Mara, Daughter of The Nile

Hiding in the shadows of Menfe’s market square, Sheftu waits for a messenger. His attention is briefly distracted by the bold audacity of a “ragged girl” (Mara) who wittily mocks the pompous attendant of a rich lady’s litter. Her “wild grace” surprises him, as does the fact that she speaks both Egyptian and Babylonian, unusual in one who dresses in rags. Sheftu laughs in admiration as the girl steals a half-dozen honey cakes right under the nose of a baker’s apprentice. Shortly afterward, he sees the girl being dragged out of the marketplace by an older man (Zasha) with gold armbands and a “cruel face.” Sheftu is shocked to realize that she is enslaved and surmises that she was probably stolen from a wealthy family when very young. Meanwhile, he sees a Nubian man give him a prearranged signal and Sheftu stealthily follows him down a side street to a doorway.

Minutes later, in the courtyard of his house, Zasha beats Mara with a cane for her disobedience while she curses at him in Babylonian. His violence, partly fueled by his superstitious fear of Mara’s blue eyes, is interrupted by a cloaked man who has followed them from the marketplace. The cloaked stranger contemptuously flings a purse of money at Zasha’s feet, ordering him to sell Mara to him “in the queen’s name” (21). Zasha takes the money, and the man leads Mara to an inn and removes his cloak, revealing a cold, “stony” face and the jeweled collar and fine apparel of a very rich man. He tells Mara that he has been looking for someone clever, unscrupulous, and fluent in Babylonian. He wants her to undertake a very dangerous mission to help the queen. If successful, she will be given her freedom. Mara agrees. The man orders her to disguise herself as a courtier so that she can act as an interpreter for a Canaanite princess named Inanni, who has come to Egypt to marry the queen’s brother, King Thutmose. At the royal court in Thebes, Mara will interpret all of the king’s conversations with Inanni, who speaks Babylonian, not Egyptian. In these meetings, she will also act as a spy to find out how Thutmose has been sending messages to his followers beyond the palace. Mara’s new master refuses to tell her his name and orders her to go first to Abydos, where an Egyptian named Saankh-Wen will dress her in finery and position her as Inanni’s interpreter. He also gives Mara a solid gold chain with which to pay her passage. Enthralled by these new opportunities, Mara laughs with joy, but her new master cautions her that she is still a “slave” and says that he will be there in Thebes to “remind” her of this.

A few streets away, Sheftu enters the house that the Nubian man shows him and meets with Khofra, an aging but still-vigorous general who once led the great armies of the late king Thutmose I. Sheftu is determined to draw the general into his conspiracy against the queen in order to achieve his goal of putting the young Thutmose III on the throne of Egypt. He entreats the retired general to return to service to win the loyalty of Hatshepsut’s troops (particularly her bodyguard), and then turn them against her. Khofra refuses due to his falling-out with Thutmose I, who used him as a tool of conquest and then discarded him after the empire was won. Khofra has become cynical about pharaohs, believing that they are more concerned with power than with the welfare of their people. Sheftu argues passionately for him to join this struggle for the sake of Egypt itself. He claims that the “pampered” queen is letting the empire slip away and that her weakness abroad has encouraged subject states to engage in armed rebellion. He also asserts that her domestic vanity projects have led to mass starvation and unrest, and that the warlike Thutmose can much better serve the nation. Ultimately, the old general agrees to join his rebellion.

Hurrying back to the wharf and the Silver Beetle, Sheftu ponders how best to deliver the message of his success to the young king. His usual go-between was recently murdered—most likely on the queen’s orders—so he must find another messenger. Meanwhile, Mara is looking for a boat to take her to Abydos and sees the Silver Beetle at the dock. At first, Nekonkh denies her passage, but he changes his mind when she offers him the gold chain to pay her fare, allowing her onto the boat just minutes after Sheftu has slipped aboard.

Sheftu and Mara soon encounter each other on the small boat, and Sheftu is dazzled by the coincidence of finding the enslaved girl from the marketplace aboard the Silver Beetle. Concluding that she is running from her enslaver, he realizes that he can use this as leverage over her. Falsely claiming that he is an apprentice scribe, he shows her a green amulet on his wrist marked with hieroglyphics, which he says is a charm of protection against beasts of the water, especially crocodiles, a particular fear of his. Gazing at Mara’s shrewd, “unscrupulous” face, he detects an alluring wistfulness under her beauty then forces his eyes away, lest he become smitten with her. He wrenches his thoughts back to the problem of finding a go-between for himself and the king, but no new plan comes to mind.

For seven days, the Silver Beetle heads south toward Abydos. Enchanted with the beauty of the Nile and her new freedom, Mara begins to wish that the voyage will never end. She is also enchanted with Sheftu, whose charm and knowledge of various lore make him excellent company, but she is puzzled by his occasional moodiness. One day, Nekonkh warns her not to get too close to Sheftu, calling him a “rogue.” Not long after, she teasingly mentions this to Sheftu, whose eyes harden, scaring her. He demands to know what else the captain has said about him, and Mara stammers that Nekonkh has only warned her in a general way about young men. Seizing her in his arms, Sheftu says he can’t decide between kissing her or threatening her to find out her “secrets.” Mara fights back but finds herself helpless against his strength; then, instead of kissing her, he thrusts her away, warning her to stay out of his “affairs.” Stunned at his ability to simultaneously scare and entice her, Mara intuits that Sheftu is a “dangerous” person.

The next day, Sheftu is as charming as ever and tells Mara seemingly fantastical stories about Queen Hatshepsut’s grandiose works, describing a mile-long highway lined with elaborate sphinxes and exotic incense trees shipped from faraway lands. He then quotes an ancient prophecy about a time of chaos, war, and anarchy. Mara intuits that these stories are actually directed at Nekonkh, who appears troubled by them. The captain asks to speak to Sheftu alone, but Mara sneaks behind the cabin to eavesdrop. She hears Sheftu admit that he is no lowly scribe; he is Lord Sheftu, the son of the richest man in Egypt and the leader of the movement to restore King Thutmose to the throne. He claims that the queen trusts him absolutely, which makes it easy for him to funnel her money into the conspiracy that will soon depose her. Listening breathlessly, Mara realizes that she can buy her freedom, and perhaps much more, with this knowledge; all the same, she has qualms, due to her attraction to Sheftu.

Moments later, Sheftu catches her eavesdropping. Thinking that Zasha is still her master and that she is merely trying to escape her enslaver, Sheftu offers to spare her life if she joins his conspiracy as a spy. Mara agrees, knowing that she can inform on him and Nekonkh as soon as she reaches Thebes. Mara talks them both into helping her pose as Princess Inanni’s interpreter, a circumstance that has already been arranged by her new, unnamed master (the queen’s agent). Sheftu gives her a jeweled ring fashioned from electrum to help her bribe her way into the job. He also gives her a message to relay to Thutmose; she must tell him that the “War Hawk” is coming. Pocketing the precious ring, Mara dreams of the great wealth that her new master will “shower” upon her for exposing Sheftu as the leader of the conspiracy against the queen. All the same, she feels pangs of guilt at the thought of betraying him.

At Abydos, Mara follows her new master’s instructions and seeks out Saankh-Wen in order to be bathed, groomed, and adorned with finery so that she can play her part as Princess Inanni’s interpreter. Once aboard Princess Inanni’s royal barge, she looks askance at the Canaanites’ baggage, clothing, and jewelry—all of which look vulgar and garish to her. All clothing, she thinks, should be white. She speculates that this barbarian “princess” will be little more than a “shepherd’s daughter.” Finally meeting Inanni, she finds her to be heavyset and “dumpy,” with untidy hair; however, she is also vulnerable, with big, frightened eyes. Homesick and deeply bewildered by this strange new land and its customs, the princess is grateful to meet someone who speaks her language (Babylonian). As Mara coaches Inanni and her female attendants about how to dress in Egypt’s desert climate, the barge sets sail for Thebes. As the barge passes the Silver Beetle on the Nile, Mara makes herself visible to Sheftu and Nekonkh, as arranged, without betraying her connection to them. Having confirmed Mara’s placement as the princess’s interpreter, Nekonkh spreads sail and departs.