“I’m sure it’s quite delicious, my king.”
Amunmose chuckled. “Yes, perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I should take my medicine like a good boy. But first—” He broke off a piece of a mound-shaped honey cake from a little plate on the side table and popped it into his mouth. He chewed it and winked at her wickedly.
“You’re probably wondering why I’ve called you here. Well. You see, Nefermaat… It’s a lovely name, did I mention that? A lovely name for a lovely girl. What was I saying? Oh, yes.” He leaned forward, his eyes darkening. “I’ve been having the strangest dream. Every night. I was hoping you could tell me what it means. Montuhotep has ideas, of course, but sometimes he can be an absolute brick. No fun at all. So I’d like to hear whatyouthink.”
Neff felt her palms grow slick with sweat. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t ready. That despite her work with Master Montuhotep and her studies with the chief scribe, she still had so much to learn. But she knew none of that really mattered. Disobedience wasn’t an option.
“I’ll do my best, my king,” she said.
King Amunmose gazed up at the painted ceiling and chewed a second piece of cake. “The dream starts right here, in this room.I’m on the throne, and outside, the sun is setting. I’m wearing the double crown, but there’s something strange about it. Instead of the serpent and the vulture, my uraeus has two serpents—one red and one black. After a moment, the red serpent slithers down from its place on my brow and bites me on the neck. But the black serpent doesn’t move. It just sits there, watching.”
The king suddenly frowned and clutched his stomach until whatever pain he was feeling seemed to pass. “What does it mean, child?” he asked, a little breathless. “What are the gods trying to tell me?”
“Two snakes,” Neff murmured. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, as the master had taught her. “One red, and one black.” She cast her mind into that in-between place she’d first encountered in Montuhotep’s chambers, the place inside the flame where she could hear the whispers of the gods. It didn’t happen right away, and she began to worry that the vision wouldn’t come. But finally, in the shadows behind her eyes, she envisioned the two serpents on the king’s crown, and saw the whole scene play out before her. The red serpent’s fangs. The bite. The king’s open-mouthed silent scream. The black serpent, still and watchful from its seat on the crown. Then, the words came.
He is betrayed by those closest to him.
The message hit her like a gale in a storm, nearly making her stumble.
He will die at the hand of one, while the other bears silent witness.
The vision vanished. Neff gasped and opened her eyes.
“What is it?” the king exclaimed, leaning toward her.
Neff felt sick with horror. She couldn’t possibly deliver such a prophecy to the king. Montuhotep told her not to upset him in his fragile state, and she couldn’t think of anything more upsetting than the prediction she’d received.
Such a message would cast suspicion upon his family and his closest advisers here in the palace, she thought.What if I’m wrong?It could cause all kinds of trouble, terrible trouble.
She had no idea what to do.
So she lied.
“The gods are telling you to trust the priests,” Neff blurted out. “The red serpent is your doubt and will harm you if you choose not to heed their advice. The black serpent is patience. The black serpent waits for happiness to return, and it will be rewarded.”
The king regarded her with an odd expression. “Incredible. That’s exactly what Montuhotep said.”
Neff’s shoulders sagged with relief. “The master is very wise.”
In her peripheral vision, a shadow moved. Her gaze flicked to the portal to the left of the throne, where the two attendants had exited.Had someone been lingering in the doorway?
“Very wise, very wise,” the king murmured. For a moment he looked confused, as if he’d forgotten where he was, before he looked at her and seemed to remember. “Do you know, Nefermaat? There is something else in the dream—a sound. The bleating of a lamb. What do you think of that?”
Neff felt her knees buckle.
He continued, muttering to himself. “That rough-looking priest that came to the palace, all those years ago, he’d been ranting about a lamb, hadn’t he? What a fool.” He turned his gaze back to Neff. “Funny, though, that I would hear a lamb in my dream, isn’t it, child?”
He frowned again, as if his pain were returning. Even with the thick makeup that covered his face, it still looked a little green. “I must…” he gasped, struggling to speak, “return to my chambers… now. Ineni!”
The elegant attendant appeared, along with four litter bearers carrying the king’s palanquin. Neff was quickly forgotten among the activity, so she took it upon herself to back out of the room.
In the main hall, she leaned against one of the columns and tried to catch her breath. Small groups of courtiers and palace officials spoke in the corners, but they seemed oblivious to her presence. She closed her eyes.
A dozen questions whirled through Neff’s mind. If her explanation of the king’s dream had been a lie, did that mean that Montuhotep had been lying to him too? She worried about her vision being wrong, but what if it was right? What if it wasn’t a disease demon making the king sick, but someone in his inner circle? What if Montuhotep himself was involved somehow, and that’s why he lied about the dream?
Neff’s heart began to race at the thought.
But even that wasn’t the most terrifying part of the king’s dream. What frightened her most was the fact that the king was dreaming of the lamb.
