Till Shiloh Comes (27 page)

“Oh, I don't think so,” she said offhandedly.

But Lostris was insistent. “You must come! Everybody's going to be there. The pharaoh and his queen, of course….” He named off several members of the nobility, and finally his eyes lost their glow and he shrugged. “Of course the Great Provider will be there. I'm sure he'll be heroic.”

Asenath noticed a bitterness in his tone, and it was all she could do to keep from smiling and asking,
Do you intend to take another dive into the mud?
Instead she said quickly, “Well, perhaps I will come. It should be entertaining.”

“Of course it will be. We'll have to hurry, though. They're leaving within an hour.”

“I'll get dressed as quickly as I can,” Asenath said.

She ran to her room and picked out one of her most exotic costumes. The ladies of the court, even on wildfowling expeditions, spent great time and money preparing themselves. They were transported on the larger boats, which could draw close enough to watch the young men of the court as they shot down the wildfowl with arrows. As she dressed, she thought sardonically,
Well, why are you so excited? It's just another wildfowl hunt
. She tried to ignore the fact that she really wanted to go because Joseph would be there.
He probably won't even notice me, not with all the beautiful young women there
.

****

The air was filled with the cries of the birds that inhabited the Nile, and from where Asenath sat in the prow of the boat, she was aware of the thunder of wings as the air was filled with a vast cloud of waterfowl rising into the sky. She always delighted in this part of the hunt more than the actual killing of the birds. There were many varieties, including white ibises, with their vulturelike heads, sacred to the goddess of the river. The geese in their reddish brown plumage, each with a ruby droplet in the center of their chest, flew over by the hundreds, maybe even thousands. She saw the herons as they made their way along the banks of the Nile, beautiful in their greenish blue or midnight black. She liked the way they had bills like swords and stabbed at the fish, then tossed them into the air and caught them expertly. It was fun to watch the fish go down their throats, making a lumpy progress. Lostris had chosen to sit beside her in the boat, and when she questioned him, he explained loftily, “There are so many bad hunters. They're going to frighten all the birds. We'll wait until later, and I'll show you how it should be done.”

The hunt went on for some time, and finally Asenath said to the steersman, “Let's get closer. It's too far away to see from here.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The oarsmen picked up the beat, and as they seemed to glide across the surface of the Nile, Asenath suddenly saw Joseph. He was dressed in a snow-white apron, and his upper body glowed in the sun. The tone of his skin was different from that of most Egyptians, which had a slatelike, dull color. Joseph had a golden torso, and she caught her breath as she had once before when she saw his smooth muscles rippling under the skin. He was laughing, and she saw that his teeth were white against his tanned complexion. She heard him speaking to his boatsman, and once again marveled at what a touch he had with the common people.
But then, of course, he's been one himself,
she thought.

“Steer away from that boat,” Lostris said with irritation, motioning toward Joseph's craft.

“Yes, sir.”

The boat started to turn, but even as it did, a cry of alarm arose from Joseph. “A hippo!” he cried out in a shrill warning.

Asenath glanced at the waters ahead and saw that the glassy surface was disturbed. Then she saw something weighty and massive as the water roiled.

Lostris began screaming, “Turn around—turn around! It's a river beast!”

Indeed it was a massive bull hippopotamus! He surfaced, and Asenath was terrified by one glimpse of the enormous animal. He seemed larger to her than the boat she was on, and when he raised his head, puffs of steam seemed to blow into the air.

“Pull—pull!” Lostris was screaming. But the boat turned ever so slowly.

“He's gone!” Asenath cried, for the bull had disappeared beneath the surface. She glanced over to see Joseph in the front of his boat with a massive spear in his hand. He was poised to throw, urging his boatsmen on.

Asenath had no time to think of anything else, for suddenly the monster broke through the surface and blew a great cloud of steam from his lungs. For a moment his back formed what almost seemed to be an island in the river, and then he made straight for the boat in which Asenath and Lostris were sitting.

Asenath could not take her eyes off of the beast. His enormous mouth was open with his jaws gaped wide apart. It seemed to Asenath a tunnel of bright red flesh, and the jaws were lined with teeth such as she had never seen—huge ivory tusks designed to bite through the tough and sinewy stalks of papyrus. Such jaws, Asenath knew, could shear through a person as cleanly as if slashed with a razor.

She heard the cries of the spectators in the other boats, but she could not take her eyes off the monster. It was right there before her, and as she scrambled out of her seat, she noted that Lostris had already gone to the rear of the boat. His eyes were so wide she could see the whites of them, and he could not speak he was so terrified.

The beast struck the boat with his snout, knocking it sideways so that the craft almost capsized. Asenath had nothing to hold on to, and she was thrown clear of the boat. She hit the water and sank. Frantically she fought her way back to the surface. The weight of her clothing dragged her down, however, and she was not a swimmer. She had paddled a few times in the swimming pools created by craftsmen, but this was different. The brown water of the Nile choked her, but above all fear ran through her as she thought of the mighty jaws of the hippo.

A cry drew her around as she struggled to keep her head above water, and she suddenly saw Joseph in the prow, his body tense and corded, ready to strike with his spear. His boat struck the body of the hippo and nearly capsized, but Joseph drove the spear down with all of his force right into the back of the hippo's thick neck. There was a terrible roar, and the monster thrashed around. Joseph clung to the spear, which was imbedded deeply, and Asenath could not believe it when she saw he had left the boat and now straddled the monster's neck. He was forcing the spear ever deeper and deeper when the monster suddenly rolled over. Joseph disappeared, and the water was red with a bloody froth.

It was all she could do to keep her head above the water, and as she paddled frantically against the water, she cast one glance at her boat and saw that Lostris was urging the boatsmen to get away. She cried out, “Lostris!” He gave her one wild look, his face pale, then turned and began cursing the boatsmen for greater speed.

Once again Asenath sank, and water went into her nose. She held her breath and fought her way to the surface again, choking and gagging. The water was red with blood, and not ten feet away, the monster had risen. She could see down the red channel of his throat, but she also saw Joseph clinging to his back, forcing the spear ever deeper. The hippo was roaring with rage, and his red eyes seemed to focus on her. The beast started toward her, and Asenath knew that she was a dead woman.

But then the spearhead of Joseph found the joint of the vertebrae in the beast's neck, and miraculously the light in the reddish eyes went dim. The beast stiffened, fell silent, and began to sink.

Exhausted by her struggle, Asenath sank again, and this time she was too weak to fight her way to the surface. The water entered her lungs, and she had one thought:
This is death
.

A redness floated before her eyes, and then she was immersed in an unbearable white light. But even then she felt strong arms go around her. She felt herself being pulled upward, and then her head broke the surface. She gagged and choked and began to vomit.

“You're all right, Asenath. Don't fight me.”

Asenath had no intention of fighting. She was too weak for that. She felt herself turned over on her back, and her savior's arm went around her chest, supporting her. She found his body was beneath her, buoying her up, and as she cleared the last of the water with a series of short, choking coughs, she was able to gasp, “Is the thing dead?”

“Yes.” Joseph's voice was right in her ear. “It's all right. You're safe.”

Never in her life had Asenath felt such security. His arm lay across her breast, holding her tightly, and all the fear left her. As he lifted her close, she whispered, “You saved my life.”

His lips were so close she could feel them move against her ear. “I hope saving your life becomes a habit.”

Asenath was conscious that the boats were coming. There were cries from rescuers now that the monster was dead, and she remembered how Lostris had deserted her and knew that he was out of her life forever.

“Why did you come for me, Joseph?” she whispered.

His arm tightened around her, and she felt his lips pressing a kiss onto her wet cheek. “Because,” he whispered, “I couldn't afford to lose anything so precious.”

As time progressed Joseph worked night and day to complete the storage of the harvest. There were complaints from many that the Great Provider was overdoing the work, that to stake so much upon one dream was foolish. Joseph ignored all these complaints, and when even the pharaoh questioned the need for such excessive stockpiling, he said, “It was your dream, and I believe it was sent from God, Your Majesty. We must be faithful to the dream.”

Pharaoh gave in, as he always did when Joseph put something before him in such a way.

Joseph worked long hours each day, traveling from fields to granaries, checking the storage units, and at night going over the accounts, an enormous task in itself. He even forced Rashidi to put aside his epic poem to help him, and Rashidi complained that the world would be robbed of a masterpiece.

“If we don't get the grain into the storage units, there'll be no one left to read your poem!” Joseph snapped. He was irritable now from lack of sleep, but he knew better than anyone in Egypt the urgency of the task.

During this period Jacob heard reports that Asenath had been transformed by her brush with death in the river, and if he had not been so busy he would have pressed his case. However, he determined that as soon as the harvest was in the granaries, he would court her in a manner that was proper.

Asenath was disappointed when Joseph did not insist on courting her immediately. She disposed of Lostris with a gesture of contempt, and he slumped away, knowing that he had proven himself a coward in her sight. Asenath had other suitors, but she waited for Joseph to come share his heart with her. When he did not, she became depressed, and she often thought,
He doesn't really care for me after all. He said a lovely thing when he was holding me in the river, and I still remember his arms around me, keeping me from death. But if I am so precious to him, why doesn't he come?

****

Two months after Asenath nearly died in the jaws of the hippopotamus, Pharaoh visited Joseph and gleefully slapped him on the back. “The time has come, my dear Joseph.”

“The time for what, sire?”

“The time for you to get married.” When Pharaoh saw Joseph open his mouth, he raised his hand. “Say no more. I found
just
the wife for you.”

“Who is she?” Joseph asked wearily, for he had been through this before.

“She is of the finest Egyptian stock. Royal blood is in her veins. She is rich beyond compare.” The pharaoh cast a sideways glance at Joseph. “Of course she's a little older than you are, but what does that matter?”

“What's the lady's name?”

“Lady Taiga.”

Joseph stared at the pharaoh in consternation. “You can't be serious, Majesty!” he exclaimed.

“I am serious. She's exactly what you need.”

“Why, she's fifteen years older than I am!”

“What does that matter? She's rich and attractive.”

“Attractive! She's as fat as a hippopotamus!”

Pharaoh looked shocked. “My boy, you mustn't say that about the lady. I've already begun negotiations.”

“Well, then, Majesty, you must
un
-negotiate,” Joseph retorted.

Pharaoh's face darkened with anger. “All right, I've tried to be patient with you. Now you've gotten proud and puffed up. I am therefore going to insist on this matter of your marriage.”

Joseph saw that the pharaoh was in one of his stubborn moods and knew he would be doomed to be married to the hippopotamus if he didn't think quickly. “Majesty, as always, you are right about all things.”

“Ah,” the pharaoh said with a smile. “I'm glad to hear you are so reasonable.”

“But,” Joseph continued quickly, “if I may make a suggestion, there is another woman I would have as my wife.”

Pharaoh's eyes brightened. “You haven't said a word about this. Who is she?”

“She is far above me. She is pure Egyptian, and I think even you will admit her status is good.”

“Name the lady and you shall have her.”

Joseph plunged right in. “Asenath, sire, the daughter of the priest of On.”

“Excellent!” Pharaoh laughed. “Why didn't you make this decision a long time ago? Her father is rich. He will be a good connection for the throne.”

“I'm not sure the lady will have me.”

Pharaoh stared at him. “You still have a slave's mentality, I'm afraid, Joseph. The girl will have whomever her father and I
say
she will have.” Angered by Joseph's suggestion, he ranted for some time.

Finally Joseph interjected, “Please, Your Majesty, let me speak with her.”

“No, you will stay out of it! This will be my affair.” He beamed then and said, “Say not one word to her. She will be yours as certainly as I am god of Egypt!”