by Wilbur Smith
I gasped to hear the sheer arrogance of the reply. A retort rose to my lips, but I bit down hard upon it. The entire army of Egypt together with that of Lacedaemon were listening with full attention. Almost three thousand men. I was not disposed to follow that line of discussion.
‘Pharaoh is most gracious,’ I replied. The Heroes’ Gate swung ponderously open.
‘Come along with me, you unnamed person standing with me,’ I told Hurotas grimly. Shoulder to shoulder, hands gripping the pommels of our swords but with visors raised, we marched into the city of Luxor. However, I did not feel like a conquering hero.
Captain Weneg and a troop of his men marched ahead of us. The city streets were hauntingly silent and empty. It must have taken the full two hours’ waiting that Pharaoh had enforced upon us to clear the streets of the customary swarming crowds. When we reached the palace the gates swung open seemingly of their own accord, without fanfare or cheering multitudes gathered to welcome us.
We climbed the wide staircase to the entrance of the royal audience hall, but the cavernous building was empty and silent except for the echoes of our bronze-shod sandals. We marched down the aisle of empty stone seats and approached the throne on its high dais at the far end of the hall.
We halted before the empty throne. Captain Weneg turned to me and his voice was harsh, his manner brusque. ‘Wait here!’ he snapped, and then without lightening his expression he silently mouthed the words which I had no difficulty lip-reading: ‘Forgive me, my Lord Taita. This form of welcome is not of my choosing. I, personally, hold you in the highest esteem.’
‘Thank you, Captain,’ I replied. ‘You have performed your duty admirably.’ Weneg acknowledged me with a clenched fist held to his chest. He led his men away. Hurotas and I were left standing at attention before the empty throne.
I did not need to warn him that we were certainly under observation from some hidden peephole in the stone walls. Nevertheless I felt my own patience under strain from the strange and unnatural antics of this new Pharaoh.
Finally I heard the sound of voices and distant laughter, which became closer and louder until the curtains covering the entrance to the hall behind the throne were jerked aside and the Pharaoh Utteric Turo, self-styled the Great, strolled into the audience hall. His hair was dressed in ringlets which hung to his shoulders. There were garlands of flowers around his neck. He was eating a pomegranate and spitting the pips on to the stone floor. He ignored Hurotas and me as he ascended the throne and made himself comfortable on the pile of cushions.
Utteric Turo was followed by a half-dozen young boys in various stages of dress and undress. All of them were decked with flowers and most of them had painted their faces with blood-crimson lips and blue or green shades around their eyes. Some of them were munching fruit or sweetmeats as Pharaoh was doing but two or three of them carried cups of wine which they sipped from as they chatted and giggled together.
Pharaoh hurled one of his cushions at the leading boy and there were squeals of laughter as it knocked the wine cup from his hands and the contents spilled down his tunic.
‘Oh, you naughty Pharaoh!’ the boy protested. ‘Now, just look what you have done to my pretty garment!’
‘Please forgive me, my dear Anent.’ Pharaoh rolled his eyes in penitence. ‘Come and sit beside me. This will not take too long, I promise you, but I have to speak to these two fine fellows first.’ Pharaoh looked directly at Hurotas and me for the first time since he had entered the hall. ‘Greetings, good Taita. I hope you are in excellent health as always?’ Then he switched his gaze towards my companion. ‘And who is this you have with you? I don’t think I know him, do I?’
‘May I present King Hurotas, monarch of the Kingdom of Lacedaemon? Without his assistance we could never have overcome the forces of the Hyksos who were slavering at the very gates of your mighty city of Luxor.’ I spread my arms to indicate the man at my side. ‘We owe him a deep debt of gratitude for the continued survival of our nation …’
Pharaoh held up his right hand, effectively cutting short my impassioned speech, and he stared at Hurotas thoughtfully for what seemed to me an unnecessary length of time. ‘King Hurotas, you say? But he reminds me of somebody else.’
I was taken off balance and could think of nothing to say to contradict him, which was uncharacteristic of me. But before my eyes this feeble and apathetic sprig of the House of Tamose was being transformed into an angry and formidable monster. His countenance darkened and his eyes blazed. His shoulders began to tremble with fury as he pointed to my companion.
‘Does he not resemble someone named Captain Zaras, a common soldier in the army of my glorious father, Pharaoh Tamose? Surely you remember that rogue, do you not, Taita? Even though I was a very young child at the time I certainly remember this Zaras person. I remember his evil leering countenance and his insolent manner.’ Pharaoh Utteric’s voice rose to a shriek; spittle flew from his lips. ‘My father, the Great and Glorious Pharaoh Tamose, sent this Zaras creature on a mission to Knossos, the capital city of the Supreme Minos on the island of Crete. He was charged with the safe conduct of my two aunts, Princess Tehuti and Princess Bekatha, to Crete. They were to be married to the Supreme Minos in order to consolidate the treaty of friendship between our two great empires. In the event this Zaras creature abducted my royal relatives, and spirited them away to some barbaric and desolate place at the very edge of the world. They have never been heard of again since then. I loved both my aunties, they were so beautiful …’
Pharaoh was forced to break off his string of accusations. He panted wildly in an effort to calm his breathing and regain his composure, but he continued to point his shaking forefinger at Hurotas.
‘Your Majesty …’ I stepped forward and spread both my hands in an attempt to divert his wild and irrational anger, but he rounded on me just as furiously.
‘You, you treacherous scoundrel! You may have duped my father and all his court, but I never trusted you. I always saw through your wiles and machinations. I have always known you for what you are. You are a forked-tongued liar, a scheming black-hearted villain …’ Pharaoh shrieked wildly, and looked around for his guards. ‘Arrest these men. I will have them executed for treachery …’
Pharaoh’s voice sank and dried up. A profound silence filled the royal audience chamber.
‘Where are my bodyguards?’ Pharaoh enquired querulously. His young companions huddled behind him, pale-faced and terrified. Finally the one he called Anent spoke up.
‘You dismissed your guards, darling. And I am not going to arrest anyone; especially not those two thugs. They look like blatant killers to me.’ He turned and trotted back through the curtained doorway, followed immediately by the rest of Pharaoh’s pretty boys.
‘Where are my royal guards? Where is everybody?’ Pharaoh’s voice sank to an uncertain, almost apologetic pitch. ‘I ordered them to wait in readiness to make the arrests. Where are they now?’ But silence answered him. He looked back at the two of us suited in our armour, gauntleted hands gripping the pommels of our swords and our faces scowling. He backed away towards the curtained exit in the rear wall. I strode after him and now his expression became one of unmitigated terror. He sank to his knees facing me, arms outstretched towards me as though to fend off the blows of my sword.
‘Taita, my dear Taita. It was just a little joke. It was all in good-natured fun. I meant no harm. You are my friend, and the dear protector of my family. Don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything …’ And then an extraordinary thing happened. Pharaoh shat himself. He did it so loudly and malodorously that for a stunned moment he stopped me like a statue, with my one foot in the air, suspended in mid-stride.
Behind me Hurotas exploded in a burst of delighted laughter. ‘The royal salute, Taita! The ruler of mighty Egypt greets you with the highest honour in the land.’
I don’t know how I stopped myself from laughing along with Hurotas, but I managed to keep my expression serious and, stepping forward, I reached
down and took a firm grip of Pharaoh’s hands with which he was trying to fend off my putative attack. I lifted him to his feet and told him gently, ‘My poor Utteric Turo; I have upset you. The great god Horus knows I never meant to do so. Go up to your royal suite now and bathe yourself. Put on fresh robes. However, before you do so please give me and King Hurotas your permission to take your glorious armies north into the delta and fall upon that rogue Khamudi, the self-styled King of the Hyksos. It is our sworn duty to wipe clean forever the curse and the bloody stains of the Hyksos occupation of our homeland.’
Utteric pulled his hands free of mine and backed away from me, his expression still terrified. He nodded his head frantically, and between his sobs he blurted out, ‘Yes! Yes! Go at once! You have my permission. Take everything and everybody that you need and go! Just go!’ Then he turned and fled from the royal audience chamber, with his sandals squelching at each stride.
King Hurotas and I left the great hall of audience alone and went back through the empty streets of the city. Although I was anxious to begin the next phase of our campaign I did not want Pharaoh to receive reports of our hasty departure from Luxor from his spies and agents. Of course there would be many of them hiding in the buildings and alleyways, keeping us under surveillance. When we finally emerged through the Heroes’ Gate of the city, our combined armies were still awaiting our return.
I heard later that their ranks had been tormented by rumours that had grown more alarming the longer we remained locked away behind the gates of the city. There were even suggestions we two generals had been arrested on trumped-up charges and hustled away to the dungeons and thence to the torture chambers. The reaction of our battle-hardened men to our return was moving and deeply touched the hearts of both King Hurotas and me. Old veterans and young recruits wept, and cheered us until their voices cracked. The front ranks surged forward and some of them went down on their knees to kiss our mailed feet.
Then they hoisted us on to their shoulders and carried us down to the banks of the Nile where the Lacedaemon armada was anchored, singing the songs of glory at the top of their voices until both Hurotas and I were well-nigh deafened by the cacophony. I must admit I thought little more of the childish antics of the new Pharaoh – there was too much of real import to occupy my mind. I thought that Hurotas and I had put him firmly in his place, and that we would not hear much more from him.
We went aboard the Lacedaemon flagship, where we were greeted by Admiral Hui. Although by then the tumultuous day had fled, and it was almost dark, we went immediately into planning the final chapter of our campaign against Khamudi, the leader of what remained of the Hyksos rabble in the northern delta of Mother Nile.
Khamudi had made his capital at Memphis, downriver from where we were now. My information on the state of Khamudi’s forces was extensive and up to date. My agents were well established in the Hyksos-occupied and -dominated territories of our very Egypt.
According to these agents, Khamudi had stripped his territory in northern Egypt almost bare of warriors and chariots and sent them all south to participate in what he had hoped would be the final drive to shatter the remnants of our Egyptian forces there. But, as I have already related, the timely arrival of King Hurotas had put an end to Khamudi’s grandiose aspirations. The great majority of the Hyksos forces now lay dead at the head of the pass below Luxor, a feast for the scavengers. There would never be another equally fortuitous opportunity to put an end to the Hyksos presence in our very Egypt than was ours for the taking right now.
What remained of the Hyksos army, foot and cavalry, were now with Khamudi in his capital city of Memphis in the northern delta of the Nile. They numbered not more than three thousand men in total, whereas Hurotas and I could field a total force of almost twice that number, including several hundred chariots. Nearly all of these were Lacedaemons, so despite the fact that I was indubitably the most experienced and skilled commander in Egypt and probably in the civilized world, nevertheless I felt I should as a matter of courtesy concede command of our combined forces to King Hurotas. I made my condescension apparent by inviting Hurotas to express his views as to how the second phase of our offensive should be conducted, which was as good as offering him supreme command.
Hurotas gave me that boyish grin I remembered from long ago, and replied, ‘When it comes to command, I bow to only one man, and he just happens to be seated at this very table opposite me. Please proceed, Taita. Let us hear your battle plan. Where you lead we will follow.’
I nodded my approval of his wise decision. Not only is Hurotas a mighty warrior, but he never lets his pride override his good sense. So I aimed my next questions at him: ‘Now I want to know how you suddenly appeared at Luxor without any of us, including the Hyksos, knowing of your arrival. How did you bring your flotilla of twenty large war galleys hundreds of leagues upriver, passing the Hyksos forts and walled cities to reach us here?’
Hurotas dismissed my question with a casual shrug. ‘On my ships I have some of the very best pilots that there are on this earth, not counting you of course, Taita. Once we entered the mouth of the Nile River we travelled only at night and tied up to the bank and hid under a camouflage of cut branches during the day. Fortunately the sky goddess Nut granted us a dark moon to cover our nightly progress. We passed the main enemy strongholds on the banks of the river after midnight, and we kept to mid-river. Perhaps a few fishermen saw us, but in the dark they would have taken us for Hyksos. We moved fast, very fast. We made the journey from the mouth of the River Nile to where we met you here in only six nights’ hard rowing.’
‘So then we still have the element of surprise on our side,’ I mused. ‘Even if a few of the enemy survived the battle at the pass, which seems unlikely, on foot they would take many weeks to find their way back to Memphis and spread the alarm.’ I jumped to my feet and paced the deck, thinking quickly. ‘Now what is absolutely vital when we attack Khamudi’s capital city is that none of the enemy manage to escape and somehow make their way eastwards to the border of Suez and the Sinai, and from there reach their ancestral homeland further east where they might be able to regroup and come against us again a few years hence – to repeat the same sorry cycle of war and conquest and enslavement.’
‘You are right, Taita,’ Hurotas agreed with me. ‘We have to finish this. Future generations of our people must be able to exist in peace and flourish as the most civilized nation in existence, without fear of the barbaric Hyksos hordes. But how might we best reach such a happy conclusion?’
‘I plan to use the bulk of the chariots as a blocking force along the eastern border to prevent any of the surviving Hyksos making a run for safety, to reach their ancient homeland,’ I told them.
Hurotas considered my proposal for just a few seconds before he smiled. ‘We are fortunate to have you, Taita. You are without doubt the most experienced and skilful charioteer that I know of. With you guarding the border I would not give any Hyksos a dog’s chance of making it back to his kennel.’
Sometimes I suspect my old friend Hurotas of ribbing me with his extravagant praise, but as on this occasion I usually let it pass.
By this time it was almost midnight; however, the darkness barely slowed our preparations for departure. We lit brush torches and by the light they afforded us we reloaded all the chariots aboard the Lacedaemon galleys. When this was done we boarded our men, including the remnants of my own native Egyptian regiments.
With this additional cargo the ships were so crowded that there was no room for the horses on board. I gave orders to the grooms to drive the loose horses northwards along the east bank of the Nile. Then, still in darkness, we pushed off from our moorings and headed downriver to enter Hyksos-held territory, with the leadsmen chanting the soundings in the bows and the pilots calling every twist and turn of the river. The trotting herds of horses almost kept pace with the speed of the flotilla, even though our ships had the favourable current to carry them onwards.
We covered almost thir
ty leagues of the voyage downstream before sunrise. Then we went ashore to rest through the heat of the day. Within a few hours the herds of horses had caught up with us, and were grazing on the pastures and the crops growing on the river-bank.
These crops had been planted by Hyksos farmers, for we were now in enemy-held territory. We thanked them for their generosity. And then we sent them to their places on the rowing benches of Admiral Hui’s galleys where the slave chains were buckled snugly on to their ankles. Their womenfolk were hustled away by Hurotas’ men; however, I made no enquiry as to what became of them. War is a brutal business, and they had come into our land without invitation, and seized the fields from our peasants and treated them worse than slaves. They could not expect to be treated any better by us.
When all was secure the three of us sat under the sycamore trees on the river-bank, while the cooks served us a breakfast of roasted sausage and crisp brown bread hot from the clay ovens, which we washed down with jugs of freshly brewed beer; and which I for one would not have exchanged for a banquet at Pharaoh’s board.
We went on board again as soon as the sun had passed its zenith and continued our northwards voyage towards Memphis. But there was still almost two days of sailing ahead of us, and this was the first time since Hurotas and Hui had returned so unexpectedly that I had been given the opportunity to speak to them about the life we had known together so many years ago. In particular I was anxious to learn about what had become of the two young princesses whom they had taken into exile with them when they fled from the wrath of the princesses’ brother, Pharaoh Tamose.
The three of us were seated on the poop deck of the flagship, and we were alone and well beyond earshot of any members of the crew. I addressed myself to both of them.