Read Online The Twice Born by Pauline Gedge - Free Book Online

Huy. But I remember my own time at school and I know that you will grow to think of this temple as your other home. May all the gods bless you.”
    Huy did not trust himself to reply. He was blinking away his own tears, praying that he would not disgrace himself before the Overseer, a stranger, when he was saved by a step in the outer room. A boy of perhaps eleven or twelve stood in the doorway. He was tall and bony, with elongated features to match the thinness of his body and ears that stuck out comically from his shaven skull, but his glance as it lighted on Huy was sympathetic. He bowed twice to the two men.
    “This is our new pupil, Huy,” the Overseer explained. “Huy, this is Harnakht. You will be sharing a cell with him for a while. It is his duty to look after you for the next month. Off you go. Harnakht, take the bags.”
    Harnakht swept up Huy’s belongings, jerked his head at the boy, and set off across the grass. Huy ran to catch up with him, suddenly terrified that he would disappear around some corner and Huy would be lost in this huge, maze-like place.
    “Was that your father?” Harnakht wanted to know. “Where are you from?”
    “No. Ker is my uncle,” Huy replied breathlessly as Harnakht strode on. “We live at Hut-herib. Uncle Ker makes perfumes for the King,” he added proudly.
    Harnakht seemed unimpressed. “Oh. What does your father do, then?”
    “He grows the flowers and trees and things for the perfumes.”
    To this there was no comment. Harnakht led Huy back into the first court, passing the pool and stopping halfway along the row of cells for Huy to catch up before he gestured for Huy to enter. The room was stark. Two dressed cots, two small tables, and two tiring chests all but filled the cramped space.
    Harnakht flung Huy’s belongings onto one of the cots. “My friend Kay usually shares this cell with me, but the Overseer has moved him in with another new boy who arrived yesterday. You should get undressed and onto his cot now, because it’s time for the sleep. Afterwards you can unpack.”
    With head down, Huy began pulling feebly at his kilt, and Harnakht, seeing tears begin to splash onto the linen, stepped forward and put an arm awkwardly around the small shoulders. “It will be all right,” he said brusquely but not unkindly. “My task is to help you in any way I can. If I fail in my duty, the Overseer will punish me!” It was a weak attempt at a joke. “We have all suffered from homesickness and we have all recovered.” Harnakht patted Huy’s arm and retired to his side of the room, tearing off his kilt and dropping it to the floor. He lay down on his cot with a yawn. “Do you snore?”
    Huy giggled in spite of himself. “I don’t think so.” He looked about for a chair on which to lay his kilt and, seeing none, followed his companion’s example and let it fall. He scrambled onto the cot.
    “One of the servants will bring fresh linen later on,” Harnakht reassured him. “The priests here are fussy about cleanliness. We all wash three times a day and change our kilts and loincloths twice.” He yawned again loudly. “I will take you to the bathhouse when you wake up, but until then be quiet. I have shooting practice this evening.”
    Huy propped himself up on one elbow. “With a bow and arrows? Will I learn shooting too?”
    “Perhaps, if your father has paid extra for you to have lessons. I don’t know. Go to sleep.”
    Huy decided not to mention the fact that it was his uncle who was providing him with an education. “Harnakht, what does your father do?” he asked warily.
    Harnakht sighed theatrically. “My father is the mayor of Abtu, where the head of Osiris is buried. Now close your mouth or I will get up and slap you.”
    Huy lay back on his pillow. There were no comforting cracks in this ceiling, just white plaster that undulated almost imperceptibly with the imperfections of the mud bricks beneath it. Despite the aching hollow in his heart he was