River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Novels of Ancient Egypt)

by Wilbur Smith

  ‘I am on the king’s business,’ I told him, and drew out the hawk seal from under my tunic.

  His expression became grave. ‘I acknowledge the seal of Pharaoh. But it was not necessary to show it to me. Ask what you will of me. I cannot refuse you.’

  He listened to all I had to say without another word, and when I had finished, he sent for his bailiff and gave him his orders in front of me. Before he sent the man away, he turned to me and said, ‘Is there anything that I have forgotten? Anything else you need at all?’

  ‘Your generosity is without limits,’ I told him. ‘However, there is one other thing. I long for my writing materials.’

  He turned back to the bailiff. ‘See to it that there are scrolls and brushes and ink-pot in one of the packs.’

  After the bailiff had left, we sat on talking for half the night. Tiamat stood at the centre of the busiest trading route in the Upper Kingdom, and heard every rumour and whisper from the farthest reaches of the empire, and from beyond the sea. I learned as much in those few hours in his garden as I would in a month in the palace at Elephantine.

  ‘Do you still pay your ransom to the Shrikes to allow your caravans through?’ I asked, and he shrugged with resignation.

  ‘After what they did to my leg, what option do I have? Each season their demands become more exorbitant. I must pay over one-quarter of the value of my goods to them as soon as the caravan leaves Safaga, and half my profits once the goods are sold in Thebes. Soon they will beggar us all, and grass will grow on the caravan roads, and the trade of the kingdom will wither and die.’

  ‘How do you make these payments?’ I asked. ‘Who determines the amount, and who collects them?’

  ‘They have their spies here in the port. They watch every cargo that is unloaded, and they know what each caravan carries when it leaves Safaga. Before it even reaches the mountain pass, it will be met by one of the robber chieftains who will demand the ransom they have set.’

  It was long past midnight before Tiamat called a slave to light me to the chamber he had set aside for me.

  ‘You will be gone before I rise tomorrow.’ Tiamat embraced me. ‘Farewell, my good friend. My debt to you is not yet paid in full. Call upon me again, whenever you have need.’

  The same slave woke me before dawn, and led me down to the seafront in the darkness. A fine trading vessel of Tiamat’s fleet was moored inside the reef. The captain weighed anchor as soon as I came aboard.

  In the middle of the morning we crept in through the pass in the coral and dropped anchor in front of the little fishing village where Tanus stood on the beach to welcome me.

  * * *

  During my absence Tanus had managed to gather together six decrepit donkeys, and the sailors from Tiamat’s ship waded ashore carrying the bales that we had brought with us from Safaga, and loaded them on to these miserable creatures. Tanus and I left the captain of the trading vessel with strict orders to await our return, then, leading the string of donkeys, we headed back inland towards the wells at Gebel Nagara.

  Kratas’ men had obviously suffered the heat and the sand-flies and the boredom with poor grace, for they accorded us a welcome that was out of keeping with the period that we had been absent. Tanus ordered Kratas to parade them. The ranks of warriors watched as I unpacked the first bale that we had brought in on the donkey train. Almost immediately their interest gave way to mild amusement as I laid out the costume of a slave girl. In its turn, this was replaced by a buzz of speculation and argument as the bales yielded up a further seventy-nine complete female costumes.

  Kratas and two of his officers helped me place one of these on the sand in front of each guardsman, and then Tanus gave the order: ‘Disrobe! Put on the dress in front of you!’ There was a roar of protest and incredulous hilarity, and it was only when Kratas and his officers passed down the ranks with assumed expressions of sternness to reinforce the order, that they began to obey it.

  Unlike our women who dress but lightly and often leave their bosom bared and their legs free and naked, the women of Assyria wear skirts that sweep the ground and sleeves that cover their arms to the wrist. For reasons of misplaced modesty they even veil their faces when they walk abroad, although perhaps these restrictions are placed upon them by the possessive jealousy of their menfolk. Then again there is a wide difference between the sunny land of Egypt and those more sombre climes where water falls from the sky and turns solid white upon the mountaintops, and the winds chill the flesh and the bones of men like death.

  Once they had weathered the first shock of seeing each other in this outlandish apparel, the men entered into the spirit of the moment. Soon there were eighty veiled slave girls prancing and mincing about in the long skirts that reached to their ankles, tweaking each other’s buttocks and casting exaggerated sheep’s eyes at Tanus and his officers.

  The officers could no longer maintain their gravity. Perhaps it is because of my peculiar circumstances that I have always found the spectacle of men dressed as women to be vaguely repulsive, but it is strange how few other men share my feelings of distaste, and it needs only some hairy ruffian to don a skirt to reduce his audience to a state of incontinence.

  In the midst of this uproar, I congratulated myself that I had insisted that Kratas choose only the smallest and slimmest men from the squadron. Looking them over now, I was certain that they would be able to carry through the deception. They would need only a little schooling in feminine deportment.

  * * *

  The following morning our strange caravan passed through the little fishing village and wound its way down on to the beach, where the trading vessel waited. Kratas and eight of his officers made up the escort. Complete lack of any armed escort for such a valuable consignment would surely have aroused suspicion. Nine armed men dressed in the motley garb of mercenaries would be sufficient to allay this, but would not deter a large raiding party of Shrikes.

  At the head of the caravan marched Tanus, dressed in the rich robes and beaded head-dress of a wealthy merchant from beyond the Euphrates river. His beard had grown out densely, and I had curled it for him into those tight ringlets that the Assyrians favoured. Many of these Asians, particularly those from the high mountainous regions further north, have the same complexion and skin coloration as Tanus, so he looked the part I had chosen for him.

  I followed close behind him. I had overcome my aversion to wearing female garb, and donned the long skirts and veil, together with the gaudy jewellery of an Assyrian wife. I was determined not to be recognized when I returned to Safaga.

  The voyage was enlivened by the sea-sickness of most of the slave girls and not a few of the officers, for they were accustomed to sail on the placid waters of the great river. At one stage so many of them were lining the rail to make their offerings to the gods of the sea, that the ship took on a distinct list.

  We were all relieved to step on to the beach at Safaga, where we caused much excitement. The Assyrian girls were famous for their skills on the love couch. It was said that some of them were capable of tricks that could bring a thousand-year-old mummy back to life. It was obvious to those who watched us come ashore that behind the veils our slave girls must be images of feminine loveliness. A shrewd Asian merchant would not transport his wares so far and at such expense, unless he was certain of a good price in the slave-markets on the Nile.

  One of the Safaga merchants approached Tanus immediately and offered to buy the entire bevy of girls on the spot, and spare him the onerous journey across the desert with them. Tanus waved him away with a scornful chuckle.

  ‘Have you been warned of the perils of the journey that you intend making?’ the merchant insisted. ‘Before you reach the Nile, you will be forced to pay a ransom for your safe passage that will eat up most of your profits.’

  ‘Who will force me to pay?’ Tanus demanded. ‘I pay only what I owe.’

  ‘There are those who guard the road,’ the merchant warned him. ‘And even though you pay what they demand
, there is no certainty that they will let you pass unharmed, especially with such tempting goods as you have with you. The vultures on the road to the Nile are so fat from feeding on the carcasses of stubborn merchants that they can hardly fly. Sell to me now at a good profit—’

  ‘I have armed guards’, Tanus indicated Kratas and his small squad, ‘who will be a match for any robbers we may meet.’ And the onlookers who had listened to the exchange tittered and nudged each other at the boast.

  The merchant shrugged. ‘Very well, my brave friend. On my next journey through the desert, I will look for your skeleton beside the road. I will recognize you by that blustering red beard of yours.’

  As he had promised me he would, Tiamat had forty donkeys waiting for us. Twenty of them were laden with filled water-skins, and the remainder with pack-saddles to carry the bales and bundles that we brought ashore from the trading ship.

  I was anxious that we should spend as little time as possible in the port, under all those prying eyes. It would take only a single lapse by one of the slave girls to reveal his true gender, and we would be undone. Kratas and his escort hurried them through the narrow streets, keeping the bystanders at a distance, and making certain that the slave girls kept their veils in place and their eyes downcast, and that none of them responded in gruff masculine tones to the ribald comment that followed us, until we were out into the open country beyond the town.

  We camped that first night still within sight of Safaga. Although I did not anticipate an attack until we were beyond the first mountain pass, I was certain that we were already being watched by the spies of the Shrikes.

  While it was still light, I made sure that our slave girls conducted themselves as women, that they kept their faces and bodies covered, and that when they went into the nearby wadi to attend to nature’s demands, they squatted in decorous fashion and did not uncouthly spray their water while standing.

  It was only after darkness fell that Tanus ordered the bundles carried by the donkeys to be opened and the weapons they contained to be issued to the slave girls. Each of them slept with his bow and his sword concealed under his sleeping-mat.

  Tanus posted double sentries around the camp. After we had inspected them and made sure that they were all well placed and fully alert, Tanus and I slipped away, and in the darkness returned to the port of Safaga. I led him through the dark streets to the house of Tiamat. The merchant was expecting our arrival, and had a meal laid ready to welcome us. I could see that he was excited to meet Tanus.

  ‘Your fame proceeds you, Lord Harrab. I knew your father. He was a man indeed,’ he greeted Tanus. ‘Although I have heard persistent rumours that you died in the desert not a week since, and that even at this moment your body lies with the morticians on the west bank of the Nile, undergoing the ritual forty days of the embalming process, you are welcome in my humble house.’

  While we enjoyed the feast he provided, Tanus questioned him at length on all he knew of the Shrikes, and Tiamat answered him freely and openly.

  At last Tanus glanced at me and I nodded. Tanus turned back to Tiamat and said, ‘You have been a generous friend to us, and yet we have been less than honest with you. This was from necessity, for it was of vital importance that no one should guess at our real purpose in this endeavour. Now I will tell you that it is my purpose to smash the Shrikes and deliver their leaders up to Pharaoh’s justice and wrath.’

  Tiamat smiled and stroked his beard. ‘This comes as no great surprise to me,’ he said, ‘for I have heard of the charge that Pharaoh placed upon you at the festival of Osiris. That and your patent interest in those murderous bandits left little doubt in my mind. I can say only that I will sacrifice to the gods for your success.’

  ‘To succeed, I will need your help again,’ Tanus told him.

  ‘You have only to ask.’

  ‘Do you think that the Shrikes are as yet aware of our caravan?’

  ‘All of Safaga is talking about you,’ Tiamat replied. ‘Yours is the richest cargo that has arrived this season. Eighty beautiful slave girls will be worth at least a thousand gold rings each in Karnak.’ He chuckled and shook his head at the joke. ‘You can be certain that the Shrikes already know all about you. I saw at least three of their spies in the crowd at the waterfront watching you. You can expect them to meet you and make their demands even before you reach the first pass.’

  When we rose to take our leave, he walked with us as far as his own door. ‘May all the gods attend your endeavours. Not only Pharaoh, but every living soul in the entire kingdom will be in your debt if you can stamp out this terrible scourge that threatens to destroy our very civilization, and drive us all back into the age of barbarism.’

  * * *

  It was still cool and dark the following morning when the column started out. Tanus, with Lanata slung over his shoulder, was at the head of the caravan, with myself, in all my womanly grace and beauty, following him closely.

  Behind us the donkeys were harnessed in single file, moving nose to tail down the middle of the well-beaten track. The slave girls were in double columns on the outer flanks of the file of donkeys. Their weapons were concealed in the packs upon the backs of the animals. Any of the men needed only to reach out to lay a hand upon the hilt of his sword.

  Kratas had split his escort into three squads of six men each, commanded by Astes, Remrem and himself. Astes and Remrem were warriors of renown and more than deserving of their own commands. However, both of them had, on numerous occasions, refused promotion in order to remain with Tanus. That was the quality of loyalty that Tanus inspired in all who served under him. I could not help thinking yet again what a pharaoh he would have made.

  The escorts now slouched along beside the column, making every attempt to forsake their military bearing. It would seem to the spies who were certainly watching us from the hills that they were there solely to prevent any of the slaves from escaping. In truth they were fully occupied with preventing their charges from breaking into marching step and sounding off a chorus of one of the rowdy regimental songs.

  ‘You there, Kernit!’ I heard Remrem challenge one of them. ‘Don’t take such long steps, man, and swing that fat arse of yours a little! Try to make yourself alluring.’

  ‘Give me a kiss, captain,’ Kernit called back, ‘and I’ll do anything you say.’

  The heat was rising, and the mirage was beginning to make the rocks dance. Tanus turned back to me. ‘Soon I will call our first rest-stop. One cup of water for each—’

  ‘Good husband,’ I interrupted him, ‘your friends have arrived. Look ahead!’

  Tanus turned back, and instinctively gripped the stock of the great bow that hung at his side. ‘And what fine fellows they are, too!’

  At that moment our column was winding through the first foothills below the desert plateau. On either hand we were walled in by the steep sides of the rocky hills. Now three men stood in the track ahead of us. The one who led them was a tall, menacing figure swathed in the woollen robe of the desert traveller, but his head was bared. His skin was very dark, and deeply pitted with the scars of the smallpox. He had a nose that was hooked like the beak of a vulture, and his right eye was an opaque jelly from the blind-worm that burrows deep into the eyeball of its victims.

  ‘I know the one-eyed villain,’ I said softly, so that Tanus alone could hear. ‘His name is Shufti. He is the most notorious of the barons of the Shrikes. Be wary of him. The lion is a gentle beast compared to this one.’

  Tanus gave no sign of having heard me, but lifted his right hand to show that it held no weapon, and called out cheerfully, ‘May all your days be scented with jasmine, gentle traveller, and may a loving wife welcome you at your own front door when at last your journey is done.’

  ‘May your water-skins stay filled and cool breezes fan your brow when you cross the Thirsty Sands,’ Shufti called back, and he smiled. That smile was fiercer than a leopard’s snarl, and his single eye glared horribly.

  ‘You are k
ind, my noble lord,’ Tanus thanked him. ‘I would like to offer you a meal and the hospitality of my camp, but I pray your indulgence. We have a long road before us, and we must pass on.’

  ‘Just a little more of your time, my fine Assyrian.’ Shufti moved forward to block the path. ‘I have something which you need, if you and your caravan are ever to reach the Nile in safety.’ He held up a small object.

  ‘Ah, a charm!’ Tanus exclaimed. ‘You are a magician, perhaps? What manner of charm is this you are offering me?’

  ‘A feather.’ Shufti was still smiling. ‘The feather of a shrike.’

  Tanus smiled, as though to humour a child. ‘Very well then, give me this feather and I’ll delay you no longer.’

  ‘A gift for a gift. You must give me something in return,’ Shufti told him. ‘Give me twenty of your slaves. Then, when you return from Egypt, I will meet you on the road again and you will give me half the profits from the sale of the other sixty.’

  ‘For a single feather?’ Tanus scoffed. ‘That sounds like a sorry bargain to me.’

  ‘This is no ordinary feather. It is a shrike’s feather,’ Shufti pointed out. ‘Are you so ill-informed that you have never heard of that bird?’

  ‘Let me see this magical feather.’ Tanus walked towards him with his right hand outstretched, and Shufti came forward to meet him. At the same time Kratas, Remrem and Astes wandered up inquisitively, as though to examine the feather.

  Instead of taking the gift from his hand, suddenly Tanus seized Shufti’s wrist and twisted it up between his shoulder-blades. With a startled cry, Shufti fell to his knees and Tanus held him easily. At the same time Kratas and his men darted forward, taking the other two bandits by as much surprise as their chief. They knocked the weapons out of their hands, and dragged them to where Tanus stood.

  ‘So, you little birds think to frighten Kaarik, the Assyrian, with your threats, do you? Yes, my fine vendor of feathers, I have heard of the Shrikes. I have heard that they are a flock of chattering, cowardly little fledglings, that make more noise than a flock of sparrows.’ He twisted Shufti’s arm more viciously, until the bandit yelled with pain and fell flat on his face. ‘Yes, I have heard of the Shrikes, but have you heard of Kaarik, the terrible?’ He nodded at Kratas, and quickly and efficiently they stripped the three Shrikes stark naked and pinned them spread-eagled upon the rocky earth.