by Jerry Dubs
As he worked, Hemka looked around nervously.
This was the delta, home to giant crocodiles and snakes fatter than a man’s leg, eagles large enough to carry away a gazelle and hippos, huge river beasts with ivory tusks instead of teeth and mouths large enough to swallow a man whole.
Once a sailor from one of the barges had shown him a hippo tooth. It had been carved into Babi, the baboon god, but shaped into a long, tapering cone with a slight curve. The sailor had asked Hemka if he wanted it for his wife and when Hemka said, no, the man had said there would come a time when he would. And then he had winked.
Glancing down at his loincloth, Hemka thought of the hippo tooth. It had been huge.
He looked around the water carefully and pushed harder for the land.
Soon the prow of the boat pushed through a thatch of papyrus reeds and struck solid land. There was a line of short, wide willows, and towering behind them a group of palm trees promising firmer ground.
Watching the water nervously, Hemka slid out of the boat and splashed around to the prow and began to pull it onto the swampy bank. Hetephernebti and Ipwet, their discarded robes lying on the boat to stay dry, joined him in the waist-deep water. Together the three of them, their toes squishing deep into the soft river bottom, shoved the boat through the reeds and onto firmer land.
Hemka climbed out of the water. Bending over the prow of the boat, he started tugging it higher. Hetephernebti waved a hand at him and said, “That’s far enough, Hemka.”
He straightened from the boat and cocked his head at her.
Before she could say anything more, Ipwet screamed and started splashing in the water. Turning toward her they saw a bird splash to the surface beside Ipwet who now started to laugh.
“I thought it was a snake,” she said as she staggered through the thigh-deep water to join Hetephernebti and Hemka beside the boat. “It was all under water and it had its neck stretched out like a snake. I never saw anything like that!”
She danced and shook her arms. “And did you see some of the frogs? They’re giants! And everything is so green. And shady. There’s shade everywhere. I love this!”
“They say the mosquitoes are giants, too,” Hemka said.
“Are they?” Ipwet asked, turning to Hetephernebti, who smiled and shrugged.
“I’ve never been here,” Hetephernebti answered. Then turning to Hemka she said, “You don’t need to pull the boat out of the water, Hemka. Ipwet and I are getting out here. We’ll walk from here.”
“In the swamp?” Ipwet asked.
Hetephernebti shrugged again. She wanted to send Hemka away without him knowing their destination.
“Are you sure?” Hemka asked.
Hetephernebti nodded and then walked to the boat. She picked up her gown and drew it on. As she reached down for the small bag of jewels and oils, Hemka took her hand. He turned her hand so it was palm up and then he carefully placed the handle of his stone knife in it.
Hetephernebti refused to close her fingers on the crudely shaped wooden handle. “No, Hemka,” she said. “I put my trust in the gods, not in a blade.”
“But the snakes and crocodiles ... ” he suddenly stopped and looked at the small knife, imagining Hetephernebti using it to fight a giant crocodile.
He lifted the knife from her hand and slipped it carefully into the waist of his loincloth. “I hope the gods protect you,” he said.
***
The soldiers worked their way down the river stopping at each village, each hut, each sloping beach. No one had seen the small reed boat or the runaways.
A half day’s journey from the delta they spotted an abandoned reed boat. Five of the soldiers put ashore to search. The second boat continued on.
At midday they saw a boat pulling against the current. It was the right size, but there was just one person on it, a man, little more than a boy. But there were no fishing nets, no harpoons, no collection of goods for trading, no reason for the man to be rowing his boat upriver.
The soldiers changed course to intercept the lone man.
Across the river, Hemka saw the men. He pulled his oar out of the water and rested it on the boat. He knew he couldn’t outrun them.
As the soldiers came closer and closer, Hemka started to feel ill. As fear gripped him he leaned over the boat and vomited. When he was finished he splashed water on his face and looked at the approaching boat. It was near enough that he could see the faces of the men. They were older men, hard men. He looked from face to face. There was no pity.
Once he had seen a snake coiled on a rock in the river, its eyes impassive as it watched a frog. He remembered thinking that the frog must have seen the snake and that even in its small frog brain it must have realized that it could expect no mercy.
He felt like that frog.
-0-
Hetephernebti and Ipwet were lost.
They had meant to find higher and drier ground, but the river was a tangle; it appeared to curve back on itself and at places it even seemed to flow the wrong direction. At one place where they planned to cross what looked like a shallow stream, they saw dozens of crocodiles. The reptiles lined both sides of the water, lying still, either with full bellies or simply waiting for prey, the girls didn’t know.
Now they were deep in the delta, following a wide, calm channel of water. They hadn’t seen any crocodiles for a while and the mosquitoes seemed less fierce here. Overhead the trees parted enough to admit sunshine and the air was less humid here. The ground was firmer, too.
Hetephernebti believed that the gods were leading them away from danger. Soon they would find a hut with a kind fisherman or a small village with a bakery and they would ask for directions to Iunu. There was a temple to Re there where Hetephernebti hoped she and Ipwet would find sanctuary.
She would become a wbt-priestess and quietly serve Re. She would be away from the intrigues of the palace. Nebka would understand that she had withdrawn from this life and was not a threat. He could live his life and she would live hers.
“Nebti?” Ipwet said, interrupting Hetephernebti’s reverie.
“Yes?”
“Do you hear that?”
Human voices, men, one talking louder than the others, the sounds drawing closer.
Hetephernebti nodded to Ipwet and the girls stopped moving. Overhead a hawk flapped in the air as it settled onto a high branch. Off in the distance there was a wet snorting sound. The men’s voices drew closer and then suddenly a boat appeared
There were five men on the boat. They wore blue-edge kilts and carried spears tipped with sharp-edged brass points. Hetephernebti’s heart sank.
When the men saw the two girls they pulled harder on their oars and the boat surged through the green water.
Ipwet tugged at Hetephernebti’s arm.
“Come, Nebti, we have to run,” she said, but the queen shook free and turned to face the approaching boat.
“Isis couldn’t escape Seth, yet it is Isis we honor, not Seth,” Hetephernebti said. Under her breath she said softly, “As the gods will.”
***
The leader, a tall, muscled veteran whose chest was crossed with battle scars, stood at the prow watching Hetephernebti as the boat drew nearer. Staring at her, his chest grew full as he breathed a deep draught of the moist delta air. When he exhaled through a satisfied smile, the sound of his exhalation was amplified by the trees and water.
Hetephernebti thought it sounded like the breath of Seth himself.
Hearing Ipwet whimper behind her she turned to the little girl. Taking Ipwet’s hands, Hetephernebti said, “I’m sorry, Ipwet. I thought we would be safe here. I didn’t think they would find us.”
She sighed and squeezed the girl’s hands. Then turning she saw the boat’s prow rise as it slid onto the shore.
The leader jumped from the boat.
“Queen Hetephernebti?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You seem to be lost.” He took a step closer to her, raising his
hand to take her arm.
“No,” Hetephernebti said, shrugging away from him. “Please tell King Nebka that I am withdrawing from the palace.”
“You can tell him yourself,” the soldier said, lunging and grabbing Hetephernebti’s arm. Behind the queen Ipwet screamed and turning, ran into the swampy land.
“Someone fetch the servant,” the leader shouted. Then he pulled Hetephernebti toward the boat. “You’ll cooperate or you’ll find yourself at the bottom of this water, queen of Sobek’s domain.”
Hetephernebti looked up at the soldier’s face. As she stumbled forward, pulled toward the boat, they passed an opening in the canopy and suddenly Re’s light fell on her.
“Re is watching you,” she told him, pulling at his hand.
The soldier laughed and passed Hetephernebti off to one of his men. “Tie her hands and feet,” he ordered. As he spoke there was a cry from deeper in the swamp; his men had captured Ipwet.
“Tell them not to hurt her,” Hetephernebti said.
The leader laughed again. “You can each have a turn,” he shouted into the trees, “but be quick. I don’t want to be in this swamp when night comes.” He turned to Hetephernebti and smiled. “The mosquitoes are huge.”
***
Hetephernebti and Ipwet sat in the middle of the boat. Hetephernebti’s ankles were bound together and her wrists were tied behind her back. A strip of linen torn from her gown was tied around her face, the gag put there after she had screamed at the men when they had returned with Ipwet, her gown stripped from her and blood streaming down her thighs.
Ipwet sat beside the queen, her face buried in her hands as she cried. Her slender shoulders, scratched and bleeding, shook and light moans escaped from between her hands.
Hetephernebti found herself more angry than frightened.
Where are the gods? What protection did Re offer if this could happen?
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine fierce Re, sweeping down from the sky, his bronze mace raised, his fury bringing the haughty soldiers to their trembling knees. She tried to conjure Mehen, the mighty serpent who protected Re, his mouth wide, his fangs bared and his hood spread wide. She imagined Horus, screaming through the trees, his talons extended and aimed at the soldiers.
Where were they?
But it was another god who arrived.
At first she thought it was the leader laughing again, a loud, chuffing laugh, but when she opened her eyes she saw the man was staring across the green water. Looking at the four other soldiers, she saw their grips had tightened on the oars and their eyes were wide with apprehension.
There was another snort, closer. A spray of water splashed over the boat. A round, gray-brown shape rose beside from the water, then another appeared and the captain leaned down to pick up a short spear lying on the boat.
Suddenly the boat rocked.
Ipwet screamed and fell into the water, a tumbling flash of bare, bloodied skin. The boat rocked harder and the water beside them and below them erupted in frenzy. Water sprayed over Hetephernebti, geysers of Ipwet's blood mingled with swatches of broken reeds. The soldiers gripped their oars as clubs and brought them down hard on the dark shapes beside them.
There was a moment of quiet, a calm second as if the universe had stopped and then everything was sound and motion and fear.
Around them and below them tight, massive barrels of muscle and terror roiled, long yellow teeth and tusks emerged from broad, gaping mouths. The air was filled with loud grunting and deeper cries, like the roars of lions. The men on the boat shouted in return. The water churned, the boat rocked and suddenly it was raised high above the water.
The bound reeds of the craft gave way and the men spilled into the water.
The attacking bloat of hippos swung their wide heads, their gaping mouths clamping on the fighting, screaming men.
One soldier landed on the back of a hippo. He stretched his arms wide, trying to stay atop the oily beast, but he slid off the side of the hippo as it swayed and the man found himself crushed between two of the monsters. His chest collapsed and a last scream staggered from his broken body.
Hetephernebti, lighter than the men, was thrown farther from the frenzy. She landed on her back in the water and struggled to pull air in through her nose.
The leader of the soldiers began swimming through the water toward Hetephernebti, his spear in one hand. Suddenly he turned and stabbed at the water behind him. A hippo rose from the water, its shovel mouth clamped on one of the man’s legs. The spear struck its snout and the hippo opened its mouth and roared. The man kicked against the hippo’s head, pushing himself away. The hippo blinked slowly, shook its head and glided toward the screaming man.
Another soldier, his right arm hanging limply, reached the far side of the stream. Staggering he splashed closer and closer to land, reached higher ground and started to run.
The leader resurfaced, his shoulders and head above the water. Disoriented, he turned and saw only a gaping blackness as the hippo he had speared clamped its tusk-filled mouth over his head. His scream ended with the crunch of bone as the hippo’s teeth cracked through his skull.
The bodies of the two remaining soldiers were bobbing lifelessly on the churning water. Blood swirled from them and on the far shore, three crocodiles slid into the water.
Their frenzy spent, the hippos pushed their snouts against the dead men and then, blowing a last loud snort into the swamp air, they submerged beneath the water.
Near the shore, Hetephernebti sank into the water. Her feet bound, her hands tied behind her, her lungs in pain as she held onto her last breath, she slowly rocked toward the river’s muddy bottom.
Sensing a change in the light, she opened her eyes.
Above her, blurred by the swirling water, she saw Re standing. His shoulders wide and strong, his head a fiery circle of light.
Section Two
HORUS
RETURNS
2669 BCE
In the
Reign of King Nebka
Horus Returns
“Ipwet?” Re-Khu called.
The priest, sitting on a wooden bench by the front wall of the Temple of Re, turned his head toward the temple entrance and the sound he had heard beyond it. In front of him lay an open plaza, its dusty grounds empty now under the midday sun.
The woman known as Ipwet came from inside the temple carrying a water jar decorated with silhouetted drawings of the god Re. A large circle — the sun — rested atop the god’s falcon head. The sun was encircled by a cobra, protector of Re, who held the rounded top loop of an ankh in his hand.
Balancing the jar with one hand, she reached out to guide the priest’s hands to the jar.
“Oh, thank you, Ipwet,” Re-Khu said, taking the water jar. Leaning against the temple wall, he lifted the jar to drink. His upraised hands began to quiver and Ipwet quickly put her hands on the jar to help steady it.
Finished drinking, Re-Khu lowered the jar and once Ipwet had taken its weight, he raised his right hand and wiped away a dribble of water from his chin. He dried his hand on his short kilt and smiled in Ipwet’s direction.
“You would think a man my age would be able to do something as simple as sipping from a water jar without giving himself a bath,” he said.
“A bath would be refreshing, Re-Khu,” she said, setting the jar on the ground beside the bench. She looked affectionately at the old man.
“It is hot today,” the priest agreed.
“And yesterday and the day before and the day before that,” Ipwet said, bumping her slim hip against the priest’s shoulder. He slid across the bench to make room and she sat beside him. It was the fourth month of Peret, the summer season, and Re was scorching the land. Soon the flood would arrive and Re would relinquish his hold on the delta, but for weeks on end the god had seemed intent on demonstrating his fiery strength.
Unconsciously, and from long habit, the woman and the priest turned their faces toward the sun. His face was dark fr
om years in the sun, lined with deep wrinkles and red-rimmed around his blind eyes, which were open and aimed at the burning god that had taken his sight.
Although twenty-eight years old, Ipwet’s face was smooth and clear. Her eyes, held shut against the sun’s glare, were lined with dark green kohl and her face and shaved head were lightly screened with a jasmine-scented salve. She smiled at the sun god, an open, peaceful serene smile.
“I feel tired, Ipwet,” Re-Khu said softly.
“Then rest, Re-Khu. Enjoy the sun, I’ll bring you water. Inetkawes and the other girls will attend to the temple. The men will clear the brush by the north wall. I will see to the arrangements for the festival. All you need to do is sit and bask in the glory of Re.” She said it lightly, turning the conversation from the tiredness that Re-Khu was referring to, a deep exhaustion that grew stronger each day.
She patted his thin thigh and pushing against it softly, she rose to her feet.
He reached out for her, his hand fumbling against the back of her wrist and then sliding along her arm until he held her hand.
“Ipwet,” he said urgently. “I will soon sit with the gods and my ancestors. You have been a daughter and a sister to me. We have known each other many years and you know I look forward to my journey ... ”
“I know, Re-Khu,” she said, leaning down close to his face as she picked up the water jar. “And you know that I will care for the temple and worship Re as you have taught me. And,” she kissed his cheek, “you know that you truly have earned a respite. Re knows your devotion. Rest, enjoy the lovely heat.” Then standing back from him, she tilted the jar and poured the water over his head.
Re-Khu sputtered in surprise and then threw his head back in laughter.
Across the dusty clearing in front of the temple gate, a group of men emerged from an alleyway. Pausing at the sound of Re-Khu’s laughter, the men watched the tall, slim woman holding the water jar as she leaned over the old man and wiped his face with her hands.