"Yes, I fear also that you have erred, Asti, but everything is forgiven to those who err through love," answered Tua kindly and kissing her.
"Oh, my father, Pharaoh! What G.o.d fashioned you so weak that an evil spirit in a woman"s shape can play the rudder to your policy! Leave me now, Asti, for I must sleep and call on Amen to aid his daughter. The snare is strong and cunning, but, perchance, in my dreams he will show me how it may be broke."
That night when the feast was ended Merytra, Pharaoh"s favoured waiting-maid, did not return with the rest of the royal retinue to the temple where he lodged. As they went from the hall in state she whispered a few words into the ear of the chief Butler of the Household who, knowing that she had the royal pa.s.s to come in and out as she would, answered that the gate should be opened to her, and let her go.
So covering her head with a dark cloak Merytra slipped behind a certain statue in the ante-hall and waited till presently a tall figure, also wrapped in a dark cloak, appeared and beckoned to her. She followed it down sundry pa.s.sages and up a narrow stair that seemed almost endless, until, at length, the figure unlocked a ma.s.sive door, and when they had pa.s.sed it, locked it again behind them.
Now Merytra found herself in a very richly furnished room lit by hanging-lamps, that evidently was the abode of one who watched the stars and practised magic, for all about were strange-looking brazen instruments and rolls of papyrus covered with mysterious signs, and suspended above the table a splendid divining ball of crystal. Merytra sank into a chair, throwing off her dark cloak.
"Of a truth, friend Kaku," she said, so soon as she had got her breath, "you dwell very near the G.o.ds."
"Yes, dear Merytra," he answered with a dry chuckle, "I keep a kind of half-way house to heaven. Perched here in my solitude I see and make note of what goes on above," and he pointed to the skies, "and retail the information, or as much of it as I think fit, to the groundlings below."
"At a price, I suppose, Kaku."
"Most certainly at a price, and I may add, a good price. No one thinks much of the physician who charges low fees. Well, you have managed to get here, and after all these years I am glad to see you again, looking almost as young and pretty as ever. Tell me your secret of eternal youth, dear Merytra."
Merytra, who was vain, smiled at this artful flattery, although, in truth, it was well deserved, for at an age when many Egyptians are old, she remained fresh and fair.
"An excellent conscience," she answered, "a good appet.i.te and the virtuous, quiet life, which is the lot of the ladies of Pharaoh"s Court--there you have the secret, Kaku. I fear that you keep too late hours, and that is why you grow white and withered like a mummy--not but that you look handsome enough in those long robes of yours," she added to gild the pill.
"It is my labours," he replied, making a wry face, for he too was vain.
"My labours for the good of others, also indigestion and the draughts in this accursed tower where I sit staring at the stars, which give me rheumatism. I have got both of them now, and must take some medicine,"
and filling two goblets from a flask, he handed her one of them, saying, "drink it, you don"t get wine like that in Thebes."
"It is very good," said Merytra when she had drunk, "but heavy. If I took much of that I think I should have "rheumatism," too. Now tell me, old friend, am I safe, in this place? No, not from Pharaoh, he trusts me and lets me go where I will upon his business--but from his royal brother. He used to have a long memory, and from the look of him I do not think that his temper has improved. You may remember a certain slap in the face and how I paid him back for it."
"He never knew it was you, Merytra. Being a ma.s.s of self-conceit, he thought that you ran away because he had banished you from his royal presence and presented you--to me."
"Oh, he thought that, did he! What a vain fool!"
"It was a very dirty trick you played me, Merytra," went on Kaku with indignation, for the rich wine coursing through his blood revived the sting of his loss. "You know how fond I always was of you, and indeed am still," he added, gazing at her admiringly.
"I felt that I was not worthy of so learned and distinguished a man,"
she replied, looking at him with her dark eyes. "I should only have hampered your life, dear Kaku, so I went into the household of that poor creature, Pharaoh, instead--Pharaoh"s Nunnery we call it. But you will not explain the facts to Abi, will you?"
"No, I think not, Merytra, if we continue to get on as well as we do at present. But now you are rested, so let us come to business, for otherwise you will have to stop here all night and Pharaoh would be angry."
"Oh, to Set with Pharaoh! Though it is true that he is a good paymaster, and knows the value of a clever woman. Now, what is this business?"
The old astrologer"s face grew hard and cunning. Going to the door he made sure that it was locked and drew a curtain over it. Then he took a stool and sat himself down in front of Merytra, in such a position that the light fell on her face while his own remained in shadow.
"A big business, Merytra, and by the G.o.ds I do not know that I should trust you with it. You tricked me once, you have tricked Pharaoh for years; how do I know that you will not play the same game once more and earn me an order to cut my own throat, and so lose life and soul together?"
"If you think that, Kaku, perhaps you will unlock the door and give me an escort home, for we are only wasting time."
"I don"t know what to think, for you are as cunning as you are beautiful. Listen, woman," he continued in a savage whisper, and clasping her by the wrist. "If you are false, I tell you that you shall die horribly, for if the knife and poison fail, I am no charlatan, I have arts. I can make you turn loathsome to the sight and waste away, I can haunt you at nights so that you may never sleep a wink, save in full sunshine, and I will do it all and more. If I die, Merytra, we go together. Now will you swear to be true, will you swear it by the oath of oaths?"
The spy looked about her. She knew Kaku"s power which was famous throughout Egypt, and that it was said to be of the most evil sort, and she feared him.
"It seems that this is a dangerous affair," she replied uneasily, "and I think that I can guess your aim. Now if I help you, Kaku, what am _I_ to get?"
"Me," he answered.
"I am flattered, but what else?"
"After Pharaoh the greatest place and the most power in Egypt, as the wife of Pharaoh"s Vizier."
"The wife? Doubtless from what I have heard of you, Kaku, there would be other wives to share these honours."
"No other wife--upon the oath, none, Merytra."
She thought a moment, looking at the wizened but powerful-faced old magician, then answered:
"I will take the oath and keep my share of it. See that you keep yours, Kaku, or it will be the worse for you, for women have their own evil power."
"I know it, Merytra, and from the beginning the wise have held that the spirit dwells, not in the heart or brain or liver, but in the female tongue. Now stand up."
She obeyed, and from some hidden place in the wall Kaku produced a book, or rather a roll of magical writings, that was encased in iron, the metal of the evil G.o.d, Typhon.
"There is no other such book as this," he said, "for it was written by the greatest of wizards who lived before Mena, when the G.o.d-kings ruled in Egypt, and I, myself, took it from among his bones, a terrible task for his Ka rose up in the grave and threatened me. He who can read in that book, as I can, has much strength, and let him beware who breaks an oath taken on that book. Now press it to your heart, Merytra, and swear after me."
Then he repeated a very terrible oath, for should it be violated it consigned the swearer to shame, sickness and misfortune in this world, and to everlasting torments in the next at the claws and fangs of beast-headed demons who dwell in the darkness beyond the sun, appointing, by name, those beings who should work the torments, and summoning them as witnesses to the bond.
Merytra listened, then said,
"You have left out your part of the oath, Friend, namely, that you promise that I shall be the only wife of Pharaoh"s Vizier and hold equal power with him."
"I forgot," said Kaku, and added the words.
Then they both swore, touching their brows with the book, and as she looked up again, Merytra saw a strange, flame-like light pulse in the crystal globe that hung above her head, which became presently infiltrated with crimson flowing through it as blood might flow from a wound, till it glowed dull red, out of which redness a great eye watched her. Then the eye vanished and the blood vanished, and in place of them Queen Neter-Tua sat in glory on her throne, while the nations worshipped her, and by her side sat a man in royal robes whose face was hidden in a cloud.
"What do you see?" asked Kaku, following her gaze to the crystal.
She told him, and he pondered a while, then answered doubtfully:
"I think it is a good omen; the royal consort sits beside her. Only why was his face hidden?"
"I am sure I do not know," answered Merytra. "I think that strong, red wine of yours was doctored and has got into my head. But, come, we have sworn this oath, which I dare say will work in more ways than we guess, for such accursed swords have two edges to them. Now out with the plot, and throw a cloth over that crystal for I want to see no more pictures."
"It seems a pity since you have such a gift of vision," replied Kaku in the same dubious voice. Yet he obeyed, tying up the shining ball in a piece of mummy wrapping which he used in his spells.
"Now," he said, "I will be brief. My fat master, Abi, means to be Pharaoh of Egypt, and it seems that the best way to do so is by climbing into his niece"s throne, where most men would like to sit."
"You mean by marrying her, Kaku."
"Of course. What else? He who marries the Queen, rules in right of the Queen."