And His Name Is Dennitza. Daughter of Dawn

«But others would give everything to escape from here, but in essence there is nowhere to run. Changes, like an infection, spread from the capital to all distant corners, and then outside the country».

Taor was not afraid of change and did not intend to oppose them like those about whom the warning notes were made. Firstly, he would never and in no way oppose the decree of the pharaoh, because, in fact, the ruler sitting on the throne is the only god for his people, only he has the right to give orders, say what is right and what is not, the lot of subjects is to obey him. It is not for nothing that the ruler of Egypt is revered as the representative of the gods on earth. Secondly, the young man was not particularly religious. The gods in various temples, no matter how many there were, existed for him as something self-evident, but inanimate. People worshiped them, brought gifts to the priests, performed rituals, but all this was more like a background surrounding the true power, not divine, but royal. The more Taor was amazed when he saw in the palace a living creature, similar to the deity that believers can only describe in words. There weren’t even such statues. Deity incarnate. Taor did not know with whom or with what to compare him.

«Have you ever been in love?»

The priest’s question surprised him.

«I don’t remember that,» Taor admitted honestly.

«Then it’s strange how a young man like you, who’s not curious about anything but martial arts, can act so generously.

Taor stared at him blankly.

«On the day when you were honored as a winner, you gave the impression of a lover who is ready to give up all awards for the sake of one specific object or at least his attention», the priest wisely explained.

«Nothing like that,» Taor turned sharply over his shoulder. Again he heard wings flapping somewhere.

«Explain this to me: you return with victory and spoils of war, you can ask for wealth, for your own advancement to the very top, even for the hand of the princess, if you wish, but… in the moment of your glory, you tried to trample yourself, asked for which you could only be punished – for the benefit for others, for your own enemies, to be honest».

«So what?» Taor was sincerely surprised. Why return again and again to the events of days gone by? They didn’t bother him anymore. He got his request granted.

«A normal person could understand you if, say, you were so delighted with all the women who were taken away to the full that you decided to take them to your harem without sharing with anyone».

«I don’t have my own harem».

«And you don’t even want to have it?»

«So far I have managed».

«Why not?»

«I believe that abstinence strengthens the will. Physical passions make people weak. The worst of all warriors are those who seek the attention of whores at night».

«But now it’s not a war, you could relax».

«I prefer to keep in shape».

«You’re the only one here,» said Merira pointedly. «All other people I know behave differently. Many people like both girls and boys. You’re pretty handsome. The royal daughters were staring at you. Do you want to know in what words they praised you?»

«No», Taor wanted to ask more about the golden creature, which he saw first in the throne room, and then at the eerie night festival, but is it reasonable to start this topic again if he has not already been answered. «And Akhenaten does not have another adult daughter, whom I have not yet been introduced?»

«Well, if we talk about children lost in a harem, then there are dozens, even hundreds… without the grace of Pharaoh, they are nothing».

«So maybe he decided suddenly to elevate one of them? Or did he have another royal wife, no older than his daughters?»

«What made you think like that?»

«I…» Taor for some reason did not want to confess directly. «Suddenly the choice of a new god must be strengthened by the choice of a new wife, even more radiant than everyone that came before her. Match the sun god».

«This is a clever thought,» Merira paid tribute. «But I’m afraid that the Pharaoh is not interested in women at all: neither the queen, nor the girls from the harem, nor mere mortals».

«So what is he interested in me because someone called my face attractive?»

«Believe me, if Akhenaten were suddenly interested in young men, it would certainly be you,» something in the priest’s honey-flowing voice suggested that it was not empty praise. «You see, you are a little like a certain guest who once visited here a long time ago and disappeared forever. But our ruler cannot forget him to this day. Although the resemblance is very distant, you probably remind him of that friend».

«So, therefore, my request was immediately executed, and I myself remained a guest here. In memory of someone I don’t know».

«Not really,» Merira carefully took him by the elbow and pointed in the direction of the exit. «We shouldn’t stay here long. Besides, you have become too pale, you need fresh air».

Taor felt it himself, his throat squeezed like a stranglehold, as if someone’s thin fingers were choking him. This is all from the stale air, he thought to himself, but the feeling of someone’s presence near him was truly oppressive. As he left, the young man carefully looked around. The symbols of the old gods were all not scraped off the walls and columns, their clay figures were not removed, and the sculpture with wings in the distance did not depict any of the gods known to him at all. So who was it then? Taor rushed there to look, but the priest’s hand held him with unexpected strength. At the first moment, the young man was taken aback, he did not even suspect that the old man still had so much strength.

«Who is it?» He breathed into the void.

«Never mind!»

«I don’t know the name of this god».

«This is just a fantasy of an insane sculptor who died long ago. And not God, and not Pharaoh, and not anyone from the royal house. Just an idol».

«I would like to take a closer look».

«Not worth it! He’s not here for long. And my advice to you, if you see him elsewhere in the palace, at any new place, just walk by, do not look closely at him, do not linger around».

«I liked him».

«Not for you alone».

Merira, as promised, took him out into the fresh air, using some other entrance than the one through which they had come. From this, the royal palace suddenly began to resemble a labyrinth to Taor. There were so many entrances and exits, connected by a complex of passages and galleries that invariably led to new gardens or huge halls. The pond was the center of every garden, in which the blue lotuses, formerly a sacred plant, bloomed. Is it still sacred now that the gods have disappeared? Freshness emanated from the flowers and water, but the weight of the invisible stranglehold around his neck did not wane.

«A drowned woman was recently found in this pond. They say that the freshness of death comes from water».

Why did the priest tell him this? Taor did not understand, but the pond really gave the impression of a very cold place, in a garden where unbearable heat reigned. The walls of the arches nearby were hot, and the pond looked like liquid ice.

Apple and peach trees grew all around. Taor suddenly noticed a ripe red fruit being plucked from a branch by a golden claw. Drowsiness and fatigue immediately disappeared. He looked at the lush treetops here and there, but no longer noticed any movement.

The garden seemed to be teeming with snakes, although they were not visible. Although a slithering body glowed in the grass, it was bright gold. Are snakes gold? Real snakes, not those that were dreamed of. Taor watched the bright golden beam.

«Do you have friends here at court?» suddenly asked him Merira.

«Just one,» he meant Prince Smenkhkara.

«And those people from the wild tribe, whom you decided to save life, you most likely do not even know by name».

It was more of a statement than a question, but Taor nodded anyway. He did not even know their language and, naturally, could not ask them about their name. There were no translators on the road either. The strange, hissing adverb turned out to be very rare, and it was somewhat frightening. From what he said later, his ears ached.

«You have spared unusual people. They are not like the Egyptians».

«Many tribes and peoples are not like us, take at least the people of Nubia with their dark skin. Nevertheless, the Nubians are now guarding us, standing with halberds at many of the doors of the palace».

«But those recent prisoners with their earthy skin tones… I think they need protection from themselves,» the priest expressed fears.

Taor also saw at the feast how greedily they grabbed food with their claws and pounced on the raw meat of fallow deer and antelope in the kitchen. He attributed this temporary madness to the horrors of war. What peaceful person does not lose his mind from them?

«They will recover over time and will behave like all people,» he tried to justify their behavior.

«And those who didn’t behave like people from the very beginning,» Merira reminded carefully. «I mean the man who attacked you on the day you returned. The senior vizier expresses fears, he believes that by encroaching on you, this man insulted the Pharaoh himself, because on that day, as a winner, you represented his greatness and the greatness of his people. The perpetrator can no longer be forgiven. But if you know that asking for his pardon will cost you your own life, you will say it anyway».

«Yes», Taor carefully looked at the priest, he seemed to be testing him.

«But why? What are the others to you? Why are you willing to forget about yourself for the mercy of people you don’t even know?»

Taor thought for a second. He didn’t know it himself.

«It’s just so right,» he said, and immediately someone pressed against his face and looked straight into his eyes, for so long and deeply that it became scary. For just a second, something inhuman and invisible pressed against him, but this second seemed like an eternity. And that’s all. No one else is around. Except for the old priest.

Taor sighed as if it were the last breath of his life. Something just happened. Something that irreversibly changed everything. And he could not even understand what it was. But he saw in the rays of the sun a figure with wings at the far arch of the garden. The smooth wall next to her now seemed like a kind of entrance to who knows where. The winged creature collected all the sunlight on itself. It shone. The left hand moved smoothly and drew some unidentified symbol high on the wall – the same hieroglyph, the meaning of which Taor did not know. And again it was written in blood. But not with the blood of Alais. A headless rattlesnake fluttered in her hands.

Sacrifice yourself

Taor saw her for just a moment, and again emptiness. It was as if an arch, entwined with olive branches, was always empty, but the crushed body of a snake lay under it. It was useless to ask Merira what the symbol inscribed in blood meant. The priest pretended not to see anything. Or he really didn’t see anything. Taor suddenly became suspicious. Previously, he was never so wary, even in war, when an outbreak of camp could be attacked at any moment and from any end. There he trusted his sentinels, as well as his own hearing and sensitivity, in case the sentries were cut. Here, in the palace, he suddenly realized that he could not trust anyone, not even himself. After all, even one’s own sight, hearing and senses can deceive. He sees what seems to be not. Hears strange hissing sounds from behind, which no one hears except him. He sees a creature that looks like a deity, which everyone worship at night, but about which no one dares to speak out loud during the day, as if he does not exist at all.

What’s going on? Intoxicated people forget about the night festivities and sacrifices in the morning? Or has a certain etiquette been introduced, because of which it is impossible to talk about it?

It would be nice to quietly leave the palace at night and walk along the night streets of the city to see what is happening there. In addition, maybe some of the ordinary townspeople will be more talkative. You will need to ask them around. Or, perhaps it is best to take a time and go to the temple of Aton, bring offerings and ask everything from the most silent deity. Suddenly it will be alive.

Taor tried to read their thoughts on the faces of the palace inhabitants. They all looked like deliberately calm masks. It was impossible to determine what emotions were hidden behind them. No facial expressions, no worries. Guests, courtiers, officials, priests – all looked as impassive as the guards at the entrances and exits of the palace. They, in fact, did not hide anything, they just avoided talking on one specific topic.

Taor sensed fear. He knew this feeling well. Over the battlefield, it often hung like a cloud, especially where they finished off the wounded and drove away the prisoners. Where it was decided to live in agony further or die right now. He knew the look of horror in the eyes of those who were about to be overtaken by a smashing blow and nothing could be done. All this was very familiar to him in bloody battles.

Here, in the luxurious setting of the palace, the fear was somehow even more palpable than on the field of the ending battle with all its bloody losses.

Internally, all these people shuddered, outwardly they behaved amazingly calm.

Taor was already thinking about how it would be better to get out of the palace tonight, when he suddenly noticed that Panahesi, anxious about something, was hurrying towards them. His white robes with gold trim fluttered as he walked. There was a scroll in his hand. Taor had a feeling that the grand vizier had long sought him. Could Merira deliberately arrange for their meeting? Somehow, very inappropriately, they ran into him. Taor himself did not want to meet with a long-time ill-wisher, but he had to. He was already prepared for the fact that now a stream of stern speeches would pour out on him.

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