In addition I had to supervise the building of appropriate accommodations for the sixteen visiting petty kings and their retinues whom King Hurotas and his queen had invited to attend the jollifications.
I digress for a moment to explain Hurotas’ relationship to these petty chieftains or kings. When Hurotas had first landed at Port Githion almost thirty years previously, after escaping from Crete with his new bride Tehuti and seeking a place in the world where he could rule and grow powerful, he had taken the territory that was now Lacedaemon from the incumbent King Clydese, by the simple expedient of turning his own disaffected subjects against him and defeating him in a ferocious battle which had raged for three days along the banks of the River Hurotas.
Clydese had as his allies the three chieftains to the north of his kingdom. All three of them had died sword in hand in the conflict alongside Clydese, but their eldest sons had surrendered to the new King Hurotas. Instead of executing the three of them out of hand as they had been anticipating, Hurotas had demanded that they swear an oath of fealty to him. This they agreed to do with the utmost alacrity, having very much in mind the alternative. Hurotas then returned to them the territories on the northern side of the Taygetus Mountains that he had seized from their deceased fathers, retaining for himself only that which had belonged to Clydese.
Naturally they had also sworn to pay him a substantial tribute on all the income that accrued to them and their heirs from any source whatsoever, in perpetuity. It was an arrangement from which all of them benefitted – some more than others.
The three chieftains kept their lives and nominal control of their fathers’ kingdoms, whereas Hurotas was relieved of the tiresome chore of having to keep under his heel a plethora of savage tribes who did not understand even the fundamentals of allegiance and loyalty. Over the ensuing years all sixteen of the petty chieftains of the surrounding archipelago had been recruited by Hurotas under the same terms: an offer of fealty or oblivion. Hurotas was the only one who had the ferocity and the cunning to keep all of them in order. Without him to crack the whip they would have been at each other’s throats endlessly. As it was they maintained an uneasy truce with each other, and feelings of awe and respect towards Hurotas so deep that they never queried a command of his, or forgot to pay him his tribute, usually well ahead of the agreed date.
Thus it was that thirty-odd years later Hurotas invited all sixteen of his petty chieftains, or those who had succeeded them, to his daughter’s wedding, and I was duty-bound to assist with the preparations.
All had to be in readiness thirty days before the commencement of the season of Shomu, which is the low-water period of the Nile River and high summer in our very Egypt. Although Lacedaemon is a separate kingdom we still followed the Egyptian calendar faithfully, for that was where Hurotas and his wife Tehuti had been born, and Egyptian was their mother tongue.
The first day of Shomu was the date chosen by Queen Tehuti and Princess Serrena for the wedding ceremony after they had carefully calculated the date of the bride’s red moon and allowed ten days for its passage to make certain she would be ready to accord her new husband a right royal welcome on the first occasion that he visited her bridal couch.
This meant that the guests would begin to arrive and the festivities begin in the month before Shomu, which of course was Renwet, the last month in the ‘Emergence’ of the Nile high-water period.
We all worked like slaves under the lash for time was fleeting and my two darlings, Tehuti and Serrena, kept dreaming up fresh entertainments for me to arrange for our guests, each one more elaborate and complicated than the one that preceded it.
‘We know that you can do it easily, Tata darling. You are an absolute genius. Nothing is beyond your talents. You would never let me down. After all, it is Serrena’s wedding,’ Tehuti encouraged me and kissed my cheek to spur me onwards.
It was a near-run thing, but as the longships of our guests began appearing on the horizon from every direction and headed into the great bay of Githion there were companies of our warriors headed up by their officers to welcome them ashore, and then to escort them up the River Hurotas to the citadel, where sumptuous quarters stood ready to receive them. This was in itself a complicated business, especially if more than one shipload of royalty arrived simultaneously. Our guests were very sensitive to their seniority. They were ready to defend their order of precedence with bared teeth and drawn swords, and it tested my diplomacy to the limit not to give offence to any of them.
However, my abundant charms soothed the heated tempers and my exquisite sense of protocol prevailed to prevent a riot.
As soon as they came ashore the principal guests and their wives and concubines were handed up on to the platforms of the waiting line of chariots and escorted by mounted cavalry and blaring bands. The road was lined by cheering crowds and dancing girls and strewn with flowers all the way from the wharf of Githion harbour to the gates of the citadel.
Here King Hurotas and Queen Tehuti were waiting to receive them. They were supported by Prince Rameses and his prospective bride. Very few of the arriving guests had ever laid eyes on Serrena previously and although they must have been apprised of her extraordinary beauty none of them seemed to be prepared for its actuality. Even those who had previously travelled to Lacedaemon to press their suit with her seemed to have forgotten how beautiful she truly was, and they were smitten anew. One after the other they were struck dumb and could only gawk at her in wonderment. But within a few minutes Serrena had broken the spell with her warm and easy manner and her radiant smile.
This was one of the many virtues she evinced; she seemed to be unaware of the splendour of her own appearance and was totally lacking in vanity. Of course, that only made it more effective. I could follow her progress by the ripple of excitement that she engendered, and the animation of those who crowded around her to bask in her beauty. The strange thing was that she seemed never to evoke envy and jealousy amongst the other women. It was as if they never considered themselves to be in contest with her; she was as unreachable as a shooting star. Rather they took a pride in her as the pinnacle and epitome of their own sex. Her beauty was reflected in all of them, and they loved her for it.
Thus we began the run-up to the royal wedding, and as the day drew nearer the guests became more excited and filled with joyous anticipation. It was as if all of nature was aware of the importance of the occasion and contributed wholeheartedly to it. It rained, but only during the night. The sound of it on the rooftops was lulling and reassuring. Then the clouds cleared with the dawn, and the sun beamed upon us all benevolently. The winds dropped to a gentle zephyr from out of the south; just strong enough to ruffle the waters and to carry the ships of the last wedding guests sedately into Port Githion.
There was only one lingering concern which cast a pall over the festivities, and that was the unsuccessful attempt by the agents of Pharaoh Utteric to cut the war trireme Memnon out of Port Githion, and the threat to the safety of Prince Rameses and to his bride that this act implied.
By this time all the civilized world had learned that Pharaoh Utteric was a madman with a large army and navy at his beck and call, and that he did not hesitate to use it with little or no provocation.
Although King Hurotas truly loved his daughter Serrena, and the wedding festivities were primarily in her honour, behind the scenes he was quite happy to use the occasion to further affairs of state. Every day at noon he called a clandestine meeting behind the closed doors of his council chamber of all the heads of state gathered in Lacedaemon. The timing of these gatherings was deliberate. Later in the day, once the festivities were renewed and the consumption of the superb wines from King Hurotas’ vineyards got under way, was not a suitable time to discuss a pact of mutual protection.
Over a fortnight before the date set down for the wedding of Prince Rameses of Egypt and Princess Serrena of Lacedaemon the eighteen heads of state, which number included Hurotas and Prince Rameses, assembled in the council cham
ber of the citadel.
The previous day the council had voted not to recognize Utteric as Pharaoh of Egypt, owing to his manifest insanity. They had elected Rameses as Utteric’s replacement.
Once all the members were seated Hurotas called them to order, ‘The Council of the North is now in session, and I call upon Lord Taita, the secretary of the council, to read the Pact of Mutual Protection which has been placed before us for ratification by the Tyrant of Kallipolis, King Tyndarcus.’
Tyndarcus, Rameses and King Hurotas were the only members of the council who were able to read. I was the only one in the chamber who did not have to move my lips when doing so. That was why Hurotas had chosen Tyndarcus to present the papyrus scroll and me to read it out loud. It consisted of just over five hundred words, but it obliged all present member states of the Council of the North to come to the aid of any member of the council whose country or citizens were placed under threat by a third party.
There was some trivial discussion after I had read the document to them, but then they all signed it or made their mark at the foot of the scroll. The mood of the council members was jovial and flippant. They trooped out of the council chamber into the courtyard where King Hurotas had a magnificent black stallion tethered.
Each of them was presented with a silver flagon, and they gathered around the horse. Hurotas hefted his battle axe and with a single blow cleaved the stallion’s skull, killing it instantly. Then one after another the rulers and kings came forward and scooped up a flagon of the fresh spurting blood, and raised it high before intoning solemnly: ‘If I break my solemn oath may my own blood flow as freely.’ Then they swallowed the contents of the flagon. Some of them roared with laughter but others gagged at the taste of raw blood. However, I am certain that not one of them dreamed that they would be called upon to make good their oath before the end of the month.
The festivities prior to the marriage of Rameses and Serrena built up to a crescendo as the date approached. With only fourteen days left before the wedding Hurotas declared a hunt for the Laconian boar. This was an animal with a long history, and was a particular bugbear of his.
After Zaras and Tehuti had arrived in Lacedaemon all those years ago and Zaras became King Hurotas, one of his innovations was to plant the first vineyards and make the first wines from the grapes he grew.
Then King Hurotas made a grave error. When he consecrated his vineyards to the gods he forgot to include the goddess Artemis in the honours list. Among her numerous other duties, Artemis is the goddess of the forests and of all wild animals. Hurotas chopped down the forests to make room for his vines, and he drove away or killed the animals including the wild boars that might destroy his fields. The wild boar is one of Artemis’ favourite creatures, and she was incensed by his arrogant and high-handed behaviour.
She sent the Laconian boar to tear up his vineyards and to teach him humility. This animal was no ordinary wild pig. Only a divine being or someone born to be king was able to despatch it, and then only after a gargantuan struggle. No matter how often the Laconian boar was killed Artemis saw to its rebirth ever year and sent it back to plague Hurotas. Each year the animal the goddess sent was larger and more ferocious and formidable than the previous one.
The last boar that Artemis had sent to confront Hurotas was reputed to stand six cubits high at the shoulder, as tall as a man. It weighed five hundred deben, as hefty as a large horse.
It lived in the dense forests high in the Taygetus Mountains, and emerged only at night to ravage the fields of the men who farmed the valleys. Thus few people had ever laid eyes upon it. It could devour the annual planting of five or six struggling smallholders in a single night. What it did not eat it trampled into the mud.
Its tusks were as long as a warrior’s sword. With them it could rip the entrails out of a horse with a toss of its hideous head. Its hide was so tough and thick, and the wiry hair that covered it was so dense, that it would turn the head of all but the most skilfully and powerfully thrown spear. Its hooves were so sharp that it could disembowel a war horse with a single kick. It was not surprising that two of Serrena’s erstwhile suitors declined the invitation to the hunt, one of them pleading his advanced age and the other his very recently deteriorating health. Nevertheless, both of them accepted the invitation to watch the hunt from afar or from the top of a high tree.
There was an air of nervous excitement about those who accepted the challenge as they rode out to do battle with the monster. Naturally, King Hurotas led the hunt with Admiral Hui, his boon companion, as his right hand. Very recently Hurotas had seen me fight in the battle of Luxor against the Hyksos hordes that had overrun Egypt, thus it was no surprise to anyone that I was chosen to ride at his other hand.
Hurotas ordered his wife and his equally beloved daughter to remain well back in the hunt, and Prince Rameses to ride with them as their principal protector. If he had asked my advice I could have saved him a great deal of aggravation and loss of dignity. As it was he was faced immediately with ferocious opposition from all three of them. Queen Tehuti led the retaliation with the skill of a barrack-room lawyer and all the authority of over thirty years of marriage.
‘When was the first time I ever saved your life, my darling?’ she asked Hurotas sweetly. ‘Was it not before we were even married? Yes, I remember now. You were still the lowly captain named Zaras. You and Taita came to rescue me from the bandit Al Hawsawi who had kidnapped me, but you were stabbed in the stomach by the bandit before you got around to performing your noble mission. In the end it was Taita and I who had to rescue you!’ She placed such particular emphasis on the last word that Hurotas paled with outrage. Even I was flabbergasted by the manner in which she had manipulated her account of this particular incident, but before either of us could find the words to protest she raced on, ‘That was only the first of many times I saved your life …’ And she proceeded to remind him of several more.
Then Serrena came in so smoothly at this her cue that they might have rehearsed it a dozen times and not hit it off so perfectly: ‘And Mama and I have made a pact to share the blue sword which her father gave to her.’ Her lovely voice quivered with mawkish sentiment. ‘If we are not together for this hunt it will mean that one of us will be deprived of the weapon that might save her life, or yours. You cannot allow one of us to be delivered unarmed to the mercy of this murderous pig, can you now, Papa?’ Hurotas swung around to face her before he had even replied to his wife, but Prince Rameses cut neatly across his bows before he could protest.
‘It is my duty to protect my future wife Serrena from dreadful danger, Your Majesty. I must be by her side when we encounter this ravening beast.’
King Hurotas glared at the three of them, but they stood shoulder to shoulder against him. He looked around for support, and of course he saw me hovering discreetly in the background. ‘Taita, explain to these idiots that this is an extremely dangerous animal we are hunting. All of them will be in mortal danger when we encounter it.’
‘Your Majesty, only a fool keeps on arguing when he is outnumbered and outwitted. I am here to bear witness that you are no fool. I suggest that you accept the inevitable,’ I replied and he stared at me, a furious scowl vying with the twinkle of laughter in his eyes as he realized that he was without even my support. Then he turned away and strode to where two grooms were holding his charger. He swung up on to its back and gathered up the reins. Then he glared down at all of us.
‘Come along then! If you are absolutely determined to die, follow me. And may Artemis and all the other gods have mercy on your stupidity, although I believe that to be unlikely.’
The area that we had to cover was immense, and the terrain was mountainous and thickly forested, with the vineyards strewn along the foot of the high ground. The pace that Hurotas set was designed to punish his wife and daughter for their earlier impudence in defying his orders. However, they matched him readily. It goes without saying that I was also at the forefront of the hunt, keeping a length beh
ind the two royal ladies. The rest of the hunting party, almost a hundred of them, were strung out behind us over several leagues of hard going. However, they were all in jovial mood, most of them believing the accounts of the quarry were exaggerated, and that the Laconian boar was the average innocuous creature that could be despatched with a dozen arrows and the thrust of a lance. Most of them were much more interested in the wine flagons that were being passed freely from hand to hand.
Those few of us in the vanguard found abundant evidence of the presence of the boar. Large areas of vines had been wantonly uprooted and the irrigation channels that had been laboriously constructed by the peasant farmers had been torn up. The water was pouring away down the mountainside and back into the river in the valley whence it had originated and from there it was carried straight out to sea. Those vines which had not been ravaged by the boar were brown and leafless, and dying of thirst. The peasants who were charged with maintaining the water furrows were too terrified of the boar to work the fields, and they cowered in their hovels, more afraid of the monstrous animal than even they were of Hurotas.
The goddess Artemis could not have chosen a more vulnerable or hurtful area of Hurotas’ empire than his wine lands on which to wreak her punishment for his arrogance. The king loved his wine almost as much as he loved the contents of his treasure chambers, and when he had a flagon of the liquid red magic in his hand and another under his belt he was a man replete. Although he had been informed by his land managers of the extent of the destruction he had not yet been able to visualize it. Hearing about it was one thing, but actually looking upon it was another thing entirely.
He rode ahead of our hunting party, waving his hunting spear over his head and railing at the goddess and her minion. I shuddered to hear such insults aimed at a daughter of Zeus. The mildest of these epithets was ‘horrible and hideous hag-whore’. The worst was to blatantly accuse her of unnatural relations with her own wild boar. The picture it conjured up in my mind was too terrible to contemplate but both Tehuti and her beloved daughter, Serrena, thought it inordinately amusing.