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PART TWO
WINTER
CHAPTER SIX
FIRST MONTH OF WINTER 4 TH DAY
Renisenb had got into the habit of going up to the Tomb almost every day.
Sometimes Yahmose and Hori would be there together, sometimes Hori
alone, sometimes there would be no one–but always Renisenb was aware
of a curious relief and peace–a feeling almost of escape. She liked it best
when Hori was there alone. There was something in his gravity, his incuri-
ous acceptance of her coming, that gave her a strange feeling of content-
ment. She would sit in the shade of the rock chamber entrance with one
knee raised and her hands clasped round it, and stare out over the green
belt of cultivation to where the Nile showed a pale gleaming blue and bey-
ond it to a distance of pale soft fawns and creams and pinks, all melting
hazily into each other.
She had come the first time, months ago now, on a sudden wish to es-
cape from a world of intense femininity. She wanted stillness and com-
panionship–and she had found them here. The wish to escape was still
with her, but it was no longer a mere revulsion from the stress and fret of
domesticity. It was something more definite, more alarming.
She said to Hori one day: ‘I am afraid…’
‘Why are you afraid, Renisenb?’ He studied her gravely.
Renisenb took a minute or two to think. Then she said slowly:
‘Do you remember saying to me once that there were two evils–one that
came from without and one from within?’
‘Yes, I remember.’
‘You were speaking, so you said afterwards, about diseases that attack
fruit and crops, but I have been thinking–it is the same with people.’
Hori nodded slowly.
‘So you have found that out…Yes, you are right, Renisenb.’
Renisenb said abruptly:
‘It is happening now–down there at the house. Evil has come–from out-
side! And I know who has brought it. It is Nofret.’
Hori said slowly:
‘You think so?’
Renisenb nodded vigorously.
‘Yes, yes, I know what I am talking about. Listen, Hori, when I came up
to you here and said that everything was the same even to Satipy and Kait
quarrelling–that was true. But those quarrels, Hori, were not real quarrels.
I mean Satipy and Kait enjoyed them–they made the time pass–neither of
the women felt any real anger against each other! But now it is different.
Now they do not just say things that are rude and unpleasant–they say
things that they mean shall hurt–and when they have seen that a thing
hurts then they are glad! It is horrid, Hori–horrid! Yesterday Satipy was so
angry that she ran a long gold pin into Kait’s arm–and a day or two ago
Kait dropped a heavy copper pan full of boiling fat over Satipy’s foot. And
it is the same everywhere–Satipy rails at Yahmose far into the night–we
can all hear her. Yahmose looks sick and tired and hunted. And Sobek
goes off to the village and stays there with women and comes back drunk
and shouts and boasts and says how clever he is!’
‘Some of these things are true, I know,’ said Hori, slowly. ‘But why
should you blame Nofret?’
‘Because it is her doing! It is always the things she says–little things–
clever things–that start it all. She is like the goad with which you prick
oxen. She is clever, too, in knowing just what to say. Sometimes I think it is
Henet who tells her…’
‘Yes,’ said Hori thoughtfully. ‘That might well be.’
Renisenb shivered.
‘I don’t like Henet. I hate the way she creeps about. She is so devoted to
us all, and yet none of us want her devotion. How could my mother have
brought her here and been so fond of her?’
‘We have only Henet’s word for that,’ said Hori drily.
‘Why should Henet be so fond of Nofret and follow her round and whis-
per and fawn upon her? Oh, Hori, I tell you I am afraid! I hate Nofret! I
wish she would go away. She is beautiful and cruel and bad!’
‘What a child you are, Renisenb.’
Then Hori added quietly:
‘Nofret is coming up here now.’
Renisenb turned her head. Together they watched Nofret come slowly
up the steep path that led up the cliff face. She was smiling to herself and
humming a little tune under her breath.
When she reached the place where they were, she looked round her and
smiled. It was a smile of amused curiosity. ‘So this is where you slip away
to every day, Renisenb.’
Renisenb did not answer. She had the angry, defeated feeling of a child
whose refuge had been discovered.
Nofret looked about her again.
‘And this is the famous Tomb?’
‘As you say, Nofret,’ said Hori.
She looked at him, her cat-like mouth curving into a smile.
‘I’ve no doubt you find it profitable, Hori. You are a good man of busi-
ness, so I hear.’
There was a tinge of malice in her voice, but Hori remained unmoved,
smiling his quiet, grave smile.
‘It is profitable to all of us…Death is always profitable…’
Nofret gave a quick shiver as she looked round her, her eyes sweeping
over the offering tables, the entrance to the shrine and the false door.
She cried sharply:
‘I hate Death!’
‘You should not.’ Hori’s tone was quiet. ‘Death is the chief source of
wealth here in Egypt. Death bought the jewels you wear, Nofret. Death
feeds you and clothes you.’
She stared at him.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that Imhotep is a ka-priest–a mortuary priest–all his lands, all
his cattle, his timber, his flax, his barley, are the endowment of a Tomb.’
He paused and then went on reflectively:
‘We are a strange people, we Egyptians. We love life–and so we start
very early to plan for death. That is where the wealth of Egypt goes–into
pyramids, into tombs, into tomb endowment.’
Nofret said violently:
‘Will you stop talking about death, Hori! I do not like it!’
‘Because you are truly Egyptian–because you love life, because–some-
times–you feel the shadow of death very near…’
‘Stop!’
She turned on him violently. Then, shrugging her shoulders, she turned
away and began to descend the path.
Renisenb breathed a sigh of satisfaction.
‘I am glad she has gone,’ she said childishly. ‘You frightened her, Hori.’
‘Yes…Did I frighten you, Renisenb?’
‘N-no.’ Renisenb sounded a little unsure. ‘It is true what you said, only I
had never thought of it that way before. My father is a mortuary priest.’
Hori said with sudden bitterness:
‘All Egypt is obsessed by death! And do you know why, Renisenb? Be-
cause we have eyes in our bodies, but none in our minds. We cannot con-
ceive of a life other than this one–of a life after death. We can visualize
only a continuation of what we know. We have no real belief in a God.’
Renisenb stared at him in amazement.
‘How can you say that, Hori? Why, we have many, many Gods–so many
that I could not name them all. Only last night we were saying, all of us,
which Gods we preferred. Sobek was all for Sakhmet and Kait prays al-
ways to Meskhant. Kameni swears by Thoth as is natural, being a scribe.
Satipy is for the falcon-headed Horus and also for our own Mereseer. Yah-
mose says that Ptah is to be worshipped because he made all things. I my-
self love Isis. And Henet is all for our local God Amün. She says that there
are prophecies amongst the priests that one day Amün will be the greatest
God in all Egypt–so she takes him offerings now while he is still a small
God. And there is Ra, the Sun God, and Osiris before whom the hearts of
the dead are weighed.’
Renisenb paused, out of breath. Hori was smiling at her.
‘And what is the difference, Renisenb, between a God and a man?’
She stared at him.
‘The Gods are–they are magic!’
‘That is all?’
‘I don’t know what you mean, Hori.’
‘I meant that to you a God is only a man or a woman who can do certain
things that men and women cannot do.’
‘You say such odd things! I cannot understand you.’
She looked at him with a puzzled face–then glancing down over the val-
ley, her attention was caught by something else.
‘Look,’ she exclaimed. ‘Nofret is talking to Sobek. She is laughing. Oh!–’
she gave a sudden gasp, ‘no, it is nothing. I thought he was going to strike
her. She is going back to the house and he is coming up here.’
Sobek arrived looking like a thundercloud.
‘May a crocodile devour that woman!’ he cried. ‘My father was more of
a fool than usual when he took her for a concubine!’
‘What did she say to you?’ asked Hori curiously.
‘She insulted me as usual! Asked if my father had entrusted me with the
sale of any more timber. Her tongue stings like a serpent. I would like to
kill her.’
He moved along the platform and, picking up a piece of rock, threw it
down to the valley below. The sound of it bouncing off the cliff seemed to
please him. He levered up a larger piece, then sprang back as a snake that
had been coiled up beneath it raised its head. It reared up, hissing, and
Renisenb saw that it was a cobra.
Catching up a heavy staff Sobek attacked it furiously. A well directed
blow broke its back, but Sobek continued to slash at it, his head thrown
back, his eyes sparkling, and below his breath he muttered some word
which Renisenb only half heard and did not recognize.
She cried out: ‘Stop, Sobek, stop–it’s dead!’
Sobek paused, then he threw the staff away and laughed.
‘One poisonous snake the less in the world.’
He laughed again, his good humour restored, and clattered off down the
path again.
Renisenb said in a low voice: ‘I believe Sobek–likes killing things!’
‘Yes.’
There was no surprise in the word. Hori was merely acknowledging a
fact which he evidently already knew well. Renisenb turned to stare at
him. She said slowly:
‘Snakes are dangerous–but how beautiful that cobra looked…’
She stared down at its broken, twisted body. For some unknown reason
she felt a pang at her heart.
Hori said dreamily:
‘I remember when we were all small children–Sobek attacked Yahmose.
Yahmose was a year older, but Sobek was the bigger and stronger. He had
a stone and he was banging Yahmose’s head with it. Your mother came
running and tore them apart. I remember how she stood looking down at
Yahmose–and how she cried out: “You must not do things like that, Sobek–
it is dangerous! I tell you, it is dangerous!”’ He paused and went on, ‘She
was very beautiful…I thought so as a child. You are like her, Renisenb.’
‘Am I?’ Renisenb felt pleased–warmed. Then she asked:
‘Was Yahmose badly hurt?’
‘No, it was not as bad as it looked. Sobek was very ill the next day. It
might have been something he ate, but your mother said it was his rage
and the hot sun–it was the middle of summer.’
‘Sobek has a terrible temper,’ said Renisenb thoughtfully.
She looked again at the dead snake and turned away with a shiver.
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