| |||||
|
CHAPTER ELEVEN
FIRST MONTH OF SUMMER 12 TH DAY
‘So that is what you meant?’
Renisenb flung the words at Hori more as an affirmation than as a ques-
tion.
She added softly under her breath with growing comprehension and
horror:
‘It was Satipy who killed Nofret…’
Sitting with her chin supported by her hands in the entrance to Hori’s
little rock chamber next to the Tomb, Renisenb stared down at the valley
below.
She thought dreamily how true the words were she had uttered yester-
day–(was it really only such a short time ago?–) From up here the house
below and the busy hurrying figures had no more significance nor mean-
ing than an ants’ nest.
Only the sun, majestic in power, shining overhead–only the slim streak
of pale silver that was the Nile in this morning light– only these were
eternal and enduring. Khay had died, and Nofret and Satipy–and some
day she and Hori would die. But Ra would still rule the heavens and travel
by night in his barque through the Underworld to the dawning of the next
day. And the River would still flow, flow from beyond Elephantine and
down past Thebes and past the village and to lower Egypt where Nofret
had lived and been gay and light of heart, and on to the great waters and
so away from Egypt altogether.
Satipy and Nofret…
Renisenb pursued her thoughts aloud since Hori had not answered her.
‘You see, I was so sure that Sobek–’
She broke off.
Hori said thoughtfully: ‘The preconceived idea.’
‘And yet it was stupid of me,’ Renisenb went on. ‘Henet told me, or more
or less told me, that Satipy had gone walking this way and she said that
Nofret had come up here. I ought to have seen how obvious it was that
Satipy had followed Nofret–that they had met on the path–and that Satipy
had thrown her down. She had said, only a short while before, that she
was a better man than any of my brothers.’
Renisenb broke off and shivered.
‘And when I met her–’ she resumed, ‘I should have known then. She was
quite different–she was frightened. She tried to persuade me to turn back
with her. She didn’t want me to find Nofret’s body. I must have been blind
not to realize the truth. But I was so full of fear about Sobek…’
‘I know. It was seeing him kill that snake.’
Renisenb agreed eagerly.
‘Yes, that was it. And then I had a dream…Poor Sobek–how I have mis-
judged him. As you say, threatening is not doing. Sobek has always been
full of boastful talk. It was Satipy who was always bold and ruthless and
not afraid of action. And then ever since–the way she has gone about like
a ghost–it has puzzled us all–why did we not think of the true explana-
tion?’
She added, with a quick upward glance:
‘But you did?’
‘For some time,’ said Hori, ‘I have felt convinced that the clue to the
truth of Nofret’s death was in Satipy’s extraordinary change of character.
It was so remarkable that there had to be something to account for it.’
‘And yet you said nothing?’
‘How could I, Renisenb? What could I ever prove?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Proofs must be solid brick walls of fact.’
‘Yet once you said,’ Renisenb argued, ‘that people didn’t really change.
But now you admit that Satipy did change.’
Hori smiled at her.
‘You should argue in the Nomarch’s courts. No, Renisenb, what I said
was true enough–people are always themselves. Satipy, like Sobek, was all
bold words and talk. She, indeed, might go on from talk to action–but I
think she is one of those who cannot know a thing or what it is like until it
has happened. In her life up to that particular day, she had never had any-
thing to fear. When fear came, it took her unawares. She learned then that
courage is the resolution to face the unforeseen–and she had not got that
courage.’
Renisenb murmured in a low voice:
‘When fear came…Yes, that is what has been with us ever since Nofret
died. Satipy has carried it in her face for us all to see. It was there, staring
from her eyes when she died…when she said “Nofret…” It was as though
she saw–’
Renisenb stopped herself. She turned her face to Hori, her eyes wide
with a question. ‘Hori, what did she see? There on the path. We saw noth-
ing! There was nothing.’
‘Not for us–no.’
‘But for her? It was Nofret she saw–Nofret come to take her revenge. But
Nofret is dead and her tomb is sealed. What then did she see?’
‘The picture that her own mind showed her.’
‘You are sure? Because if not–’
‘Yes, Renisenb, if not?’
‘Hori–’ Renisenb stretched out her hand. ‘Is it ended now? Now that
Satipy is dead? Is it truly ended?’
He held her hand in both of his in a comforting clasp.
‘Yes, yes, Renisenb–surely. And you at least need not be afraid.’
‘Renisenb murmured under her breath:
‘But Esa says that Nofret hated me…’
‘Nofret hated you?’
‘Esa says so.’
‘Nofret was good at hating,’ said Hori. ‘Sometimes I think she hated
every person in this house. But you at least did nothing against her.’
‘No–no, that is true.’
‘And therefore, Renisenb, there is nothing in your mind to rise up
against you in judgement.’
‘You mean, Hori, that if I were to walk down this path alone–at sunset–at
that same time when Nofret died–and if I were to turn my head–I should
see nothing? I should be safe?’
‘You will be safe, Renisenb, because if you walk down the path, I will
walk with you and no harm shall come to you.’
But Renisenb frowned and shook her head.
‘No, Hori. I will walk alone.’
‘But why, little Renisenb? Will you not be afraid?’
‘Yes,’ said Renisenb, ‘I think I shall be afraid. But all the same that is
what has to be done. They are all trembling and shaking in the house and
running to the Temples to buy amulets and crying out that it is not well to
walk on this path at the hour of sundown. But it was not magic that made
Satipy sway and fall–it was fear–fear because of an evil thing that she had
done. For it is evil to take away life from someone who is young and
strong and who enjoys living. But I have not done any evil thing, and so
even if Nofret did hate me, her hate cannot harm me. That is what I be-
lieve. And anyway if one is to live always in fear it would be better to die–
so I will overcome fear.’
‘These are brave words, Renisenb.’
‘They are perhaps rather braver than I feel, Hori.’ She smiled up at him.
She rose to her feet. ‘But it has been good to say them.’
Hori rose and stood beside her. ‘I shall remember these words of yours,
Renisenb. Yes, and the way you threw back your head when you said
them. They show the courage and the truth that I have always felt was in
your heart.’
He took her hand in his.
‘Look, Renisenb. Look out from here across the valley to the River and
beyond. That is Egypt, our land. Broken by war and strife for many long
years, divided into petty kingdoms, but now–very soon–to come together
and form once more a united land–Upper and Lower Egypt once again
welded into one–I hope and believe to recover her former greatness! In
those days, Egypt will need men and women of heart and courage–women
such as you, Renisenb. It is not men like Imhotep, forever preoccupied
with his own narrow gains and losses, nor men like Sobek, idle and boast-
ful, nor boys like Ipy who thinks only of what he can gain for himself, no,
nor even conscientious, honest sons like Yahmose whom Egypt will need
in that hour. Sitting here, literally amongst the dead, reckoning up gains
and losses, casting accounts, I have come to see gains that cannot be
reckoned in terms of wealth, and losses that are more damaging than loss
of a crop…I look at the River and I see the life blood of Egypt that has exis-
ted before we lived and that will exist after we die…Life and death, Renis-
enb, are not of such great account. I am only Hori, Imhotep’s man of busi-
ness, but when I look out over Egypt I know a peace–yes, and an exulta-
tion that I would not exchange to be Governor of the Province. Do you un-
derstand at all what I mean, Renisenb?’
‘I think so, Hori–a little You are different from the others down there–I
have known that for some time. And sometimes when I am with you here,
I can feel what you feel–but dimly–not very clearly. But I do know what
you mean. When I am here the things down there,’ she pointed, ‘do not
seem to matter any longer. The quarrels and the hatreds and the incessant
bustle and fuss. Here one escapes from all that.’
She paused, her brow puckering, and went on, stammering a little.
‘Sometimes I–I am glad to have escaped. And yet–I do not know–there is
something–down there–that calls me back.’
Hori dropped her hand and stepped back a pace.
He said gently:
‘Yes–I see–Kameni singing in the courtyard.’
‘What do you mean, Hori? I was not thinking of Kameni.’
‘You may not have been thinking of him. But all the same, Renisenb, I
think it is his songs that you are hearing without knowing it.’
Renisenb stared at him, her brow puckered.
‘What extraordinary things you say, Hori. One could not possibly hear
him singing up here. It is much too far away.’
Hori sighed gently and shook his head. The amusement in his eyes
puzzled her. She felt a little angry and bewildered because she could not
understand.
|
|||||
上一篇：死亡终局26 下一篇：没有了 |
- 发表评论
-
- 最新评论 进入详细评论页>>
