The Golden Queen

Thirteen

Thirteen

TIME passed, slowly at first, agonizingly slowly. Ahmose's absence left a bulging hollowness in me that only the sound of his voice could fill. The first few weeks were the most difficult. Ahmose left with the army, and I hadn't heard from him since. Some nights I would wake up terror stricken from a nightmare. In some dreams he was butchered in a far away land and would return in a coffin, in others an unknown figure would slip a cobra into his sleeping quarters while he slept. I worried for him so often I no longer even considered if I was still safe while he was away. Had I given him ill advice? The Aruna passage would seem like a suicidal mission, the narrow passage that wound through the mountains would expose them to ambush. But carved into the walls of Karnak, the Canaanites wouldn't expect His Majesty to take such a bold route. They would wait for the Egyptians along the northern and southern routes, expecting to ambush them there. Ahmose didn't know this, and I prayed he would trust me.

One morning I awoke to the beautiful winter daylight, and decided to be useful and learn a new hobby. Under Iset's instruction, I began lessons of the lyre. It was a small harp-like instrument that I held to my breast and plucked the strings as I learned a melody with the royal girls. In the evenings, she was gracious enough to tutor me in ancient Egyptian, so I could communicate more freely around the palace. I found a friend in her as well as Menefer, my sweet servant.

Menefer spent most of her time with me, keeping me company and helping me with Egyptian words, though as a servant, she couldn't read. I would help her tend to her brother, the small boy I often saw her with; he was not her son, like I had previously thought. Iset helped me with reading and writing hieroglyphics, and soon my grasp of the language was that of a toddler's.

One afternoon, I was in my chamber plucking a soft melody with my lyre when Menefer came in with a letter. "It's from Pharaoh," she panted, trying to catch her breath.

I snatched the letter from her and tore it open. It had been little over a month since Ahmose left, and I was desperate for any news from him. I read over his letter and sighed in relief. They had taken the Aruna passage and conquered the Canaanites easily, but the remaining rebels had locked themselves away in the city, so the Egyptians would camp around the walls and starve them until they surrendered.

"Much of the chaos is over now," I read aloud. "My duties of kingship have kept me from writing you all this time. I hope you will forgive my tardy response. The weather is so beautiful during the winter and the heat of the desert does not scorch the land as it does in the summer. I hope it will make travel easier so my letters can reach you faster. I have missed your company dearly, and hope to return to Thebes soon."

Menefer brought me ink and plenty of papyrus, and I began working on a letter to send back to him. I didn't really know what to say to him because my questions had been answered when I read his letter. He was alive and well, and the Egyptians had smashed the Canaanites; he had trusted me.

My life since he had left hadn't been very exciting, and I was afraid my letter would be dull. But I wrote anyway, about my friendships with Iset and Menefer, when the truth was I missed him much more than I let on.

Another month passed, and Ahmose wrote me nearly every week. As the days went by, I would wait anxiously to hear from him, to know he was all right. But I couldn't stand the silence, nor the gnawing feeling his absence brought me.

The day he returned was one of the happiest in my life. I passed down the halls and was drawn to the courtyard by the cheers of the Egyptians as Pharaoh returned, celebrating their victory over the Canaanites now that they had officially surrendered. Over the balustrade, I watched the royal procession led by Ahmose in his golden chariot. He was pulled along through the crowd by two black stallions. He waved to the crowd and they tossed flowers upon the road as he passed by. I watched him vanish as the procession continued through the city.