The Forest of Myrrh (Imhotep Book 3)

by Jerry Dubs

  “Queen Ati’s home is burning,” Imhotep said to Cheti as he stared at Admiral Ahmose. “Where would she have fled?”

  As Cheti translated for King Parahu, Imhotep leaned to Admiral Ahmose and said softly. “Do not threaten our host. Do not give them any cause to be anything less than totally helpful. We need them and all that they know.”

  Shocked by the command in Imhotep’s voice and demeanor, Admiral Ahmose nodded. He looked up at Imhotep’s eyes – when had he become so tall? – saw the hardness of one who expected to be obeyed, and quickly looked down.

  “King Parahu says that she would have fled to the one place where she could take refuge,” Cheti said as King Parahu turned and gave orders to one of his warriors.

  “Where?’ Imhotep asked.

  “The Forest of Myrrh.”

  “And what order has the king just given?” Imhotep demanded, nodding toward King Parahu. When Cheti hesitated, Imhotep raised his staff and pounded it on the ground by Cheti’s feet. “What orders?” he said, his voice a seething fire.

  Cheti swallowed and said, “He has sent for his daughter.”

  “Why?”

  “The forest is a maze and only Queen Ati and her daughter know its turns.”

  Imhotep nodded. “And what news did you bring?”

  “Our warriors have found the tracks of the invaders. There are twenty-one of them. So far we have found fifteen bodies.”

  “And how soon until the princess – I’m sorry I have forgotten her name?” Imhotep said to Cheti, his anger subsiding as he formed a plan.

  “Princess Tem,” Cheti said.

  Imhotep saw King Parahu glance at Cheti at the mention of his daughter’s name. He nodded to Cheti, who quickly translated for the king.

  “Very good,” Imhotep said when he had finished. “We have forty soldiers. Admiral Ahmose and I will divide them into two groups and begin searching the forest maze. When Princess Tem arrives you will send your men with her.”

  Admiral Ahmose started to speak, but suddenly a scream came from the forest of myrrh on the plateau above the village. The scream was deep and angry, that of a man. Imhotep breathed a sigh of relief and then thought of the greater danger a wounded beast presents.

  With whitened knuckles, Imhotep raised his staff from the ground and began running toward the forest.

  Yuya in Pursuit

  As Yuya’s scream echoed through the air Akila glanced at Queen Ati and said, “I will be right back.” She started to run toward the sound.

  “Follow the path to the right, then the next path to the left,” Queen Ati called after Akila’s receding figure. Then she turned and, leaning forward, moved as quickly as she could toward the burn pit that lay ahead.

  Akila rounded the thickly walled maze corner and saw beneath the starlight a crumpled figure. She stopped and quickly scanned the edges of the path, looking for a hidden attacker. Then she began to run, one hand digging into the shoulder sack for her medical kit.

  Kneeling beside Pharaoh Hatshepsut she felt her knee touch something damp and her mind quickly went to the attack along the river when she had found Isesi dying in a pool of blood. She put her hand on Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s neck, felt a strong pulse. Breathing deeply in relief, she dug a small, plastic cylinder from her med kit. Holding it firmly in her left hand she twisted one end of the cylinder clockwise.

  She brought it to her nose, sniffed at the heavy aroma of ammonia mixed with a few drops of eucalyptus oil. She held the ampule under Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s nose and leaned forward to watch her face.

  As Pharaoh Hatshepsut reflexively jerked her head away from the ammonia, Akila released a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding. Then she leaned down to tell Pharaoh Hatshepsut where she was. Before she could speak, she heard branches break. Looking into the thick maze wall to her right, she saw a giant shadow hacking at the limbs of the smaller myrrh trees.

  When she looked back at Pharaoh Hatshepsut she saw that her eyes were open.

  “We are in the Forest of Myrrh. Someone is pursuing us. Let me help you to your feet, we must hurry,” Akila said in her calmest clinical voice.

  Pharaoh Hatshepsut studied her for a moment, then touched her temple. She brought away bloodied fingers, looked at them a moment and then recognition filled her eyes. She rocked forward and sat up.

  Hearing Yuya attack the branches, Hatshepsut searched the ground for the khopesh, picked it up and then got to her feet. When she struggled to keep her balance, Akila took her arm and nodded down the path.

  “Queen Ati is down that way,” she said, tugging at Pharaoh Hatshepsut, who gripped the khopesh and looked back into the maze wall. Then she allowed herself to be led away.

  - 0 -

  Yuya crashed through the last part of the maze wall, looked left and right and then began running down the path, his eyes following the smudged footprints beneath the starry night sky.

  He had used his loincloth to tie a bandage around his right hand to stem the bleeding, but he was angry at the time it had cost him. He had seen one of the women come back and help the one he had attacked. If he had let his wound bleed ...

  But he wasn’t used to second-guessing himself and the momentary regret quickly dissolved as he jogged forward, the scent of the women growing stronger with each long stride.

  - 0 -

  At the entrance of the forest of myrrh, Imhotep and the sailors, reinforced by Captain Djehuty and the survivors of the five army squads, stared into the darkness.

  “I hope King Parahu’s men bring more torches,” Admiral Ahmose said, glancing at the four torches his men carried.

  “Captain Djehuty,” Imhotep said, “divide the men into eight squads. Make sure there are soldiers in each squad mixed with the sailors.” He turned to Admiral Ahmose. “You take four of the squads, Captain Djehuty will take the others. You go to the right, he will go to the left. When you come to a split in the path, send half of your men in each direction.

  “If you find anything, shout and keep shouting until Captain Djehuty answers. I will wait here for King Parahu and his daughter. Hopefully, she will lead us to the heart of the maze and we will gather any of our men that we pass along the way.”

  - 0 -

  Yuya paused at a fork in the maze path.

  Kneeling, he saw three sets of footprints go in each direction. Impossible.

  As he peered down each path, he felt his hand throb and each beat of pain made him angrier.

  One of the women was injured, one was so huge she couldn’t run. He would run, not jog. He would follow one path and if the steps ended, he would retrace his own steps and take the other path. The diversion would create only a short delay.

  And I will still find them. There is no place for them to go in this tangled forest.

  And then I will kill them slowly so I can watch their kas realize that death is upon them.

  - 0 -

  Akila set the fourth rock in place and then knelt. She scooped up as much dirt as her cupped hands could hold and threw it across the blood-stained yellow robe that was stretched across the path.

  As she threw dirt to cover the robe, Pharaoh Hatshepsut and Queen Ati, both naked and covered with dirt themselves, threw more of the yellow-brown dirt onto the robe.

  The yellow linen that had been the queen’s robe was stretched over a five-foot-deep burn pit that was filled with a loose tangle of dead branches. The women knew that the trap wouldn’t stop Yuya, but it would delay him, perhaps injure him.

  Perhaps it would enrage him so that whatever trap they could find next would be fatal.

  Perhaps it would delay the confrontation until soldiers from the Two Lands could rescue them.

  Perhaps it would just delay their own deaths.

  Akila blinked as she realized that she couldn’t see the robe anymore.

  “Clouds,” Queen Ati said, seeing Akila’s confusion. “Covering the stars,” she said. “Nut is helping us.”

  “Let us hope that Geb will help as well,�
�� Pharaoh Hatshepsut said, nodding toward the hidden pit.

  Akila stood and brushed her hands against her white robe. She hesitated, wondering if she should discard it; it was a beacon, even in this darker night.

  “No,” Pharaoh Hatshepsut said, reading her hesitation. “Leave it on. It is a lure, a lamb to attract a lion.”

  Akila put her hands down from the shoulder straps and began to pick her way carefully along the edge of the path. She felt a thorn tear at her neck. Putting a hand on the fresh cut, she thought that she didn’t like the idea of being the bait in this trap.

  - 0 -

  Seeing Princess Tem, Imhotep realized that he hadn’t spent any time with the king’s children. He remembered seeing the sons, younger, more erect versions of the king. The daughter, he saw now, was a smaller replica of her mother. Her arms and legs were already covered with hanging flesh, her posture already distorted by the extra weight carried in her hips.

  Fortunately, her eyes had the same intelligence as her mother’s, although Princess Tem often looked to the side, deflecting attention.

  “She said that Queen Ati refers to the center of the maze as her sanctuary,” Cheti said.

  Imhotep nodded. Sanctuary was an idea that had survived all ages; men have always dreamed of a place of safety. “Do you know the way there?” he asked Princess Tem.

  She nodded, her eyes staying on Imhotep, gauging his reaction to her.

  The king had arrived with several dozen warriors, some of them bleeding from earlier fights with the Medjay. Seeing Imhotep silently assessing the soldiers, King Parahu spoke to Cheti who translated, “King Parahu said that other soldiers are securing the village and searching for the missing Medjay. What we have is enough.”

  Imhotep nodded and tilted his head toward the maze entrance.

  “Princess?” he said.

  - 0 -

  Yuya sprinted down the path, backtracking from the spot where the footprints had ended.

  He reached the end of the false trail, turned up the unexplored path and began to run faster, his long legs stretching across the rocky soil, absorbing the pounding of his weight, ignoring the occasional stone.

  He had heard the sound of men in the distance and the sky, which had grown darker under a cover of clouds, glowed slightly from torches over to the east. He needed to find the women. He might have to abandon his plan to kill them slowly, but kill them he would.

  The maze turned sharply to the right, and he had to slow his pace to avoid running into the thicket of thorns. Turning up the path, he saw a flash of white, the gown of the woman who had come back to save the woman who had taken his thumb.

  He smiled as he reached into his bag with his left hand. Still running, he transferred a rock from his left hand to his right. He nestled the rock into his grip above the bloody linen, gripped it with his four fingers and leaned forward to run faster. He wanted a clear shot at the woman.

  In midstride, moving like a desert lion, he saw that the ground ahead, where he would land, was smoother, without footprints. Airborne, unable to change direction, he saw patches of yellow in the ground.

  Then his foot landed. It pushed against the thin linen, the rocks holding the material rolled away and he descended into the burn pit, crumpling into a forest of thorns.

  From the Pit

  Panting, looking for somewhere to sit, Queen Ati paused in a circular clearing in the center of the forest.

  “Which way? Where is the pathway?” Pharaoh Hatshepsut asked, her back to the queen as she looked down the path they had just traveled. Although she listened for the sound of approaching footsteps, she hoped to hear the sound of a man in agony.

  “There is no more path,” Queen Ati said, leaning forward to rest her hands on her thickly fleshed knees.

  “What do you mean?” Akila asked, going to the queen and putting a hand on her wrist to check her pulse. Even though she pressed hard into the arm, she couldn’t get past the mass of flesh that covered the queen’s wrist.

  Queen Ati turned her head to Akila and panted, “This is the very center of the maze. There is no more.” Then she glanced at Akila’s hand on her wrist.

  Akila gave her a last, friendly squeeze and withdrew her hand.

  Suddenly a heavy scream came from the pathway. It began as a roar of anger and aggression and then changed into a howl of agony. Then silence.

  Pharaoh Hatshepsut backed deeper into the clearing.

  “We must make ready,” she said. “When he climbs from the pit, his pain will be turned to anger and his anger to strength. He will charge onto us in a blind rush. We must use it.”

  - 0 -

  Imhotep and King Parahu stood beside Princess Tem. Kneeling beside her Cheti lowered his torch to the ground, which was covered with footprints, drops of blood, and a single scrap of yellow linen.

  In front of them was a gap in the maze wall. Broken branches hung from the trees, one of the low-lying scrub trees had been torn from the ground and the path was trampled with footprints mixed with more blood.

  “There are signs of the three women, but only one man,” Cheti told King Parahu and then Imhotep.

  Imhotep touched one of the tree branches, testing how hard it would be to snap. Then he touched the point of a thorn, drawing his finger away quickly and sucking blood from the small puncture.

  Looking at the path of destruction through the maze wall he shook his head. He couldn’t imagine the strength, the determination, the willingness to endure pain that it must have taken to pass through there.

  “Why here?” he asked. Cheti translated to Princess Tem who pointed through the opening as she answered.

  Cheti turned to Imhotep and said, “It was a secret passage from one pathway to the next, a way to get through the maze quickly. Known only to Queen Ati and Princess Tem.”

  While they spoke, King Parahu’s warriors crowded close to them, shaking their heads at the broken pathway and muttering to each other.

  “Do any of you speak my language?” Imhotep asked. Two of the men stepped forward. “Please go back to the beginning of the maze, then follow the other pathways to find the soldiers from the Two Lands.” As he spoke he handed them his staff. “Show them this and tell them that Imhotep wants them to follow you. Bring them back here and follow our trail.”

  One of the men took the staff and then they looked to King Parahu. Cheti had translated Imhotep’s orders for the king who nodded his head. The men turned and ran back down the pathway.

  Imhotep looked at the huge bare footprints on the ground, imagined the size of the man who was chasing the women and then limped into the broken opening.

  He froze after a single step as an otherworldly roar of pain filled the air.

  Although it ended suddenly, Imhotep knew that it wasn’t a death scream; it was filled with pain, but it also sounded of anger.

  Whatever beast was pursuing the women, it was injured and angered.

  Leaning forward, Imhotep ignored the pain in his leg as he pushed through the thorny opening, leading the rescue party deeper into the maze.

  - 0 -

  A thousand knives cut his back and chest. A thousand more buried themselves in his feet and legs. His left foot landed against a rock and a different pain shot through his ankle. His long hair snagged on other branches and clumps of it pulled from his head as he tried to stand.

  Clouds covered the stars and Yuya was blinded by the darkness, by the dirt pit wall before him and by a surging rage.

  Standing awkwardly he pushed himself to his toes, feeling thorns stab into his feet. He was able to rest his elbows on the ground above the pit, but there was nothing within reach to grab.

  He leaned his weight on his arms and raised himself from the pit. Suddenly the ground beneath his arms crumbled and he fell back into the pit, the thorns and broken branches cutting into him again. He kept his eyes closed and crossed his arms in front of his face to protect them.

  He saw blackness and in it the image of the three women.
/>   They had set this trap.

  His fall ended and he got back to his feet. The pain of the thorns was part of his life now. The grinding of bone on bone of his left foot shot a deeper warning through his body, but he ignored that as well.

  He would escape this pit and he would wrap his hands around the necks of the women and he would crush the life from them.

  He leaned against the ground above the other side of the pit. On his toes, pushing his naked body against the thorns and stretching, stretching, he could touch the trunk of a tree. Stretching and reaching, his fingers found purchase and he pulled himself through the agony and onto firm ground.

  He got to his feet only to collapse when his left leg buckled in pain.

  Rising again, he pushed his left foot against the ground, felt the bones grind, accepted the pain and looked up the pathway where the women had fled.

  Jaws clenched, he dragged himself forward.

  - 0 -

  Pharaoh Hatshepsut backed close to the maze wall facing the opening.

  “He will come through there,” she said. “His vision will be narrowed by pain, focused on revenge. He is a giant and he is a man, so he will be doubly confident that he is stronger than any of us, than all of us together.

  “And he will be right.”

  She looked around the clearing trying to find something to use to their advantage. By the entrance she saw a pile of brush. She ran to it and began to pull the thorny branches away from the maze wall.

  Queen Ati and Akila joined her.

  “We must create a hiding place here,” she said, focusing on finding the best way to move the branches without cutting herself.

  “He will find us,” Akila said.

  “Only one of us will hide here,” Pharaoh Hatshepsut said. “I will stand there,” she said, nodding to the space across from the opening. “He will see me and charge me.” She thought of the attack so many years ago when she had served as a lure for the Medjays and Bata had lain in wait for them.