Seer of Egypt Read Online Free PDF Page A

have yet to understand its secrets fully. I do not think about it much anymore, Anhur. I am stretched thin with the exercise of healing and Seeing. One day perhaps I shall have enough time to ponder it anew.”
    He did not add that the thought of the Book of Thoth plunged him into sadness and a sourceless guilt when its words crept unbidden into his mind, and that he deliberately turned away from any thought of it, and of the sacred Ished Tree under whose branches he had first unrolled it. It was all there in his consciousness, ready to scroll through his thoughts like some portentous spell full of power whose meaning eluded him. He had agreed to read it while his body lay cold and lifeless in Hut-herib’s House of the Dead and his ka stood before the great Imhotep, who had offered the boy Huy the choice. Huy, drenched in the sunlight of Paradise while the Judgment Hall lay dim and forbidding behind him, had agreed to the will of the creator-god Atum. At twelve years old, he had not considered the cost, had not been warned that in doing so he would become Atum’s property and tool. As long as he did not think about the Book, he need not be angry. As long as he moved from day to day through the tasks set before him by the acquisition of his peculiar gift, he need not look into his own future and that one duty he had been unable to fulfill.
    Anhur swallowed his last mouthful, emptied his goblet yet again, and pushed the table away. “Luckily, I don’t have to worry about such mysterious things. Give me a practical task that has a practical solution and I’m happy. Well, I’d better order a guard for the house and gate tonight, see that the men are comfortable, and set up my cot somewhere.” He grinned. “I won’t miss being a member of His Majesty’s Shock Troops, but I hope I won’t be bored, trudging up and down your passages.”
    “You can sleep in the guest room until your men have built you a suitable home,” Ishat said. They were the first words she had spoken all evening.
    Anhur shook his head and rose, snatching up his wilted headdress as he did so. “If I’m to keep discipline among my ten, I must be with them, but thank you, Mistress,” he replied. “I wish you both a safe rest. If you hear footsteps in the night, don’t be alarmed—it will be one of the soldiers patrolling inside the house.” He bowed and quickly vanished into the shadows.
    Merenra began to clear away the debris of the meal and Ishat turned to Huy. “I like him and you obviously trust him,” she said. “But extra cells to have built, extra mouths to feed, means too much work for Khnit and Merenra. We must hire an under steward, Huy, and another cook, and perhaps a couple more house servants.” She sighed. “Is this the negative side of how rich people live?”
    “Yes.” Huy got to his feet and held a hand down to her, fighting a sudden sense of suffocation. “You’re right, Ishat. Merenra can see to it as soon as he has the time. We will adapt to this as we have bent to every gust of fate that has blown at us.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek and called for Tetiankh and Iput. When they came, lighted tapers in their hands, he followed them and Ishat up the stairs, bade her sleep well, and went into his own bedchamber.
    Tetiankh put the taper to the lamp beside the couch, and as a glow of light began to diffuse through the large room, he bowed to Huy. “Master, if you will wait until I have drawn fresh water from the barrel downstairs to put on your table, I can then prepare you for sleep. Do you need an infusion of poppy tonight?”
    Huy considered. Well, do I? I have no pain, but the drug does give me a deep and dreamless sleep. Without it, I am afraid of the visions the god might send me. Yet I am doing his will to the best of my ability, so why would he accuse me? Nevertheless, my work is arduous. I must have a good rest. He knew that he was edging his thoughts towards a justification for taking the poppy, knew