Queen of Sheba Read Online Free PDF

the faces of her counselors and the gloating look of triumph that passed over the wealthy man’s face. She had made what they all considered a wise decision.
    She hardly noticed the woman and her son leaving the hall of judgment as Saiid Hajd knelt before her in gratitude and her chief adviser, Aidel, leaned forward and whispered, “Very wise, my queen. The boy and his mother have no influence or position while this man can be of great service to you. Wisdom means using your power to gain the greatest advantage to yourself.”
    Bilqis did not answer but instead ordered her eunuchs to clear the audience chamber of everyone but her chief counselors. The cases that had not been dealt with would have to wait until the next day. She had other, more important business to tend to. It had been whispered that an Egyptian officer of rank waited in the vestibule with urgent news from the pharaoh.
    In the confusion and turmoil that followed as the people were led from the hall, she found herself thinking again of her uncle and the tribesmen who were pressuring her to marry. “I’ll never marry that weak, sniveling cousin. It’ll serve them right if I surprise them and choose Ilumquh instead.”
    She saw that her uncle and cousin had remained with her counselors.This was their right, but it irritated her. Her resolve was firming to meet the god himself. To bear a son by that god. What power that would give her son. She couldn’t even imagine what such an encounter would be like. She ran her hand over the leopard-skin covering of the cushion she sat on. Here in Sheba their emblem was the leopard, and on festive occasions she wore the skin with the head fitted over one shoulder and the smooth, spotted hide draped down over her back. Leopards weren’t afraid of anything, and neither was she. Even the god’s lustful, ruby eyes were not going to frighten her.
    Slowly she became aware of the silence that filled the room and realized her counselors were all assembled and waiting. With a nod of her head the trumpets were raised and the great doors opened, revealing a group of richly dressed men surrounding a fat, balding dignitary that was obviously the Egyptian ambassador.
    As usual they prostrated themselves before the throne and had brought an array of elegant gifts from the pharaoh. Finally, as the pages and slaves moved back, Bilqis invited the ambassador to join her at the throne.
    When he was at last settled and had delivered his pharaoh’s greetings and small personal messages, he proceeded to pull a scroll of papyrus from an intricately decorated silver case hung on his girdle. With great deliberation he unrolled it and handed it to one of the scribes to read.
    The message was more direct and less flowery than usual, and the whole assembly was impressed with the urgency of the pharaoh’s concern. “A certain king named Solomon is planning to bypass the old trade routes,” the scribe began and proceeded to read at length all that the pharaoh had gleaned from the threatening venture.
    When the scribe had finished, Bilqis spoke slowly and deliberately. “I know of this king and have heard rumors of this venture. He is famous for his wisdom and rules in a mountainous area very far from the sea. I would think it impossible for him to find men to build the ships, master the monsoons, and find the merchandise.”
    “The pharaoh has definite proof that the ships have already been built and have made at least one voyage down the Red Sea.”
    “May I ask what proof he has?”
    Here the ambassador leaned over so the court could not hear him as he whispered, “It is on the best authority. The pharaoh’s sister is married toSolomon and reports everything that happens to her brother.”
    “She is a spy.”
    “You might say so.”
    “Does Solomon know?”
    “Of course not. He loves and trusts her.”
    “And what does the pharaoh suggest we do?”
    “It is quite simple. If all of us along the various trade routes band together and