The following morning, early, I crossed the Nile in the dawn and rode along the canal to the Royal Mint. I was going there to warn Zaras of the revised date of our departure as demanded by the royal princesses, and to make certain that Zaras would deliver the last ten sacks of silver mem coins to the royal storehouse at the palace before we left.
The total amount of the silver that we were carrying with us exceeded ten lakhs, enough to build a fleet of warships and pay for an army of mercenaries. I still had misgivings about ignoring the advice of my soothsayer and placing such a huge treasure in jeopardy.
When I entered the Royal Mint it was as hot and noisy as a smithy. The flames of the forges were roaring, and the din of the hammers numbed my ears.
I spotted Zaras across the workshop floor. He was stripped to his tunic and swinging a bronze hammer from high above his own head. His muscled arms were glossy with sweat, and sweat ran down his cheeks and dripped from his chin. It was typical of the lad that he would not stand by idle while there was work to be done. Despite his exalted military rank he had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the menial labour of minting coinage.
I watched him with pleasure. I had not seen him for some weeks and I had almost forgotten how fond I had grown of him during our shared expedition to Tamiat. I even experienced a sharp pang of regret that I dared not have him at my right hand on the long journey that lay ahead of us to Babylon and Knossos.
Zaras must have sensed my gaze upon him. He looked up and saw me. He threw the hammer ringing to the stone paved floor, and with arms akimbo he grinned at me through the smoke and fumes of the forge.
Despite our friendship I was surprised by the warmth of his greeting as he came striding across the floor to meet me. ‘I thought that you had forgotten me and left me to rot, but I should have known better. A man like you never deserts a friend. I have polished my armour and sharpened my sword. I am ready to go along with you as soon as you give the order to march.’
I was nonplussed, and it took all my self-control not to blurt out my denial or in some other crass manner to reveal my confusion.
‘I expected no less of you,’ I told him and I hoped my smile was convincing. ‘But how did you know …’ I let my voice trail off, before I disclosed the fact that I had not the vaguest idea what he was talking about.
‘This very morning an orderly from the war council brought the order to me. But of course I knew that you must have asked for me.’ He laughed again, and I was reminded of what a pleasant and unforced sound it was. ‘I have no other friend in high places.’
‘Whose seal was on the order, Zaras?’
‘I hesitate to speak the name aloud, but …’ He glanced around in a secretive manner before he reached into the pouch that hung on his hip and brought out a small scroll of papyrus; handling it with care and deep respect he passed it to me.
I started as I recognized the royal cartouche with which the scroll was sealed. ‘Pharaoh?’ I was astonished that Pharaoh would concern himself with such a trivial matter.
‘None other.’ Zaras watched solemnly as I unrolled the scroll. The order was curt and explicit.
Immediately place yourself under the direct command of Lord Taita. He will issue you further orders which you will obey unquestioningly on peril of death.
‘Where are we going, Taita?’ Zaras dropped his voice to an eager whisper. ‘And what are we going to do when we get there? I am sure there will be some hard fighting. Am I not right?’
‘I will answer that question when the time is right to do so. At this moment I can say no more.’ I shook my head sternly. ‘But hold yourself in readiness.’
He gave me the clenched-fist salute, but although he had managed to extinguish his grin his eyes still sparkled.
I dealt with the matter of the coinage which I had come to discuss with him in a perfunctory manner and then hurried back to the palace. I wanted desperately to speak to Pharaoh and have him rescind his order to Zaras; however, even I cannot burst in upon the royal presence unannounced or uninvited. There is a strict royal protocol to be observed if one requires an audience.
I went directly to the ante-chamber of the royal apartments where several dozen of the royal scribes squatted cross-legged before their writing easels dashing away busily with their brushes, writing out his messages and commands. The head scribe recognized me at once and hurried to my bidding. But he was unable to help me.
‘Pharaoh departed from the palace at dawn this morning. He left no word of when he might return. I know he would want to speak to you if he were here. Perhaps you might wish to wait on his return, Lord Taita?’
I was about to refuse this suggestion, when suddenly I heard the unmistakable pharaonical tones echoing down the corridors of power. Pharaoh marched into the ante-chamber, followed by a swarm of officials and dignitaries. As soon as he saw me he turned aside and clapped a hand on my shoulder.
‘I am glad that you are here. Once again you have anticipated my wishes, Tata. I was about to send for you. Come along with me.’ With his hand still on my shoulder he led me into his inner chamber and immediately involved me in deep discussion of a number of complicated issues. Then as abruptly as he had welcomed me he dismissed me, and switched his attention to the scrolls that were spread out on the low table in front of him.
‘I beg one moment more of your time, Mem.’ He lifted his head and scowled enquiringly at me. ‘The matter of Captain Zaras and his orders …’
‘Who?’ Pharaoh looked slightly bemused. ‘What orders?’
‘Zaras. Captain Zaras who went with me to Tamiat.’
‘Oh, him!’ he responded. ‘Yes, you want him to accompany you on the mission to Crete. I do not understand why you needed my permission to appoint him, or why you did not speak to me directly if you thought it was necessary. It is not like you at all to ask my sister to intercede for you.’ He looked down at his scrolls. ‘Anyway, it’s done now and I hope you are satisfied, Tata?’
Of course I had had my suspicions as to who was at the bottom of the business, but I had under-estimated the gall and deviousness of my princess. This was the first time she had interfered directly in the workings of the military chain of command. Now I was faced with making an instantaneous decision: to capitulate cravenly or to find myself forced into a confrontation with Princess Tehuti, who never had any qualms about employing all her superior royal force and any other subterfuge in order to have her own way. I bowed my head.
‘You are magnanimous, Royal Egypt, and I am grateful.’ I accepted the inevitable.
Once all our preparations were completed, and our caravan was ready to set out from Thebes, I asked Lord Aton to release a carrier pigeon. This bird had been hatched in the loft maintained by the Egyptian ambassador in Babylon, and it knew where its nest was. In the message that the bird carried I asked our ambassador to inform King Nimrod of Akkad and Sumer that the royal princesses were on a diplomatic mission to his capital city and that Pharaoh Tamose would be extremely grateful if His Majesty King Nimrod would extend a cordial welcome to the royal ladies.
Four days later another pigeon arrived in the royal loft in Thebes having made the return journey from Babylon, with a message from King Nimrod relayed by the Egyptian ambassador in that city.
The king reaffirmed his commitment to the alliance between the two nations, and expressed his pleasure at the prospect of welcoming the royal ladies to his palace where he hoped they would enjoy his hospitality during an extended visit.
As soon as we received this message, I sent Zaras ahead of the royal caravan with a strong military escort to sweep the caravan road that led from Thebes down to the nearest shores of the Red Sea. My excuse was that I wanted him to make certain that there were no brigands or footpads laying in ambuscade along the way. My true motive was to keep him well out of the reach of my darling Tehuti.
I am not certain how Tehuti came to learn about my attempt to circumvent her. She has her spies everywhere, and the royal harem is a hotbed of int
rigue and rumour-mongering.
I had given Zaras his orders to take command of the vanguard that very morning, and now I was sitting in my garden beside the fish pool, enjoying the cup of wine with which I am wont to greet the fall of night and to celebrate the passing of the day with all its achievements and successes and its occasional failures. She came up behind me as silently as a shadow and covered my eyes with her cool smooth hands and she whispered in my ear, ‘Guess who it is!’
‘I have no idea who it is, Your Royal Highness.’
‘Oh! You must have peeped!’ she protested and slipped into my lap. She placed her arms around my neck. ‘I love you so much, darling Tata. I will do anything you ask of me. Will you do anything I ask of you?’ She hugged me.
‘Of course, Your Royal Highness. I will do anything that does not endanger your safety or run counter to the security and best interests of our very Egypt.’
‘I would never ask anything like that of you.’ She looked horrified by my insinuation. ‘However, it’s going to be a long journey across that awful desert to Sumer and Akkad. My sister and I will surely be bored and starved for entertainment. It would be so delightful if there was a bard who could sing for us and recite his poetry.’
‘Is that why you asked your brother, Pharaoh Tamose, to assign Captain Zaras to the caravan that is taking us all to Babylon?’
‘Captain Zaras!’ she exclaimed with wide-eyed surprise. ‘Is he going with us? Isn’t that wonderful. He is a gifted poet and he has such a wonderful voice. I know that you like him. He can ride with Bekatha and me during the day and keep us entertained.’
‘Captain Zaras is first and foremost an officer and a warrior, not a wandering minstrel. We already have with us a company of professional musicians, actors and actresses, jesters, jugglers, dancers, acrobats and trained animals including a performing bear. Zaras will be in command of the vanguard at the head of our caravan. He will be sweeping the route, and providing protection for all of us; in particular for you and your little sister.’
The ingratiating smile slipped from Tehuti’s lips. She leaned back and regarded me frostily. ‘Why are you being so mean to me, Taita?’ she demanded. I was Taita now, the sure warning of royal disapproval. ‘It’s such a little thing I am asking.’
‘This is my reason, Your Highness.’ I took her right hand and turned it palm-down to display the diamond ring which she had not removed from her finger since I had given it to her, except to make Zaras find it for her.
She snatched her hand away from me and placed it behind her back. We regarded each other in silence.
She had laid out the battle lines, and drawn her metaphorical dagger. She stood up and walked away from me, gracefully swinging her hips, without looking back or uttering another word.
On the first day of the month of Mesore, Zaras, at the head of his advance guards, reached the port of Sagafa on the near shore of the Red Sea. He released a pigeon with a message to me that he had found the flotilla of dhows and barges assembled and lying offshore ready to take our entire caravan on board for the crossing. With this reassurance I gave the order to march.
Pharaoh rode with me at the head of the caravan as we climbed the escarpment of the Nile. When we reached the high ground we all dismounted.
The princesses were seated on cushioned stools, one on each side of Pharaoh. All the councillors and senior officers present formed a circle around the royal trio. Then Pharaoh summoned me forward and I knelt at his feet. He stood over me and addressed the audience.
‘I call upon all my well-beloved and loyal subjects here gathered to bear witness to these proceedings.’
Every one of them, including Tehuti and Bekatha, responded with a shout of ‘Hail, Pharaoh! May his will be honoured and obeyed!’
With both hands Pharaoh lifted the tiny gold statuette of a falcon above his head.
‘This is my hawk seal, my sign and my signet. The bearer speaks with all my god-given authority. Let the beholder take due notice and beware my power and my wrath.’
Still kneeling I cupped my hands and Pharaoh stooped over me and placed the hawk seal in my hands.
‘Use it wisely, Lord Taita, and return it to me when next we meet.’
‘To hear your command is to obey, Royal Egypt,’ I cried out in a loud clear voice.
He raised me to my feet and embraced me. ‘May Horus and all the gods of Egypt look favourably upon your endeavours.’
He turned away to bid his sisters farewell. Then he mounted his horse and his retinue formed around him. He touched the stallion with his spurs and rode at a gallop down the escarpment towards the gleaming walls of Thebes on the banks of Mother Nile. He passed the tail end of our caravan, which was climbing the escarpment in the opposite direction.
The slaves spread an awning of woven camel hair for us to sit beneath, and shade us from the sun which was hot and high. We sat and watched Pharaoh and his escort disappear in the shimmering distance below us. The head of the caravan reached our position and began to file past us.
In the van rode a battalion of the Crocodile Guards. These were followed immediately by fifty camels and their Arab drivers. Each of these ungainly animals carried four enormous leather water bags, two on each side of their humped backs. We would be forced to rely upon these to see us across the long wastes which separated the waterholes and oases in the burning expanses of Arabia.
Behind the camels and the precious water rode a second battalion of the Blue Crocodile Guards. They were ideally placed to guard our water supply or to fall back to protect the princesses and our soft centre if we were set upon by enemies.
Although I had planned our route to pass well south and east of the Sinai Peninsula which the Hyksos claimed as their territory; I was taking no chances that Gorrab might not have learned of our plans and sent a battalion of his chariots to intercept us.
Behind the tight formation of guards came another fifty of the lanky, long-striding camels. They carried the tents, furniture and the other elaborate camp paraphernalia which would be set up at every rest stop during the journey.
Following them on foot came the rabble of camp-followers and the servants and slaves. Next in the procession strode another twenty dromedaries. These carried the heavy sacks of silver coinage.
The rearguard comprised the third battalion of Crocodile Guards, and the loose horses, camels and the baggage waggons. As they came level with where we were resting I gave the order to strike the tent under which we sat.
We rode forward until we reached our place in the centre of the long winding procession that stretched out for almost a league across the desert. This unwieldy and slow moving agglomeration of men and animals took ten full days to reach the western shore of the Red Sea.
Zaras rode up from the port of Sagafa to meet us. He and his honour guard came galloping back along our caravan, and he reined in when he reached the royal party and jumped down from the saddle to greet the two princesses.
He went down on one knee in front of Tehuti and gave her the clenched-fist salute. She rewarded him with a vivacious smile.
‘Captain Zaras, I am very pleased that we shall have your company for the rest of the journey to Babylon. I well remember your declamation on the storming of the fortress at Tamiat when you and Lord Taita returned from that mission. It would give me great pleasure if you were to dine with us this evening and afterwards entertain us with another recitation. As regards the remainder of the journey to Babylon, it is my wish and my command that you relinquish your place in the vanguard of this caravan to another officer and that you place yourself in a position to provide direct protection to my sister Princess Bekatha and myself.’
I exhaled sharply and loudly enough for her to hear me, but she ignored my smothered protest and concentrated all her attention on Zaras. He looked uncomfortable and stuttered slightly as he replied to her: the first time ever that I had heard him do so.
‘Your Royal Highness, to hear your command is to obey. However, please forgive
me. I must immediately report to Lord Taita whom Pharaoh has placed in command of this caravan and to whom he has entrusted the royal hawk seal.’
I was impressed by Zaras’ loyalty to me, and by his attempt to remind Tehuti who held ultimate authority. The poor fellow was trying desperately to wriggle out from under the conflict of interest with which she was attempting to saddle him.
I steeled myself to come to his rescue when the royal thunderstorm broke over his head. Tehuti was unaccustomed to having even her lightest orders questioned. She surprised me yet again. Instead of cutting Zaras down she smiled and nodded.
‘Do so at once, Captain Zaras. Your duty as a soldier comes before all other considerations.’
Zaras fell in beside me, and I deliberately hung back to keep us just out of earshot of the princesses while we rode down towards the rim of the escarpment, below which lay the straggling buildings of Sagafa at the edge of the sea.
Taking his cue from me Zaras lowered his voice as he told me that while he was awaiting our arrival he had taken the opportunity to sail across the sea in a fast dhow to the little fishing harbour of El Kumm on the far shore. He had gone there in order to make certain that our Bedouin guide had received our orders, and that he and his men were waiting there to lead us across the Arabian Desert.
This was Al Namjoo, the same guide who had led us across the Sinai Peninsula on our journey to the shores of the Middle Sea and the fort of Tamiat.
‘I am pleased to be able to tell you that Al Namjoo has been awaiting our arrival for well over two months, ever since he first received my message that we were coming.’ Zaras looked pleased with himself. ‘His two sons are with him, but he has sent them on ahead to reconnoitre the waterholes and the oases along the caravan route. So far the reports they have sent back to him are that there is good water in all of them, as we might expect in this season of the year.’
‘I am relieved to hear this,’ I told him, but then I glanced sideways at him. ‘Continue, Zaras. You were going to say more,’ I prompted him, and he looked startled.