The Forest of Myrrh (Imhotep Book 3)

by Jerry Dubs

  “No, brother, not just men, warriors.” He nodded toward the doorway and the hallways beyond it. “Our palace guard are the old and weak, or the young and untrained, the ones we left behind when we formed the militia.”

  Threshen thought for a moment and then said, “No, Imhotep was too frightened. He’s home crying to his wife about it. The hyenas ... did you see his face? No, he won’t be back, not until he gets drunk and then gets a good night’s sleep. By then our army will be here.”

  Threshen cocked his head as he studied his older brother. “Don’t be so afraid, Sabni.” Then he smiled, turned toward the doorway and shouted, “Hemaka!”

  A guard entered the chamber.

  “Check on my prisoner and let me know if he’s awake. Oh, and send one of the girls to me.” He turned to Sabni. Pulling aside his kilt to reveal an erection, he said, “My encounter with Imhotep was stimulating.” He looked at his older brother and asked, “Do you want a girl for yourself?”

  “No,” Sabni said, shaking his head as he moved toward the doorway. “Hemaka,” he shouted. “You fetch a girl for the governor. I’ll check on the prisoner.”

  Threshen smiled and held out the bloodied whip. “Here, brother.”

  Sabni shook his head again and lumbered off into the shadows.

  - 0 -

  Trying to keep up with Kewab and the two soldiers, Imhotep walked as fast as he could.

  They had decided to send two of the four soldiers with Meryt and Maya to wait by the river. The soldiers were ordered to prepare the boat so they could leave as soon as Imhotep and Kewab returned.

  “You say he has two hyenas?” Kewab said, pausing to let Imhotep catch up.

  “Yes,” Imhotep said.

  “They are ugly,” one of the soldiers said as they resumed their rapid pace, drawing nearer to the palace.

  The other nodded. “They’ll kill their own young.”

  “Fiercer than a lion, that’s what I heard,” the first soldier said.

  “Like everything else, they bleed,” Kewab said, trying to reassure his men.

  The soldier grunted agreement as they reached the entrance to the palace.

  The greasy faced guard who had led Imhotep to his audience with Threshen stood in front of the doorway.

  “The governor is busy,” the guard said, taking a wide stance to block the door.

  “Not for the vizier,” Kewab said moving close to the guard, who was little more than a boy.

  “I’ll announce you,” the guard said, turning toward the door.

  Kewab grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. “We’ll announce ourselves,” he said.

  - 0 -

  Uncertain which of the girls had been with Governor Threshen last, Hemaka had brought him two girls. They were on their hands and knees before him now, facing away from him as he pondered which looked better from that angle.

  Behind Governor Threshen the hyenas rested, curled on the floor as far from the light as the rope tethers allowed. With the room still dimly lit, Governor Threshen had ordered Hemaka to stand beside the girls with a torch.

  One of the girls was Hemaka’s cousin and although he had seen her naked all of her childhood – and she was only nine years old now, still a child, he thought – seeing her presented like an animal made Hemaka sad. He avoided looking at her, but found he had trouble looking at Governor Threshen, too.

  There was a hunger in the governor’s eyes that made Hemaka sick.

  Suddenly there was a shout from the hallway and then a dull thud as someone’s head struck the stone floor.

  “Hold the torch steady,” Governor Threshen said, ignoring the sound. As Hemaka started to turn his attention away from the doorway he saw movement.

  Three soldiers entered the room, followed by Imhotep.

  The soldier in front turned to Imhotep who pointed to Governor Threshen and said, “Governor Threshen, I order you to submit and come with us.”

  Hemaka turned to Governor Threshen, expecting to see the young governor shaking with fear. Instead Governor Threshen began to scream at Imhotep.

  “This is my palace, in my nome,” Threshen said. “You have no right to be here, no right to say anything to me. My family has ruled this nome for four generations. It is our destiny. And you, you are an outlander, not even of the Two Lands. You are less than dirt beneath my feet. I order you to submit to me. Kneel before me! No,” he started to laugh, “get on your hands and knees like these girls.”

  Shouting now at Hemaka, Governor Threshen said, “Seize him!”

  Hemaka looked from Governor Threshen to Imhotep and the three soldiers. He was armed with a small, stone knife. Two of the soldiers carried bronze-tipped spears. The third had a knife in his hands now. Its blade was wide and its tip glinted in the flickering light. Even Imhotep carried a heavy staff and he looked angry enough to have the energy to use it, Hemaka thought.

  Carrying the torch in his left hand and tugging at the knife that was secured in the waistband of his loincloth, Hemaka took a hesitant step toward Imhotep.

  “This is ridiculous,” Imhotep said in English pushing between the soldiers.

  “Get up and leave this place, go back to your families,” he said to the two girls. Then turning to Hemaka he said, “And you, you stay right there. There are three soldiers here, don’t come any closer or you’ll get hurt.”

  As the girls scrambled to their feet, Imhotep stepped toward Governor Threshen, who was slowly retreating into the shadows. “Where is Bata?”

  Threshen continued to back away.

  “Seize him!” Imhotep said to Kewab. The captain nodded his head and the two soldiers began to walk across the room.

  The girls scrambled to their feet beside Hemaka, who stood uncertainly holding the torch, his feet frozen in fear. With the soldiers just a few feet from him Governor Threshen stooped, his hand moved briefly as he chopped at something and then he kicked into the shadows.

  There was a frozen moment as everyone turned to the sound, an unearthly wailing interrupted by a strange, coughing laugh. Governor Threshen shouted something again and then he began to laugh.

  From the shadows came the sound of claws scraping on stone and the hyenas emerged from the darkness, their hips low to the floor, their bulging shoulders high as they broke into a loping run.

  Hemaka, who had seen what the hyenas’ teeth could do, dropped his torch and ran. The girls, turning at the sound, screamed and ran toward the doorway, knocking into the soldiers who had crouched, their spears pointed, their eyes locked on the charging beasts.

  “He is escaping,” Imhotep said, grabbing at Kewab’s arm and pointing across the room at the back of Governor Threshen who was running now.

  The girls began to scream as they clung to the soldiers who were trying to shrug them off so they could defend themselves from the hyenas. The beasts had slowed and were barking their strange laugh as they walked in a slow arc to encircle the men.

  “Imhotep,” a faint voice called from behind them.

  Turning his back on the hyenas, Imhotep looked toward the voice. He saw a familiar figure sitting against the wall outside the room. “Bata!” he shouted, running toward his friend.

  Bata was sitting on the hallway floor, slumped forward. Kneeling by him, Imhotep put his hand on Bata’s shoulder and then jerked it away when Bata winced. In the dim light, Imhotep saw Bata’s back was criss-crossed with lines of blood. He remembered the whip in Threshen’s hand and twisted toward the doorway to shout again at Kewab to go after Threshen.

  As he turned he saw a flash of bare legs as the two girls ran screaming past him. They were followed by the hyenas who had dashed past the soldiers. Attracted by the smell of Bata’s blood, the hyenas skidded to a halt on the stone.

  Imhotep stood, shielding Bata with his body, and began to swing his walking stick like a club at the hyenas. The staff connected against the shoulder of one of the hyenas who turned his shaggy head and clutched the staff in his jaws. As Imhotep pulled on the staff, the seco
nd animal lunged at him.

  Imhotep dropped his staff. Bringing his hands up, he grabbed at the matted fur on the lunging beast’s neck. But the hyena easily pushed past him and he felt its breath on his face for a moment and then suddenly the beast screamed and fell away.

  Lowering his hands Imhotep saw one of the soldiers standing over the fallen animal, his spear pinning the writhing animal to the floor. The other hyena, barking madly, turned and ran down the hallway toward the entrance.

  “Be careful with his back,”Imhotep said as Kewab joined him and bent over Bata.

  Kewab motioned for the second soldier to take Bata’s other arm and together they eased him to his feet.

  “Did Threshen escape?” Imhotep asked, looking over his shoulder.

  Kewab turned to him angrily. “My orders are to protect you and your family. Would you rather I had my men chase after Threshen or ... ” he nodded at the dying hyena.

  Imhotep sighed. “Yes, yes,” he said quickly. “I am sorry, Kewab. Thank you.”

  He turned to Bata and put a hand on his friend’s cheek. “What have they done to you, Bata?”

  Bata shook his head. “It was Threshen. He killed Hetephernebti. I know everything.” He stopped and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he looked at Imhotep and said, “I found Tarset, too. She is safe.”

  Imhotep gently cupped his friend’s head and then leaned forward so that their foreheads touched.

  “Now, let’s take care of you,” Imhotep said.

  When he backed away Bata grinned at him and then his head sagged as he lost consciousness.

  In Flight

  “We’ll get Bata to the boat, then go back and arrest Threshen,” Imhotep said as they hurried through the strangely quiet streets toward the river.

  Kewab looked at Imhotep in disbelief.

  “No, we will get to the boat. We will get on the boat and we will sail to Waset as I was ordered.”

  “No,” Imhotep started to argue, then he stopped, his attention diverted by a slinking shape in the shadows of the market. He looked around to see if anyone else had seen the hyena but Kewab and the soldiers were focused on the road ahead, rushing toward the river as quickly as they could.

  “Kewab is right,” Bata said, raising his head from the shoulder of one of the soldiers who was half carrying, half dragging him down the street. “Sabni told me that there are soldiers coming. An entire army at his brother’s command. We must get away from here. Are Meryt and Maya safe?” he asked urgently.

  “Yes, they should already be at the river,” Imhotep said quickly.

  They walked quietly for a moment and then Imhotep swore in English and said beneath his breath, “I never should have let Akila and Hapu leave.”

  - 0 -

  “Something is wrong,” Hapu said as she stepped from the boat onto the soft bank of the river outside Qesy.

  There were no reed boats dragged ashore, no women doing laundry in the river, no children splashing in the shallows.

  Akila, her attention focused on searching for solid ground as she stepped ashore, said, “What do you mean?”

  Behind her, the soldier named Baufra, a serious, gaunt man, said, “We should leave.”

  Baufra had a deep voice that seemed to echo through his entire body as he spoke. In another time, Akila thought, he could be a news reader, someone whose voice gave authority to even the slightest gossip.

  “I mean it should be noisy here,” Hapu said, answering Akila’s question. “We didn’t see any boats on the river. Haven’t you noticed that we didn’t see a single trader or fisherman?”

  Akila nodded, although she had been more focused on how familiar the scenery had looked. The river was basically unchanged from her time, dark brown, quiet, and never ending. The desert was the same reddish dun, the air quivered with heat beneath the midafternoon sun, and the lines of palm trees stood with the same indifference to the people and animals below them.

  A timeless world, she thought, feeling insignificant.

  Hapu reached firmer ground and then looking toward the village she began to run.

  “Go with her,” Baufra told Isesi, the other soldier Kewab had sent with Akila and Hapu, as he stooped to drag the boat higher onto the sloping bank.

  He shook his head at Akila’s offer to help pull the boat, so she turned and picked her way to a grassy patch. Looking toward the village Akila saw that there was no smoke rising from cook fires, no tethered goats bending over cropped grass, no children chasing each other through the open spaces.

  There weren’t even any ducks along the river.

  Now at the edge of the village, Hapu began calling her aunt’s name. Behind her Isesi, short and broad shouldered, started sprinting and shouting her name. Hapu stopped and waited for Isesi, who leaned close to talk quietly when he reached her.

  Suddenly Akila felt a hand on her shoulder.

  “We must be careful now,” Baufra said in his gravelly voice.

  Akila shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  In answer Baufra put his hand to his mouth. “No noise,” he said.

  Looking back at the village, Akila saw that Hapu and Isesi had disappeared past the tilted mud huts that lined the edge of the settlement. Overhead a lone vulture wheeled in a slowly descending circle over the village. As Akila watched, three more of the birds joined the circle, their black-edged wings spread wide as they rode the thermal updraft.

  Baufra tapped her shoulder again and nodded toward the village. Hapu and Isesi were walking quickly, quietly toward them. Baufra started to push the boat back into the water and Hapu said, “They’re gone, Akila.”

  “Who?”

  “Everyone. My aunt and uncle, their children. The entire village is empty.”

  “Where did they go?”

  Hapu shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Isesi said, “There is no one there.”

  Baufra nodded toward the circling vultures and Isesi nodded quietly.

  “We should hurry,” Baufra said.

  As the women got on board the small boat, Isesi unfurled the sail and began to tie its lower edge to the bottom spar.

  Seeing the sail, Akila said, “What are you doing, we’re going back to Ineb-Hedj, aren't we?”

  His back to her as he worked, Baufra said, “No, we sail to Waset.”

  - 0 -

  “He killed Hetephernebti and then he told Tarset to run away or he would tell everyone that she had killed Hetephernebti,” Bata said as he lay on his stomach on the boat. “He was raping the girl.”

  Imhotep had gently cleaned Bata’s back, wincing at the depth of some of the cuts, and then wrapped them with strips torn from the newest kilt Meryt had packed for him.

  “I don’t have any ointment for them, but once we catch up with Akila she will have something that will help,” Imhotep said, sitting back and massaging his own neck.

  Bata turned on his side and pushed himself up to sit.

  “Wait,” Imhotep said, “I’m not clear. Did you say Threshen was raping Hetephernebti?”

  “No, he was attacking the girl, Tarset,” Bata said. Little Maya sat beside him, her eyes wet with tears, and took his hand.

  “I’m sorry you are hurt,” she said.

  Bata forced a smile. “It will pass, Maya. Could you get me a pillow?”

  Pillows, linen bags stuffed with feathers and rags, were one of the first things Imhotep had introduced to ancient Egypt. Bata had quickly grown fond of the feel of them under his head.

  He turned his attention back to Imhotep. “Sabni the hunchback freed me. Then he told Tarset to lead me out of the palace. We were passing outside the throne room when I heard your voice. Tarset is afraid of Threshen, and then she saw the hyenas, so I told her to run away.”

  Maya returned with a pillow and gently slid it behind Bata’s head. She stood beside him and put her hands on her hips to examine him, mimicking Akila, Imhotep realized.

  “I think my patient needs beer,” she announced.
r />   Bata laughed and nodded. “I think your patient has a wise doctor,” he said.

  Shaking his head, Imhotep grunted as he sat beside Bata. “Start at the beginning, when you first went to the palace,” he said.

  Meryt sat beside him and Kewab, satisfied that they were safely away from Ineb-Hedj, joined the small circle. Maya gave Bata a small pot of beer and then snuggled next to him, looking curiously at the bandages on his back.

  “Nekaure, he’s Kanefer’s nephew, led me into the back of the palace and then I was hit on the head. When I woke I was pressed against a stone column, my arms around it with my wrists tied together. Then Threshen started to whip me.” Bata took a sip of beer, nodded to Maya. “This is delicious.”

  She giggled. “It is your beer, Bata.”

  “I know,” he said with a wink. He took another drink. Wiping his mouth and sighing with pleasure, he returned to his story.

  “I must have passed out. The next thing I remember is Sabni splashing water on my face. Imagine my fear, Imhotep, when I woke to find a hunchback beside me. I could see his eyes were sad but he was kind. Imagine! And Tarset was there. I knew right away that it was her.

  “Sabni helped me to my feet and told me that he would delay his brother so that I could escape. He said that we should all leave because Threshen’s army is returning. They are in revolt against the king, Imhotep,” Bata said.

  “How many men does he have?” Kewab asked.

  Bata shook his head. “I don’t know. But Tarset told me that Threshen has been secretly meeting with all the governors of the Lower House. He was in Iunu to meet with Governor Sennedjem when he saw Tarset. He followed her into the Temple of Re one night and then dragged her to the storage room to rape her.

  “Tarset said that Hetephernebti saved her. She interrupted Threshen and ordered him to leave. But he hit her and she fell against the jars. Then he told Tarset to run away. Sabni had followed his brother and was waiting outside the temple. He caught Tarset as she was running away. He kept her safe.”

  - 0 -