kind of person would want to help his worst enemy?»
«The one who sees that he needs a doctor».
«He doesn’t need him.» The high priest avoided looking back. «It’s too late to do anything».
Taor himself was aware of this, but he could not pass by the person whom no one else helps. He could not understand how, in a palace full of servants and slaves, no one was still concerned about the state of the honored guest, who suddenly became ill.
The priest’s hand tugged urgently away.
«Let’s go to!»
«But where!»
«If you want to achieve a high position here at court, you shouldn’t ask too many questions,» Merira said condescendingly.
«But I don’t want to,» Taor admitted honestly.
Merira stopped and looked at him carefully, as if checking to see if there was even a drop of lie in this.
«That’s what I wanted to hear,» he admitted unexpectedly.
«Simplicity!» the high priest led him to a strange place, more like the sanctuary of the old gods, located in the recess of the basement of the palace, far from everyone. «Simplicity is exactly what I’m looking for in a person. I need someone like you. Anyone who is not looking for any benefits specifically for himself. Man is higher than all people».
It seems that somewhere between the pillars, painted with hieroglyphs, huge wings, the size of a man, flapped. Taor gazed there. Nowhere else is there a rustle or movement. He gazed up at the low ceilings, still painted with images of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
«This room has not yet been redone properly», Merira led him a little forward. «Tell me, have you ever wondered why a previously little-known god suddenly became the only god of Egypt?»
Taor just shrugged.
«I don’t know much about anything. It is better to ask me about swords, about fighting techniques, about strategy, about war, about how to defend yourself and protect others, about how to lose as few people as possible in battle and at the same time win. This is an area in which I can answer any question, but everything else is beyond my comprehension».
«For example, why people here, in the palace, are ready, without any threat of war, to gnaw each other’s throats in order to make their way a little higher to the sun, that is, to the royal throne…»
«All people have their own desires».
«And they all contradict each other, so you can’t make everyone happy. Someone will still become angry with another, who, in their opinion, received more, and intrigue».
«Perhaps the new god will do something to change this».
«Aton!» Merira seemed genuinely amazed.
«Well yes! After all, the sun equally warms everyone with its rays», – Taor remembered a new image of Aton with the royal ureus on his head and rays extending from him. For some reason, these rays looked more like severed human hands than a source of all the warming heat. «When it rises to dispel the darkness, one can believe that its light brings the same benefit to everyone». And evil desires simply do not remain.
He recalled the dawn over the field of his last battle. Before his rays, all the corpses in the darkness seemed to be the same cesspool. The bodies of companions, eaten by vultures, evoked pity, animals that have no name seemed to crawl right out of the ground and tore the flesh of the still living wounded, and dead enemies, who did not rise more painfully, but looked with empty eyes at the sky, as if beckoning to themselves, demanding only one thing for him to taste their dead flesh. He could hardly resist then. The urge to eat carrion and drink blood was almost unbearable, but the sun rose and it passed.
«Perhaps it’s for the best that the sun god is now the only one,» Taor said earnestly.
Why did the high priest of Aton look at him with slight pity, as a man who was deliberately mistaken?
«Do you already know that the Pharaoh is going to move the capital from Thebes to another city?»
«To Memphis?»
«No, to a city that doesn’t even exist yet, but construction is about to begin», Merira beckoned him with his hand to papyri with some drawings, casually laid out on a low table. «The city that will be named after Aton. And it will not be like all those cities that you have seen so far. Its population will also not be composed exclusively of people». Merira stopped, as if someone had hit him in the mouth.
«That is, the population of the city will not consist only of Egyptians?»
«Probably,» Merira began to choose his words more carefully. «What if you knew that the sun god would make the city and all of Egypt prosperous for everyone, but it would cost the life of someone special, for example, the winner of a recent war, a hero who has no equal… What if you knew that his blood is so dear to the gods that sacrificing it can buy peace and prosperity for centuries. Would you allow yourself to be sacrificed?
«Everyone dies someday», Taor kept looking around, looking for huge wings, but in vain. «Every time I go into battle, I know there’s a better chance that I don’t come back alive. So what? Have I given up even one battle? Only people who are weak in consciousness and scoundrels value life. A worthy person should not be afraid of death. Moreover, death is something that inevitably awaits everyone».
«Alas, not everyone remembers this. Many believe that they will live forever like gods…»
Here they are! Again! He heard the rustle of wings. But you can’t follow them with your eyes.
«If Aton demands my life, I will give it, without regrets, Taor admitted, «just tell me whether you saw the sun god live, right in front of you or near the king’s throne. A living deity with wings, skin glowing with gold, golden eyelashes and hair. To whom, no matter how you, it could have come true, because you are its chief priest».
And silence. Merira was in no hurry to say anything in response.
Taor was still looking around, hoping to spot a winged silhouette somewhere, even though such absent-mindedness was disrespectful to the interlocutor. However, as a mindless warrior, they could forgive him a lot. He often acted ridiculous, but they tried to ignore it.
«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
