Heretic of El Amarna

Chapter 38: Amenhotep

I rubbed my forehead, exasperated with the whole event.

“Sire… Truly… King Tushratta is growing impatient for your response.” Ay, my Vizier, bowed to me as he brought forward his complaint.

I sighed, biting my cheek to keep from screaming. “You may tell King Tushratta that I am regrettably unable to aid him. Give him my sincerest condolences and tell him – in as political a way as you like – that Egypt will not be getting involved in his war with the Hittites.”

Ay glared at me. “My lord… I must object! You cannot simply leave our allies in such a fix.”

“I am Pharaoh of Egypt, and as such, I am going to do what is best for this country. Right now, war is the worst possible move I can think of. And may I remind you that the Hittites are also our allies. No matter what we do, we must turn on one of our allies if we join the war. So I wish to remain neutral. So long as neither party encroaches upon Egypt’s lands, I will not become entangled in this war.” I snapped.

He sighed, realizing he was defeated, and backed away with a mild, “Yes, my lord. It will be as you say.”

I waved him off, preparing to listen to the next complaint.

Of course, it would be my luck that the next complaint came from the Head Priest of Thebes’s temple to Ra.

“Sire…” He began in a nasally tone.

I disliked this particular Head Priest greatly. He never had a kind word for anyone, and he was always whining about my lack of funds. It annoyed me ceaselessly. “What is it you petition me for today, High Priest Gyasi?”

As I said his name, the only thing I could think was that his parents named him in prayer that their baby – more than likely he was colicky and weepy even then – would be wonderful. I thought their prayer went unanswered. Unfortunately.

“I wish to petition you to return funding to the temples, O Great Pharaoh.”

“Then you may march yourself back out the door and out of my palace, Gyasi. I am not returning funding. You have the funding that I have left to you. If you find that ungenerous or insufficient in some way, you will find yourself explaining to the other temple leaders why all of their funding and yours have been cut off completely.” I gave him an insincere smile, worn to the end of my patience.

He gave me a wide-eyed, red-faced look. “Was that a threat, Pharaoh Amenhotep?”

I looked at him, quiet for a moment. Then I answered softly. “Only if that is what it takes to get you to understand that I will not be giving you back your original funding.”

He stared at me, gasping like a fish out of water.

I was tempted to laugh, but I knew that would be too much, even for being Pharaoh. Some semblance of dignity needed to be maintained. “You are dismissed. Next!”

He stormed from the hall after shaking a fist at me. I watched placidly as he was escorted out by my guards. “Anyone else who would like to petition for the same as High Priest Gyasi may leave this instant.”

Everyone left in the room milled around for a moment, and then they all slowly filed towards the door.

I had taken care of the more important requests in the morning.

Ay had been my most important discussion during my petition session, but he hadn’t come until later, towards the end of my time for hearing petitions. Everyone else besides him who had a real request had been brought to the fore at my request and answered in whatever way was fit. I didn’t deal with any of the priests or protestors early. Instead, I made them wait, figuring that they deserved a little bit of rude treatment for their refusal to accept my judgments upon their temples and funding.