by Overton, Max
"Yes, mighty lord. There were no women or children and many of the men were pale of skin, like the mighty lord."
"No women? None at all?"
"I saw none, mighty lord. Twice I saw pairs of men coupling with each other, which I took to mean they had no women to mate with."
Horemheb screwed up his face in disgust. "He cannot even control his few men and he seeks to be king again. Well, so much the easier for us. Did you see a pale man with many wounds on his body and face? Or perhaps one close to him who limps?"
"I saw one who limps and carries a bow, mighty lord, going into the chief's hut and coming out again, but I never saw the chief."
"The limping one is Menkure," Horemheb said flatly. "Where he is, is Smenkhkare. What of a red-haired woman, Qenna? Did you see one?"
"Who is the red-haired woman?" Penno asked, frowning. Horemheb held up a hand to allow Qenna to talk.
"No, mighty lord, no women at all."
Horemheb sat and thought about the information, weighing up the possibilities and debating the chance of success should he act on this report. "I thank you Qenna, for your report. You have done well and I wish to reward you with the Gold of Honour..." he broke off as Penno shook his head. "You disagree?"
"Gold is fairly meaningless here, sir. He could go out and probably find chunks of it in the streambeds. Cattle would be appreciated though."
Horemheb nodded and made a swift calculation. "I will reward you with twenty head of cattle from the king's herd here at Sehotep-Neteru."
"Mighty lord, may the gods bless you." Qenna fell to the floor and pressed Horemheb's sandaled foot against his bald head. "Command me lord, I am your dog."
"Get up, Qenna. Go back to the barracks and hold yourself in readiness. I will have need of you again."
Qenna leaped to his feet and saluted, before turning and striding from the room. When the door closed behind him, Horemheb returned to the map and started tracing out routes and forts with his finger.
Penno approached and watched his general for a few moments. "What are you going to do, sir?"
"We are going to muster every man we have and stamp that village out of existence. What's the best way of getting down there unseen?"
Penno considered the map. "This way. It's longer and will take you about two months to get into position but with luck we will not be seen. There are very few people living between here and here." He pointed to the map. "Who is the red-haired woman?" he added casually.
"Nobody. She's not important and she wasn't there anyway. Start organizing things, Penno. I'll have my scribe draw up a document allowing you full authority in my name. I'm off to see the Viceroy." He grinned. "I don't need his permission but it never hurts to be civil to powerful people."
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Chapter Eight
"Come on, girl, keep it up." Huni knocked Scarab's blade aside and tapped her hips with the flat of his sword. "You'd be dead now if this was a real fight."
"It's heavy," Scarab panted, struggling to fend off the soldier's leisurely attack. She dropped back a pace or two, gaining a brief respite.
"Heavy's got nothing to do with it," Huni grunted. "Has it lads?" The other soldiers, all except Kahi who was on sentry duty on the ridge nearby, stood in a wide circle watching the man and woman sparring. They echoed a chorus of agreement, nodding as Huni continued. "You won't always be able to fight with your fancy dagger and a good soldier has to learn to fight with what's at hand."
Scarab feinted left, then right, her full breasts swaying provocatively. She watched Huni's eyes, waiting for the moment of distraction. It came and she dropped low before unleashing a powerful upswing, slashing through his guard at his unprotected side. Huni dropped back, drawing her off balance before grasping her wrist with his free hand, pulling her forward and cracking the flat of his blade across her buttocks. She cried out, more in humiliation than pain and dropped her sword to the stony ground.
"That was uncalled for, Huni. I asked you to teach me, not shame me."
Huni sheathed his sword and folded his arms, staring at the young woman with unsmiling eyes. "I said I'd teach you, Scarab, and I'd be failing in my job if I let you die at the hands of the first farmer you crossed swords with. You have a lot to learn and you have certain things to unlearn before you can truly become skilled at handling arms."
Scarab wiped away tears with the heels of her hands and glared back at the soldier she had appointed Leader of Five over their tiny band. "Tell me then. What must I unlearn?"
"Two things. First, you are a princess, born of Nebmaetre and his queen. This makes you more royal than almost everybody, kings included. You are so noble you think yourself better than everybody else..."
"That's not true! I've never put myself..." Scarab looked at Khu and Nebhotep standing under the meager shade of a stunted Acacia. "I haven't, have I?" she pleaded. Khu looked down at his feet, refusing to meet her eyes, while Nebhotep just smiled.
"Not in your everyday dealings, Scarab," Huni went on. "You're a real lady and we all appreciate it but I mean when you put yourself up against one of us. You immediately think you are stronger, more skilled, better than you really are. When Hapu tried to show you how to use a spear, you started off fine, willing to learn, then you tried teaching him and you looked a--forgive me lady--but you looked a fool. Same thing with Pamont and his sling and now me and my sword. You think you're better than you are."
Scarab pouted and looked around the ring of watching soldiers, searching for sympathy. When she failed to find it she flounced, making her breasts heave with an exaggerated sigh. "What else then, Huni? You said I must unlearn two things."
"Just what you are doing now."
Scarab turned and stared at the Leader of Five. "What?"
"Nobody denies you're a woman, Scarab." Huni blushed slightly, despite his gruff tone. "Leastways, nobody can miss it. You show it plain enough."
Scarab's mouth dropped open, and then suddenly she blushed and self-consciously folded her arms over her chest. She caught sight of grins from the men and dropped her head, unable to meet their stares.
"You have an effect on men as you surely know but your er, charms have got no place on the battlefield. Yes, they can distract, but any soldier worth his pay is going to fight you first and er, enjoy you later."
"I don't do it deliberately," Scarab muttered.
"Begging your pardon, Scarab, but you do," Huni said firmly. "I've seen how you move and you're determined to flaunt your breasts, hoping the man will be so besotted by your womanly parts, he runs himself on your sword." Huni shook his head. "It doesn't work like that, though we all enjoy the sight, again begging your pardon. You try that in a real fight, with a professional soldier and not some cut-throat on the streets of Waset and you'll be dead before you know it."
Scarab said nothing, just remained hunched over, her face and shoulders burning with embarrassment.
Huni smiled. "Have a rest now, Scarab," he said gently. "It's time I gave Khu a few more bruises."
Scarab half-hid herself behind a palm tree close to where Nebhotep sat. For several minutes, the physician said nothing, letting Scarab calm down and get over the worst of her embarrassment. Instead, he watched Huni and Khu fight.
"He's got some talent with the sword, has our Khu," Nebhotep remarked, his voice neutral.
Scarab looked quickly before turning away again. "Huni's just toying with him. He's no better than I."
Nebhotep sighed. "There you go again. Does it diminish you to acknowledge his skill? We all have different talents; perhaps his is to be a good swordsman."
Scarab said nothing but she half turned and watched Huni and Khu sparring. Khu got in a couple of good strokes before Huni disarmed him and sent him reeling back with a sore head. Afterward he sat with the soldiers and joked as Huni and Sepi traded blows.
"I don't mean to...to use my body like that," Scarab murmured.
"Don't you? You've been doing it as long
as I've known you." Scarab did not reply and Nebhotep turned and faced her, speaking earnestly. "It is a legitimate weapon between men and women, Scarab. Generally, men have power and wealth and the only way open to a woman is to use her body to get what she wants. It works fine as long as you know when to use it. Battle is not the proper time though. You heard Huni, try that with a man seeking your life and that is exactly what he will get."
"So what do I do?" Scarab unfolded her arms and looked down at her breasts and long legs. "I like being a woman, Nebhotep, especially when I'm with my Paramessu or...or with my darling Set, but when I try to do something useful, like learning to fight so I can help my brother, these things..." She brushed her breasts. "...Get in the way. They're there and I know men look at them, and I just find myself using them."
"Perhaps you could help your brother more in other ways?"
"How? I know the uses of a royal princess. Either my brother will want to marry me and make me his queen, or he'll marry me off to some noble or other as a reward or to cement an alliance."
"Would that be so bad? As queen you could influence the fate of the Two Kingdoms."
"Yes, that would be so bad," Scarab snapped. "I will not rise to power in any man's bed, even my brother's. I want to make something of my life, be more than just an ornament of some man."
"Unless that man is Paramessu."
"Even Paramessu. I love him and I will marry him if I can, but I will not be owned by him. I will succeed by my own efforts."
"You should have been born a man," Nebhotep observed. "Ambition like that, and position, would make you king."
"I don't want to be king, and I don't want to be a man either. There's got to be a way, Nebhotep. A way to be me."
The whistle of a kite pierced the hot air and the combatants paused, their heads turning toward Kahi at his lookout position on the ridge.
"Someone's coming," Nebhotep murmured, getting to his feet. The kite whistle came again, a single note followed by silence. "One man."
The soldiers melted into the scrub and Khu raced over to Scarab and Nebhotep, following them into the cover of the bushes. Looking back, Scarab saw Huni sitting out in the open, fiddling with his sandal.
"What's he doing? Huni!"
Khu pulled her down. "Too late," he hissed.
A man came into view, walking fast. He saw Huni sitting in the open and slowed, his hand moving to his sword. Turning his head to search the surroundings the man stopped several paces from Huni and called out. Huni looked up and answered briefly, indistinctly, before returning to his task. The man asked a question, then answered one, and another. A few minutes later, the man nodded and left, walking up the dry stream bed toward the heat-shimmered hills. Huni sat and watched him out of sight, waiting until the kite whistle sounded again before relaxing. The others emerged from hiding and crowded around Huni.
"That was a dangerous thing to do," Nebhotep commented. "You could jeopardise our position."
"Yes, what if it was someone on the lookout for us," Scarab agreed.
Huni chuckled. "It was. He's a scout sent out to find Smenkhkare and his men."
"He said that? What did you say?"
"No, he did not say that in so many words, but that is what he meant. He asked if I had seen sign of a body of armed men recently, probably bandits. I told him no and asked if he knew of work for a fit man who could use a sword. He said the general at Sehotep-Neteru was hiring and I should make my way there."
Hapu frowned. "How does that make him a scout looking for us? Maybe he really was looking for bandits."
"There are no bandits in these hills. Smenkhkare cleaned them out last year when he built his army. Then there's the general in Sehotep-Neteru he referred to. That can only be this Horemheb we saw. Wawat does not rate a general of its own."
"We should warn the king," Khu said.
"Warn him of what?" Scarab asked. "He knows men are looking for him and if a scout came up the Derr valley where my brother has not been, you can be sure there are scouts everywhere. No, we must trust that he is guarded well and complete our own mission--scouting out Horemheb's plans."
"Lady...Scarab, if you think I will lead you into Sehotep-Neteru to brave Horemheb in his headquarters, you are sadly mistaken." Huni folded his arms and glared at the young woman severely. "I would not dream of taking you into danger until you are at least passably capable of defending yourself."
Scarab opened her mouth to object, and then remembered Huni's previous words. "Well, you'd better continue my training then."
Huni grunted but looked pleased. "Not now, it's getting hot and we could all do with some food. Sepi, grab a water skin and some bread and relieve Kahi at the lookout. Everybody else, get some rest."
Scarab accompanied Khu and Nebhotep to a patch of shade several paces from the others. They sat and passed a water skin, breaking a loaf together and sharing a ripe melon. Scarab cut the fruit with her dagger and after passing the others their share, hefted the slim blade pensively.
"Why can't I just use this?" she mused. "I'm quite proficient with it."
"It's alright in close quarters, Scarab, but not good enough in a battle. It's not long enough."
"But a sword's so heavy, Khu. It just drags my arm down."
Khu picked up his own sword and held it out at arm's length unwaveringly. "It's not that heavy, but I'm used to heavy things. I was brought up as a peasant and I keep fit. You should have worked in the fields, Scarab. You'd soon develop muscles." He grinned to take the sting from his words.
"Perhaps you should try that," Nebhotep said quietly, chewing on a mouthful of coarse barley bread. "Not working in the fields, but getting fit."
Scarab stared at the physician. "But everyone knows that people with muscles get diseases and die early. People who live in the palace and have everything done for them have lovely skin and live much longer." She rubbed her hands over her own smooth limbs as she spoke.
"True, but that is more likely a result of the things they eat and being able to afford a good physician. Besides, you said you wanted to be a warrior for your brother. You cannot bear arms and be a pampered palace woman too. Choose."
Scarab chewed her lip, frowning. After a bit, she nodded. "How do I get fit?" She waved a hand around at the stony ground of the dry valley and grinned. "In the absence of fields, I mean."
"Strong arms and strong legs make a warrior."
"Thank you, Khu. How do I get those?"
"Well, people who run a lot often have strong legs."
"I've tried it. I just get tired."
"That's because you don't keep it up. You need to run every day until you are exhausted. You'll get stronger if you keep at it."
"And carry something heavy," Nebhotep added. "You need strong arms too."
Scarab groaned. "Isn't there an easier way of doing it?"
"No." Khu grinned at her discomfiture. "Come on, we'll run together." He jumped to his feet and held out a hand to help her up.
They ran up the dry stream bed, over soft sand bars, stretches of gravel and rocks and clambered over boulders, scrambling across the hillside when the valley narrowed. Then they turned and came back. Several times, Khu had to stop and wait while Scarab sat on a boulder to recover her breath, or pick her up when she fell. At last, Khu trotted into the camp beside a staggering woman who threw herself down in the shade, gasping.
Nebhotep wet a cloth and wiped the dust and grime from her, then held her as she gulped water from the skin. Huni wandered over to check on her and talk to Khu before returning to his men.
"Are you alright, Scarab?" Khu asked, concern tingeing his voice. "Perhaps you overdid it."
"I feel like I've been trampled by a herd of cattle," she whispered. "And...and my breasts hurt." Scarab blushed and refused to meet their eyes. "They bounced around so much, they're sore. I'm not sure I can do that again."
Nebhotep pursed his lips. "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. Well, any problem can be overcome; it just needs a good idea.
In the meantime, rest as much as you can but be sure to move around a bit also. Your muscles will really stiffen unless you do."
The physician returned in the late afternoon, and he found Scarab curled up asleep and Khu sitting beside her carving a staff from a piece of gnarled Acacia wood.
"How is she? Has she been moving her limbs?"
Khu shook his head. "No, she's been asleep most of the time and when I suggested it, she was quite rude." He grinned broadly. "I didn't know high-born ladies knew words like that."
"You'd be surprised," Nebhotep commented. He shook the sleeping woman's shoulder. "Wake up, Scarab."
"Huh, what?" Scarab opened her eyes and sat up, screaming with pain as she tried to move. "Oh, gods, it hurts."
"I thought it might. Help her to her feet, Khu; we've got to get her muscles moving again."
Amid much protest and frequent use of unladylike words, they got Scarab upright and with her arms around their shoulders, forced her to walk slowly up and down, ignoring her sobbing and outbursts of anger. Try as they might, though, they could not get her to do more than hobble a few hundred paces before collapsing in tears.
Scarab was laid up for most of the next day but Nebhotep massaged her leg muscles and had her lie in the sun until she sweated profusely, and by day's end she was relatively mobile again. Khu encouraged her to come on an evening run with him.
"No thank you. I'm not trying that again. I was trying to get muscles, not cripple myself."
"We just tried a bit too much the first time. We'll take it easier this time. Look. See that boulder over there. We'll just run to it and back."
Scarab saw the boulder and calculated its distance before allowing herself to be persuaded. The two of them set off, this time accompanied by the soldiers who insisted on turning it into a race. Scarab came home last, walking and hugging her breasts.
"I can't run," she said. "It hurts too much."
"I think I might have an answer," Nebhotep declared. "Your problem is that your breasts move too much when you run, so we must find a way of making them move less, restrain them in some way. So I came up with this." He pulled a long strip of cloth from behind his back.