War of the Crowns

by Christian Jacq

  ‘Give it to me,’ ordered Ahhotep.

  He handed her an official letter, marked with the emperor’s seal.

  The queen read it and learnt a great deal.

  From Emperor Apophis to King Nedjeh:

  Do you know what Egypt has undertaken against me? Kamose is attacking me in my own domain. He is persecuting the Two Lands, yours and mine, and he is ravaging them. Come to Avaris without fear, I shall hold Kamose until you arrive, and no one can intercept you as you traverse Egypt, because all the enemy forces are in the North. We shall defeat them and share the country between us.

  So that was the answer to Ahhotep’s second question: the emperor was indeed planning to entrap the Egyptian army. While it was pinned down by the Hyksos, it would be attacked from the south by the Nubians.

  ‘Will you spare my life?’ whined the messenger.

  ‘On two conditions: that you carry a letter to the emperor and that you release that child immediately.’

  He obeyed. The little girl ran to hide in the queen’s arms and Ahhotep comforted her for a long time.

  While the man stood waiting, not daring to move, Ahhotep wrote a biting letter informing Apophis that the route through the oases was now under Egyptian control, that his message would never reach Kerma, and that the Nubians would not leave their province.

  54

  The emperor had ordered Jannas to remain at Memphis and to mass troops there on the plain, to prevent the enemy from advancing. Soon, the Nubians would charge down on the Thebans, whose only option would be to retreat to the north, where Jannas was waiting to wipe them out.

  Jannas did not approve of this plan. Never in all his brilliant career had he depended on the actions of third parties like the Nubians, whose lack of discipline worried him. There was something else, too: the annual Nile flood had begun, which made it impossible to leave chariot regiments on the plain. He had had to pull them back to the east of Memphis where, for the moment, they would be of no use whatsoever. Redeploying his forces would take several days.

  In Kamose’s place, he would have chosen this ideal moment to launch an offensive. But the young pharaon was inexperienced in war, and his early victories had probably turned his head. As for Queen Ahhotep, she suffered from an incurable fault: being a woman, and therefore incapable of holding a command. In fright, she would persuade her son not to venture too far forward, for fear of losing what had been gained.

  The river was rising fast.

  ‘It will be a very fine flood,’ predicted Moon.

  ‘All the finer because it has already forced Jannas to withdraw his chariots,’ said the Afghan, who had just received the reports from his scouts.

  ‘We should attack immediately,’ said Kamose.

  ‘Give us one day, Majesty,’ begged Moustache, One single day, so that we can try to revive our networks of supporters in Memphis. If we manage to make a large proportion of the population rebel, Jannas will have to face another and unexpected opponent.’

  ‘That is very dangerous.’

  ‘The Afghan and I can pass unnoticed.’

  Kamose turned to Ahhotep, who nodded. ‘Tomorrow at dawn,’ he said, Our fleet will enter the port of Memphis. Kill as many Hyksos as possible.’

  Memphis was Moustache’s favourite town. With its white walls, dating from the first dynasties, and its great temples, which had alas been burnt down by the Hyksos, the former capital retained its proud appearance despite the occupation. But this was no time for contemplation, and the two water-carriers were bent double under the weight of heavy jars as they arrived at one of the gates, which was guarded by Hyksos soldiers.

  ‘Who are you?’ one of them demanded.

  ‘Conscripted peasants,’ replied the Afghan. ‘Because of the flood, the river water is no longer fit to drink. We’ve been told to bring reserves to the barracks.’

  ‘You may enter.’

  The town was in upheaval. It was clear that the chariots’ forced retreat had obliged the high command to alter its plans. The Afghan and Moustache headed for the poor district around the ruined Temple of Ptah, where they hoped the last members of their rebel network might have gone to ground.

  In a deserted alleyway, close to a safe-house, they heard characteristic barking: a rebel dog was sounding the alert, according to the agreed code.

  The two men laid down their burdens and took off their tattered tunics to show that they were not carrying any hidden weapons.

  It really is us,’ said the Afghan. ‘Have we changed so much?’

  The heavy silence that followed this question ought to have made them run for safety, but neither man moved.

  ‘We’re in rather a hurry, friends. If you want to kill some Hyksos, now is the time.’

  The blade of a dagger pressed against the Afghan’s back.

  ‘A good move, little one, but a bad final position.’ Using one of the wrestling holds from Beni Hasan, the Afghan tripped the youth who was threatening him, disarmed him and twisted his arm behind his back. ‘If you want to fight, my lad, you still have a lot to learn.’

  Five rebels emerged from the house, among them a priest of Ptah who had escaped the mass arrests. ‘I know them,’ he said. ‘They led our group. Everyone thought they were dead.’

  The Afghan smiled. Well, we aren’t. And - can you believe it? - we’ve even been decorated by Queen Ahhotep! Tomorrow at dawn, the Egyptian fleet will attack the town. Can an uprising be organized?’

  ‘Too many people would get themselves killed.’

  ‘You don’t get anything for nothing,’ Moustache reminded him. ‘If the townspeople can put the city guards out of action and set fire to the docks, our army will take care of the rest.’

  The whole city is ready to rise up,’ declared the youth. ‘If we spread the message through every district straight away, we’ll succeed.’

  Jannas did not sleep well: he had a nightmare in which fire destroyed the Hyksos war-fleet. Thinking about the vital new precautions he must take, he did not fall asleep again until the small hours.

  He was awakened by a smell of burning, which made him leap out of bed. From the window of the barracks, he saw that the docks were on fire.

  His second-in-command rushed into the room. ‘The Egyptians are attacking, sir! Several boats have breached our first line of defence.’

  ‘The queen and her little king aren’t as incompetent as I thought,’ admitted Jannas. ‘Every man to his post.’

  ‘There are several fires, sir, and loud shouting can be heard in most districts - it’s as if the whole of Memphis is rebelling.’

  ‘It is. Let’s hope the city guards can contain the rioters. I have other priorities.’

  Very soon, Jannas realized that the enemy had carried out a masterly manoeuvre. Taking advantage of the flood, warboats had sailed right up as far as some of the city ramparts, from where Pharaoh’s archers were ideally placed to aim at the Hyksos defenders, who retaliated furiously. Kneeling on the roof of a cabin, along with the other elite archers, Ahmes, son of Abana, cut down several officers, causing consternation among the enemy ranks.

  As soon as Emheb and his men succeeded in setting foot on the battlements of the citadel, the Hyksos weakened. Galvanized, Egyptian soldiers appeared from everywhere. And in the town, under the command of Moustache and the Afghan, the guards were killed with mattocks, stools, carpenters’ mallets and anything else that would serve as a weapon. The Memphites gave full vent to their rage.

  Before long, under the onslaught by over seven thousand soldiers, all as reckless as their pharaoh, the Hyksos army began to buckle.

  ‘Is there still no news of the Nubians?’ Jannas asked his second-in-command.

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘That stupid plan has failed. It’s impossible to defend Memphis any longer. We must get out of this hornets’ nest as fast as possible.’

  It was the first time that Jannas had ever been forced to beat a retreat. But circumstances were against him, and he found himself
with no choice. To continue to fight in such bad conditions would have been madness. He therefore sacrificed a small part of his troops to ensure that the rest could pull back to the north-east. Soldiers, chariots and horses were loaded on to boats which headed rapidly away from Memphis.

  Jannas had prevented the worst. True, he had barely scratched the enemy army and was abandoning a great city to them, but his forces were almost intact, and the fact that the Egyptian victory was spectacular did not mean it was decisive.

  Kamose himself shattered the skull of the last Hyksos footsoldier, who had obeyed Jannas’s orders by holding his position to the death.

  In disbelief, the Egyptians realized that the battle was over. Memphis, capital of Egypt during the time of the pyramids, was free again. In the residential districts, where not a single Hyksos guard had been spared, people were singing and dancing. Old men were weeping, the prison gates had been thrown open, and children were already beginning to play in the streets again, while doctors and nurses, under She-Cat’s vigorous direction, were taking care of the many wounded.

  In the palace, Ahhotep and Kamose received the homage of the surviving town dignitaries, most of whom had suffered torture and interrogation. Standing in the front row, Anat marvelled at the pharaoh’s bearing.

  When, a little weary, the Afghan and Moustache went into the palace, they met Emheb, who had been wounded in the arm.

  ‘So you two have survived again,’ he commented.

  It would have been a pity to miss this,’ replied Moustache. ‘You should get that arm seen to.’

  ‘Can you imagine how the queen must feel?’ asked the Afghan.

  At that moment, Ahhotep had only one thought in her head: the road to Avaris., the Emperor of Darkness’s lair, lay wide open.

  55

  Like all the soldiers of the Egyptian army, the Afghan and Moustache were shaved and perfumed, and their skin was rubbed with a pomade made from honey, red natron and seasalt. This was vital to keep the skin healthy and protect it from insects, which were more numerous in the marshy areas of the Delta than in the Nile valley.

  Ahhotep and Kamose had just made known their decision: the Egyptian fleet was to sail for Avaris, taking full advantage of the flood, which had turned the vast stretches of the Northern provinces into one immense lake.

  ‘This time,’ enthused Neshi at the final council of war before departure, ‘we shall strike the emperor a death-blow!’

  ‘It won’t be that easy,’ warned Emheb. The Hyksos army is almost intact and we don’t know the system of defences around Avaris.’

  ‘The emperor is not expecting an attack,’ said Ahhotep. ‘Logic dictates that we establish our main military base at Memphis and take the time necessary to prepare for a decisive attack.’

  ‘Our boats are ready,’ said Kamose. ‘We shall leave tomorrow morning.’

  A liaison officer asked permission to speak. ‘Majesty, we’ve had a message from Sako. The town has been attacked, and the officer in charge of our detachment requests urgent assistance.’

  ‘Do you know any more details?’

  ‘Unfortunately not. And the carrier-pigeon arrived exhausted and wounded - we couldn’t save it.’

  ‘I shall go to Sako immediately,’ decided the queen. ‘If the Hyksos counter-attack isn’t halted, Thebes will be in peril. Nevertheless, we must not delay our attack on Avaris.’

  The pharaoh and his counsellors were worried. Without Ahhotep, the Egyptian army would be deprived of its soul.

  ‘The White Crown and the steering-oar of the flagship, with its gold-covered prow, shall guide Pharaoh along the waterways of the Delta,’ said Ahhotep. ’He will find the quickest route to Avaris and will swoop down like a falcon upon the tyrant’s city.’

  The young king rose. ‘Commander Moon, prepare to embark.’

  The golden ship made good speed, with the war-fleet in her wake. At the helm, Moon was having a strange experience: the steering-oar seemed to have a life of its own, and he was no more than a witness to its movements as it steered the boat in the right direction.

  Almost all the soldiers were seeing the Delta for the first time, and it was very different from the Nile valley. Here, the land was flat as far as the eye could see, criss-crossed by canals and tributaries. Alongside the fields grew veritable forests of papyrus and reeds, partly submerged by the flood.

  The fleet was not planning to stop anywhere. It had passed by the towns of Iunu, Taremu and Bubastis, all of which it could have attacked, so as not to lose a second on the way to Avaris.

  Still elated by the conquest of Memphis, the young soldiers were joking about the Hyksos’ cowardice.

  ‘They’re good lads,’ mumbled Moustache, through a mouthful of dried fish. ‘It’s better that they don’t know the truth.’

  ‘Don’t you think we’ll succeed in taking Avaris?’ asked the Afghan.

  ‘We’ve had a lot of good luck since the beginning of the war, but this time the queen isn’t here to lead us.’

  ‘All the same, we’ll have the benefit of surprise.’

  ‘Can you imagine the fortress of Avaris? We shall break our teeth on it.’

  The Afghan shook his head.

  Emheb came over to them. ‘Wouldn’t you like something better to eat?’

  ‘Not hungry,’ replied Moustache.

  ‘I know Avaris is getting closer,’ said Emheb, ‘but isn’t it pleasanter to fight with a full stomach? In the front line we’ll have no chance of coming through alive, but we must make sure that Kamose does. Pass on the order.’

  Moustache went to join She-Cat. He wanted to taste the pleasures of love one last time.

  Fascinated by the beauty of Lower Egypt, the kingdom of the Red Crown, Kamose retired to his cabin shortly before Avaris came into view. Travelling across provinces which were still beneath the Hyksos yoke gave him an immeasurable desire for victory.

  Gently he took Anat’s face in his hands. Her blue eyes expressed an increasingly intense passion for the king, whose most intimate life she now shared.

  ‘Do you think what I’m about to do is mad?’ he asked.

  ‘It has taken many mad acts to get so close to the monster, in the hope of plunging your sword into his back. By believing himself invincible, the emperor gives you a chance of victory.’

  Kamose opened a phial which had been given to him by a perfume-maker in Memphis. Slowly he spread its contents over the young woman’s neck and shoulders.

  ‘I am a foreigner and the widow of a traitor,’ she said. ‘How can you love me?’

  ‘Will you marry me, Anat?’

  ‘That’s impossible; you know it is. You are Pharaoh of Egypt, and I—‘

  ‘You are the woman I love, and you love me, too. There’s no law forbidding our marriage.’

  Please, don’t say any more. Not another word.’

  Almost everyone was delighted by the flood. Born of Hapy, the vital energy of the Nile, it deposited silt which made the earth black and fertile. It also acted as an immense purifying wave which drowned a vast numbers of rodents, scorpions and even snakes. At the moment, it was disturbing a big herd of hippopotamus, who were accustomed to remaining submerged during the daytime and climbing out on to the banks at night to find food.

  The hippopotamus’s only enemy was the crocodile, which was apt to seize and carry off calves at the very moment of birth, unless it was fought off by one or more females. Although the hippopotamus looked placid, if disturbed or frightened it sometimes became enraged and very dangerous.

  ‘I’ve never seen so many,’ said Moustache. ‘Fortunately, there’s room to pass, otherwise they might capsize our boats.’

  ‘It won’t be easy,’ warned Moon. ‘I fear we may incur serious damage.’

  ‘We could spear them,’ suggested the Afghan.

  ‘We’d never be able to kill enough of them,’ objected Emheb.

  ‘Then let us use them as a weapon,’ said Kamose. ‘Let us turn the strength of Set within them to our
own advantage.’

  ‘How, Majesty?’

  ‘By using a good old method well known in Thebes: to anger a hippopotamus, all you have to do is tickle its nostrils with a reed. We shall gather reeds long enough to keep risks to a minimum, and try to drive the herd northwards. The hippos will be the perfect first attack-wave.’

  Several good swimmers volunteered for the task. They were linked to the boats by ropes tied round their waists, but in spite of this precaution two young men died, crushed between the angry animals.

  At first it was chaos, as if the creatures’ fury were summed up in the deafening din. Amid the turbulent waters, every animal bellowed more loudly than its neighbour. Then, led by the dominant male, some semblance of order was brought to the confusion. At last, the animals began to move in the right direction.

  At the prow of the golden ship, Kamose donned the White Crown, which was under the protection of Set. He would need all its power to attack the capital of the Emperor of Darkness.

  56

  Jannas found it difficult to contain his anger. He paced up and down the audience chamber at Avaris, which, infuriatingly, was empty. He had been waiting for the emperor for more than an hour.

  At last High Treasurer Khamudi appeared.

  ‘When can I see His Majesty?’ demanded Jannas.

  The emperor is ill,’ explained Khamudi. ‘His ankles have swollen and his kidneys are not working properly. For the moment he is sleeping, and no one may disturb him.’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  Those are his orders, and we must all obey them.’

  ‘You don’t understand the gravity of the situation. The Egyptian army is about to attack Avaris.’

  The High Treasurer smiled condescendingly. ‘You seem perturbed, Commander.’

  That army is a real army, with a real commander and real soldiers! Our Nubian allies never arrived in Memphis, so I had to retreat to save the majority of my troops. Besides, the flood means I cannot use my chariots. In Kamose’s position I would immediately attack Avaris, whose defences are laughable.’