Read Online The Horus Road by Pauline Gedge - Free Book Online

shot him dead.”
    “Yes, they did.”
    “And you and Grandmother punished them.” He slapped his brown knees cheerfully. “And when Father dies I will be King?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. When I am King and everyone must do as I say, I shall put all the soldiers and nobles in prison once a year, just to be sure.”
    “It is not that easy to be King, Ahmose-onkh,” she said with a sigh. “Even Kings must be obedient to the laws of the gods, and Ma’at decrees that no one may be imprisoned without a cause. Egyptian kings are not like the savages of other countries who rule without Ra.” But he was no longer paying attention. He was peering through a crack in the curtains.
    “Mother, look at all the people!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Let me open the curtains!” He was tugging at them and she reached past him and slid them wide.
    Beyond the sheltering phalanx of guards pacing to right and left, both edges of the river road were thick with shouting, jostling citizens. As the litter curtains were drawn back and Aahmes-nefertari and her son appeared, the clamour grew. Weset knew what she and Aahotep had done and they were grateful. The link, always strong between the Taos and their people, was now well-nigh unbreakable. Ahmose-onkh was laughing and waving back at them but Aahmes-nefertari, though she smiled and inclined her head, was seized with a fleeting melancholy. The Setiu still hold the Delta, she thought. Ahmose can declare himself King of Upper and Lower Egypt, but the truth is that the country is still divided.
    The litter bearers were forced to slow as they turned left along the short canal leading to Amun’s pylons, for here the throng was thick, and when the family alighted just within the outer court they found it also packed, though with a more dignified gathering of prominent Weset dwellers who bowed to them gravely. Aahmes-nefertari was reminded of a field of grain bending to the wind as she relinquished Ahmose-onkh to the nurse and proceeded towards the inner court, her mother and grandmother beside her. The atmosphere around them changed as Aahotep’s sheath became visible and a ripple of whispers followed them until they vanished into the inner court.
    The air here was hazed with fragrant incense. Aahmesnefertari, who loved the smell, inhaled appreciatively as she peered through it to the open doors of the sanctuary beyond. Amun smiled enigmatically back at her, his hands on his knees, his feet hidden in flowers, a wreath of blossoms resting against his smooth chest. It was a rare privilege to see him. Hidden from impious eyes in the dim security of his sanctuary for most of the year, ruling through his priests and oracles, he was a benignly invisible presence to most of his subjects.
    Aahmes-nefertari knelt, and together with Tetisheri and Aahotep, prostrated herself before him. As they rose, Aahotep stumbled and fell, a small, quiet movement that went virtually unnoticed under the tinkle of the finger cymbals and the rattle of the systra held by the temple singers. By the time Aahmes-nefertari had noticed her mother’s distress, a young man had darted out from the ranks of priests ranged just outside the sanctuary and had dropped to his own knees beside her. “Pretend that you are making a second reverence, Majesty,” Aahmes-nefertari heard him say. “That way you will transform a blunder into a mark of deep respect and the god will bless you for it.” Aahotep was obviously too shaken to disobey. He joined her in her obeisance and unobtrusively helped her to rise with a hand under her elbow. Aahmes-nefertari expected her to shake him off with a quiet reprimand but she did no more than nod once without looking at him and he resumed his place with his fellows.
    Two chairs with a stool between them had been set before the sanctuary, facing the men and women filling the inner court. Behind the chairs were the priests and to either side the holy singers and dancers were ranged. Aahmesnefertari would