City of the Dead

allowed to see her; but he knew he could not deny access to Horemheb or Ay.
    ‘Are you sure there are none nearer?’
    ‘If you took the horses by river you could be at the First Cataract in two days.’
    ‘It is still too long.’
    ‘How long does the king intend to hunt?’
    ‘I cannot spare more than three days.’
    ‘It is a pity we have no lions corralled.’
    ‘That is not hunting,’ said the king contemptuously. Very seldom now did any of the nobles hunt in the old way, spearing animals already trapped in a corral from the top of the palisade. The horse and the light electrum chariot had brought speed and mobility and danger to the sport.
    ‘Will you hunt on the River?’ suggested Nehesy, seeing the tightness on the king’s face, which however quickly recovered its customary, dangerously bland expression. ‘I could call the wildfowlers. Or perhaps we could go after river-horse or crocodile?’
    ‘No. I want to use the chariot. We will go after ibex. Where are the good herds?’
    ‘They are in the Eastern Desert.’
    ‘Good. We will save time by not having to cross the River.’
    ‘When shall we go?’
    ‘As soon as the heat of the day is past. I will take my usual team and the new chariot.’
    ‘And what dogs?’
    ‘Give me Pepi, Ypu and Ruttet. Sherybin will be my charioteer.’
    The king spent the rest of the morning pleasurably choosing hunting spears, and discussing with Nehesy and Sherybin the best bows to take. The new chariot was drawn out into the yard and propped up on its shaft, gleaming red-gold in the sun while they tested the leather footstraps and handholds for firmness. They discussed the pros and cons of the machine’s heavier floor, which created greater stability at the expense of speed.
    ‘But we will not need so much speed for ibex,’ said Sherybin.
    ‘I know,’ replied the king, sullenly.
    ‘There is a bull in the herd with the finest horns I have ever seen,’ Nehesy put in quickly. ‘I can see them now on the prow of your falcon-ship.’
    ‘Good,’ the king responded, brightening.
    ‘Who else will you take with you?’ asked Nehesy.
    ‘You will come, and the three best trackers, and with you, two more chariots. Put my men in them.’
    ‘Is that enough protection?’
    ‘It should be. I am not going after dangerous beasts.’
    ‘No,’ Nehesy hesitated. ‘I meant...’ He trailed off, not knowing how to finish.
    Tutankhamun looked at him. ‘What do you mean?’
    He spread his hands. ‘With a child on the way, your safety is important.’
    The pharaoh considered. ‘Three chariots then. And my strongest men in them. We will not be away long.’
    He left them, but he could not shake off irritation. The security arrangements cast a shadow over his enjoyment. Hunting was the one time he tried to forget he was a king, entrapped in the net of intrigue and duty which seemed to press closer on him with every day that passed. Irrational as he knew it was, he longed for once to go out into the desert alone, to shake off other people, and to pit himself against the forces of the wild.
    He took the midday food with the queen alone, eating frugally and simply: some ful with salted curds and plain bread. Then they went to the bedchamber to sleep. She stroked him as they lay naked in the brown twilight behind the closed shutters of the room, and he responded to her, slipping an arm around her and pulling her to him, squeezing her narrow buttocks with his hand. Then he lay back and allowed her to mount him, as she liked to, and she rode him with sleepy gentleness for half an hour before he surged into her and she bent and clung to his neck, moaning. In the peace which followed, he forgot his other anxieties and yearnings - or at least, the fulfilment of lovemaking forced them to retreat to the far corners of his heart.
    The body servants came for him at the tenth hour of day, as the sun was inclining steeply towards the cliffs of the valley on the opposite bank of the river, and they changed colour from ochre to red to black. Ankhsi rose with him and bathed him herself. He could feel her unhappiness like a wall between them, and it diminished his own anticipation of the hunt. After all, a part of his heart whispered to him, they were only going after ibex. But having made his decision he would not change his mind; and he was proud of his reputation as a keen and accomplished hunter. Still he could not shake off the power of her reproach, and he disliked the way she