Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters [9]
From Manuscript H
Now that his decision had been accepted and the time of his departure drew near, Ramses found it easier to deal with Nefret’s constant presence. It wouldn’t be for long, he told himself. Nevertheless, he spent most of his time in his room, ostensibly working. David had gone off to Yorkshire, radiant at finally having received an invitation from his beloved’s parents. (Ramses suspected his mother had had a hand in that.)
One warm August afternoon he had just finished a tricky translation of a hieratic text when Nefret knocked at his door. She had honored his request that he be left alone—to work—and compunction smote him when he saw her sober face.
“Am I interrupting?” she asked.
“No, not at all. Come in.” He stepped back and gestured her to a chair. She sat down, clasping her hands between her trousered knees. Her face was flushed with heat and her loosened hair clung wetly to temples and cheeks. The open neck of her shirt bared her slim throat and offered a distracting suggestion of rounded curves below. Ramses went back to his desk, ten feet away, and leaned against it.
“Rather warm to be riding, isn’t it?” he asked.
She made a face at him. “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that that’s what I was doing. May I have a cigarette?”
Ramses lit it for her and retreated again. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “Tell me.”
“Are you sure I’m not bothering you? It’s nothing, really. I probably imagined the whole thing.”
“It would bother me very much if you didn’t feel you could come to me with anything that worries you. I’m sorry if I’ve been—”
“Don’t apologize, my boy. I know why you’ve been hiding in your room.”
“You do?”
“You don’t want to face the Professor.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t let him upset you. He’ll get over it.”
“I know. Well?”
“Well. I did go riding, as you deduced. On the way back I stopped at Tabirka’s pyramid.”
It took Ramses a few seconds to focus on the unexpected subject. Impatiently, she elaborated. “Tabirka—Tarek’s brother, who came to England with Tarek. We buried him in the clearing where he died and raised a little pyramid—”
“I know. I was surprised, that’s all. I haven’t heard you mention him or Tarek for a long time. Do you go there often?”
“Every now and then,” Nefret said evasively. (Or was it only his jealous fancy that she sounded evasive?) “It’s a peaceful, pretty place. May I have another cigarette?”
Ramses supplied it. She scarcely ever smoked. “What happened?” he asked.
“It was warm and very still,” Nefret began. “Not the slightest breeze. All of a sudden the leaves rustled violently, and I heard a voice, distant and hollow, as if it came from deep underground. Ramses—it spoke in the language of the Holy City.”
“The Lost Oasis?” Ramses said, stalling for time.
“We called it the City of the Holy Mountain.” The words, and the way she pronounced them, warned Ramses that he was on dangerous ground. Her head was bowed and her shoulders stiff, as if in anticipation of laughter or skepticism. Casually he said, “I know. What did the voice say?”
“I didn’t understand every word. It was a greeting, I think.” She looked up. “You believe me? You don’t think I imagined it?”
“I don’t believe you heard the ka of poor young Tabirka, calling to you from the next world. Neither do you, you’ve better sense. Perhaps someone is playing tricks.”
“Of course,” Nefret said with a sigh of relief. “That’s the obvious explanation, isn’t it? But you can’t imagine how uncanny it was, Ramses. I got away as fast as I could. I—I don’t usually run away, you know.”
“How well I know.”
She returned his smile with a look so bright and grateful, he felt like a mean hound. Had he been behaving so churlishly that she had hesitated to approach him? She had come to him, though, not to his mother or father; that was a hopeful sign, and thank God he had had the sense to say the right thing.
“Let’s go and have a look.” He held out his hand. “The fellow may still be hanging about. Or he may have left some trace of his presence.”
“Thank you, my boy.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “For believing