‘Why?’
I hesitated.
‘I don’t think there’s any clear reason why. The fact is – he’s different. In every way. Deliberately so. It’s almost as if he said, ‘How can I overthrow the thinking of thousands of years, upset my people, antagonise the priesthood, and offend all the gods? Oh, I know! Let’s abolish all the gods and have just one. Oh, and let’s have a new city devoted to that one god and make people abandon the ancient city of their ancestors and live there. They won’t mind. And what else? Oh, yes! Let’s have a new style of realism in our art. Warts and all. Well, don’t just stand there, everyone – jump to it. Nations don’t just weaken themselves, you know.’
I realised, too late, I was waving my arms around.
Leon was regarding me with a small smile.
‘What are you laughing at?’
‘Memories.’
I let that go.
‘Well, I’ve no doubt he came to a bad end. Is that what you want to see?’
‘Oh, no. No. I’m hoping we’ll see him before all of this kicks off. We know that in the third year of his reign, he celebrates the Heb Sed Festival. It’s usually held in the thirtieth year of a Pharaoh’s reign, but being Akhenaten, he had to be different.’
‘So – a festival.’
‘Yes.’
‘A happy time.’
‘Yes.’
‘No one attacks? No plagues? No earthquakes? The river will not run red with blood?’
‘Probably not.’
‘Don’t sound so disappointed.’
My conscience smote me with something the same size and density as a politician’s expenses claim. Was I being selfish? If the Time Police caught us, it would be the end of everything. He’d lose his pod. Maybe his life. All that risk just to see the heretic Pharaoh and his beautiful wife.
I turned to him and he smiled down at me. ‘I’m already looking forward to it.’
We landed in a small palm grove on the banks of the Nile. There was no point in checking the proximities – the place was full of people, all picking their way around irrigation ditches or splashing through small, soggy fields, all heading for the festival and a sight of their Pharaoh.
We’d ripped up the sleeping module, taken lengths of material, folded them in half, cut a hole for our heads, and belted them firmly with another torn strip. Once again, we were wearing our bedding. We looked nearly authentic until Leon donned his trainers and I found an old pair of non-Egyptian flip-flops. Still, we weren’t bad.
‘Bet you didn’t think to pick up my make-up when we left.’
‘Strangely, no.’
I tutted. ‘Can you find me some soot, please?’
He actually found some, reappearing minutes later with a smooth, soot-stained stone from an old cooking fire and a complacent smirk. I mixed a paste of soot and water and applied it around his eyes.
He wasn’t happy.
‘Relax,’ I said. ‘No one’s impugning your masculinity. All Egyptians wear make-up. Especially on the eyes. It wards off evil spirits and infections. You’ll attract far more attention without it, believe me. Of course, for a complete picture, we should be shaving our heads.’
‘What for?’
‘Lice.’
‘Where on earth have you brought me?’
‘And that reminds me, if you cut yourself at all, tell me at once. Before you start to fester.’
‘This eye stuff tickles.’
‘I’m so sorry. I’ll stop at once. Heaven forbid you should undergo any sort of discomfort.’
‘You can’t leave me with one black eye and one pink eye.’
‘You underestimate me.’
He sighed.
‘Actually, it suits you. You should consider it for everyday use.’
‘Just … get on with it, will you.’
I did my own eyes and we were set to go.
It was hot. Wonderful, glorious, bright, warm sunshine. Thank you, Aten. I began to see Akhenaten’s point of view.
We’d argued – sorry, had a discussion – over whether to activate the camouflage system or not. Whether the uproar caused by an Egyptian inadvertently walking into an invisible pod would be a greater or lesser risk than it being discovered by the Time Police.
‘Who must be at least two jumps behind us,’ I said. ‘We’ve got the Central Asian steppes between us and them.’
‘Mmm,’ he said, absently. ‘You’re right. We’ll leave it visible. If we have to leave in a hurry – and all past evidence indicates we will – then we’ll need to find it quickly.’
Not quite as reassuring as I could have hoped, but in my impatience to see the Heretic, I let it pass. I hopped from foot to foot as he made a slight adjustment to his tunic. ‘Yes, yes. You look very pretty.’
‘How’s your chest?’
‘What chest?’ I said, because everyone knows if you ignore persistent, throbbing pain then it goes away. Like toothache. And small children. And overdrafts.