by Overton, Max
Emsaf scowled. "Then why do you not seek this senior officer and stop wasting my time with such offers as little girls make?"
"Because Tia told me I should come to you." Scarab cocked her head on one side and adopted a calculating expression. "Come," she said softly. "Are my limbs not straight, my breasts not rounded and my hips full of promise? A kiss now for the information and who knows, for the right reward...What will you give me in return for my favours?"
Emsaf took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He hitched his kilt again and stared at Scarab, his gaze checking her statement for accuracy. "This ring." He held up his left hand.
"Is that all? It is only silver. Do you not have gold? I am worth gold."
"I have gold," Emsaf said, beads of sweat breaking out on his brow. "A wine cup that once belonged to the viceroy. I...I won it at dice."
"Let me see it."
"It is in my bed chamber. We could go there," he added quickly. "You could see it and we could..."
"No. If we go near the bed chambers, the overseer will see me and force me back to work. You must get it for me."
"After."
"After," Scarab agreed. "But you must tell me where the army is going before I give you the kiss."
Emsaf nodded, grinning. He tugged at his kilt again, his breath coming faster. "They are going to a place called 'Between the River'."
Scarab frowned. "Where is that?"
"South of here, near Kurgus. It is on the map."
"Show me."
Emsaf laughed. "You show me my reward first."
"Show you what? We agreed a kiss, no more."
"You may have, but I want more. I promised you a gold cup for more. Let me see your sex or I will show you nothing."
Scarab sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, before quickly lifting her kilt and lowering it again. She struggled to keep a smile on her face in the face of Emsaf's naked lust. "Now show me on a map."
Emsaf waddled over to the rear wall and fussed about with the scrolls in a shelf. He selected one and came back to the table, spreading it out on the wooden surface and weighting it down with smooth river stones. "Here is the Great River," he said, a finger with a dirty nail pointed to a blue line on the papyrus. "It runs south, then north, then south again. Here are the Kurgus boundary stelae, and this region here, between the north and south run of the river is 'Between the River'."
"And that is where this...this rebel is hiding? Where the army is going?" Scarab leaned over the table and craned her neck to see the map properly. Emsaf's hand snaked out and grabbed Scarab's arm, pulling her hard against the table and tipping her upper body onto it. Scarab yelped in surprise and tried to pull away. "No!" she cried. "I did not agree to this."
Emsaf laughed. "You are only a servant. I can do what I want, and I want you to scream for I enjoy fear in my women when I have them." Quickly, for a man of his bulk, he slipped around behind her and grabbed her roughly, pawing at her, then with a small cry of triumph, grasped her right breast and squeezed it hard. Scarab cried out in pain and outrage and tried to heave herself upright, but Emsaf's bulk was too great and he pushed her back down on the table, grasping the back of her neck in one meaty hand.
"Scream now if you want, Neferkhepra," he grunted, undoing his own kilt with his other hand. "It is time for you to earn that non-existent gold cup, for I will take what I want and give you nothing except the pleasure of my member." Emsaf stroked Scarab's breast briefly and ripped her kilt away, exposing her buttocks and forcing his thighs between hers. His hand slipped down, probing, feeling. He withdrew it and stared uncomprehendingly. "What is this? Your skin colour is coming off." He loosened his grip on her neck without thinking.
Scarab struggled, tried to pull away and almost succeeded, and the next moment relaxing suddenly so she slipped to her knees and Emsaf lurched forward with a grunt of surprise. She twisted, half-turned on her knees and found the man's genitals at eye level. Grasping his scrotum with a hand hardened and strengthened by a month of physical training, she squeezed hard and jerked.
Emsaf screamed. He beat at Scarab's head with his fists and she dug her nails in before letting go and rolling under the table and to one side. The man fell to his knees and then onto his back, curling up as if to protect himself from further attack. His eyes bulged in his blood-engorged face and his mouth opened in a strangled shriek.
Scarab picked up her kilt and fastened it about her waist. She stood looking down on the groaning man for a minute before squatting beside him. "I am sorry to have hurt you, Emsaf, but your seduction was crude and unwelcome. We had a bargain which you broke."
Emsaf gulped and retched, drawing a shuddering breath. "Y...you...you...are a...a...spy."
"Just a woman concerned for her brother, like I said." Scarab straightened and walked to the door. "Next time you take a girl, remember your present pain. Who knows, if you hurt her, she may hurt you back, so be gentle in future." Opening the door, she slipped out into the corridor and hurried away, Emsaf's strangled sobs and cries soon fading.
Scarab avoided the living areas of the palace, instead heading for the kitchens and an exit to the gardens. Behind her, she knew, Emsaf would be likely raising the alarm that a spy was in the palace. Before the gates were shut and a search instituted, she planned on finding Khu and getting back to the campsite outside the city walls. The kitchens were busy and she was forced to wait while the overseer talked to the meat and vegetable suppliers before she could slip past. Every moment she expected the alarm to be sounded and she shivered with tension despite the heat from the cooking fires. At last the way was clear and she bolted into the courtyard. Dodging servants intent on their own tasks, she ran through the gates and into the gardens, calling out for Khu.
"Here!" Khu came running, a mattock in his hand. "What's wrong?" He stared at the young woman and his jaw tightened. "Who has hurt you?" he asked, pointing a shaking finger at her bruised breast.
"Later. We have to get out of here, now." She grabbed his hand and started him running toward the palace gates. They ducked through a patch of flowering shrubs and almost ran headlong into two men strolling through the grounds. Scarab stared in horror at Horemheb and a younger man she did not recognise. She dropped to her knees and bowed her head, dragging Khu down beside her.
"Sorry, my lord," she mumbled, trying to disguise her voice.
The young man with Horemheb swore at them and threatened to take a stick to them. "You have no business running through here. If you had hurt Lord Horemheb I would have you beaten senseless."
"Easy, Penno," Horemheb murmured. "No harm done and anyone can see they are young." He looked casually down at the kneeling girl, then looked again. "Raise your head, girl. Look at me."
"Obey Lord Horemheb!" Penno snapped when Scarab hesitated.
Scarab raised her head and glanced toward the general's face before sliding her gaze away demurely.
"Heru's breath," Horemheb muttered. "I have seen that face before. Who are you, girl?"
"Nefer, sir. I'm a good girl. I ain't done nuffing wrong."
"Your skin is Nubian, but your bones are Kemetu or...northern? Who is your father?"
"Don't know, sir. Me mother said 'e was a trader from downriver."
"Is there something wrong, my lord?" Penno asked. "Shall I have her detained and questioned?"
Horemheb shook his head. "She has a look of the old king about her, and something else. Never mind, it is not important." He turned away and resumed his stroll through the gardens, Penno hurrying to catch him up.
Scarab waited on her knees until they were well away before getting up. "By the Nine, that was close. I felt sure he recognised me."
Khu glanced in the direction the men had taken. "I'm glad he didn't look at me. At least you have some disguise." His face darkened as he saw the bruises again. "Who did that to you? I'll kill him."
"No you won't Khu. I knew what I was doing but things...well..." She shrugged. "Things got a bit out of hand. At least I found out
exactly where the army's going."
"Where?"
"I'll tell you later, but for now we have to get out. The alarm could be raised any time."
As if to highlight her statement, shouting erupted from the direction of the palace. Scarab and Khu ran for the gates, slowing to a walk just long enough to pass the guards who were looking about with interest to find the cause of the commotion. One of them called out, but they ignored his shouts and walked on out of the palace grounds and into the street that wound down into the city. Once out of sight of the guards, they broke into a run again, dashing as fast as they could through the crowded streets toward the market place.
The others were sitting around the ashes of their campfire when Khu and Scarab arrived, breathing hard. The market place was busy as usual and the precipitate arrival of the young people turned a few heads. The Medjay looked suspiciously toward the little group but in the absence of complaints from the stall owners, decided nothing too much was amiss. A runner arrived from the palace and within moments, the squad of Medjay was moving back into the city, their long wooden staves held at the ready.
"We need to get out of here,' Scarab said, "As quickly as possible."
"What's happened?" Sepi asked, scrambling to his feet.
"I'll tell you in a moment." She looked round the camp site, noting the bags and weapons stacked ready for departure. "You have the food? Good. Let's go."
"What about Huni?" Nebhotep asked. "Do you mean to just leave him?"
"We can discuss that when we have put some distance between us and Sehotep-Neteru."
"You promised we wouldn't..."
"You saw the Medjay were summoned. They'll be back soon. We have to leave now."
"I'm sorry, Scarab," Nebhotep said firmly. "But this is one of the duties of leadership. You look after your people and we are all concerned for Huni."
Scarab sighed. "Answer me quickly--is Huni still alive?"
"Yes."
"Is he going to be punished for theft or pressed into service?
"He's been pressed."
"Can we rescue him tonight?"
"No, but..."
"Then there is nothing we can do for him immediately," Scarab said urgently. "We need to go. Now."
"I really think we ought to," Khu added. "It is possible Horemheb recognised Scarab. Certainly, an alarm has been raised. There could be soldiers out looking for us already, and almost certainly the Medjay will be back as soon as they realise it is two young people being sought."
Sepi nodded. "Good enough." He snapped out commands and the other soldiers scrambled for their weapons, lifting the sacks of food onto their shoulders. "Move out." Sepi led the way at a trot, first down the track that led toward the river, then southward along the west bank of Iteru.
They traveled quickly for two hours and then carefully left the trail as it crossed a slab of rock, working their way down to where a jumble of boulders sat on the river's edge. A tangle of vegetation obscured them from anyone passing on the trail, so they set up a camp there for the night.
"No fire," Scarab said. "Now, Sepi, what did you find out?"
"He was brought before a magistrate this morning and given a choice of the mines or joining up. He's now a common soldier in Horemheb's army. The latest rumour is they leave in three days by barge to the Tumnus quarries. Where they go from there is anyone's guess."
"They are heading for 'Between the Rivers'. Do you know it?"
Sepi nodded. "Logical. It's where I'd hole up if I was on the run."
"What's this 'Between' business," Khu asked. "I thought there was only one river hereabouts."
"There is," Sepi replied. It's where the river runs north and south. Between them."
Scarab smiled at Khu's expression. "Here, I'll show you." She took a stick and dipped it in the water, lifting it out to draw wet lines on a flat rock. "This is how I remember it from a map I was shown." She shivered and Nebhotep draped cloth over her shoulders. "The river curves around until it runs north again, toward Kemet. Then it abruptly turns south at the Kurgus stelae. That is what they mean by 'Between the River'." She tapped the stick on the rock. "And we have to beat Horemheb there if we are to warn my brother."
"And we leave Huni to his fate?" Kahi asked.
"Sepi," Scarab countered. "Can we get to 'Between' before Horemheb?"
The powerful Nubian considered carefully, examining the drying lines on the rock. "We can move faster than an army, but we have no easy way of crossing the river. We would have to go right round the curve to get there. Horemheb has barges. He can cut across the Meheila Road between Kawa and Barkal, ferry his army across the river and he's there."
"So can we do it?"
"Yes, but only just--and if the gods help us."
Now Scarab considered the choices. "We have two responsibilities--to our king, and to our comrade. Kahi and Pamont are our swiftest runners. They will leave immediately and run to 'Between the River' and warn Smenkhkare of Horemheb's approach. The rest of us will shadow the army and look for an opportunity to free our comrade."
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Chapter Fourteen
'Between the River' looked small on the map but extended over several days travel for a man on foot. The steep ridges and precipitous gullies lay like a fragment of old papyrus, crumpled and thrown down between the gleaming blue-green threads that were the Great River. The hills and boulder-choked stream valleys were covered with a thick covering of vegetation, for by some trick of the winds and the gods, rain descended on this part of Kush far more often than on neighboring areas. Animal life burgeoned too, helping support the tribes and bands of lawless men that made this place their home.
Smenkhkare, in the days when men had called him 'Son of Sobek' had visited the area briefly, recruiting men to his cause from among the bandit gangs. He saw then the potential of the rugged hills and a year later, fleeing from Horemheb after the debacle at Waset, determined to use the realm between the River as a refuge and as a place to rebuild his shattered army. It was near to the Kurgus boundary stelae, the borders of Kemetu influence in the days of Thutmose. The Kings of the Two Kingdoms had pushed south since then, extending the might of Kemet's armies over the tribes of Kush, but the hand of Kemet lay light on this distant land, and the rule of law was a stranger to most.
The king had not thought of his sister Beketaten much in the months since he had left her far to the north. In truth, he could not think of much that she could do to help his cause, unless it were by marriage either to himself or a noble he wished to reward. Of far greater concern were the tribes in the region who were continually in a state of preparing for war, actually slaughtering one another, or recovering from bloody conflict. It was all such a waste of men--men that could be conscripted into an army to win back his throne. Smenkhkare stretched on the fur-covered chair under a spreading thatched canopy that passed for a throne in the wilderness and nodded to his Tjaty, Lord Menkure, seated on a low chair in front of him.
The two men had passed through the jaws of death in the form of the minions of the crocodile god and emerged scarred and damaged, but filled with a certainty that the gods still favoured them. Neither spoke of the chances recently squandered under the walls of Waset, but the thought was there in the haunted eyes of them both. Menkure stirred from his place when the king nodded and, limping forward, bowed perfunctorily.
"You will hear my report now, Djeser?"
Smenkhkare let go of his anxiety and smiled at his friend. No other person, his sister included, was allowed to address the king in such a casual manner. The king's throne name of Djeserkheperu was a word of reverence to his subjects, not to be used lightly. But Menkure had saved the king's life, just as the king had saved Menkure's and there was a bond between the two men.
"Yes, I am sorry, my friend. I have too little to do and too much to think about. Tell me of your embassy."
"There are three tribes in these hills, Djeser, and several small groups of bandits
. The lawless men can effectively be ignored as we will absorb them in our own time, but we must come to terms with the tribes for they represent a threat and an opportunity."
"How so?"
"To the north of us are the Q'ema; to the west, the Tu'qa; and to the south, the Suri. The first two are farming tribes, small in number, and desire peace. They do hunt, but rely on a few goats and cattle for the most part. The Suri, on the other hand, come from the far south where they live by herding cattle. They are numbered in the thousands though they are spread over huge lands in many smaller clans. The Suri Kan is the clan immediately to our south, numbering perhaps five hundred fighting men."
"What is their disposition? Are they peaceful too?"
"No, Djeser. They often raid other tribes, slaughter the men and take their cattle and women for their own."
"We must have allies if we are to build our strength, Menkure. You have met these men. Who among them are our friends?"
"The Suri have no need of us, for in their eyes we are weak. The Q'ema and Tu'qa fear the Suri and would readily join with us to conquer them. I believe they would be grateful if we removed their greatest enemy."
Smenkhkare considered his Tjaty's words and nodded. "So you recommend we ally ourselves with the smaller tribes against the Suri aggressor?"
"Actually, no, my lord. It would serve our purpose better if the far stronger Suri were our allies."
"But I thought you said they regard us as weak. Why would they want to be our ally?"
"They would not. In fact, the headman of the Suri Kan clan is already making plans to attack us."
Smenkhkare shook his head and waved a hand at the ever-present flies. "You speak in riddles, my friend, or else it is too hot to make sense of your words."
"My lord, we must ally ourselves with the Tu'qa and Q'ema tribes, lead them in battle against the Suri Kan and defeat them. Then, from a position of strength, we forge an alliance with the Suri nation, holding out the promise of land and cattle as a reward once we have re-taken Kemet."
"And our erstwhile allies, the Q'ema and Tu'qa?"