Read Online The Assassins of Isis by P. C. Doherty - Free Book Online

through.’
    â€˜And they did this?’ Shufoy asked.
    â€˜Yes, they did. Now, as you know, I investigated their crimes. I found one merchant more greedy than the rest; a man who stupidly tried to sell some of the plundered treasures in Memphis. I arrested him and his brother and took them to the House of Death, where the imperial torturers questioned them closely. They broke and provided more names. Entire families were involved.’
    â€˜What was the result?’
    Amerotke waved a hand. ‘You saw what happened this morning, or rather you heard: the tomb robbers were arrested and sentenced.’
    â€˜ But not all of them .’

    â€˜No.’ Amerotke rubbed his face. ‘I have said to the Divine One and to Lord Senenmut that two problems remain: the leaders and these assassins. In my searches I found that the leaders had hired the Sebaus not only to protect them but to steal the treasure and dissipate it through various cities of Egypt.’
    â€˜So the game is not finished.’ Shufoy leaned forward, almost tipping off the chair.
    â€˜No, it’s not finished.’
    Amerotke was about to continue when there was a loud knocking on the door and Lord Senenmut entered. Behind him thronged members of the Imperial Bodyguard, ‘Braves of the King’, warriors who had excelled in battle, killing an enemy in hand-to-hand fighting and taking his head as a trophy. They all wore the distinctive blue and gold headdress, and each wore a collar with a silver bee in the centre, the highest award for bravery that could be won by an Egyptian soldier.
    â€˜My lord,’ Amerotke bowed, ‘have you come to arrest me?’ He noticed how each of the soldiers carried a shield, as well as an oval war club and curved daggers thrust in the sashes around their waist.
    â€˜I heard about the attack.’ Senenmut told the guard to stay outside the chamber. ‘I thought this business was finished.’ He held up a leather bag. ‘Now we have proof it is not.’ He cupped Amerotke’s cheek in one hand. ‘You are unmarked? The Divine One was concerned.’
    â€˜I am well,’ Amerotke replied. He pointed to the leather bag. ‘But you are not just here about my welfare.’
    â€˜The treasure from the looted tombs?’ Senenmut asked.
    â€˜It is kept below in the strongroom.’
    Senenmut asked to see it. Amerotke took him out of the chamber and along the passageway. He noticed how the court was beginning to fill again. Scribes and priests, having satisfied their hunger in the temple cookshops and rested in the shade of the gardens, were now returning to the hall
for the second session of the court, which would last until dusk. All these hurriedly stood aside as Pharaoh’s First Minister and principal judge, ringed by the Braves of the King, hurried along the gleaming passageways and down the steps to the great cavernous storeroom below. The doors were guarded by sentries wearing the regalia of the goddess Ma’at. Amerotke took the keys from the officer of the guard, broke the seals, unlocked the doors and led Senenmut in.
    The storeroom was long and low-ceilinged. They waited for a while as the torches fixed into the wall were lit to reveal heaps of treasure, caskets and coffers which had been seized from the temple robbers. For a while Senenmut, whistling under his breath, moved amongst these, examining the beautiful mirrors and mirror cases decorated with coloured glass and semi-precious stones; ointment cases, gloves, sandals, diadems, ivory bracelets, pectorals of blue faience, collars of gold, statues and scarabs, earrings and bracelets, ritual couches, headrests carved in gold, exquisitely fashioned funeral boats, silver-plated shrines, canopic jars and dozens of shabtis, carved statues plated with precious metals which represented the servants of the dead person. Amerotke explained how each item had been carefully listed and noted, even the chairs