The Writers' Circle

The queen was growing restless in her final weeks of pregnancy. The demands for yet another game of Senet or Hounds and Jackals meant that Naneferher had been unable to slip away for her report to Julian for several days now. Even Heredotus had been kept busy preparing for the royal birth and seeing to the minor ailments of the Queen's court. It wasn't that she minded spending time with the Queen, in fact, the Queen was intelligent, witty and charming to be around when she wasn't being watched like a hawk by her pig-headed Vizier. The Queen was young and isolated and currently vulnerable and it brought out the maternal side of her.
	She reminds me of Tiaa, she thought.
	Although Tiaa was never far from her mind, the pain of not knowing what happened to her was beginning to dull around the edges and she was satisfied in a small way that even now, Meresankh was still being thwarted in her attempts to lay claim to Ptahotep's fortune. Naneferher smiled to herself as she recalled the way Meresankh's colour rose to her cheeks and she ground her teeth when she was introduced to the Queen and saw that Naneferher was standing over her shoulder in the position of chief companion. The flash of hate that sparked in Meresankh's eyes left no doubt that it was only her royally protected position that prevented Naneferher from becoming a victim of her murderous intent. 
	Since then, she had been very careful to avoid Meresankh as much as possible.
	Heredotus, on the other hand, seemed to be cursed with Meresankh's presence.
	"You can't imagine the ridiculous ailments that woman comes up with," he said to her one afternoon in exasperation. "First, she thinks that she is pregnant, then she thinks she is ill. I have been harangued for all manner of treatments to fix any sag and bag she has and when I politely suggest that she is not ill, but merely getting older, she has the audacity to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about!'
	'Any normal person that is this dissatisfied with my diagnosis would go find another doctor who would sympathize with her symptoms, but not her. She then shows up the next day with new and more grandiose symptoms." He shuddered. "And she seems to think that I want to hear the gory details of her liaisons with that thuggish diplomat she is sniffing after."
	Naneferher had laughed, "Perhaps she is interested in courting your favour. Maybe she has a crush on you!"
	"That's a horrible thought! Certainly a man of my abilities, despite my advanced age and, alas, poor health could serve to attract a better quality of woman."
	Naneferher had spun in front of him, swaying her hips suggestively. "You mean like me," she teased.
	"If I were a decade or so younger and you didn't have Julian worshiping the very ground you walk on...you just might do." His boyish smirk widened into a grin as she playfully smacked his arm.
	"Truthfully though," he said, "I'm delighted that you have found happiness with Julian. He is a good man and from the way he looks at you, I know that you are meant to be together."
	And we are very much together, she thought. 
	Her feelings for Julian had begun that first day she saw him and he had offered her her freedom. What had begun out of mutual respect had deepened over time until she found herself not acting as an employee, but as a partner. From there, it was a small step to friendship until finally one evening as they were sharing a cup of warm shedeh they realized that the heat between them wasn't just from the wine.
	Naneferher sighed and rubbed the golden ring Julian had given her to mark their betrothal. Although she longed to see Julian, she had a frightened and very bored Queen to attend to. Julian would have to wait.
	Naneferher walked quietly through the hushed corridors of the palace, cutting through open air rooms without ceilings that were well-populated with the iridescent shimmer of dragonflies over the ponds. It was the hottest part of the day and almost everyone, servants included, had retreated indoors leaving the courtyard empty. 
	As she neared the last row of columns guarding the entrance to the royal rooms, she paused. Hushed voices were coming from behind the last column and their tone caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. Slipping behind an urn, she edged closer to see if she could identify the speakers.
	"...I swear to you, I have done everything that I can to get access to the gold, but she denies me even a widow's pension."
	"Perhaps you shouldn't have been so stupid about leaving her alive," Naneferher recognized Tobias's cool voice.
	Suddenly fearing that she had stumbled on a plot to assassinate the Queen, Naneferher crept closer and stretched her neck around the urn to get a better view. Her back and legs burned with the effort but she was able to get a peek at the woman Tobias was speaking to.
	Meresankh looked like a wreck. Tears streamed down her face causing her makeup to run and giving her the appearance that she had been smudged like a child's chalk drawing. Her clothes, normally immaculate, were askew and rumpled and she had the distinct beginnings of fresh bruises on her bare arms.
	"If I could have found Tiaa, I would have made a quick end of her," Meresankh's voice sounded whiny, like that of a dog afraid it is about to be kicked by its master. "You know I would do anything for you, my love."
	Tobias stared at her in disgust. "Then prove it. While you were sitting here being useless, I had an interesting conversation with the Vizier and the chief Priest of Amun, a man by the name of Horeb. Both are men of great ambition and both are interested in ensurung the continuity of the Empire of Egypt if the Queen were no longer capable of ruling." He smiled sinisterly. "They have made it very clear that they would reward those who were faithful to them. I intend to be very well rewarded indeed."
	"Then our fortunes are turning! We might not need Ptahotep's money at all." Meresankh looked hopeful, "Then we can be betrothed and plan our wedding feast."
	Tobias just sneered at her, "You will have to prove yourself far more useful if you are to be my wife. Cleopatra will be making a progress to the Temple of Isis to await her safe birth," he murmured into her ear. "Horeb said that it is also the place that a girl calling herself 'Tiaa' and matching your daughter's description is apprenticing as a midwife."
	Naneferher stifled a sharp hiss of breath. Could Tiaa really be so near after all this time?
	Wide eyed, Meresankh drained of colour. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before speaking again. "Then what shall I do?" 
	"We will make sure that she dies in childbirth."
	"But Cleopatra is young, there should be no reason that she should become incapable. Even her doctor says that she should be safe in childbirth."
	Tobias raised the back of his hand as if he would hit her and held it there, smiling coldly as she shied away from him with her hands raised to protect herself. He then reached down and stroked her cheek gently with one finger and bent forward to kiss her on the head.
	Tobias chuckled as he turned on his heels to leave. "It will be like killing two birds with one stone. Only you my dear Meresankh, will be the stone."
	Meresankh looked like the sinews holding her together were unwinding in her limbs and she swayed unsteadily for a moment. Meresankh's mask of composure slipped and she ran a trembling hand over her face in anguish. Her smudged makeup had almost dissolved from her tears and she appeared haggard and drawn.
	When she spoke, it came out like a sigh. "Gods forgive me for what I have done."

*		*		*

Naneferher waited in a cold sweat as she watched Meresankh leave. Once she was certain that she would no longer be discovered, she bolted for Heredotus's apartments.