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spell someone cast on my pregnant wife.
Moses was aghast. Who d dare try such a thing?
We don t know yet.
You d have to be hard as stone to attack a mother and
child. And insane, to make an attempt on the royal family.
I wonder if there s a connection to my building a new
capital. I ve ruffled a lot of feathers.
I don t think so. It s too big a jump from discontent to
murder.
If it turned out a Hebrew was guilty, how would you
feel?
A criminal is a criminal, no matter what his back-
ground. But I think you re on the wrong track.
If you learn anything at all, don t keep it from me.
What? Don t you trust me?
Would I talk to you this way if I didn t?
No Hebrew would stoop so low.
I have to be away for several weeks, Moses. Take good
care of my capital.
The next time you come, you ll hardly recognize it.
Don t wait too long, though. We wouldn t want to postpone
the opening ceremonies.
forty-four
une brought stifling heat and a round of festivities
J
marking the beginning of Ramses second year on the
throne. Already more than a year since Seti s departure for
the dome of heaven!
The royal couple s boat moored at Gebel el-Silsila, where
the great river narrowed. According to tradition, the spirit
of the Nile resided here, a genie pharaoh must reawaken for
the life-giving waters to rise again.
After the offering of milk and wine and the ritual
prayers, the royal pair entered a chapel carved into the river
bluffs. Inside, it was pleasantly cool.
Did Dr. Pariamaku speak to you? Ramses asked
Nefertari.
He prescribed something new to give me back my
energy.
Nothing else?
Is he hiding the truth about Meritamon?
No, you can rest easy on her account.
Then what was he supposed to tell me?
Courage is not the good doctor s greatest virtue.
264 Christian Jacq
Tell me.
All right. He said it s a miracle you survived childbirth
this time.
A shadow passed over Nefertari s face. You re telling me
I can t have any more children, aren t you? I ll never give you
a son.
Kha and Meritamon will be the legitimate heirs to the
throne.
Ramses should have more children. Many sons. If you
want me to step aside, to join a religious order . . .
The king clasped his wife to him. I love you, Nefertari.
You re the light of my life. You were meant to be Queen of
Egypt. Our souls are joined for eternity. Nothing and no
one can come between us.
Iset will bear your children.
Nefertari . . .
Ramses, listen. It s meant to be. You re no ordinary man,
you re Pharaoh.
As soon as they arrived in Thebes, the royal couple pro-
ceeded to the site where Ramses was to raise his Eternal
Temple. The location had grandeur and pulsed with the
energy that flowed from the looming Peak symbol of the
West, the afterlife and the fertile Theban plain.
I should never have neglected this project and focused
so much on Pi-Ramses, the king admitted. My mother s
warning and the threat of black magic opened my eyes.
Only a temple of millions of years can shield us from the
forces of darkness.
Noble and resplendent, Nefertari paced the vast stretch
Ramses: The eternal temple 265
of rock and sand, so sterile in appearance. Like Ramses, she
was a child of the sun, never burning, only glowing from its
touch. Time froze. She was the founding goddess. Each
place her feet touched became holy ground.
The Great Royal Wife walked out of eternity to claim
this sun-baked soil, adding her spiritual signature to her
husband s seal.
The two men collided on the gangway to the Pharaoh s
ship and stopped dead, face-to-face. Setau was shorter than
Serramanna but just as broad of shoulder. Their eyes
locked.
I was hoping not to find you anywhere near the king,
Setau.
Sorry to disappoint you.
There s talk of black magic nearly killing the queen and
her baby.
Still no idea who was behind it? Some security Ramses
has here.
You re asking for it, the Sard growled.
Be my guest. But watch out for my snakes.
Is that a threat?
Take it any way you want. To me, a pirate is a pirate, no
matter how you dress him up.
It would save me a lot of time if you d just confess.
For someone in your position, you re not very well
informed. Haven t you heard that I saved the princess s
life?
To cover your tracks. You don t fool me, Setau.
As if you d be hard to fool.
266 Christian Jacq
Make the slightest move in the king s direction and I ll
bash your skull in.
You talk big, Serramanna.
Try me.
An unprovoked attack on a friend of the king s would
land you in jail.
That s where you ll end up.
You ll beat me to it, Sard. Now get out of my way.
Where are you going?
To meet Ramses, at his request, and drive the snakes
away from his future temple.
I m watching you, sorcerer.
Setau shoved past Serramanna.
Stop spouting foolishness and get back to guarding the
king.
Ramses spent several hours at the temple of Gurnah, on
the West Bank of Thebes, meditating in the chapel dedi-
cated to his father s perpetual memory. He had brought an
offering of grapes, figs, juniper berries, and pine cones.
Here Seti s soul could rest in peace, nourished by the subtle
essence of offerings.
And here Seti had first announced that Ramses would be
his successor. At the time, the full weight of his father s
words had not registered. While Seti lived, Ramses moved
in a dream, safe in his father s giant shadow, lost in admira-
tion of a mind that moved like the divine bark through the
celestial reaches.
When the twin crowns of Egypt, one red, one white, had
been placed on his head, the sheltered life of the prince
Ramses: The eternal temple 267
regent was instantly replaced with the harsh reality of gov-
erning much harsher than he had ever imagined. On the
temple walls, grave and smiling gods brought the sacred to
life. Within these walls, a pharaoh s eternal spirit honored
the gods and communed with the Invisible. On the outside
were men. Humanity courageous and craven, upright and
hypocritical, generous and greedy. And caught in the middle
of these opposing forces was Ramses, entrusted with main-
taining the link between gods and men, no matter what his
own desires and failings might be.
Only one year on the throne, but how long since he had
ceased to live for himself ?
When Ramses climbed into the chariot with
Serramanna at the reins, the sun was low in the sky.
Where to, Your Majesty?
The Valley of the Kings.
I had every boat in the fleet searched.
Anything suspicious?
Nothing.
The Sard was edgy.
Is that really all you have to report, Serramanna?
It is, Your Majesty.
Are you sure?
It s only a feeling I have.
Something to do with black magic?
Feelings don t count, only facts. Until I have evidence,
it would be wrong to name names.
Let s get moving, then.
The horses galloped toward the Valley, the entrance to
which was guarded night and day. In the late summer after-
noon, the rocky walls were radiating heat absorbed during
the day. It was stifling, like riding into the suffocating blaze
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