CHAPTER II
THE PROMISE OF THE GOD
It was morning at Thebes, and the great city glowed in the rays of the
new-risen sun. In a royal barge sat Abi the prince, splendidly
apparelled, and with him Kaku, his astrologer, his captain of the
guard and three other of his officers, while in a second barge
followed slaves who escorted two chiefs and some fair women captured
in war, also the chests of salted heads and hands, offerings to
Pharaoh.
The white-robed rowers bent to their oars, and the swift boat shot
forward up the Nile through a double line of ships of war, all of them
crowded with soldiers. Abi looked at these ships which Pharaoh had
gathered there to meet him, and thought to himself that Kaku had given
wise counsel when he prayed him to attempt no rash deed, for against
such surprises clearly Pharaoh was well prepared. He thought it again
when on reaching the quay of cut stones he saw foot and horse-men
marshalled there in companies and squadrons, and on the walls above
hundreds of other men, all armed, for now he saw what would have
happened to him, if with his little desperate band he had tried to
pierce that iron ring of watching soldiers.
At the steps generals met him in their mail and priests in their full
robes, bowing and doing him honour. Thus royally escorted, Abi passed
through the open gates and the pylons of the splendid temple dedicated
to the Trinity of Thebes, "the House of Amen in the Southern Apt,"
where gay banners fluttered from the pointed masts, up the long street
bordered with tall houses set in their gardens, till he came to the
palace wall. Here more guards rolled back the brazen gates which in
his folly of a few hours gone he had thought that he could force, and
through the avenues of blooming trees he was led to the great pillared
hall of audience.
After the brightness without, that hall seemed almost dark, only a ray
of sunshine flowing from an unshuttered space in the clerestory above,
fell full on the end of it, and revealed the crowned Pharaoh and his
queen seated in state upon their thrones of ivory and gold. Gathered
round and about him also were scribes and councillors and captains,
and beyond these other queens in their carved chairs and attended,
each of them, by beautiful women of the household in their gala dress.
Moreover, behind the thrones, and at intervals between the columns,
stood the famous Nubian guard of two hundred men, the servants of the
body of Pharaoh as they were called, each of them chosen for
faithfulness and courage.
The centre of all this magnificence was Pharaoh, on him the sunlight
beat, to him every eye was turned, and where his glance fell there
heads bowed and knees were bent. A small thin man of about forty years
of age with a puckered, kindly and anxious face, and a brow that
seemed to sink beneath the weight of the double crown that, save for
its royal snake-crest of hollow gold, was after all but of linen, a
man with thin, nervous hands which played amongst the embroideries of
his golden robe--such was Pharaoh, the mightiest monarch in the world,
the ruler whom millions that had never seen him worshipped as a god.
Abi, the burly framed, thick-lipped, dark-skinned, round-eyed Abi,
born of the same father, stared at him with wonderment, for years had
passed since last they met, and in the palace when they were children
a gulf had been set between the offspring of a royal mother and the
child of a Hyksos concubine taken into the Household for reasons of
state. In his vigour, and the might of his manhood, he stared at this
weakling, the son of a brother and a sister, and the grandson of a
brother and a sister. Yet there was something in that gentle eye, an
essence of inherited royalty, before which his rude nature bowed. The
body might be contemptible, but within it dwelt the proud spirit of
the descendant of a hundred kings.
Abi advanced to the steps of the throne and knelt there, till after a
little pause Pharaoh stretched out the sceptre in his hand for him to
kiss. Then he spoke in his light, quick voice.
"Welcome, Prince and my brother," he said. "We quarrelled long ago,
did we not, and many years have passed since we met, but Time heals
all wounds and--welcome, son of my father. I need not ask if you are
well," and he glanced enviously at the great-framed man who knelt
before him.
"Hail to your divine Majesty!" answered Abi in his deep voice. "Health
and strength be with you, Holder of the Scourge of Osiris, Wearer of
the Feathers of Amen, Mortal crowned with the glory of Ra."
"I thank you, Prince," answered Pharaoh gently, "and that health and
strength I need, who fear that I shall only find them when I have
yielded up the Scourge of Osiris whereof you speak to him who lent it
me. But enough of myself. Let us to business, afterwards we will talk
of such matters together. Why have you left your government at Memphis
without leave asked, to visit me here in my City of the Gates?"
"Be not wrath with me," answered Abi humbly. "A while ago, in
obedience to your divine command, I attacked the barbarians who
threatened your dominions in the desert. Like Menthu, god of war, I
fell upon them. I took them by surprise, I smote them, thousands of
them bit the dust before me. Two of their kings I captured with their
women--they wait without, to be slain by your Majesty. I bring with me
the heads of a hundred of their captains and the hands of five hundred
of their soldiers, in earnest of the truth of my word. Let them be
spread out before you. I report to your divine Majesty that those
barbarians are no more, that for a generation, at least, I have made
the land safe to your uttermost dominions in the north. Suffer that
the heads and the hands be brought in and counted out before your
Majesty, that the smell of them may rise like incense to your divine
nostrils."
"No, no," said Pharaoh, "my officers shall count them without, for I
love not such sights of death, and I take your word for the number.
What payment do you ask for this service, my brother, for with great
gifts would I reward you, who have done so well for me and Egypt?"
Before he answered Abi looked at the beautiful queen, Ahura, who sat
at Pharaoh's side, and at the other royal consorts and women.
"Your Majesty," he said, "I see here many wives and ladies, but royal
children I do not see. Grant--for doubtless they are in their own
chambers--grant, O Pharaoh, that they may be led hither that my eyes
may feed upon their loveliness, and that I may tell of them, each of
them, to their cousins who await me at Memphis."
At these words a flush as of shame spread itself over the lovely face
of Ahura, the royal wife, the Lady of the Two Lands; while the women
turned their heads away whispering to each other bitterly, for the
insult hurt them. Only Pharaoh set his pale face and answered with
dignity.
"Prince Abi, to affront those whom the gods have smitten, be they
kings or peasants, is an unworthy deed which the gods will not forget.
You know well that I have no children. Why then do you ask me to show
you their loveliness?"
"I had heard rumours, O Pharaoh," answered the Prince, "no more.
Indeed, I did not believe them, for where there are so many wives I
was certain that there would be some mothers. Therefore I asked to be
sure before I proffered a petition which now I will make to you not
for my own sake but for Egypt's and yours, O Pharaoh. Have I your
leave to speak here in public?"
"Speak on," said Pharaoh sternly. "Let aught that is for the welfare
of Egypt be heard by Egypt."
"Your Majesty has told me," replied Abi bowing, "that the gods, being
wrath, have denied you children. Not so much as one girl of your blood
have they given to you to fill your throne after you when in due
season it pleases you to depart to Osiris. Were it otherwise, were
there even but a single woman-child of your divine race, I would say
nothing, I would be silent as the grave. But so it is, and though your
queens be fair and many, so it would seem that it must remain, since
the ears of the gods having been deaf to your pleadings for so long,
although you have built them glorious temples and made them offerings
without count, will scarcely now be opened. Even Amen your father,
Amen, whose name you bear, will perform no miracle for you, O Pharaoh,
who are so great that he has decreed that you shall shine alone like
the full moon at night, not sharing your glory with a single star."
Now Ahura the Queen, who all this while had been listening intently,
spoke for the first time in a quick angry voice, saying,
"How know you that, Prince of Memphis? Sometimes the gods relent and
that which they have withheld for a space, they give. My lord lives,
and I live, and a child of his may yet fill the throne of Egypt."
"It may be so, O Queen," said Abi bowing, "and for my part I pray that
it will be so, for who am I that I should know the purpose of the
kings of heaven? If but one girl be born of you and Pharaoh, then I
take back my words and give to you that title which for many years has
been written falsely upon your thrones and monuments, the title of
Royal Mother."
Now Ahura would have answered again, for this sneering taunt stung her
to the quick. But Pharaoh laid his hand upon her knee and said,
"Continue, Prince and brother. We have heard from you that which we
already know too well--that I am childless. Tell us what we do not
know, the desire of your heart which lies hid beneath all these
words."
"Pharaoh, it is this--I am of your holy blood, sprung of the same
divine father----"
"But of a mother who was not divine," broke in Ahura; "of a mother
taken from a race that has brought many a curse upon Khem, as any
mirror will show you, Prince of Memphis."
"Pharaoh," went on Abi without heeding her, "you grow weak; heaven
desires you, the earth melts beneath you. In the north and in the
south many dangers threaten Egypt. Should you die suddenly without an
heir, barbarians will flow in from the north and from the south, and
the great ones of the land will struggle for your place. Pharaoh, I am
a warrior; I am built strong; my children are many; my house is built
upon a rock; the army trusts me; the millions of the people love me.
Take me then to rule with you and in the hearing of all the earth name
me and my sons as your successors, so that our royal race may continue
for generation after generation. So shall you end your days in peace
and hope. I have spoken."
Now, as the meaning of this bold request sank into their hearts, all
the court there gathered gasped and whispered, while the Queen Ahura
in her anger crushed the lotus flower which she held in her hand and
cast it to the floor. Only Pharaoh sat still and silent, his head bent
and his eyes shut as though in prayer. For a minute or more he sat
thus, and when he lifted his pale, pure face, there was a smile upon
it.
"Abi, my brother," he said in his gentle voice, "listen to me. There
are those who filled this throne before me, who on hearing such words
would have pointed to you with their sceptres, whereon, Abi, those
lips of yours would have grown still for ever, and you and your name
and the names of all your House would have been blotted out by death.
But, Abi, you were ever bold, and I forgive you for laying open the
thoughts of your heart to me. Still, Abi, you have not told us all of
them. You have not told us, for instance," he went on slowly, and in
the midst of an intense silence, "that but last night you debated
whether it would not be possible with that guard of yours to break
into my palace and put me to the sword and name yourself Pharaoh--by
right of blood, Abi; yes, by right of blood--my blood shed by you, my
brother."
As these words left the royal lips a tumult arose in the hall, the
women and the great officers sprang up, the captains stepped forward
drawing their swords to avenge so horrible a sacrilege. But Pharaoh
waved his sceptre, and they were still, only Abi cried in a great
voice.
"Who has dared to whisper a lie so monstrous?" And he glared first at
Kaku and then at the captain of his guard who stood behind him, and
choked in wrath, or fear, or both.
"Suspect not your officers, Prince," went on the Pharaoh, still
smiling, "for on my royal word they are innocent. Yet, Abi, a pavilion
set upon the deck of a ship is no good place to plot the death of
kings. Pharaoh has many spies, also, at times, the gods, to whom as
you say he is so near, whisper tidings to him in his sleep. Suspect
not your officers, Abi, although I think that to yonder Master of the
Stars who stands behind you, I should be grateful, since, had you
attempted to execute this madness, but for him I might have been
forced to kill you, Abi, as one kills a snake that creeps beneath his
mat. Astrologer, you shall have a gift from me, for you are a wise
man. It may take the place, perhaps, of one that you have lost; was it
not a certain woman slave whom your master gave to you last night--
after he had punished her for no fault?"
Kaku prostrated himself before the glory of Pharaoh, understanding at
last that it was the lost girl Merytra who had overheard and betrayed
them. But heeding him no more, his Majesty went on.
"Abi, Prince and brother, I forgive you a deed that you purposed but
did not attempt. May the gods and the spirits of our fathers forgive
you also, if they will. Now as to your demand. You are my only living
brother, and therefore I will weigh it. Perchance, if I should die
without issue, although you are not all royal, although there flows in
your veins a blood that Egypt hates; although you could plot the
murder of your lord and king, it may be well that when I am gone you
should fill my place, for you are brave and of the ancient race on one
side, if base-born on the other. But I am not yet dead, and children
may still come to me. Abi, will you be a prisoner until Osiris calls
me, or will you swear an oath?"
"I will swear an oath," answered the Prince hoarsely, for he knew his
shame and danger.
"Then kneel here, and by the dreadful Name swear that you will lift no
hand and plot no plot against me. Swear that if a child, male or
female, should be given to me, you will serve such a child truly as
your lord and lawful Pharaoh. In the presence of all this company,
swear, knowing that if you break the oath in letter or in spirit, then
all the gods of Egypt shall pour their curse upon your head in life,
and in death shall give you over to the everlasting torments of the
damned."
So, having little choice, Abi swore by the Name and kissed the sceptre
in token of his oath.
It was night. Dark and solemn was the innermost shrine of the vast
temple, the "House of Amen in the Northern Apt," which we call Karnak,
the very holy of holies where, fashioned of stone, and with the
feathered crown upon his head, stood the statue of Amen-ra, father of
the gods. Here, where none but the high-priest and the royalties of
Egypt might enter, Pharaoh and his wife Ahura, wrapped in brown cloaks
like common folk, knelt at the feet of the god and prayed. With tears
and supplications did they pray that a child might be given to them.
There in the sacred place, lit only by a single lamp which burned from
age to age, they told the story of their grief, whilst high above them
the cold, calm countenance of the god seemed to stare through the
gloom, as for a thousand years, in joy or sorrow, it had stared at
those that went before them. They told of the mocking words of Abi who
had demanded to see their children, the children that were not; they
told of their terror of the people who demanded that an heir should be
declared; they told of the doom that threatened their ancient house,
which from Pharaoh to Pharaoh, all of one blood, for generations had
worshipped in this place. They promised gifts and offerings, stately
temples and wide lands, if only their desire might be fulfilled.
"Let me no more be made a mock among men," cried the beautiful queen,
beating her forehead upon the stone feet of the god. "Let me bear a
child to fill the seat of my lord the King, and then if thou wilt,
take my life in payment."
But the god made no answer, and wearied out at length they rose and
departed. At the door of the sanctuary they found the high-priest
awaiting them, a wizened, aged man.
"The god gave no sign, O High-priest," said Pharaoh sadly; "no voice
spoke to us."
The old priest looked at the weeping queen, and a light of pity crept
into his eyes.
"To me, watching without," he said, "a voice seemed to speak, though
what it said I may not reveal. Go to your palace now, O Pharaoh, and O
Queen Ahura, and take your rest side by side. I think that in your
sleep a sign will come to you, for Amen is pitiful, and loves his
children who love him. According to that sign so speak to the Prince
Abi, speak without fear or doubt, since for good or ill it shall be
fulfilled."
Then like shadows, hand in hand, this royal pair glided down the vast,
pillared halls till at the pylon gates, which were opened for them,
they found their litters, and were borne along the great avenue of
ram-headed sphinxes back to a secret door in the palace wall.
It was past midnight. Deep darkness and heavy silence lay upon Thebes,
broken only by dogs howling at the stars and the occasional challenge
of soldiers on the walls. Side by side in their golden bed the wearied
Pharaoh and his queen slept heavily. Presently Ahura woke. She started
up in the bed; she stared at the darkness about her with frightened
eyes; she stretched out her hand and clasping Pharaoh by the arm,
whispered in a thrilling voice,
"Awake, awake! I have that which I must tell you."
Pharaoh roused himself, for there was something in Ahura's voice which
swept away the veils of sleep.
"What has chanced, Ahura?" he asked.
"O Pharaoh, I have dreamed a dream, if indeed it were but a dream. It
seemed to me that the darkness opened, and that standing in the
darkness I saw a Glory which had neither shape nor form. Yet a voice
spoke from the Glory, a low, sweet voice: 'Queen Ahura, my daughter,'
it said, 'I am that Spirit to whom thou and thy husband did pray this
night in the sanctuary of my temple. It seemed to both of you that
your prayers remained unheard, yet it was not so, as my priest knew
well. Queen Ahura, thou and Pharaoh thy husband have put your trust in
me these many years, and not in vain. A daughter shall be given to
thee and Pharaoh, and my Spirit shall be in that child. She shall be
beautiful and glorious as no woman was before her, for I clothe her
with health and power and wisdom. She shall rule over the Northern and
the Southern Lands; yea, for many years the double crown shall rest
upon her brow, and no king that went before her, and no king that
follows after her, shall be more great in Egypt. Troubles and dangers
shall threaten her, but the Spirit that I give to her shall protect
her in them all, and she shall tread her enemy beneath her feet. A
royal lover shall come to her also, and she shall rejoice in his love
and from it shall spring many kings and princes. Neter-Tua, Morning
Star, shall be her name, and high-priestess of Amen--no less--shall be
her office, for she is my child whom I have taken from heaven and sent
down to earth; the child that I have given to Pharaoh and to thee, and
I love her and appoint the good goddesses to be her companions, and
command Osiris to receive her at the last.
"'Behold, in token of these things I lay my symbol on thy breast, and
on her breast also shall that symbol be. When I lift it from thee and
thou dost open thy eyes, then awaken Pharaoh at thy side and let these
my words be written in a roll, so that none of them are forgotten.'
"Then, O Pharaoh," went on Ahura, "from the Glory there came forth a
hand, and in the hand was the Symbol of Life shining as though with
fire, and the hand laid it upon my breast and it burned me as though
with fire, and I awoke and lo! darkness was all about me, nothing but
darkness, and at my side I heard you sleeping."
Now when Pharaoh had listened to this dream, he kissed the queen and
blessed her because of its good omen, and clapped his hands to summon
the women of honour who slept without. They ran in bearing lights, and
by the lights he saw that beneath the throat of the Queen upon her
fair skin, appeared a red mark, and the shape of it was the shape of
the Sign of Life; yes, there was the loop, and beneath the loop the
cross.
Then Pharaoh commanded that the chief of his scribes should come to
him with papyrus and writing tools, and that the high-priest of Amen
should be brought swiftly from the temple. So the scribe came to the
bed-chamber of the King, and in the presence of the high-priest all
the words of Amen were written down, not one of them was omitted, and
Pharaoh and the Queen signed the roll, and the high-priest witnessed
it and, copies having been made, bore it away to hide it in the secret
treasury of Amen. But the mark of the Cross of Life remained upon the
breast of the Queen Ahura till the day that she died.
Now in the morning Pharaoh summoned his Court and commanded that the
Prince Abi should be brought before him. So the Prince came and
Pharaoh addressed him kindly.
"Son of my father," he said, "I have considered your request that I
should take you to rule with me on the throne of Egypt, and name you
and your sons to be Pharaohs after me, and it is refused. Know that it
has been revealed to me and to the royal wife, Ahura, by the greatest
of the gods, that a daughter shall be born to us in due season, who
shall be called Morning Star of Amen, and that she and her seed shall
be Pharaohs after me. Therefore rejoice with us and return to your
government, Prince Abi, and be happy in our love, and in the goods and
greatness that the gods have given you."
Now Abi shook with anger, for he thought that all this tale was a
trick and a snare. But knowing that his peril was great there in the
hand of Pharaoh, he answered only that when this Morning Star arose,
his star should do it reverence, though as the words passed his lips
he remembered the prophecy of his astrologer Kaku, that the Morning
Star of Amen should blot out that star of his.
"You think that I speak falsely, Prince Abi, yes, that I stain my lips
with lies," said Pharaoh with indignation. "Well, I forgive you this
also. Go hence and await the issue and know by this sign that truth is
in my heart. When the Princess Neter-Tua is born, upon her breast
shall be seen the symbol of the Sign of Life. Depart now, lest I grow
angry. The gifts I have promised shall follow you to Memphis."
So Abi returned to the white-walled city of Memphis and sat there
sullenly, putting it about that a plot was on foot to deprive him of
his heritage. But Kaku shook his head, saying in secret that the Star,
Neter-Tua, would arise, for so it was decreed by Amen, father of the
gods.
