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Authors: Judith Tarr
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she run about Egypt as she used
to run about here?”
Kemni opened his mouth to deny that, but shut it again. He
could not help but remember how she had come onto the ship in Memphis, slipping
aboard under cover of darkness, and refusing to say exactly where she had been
or what she had been doing.
“You see,” said Ariana, skipping a little as she led him on
up the steep narrow street. “Never believe her when she frowns and threatens lightnings.”
“Not even when she speaks for her gods?” Kemni asked a
little wickedly.
“She speaks for Earth Mother,” said Ariana, “but you’ll
always know when she does that. You have eyes that can see.”
Kemni stilled—a great deal within, a little without; but she
tugged him onward.
“Come, beautiful man! We’ve a fair walk ahead of us.”
They were almost to the top of what, he realized with dizzy
suddenness, was quite a steep ascent. The white houses marched away below them
to the blue gleam of the sea. The way leveled ahead, but then began to climb
again, up and up to a dizzying height.
They would not, thank all the gods, be compelled to walk so
far or so high. People were waiting, servants with bright curious eyes,
standing beside an elegant and gold-bedecked chair such as, in Egypt, kings and
great lords rode in before their people. Ariana stepped neatly into it,
arranged her tiered skirts, and smiled at Kemni. “Well? Are you coming?”
Kemni had ridden in such a chair a time or two, for honor or
for the weakness of a wound. One had carried him away from the battle for
Avaris, until he was laid in one of the king’s boats and carried half-conscious
down the river. But he had never ridden so, face to face and knee brushing knee
with a woman as beautiful as a goddess.
Her chatter relieved him of any need to be good company. It
washed over him as the servants lifted the chair onto strong shoulders and
began the climb to the Labyrinth. It was long and in places so steep he
clutched the sides of the chair and prayed, while Ariana laughed at him.
Yet at length it came to an end. The sun had begun visibly
to sink. The bearers were panting, their sweat pungent and yet rather pleasant.
And there above them was a wall, white as seafoam, white as the clouds that
scudded in the blue heaven. All along the summit of it were the images of
horns, sharp white curve like the new moon, or like the horns of the bull that
they all worshipped here. And along its face was carved or limned or painted
the labrys, the double-headed axe.
There was a gate just ahead of them, wide and high and crowned
with the horns of the Bull. Guards stood on either side of it, tall as men went
here, broad and strong, armed with the double axe.
Kemni’s middle tightened. He was a poor object to be seen in
a palace, crusted still with sand, no wig on his close-cropped head, and a kilt
that had seen the worst of wind and salt. But Ariana was his guide and his
defense.
They bowed as the chair passed, those tall guards in their
high helmets; bowed to the ground. It might be for Kemni, but he rather
thoroughly doubted it. Ariana rode past them with her head high, prattling on
as if she passed this gate and these guards every day.
And so she must. She was a power here, or he had lost all
sense of courts and kings.
Such strange power, this beautiful child who went abroad all
unguarded, and took a fancy to a stranger, and brought him with her through the
gate of the Bull, into the house of the Double Axe.
~~~
Kemni was no stranger to palaces. He had walked in that of
Memphis and that of Thebes; even in that of Avaris where the Retenu ruled. He
had walked on pavements that were old in the dawn of the world.
This palace was not old as an Egyptian would think of it. If
anything it was rather raw with newness. Nor was it as vast as that of Thebes,
as lofty or as deeply weighted with awe. And yet it had its own power, and its
own unmistakable majesty.
It was a maze within, a great gleaming ramble of
to run about here?”
Kemni opened his mouth to deny that, but shut it again. He
could not help but remember how she had come onto the ship in Memphis, slipping
aboard under cover of darkness, and refusing to say exactly where she had been
or what she had been doing.
“You see,” said Ariana, skipping a little as she led him on
up the steep narrow street. “Never believe her when she frowns and threatens lightnings.”
“Not even when she speaks for her gods?” Kemni asked a
little wickedly.
“She speaks for Earth Mother,” said Ariana, “but you’ll
always know when she does that. You have eyes that can see.”
Kemni stilled—a great deal within, a little without; but she
tugged him onward.
“Come, beautiful man! We’ve a fair walk ahead of us.”
They were almost to the top of what, he realized with dizzy
suddenness, was quite a steep ascent. The white houses marched away below them
to the blue gleam of the sea. The way leveled ahead, but then began to climb
again, up and up to a dizzying height.
They would not, thank all the gods, be compelled to walk so
far or so high. People were waiting, servants with bright curious eyes,
standing beside an elegant and gold-bedecked chair such as, in Egypt, kings and
great lords rode in before their people. Ariana stepped neatly into it,
arranged her tiered skirts, and smiled at Kemni. “Well? Are you coming?”
Kemni had ridden in such a chair a time or two, for honor or
for the weakness of a wound. One had carried him away from the battle for
Avaris, until he was laid in one of the king’s boats and carried half-conscious
down the river. But he had never ridden so, face to face and knee brushing knee
with a woman as beautiful as a goddess.
Her chatter relieved him of any need to be good company. It
washed over him as the servants lifted the chair onto strong shoulders and
began the climb to the Labyrinth. It was long and in places so steep he
clutched the sides of the chair and prayed, while Ariana laughed at him.
Yet at length it came to an end. The sun had begun visibly
to sink. The bearers were panting, their sweat pungent and yet rather pleasant.
And there above them was a wall, white as seafoam, white as the clouds that
scudded in the blue heaven. All along the summit of it were the images of
horns, sharp white curve like the new moon, or like the horns of the bull that
they all worshipped here. And along its face was carved or limned or painted
the labrys, the double-headed axe.
There was a gate just ahead of them, wide and high and crowned
with the horns of the Bull. Guards stood on either side of it, tall as men went
here, broad and strong, armed with the double axe.
Kemni’s middle tightened. He was a poor object to be seen in
a palace, crusted still with sand, no wig on his close-cropped head, and a kilt
that had seen the worst of wind and salt. But Ariana was his guide and his
defense.
They bowed as the chair passed, those tall guards in their
high helmets; bowed to the ground. It might be for Kemni, but he rather
thoroughly doubted it. Ariana rode past them with her head high, prattling on
as if she passed this gate and these guards every day.
And so she must. She was a power here, or he had lost all
sense of courts and kings.
Such strange power, this beautiful child who went abroad all
unguarded, and took a fancy to a stranger, and brought him with her through the
gate of the Bull, into the house of the Double Axe.
~~~
Kemni was no stranger to palaces. He had walked in that of
Memphis and that of Thebes; even in that of Avaris where the Retenu ruled. He
had walked on pavements that were old in the dawn of the world.
This palace was not old as an Egyptian would think of it. If
anything it was rather raw with newness. Nor was it as vast as that of Thebes,
as lofty or as deeply weighted with awe. And yet it had its own power, and its
own unmistakable majesty.
It was a maze within, a great gleaming ramble of
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