Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [19]
She turned on him violently. Then, shrugging her shoulders, she turned away and began to descend the path.
Renisenb breathed a sigh of satisfaction.
‘I am glad she has gone,’ she said childishly. ‘You frightened her, Hori.’
‘Yes…Did I frighten you, Renisenb?’
‘N-no.’ Renisenb sounded a little unsure. ‘It is true what you said, only I had never thought of it that way before. My father is a mortuary priest.’
Hori said with sudden bitterness:
‘All Egypt is obsessed by death! And do you know why, Renisenb? Because we have eyes in our bodies, but none in our minds. We cannot conceive of a life other than this one–of a life after death. We can visualize only a continuation of what we know. We have no real belief in a God.’
Renisenb stared at him in amazement.
‘How can you say that, Hori? Why, we have many, many Gods–so many that I could not name them all. Only last night we were saying, all of us, which Gods we preferred. Sobek was all for Sakhmet and Kait prays always to Meskhant. Kameni swears by Thoth as is natural, being a scribe. Satipy is for the falcon-headed Horus and also for our own Mereseer. Yahmose says that Ptah is to be worshipped because he made all things. I myself love Isis. And Henet is all for our local God Amün. She says that there are prophecies amongst the priests that one day Amün will be the greatest God in all Egypt–so she takes him offerings now while he is still a small God. And there is Ra, the Sun God, and Osiris before whom the hearts of the dead are weighed.’
Renisenb paused, out of breath. Hori was smiling at her.
‘And what is the difference, Renisenb, between a God and a man?’
She stared at him.
‘The Gods are–they are magic!’
‘That is all?’
‘I don’t know what you mean, Hori.’
‘I meant that to you a God is only a man or a woman who can do certain things that men and women cannot do.’
‘You say such odd things! I cannot understand you.’
She looked at him with a puzzled face–then glancing down over the valley, her attention was caught by something else.
‘Look,’ she exclaimed. ‘Nofret is talking to Sobek. She is laughing. Oh!–’ she gave a sudden gasp, ‘no, it is nothing. I thought he was going to strike her. She is going back to the house and he is coming up here.’
Sobek arrived looking like a thundercloud.
‘May a crocodile devour that woman!’ he cried. ‘My father was more of a fool than usual when he took her for a concubine!’
‘What did she say to you?’ asked Hori curiously.
‘She insulted me as usual! Asked if my father had entrusted me with the sale of any more timber. Her tongue stings like a serpent. I would like to kill her.’
He moved along the platform and, picking up a piece of rock, threw it down to the valley below. The sound of it bouncing off the cliff seemed to please him. He levered up a larger piece, then sprang back as a snake that had been coiled up beneath it raised its head. It reared up, hissing, and Renisenb saw that it was a cobra.
Catching up a heavy staff Sobek attacked it furiously. A well directed blow broke its back, but Sobek continued to slash at it, his head thrown back, his eyes sparkling, and below his breath he muttered some word which Renisenb only half heard and did not recognize.
She cried out: ‘Stop, Sobek, stop–it’s dead!’
Sobek paused, then he threw the staff away and laughed.
‘One poisonous snake the less in the world.’
He laughed again, his good humour restored, and clattered off down the path again.
Renisenb said in a low voice: ‘I believe Sobek–likes killing things!’
‘Yes.’
There was no surprise in the word. Hori was merely acknowledging a fact which he evidently already knew well. Renisenb turned to stare at him. She said slowly:
‘Snakes are dangerous–but how beautiful that cobra looked…’
She stared down at its broken, twisted body. For some unknown reason she felt a pang at her heart.
Hori said dreamily:
‘I remember when we were all small children–Sobek attacked Yahmose. Yahmose was a year older, but Sobek was the bigger and stronger. He had a stone and he was banging Yahmose’s head with it. Your mother came running and