“What, have you forgotten who we serve? Of course it’s crazy! He’s crazy! But he’s still sane enough to cut down anyone who gets in the way of his insanity.”
One of the speakers groaned. “What are we going to do? The queen threatened to get rid of every servant and slave in Prince Thutmose’s household if we can’t make him eat and drink like a normal person.”
“I know, I know.” A mighty sigh reached my ears as I moved nearer to the voices. “When that woman says she’s going to get rid of you, she doesn’t mean she’s sending you to a new master.”
“Unless it’s Osiris.”
“Gods, what are we going to do? My wife is trapped in that madman’s household, too. What will become of our children if both she and I are taken from them?” The words turned to sobs, answered by murmured sounds of attempted consolation.
“Good evening,” I said as I turned a corner and stepped fully into the light. My sudden appearance made one of the young men drop the laden dishes he was carrying. They smashed when they hit the ground. A loaf of bread came rolling up to my feet. Ta-Miu uttered a happy yowl and kicked free of my arms in order to pounce on a flight of roasted quail that had gone tumbling over the floor. The servant responsible for the mess fell to his knees, buried his hands in his face, and moaned.
“Lady Nefertiti?” The other young man stared at me in disbelief. “Why are you here this la—? I mean, may we serve you?”
I looked past his ashen face to the towering door that dominated the hallway. The wall above it was painted with a glorious image of Horus in his hawk form, blue, gold, and red feathers spread wide in a protective pose. Its frame was adorned with pictures of Isis and Hathor as well as the cobra-goddess Wadjet and the vulture-goddess Nekhbet, protectors of every pharaoh. The door stood between two seven-armed lamp stands, their carved stone cups all aglow. The pleasant scent of burning olive oil arose from the wicks. Someone had decided that the pungent reek of common castor-berry oil was not suitable for the nostrils of a crown prince.
Except he’s not the crown prince anymore, I thought. I gestured toward the door. “I am here to see Prince Thutmose. Take me to him.”
“Uhhhh …” The man squirmed. “Yes, my lady, at once. Er, that is, I’d better see if he is willing to, um—” He scratched the back of his hairless head. “Are you sure you want to see him now? If it would please you, I can carry any message you like to him and bring you his reply right away. Right away tomorrow. Or if you’d rather—”
“Enough.” The word of command echoed like a blow. I was not Nefertiti; I was once more the awesome goddess whose voice was enough to put would-be tomb robbers to flight. “Since you can’t decide how best to serve me, I will do it myself.” I started for the door, pausing only long enough to snatch Ta-Miu away from her impromptu feast. She was not happy.
Neither were Thutmose’s servants. They scrambled to get ahead of me and bar my path to the door. “Please, please, Lady Nefertiti, don’t go in there. If Prince Thutmose doesn’t want to see you, he’ll kill us for letting you in.”
“Then don’t let me in,” I said reasonably. “Weren’t you on your way to the kitchens?” I indicated the smashed dishes and the scattered food. “If you were busy cleaning that up, you never noticed me.” I laid my free hand on the first man’s shoulder and gently guided him out of my way, then treated the second servant in the same way. “Did you?” They were too stunned or too confused by my self-assurance to put up any further resistance. I smiled into their anxious faces as I opened the door and slipped inside.
I stepped into Thutmose’s apartments expecting gloom and shadows. Instead, I entered a grove of seven-branched lamp stands all filling the place with light. A flock of maidservants were tending the many lamps. They gasped and squealed in alarm when they saw me.
“Lady Nefertiti?” A tall, angular man hastened up to meet me. He had the well-fed, well-dressed look of a high-ranking servant. He bowed as if he was doing me a favor, then said, “Ah, it is you. And Ta-Miu, too?” He raised his eyebrows so high that they were swallowed up by the wrinkles on his forehead. “She’s looking well. My lady, I am Uni, the prince’s Master of the Household, at your service. I will be overjoyed to help you go where you want to be. Please don’t feel embarrassed by this mistake. Even those of us who have lived all our lives in the palace sometimes get lost. If you will be good enough to wait on that side of the door, I will conduct you to your own rooms personally as soon as I let my assistant know that I am leaving.” He made an elegant wave at the entryway to the prince’s apartments. I was being thrown out in the most gracious way.
“You’re mistaken,” I said crisply. “I’m not lost; this is where I want to be. However, if you feel you must escort me somewhere, take me to your master. Now.”
“Ah, um, er—” Uni’s bewildered reaction to my announcement was comically similar to the one I’d gotten from the servant in the hallway. “My lady, the time is late. The prince is not receiving visitors; the circumstances are—”
I raised my chin almost too high, trying to look dignified, and had to look a long way down my nose at him when I responded, “You have a simple choice, Uni: Bring me to Prince Thutmose, force me to find him on my own, or pick me up and carry me out of these apartments with your own two hands. I promise you, any consequences you might suffer for the first choice will be much less painful than for the second or the third—especially the third.” I held his gaze steadily until he understood I meant everything I’d said.