The ragged group straggled up the path that led from the tomb makers’ village to the city. They reached the top of the hill and the blue strip of the Nile was suddenly visible in the distance with a band of green vegetation on either side. The temples and the city were on the other side of the river. On this side was the palace, its white-washed walls dazzling in the sun, its gold-tipped flagpoles glinting. Ramose turned to look back at the village. From that height its mud brick walls seemed to merge with the valley floor. It was a strange place for a prince to have spent six months of his life. He was glad to be leaving the miserable little village, but, on the other hand, he wasn’t sorry he had experienced living there.
“Come on, Ramose,” Hapu called out. “You’re getting left behind.”
In less than half an hour Ramose was back in the familiar fertile Nile Valley that he hadn’t seen for eight months. The landscape changed suddenly from dry, dusty desert to green fields and orchards. Ramose breathed in deeply.
“Smell that,” he said to his friends. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
The air was laden with the fragrance of pomegranates and slightly fermenting grapes. Karoya wrinkled her nose. She was a desert-dweller and the fertile smells of the river valley were strange to her.
“It smells sort of greenish,” she said. “And the air is heavy.”
They passed by the palace walls. Ramose looked up at the fluttering pennants and the high windows. Karoya and Hapu exchanged a glance. Ramose pictured its luxurious interiors: the massive halls and columns; the comfortable bed with the thick linen mattress; his own room with the wall paintings of Amun, king of the gods, and of his father hunting in the Delta. He wondered if his sister, Hatshepsut, was in the palace. More than likely she had travelled up to Memphis to be with their father. There was nothing for him at the palace now. His nanny was dead, his tutor sent abroad. He would be a stranger in his own home.
They reached the edge of the river and the foreman herded them onto a ferry made of bundles of papyrus reeds lashed together. Karoya was very anxious about getting onto the boat.
“We’re just going across the river,” said Ramose, trying to encourage her. “It’s quite safe.”
“I don’t like the river,” she said flatly. “Too much water is bad.”
After his experience in the flood, Ramose could not argue with her. He helped her aboard and found her somewhere to sit, away from the sides of the boat. Mery was miaowing plaintively from her basket. It sounded like she shared her mistress’s dislike of the river.
Ramose was happy to be on the river. He trailed his hand in its cool blue waters and felt the fresh breeze on his face.
They spent the night on the roof of Ianna’s brother’s house in the noisy, sprawling city. Ianna was going to stay in Thebes and live with her brother. Karoya was to stay and serve her. Ramose and Hapu would be apprenticed to new workers in Tombos. The two boys were to leave the following morning, sailing south with the rest of the workers from the Great Place.
Ramose woke before daybreak and got up. He picked up his bag and quietly crept across the roof to the stairs. He looked back to check that he hadn’t disturbed his friends and tripped over something soft and furry. Ramose crashed to the floor and Mery screeched with pain. Karoya and Hapu sat upright at the same time.
“What’s going on?” said Hapu sleepily.
Karoya was wide awake immediately. “Where do you think you’re going?” she said.
The sky was starting to lighten to the east and she could make out Ramose sprawled on the floor. He was wearing his cloak and his bag was slung over his shoulder. Mery jumped onto Karoya’s lap and looked at Ramose as reproachfully as her mistress.
“I think that cat tripped me up on purpose,” said Ramose getting to his feet.
“Of course she did,” said Karoya. “She knew that you shouldn’t be sneaking off in the night by yourself.”
Ramose looked at the pink glow in the sky. “It isn’t the night.”
“What are you doing up so early?” asked Hapu rubbing his eyes. “The boat to Tombos doesn’t leave till mid-morning.”
“I’m not going to Tombos,” said Ramose. “I’m going to Memphis to see my father.”
4
RIVER JOURNEY
“And you weren’t even going to say goodbye?” Karoya was sitting with her arms folded crossly.
“I thought it would be better if you were as surprised as everyone else. I didn’t want you to get into trouble.”
“I’m coming with you,” said Hapu, scrambling to his feet.
“I have to hurry,” said Ramose gathering up his things. “The boat to Memphis leaves soon.”
“I suppose once you’re pharaoh you won’t be interested in having an apprentice painter for a friend.”
“Certainly not a slave.”
“That’s not true. I was just concerned about your safety. It’ll be dangerous when I get to Memphis. I have enemies there. My father is ill. It won’t be easy to get to see him.”
His friends sat in silence.
“I’ll send for both of you when it’s safe. I promise.”
“If it’s going to be so difficult, you’ll need help,” said Hapu rolling up his reed mat. “And anything’s better than going to Tombos.”
Ramose didn’t have time to argue. He couldn’t decide whether he was glad or not that his friends were coming with him. He appreciated the company, but three people wandering around Egypt were a lot more obvious than one. They had to work out a story.
It was easy enough to get on the boat to Memphis. The boatman was happy to carry them without asking questions once he had one of Ramose’s gold rings in his hand.
It was a long way to Memphis. The winds blew from the north, any boat sailing south only had to put up a sail to be carried down the Nile. Travelling north wasn’t so easy and the wooden boat had a crew of oarsmen to push it against the prevailing wind. They were away before most people were awake.
The journey was going to take two weeks at least. Ramose would have plenty of time to think about what he would do when he arrived in the northern city. The boatman was very curious about his young passengers. Ramose told him the story that they had invented—that he and Hapu had been apprenticed to workers at the temple of Ptah. He pulled out a scroll of papyrus and showed the boatman. The boatman looked at the squiggly writing and the important-looking red seal on the bottom and nodded.
“The old temple is being rebuilt,” said Ramose. Hapu nodded knowledgeably. “The slave girl will cook for us on our journey.” Karoya tried to look like an obedient servant.
The boatman looked suspiciously at Mery, who was miaowing loudly and unhappily from her basket.
“A present for the lady of the household where we will be staying,” explained Ramose. Hapu nodded again.
The boatman seemed satisfied with their story and went off to shout at the oarsmen.
Hapu waited until he was well out of earshot before he spoke. “That papyrus is the list of food sent to the Great Place from the city last month!”
Ramose grinned. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to read.”
“So I am your slave as usual,” said Karoya.
“You are a slave, Karoya,” said Hapu. “What else was he supposed to say?”
“He could have said I was a princess from Kush going to pay tribute to Pharaoh.”
“I don’t think you’re quite dressed for the part. And where are all your servants, Your Highness?”
“Stop arguing, you two,” said Ramose. “The boatman will hear.”
He glanced over at the boatman who was now settling down for a rest.
“You will have to be our slave while we are travelling, Karoya. Anything else would just attract attention. I promise you that as soon as I am pharaoh, the first thing I will do is grant you freedom and see that you are returned to your homeland.”
They were the only passengers on the boat. The boat had a cargo of logs, precious hardwood from the southern lands. After the
y had been travelling for two days, Karoya let Mery out of her basket. The cat sniffed around the boat suspiciously, but soon got used to the idea of living on a boat. Karoya was still uncomfortable with so much water around her. She sat in the middle of the boat with her eyes fixed firmly on the shore.
Ramose and Hapu fished and played senet. They watched the land slip by them on either side. They saw brief scenes from people’s lives as they passed: women pounding dirty clothes with rocks, a man trying to move a stubborn ox, a child crying over a lost ball that was floating out of reach.
Each evening the boat was moored and Karoya went off in search of dry reeds and animal dung to make a cooking fire. They ate a simple meal of bread and fish, and then slept on the boat on their reed mats. When they stopped at a town they bought more food. Ramose had exchanged two of his gold rings for copper. It attracted too much attention when they offered gold in exchange for flour and vegetables.
The journey was taking longer than Ramose had expected. After a week on board the boat, they had only reached Akhmim, which by Ramose’s reckoning was only a third of the way to Memphis. At this rate it was going to take a lot of gold to keep the three of them fed on the journey. Actually there were four mouths to feed as Mery had to have a daily supply of fish and milk.
“Look,” whispered Hapu as if he had read Ramose’s thoughts. “Over there.”
Ramose looked over to where Hapu was pointing. A rat was walking calmly along the edge of the boat. It hopped from there onto one of the logs strapped to the deck. Mery was curled up asleep in her open basket totally unaware of the rat.
“Did you see that?” said Hapu to Karoya. “There was a rat. That cat of yours didn’t even notice it! It’s useless. All it does is eat our food, drink our milk and make that awful wailing noise when we’re trying to sleep.”
“Sounds a bit like you,” said Karoya scratching Mery behind the ear.
“I don’t wail,” said Hapu.
Ramose ignored his friends’ bickering and returned to his thoughts. He knew he’d need gold to bribe people once he got to the palace if he was going to get anywhere near his father. He wondered if his supply of gold was enough.
“I’m bored,” said Hapu. “How much further is it?”
Ramose was beginning to wish that he’d managed to sneak away on his own. Hapu and Karoya were either complaining about being on a boat for so long or arguing with each other.
“Nobody asked you to come,” said Ramose irritably. “But just remember that if you weren’t on this boat, Hapu, you’d be on another one heading for alien lands beyond the reaches of Egypt. And you, Karoya, would be Ianna’s slave.”
His friends didn’t say anything. Ramose had to admit he was sick of the boat as well. It wasn’t like the royal barge that had taken him up and down the river when he was still a prince. Then he’d had a comfortable bed, servants to attend to his slightest need, and as much food as he wished to eat.
Later that evening they were sitting on board the boat eating their evening meal.
“Can’t we get some meat?” Hapu grumbled. “I’m sick of fish.” He was just about to put a piece of fish in his mouth when Mery strode up importantly and dropped something in his lap. Hapu looked down. It was a dead rat. He leapt to his feet with a yell.
“You said you wanted meat!” said Karoya.
It was the first time Ramose had laughed in quite a while.
Another six days brought them to a town called Hardai. The royal barge had never stopped there. Ramose didn’t like the look of it. It was just a collection of mud brick houses and dusty streets.
The people didn’t smile, they were not friendly. Karoya got into an argument with a woman who was trying to sell her some rotten grapes when she wanted figs. The three friends walked back towards the boat and for once they were pleased to be getting back on board. The boatman was sitting on the wharf waiting for them. He looked up and grinned as they approached.
“It’s going to cost you another twenty deben of copper to go all the way to Memphis,” he said while picking at a scab on his hand.
Ramose looked at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about? We already paid you for the whole trip.”
“The winds have been stronger than expected,” said the boatman. “It’s taking longer than I thought.”
“What difference does that make?” shouted Hapu angrily. “We aren’t eating your food.”
“The extra weight is slowing us down.”
“That’s nonsense,” said Ramose. “We weigh nothing compared to your cargo.”
He jerked his head towards the huge logs on board the boat.
“And Mery has caught three rats since we’ve been on your dirty boat,” added Karoya.
“An extra twenty deben or you stay here,” said the boatman.
Ramose was furious. “Okay, we stay here.”
The boatman called his bluff. “I’m casting off.”
“Go then,” said Ramose stubbornly. “We’ll find another boat going to Memphis.”
“Hardai’s not the place to spend the night outdoors,” said the man, unwinding the rope that tied up his boat.
“Ramose,” whispered Hapu. “There might not be another boat for days.”
Ramose was too angry to listen to reason.
The boatman threw the rope on board. He jumped aboard himself.
“This is your last chance,” he said.
Ramose said nothing.
“Row!” shouted the boatman to his oarsmen.
The boat moved away from the quay leaving the three companions stranded in Hardai.
5
AN ANCIENT SCROLL
“I don’t think that was a good idea,” said Hapu as he watched the boat shrink into the distance.
The only other boats at the quay were local fishing boats made of papyrus reeds.
“Now what are we going to do?” moaned Hapu.
“We’ll have to spend the night here,” replied Ramose. “You were both desperate to get off that boat. Now we are off it, and you are still complaining.”
“There’s nowhere I can make a fire,” said Karoya. “The streets are crowded and there’s no open land. We’ll have to walk into the countryside.”
“I don’t like the idea of that,” said Ramose, looking at the unfriendly people. “We’ll have to see if someone will sell us a cooked meal and maybe let us sleep on their roof.”
Everywhere they asked, people wanted many deben of copper to let the travellers share their meagre meal and sleep on their roof. They stood in the dirty main street of the town. They were all starting to wish they were back on board the cargo boat.
“You don’t want to stay in this place,” said a voice at Ramose’s shoulder. It was a short man with a beard and eyes that looked in different directions. “It’s full of thieves.”
“We don’t have much choice,” Ramose said. “There are no other boats leaving for the north.”
“I’m aboard a naval boat, taking men up to the Delta,” the man replied. “I could talk to the captain for you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you sailed with us. We’ve just stopped to buy some fresh meat. We’ll be leaving again in about an hour.”
The three friends returned to the wharf. While they had been searching the town for somewhere to spend the night, the naval boat had tied up. It was a sleek craft. Ramose grinned at Hapu and Karoya as they boarded the boat. They couldn’t believe their luck.
“This is more like it,” said Hapu as they moved off.
The naval boat was bigger, cleaner and faster. It cut through the water at twice the speed of the cargo boat under the power of twenty soldiers at the oars. The captain stood at the stern shouting orders and operating the rudder oar.
They travelled until it was dark and then camped on the riverbank. Their camping place was away from any town or village and it was very peaceful. The soldiers invited them to share their food.
After they’d eaten all the lamb and onions they could, they laid out their reed
mats on the sandy shore beneath a grove of date palms.
“It’s good to be away from that awful town,” said Karoya looking up at the stars through the palm fronds.
“Maybe our luck’s changed,” said Hapu.
Ramose listened to the stillness of the night and hoped he was right.
Their new friend was called Hori. He was travelling with two other men. One was a big man called Intef, who seemed to have an excess of muscles, but a shortage of brains. The other was called Seth. He had a mean mouth and a scar on his neck as if someone had unsuccessfully tried to chop off his head.
“We’re going to Memphis to join the navy,” Hori told them over breakfast. “The captain is my sister’s husband’s brother.”
Ramose couldn’t help wondering if a man who was cross-eyed would make a good soldier, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
“We’re joining a unit that is going to sail over the Great Green to conquer the eastern lands.”
Karoya was horrified at the thought of sailing on the sea.
“I’ve heard that sometimes the boat goes so far out to sea that you can’t see the shore.” Karoya’s eyes were wide. “That can’t be true, can it?” she asked.
“It’s true,” said Hori. “And sometimes the waves rise up to the height of three men.”
“Why are you going to do this?” said Karoya. “Why don’t you stay on land where it’s safe?”
“We were working in the alabaster quarries in the south. It’s hard work. I heard that Pharaoh, may he have long life and health, was recruiting for the navy. My friends and I thought we’d give it a try.”
Ramose couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was something he didn’t like about Hori and his friends. Perhaps it was the way one of Hori’s eyes always seemed to be on him.
They made good progress. “At this rate we’ll be in Memphis in two days,” said Hapu the next day.
Hapu had been in a very cheerful mood ever since they’d come on board. He chatted happily to Hori, telling them all about the work on Pharaoh’s tomb.