Buch lesen: «And His Name Is Dennitza. Daughter of Dawn»

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Translator Natalie Lilienthal

ISBN 978-5-0051-9051-2

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Prologue

«… If you have the courage, release me», the voice seemed to call him from the tomb, but no one could enter this tomb. It was erected quite recently and in the shortest possible time. But everyone was already afraid to stutter about what was happening there. They did not talk about her, as if she did not exist at all, but she was, and the evil power emanating from her often declared itself.

«Free me!» the voice sounded more clearly. Right in his head. This voice was like the clink of gold coins falling on the floor of a tomb. Not a voice, but a call from a fairy tale. So the genie calls to let him out of the lamp. The beautiful voice gave off some kind of cunning.

Piay shuddered. Isn’t that why he got here. To see something unusual. So far he has only heard. He came here at the risk of his life, having miraculously passed the guard post. So it is worth taking the risk further. There is nothing to lose anyway.

He touched his hand to the inscriptions carved into the wall of the tomb. They did not begin to crumble like dust under his living fingers. Everything that was told turned out to be a lie. The gods did not strike him as soon as he stepped on the cursed land. The fire did not incinerate him on the spot. His body was not rotted away by the plague. These were all just stories. The desert city was not cursed. The new pharaoh ordered to raze him to the ground only in order to eradicate the memory of his insane predecessor?

More than once Piay wondered: was the ruler Amenhotep really insane? Or is it all about the intricacies of politics? It was impossible to put one god above all, in this case the sun god.

The sun! Shine! A dazzling flash! The fall! Piay closed his eyes. Everything flashed before my eyes so quickly. He nearly went blind because he saw for a moment. Some kind of eerie deity with wings, all permeated with scorching sunlight.

«Free me!» the voice, a little tired, became insistent.

Piay nodded obediently. It was impossible to resist this voice. It called from the bottom of the grave, but it had greater power than all earthly rulers.

Deposed sun god! Is his power buried here? Piay has repeatedly sculpted his images from stone, but he has never seen anything like what he now dreamed of. There is no such creature among the gods of Egypt. It seems to be really above them.

He felt dizzy. There must be an entrance somewhere. He did not know this, but it was as if someone whispered to him. One of the smooth stone blocks should move, opening inward like a secret door.

Piay ran his hands along the smooth walls covered with bas-reliefs in places, and a miracle happened, in one place the wall gave way, with lightning speed, as if the lid had been removed from the casket. Piay looked inside. It wasn’t dark there. Somewhere in the distance, lamps were burning on the sides of the passage. It remained a mystery who lit them here, and how long they burned in the tomb.

The voice no longer called, but Piay stepped forward anyway. It felt like he was entering a temple. Forbidden temple to a deposed god. This god must be stronger than any other.

A bird was screaming obsessively behind the wall of the closed passage. It looks like the cry of an eagle. Piay didn’t think it might be a warning. He walked forward. Fate brought him here, he knew it for sure. He felt.

Inside, everything was different from ordinary tombs. No images of the usual gods. Everything was different here. Inscriptions, columns, drawings. Everything is different than in other pyramids. And also a stone bed in the very center. It stood here instead of the sarcophagus. On it lay something far more precious than the countless treasures heaped up here and there like offerings.

The enchanted youth walked forward. The light of the moon penetrating the top of the pyramid was enough to see the creature, which was glowing by itself. The lying body seemed to be molded of gold and still alive. It seemed as if it was only sleeping. Cobwebs were already entangling him, but there was no sign of decay. It gave the impression of something more eternal than even a sculpture.

Piay stopped and held his breath. This is Pharaoh’s daughter. The one about which they talked so much, and about which it was no longer possible to talk about. Her body was not made a mummy, and it did not decompose. It shone brighter than gold.

«Free me if you have the courage…»

She said nothing or moved, but he heard a voice that sounded more like the hiss of boiling tar. He looked and began to understand something. Not everything that was said was fiction. The dead golden creature did have wings. They spread over the stone bed under her back like a luxurious halo. And in their frame it seemed that this creature was just sleeping.

Shadow in the palace of the pharaoh

Years before

Everything remains the same, and yet something has changed. Taor felt as if he had come to the Pharaoh’s palace for the first time in his life. They said that everyone who returned here from a distant journey or from the battlefield experiences this. But that was not the point now.

Unaccustomed luxury dazzled and at the same time struck with some amazing cold. This happens when you cross the threshold of the pyramid, where the deceased lies, over whom the ritual has already been performed, but death is still near, it has not gone anywhere yet. Its presence can be felt, though you can not see.

He had never experienced this on the battlefield, although there people fell dead at every step, blood shed, lives were cut short. But there was no sense that something dark was standing nearby and waiting. Something is already watching you.

Taor even glanced over his shoulder. The sensation of being around was so real. He didn’t think about how the other congregation might interpret his gesture. He was never superstitious. There could be rumors about him that he had a head injury. The scar on his temple did indeed remain, although hidden under strands of hair. In one of the battles, an alien saber almost cut his head. A little bit… but what if the gods intervened in the moment.

And then the first big victory in his life was to deafen him enough to forget how close that blade was to his forehead. And, perhaps, it was worth not remembering the feeling that at that moment someone else intervened between him and the attacker. Someone intangible. The gods could do anything, but what if it wasn’t them.

When did he think of gods lately? Taor did not want to think about them now. Only scraps of battle, festering wounds, severed limbs, and vultures feasting on the remains of their foes climbed into his head. He did not even know to whom to attribute these enemies: the Hittites, the Nubians… Egypt still did not know the tribe with which he was sent to war. Their attack on the country was sudden and unpredictable. Neither the royal advisers, nor the prophets, nor the priests could even guess where they came from, but they were innumerable and it was as if they were not people at all. Taor remembered chopping them, and they did not feel pain. Each of them was as difficult to kill as in other battles to put a dozen enemies. And after each killed, more and more of them arose. It was as if the desert spawned them. Pharaoh’s troops were desperate, and Taor too. How many they did not kill enemies, but their number did not dry out. The scouts could not determine how many there were and where their camp was. Each time they attacked at dusk, and not at dawn, as it should have been. Taor and his subordinates had to stay awake at night, and with the first rays of dawn, the battlefield became empty. However, at night everything was repeated. Each new detachment advancing on Taor grew in number. These warriors had impenetrable armor, and the skin beneath them was even harder than the cuirass in which they were dressed. He chopped right and left like a butcher, and already knew that he could not win, but overnight everything changed. Enemy units suddenly stopped arriving… and this happened just after someone invisible took the sword from his forehead. Someone who spoke to him from heaven.

«Idols, your gods are only idols…»

Taor raised a hand to his forehead, wanting to touch the scar. That voice still sounded in his memory, belonging to no one but heaven. At the fateful moment, the young man did not see a single material being that could protect him. So maybe it just seemed to him?

There were unusually few people in the palace, but all those gathered looked with curiosity, and often with barely concealed envy. After all, he returned alive and victorious.

Everything was conceived differently. He, young and naive, was sent where he should not have come back. He would become the first victim in the struggle against a people hitherto unknown to anyone, and famous for their superhuman cruelty and strength. Therefore, the main commander of the pharaoh remained in the palace, other no less honorable commanders were left in reserve, and the youngest in rank and least born young man went to fight the demons. There was no other way to name them. Although they consisted of flesh and blood, there was so much superhuman strength and tenacity in them.

He had an involuntary respect for his enemies. It was not possible to take a single warrior alive, but he took many old men and women into the full. And he already knew what he would ask Pharaoh. Today was his day. He had the right to turn to the king with any request.

But his soul was still trembling. Will Pharaoh fulfill such a grandiose desire that has matured in him. Both morally and materially it might not be feasible, but he was going to try anyway. His request is pure. It comes from the heart. The gods must give him a chance.

«Your gods are idols…»

And again this haunting voice. A voice from heaven, as he used to call it. It’s good that no one heard this voice except him. Taor knew that for sure. Lying in a military tent after the victory, he repeatedly asked if his subordinates heard someone’s words, as if uttered from nothing, but each time they shook their heads in bewilderment. Once he asked an old woman about this, trudging along the road, she even got scared, mistaking the young man for a madman. And this is even despite the fact that he was wearing the armor of the king’s commander.

It’s good that no one else hears this voice. For the words spoken by him, the priests could punish a person with death. Pharaoh would agree with them. After all, he is also a god, an earthly and mortal god, as is customary to worship in Egypt.

Taor respected the laws of the country in which he lived, although now he was going to break them a little. The heavenly voice did not object to this, but he completely left the young man as soon as he entered the ceremonial hall.

The most honored guests gathered there, also in small numbers. It seemed that there were more guards with halberds than peaceful nobility.

The hall was solemnly decorated. The road to the throne where Pharaoh sat is free. He was to be honored today, but Taor was not used to such honors. He was embarrassed to go to the palace in a rich chariot presented to him, and all the more unpleasant to accept other royal gifts. All this seemed somehow undeserved, as if by accident, only because he suddenly had an invisible heavenly patron.

Fanfare, lotus petals that strewn the road, the cries of the celebrating crowd below under the windows… Everything is like in a dream.

You must remember that you have many enemies here who sent you to certain death, someone invisibly admonished him at the entrance to the hall. But here he was alone.

Taor brushed a lock of jet-black hair from his damp forehead. He was considered very handsome, and so what? He still didn’t even have his own harem. The funds did not allow. So he can ask that Pharaoh allow him to keep some of the conquered treasures? No. He had already decided to turn to him with another request. There can be only one petition.

«Get up!» Pharaoh ordered not to prostrate when Taor was already down on his knees. Strange, but the usual ceremonial today was broken in many ways. Is it in honor of the victory? Or a lot had changed at court while he was away. Pharaoh himself also changed. It’s scary to think, but he looked more like an inanimate statue on a throne. Someone seemed to bend over to him and whispered something in his ear, but there was no one behind the throne dais today, even slaves with fans were driven to the bottom.

«You proved yourself gloriously. A great warrior deserves a lot. I appoint you as the chief commander over all my troops, and over all other commanders».

Taor did not expect. Too many accolades. Too much envy, an almost palpable wave soaring over the hall. He was eaten with angry looks. The courtier, who did not have time to read the pharaoh’s decree to his own words, nervously bit his lips, the chancellor was clearly displeased, the chief adviser diligently averted his eyes. He and Taor had long-standing scores.

Only the one in whose place Taor had been appointed stood sullenly aside. Taor found him with his eyes. Now the former military leader was preoccupied with something of his own, and not with the speeches of the pharaoh. He carefully hid his hand under his clothes. At first, Taor even thought that it was cut off, like a thief. But no, it seems the hand is completely dry. Strange, this usually happens from birth. Taor has seen many different injuries and epidemics on the battlefields, but he has never seen anything like this. The hand seemed to have been burned, but the motionless bone remained and festered. If it had occurred to someone to mummify only one hand on the body of a living person, he would have received such a result. Ujai was unrecognizable. Taor remembered him as brave and cocky, proudly throwing a challenge straight into the face of enemies and rivals, and now this haunted look, reddened eyes… What happened to him? What happened to everyone here at all? No one whispered, no gossip, no one seemed to be interested in anything. Taor felt like a stranger, not privy to the course of events. In fact, it was so, because he was absent for a very long time. But not long enough for people to suddenly become different… they behaved differently than before. The same inhabitants of Egypt, the same noble people at court, not counting the many dignitaries whom the pharaoh chose not from the nobility. He himself was now among them. Taor knew he should be grateful. In the old days he would not have been allowed to become so famous, now everything has changed. But what if these changes are not for the better?

Taor bit his lip bloody. Now the moment has come when he should express his main request. Several pairs of expectant eyes immediately gazed at him. He had long been indebted to these people for his promotion, but he did not want to think now about what was in their favor. He would repay them with something else later, and now he was going to ask not for himself, but for the whole province. Now the conquered lands have become a province of Egypt, so rich and fertile that it is unlikely that all the gold captured would have been enough to redeem it. The benefit didn’t matter. He just wanted all the prisoners to be released.

If everything depended on him, then he would have done it already, but it will not be he who will decide, but a man like God, sitting on the throne. Everyone here felt involuntary respect for the symbols of royal power in his hands, his name, his uraeus. As he decides, so it will be done immediately.

There was no queen on the throne next to the pharaoh. Her absence, however, was not striking, because the ivory chair was removed for her, as if she was not expected at all. Pharaoh decided to be alone. Or did it just seem so? Someone was bending over him, someone, as if made of marble and gold. At first Taor could not see it. It was like the sun was shining in his eyes, and it hurt his vision… but then he noticed a graceful head, and the way luxurious black wings flapped over it. Marble hands slid over the pharaoh’s shoulders like snakes, beautiful lips bent to his ear to whisper something. It seemed that fire would burst from those lips, not breath. The golden creature suddenly looked directly at Taor, and, gods, how beautiful it was.

Pharaoh waited for his words, but he forgot what he was going to ask for. The lips did not move. This is probably how a person who is turned into a statue feels: you want to talk, but you can’t. And yet he braced himself. The future of an entire people depends on him: they will be turned into slavery or released. He must be strong. Taor spoke.

«I would not dare to ask for anything for myself, and yet I have one desire. May the bloody war end in peace, may the lands devastated by the battle remain independent, and may all prisoners be free».

That’s all, there is nothing more to say. Request or impudence? How will the ruler of Egypt react to this? Will Pharaoh consider that his general wants too much? Will he leave the decision for later or will he answer now? Consent or refusal?

Taor always worried about others more than about himself. This set him apart from most people. It was said that such a quality would someday destroy him. Sometimes they laughed at him openly. But the golden creature behind the back of the throne suddenly looked at him with interest. How it looks like a deity, revived and delighted. Deity with a maiden body, dark wings and serpentine strands of gold color. Has anyone else seen her? Taor did not dare to take his eyes off her golden nails, which slid over the ruler’s forearms. She bent down to Pharaoh’s ear and whispered something.

«Let it be so», the answer of the ruler shocked everyone present. «The prisoners will receive freedom, and the lands you seized will gain independence. No tribute, not a single slave… if someone wants to stay as a guest, he was allowed to, if someone needs funds to get back to their homeland, they will be allocated them from the riches you seized. Is this your desire?»

Taor was confused. He did not express the request to the end, because he was ashamed, and Pharaoh already knew everything. The golden creature straightened up behind the throne. A sly smile played on his lips, his hands rested like a business on the ruler’s shoulders. Did it read the thoughts of the congregation and convey them to Pharaoh? Who is it? Rather, she. Taor saw a slender body, barely covered by ornaments and garments that little resembled the clothing of the Egyptians. And the wings… they were alive, they moved, they flapped, then folded into a black halo above their heads. They acted like two large hands, absolutely mobile and graceful. Even the wings of birds are not like that. They were like two fluffy patches of darkness, like a separate living being above a divine body.

With difficulty Taor was able to nod at Pharaoh’s words.

«Do you have any more wishes?»

Pharaoh’s second question certainly struck him. He did not dare to hope that the first one would also be performed, and in fact, according to tradition, it should have been the only one.

«This is all that I dreamed of – about peace for everyone», his language almost did not obey.

That’s all, the moment of his triumph is over. The golden creature looked at him, seemingly laughing. It expected him to regret having wasted his request. But he didn’t regret it.

Pomegranate seed

At the exit, he ran into Ujai. The former military leader moved as if in a dream. Taor was even frightened at how strange he looked. Already looks like a mummy, although still alive. It seemed that a withered hand was devouring him, like a snake that had taken root on his body. How could this happen? What happened to him? After all, lately he has not even been on the battlefield, Taor fought instead. The young man was familiar with many epidemics. He saw how the warriors who touched the unclean blood became infected and sick. Everyone he killed in the last battles had impure blood. From her came filth and infection. Even scorpions avoided pools of such blood. But Ujjai could not get infected this way. It was safe here in the palace: no fights, no epidemics, no one who was infected would simply not be allowed here. Therefore, he did not even ask the question of whether the former military leader himself could be contagious?

Maybe he went out into the desert and something happened there? Taor did not know if it would be proper to ask about someone else’s illness. It would probably be better to pretend he didn’t notice. The court has its own ceremonial. The curious are not trustworthy. Plus, it’s dishonorable to laugh at a losing opponent. Taor believed that Ujai deserved much more high office than himself. Although, perhaps, it was precisely because of illness that he was dismissed.

Their gazes met for just a moment. Ujjai was the first to avert his sunken, sore eyes. He wanted to say something, but did not dare and just walked by. Taor looked after him for a long time. It was as if he did not know this wretched, withered man. Where did the tall, mighty warrior go, who always treated everyone with arrogance?

«Are you looking for someone?» an old friend was already hurrying to him. Smenkhkara hung around at court, as usual, although he did not hope to get anything here. Only the son of one of the Pharaoh’s concubines, although he was rightfully considered a prince, he could count on little. But he was always aware of what was happening.

Taor considered asking him about the deity behind the Pharaoh’s throne and giving him advice on how to govern the country. For some reason it was uncomfortable to ask, as if you were interested in something forbidden. Perhaps you shouldn’t have asked at all, so as not to make yourself more enemies than you already have. Taor knew that after today’s honors, many here were ready to tear him up alive.

«You are the hero of this day, but what will happen tomorrow», Smenkhkara slapped him on the shoulder, faceted bracelets jingled melodiously. His dark hair was beautifully styled in thin braids, and his face looked unusually pale, as if the sun hadn’t touched him for a long time. It was hot all around, even the large pools with lotuses that glowed blue throughout the palace did not exude coolness, and for some reason an unpleasant cold emanated from the prince. There was not a bead of sweat on his skin, and his hand was icy to the touch. He confessed to Taor that he recently broke up his harem.

«Someone drove away, someone presented, but most sacrificed».

«But why?» Taor was slightly amazed. Smenkhkara never came across as a cruel man.

«I just want something more,» he said cryptically.

«More?»

«Yes,» his eyes flashed like two obsidians buried forever in a pyramid. «The flesh is so dirty, so low. Deities are made of gold…»

«But», Taor wanted to argue that Smenkhkara is not a god, but he remembered his relationship with the pharaoh and said nothing.

«Sculptures of gods, I think only of them… Even if they came to life, they are not physical beings, not people… However, now we will have only one god. You must have heard rumors already, no matter how far away you are».

«One god?» Taor still didn’t want to believe it. The very thought seemed wild to him. Although if you remember the deity that stood behind the throne. It alone could be worth all the other gods. A living deity instead of a pantheon of statues. Although no, probably he was wrong. The gods do not come to life and do not come to the royal palaces. Most likely, it was one of the pharaoh’s daughters. Taor did not even remember all of them by name. Smenkhkara could list everyone by name. We need to ask him… But even the daughter of Pharaoh could not grow wings from her back, and golden claws from her fingers. Such traits are possessed only by gods who did not sit on the earthly throne.

«The sun god Aton now rules everything here,» Smenkhkara pointed to the sun disc etched on the wall. Taor vaguely remembered that there had been another symbol on this place earlier. Now everything has changed. The sun! Disc of the sun! Dawn! Why does the beautiful light of the sun seem to him so much like the glow of a bloody battle? The light of the sun, the color of blood, the screams of the amazed and the dead – all this is one The sun and god are also one. Deity of the sun! A golden figure behind the throne of Pharaoh! It seems to be woven from the sun.

Maybe she just dreamed about it? What if that fatal blow to his temple in the midst of the battle damaged his mind?

«God cannot be the only one. What about the other gods?» Taor felt a feverish delirium.

«Hush», Smenkhkara pulled him a little to the side. «If you want to pray to them, then pray silently. If you mention them out loud, you risk getting yourself into trouble. Things have changed a lot since you were gone. Perhaps it’s for the best».

«How can you say that?»

«Just! I accept everything new, just as you were accepted here. You are not from the nobility, but you can rise above the most noble people, because now the time has come for new traditions».

«I have no high aspirations».

«Then you are very different from all the people that I know. And I know many».

Smenkhkara raised a hand to touch the pendant on his neck, but the hand remained in the air. He was thinking about something or suddenly felt something. The pendant on his neck gleamed slightly. Taor only just noticed how strange it was, just like a pomegranate seed. Of course, this is not a grain that was pulled out of the fruit, but a hard ruby, which the craftsmen have given an intricate shape. Some currents emanated from the stone.

«Like?» Smenkhkara caught his gaze.

Taor nodded reluctantly.

«Very inventive. What kind of jeweler made it?»

The friend smiled mysteriously.

«Jeweler?» his black eyebrows parted so mockingly, as if he heard a terrible stupidity. «How little you know yet».

«I see that the stone is rare. Does he symbolize something? After all, this is not a solar disk, which, probably, is now supposed to be worn by everyone. Another deity’s mark?»

Smenkhkara did not find it necessary to answer.

«This stone is even more reliable than a magnet. It will always return to its owner, even if you lose it, or drink it, or give it, it will still remain yours, because it will burn other people’s hands and again be attracted to you. He can have only one owner, but it is almost impossible to get such a stone. It can neither be ripped off nor stolen. Only if she gives it to you herself».

«Who?»

Smenkhkara was silent, as if he had not heard the question at all. His perfectly shaped black eyebrows came together thoughtfully on the bridge of his nose, muscular arms in bracelets somehow seemed constrained.

«I would also like such a stone».

«It is too early. Come to me later, when the celebrations are over. Then it will probably be about time».

Why isn’t the time now? Taor watched Smenkhkara leave. He had no more friends here. So he had no one to expect kind words from, but there was no one to expect an open attack either.

He ignored the man hurrying towards him through the crowd. Only when the sharp blade cut the air a millimeter from his face did Taor recoil. The weapon drove into the column. The young man felt blood running down his cheek from the cut. Everything, as then on the battlefield, when he could have been killed, but only wounded in the temple. As if someone invisible pushed him away now. Again! All repeats. Everything is closed, as in a circle.

Taor watched, dazed, as the Nubian guards tied his assailant. Another dagger fell from his hand and clinked on the floor. Apparently, he was going to strike from close range. This was the first time Taor had seen this man. He could not look at him for long. The guards quickly led him away. What a madman could have dared to attack him right in the palace. After all, it was immediately clear what the outcome of events would be.

Taor absentmindedly rubbed the blood off his cheek with his hand. Could it be that this person is really insane. Yes, he has many enemies here: influential, rich, high-ranking. Naturally, none of them would kill him with their own hands.

It was enough to hire someone. The assassins would have waited for him in a dark alley. The body would be thrown into the Nile. He had heard of such cases. So they removed people who were objectionable to influential persons. Several killers were always sent so that the victim had no chance to escape. Nobody attacked in public. No man in his mind would do that.

«He’s going to be executed right now,» ordered the chief vizier.

It will not be difficult to predict what will happen next: the culprit will be brought to his knees, his head will be tilted, and a sharp blade will cut his neck. Taor could not allow this.

«No!» He raised his hand resolutely. «Today is the day of celebration. Let this person be pardoned».

«But…»

«I myself am ready to ask Pharaoh about it».

Well, he again chose the path of direct conflict, as once upon a time. The vizier looked at him with mild condemnation, but tried not to betray his indignation. He quickly gave the order to put the captured man in prison. There he will stay until he is sentenced. Vizier Panahesi was firmly convinced that the pharaoh would listen to his advice more than to the petitions of his general. Let him think so. Taor was not about to get into an argument. So far, he has achieved a postponement of the execution, then, perhaps, he will be able to do more.

Although why should he try for a completely stranger to him, who, moreover, was going to kill him? He didn’t know himself. It was just as natural for him to sacrifice his own interests for someone else as to breathe.

The blood flowed down his cheek more and more. Taor had the feeling that someone was looking at him from the crowd, someone whom he himself could not see.