The Amarnan Kings, Book 2: Scarab - Smenkhkare

by Overton, Max

  Nebhotep scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Paramessu is a general and a man of great intelligence and ability. Moreover, he knows who Scarab really is. I think he is less of a danger than you imagine." He looked closely at Khu. "Or do you have reason to believe he represents a danger other than violence?"

  "They ride off together every day and as often as not she does not sleep in her room at night. I know--I sleep in the next room."

  "So we come to it, lad. This girl whom you have known for the past four years has found herself a lover and you are jealous."

  "I am not." Khu's face flushed and he looked away. "I...I do not think of her like that. I..."

  "Lad, you would have to be made of stone not to think of her like that. You would not be the first to fall in love with someone far above your station. She is a beautiful and personable young woman with whom you have spent a lot of time. It is natural to feel something--whether it is love or lust."

  "That...that is not true. My feelings for her are noble and pure. I do not..." Khu shook his head and resumed washing his hands. "It is Paramessu who feels the lust."

  "And apparently, so does Scarab. Well, what of it? Neither of them is married or betrothed. As long as consent is there, no law is broken, no morals disturbed."

  "But she is a princess, and he only a common soldier."

  "And you are only a farmer's son," Nebhotep muttered under his breath. Aloud, he said, "It would not be the first time a soldier has climbed to high office or favour over the open legs of a princess." The physician went and put his hand on Khu's shoulder. "Scarab is old enough to be master of her own fate. Leave it with the gods."

  Khu looked round at Nebhotep, his face screwed up in anguish. "I could not bear to see her hurt."

  "Life is hurt, young Khu, as you are finding out. Has she ever said anything to you to raise your own hopes?" Khu said nothing, just looked down. "I thought not. Then be a friend to her, Khu. A good friend is worth more than gold."

  Khu nodded slowly, reluctantly. "Will you talk to her?"

  "About what? I will not seek to counsel her on matters of love."

  "Not that. She is not well. She is tired and flushed and I have heard her vomiting more than once lately."

  Nebhotep's lips twitched but he kept his thoughts private. "Have her come and see me. Tell her I command it."

  The meeting of the officers ended with a flurry of activity. Men from all over the city and surrounding countryside poured in as a result of the call to arms. The garrison masters-at-arms exhausted themselves finding gear for the new soldiers and the governor of the city opened the granaries, releasing a flood of grain to the developing army.

  Scarab found herself neglected by Paramessu as he spent each day from before sunup to well after sunset busy with his duties, collapsing exhausted into a narrow camp bed set up in his headquarters. Whenever possible, she stayed close, sitting quietly in a corner and watching him at work, or dogging his footsteps like a puppy, thirsting for any look, or a stolen word or caress. When he could, he did, but for the next three days, Scarab felt as if she was already left behind.

  "I will come with you," she said once. "I can stay in your tent and look after you."

  Paramessu shook his head. "You cannot." He turned back to the scribe and continued dictating complicated instructions to his officers.

  That night, Paramessu came to her room a little before midnight and scratched on her door. In a fit of pique, she cried out "You cannot," and turned her back. Minutes later she relented, but he was back in his headquarters, driving his scribes and secretaries relentlessly.

  The army left at dawn on the fourth day after the messenger arrived. Though he wanted to lead his troops out of the city, Paramessu delayed, taking the time to farewell a tearful Scarab.

  "How long will you be gone?"

  A shrug. "Who can say? I cannot desert my post in the face of the Amorite enemy. A month, three, maybe longer."

  "I cannot bear it. My heart longs for you already, my body too."

  "You must bear it, Scarab. Remember who we are. If the gods will it, we shall be together again."

  Scarab climbed to the top of the city wall and watched until the last soldier disappeared into the billowing dust cloud raised by the departing army. From there she went to the temple of Atum and prayed, spending time in each of the temples of the Iunu Nine after that. The temple of Set frightened her, the statue of the god was manlike, but the head that stared down at her was of no animal known to her. The long, strange snout and the prominent ears, surrounded by the gloom of the temple precinct, raised the hair on her neck, but she persevered, knowing that Set was the god of soldiers and the desert.

  "Bring him home safe to me, divine ones."

  She went and sat morosely in her room for the rest of the day until driven out by thirst. On her way to the now almost deserted dining hall she met Khu, looking disconsolate. Scarab tensed, not wanting another confrontation. Khu smiled however, and fell in beside her, finding bread and a scrap of beef, some figs and a small pitcher of sour beer. They ate in almost complete silence, what conversation there was, inconsequential.

  Towards the end of the meal, Khu cleared his throat nervously. "Nebhotep wants to see you."

  Scarab looked at Khu suspiciously. "Why? Have you been saying things about me?"

  "Only that you did not look well." Scarab started to get up and Khu hurried on. "I have heard you vomiting, Scarab. If you are sick, you should see a physician. If not Nebhotep, then another."

  Scarab paused, looking down at Khu's earnest and worried face. "I am not sick, but I will see Nebhotep. Are you satisfied?"

  She found the physician in his workroom, seated at the window table, examining the dissected corpse of a dog. He looked up as she came into the room and beckoned her over. "Look at this," he said pointing into the mass of glistening entrails. "These large tubes that lead to and from the heart were filled with blood when I opened them. Why should that be, I wonder? The heart is supposed to be the seat of the intellect, but why would it need blood? The heart is hollow too, continuations of these tubes."

  Scarab glanced at the splayed out animal and gasped at the stench before drawing back a few paces. She paled and fanned the air, leaning against the far bench. Nebhotep leapt to his feet and threw a linen sheet over the dissection. "My apologies, Scarab, I did not think how the sight and smell might affect you."

  She shook her head weakly. "I did not think it would. I have seen...I'm sorry, Nebhotep. I think I'm going to be sick."

  "Here." Nebhotep wiped his hands on a cloth and picked a small jar off a shelf, prising the lid off as he carried it across the room. A sweet, sharp scent filled the air, banishing the stench of the decomposing dog.

  "Ah, thank you," Scarab gasped. She took a few deep breaths and sat down on a chair. "What is that? A perfume?"

  "I suppose it could be used as such but it is very costly. It comes from far in the East. The merchant told me it was over a year in its travel, but I think he is lying. He said it comes from a place where the forests are so thick you cannot easily walk between the trees. When I heard that I knew he was just trying to push the price up. Everyone knows there are only deserts to the East. South into deep Kush is the only place for those forests." Nebhotep shrugged. "Wherever it is from, you can extract oil from it that eases toothache immediately. It also has a smell that is pleasant and overpowers others."

  Scarab nodded. "Khu said you wanted to see me."

  "Yes, he tells me you are not feeling well."

  "It comes and goes. I have had a stomach flux of late but that could just be the bad water this late in the summer."

  "Oh?" Nebhotep raised an eyebrow. "I did not realize you were a physician." He held up a hand to forestall a comment and took Scarab's face gently in his hands, turning her toward the light of his window. "Hmm." Releasing her head he directed her to stand before the window and raise her arms above her head. "Turn sideways...yes, like that. All right, you can put your arms down. Aside
from vomiting, how do you feel?"

  "Tired, but I'm out riding every day."

  "When was your last moon?"

  "My last...?" Scarab thought back, feeling uneasy suddenly. "It was seven days before the full moon, it always is."

  "This full moon just past?"

  "Yes, of course." Scarab's face fell. "No, it was before the last full moon. Oh, Nebhotep, I have missed my moon days. Am I...am I..."

  "You are tired and vomiting, yet by your complexion and clear eyes I would say you are in excellent health. You have missed your moon days and your breasts, outlined against the light, are fuller than I remember them. Are your nipples sore?"

  Scarab nodded. "A little. Am I with child, Nebhotep?"

  "Very likely, my lady, but I would like to make sure." He took a wide-mouthed earthenware pot from a shelf and held it out. "I need you to pass water. You may use the far corner."

  Scarab complied, squatting while the physician turned his back. She handed the pot back and held herself up straight, taking a deep breath before she spoke. "How long before you can be certain?"

  "Ten days, maybe less. I have the emmer wheat and barley ready."

  Seven days later, Scarab sat in Nebhotep's workshop once more looking at flat pottery dishes of soil, on which seeds were scattered. Some of the dishes stank of stale urine, others did not. White worm-like roots snaked out of some seeds but not others. Scarab looked from one dish to another, a perplexed frown on her face.

  "What does it mean, Nebhotep? Am I with child?"

  "Emmer and barley grown in your water and river water. None grow in the river water, but they do in yours. However, only the emmer seeds grow in your water, not the barley."

  "So what does it mean?"

  "You are with child, Scarab, and it will be a boy."

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  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Taanach, royal city of the Amorite king Aziru, lies close to the strategic pass known as Megiddo but further inland. The coast road running north through Kenaan turns inland at the great spine of a mountain running north-west to south-east from the sea. There are three ways across this mountain spine--the northern route through Jokneam, a middle route through the Pass of Megiddo, and the southern route where Taanach stands guard. In the days of the Kemetu king Menkheppere Tuthmosis, Taanach was a base for their campaign against the Kenaanite forces under the king of Kadesh. Those days were long past and Kemet was no longer the power it had once been. Now the armies of minor tribes in the days of Tuthmosis had become strong and challenged the weak kings of Kemet. All that stood in the way of Aziru's conquest of Lower Kemet was the Northern Army still technically under the command of Horemheb, one of Kemet's greatest generals. In point of fact, Horemheb was at the other end of the Two Kingdoms and the Northern Army remained under the aegis of Paramessu and Djedhor. This was a fact that suited Jebu, the Amorite general, extremely well.

  There are two roads that lead out of Taanach. One leads north and west, skirting the plains of Megiddo before joining the coast road, a broad thoroughfare used by traders and armies both, and along which the Kemetu army had, in the past, many forts and garrisons. This main coast road passed through Jokneam, bypassing Megiddo and Taanach, as did all travelers without specific business in Aziru's city. Less traveled, and seemingly less useful to anyone heading south, was the road that led south-eastward, inland toward the hills and mountains that were the rugged backbone of Kenaan. Not far out of Taanach it turned south and west, joining up with the coast road again, but at that bend, another road branched off, running straight and true toward the rising sun. This was the one that Jebu took. He explained the situation to his Lieutenant Ephras the night before the army set out.

  "You remember the battle in that little unnamed valley? What are our chances of doing that again?"

  "Excellent, general," Ephras said confidently. "The men's morale is high and we have even more men than we had then."

  "So you agree the Kemetu generals are all fools?"

  "Eh? Er, no...I wouldn't..." Ephras' voice trailed off in confusion.

  "Paramessu was a raw, untried general and I almost had him." Jebu smacked a fist into his other hand. "Somebody rallied their troops and saved their army. There may be inexperience in front of us, but no stupidity. So I'll ask you once more, Ephras; what chance do we have of repeating our almost-victory?"

  A desire to agree with his general vied with a fear of appearing disloyal. "Er, not much...I suppose."

  "Very good, Ephras, not much. In fact, I'd say almost no chance at all. So, next question--do we bring the Kemetu to battle?"

  Ephras' forehead broke out in a light sweat. Either answer could land him in trouble, so Ephras opted for a hesitant question of his own. "Is this not what our king wants?"

  "Yes, but he also says I am in charge." Jebu knew precisely how much reliance to place on a king's promises--none. If he defeated Kemet, Aziru would claim the credit for appointing the successful general; if he failed, it meant his own death. He looked at his Lieutenant for a few minutes, enjoying the man's discomfort, and knowing exactly the dilemma a junior officer found himself in when trying to guess what a general wanted to hear. He smiled to himself and relented.

  "What are the advantages and disadvantages of facing the enemy in open battle? Advantages first, please."

  Ephras' relief was almost tangible. "We outnumber them," he said promptly. "We are more familiar with the country round here, we have chariots, we know we can beat them."

  "And the disadvantages?"

  "They...they are better disciplined." Ephras stopped and thought hard. "They are fighting for their land whereas we...we..."

  "Are fighting for plunder. Don't be afraid to admit it. What else?"

  Ephras shook his head. "That is all I can think of, general."

  "They are also fighting for pride. We almost beat them last time and we certainly bloodied their noses. They will be looking to avenge their comrades, and that General Paramessu will be looking to wipe out his shame."

  "So do we meet them in battle, sir?"

  "Yes, but at a time and place of my choosing."

  "You have a place in mind, general?"

  "Now, Ephras," Jebu continued as if he had not heard the question, "We must decide how we are going to fight without coming to battle until I am ready." He walked to the flap of his tent, pushing the heavy wool to one side and looking out. The guards standing outside snapped to attention and looked enquiringly at their general. Jebu waved them away and they saluted before turning back to their duties. He looked out on the sea of tents that represented the massed might of Amori and Hatti.

  "Do you remember the old days, Ephras?"

  "Sir?"

  "When I was just a troop leader and we roamed the countryside as we pleased?"

  "Yes, sir. They were hard days."

  "True, but productive also. I lost count of the villages we burned, animals and farmers slaughtered and we accounted for a number of Kemetu soldiers too. Why were we never caught, Ephras?

  The young officer shrugged. "We never stayed around to be caught. As soon as we hit a fort or a farm or a village, we moved on."

  "So our twenty men killed about a hundred or so...and lost a handful. That's pretty good results for any troop of soldiers."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Would you like to do it again?"

  "Er, do what, sir?"

  Jebu sighed. "If I sent you out with say, a hundred men. That's enough to do some real damage but not so many you can't move fast. You take no food or baggage, just live off the land. Could you do it?"

  Ephras nodded slowly. "Of course, but to what end? You'd have me attack villages again?"

  Jebu turned and looked his Lieutenant directly in the eyes. "The Kemetu army."

  Ephras looked at his general carefully, trying to decide if this was a jest he had missed. He reflected on the conversation and decided it must be. Smiling politely, he waited for Jebu to continue.


  "I mean it Ephras. You and twenty other groups disappear into the countryside and harass the enemy. Never attack superior or even equal numbers; never attack where you cannot escape; never continue the attack long enough for reinforcements to come up."

  "And the rest of the army does what exactly?"

  "We divide the main army in two, Hittites and Amorites and we act as the bait, trying to goad the Kemetu army into pursuing one or both of us across Kenaan. An army in pursuit of a fleeing enemy is strung out and has eyes only for the prize ahead."

  "You would run from them?" Ephras asked incredulously.

  "Well, perhaps not run, but at least withdraw fast enough to make them lose their caution. Then, when their attention is fixed on us or the Hittites, the small groups fall on their flanks and their stragglers."

  Ephras frowned, still not sure whether this was an obscure jest or evidence that his general had gone mad. "What would be the point? Our efforts would be a flea bite."

  "If each man in these troops killed two Kemetu and we lost half our men, we would gain a great numerical advantage."

  "Enough to be worthwhile, sir? The enemy will not just stand there and take it."

  "That is what I am counting on." Jebu grinned, his teeth white in his black beard. "You've seen a bull maddened by biting flies in the summer? They are doing it no real hurt but the bull, if tormented long enough, strikes out blindly and without thought at whatever it perceives as its enemy." Jebu came closer and looked calmly into the eyes of his Lieutenant. "The Kemetu generals will be cautious after the last battle, but also eager to avenge their honour. We must drive them to unthinking action. We flee, they pursue, driven mad by our flea bites. When they lash out in anger, we turn and fall on them as a disciplined army. Can you and your men act like fleas, Ephras?"

  Ephras thought it over carefully, then nodded and grinned. "When do we start?"

  ***

  The legions of the Kemetu army moved northward along the coast road. Paramessu had joined up with Djedhor and the legions a little south of Lachish two days before the new moon. The men he brought with him from Zarw, hastily conscripted and almost untrained, presented a motley appearance in front of the disciplined legions. The officers unlimbered their whips and strode among them, picking out the best of them and marching them off into the Hundreds and Fifties of the legions.