«Pharaoh ordered to show you special honors», the high priest remembered very aptly. «They say that what you did there, in the deserts, far from Egypt, means a lot to all of us. Before you, others were sent there who did not cope and died. Have you seen their remains there?»
«No,» Taor tried to remember exactly. «Some of the attackers took off military clothing from the corpses and continued to fight in it, obviously to confuse us».
«Savages», stated Merira. «But you better not tell anyone about their antics. Your ill-wishers may decide that you deliberately finished off still living competitors».
«How competitors can be those who are fighting on your side?»
«Trust me, they can always».
Taor wanted to ask again about the golden deity, but he could hardly restrain himself and said nothing. Merira probably heard his first question as well. If the priest wants, he will answer. He cannot know nothing about Alais. But instead of her, he tried to draw the young man’s attention to the scattered drawings on papyrus.
«All those temples of Aton that are being built now in all the cities of Egypt, it seems, are few», he stated. «In Memphis, in Heliopolis, in Fayum, in Hermopolis, in Gemm-Aton, here in Thebes. Throughout the temple for her».
For her!? Taor frowned. Could he have misheard? He could well, given that he was not listening carefully. All this did not bother him much; he wanted to talk about something completely different. Even Ujai, although a little insane, gave out much more information than this secretive priest. Merira tried to talk about many things, but about nothing. He seemed to be waiting for the initiative from Taor himself, trying to push him into something.
«And now this new city, where a temple called «House of Aton» is already being built. It is being built amazingly quickly. We can say that construction is advancing above human strength. The city is growing as if from under the sand, and the plans of other builders and temples for other gods are all destroyed», Merira hesitated a little, as if pondering how much to say now. «The city will be located north of Thebes, it will be called the Horizon of Aton, Akhetaton. And that’s all, the only god of all things will live there forever and begin to accumulate strength in order to manage all the lands from there, both those that we already own and those that we will own. Both Upper and Lower Egypt, united into one, and possessing numerous provinces, as a result, will become too small for the new god, and he will take over the whole world.
«Is it bad?» Taor could not understand whether Merira was offering him some honorary position in an unfinished city or sending him to conquer new territories.
«Everyone who thought it was bad…» Merira hesitated. «You know, I’m not the first high priest of Aton, since this shining god took over all Egypt under his rule, before me there were others. There are records of Tutu, my predecessor…
Merira, looking around nervously, beckoned the young man to follow him and pointed to a chain of inscriptions that streaked one wall. Taor only had time to read the first lines.
«The massacre of the unwanted…» this slightly alerted him, and then he noticed in the center the very hieroglyph that Ujai had recently drawn with blood. He didn’t know how to read it. The hieroglyph stood out clearly among the others, and seemed to erase the meaning of everything.
«What does it mean?» Taor turned to his interlocutor.
«Well, how can I tell you…» Merira was extremely careful, as if the walls themselves could overhear their conversation. «Not everyone liked to abandon old traditions, sacrifice their churches and positions. Different gods gave much more opportunities for different people than if everything belongs to someone alone and only he should be worshiped, to make sacrifices, both bloody and symbolic. Those whose temples were rich from the offerings to Set, Horus, Mut, Osiris and many other gods at first opposed. But she brutally suppresses resistance…»
«He», found the strength to correct Taor, noticing between the columns a new image of Aton with the royal uraeus and rays pulling down like severed human hands.
The priest seemed to have been hit.
«You know, they say that the gods are actually sexless,» he said apologetically.
«I’ve never heard of such a thing.» Taor’s black eyebrows furrowed painfully. «I didn’t want to ask about the gods at all,» he turned to the wall, «but about this symbol».
All you had to do was poke your finger in the middle, where the hieroglyph was located, a little larger in size than all the others, but it was no longer there. He could not crawl away like a scarab. The young man looked in bewilderment at the place where the sign had just been. It seemed that all the hieroglyphs were now sprinkled with something brown, like crushed cloves or caked blood. There is just little light and little air. Taor felt a little dizzy. Then he clearly discerned the flapping of wings in the silence.
«Is there anyone here besides us?»
«Not likely», the high priest said with pressure, and nevertheless looked around warily, as if expecting some witness to follow them. «You probably get bored away from people. You’re used to being with the army all the time».
«I’m not complaining about anything. Since I returned from the war, here in the palace everything has changed a lot, not even the setting, the atmosphere itself. At first it was strange, but now I began to like it here, as if I was finally at home».
«But others would give everything to escape from here, but in essence there is nowhere to run. Changes, like an infection, spread from the capital to all distant corners, and then outside the country».
Taor was not afraid of change and did not intend to oppose them like those about whom the warning notes were made. Firstly, he would never and in no way oppose the decree of the pharaoh, because, in fact, the ruler sitting on the throne is the only god for his people, only he has the right to give orders, say what is right and what is not, the lot of subjects is to obey him. It is not for nothing that the ruler of Egypt is revered as the representative of the gods on earth. Secondly, the young man was not particularly religious. The gods in various temples, no matter how many there were, existed for him as something self-evident, but inanimate. People worshiped them, brought gifts to the priests, performed rituals, but all this was more like a background surrounding the true power, not divine, but royal. The more Taor was amazed when he saw in the palace a living creature, similar to the deity that believers can only describe in words. There weren’t even such statues. Deity incarnate. Taor did not know with whom or with what to compare him.
«Have you ever been in love?»
The priest’s question surprised him.
«I don’t remember that,» Taor admitted honestly.
«Then it’s strange how a young man like you, who’s not curious about anything but martial arts, can act so generously.
Taor stared at him blankly.
«On the day when you were honored as a winner, you gave the impression of a lover who is ready to give up all awards for the sake of one specific object or at least his attention», the priest wisely explained.
«Nothing like that,» Taor turned sharply over his shoulder. Again he heard wings flapping somewhere.
«Explain this to me: you return with victory and spoils of war, you can ask for wealth, for your own advancement to the very top, even for the hand of the princess, if you wish, but… in the moment of your glory, you tried to trample yourself, asked for which you could only be punished – for the benefit for others, for your own enemies, to be honest».
«So what?» Taor was sincerely surprised. Why return again and again to the events of days gone by? They didn’t bother him anymore. He got his request granted.
«A normal