6 Chapter 6

From the diary of Ellen Lambert:

Egypt - Life & Death

Unrest rumpled beneath the fine veneer of the palace.

Queen Kiya, a jealous and conniving woman, had always wanted her son to rise to the throne as Pharaoh Nepherites II, even though Anoka's son Maimon would be the natural successor.It had been rumored that Queen Kiya had ties to the netherworld and practiced the forbidden arts of black magic.Of course, no one in the house of Queen Anoka had ever witnessed Kiya's sorcery, but many speculated that she was a disciple of Nor-Sekhmet, the goddess of dark forces and magic.Although there were no stone images of the goddess, it was said she took the form of a black demoness, with a snake's head and a scorpion's body.

Somehow Queen Kiya found out about my assignations with Darshak and used this knowledge to force me to align myself with her house.I had no choice.Should my indiscretions become public knowledge I would not only be ostracized but subject to strict punishment, even death.The queen took advantage of my tenuous situation by offering me a reward if I aided her in her plan to assassinate Pharaoh's first born, Maimon, therefore making her son Nepherites the next heir apparent.

Queen Kiya planned a swift and forceful coup.She would blame the murder and the ensuing consequences on outside forces, the Persians who threatened to invade and conquer Egypt for the second time.They wanted our country's wealth and power; but instead of assassinating Pharaoh, they planned to hurt him to the quick by taking the life of his favorite son and heir.

I was to serve as the bait, bidding Maimon to follow me on some urgent matter into a secluded part of the palace where Queen Kiya's guards awaited.Once the guards murdered Maimon, I was to sound the alarm and wait for Pharaoh's guards to arrive.When they did, I had to misdirect them to the outside parameters of the palace where the assassins had fled, probably into the city proper.But one assassin would remain, hidden in the shadows, to wait until I was alone.Then he would kill me as well so I could never reveal Queen Kiya's murderous deception.

Fortunately, I would not remain dead for long, for the queen had promised me resurrection.She alone held the secret of life imparted to her by the Goddess Nor-Sekhmet and she would deign to make me immortal.But in return I had to leave the palace and even my country, leave behind the only world I knew.Yet I had no choice.If I gave the queen the slightest hesitation, or if I gave her any reason to distrust me, she would have me killed, and I would be dead for all eternity.

I would have died for nothing.

And yet, I had little to live for.As soon as the queen proposed her scheme, the scribes who had been preparing Darshak for his avocation quickly whisked him away, forbidding him any contact with me, or any woman for that matter.Tomorrow Darshak would enter a private enclave to take his vows and would have no communication with the outside world for a month.My heart sank in despair.I could not even try to see him on the sly.Our love had not endured the obstacles ahead; and in all consciousness, I could not hold him honor-bound to marry me after our intimacy.Even if I made our love public knowledge it would do no good.The scribes would make Darshak deny it all.Thus I had to accept the inevitable: I had lost my lover, my love, my mate, forever.

I was alone now, alone and afraid...deathly afraid.My charge, Princess Tadu, had gone to Mendes with her sisters to oversee the building of a new temple dedicated to the princesses so I had no pressing duties at the moment.

Queen Kiya assured me that I would have a guardian to watch over me during the two days I would rest, in death, in the preparatory room the funerary chamber.I would remain there in total oblivion, hopefully resurrected before the preparers cleansed my body, anointed it with musk and myrrh, and then embalmed and wrapped me in clean linen for my eternal rest in my family tomb.The person who would guard me against these last few steps of the death ritual happened to be the nurse, Nyree, the old woman I suspected all along of spying on me when I met with Darshak.She had to be the one who revealed my indiscretion to the queen.Now the old witch held my life-and my death-in her hands.

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