Free Suzanne Robinson by Heart of the Falcon

her thoughts. Yes, she would think of a plan that would allow her to go home. She had had enough of Thebes and its cruel aristocracy.
    “And thus, might Pharaoh, I feel confident that we have enough surveyors to attend this year’s Inundation.We will have the whole of the Two Lands measured without difficulty.”
    In the king’s audience chamber Seth set his jaws together and willed himself not to yawn. He leaned against a column shaped like a papyrus stalk. His eyes drifted from the overseer of surveyors to the king. On a dais, Tutankhamun sat on his golden throne, crook and flail scepters in his hands. Like Seth, he wore a linen head-cloth that fell over his shoulders, but his was held in place by a gold uraeus diadem. Seth marveled at the boy’s expression of polite attention. The lad had been in counsel for the whole morning, and old Huy was particularly long-winded. What amazed him more was that Pharaoh would recall every detail of the man’s report.
    Huy knelt on the floor. Tutankhamun inclined his head, and Huy backed out of the chamber. The double doors, taller than two men, closed with a boom that echoed in the vast hall. Tutankhamun set his scepters on a tray carried by a servant, let out a sigh, and stretched his legs. As the pharaoh got to his feet and worked his shoulders free of kinks, the group of ten councelors clustered around him drew closer.
    General Horemheb motioned for Seth to stand beside him. Vizier Ay, Treasurer Maya, and Lord Sennefer stood together at the foot of the dais. The Nubian prince Hiknefer of Aniba handed Tutankhamun a goblet of water. He and Prince Khai were two of Pharaoh’s companions. Seth’s eyes found the overseer of the audience hall and the viceroy of Kush as well as the high priest of Amun-Ra. He wondered why Horemheb had requested this so-called private meeting. He didn’t wait long in ignorance, for Tutankhamun settled himself on his throne again and beckoned for his chief counselors to come near. Pharaoh nodded at Horemheb. The general strode to the king’s side and faced the group.
    With Seth standing beside him, he waited for their attention. When he had it, Horemheb held up a miniature gold statuette of the jackal-god Anubis. Seth’s expressionremained impassive, though he noticed the funeral inscription at the base of the figure.
    “The divine son of the god has asked me to address you in a matter that has shocked him beyond speech,” announced Horemheb.
    Seth cocked a skeptical eye at the king. Well, the boy certainly looked worried, so the matter had to be serious.
    Horemheb handed the statue to Seth. “King Burnaburiash of Babylon sent this image to the king’s majesty. One of his men found it on the leader of a caravan raid. Burnaburiash doesn’t take kindly to nomads disrupting his Egyptian gold supply. Anyway, he questioned the man. Before he died, the man spoke of tomb robbery.”
    There was a strangled cry from the high priest of Amun-Ra. The old man was steeped in the occult traditions of his country and like all good Egyptians, believed in the cult of the dead of the god Osiris. Several councilors made the sign to protect against the vengeance of the dead.
    “There have been defilements before,” Horemheb said. “But this instance is different. That Anubis image comes from the necropolis at Memphis, some eleventh-dynasty lord. Treasurer Maya went personally to the city. He had the necropolis police search. Nine old tombs had been stripped of all their portable wealth. All the gold, silver, electrum, and precious stones. The coffins were rifled.” Horemheb stopped and muttered a charm.
    Seth spoke up. “I told you it would happen sooner or later. Of course, being only half Egyptian, I can appreciate what a temptation all that lovely gold must be, especially if your belly is empty and your lord takes much of what you raise in taxes.”
    There was outraged grumbling. Tutankhamun cast a startled look at Seth. Sennefer took two steps up the dais