fools sit there looking so hungry when the world out there is full of all this wonderful food? Go on! Get it! Do I have to do everything for you?
“It may come to that, Ta-Miu,” I said, stroking her back. “How many jumping mice would you say I’ll have to pounce on to feed all of us, hmm?”
“Less than you think,” Amenophis called from the deeper darkness. “You can have my share.”
I crawled toward the sound of his voice. “If I do resort to catching mice for our meals, you’ll eat them,” I said, finding his hand in the darkness. “The only thing wrong with you now is hunger. If a diet of mice is what it takes to cure you, I’ll feed them to you with my own hands.”
“Yes, O Hathor, great healing goddess. You speak and I obey.”
“You shouldn’t mock the gods, Amenophis.”
He sighed. “You’re probably right. We can’t afford to have them angry at us. I was only joking, but if I’ve offended the lady Hathor, I’ll make a generous offering when I ask for her forgiveness.”
“It sounds as if you’re offering her a bribe.” A trace of bitterness touched my words. “And if the servants of Hathor are anything like your brother’s tame Amun priests, they’ll be happy to tell you the exact price that will buy the goddess’s pardon.” I clicked my tongue, tsk-tsking impatiently. “Sometimes I wish I worshipped Nava’s god. All she has to offer the One is song, but that seems to be enough.”
“It would be more pleasant to visit the shrines without feeling like we were entering the marketplace,” Amenophis admitted. “Still, Nava’s god is very strange. We spoke about the One while you were in Thutmose’s encampment. She says her people don’t have images of him because he doesn’t even have a face.”
“The Aten has no face, either, only the burning disc of the sun. Does that mean we shouldn’t give thanks for the light?”
“I’d give thanks for some light now.” Amenophis sounded downcast.
“Why don’t you promise the Aten a gift greater than anything that’s ever been given to the other gods?” I joked. I couldn’t light our refuge, but I could lighten the mood. “If this cave fills with sunlight, we’ll know the priests are right: The only way to reach the gods’ ears is to fill their laps with offerings.”
“Now who’s mocking the gods?” The sound of Amenophis’s chuckle made me smile. “But the priests might be right. My family builds huge temples to glorify the gods; we heap their shrines with treasure. Nava’s people offer only words of prayer and songs of praise. Tell me, Nefertiti, who rules the Black Land.” He was too good-hearted to say And who lives here enslaved? but he must have been thinking it because he added, “How powerful can one lone, faceless god be?”
“Only you could turn our talk from mice to gods,” I said.
“Ah, so you’ve uncovered my scheme to distract you. Now I’ll have to eat mice after all. Don’t forget to skin them first. We can use the hides to make you a nice pair of sandals.”
I laughed. “You always know how to cheer me, Amenophis. No wonder I love you.”
“What?” His startled question echoed in the cave.
Oh, gods, how had that slipped out of my mouth? I wasn’t ready to say such things to him, not yet! Not yet!
“If you won’t eat mice, I guess I’ll have to find you something else, you ungrateful thing.” I chattered like a stork clacking its bill, trying to bury his question in a rockslide of words. “You have to eat much more than bread if you’re going to be able to walk out of here. We need more water, too. I’ll have to find a source. Maybe I ought to watch Ta-Miu and follow her wherever she goes. She could lead me to more prey than mice. Would you stoop to eat a lizard, O great prince? Think about it because I might not give you a choice. Mmm, lizards …” I smacked my lips clownishly and scuttled out of the cave before he could say anything more.
Nava was sitting in the moonlight just outside the cave mouth with Ta-Miu in her lap, lost in her own thoughts. I bent forward to touch her shoulders. “What do you see out there, little one? Or are you dreaming with your eyes open?”
Nava misinterpreted my question. “Do I have to go to sleep now? The night’s so pretty, and look at how the moon shines!”
“It is bright, isn’t it?” I knelt and carefully poured the last of the water from one bag into the other, then slung the empty one over my shoulder. Thutmose’s richly decorated quiver joined it. Last of all, I picked up the royal hunting bow. “Wish me luck, Nava.”
“Where are you going?” Her voice went high with fear.
“Dear one, don’t make this hard. I have to go. We need food, but we won’t live if I don’t find us some water. Don’t worry, I’ll be very careful and I won’t get lost.”
“You will if you go too far,” Nava said mournfully. She made a sweeping gesture at the scope of the deserted landscape. It did look as if the barren hills went on forever.
“Don’t you trust me, Nava?” I asked with a confidence I didn’t fully feel. “If I could find my way through the royal palace, a few trails won’t confuse me. If I wonder which way to go, I’ll climb to the top of the nearest cliff. I won’t be able to miss spotting this cave from up there.”
“In the dark?” The child was unconvinced. “We don’t have a fire. How will you see us?”