Chapter 6.
Once Khufu and the high priest were gone, Hetepheres stood and began pacing the floor.
“This new priest!” she exclaimed in an angry voice.
“My queen, if you please.” Seshat warned as he gestured toward the servants.
“Of course,” she acknowledged as she stopped to face the chief priest. Then in a shrill voice: “All of you! Out! Leave us immediately!”
The two servants began quickly gathering what they could of the mess left on the floor.
“Leave that! You may finish when you are called. Now, leave! Take the others with you!” The two servants scurried quickly toward the door. One of them dropped a shard from the broken vessel, but dared not stop to retrieve it. The remaining guards and servants followed in quick succession. Once the room was cleared, she continued pacing.
“This high priest! Yunu he calls himself! He ingratiates himself with the pharaoh!” She snarled the words, claw-like fingers clenching and unclenching as she paced. “He draws my son into secret combinations! Who knows what poisons he infects him with?!”
“My queen, I am aware of your concerns.” Seshat rose and walked to the table at the edge of the room where he refilled his goblet. Then slowly returning to his seat, he continued. “This man comes to us seemingly out of nowhere. My informants tell me he was working as a hod carrier when the pharaoh came upon him during one of his visits to the construction site.”
“And now he is a high priest,” Hetepheres spat the words as a cobra spits venom. “who pays homage to a new god! Who so easily catches the ear of my son! What intrigue does he bring into this house?!”
“My queen, my informants tell me he came out of the south, from among the Nubians. Nothing is known of his family. He never says anything of them. The few people who know anything about him say all he speaks of is this new god Amon. They say they believe him to be a prophet.”
“A prophet indeed!” Hetepheres spun to face the chief priest, pointing an accusing finger. “We both know there is no such thing as a new god! This is nothing more than a passing whim my son has conjured up for his own amusement.”
“That may be so, my queen. Even if it is, we are powerless. He and his ‘god’ have already won the hearts of the people. Even if we could persuade him otherwise, were he to recant now, the people would reject him.”
“Reject a pharaoh? Impossible!”
“On the surface, of course you are right. No one would have the courage to do such a thing. But certainly the people would murmur among themselves. It is not beyond possibility that a revolt could begin to grow quietly.”
“Revolt against a pharaoh? Never!” She was near apoplectic with rage.
“My queen, please! Stop to consider. This new priest has thus far done nothing which might be considered subterfuge.”
“Subterfuge you say? What could he possibly do which would compromise the throne?”
“Because he comes from Nubia, it is possible he knows of our dealings with the tribal leaders in the region.”
“That is impossible. They have too much to loose by exposing themselves. Particularly Kishkamin.”
Seshat lifted the goblet to his lips, taking a long sip, gathering his thoughts before responding.
“Our bond with the Nubians is built not on trust, nor politics. It is built on treasure. That is where their loyalty lies. So long as they are paid, they will hold their tongues.”
Hetepheres glared up at her accomplice.
“Pray,Chief Priest! Pray that this is so. Otherwise you may find your head upon a pike, like so many others who have underestimated those desert vermin.”