by Wilbur Smith
At that Serrena shrieked incoherently, leaping up and down on the deck and waving both arms above her head. Tehuti straightened up and stared across the water at us in astonishment. Then she recognized her daughter and she hurled aside the basket she was carrying.
‘My baby!’ she wailed in a tone that sounded more like abject despair than joy. She began to run. She shoved aside anyone who stood between her and the river-bank with a force that sent them sprawling.
We were standing in the stern of the cutter. I grabbed the whip-staff out of Ganord’s hand and put the tiller hard over, turning the bows in towards the land. Serrena ceased her shrieking and took off running down the deck like a deer pursued by a wolf pack. When she reached the bows of the cutter she made no effort to check her speed but dived head first overboard and with a tall splash disappeared beneath the surface of the Nile.
My heart skipped several beats, but then her head popped out again and she began swimming frantically towards the shore. She was swinging both arms in alternative overhead strokes. Her hair dissolved in streamers over her face like that of a water vole, and she left a creaming wake on the surface of the river behind her.
Only seconds behind her daughter Tehuti reached the bank and she also dived in. I had almost forgotten what accomplished swimmers the two of them were. This was a rare sight indeed; in fact it is almost unheard of to see two females of high birth involved in such an extraordinary performance. Those very few who are able to swim do so alone and in secret; and usually in the nude as a ritual sacrifice to Isis, the goddess of love whose vulva is appropriately shaped like a sea shell.
Mother and daughter came together in deep water and seized each other in such a rigorous embrace that they sank below the surface. They surfaced again still locked together, laughing and weeping and gasping for breath. When they sank for the third time the crowds upon the river-bank crowded forward in ghoulish anticipation of disaster.
Even I was alarmed, and I told Rameses, ‘We don’t want them disturbing the crocodiles. We have to get those two idiotic women out of there.’ The two of us stripped down to our loin-cloths and plunged overboard. When we reached them we found it impossible to separate them. We towed them back to the cutter as a single entity. Ganord and the crew helped us drag them in over the gunwale to the cheers and merriment of the multitudinous onlookers on the river-bank.
‘What in the name of foul Seth and all the other gods of death is happening out there?’ a familiar voice bellowed from the bank. The crowds parted once again and King Hurotas marched to the edge of the river, scowling like an ogre until he realized that the two bedraggled and sodden females being manhandled by the crew of a small river cutter were the dearest loves of his life. The tone of his voice changed, becoming immediately soppy and mawkish. ‘That’s my darling Serrena!’ He opened his arms wide. They were massively muscled from wielding the weapons of war, and tattooed with ghastly images to terrify his enemies. ‘Come to your papa, my little one!’
By this time Serrena had run out of wind with which to shriek, but she still had more than sufficient with which to run and swim. She tore herself out of my solicitous hands and repeated the whole wild performance. She charged down the deck of the Four Winds, splashing it liberally with Nile water and pursued hotly by her mother. In quick succession the two of them threw themselves overboard once more and set off for the shore.
‘Is it worth rescuing them again, do you think?’ Rameses asked me solemnly. ‘Or should we just let them take their chances?’
Serrena had a head start on Tehuti for the final lap from the Four Winds to the eastern bank of the river so she was the first to reach her father. He picked her up and threw her high in the air, just as he must have done when she was a small child. He caught her as she descended and smothered her with his beard and his kisses. Then Tehuti reached them and he picked her up with his free hand and hugging both women to his chest marched with them into his campaign tent.
Rameses and I dried ourselves hurriedly and pulled on our discarded clothing as Ganord steered the Four Winds into the river-bank. As soon as our bows touched land we jumped ashore and fought our way through the excited throng to the tent into which Hurotas had disappeared with his two women. This was not a simple process for it seemed that everyone present wanted to praise and congratulate us for rescuing Serrena from the clutches of Utteric. We were hugged and kissed by men and women indiscriminately. But finally we found ourselves inside Hurotas’ campaign tent.
Like most things which belonged to Hurotas, the interior of his tent was exceedingly large and imposing. In fact it vied in size with the assembly hall in the citadel of Sparta, which was just as well as his guests that day comprised almost half the entire expeditionary force, or so it seemed to me. These included the courtiers and concubines of all sixteen of the royal courts who had accompanied Hurotas from Lacedaemon, together with the senior military officers and ministers.
As soon as Rameses and I entered their midst King Hurotas waved at me from the far side of the campaign tent to get my attention and then he said, ‘Tehuti and Serrena have gone to change their wet costumes, so they could be some time; possibly even days.’
I grinned at his brand of humour and then I placed one arm around Rameses’ neck and with my lips an inch from his ear repeated what Hurotas had said. The throng that surrounded us was several hundred strong and it seemed that every one of them had a wine jug in his fist and was shouting at his immediate neighbour to make himself heard. In addition there were four or five bands playing at full volume.
Rameses looked back at me with a solemn but resigned expression. ‘In the name of Dolos the imp of trickery and deception, how do you do that, Taita?’ When we first met he used to test the accuracy of my interpretation, but he no longer bothered. I supposed one day he would learn about reading lips, but until he did it amused me to confound him.
It took some time for us to cross the crowded tent, but when we reached Hurotas where he stood he embraced both of us long and heartily and then drew us aside and led us through a doorway to a small and secluded compartment. Here Hurotas immediately rounded on Rameses. ‘I have had only a short time to discuss with Serrena the urgency of her marriage to you. She agrees with me for once. It is vital that we present Utteric to the world at large as a villain who abducted an innocent virgin from her home and family and subjected her to untold and brutal torment.’
‘Your Majesty,’ Rameses intervened at once, ‘I must make it clear that Utteric tortured and humiliated your daughter. He beat her and imprisoned her; however, he refrained from deflowering her virginity and he did not allow any of his followers to do so.’
‘I give eternal thanks to all the gods and goddesses in the panoply of heaven that this is indeed the case,’ Hurotas conceded. ‘However, in all the nations of the world there will be those who cast slanders and calumnies on my daughter. There is only one way we can turn these aside.’
‘It will be my honour to take Serrena to wife as soon as this is possible. You need say no more, mighty King Hurotas.’ Rameses did not look in my direction; however, I understood that the nuptials I had performed for them previously were to remain a secret between the three of us for all time.
‘I am delighted that we are in total accord. I will count it a great privilege to have you as my only son.’ Hurotas stood up and glanced at me. ‘Good Taita, perhaps we should see if I maligned my two darlings by suggesting to you that they might take several days to change their sodden clothing.’
Rameses blinked once and then shot a question at his future father-in-law: ‘When did you first make this suggestion to Taita, Your Majesty?’
‘A short while ago when the two of you first walked into my tent.’
‘I did not hear you say it.’ He looked puzzled. ‘There was so much noise.’
‘Then you should ask Taita to teach you how to hear with your eyes. He is the only one I know of who has the trick of it.’
Rameses stared at me and his expres
sion slowly changed from mystification to accusation as he worked it out. I knew that there would soon be two of us who were able to read lips; Rameses would see to that. I shrugged in apology for having duped him. Perhaps it was just as well that he learned the art, for I could not keep it to myself forever. In the years ahead it was bound to come in extremely useful for both of us. It was by now apparent to me that our futures were inextricably intertwined.
Even in our determination to show to all the world that Rameses and Serrena were husband and wife and the future Pharaoh and Pharaohin of Egypt, we all had to proceed with dignity and observe established protocol.
The task was not made any easier by the fact that we were at the same time engaged in waging a war that boded fair to become the most savage and relentless in the history of Egypt or any other nation on this earth.
With my usual good sense and understanding I determined not to be drawn into the essentially female domain of marriage and matrimony, and to apply myself totally to the masculine aspect of war and dominance. In this regard I had the very best of company in my old and trusty companions Zaras and Hui; and my more recent cohorts Rameses and the other kings both greater and lesser.
As always I was guided by the old adage of any superior warrior: Know your enemy.
My enemy was Utteric Bubastis but I did not know him. He was a figment who seemed to change shape and profile with every breath he drew. I was not even certain he was still a single entity. For the next two days after Rameses and I arrived in Hurotas’ camp we watched the battlements of the fortress on the far bank of the Nile and I saw many who could have been Utteric, sometimes as many as two or three of them together. Some of them reminded me of the Utteric who had burst into tears when threatened, or who was able to whip himself into screaming, frothing tantrums.
However, we were in no hurry to commence hostilities. This was a period of consolidation and preparation. Hurotas had only finished setting up his camp five days before we came downriver from Luxor to join him. As yet not all of the petty kings had arrived from the north. Every day new flotillas sailed south down the Nile to join us. It would be rash of us to commence our onslaught before our forces were fully assembled. This was a complex movement of troops, made no easier by the sudden decision of Bekatha to assume command.
Fortunately this happened at a private family dinner given by King Hurotas to celebrate the escape of his only daughter Serrena from her captors at the Gates of Torment and Sorrow. It was also intended as a focus of all the warlike instincts of the family on the humiliation and suffering inflicted upon them gratuitously by the abduction and torture of Serrena.
The evening began well with belligerent speeches from Hurotas and Hui. Then Bekatha’s three remaining sons joined in the speechifying. By this time Tehuti and Bekatha had partaken of more than their fair share of the excellent Laconian wine. Bekatha listened to the bloodthirsty boasts of her sons, and suddenly and unexpectedly she burst into a flood of tears. The mood of the revellers changed in an instant.
All the women present sprang to their feet and clustered around Bekatha uttering endearments and commiserations, while the men looked at each other in bewilderment. Then all of us turned in unison to Hui. We said nothing but the message was clear: This is nothing to do with us. She is your wife. You fix it!
Reluctantly Hui came to his feet, but he was fortunate. Before he could reach his wife’s side she uttered a cry of abysmal distress, ‘Why do I have to send all my babies to be slaughtered?’
In that instant the devoted and united family was divided into sects and segments.
Tehuti came in instantly on the side of her little sister. ‘Bekatha is absolutely right. We have Serrena back. We don’t have to fight a pointless little war now.’
‘Pointless?’ shouted Hurotas. ‘Did I hear you say pointless, my darling wife? Did I also hear you use the word little? Do you have any idea what it has cost me to raise an army and bring it here to Egypt? Somebody has to pay for it, and that somebody is not going to be me.’
‘Be fair to us, Mama,’ cried Sostratus, Bekatha’s second oldest boy. ‘We are only just starting out on our careers. Don’t send us home in disgrace. All the world will say we were too cowardly to stay and do battle with Utteric the impostor.’
I was watching Serrena. I knew that the outcome depended on her alone. Hurotas would do exactly what she wanted and so would Tehuti. They might put up a show of resistance, but Serrena was the one who would make the final decision. I saw her glance at her father and a shadow of doubt clouded her gaze. Then she looked at her mother and her aunt Bekatha and I saw her make her decision. I knew that I had to be quick to forestall it otherwise we would all be on our way north to Lacedaemon again, possibly even as soon as the morrow.
‘I think it cruel to force Serrena to spend the rest of her life in this country which she so obviously detests. I think Bekatha and Tehuti are absolutely right. We should all go back home to Lacedaemon, and leave this blighted country to Utteric. I am sure that our allies, the petty kings, will understand our position and will not expect compensation for bringing their armies to our assistance and then sailing home empty-handed. Serrena will be perfectly happy in the land of her birth; living in some pretty little cottage with Rameses and a dozen lovely brats on the banks of the Hurotas River. I am sure she will understand that the family fortune was spent in good faith. Not for her the silly and pretentious name, Queen Cleopatra …’ By this time my oratory had taken wings. My audience were agog, especially Serrena.
Then I saw Serrena reverse the final decision she had made only minutes before, as smoothly as she had made it.
‘All is true that you say, darling Tata. But there are always two sides to every question. I have always been taught that a wife must accept without complaint the decrees of the gods and support her husband in the task they set out before him. In time I know I shall also learn to accept the name Cleopatra, trite as it may be. If Rameses and I stay here in Egypt as Pharaoh and Pharaohin we will have sufficient funds for my darling mother to visit me whenever she chooses. We will both learn to cherish the beauty and abundance of this very Egypt. What is more, my father will not be reduced to penury for my sake.’
A stunned silence followed this declaration and then Bekatha’s boys hugged each other. Bekatha burst out weeping anew but I refilled her wine mug and she had to stop her lamentations to sample the brew.
Hurotas looked solemn and said, ‘You have made a bitterly hard decision, my darling daughter; however, ’tis the right one.’ He glanced at me, still solemnly, but he lowered his right eyelid in a congratulatory wink. We had triumphed once again but it had been a close-run thing.
The following night Rameses and I set out to reconnoitre the west bank, the side on which Utteric had sited his fortress of Abu Naskos. Utteric had built no gates facing the river. I had of course received descriptions of the other gates, but had never laid eyes upon them. I knew it was essential for me to do so. We took only fifteen of our own men with us. The moon rose after midnight so we used the dark period to cross the Nile and hide our boats in the reeds. Then as soon as it was light enough to make out the ground we moved out quietly towards the fortress. We had not gone more than a few hundred cubits before we came upon a herd of Utteric’s horses grazing by the light of the moon. We rounded them up and sent two of our men to drive them back to where we had left our boats. We repeated this manoeuvre three times, gradually accumulating a herd of over 150 beautiful chariot horses.
The moonlight shone magnificently on the western walls of the fortress, affording me a fine view of the two gates from a safe distance. I was able to estimate the substantial size and rugged construction of both gates, and note the defensive walls and ditches lined with sharpened stakes which supported them.
After a discreet period had elapsed we withdrew. When we reached the spot where we had left our boats we found that in accord with my orders two of the boats had been used to drive the horses across the river. We followed them
in the remaining skiff. It was a long swim for the poor creatures; the Nile is over one and a half leagues wide at this point. But when we finally reached the eastern bank below Hurotas’ camp Rameses and I were delighted to discover that all the animals had crossed safely ahead of us with no casualties.
Thus emboldened with success, four nights later, against my better judgement, I allowed Rameses to convince me to attempt a repetition of our raid. It pains me to have to relate that we were not as successful the second time. Utteric’s men had driven away the remaining horses and they were lying in ambush for us. We fought desperately to get back to where we had hidden our boats. When we finally reached them we found that the men we had left to guard them had been massacred, and the bottoms had been knocked out of our boats. Half our men were not able to swim. Frantically we broke the damaged boats down to their individual planks. At the same time we fended off the determined enemy pursuit. Then we retreated into the river. We gave each non-swimmer a plank for flotation and then we pushed and dragged them out into the flow. With the enemy shouting insults at us from the bank and launching volleys of arrows after us, we allowed the current to bear us away. We suffered further losses of five of our men who were either drowned or taken by the crocodiles. This meant that only six of us survived, and were washed up on the eastern bank of the Nile. I have noted in my celebrated tome The History of Warfare that down through the ages every military commander of merit and illustrious achievement has survived at least one defeat during his career. It matters only that he should survive it, not how he describes it.
Fortunately the last of the petty kings arrived on the eastern bank at exactly the same time as us. This was Ber Strong-arm Argolid, King of Boeotia in Thebes. He had seven ships in his flotilla. Between them they carried 630 fighting men, and ten of his numerous wives including Queen Hagne, who was formerly the reverend mother of the Order of the Sisters of the Golden Bow before she was swept off her feet by Strong-arm.