Read Online Orphan of the Sun by Gill Harvey - Free Book Online Page A

be worrying about her. She would have to go home.
    The groups of gossiping men had begun to disperse. Meryt walked slowly, dragging her feet. Why on earth had she reacted to Kenna like that? What if he did admire Dedi’s beauty? It would be strange ifhe did not. There was no harm in it. Meryt kicked herself time and again, but could still not bring herself to turn back. The matter would have to be resolved some other time.
    She reached home, and stepped quietly through the front door. Tia and Nauna were in the middle room, plucking feathers from two plump ducks in the lamplight. Meryt stared in surprise. Senmut must have done some trading during the council meeting. Of course – they were for Baki’s ritual feast. Two ducks! There would be plenty of rich eating in the next few days – and plenty of work for the women of the household too.
    Tia smiled up at Meryt as she stood in the doorway. ‘Did you go to the meeting?’ she asked.
    Meryt nodded, ignoring Nauna’s disapproving frown. She squatted down next to Tia. ‘Userkaf is stirring up trouble in Nebnufer’s gang,’ she said. ‘But the council saw through him easily enough. Can I help?’
    Tia gave Meryt a knowing smile and nodded discreetly in the direction of Nauna’s duck. Meryt saw what she meant immediately. Thanks to the older woman’s failing eyesight, tufts of feathers still remained untouched.
    â€˜Take this one to the courtyard,’ said Tia, handing Meryt her own bare-skinned duck. ‘Nauna, I’ll finish yours off. Meryt will clear away the feathers.’
    Meryt took the duck and padded through the house. The sound of Senmut’s snores greeted herfrom the back room, the usual effect of a flagon of beer after a week at the tombs. In the shadows, Meryt saw that Baki was asleep too. Relieved, she carried on into the courtyard and placed the duck in a copper pot, out of reach of the cats.
    When she had taken the second duck from Tia’s skilful fingers, Meryt stuffed the mound of feathers into a linen sack and carried it up to the roof. She rescued her ostracon from the corner and lay down, propping the sack behind her head. The smell of the duck feathers permeated it but it was soft and comfortable. Curling up on her side, Meryt thought once more of Kenna’s expression as he spoke of Dedi. How lucky her friend was to be rich and beautiful, admired by so many of the men in the village. No one had ever thought of her in that way, she was sure. Except Ramose, perhaps, but that idea was not a pleasant one. With an ache in her heart, she managed to fall asleep.
    There was little chance to escape from home for the next two days. The whole household became a hive of activity as preparations were made for Baki’s ritual feast. Meryt gathered that her cousin would undergo his ritual with five other boys of a similar age in the forecourt of the chapel of Amen-Re, and that Senmut had offered his home as a place of celebration for the men of all five families in the evening.
    Meryt knew that the boys themselves would be inno fit state for feasting. Circumcision was an extremely painful ritual and their wounds would take time to heal. Apart from Baki, they would all go home to be looked after by their mothers or other womenfolk, and as such, the event would be a very male affair.
    On the morning of the ritual itself, Meryt was left in charge of baking bread and cakes while Tia and Nauna prepared vegetables in the back room. Henut and Mose hung around the courtyard, getting in the way of both Meryt and Nes, the Nubian servant girl who had been brought in to grind a new batch of grain.
    Baki wandered around the house with a cocky smile on his face, occasionally joining his younger brother and sister as they played around Meryt’s feet. ‘You will have to wait on me at the feast tonight,’ he said to Meryt, grabbing a chunk of freshly baked bread. ‘I’ll be a man. You’ll have