Free The Season of the Hyaena (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries) by Paul Doherty Page A

to.’
    ‘Of course,’ I whispered. ‘If something happens to me, Tutankhamun becomes more vulnerable, and the more vulnerable he becomes …’
    Ankhesenamun pressed her fingers against my forehead. ‘You and I, Mahu, are closely linked to my half-brother. You are the one man my father trusted, even when his brain became fevered and his wits wandered. He entrusted Tutankhamun to you, and in doing so, entrusted me. Of all the hyaenas you are the most loyal. You have no ambition.’ She took her hand away and laughed. ‘Or at least, I think you don’t.’
    ‘How can you be so sure,’ I demanded, ‘that the Usurper is a liar?’
    ‘I could say I know because I know.’ She paused and shivered slightly in the breeze seeping through the window. ‘I hate the darkness, Mahu. My father used to sit in the dark; he would glower at me and my sister, Meritaten. He would often challenge us: could he trust us? We’d reply that we were his daughters and his wives, but he’d shake his head. Sometimes he would shout abuse or just sit cradling a wine cup, muttering under his breath. Meritaten was weak, often terrified and deeply disgusted that she was her father’s own wife.’ She picked up my wine cup and thrust it back into my hands. ‘Eventually, I was banished from my father’s presence; only Meritaten remained, then Mother came back. After Akenhaten disappeared and Nefertiti had proclaimed herself his co-regent, Meritaten confessed … I don’t know whether she told the truth …’ Ankhesenamun’s eyes held mine. ‘Meritaten confessed,’ she whispered, ‘that Akenhaten had not disappeared! He was murdered by our mother, and his body still lies concealed in the City of the Aten.’
    She clucked under her tongue and the cheetah padded across and crouched by her. Ankhesenamun gently scratched between its ears, and the cat purred deeply in its throat.
    ‘You are surprised, Mahu?’
    ‘Not that Akenhaten was murdered,’ I responded, ‘but that Nefertiti was responsible.’
    ‘Their love had turned to hate.’
    I pulled a face. ‘I find that difficult to accept. How did Meritaten know all this?’
    ‘Because Nefertiti told her.’
    ‘But she produced no proof?’
    ‘None at all.’
    ‘And did she say where the body was buried?’
    ‘Nefertiti claimed that those mercenaries, the same ones you destroyed when you ousted her from power, prepared the body and hid it away in a cave under the eastern cliffs.’
    I stared at the cat, eyes mere slits, purring with pleasure. During his stay at the City of the Aten, Akenhaten had ordered tombs to be dug in the limestone cliffs which overlooked the city. One such sepulchre had been prepared for him but never finished. Now these caves and caverns held a host of caskets and coffers of those who had died at Akenhaten’s court: some by natural causes, others hastily buried when the great pestilence had struck.
    ‘I often asked Meritaten,’ Ankhesenamun continued, ‘if my mother was lying. Meritaten was easy to frighten; I wonder if my mother was quietly threatening her with a similar fate if she didn’t co-operate.’
    ‘But Nefertiti never told you?’
    I started as the beaded curtains shifted in the light breeze.
    ‘Never once.’ Ankhesenamun rubbed her hands together and, leaning over, gently whispered at the cheetah, caressing the side of its face. The cat yawned, stretched and padded back to its corner. Ankhesenamun rose to her feet clasping her wine cup and moved across to the window.
    ‘So, Mahu, we are united in this!’ She glanced over her shoulder. ‘It is foolish of you to go north with Meryre, though I know the reason. You must take care. Think carefully before you trust yourself to that treacherous snake and whatever he has plotted.’ She turned away, a sign that the meeting was over. I rose, bowed and left.
    Amedeta was waiting in the antechamber, sitting on a divan, head resting back against the wall. I wondered how much she knew and how much she