Excerpt from King Tutankhamon's Stalker by Horus Michael.
Chapter 4:
While walking about the Harem, Pharaoh noticed misplaced goblets of red wine appear in strange places: on top of Bes bricks, inside linen hampers, or outside in the Commons. Other anomalies roamed about in the form of paddle dolls wearing Hathor capes, Sacred Cats dedicated to Bast with their collars removed, and Sacred Ibis birds dancing on the edge of the rooftops.
Pharaoh placed a goblet of wine onto a stationary block of stone, just to see if it changes position in a day or two.
A Scribe by the name of Geb-ef entered the Palace Harem. He knelt in honor of the King, and bowed slightly.
“Rise, Loyal Scribe Geb-ef,” Pharaoh said.
“My Lord, here is the report about the Tribute from Nubia. And also here is my report,” Geb-ef related.
“What is your report, Sir?” Pharaoh asked while looking through the papyrus.
“My report about the missing papyri,” Geb-ef said.
“What is missing?” Pharaoh asked.
“From the Temples, this morning; two papyri from the Archives were missing. I did not witness the event, Sir. From what I gathered, this is about newly appointed members only. I asked the High Priest, he saw nothing. He gave me this ring as evidence,” Geb-ef reported.
The ring was a gold band with a royal Cartouche on it. It was one of Pharaoh’s rings which had gone missing a few days ago. Pharaoh believed it was stolen or fell into the washing basins.
“Thank you, Scribe. You will be rewarded for your efforts,” Pharaoh replied.
A few days passed by. Pharaoh was walking about, inspecting the Palace grounds as usual. The goblet of wine was still on the block of stone where he placed it, but was full of dark clay. A wax figurine of Min was pinned into the clay in around its naturally extended member. A small scrap of papyrus was found in the surrounding bushes, with the letters K and the Sun God Ra hastily inscribed. It may have dropped off from a Servant’s tour of the Estate.
Moments later, the Queen entered the Courtyard where Pharaoh stood idly by. Her right fist clutched a roll of papyrus, and she ordered a servant to fetch her torch.
“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Queen Ankhesenamon. She unrolled the papyrus. Scribbled in red ink were the words “Prostitute” in Ancient Egyptian. A woman maidservant had found it in the royal bedroom while tidying up.
“I see. I had nothing to do with that. My Queen…” Pharaoh started. The Queen was visibly shaken. She pointed to a beeswax seal on the document, which had his signet ring impression.
“We may have visitors in the Palace, my Queen. I will alert the Guards at once,” Pharaoh replied.
The Queen was irate. “You must mean we have intruders? Who is this person who is stalking you?”
“I don’t know. This could be a new servant who has mistaken identity. Or it’s possibly a spy?” Pharaoh inquired.
The Queen grinned. “I’ll alert the Guards. They will patrol every night.”
Pharaoh was examining the papyrus while holding it upwards to the Sun when he glimpsed a figure in the background darting into the gardens. The figure was dressed in dark clothing, a mask covering its face. Pharaoh dropped the Papyrus and ran towards the figure.
The chase had begun. The figure jumped over the perimeter wall leading to the Chariot House, up the adjacent stairs and onto the ceiling. Pharaoh yelled something inaudible. The figure turned to him, and jumped onto one of the roped horses inside the Chariot House, and cut the rope with a small blade. Pharaoh, instead of pursuing the figure on horseback, tied a rope between two pillars and struck a whip against a wall, which alerted the figure’s horse. The horse turned back towards Pharaoh, and the figure was caught by the ropes.
Pharaoh jumped onto the figure, who was breathing heavily. As he attempted to remove its face mask, the figure elevated one leg and kicked him across his jaw, crumbled to a standing position, and kicked him again and ran away…
Pharaoh found a small pin that had dropped off during the commotion.
Antef, one of the royal guards, ran to Pharaoh for assistance. Pharaoh dusted himself off and showed Antef the mysterious pin. Antef studied it and they both smiled.
Kira was at home reading a papyrus when a knock on her wooden door went unanswered. This was followed by a loud thud as wood fragments from the now broken door landed in her soup bowl. She hesitated.
“Kira, Daughter of Pe, this is the Royal Guard of Pharaoh Neb-Kheperu-Ra. We have instructions to take you to the Court of Pharaoh for questioning,” the Guard said.
Kira was dragged into the Court at night. She could witness the torch-lined causeway leading into the Temple of Ma’at. Grand Vizier Ay was in attendance. Kheper-A’A was there also, bound in ropes and tied to a horse pole. Four Guards stood in file where Kira was brought unto Pharaoh.
“Why?” she asked Pharaoh. Pharaoh showed her the pin. It was a pin belonging to the Harem’s gossip cult, and the Priestess of Nephthys, with the name of K + Ra on it. She saw that and spat onto Pharaoh as the Guards led her away.
King Tutankhamon’s Stalker®
Copyright ©® 2023 Horus Michael, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages.
This book is a work of Fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and should not be inferred.
MC 2023.
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