Kashta put his hand on Ramose’s shoulder. “She has her own life to live.”
Ramose got to his feet. “I’m exhausted.”
Kashta nodded. “It’s been a long day.”
Ramose went back to the hut where Hapu was snoring loudly. There was no one guarding the hut, but he was too tired to think about escaping. He lay down wearily, pulling the smelly animal skin around him. It wasn’t enough to keep him warm. Hapu turned in his sleep.
“I thought you were going to stay up all night,” he said sleepily.
“I’ve been talking to Kashta,” said Ramose.
Hapu opened one eye. “You shouldn’t be so friendly with the enemy,” he complained. “It’s not good military strategy.”
Ramose laughed. “We’ll see. Sooner or later he’ll realise that I’m not a useful hostage and then I hope instead of slitting our throats he’ll just let us go.”
Part of him was feeling sad that Karoya had appeared so briefly only to disappear, probably forever. But there was also a part of him that was pleased, pleased that he’d made some headway with Kashta. He felt that it was only a matter of time until the rebel let them go.
8
THE VOICE OF RA
Ramose was woken by bright sunlight in his face. He felt like he hadn’t been asleep for long, yet the sun was burning his skin. He opened his eyes. The light was glaring. Usually there were just thin bars of light between the sticks and twigs that made up the hut. Ramose suddenly realised why there was more sunlight than usual. The door of the hut was wide open.
Hapu was still snoring softly. Ramose got up and went to the door. There was no guard. He went out into the full sun. The sun was just over the fort wall. Half of the cleared area was in sunlight, the other half was still in shade. No one else was awake. Ramose looked up at the battlements. There was no lookout. The only two rebels in sight were both asleep: one facedown in a pile of straw, the other curled up like a cat on a length of animal skin. They were both in the shaded half of the fort. Ramose didn’t have long. The line where the shadow met the sunlight was creeping towards the rebel sleeping on the animal skin.
He ducked back into the hut and shook Hapu.
“Is it my shift at the oars?” he asked sleepily.
Ramose put his hand over his friend’s mouth.
“Wake up, Hapu,” he whispered. “The door of the hut is open. The rebels are still sleeping. We can escape.”
Hapu blinked a few times and then got to his feet. The two boys crept out of the hut.
“We’ll need water,” whispered Hapu.
Ramose stopped. He looked at the water jars which were in the shaded half of the fort over near Kashta’s hut. He looked at the gate. The huge wooden doors had fallen from their hinges many years before. They leaned at angles up against the crumbling gateway. The world outside was visible between them. The advancing sunlight was less than a cubit from the rebel curled up on the animal skin. As soon as the hot sunlight reached him, he would wake. It was only a day’s march to the river. They had walked much further without water before. Ramose turned to Hapu and shook his head. It was too risky.
They crept towards the gateway, glancing anxiously over their shoulders at every second step. The gateway towered over them. Ramose couldn’t believe their luck. Was Ra on his side at last? Had the great god forgiven him?
There was still no sign of movement within the fort. Hapu turned to Ramose. The two boys grinned at each other. They walked faster, passing under the gateway. They started to run. Ramose glanced back one last time. He turned away from the fort and ran straight into something.
Someone.
It was a man, a huge man with black skin wearing nothing but a leopard skin loincloth. He wasn’t the only one. Another had a hold of Hapu.
Rough unfriendly hands bound Ramose’s wrists and ankles tightly with strips of animal hide. He was dragged back inside the fort between two men and forced to his knees in front of a third. Hapu was pushed down beside him. The sound of shouting had woken Kashta and his rebels. They drifted sleepily from their huts. When they saw the newcomers, they looked as frightened as Ramose and Hapu.
Six men stood in front of them. They were Kushites the same as Kashta, but older and meaner-looking. They stared down at Hapu and Ramose with grim faces. Kashta came over to the men with his head bowed. One of the men, who looked like the leader, ripped Ramose’s medallion from around his neck and started shouting at Kashta. Ramose couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying. Kashta replied meekly. He tried to say something in reply, but the man cut him off angrily.
Kashta turned to Ramose. “Psaro says that he will give the pharaoh another two weeks to reply to my demands. After that he will cut off one of your fingers for every week that Egyptian soldiers remain in Kush.”
Ramose looked up in horror at Kashta.
“The message would have barely reached Thebes,” he protested. “It would take another four weeks at least to get a reply and anyway, I’ve told you, my sister doesn’t care about me.”
“I’ve told my father this,” said Kashta miserably. “He won’t listen.”
Ramose had guessed that Psaro and his men were the real rebels. He hadn’t realised that this rebel leader was also Kashta’s father.
Hapu sat in the prison hut with his arms folded across his chest, his fingers hidden in his armpits.
“He’s bluffing isn’t he?” he said. “He wouldn’t really cut off our fingers.”
“It’s my fingers he’s planning to cut off, not yours,” replied Ramose. “And I don’t think he’s bluffing at all. He means it.”
Hapu peeped out between the twigs that made up the door to their prison. Outside there was a burly guard with a dagger and an axe hanging from his belt. Up on the battlements two lookouts were patrolling with bows.
“We should have made more of an effort to escape before.”
Ramose wiggled his fingers nervously. Escaping from Kashta’s young rebels suddenly seemed ridiculously easy. Escaping from the real rebels seemed impossible.
The days passed slowly. Ramose and Hapu were kept locked in the stifling hut all day. At nightfall, they were allowed out for a few minutes, given a meagre meal and then locked up again. They were always hungry and the hut stank of urine.
During the days they could hear sounds of activity. More rebels arrived. Each evening they emerged from their prison to find the darkened fort more and more in order. Kashta’s boys had only cleared a small space among the sand drifts inside the fort and built a few ramshackle huts. The rebels had now cleared all the area and were rebuilding the collapsed mud brick barracks. Every evening the piles of stores were bigger than they had been the evening before, more of the gateway had been repaired and a team of weary men returned from outside the fort. Ramose guessed that they were digging a surrounding trench. This wasn’t just a temporary camp for the rebels: it was going to be their headquarters.
Ramose hungrily ate the bread and meat that they had been given for their evening meal. He’d eaten worse food on his travels, but there just wasn’t enough to satisfy his hunger.
“It’s been thirteen days since Psaro and his men arrived,” said Ramose.
Hapu nodded miserably. Ramose inspected his fingers in the fast dimming light. He had no doubts that Psaro’s threat was serious. He had tried hard to think of a way that they could escape. Every day he’d racked his brain, but it was impossible. There were too many rebels and, unlike Kashta’s boys, they were well disciplined.
Ramose woke from a terrible dream about a dagger dripping blood. In the dream, he’d been too frightened to look down to see if a finger was missing. He opened his eyes. He could just make out his fingers in the light from the rebels’ fire. As far as he could tell, they were all there. Psaro was talking to his men. Ramose had no idea what he was saying, but from the tone, it sounded like he was explaining some sort of plan or strategy.
Suddenly Ramose heard another voice. A louder voice. It sounded like it was coming down from the sky
. It had a strange unearthly sound to it. He thought that he must be still asleep. The voice spoke again. Ramose couldn’t understand what it was saying. He sat up and shook Hapu awake.
“Something’s happening,” he said.
As Hapu stirred sleepily, Ramose looked through the cracks in the wall of the hut. There was a bright light shining down into the fort courtyard. Shadows played back and forth like ghosts. The voice spoke again, even more loudly. There was a frightened murmur outside the hut. The rebels were all looking up at the light, shielding their eyes from its brilliance.
A bright white figure was hovering above the wall of the fort. It had a hawk head and long white robes which whipped and flapped in the growing breeze.
“It’s Ra,” whispered Ramose. It was weeks since the sun had disappeared and Ramose had promised to do his duty and serve Egypt. He hadn’t kept his promise. He hadn’t even managed to escape from the rebels.
Hapu peered through the branches that made up the hut wall. “You were right, Ramose,” he said in a frightened voice. “Ra is angry with us. Now he’s come to kill us.”
Ramose broke away some twigs trying to get a better view. He could see the sharp beak of the hawk head in the light. The blank eyes looked down, scanning the rebels huddled below as if searching for someone. Ramose thought he knew who the sun-god was looking for. Ra raised his arms. White robes flapped from them like giant wings. The voice boomed out again. Karoya had taught Ramose a few words of Kushite, but he couldn’t make out any of what the god had said.
Whatever it was, it had an effect on the rebels. They all fell to their knees and bowed their heads to the ground.
“He’s speaking in the language of Kush,” Ramose said. “He must be telling the rebels to bring us to him.”
There was a noise outside the hut. The door suddenly flew open. Kashta was standing outside.
“Come with me,” he said. He had a sheet of bark in his hand, rolled in the shape of a cone.
“No!” cried Hapu. “We won’t. We’re not ready to die.”
“I’m helping you escape,” he said. “Quick. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Hapu and Ramose didn’t move.
“You saved my life. Now I am saving yours,” the rebel said to Ramose. “You have to trust me.”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Hapu. “It’s a trick.”
Ramose had no idea what the rebel was doing, but he jumped to his feet and followed Kashta. Hapu hesitated, but then followed his friend. Kashta ran to a set of newly repaired steps that led up to the battlements. The rebels were all on their knees, even Psaro, muttering prayers to Ra.
“Up here,” he said breathlessly. “You’ll find a rope at the top where you’ll be able to let yourself down over the wall.”
“Then where will we go?” asked Hapu.
“Ra will guide you,” said Kashta, his face flashing with a sudden smile. He grasped Ramose’s arm. “Good luck.”
Ra hadn’t spoken since Kashta had come to the prison hut. The rebels, unused to saying prayers, were running out of things to say to the god. Ramose and Hapu ran up the steps. Just as Kashta had said, there was a rope secured to one of the battlements. It disappeared over the side of the wall. Hapu pulled it, testing its weight. He let himself down over the side. Ramose glanced down into the fort. Psaro was looking up at them. He struggled to his feet with an angry roar.
Ramose grabbed hold of the rope and followed Hapu. As he lowered himself over the edge, he looked over at the figure of Ra, its arms still outstretched. He could see that the light was coming from two flaming torches. Ra turned towards him. The white-robed figure dropped its arms and moved towards him along the top of the wall, drifting towards him in its flapping white robes. Ramose scrambled to lower himself over the side, burning his hands in his hurry to get down. He looked up. The white figure of the god was climbing down the rope after him. Ramose lost his grip and fell the rest of the way, almost ten cubits, landing on top of Hapu. The two boys collapsed in a heap. They struggled to their feet, just as the god landed lightly beside them.
“That was a very undignified exit,” said the god, in a familiar voice.
It lifted off its hawk head, revealing the smiling face of Karoya beneath it. Ramose and Hapu stood staring in amazement. The sounds of angry voices coming from the gateway told them that the rebels knew they had been duped.
Ramose and Hapu both started to ask questions at once.
“We must go,” said Karoya, throwing off the long robes. “Quick. This way.”
9
BETWEEN WORLDS
Karoya disappeared into the night. Ramose and Hapu hurried after her. Ramose had no idea where she was leading them. He didn’t really care as long as it was away from the rebels. Ramose soon lost his sense of direction. He assumed Karoya would be heading for the river, but several hours later, when the first light started to lighten the eastern horizon, Ramose could see no sign of the river. The sky turned pink and Karoya still kept going.
When the sun had risen and the sky was bright, she finally came to a stop. Ramose looked up at the sun. It had been two weeks since he’d seen the sun’s disc unbarred by the branches of his prison.
“We can’t stay out in the daylight,” Karoya said.
She clambered over a rocky outcrop and then disappeared. Ramose and Hapu followed her into a small cave. Inside the cave, a single oil lamp was burning. When their eyes got used to the dim light, the boys could see that Karoya had been living in the cave for some time. There was a store of food and the glowing remains of a small fire. She rekindled the fire and prepared some food.
“I thought you really were a god come to Earth,” said Hapu, burning his tongue on the hot bread that Karoya handed to him.
“Where did you get the hawk mask and the robes?” Ramose blew on his bread to cool it.
“Sometime ago, the rebels ambushed a boat that was taking supplies to a temple at Tombos They took the food, but they had no use for the priest’s robes.”
“And how did you make your voice sound so deep and loud?” asked Hapu. “That’s what convinced me it really was Ra.”
Karoya smiled. “That wasn’t my voice. It was Kashta’s. He made himself sound louder by speaking through a cone of bark.”
Ramose nodded. “Very clever.”
“How did you know where we were?”
“News travels fast among the people of Kush.”
“We didn’t see any people, apart from Kashta’s rebels.”
“Kushites prefer to keep away from Egyptians. We are very good at blending into the landscape.”
“And how did you get Kashta to help?”
“I came into the camp with some serving women. I spoke to Kashta then. Kashta never wanted you to come to harm. He agreed to help me free you.”
After the food, Hapu soon fell asleep in the dry grass that Karoya had collected for them to sleep on. Ramose knew he should have felt tired, he’d been walking all night. His legs ached from the unaccustomed exertion, but he was wide awake.
“I thought you were walking away forever when I saw you at the gold mine.”
“I didn’t have time to explain.”
“I knew you’d seen me, but it was like you were looking right through me.”
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do then.”
Ramose looked up at Karoya.
“You mean you were considering walking away forever?”
“I had been captured as a slave to labour in a mine, probably till I died of exhaustion. I wanted to get as far away from Egyptians as possible.”
“Including me.”
“I knew you’d be able to get away from Kashta eventually.”
“What changed your mind?”
“I was about to head into the desert, when I overheard some men who were going to join Psaro’s rebels. They said they were going to the fort where Psaro’s son was holding an Egyptian prince captive.”
She put out her tiny fire with a handful of sand.
“I was sure Kashta would not harm you, but I had heard stories of Psaro’s cruelty.”
Ramose glanced down at his hands resting on his knees. He wiggled his fingers.
“You’ve saved me again, Karoya.”
Karoya smiled. “It seems every time I turn my back, you get yourself into some trouble or other.”
Ramose lay down in the soft, sweet-smelling grass. When he awoke he’d have to decide what to do next. He’d have to head out into the dangerous world again. For the moment, he could enjoy the feeling of safety and comfort for the first time in weeks. He had everything he needed in the cool cave. He was asleep in moments.
No one was in a hurry to leave the security of the cave the following day. It was the first time the three friends had been together for a long time. While Karoya’s store of food held out, they were all content to rest in the coolness and talk about old times. In the evening, Ramose ventured out to look at the stars. For the moment, he didn’t miss the sun.
It was Hapu who was the first to face his responsibilities. “I have to get back to the river,” he said.
“Where will you go?” asked Ramose.
“I’ll continue on to Sai,” he replied. “I’ll join another battalion there.”
“Do you still want to fight the rebels?” asked Ramose.
“I’m a soldier in Pharaoh’s army. I’m not free to wander around as I please. If I am commanded to fight them, I will.” Hapu looked at his friend. “What about you, Ramose?”
“Now that I know Karoya is safe, I’ll go back to Thebes,” he said. “I have to be there to advise my brother.”
Ramose’s purpose had been clear to him since the day of Ra’s disappearance. Ra was angry with him because he wasn’t doing his duty as a royal son of Egypt. His job was simple. It was to protect the young pharaoh, to support him through the difficult time when he was too young to rule alone. He had to make sure that Hatshepsut didn’t quash the boy’s spirit and take control.
“I’m the same as you, Hapu,” he said. “I can’t just wander around wherever I want. I also have my duty to Egypt.”
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