I, the Sun

by Morris, Janet

  “My Sun,” said the Shepherd, “if we are walking, we had best get started.”

  And we did. But very slowly, this somewhat disguised by the formality of the procession. Palace officials and Gal Meshedi and commanders of ten and priests went before in their assigned places, and Golden Lancers and Meshedi behind. Out from the residential palace and along the red marble road and through the halls between the buildings we processed until we entered the archives and mounted its stairs and came at last to the balustraded portico overlooking the lower courtyard.

  And through my bespeckled vision I saw that the Shepherd had not lied to me: all along the walls and thick as rats on a corpse in the enclosure and on the steps and on the ramp extending as far as I could see through the open courtyard gates into the old city thronged the people of Hattusas.

  “You are right, Shepherd. I did not believe it, but you are right.”

  “I believed it not myself when I first saw it.”

  Vendors passed, hawking. Musicians played. The crowd sang. Bulls and sheep and cows with streamered horns and garlands of flowers round their necks waited among the folk for their turn to be slaughtered in my honor.

  “Now, Great King, if you are ready?”

  I nodded and the standard bearers and the royal pipers and lutists and the pluckers of harp and lyre went out upon the portico and a great cheer came up from the crowd. The Sun Goddess’ symbol, the winged solar disk, the twelve horned stag, the gilt eagle and all else went forth with the appropriate palace official. Then my wife as a priestess of the Goddess gave benediction, and Kuwatna-ziti added the miracle of my recovery to the glory of the Storm God, my lord.

  But the crowd had a single thing on its mind. I heard my name, a growl, a chant, a thunder. Occasionally, someone would bellow my birth name and others took it up, so that both the old ways and the new seemed to join.

  I have done it with the army, I told myself. It is just that I have not done it with these.

  And before I knew it, my wife had raised up her arms and with the sun, sparking off her crown and her jeweled neck and ringed hands she called for silence, and a moment of prayer for the king.

  This was my signal, and on it, I came forth.

  But all the people had gone down on their knees like a forest bent flat in a winter gale.

  So it was that when they rose I stood there, hands grasping the balustrade leaning down over them, and I had never had such a moment in my life. In the clear hot sun all their faces seemed to come distinct to me, all the thousands of them. And I thought I knew then how, old Nimmuria Amenhotep of Egypt must feel.

  “You have reason to weep, oh people of Hattusas: we have fallen to our knees before the enemy. Weep tears of rage!

  “You have reason to weep, my people, for you love the Hatti lands; we will rise up again and smite the enemy. Weep tears of joy!

  “Ah, you think I cannot know it. I know it. The Storm God has laid his hand on my head, and made me well. You people of Hatti, you sacrificed that this be so. And it is not so for me, but for you. The Gods have sent me back from the very door of the netherworld, to fight again. Let the Oath Gods harken unto me: for every Hittite tear shed here, a thousand women of Mitanni will weep. For every man whose fists are clenched in rage, a thousand times a thousand men of Mitanni will clench their fists, neverending!”

  I waited, then; I had to, for the crowd roared: upswelling, inarticulate affirmation like the roar of the earth when she shudders in her sleep.

  “I will avenge us upon Mitanni, for this is what is in my heart,” and I leaned far over then, knowing they could not see the trembling of my hands nor hear the beating of my heart. And I said to them, softly, oh softly but it carried out across the courtyard and into the gatehouse and some say even down into the city streets, “I will do it, because you have come and laid your prayers upon my altar, because you have sacrificed that it must be so, even as I have done. And what is in all our hearts, the gods will fulfill.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Slowly passed the season of my recovery, when I was mostly in the palace. It was then that we heard that Tushratta of Mitanni had written to the Egyptian king Nimmuria Amenhotep III, saying to him that he had slain me and destroyed my army, and was sending to Egypt samples of Hittite booty, horses and chariots.

  Upon the very day we received a polite inquiry as to my health from the Egyptians, to whom we had said nothing at all, Khinti gave me twin children: one boy, one girl. The girl I named Muwattish. The boy she named Zannanza. I was almost glad I had lost the war, for I would never have been home to hold her while she thrust them out. It was the first time I had had a hand in bearing, and I was like a just-manned driver on his first campaign.

  I found the twins more wondrous than all the proclaimed ‘miracles’ coming up the Mala from Egypt.

  In the spring of my thirteenth regnal year, just after my thirty-third birthday, I heard, both from my sources and from Thebes, their ‘wondrous’ news:

  Naphuria Amenhotep IV changed his name: henceforth he would .be called Akhenaten; and to us foreigners, who craved the simple, just ‘Huri’ would in future be sufficient.

  We giggled about it in unkingly and unqueenly levity, for we were drunk on a potent spring wind and a winter filled with children and the quiet, steady perfecting of our plans.

  Other news from the far south was as we had expected: all diplomatic correspondence would go to the City of the Horizon, Akhetaten, whence the court entire (or so we heard) was moving. Much was made of the city of wonders with its magnanimous settlement of northern barbarians of every stripe. It suited me. I made use of the opportunity to put some Hittite merchants in there, lest my agent Duttu, who was ascending yearly in the esteem of the Egyptian chancery, regain some sudden loyalty to those he ‘served.’ So among the assorted Syrians, folk of Upper and Lower Retenu, that were settled in Akhetaten, went a few who were well-heeled but careful not to show it. And I had Hatib there to oversee the matter of these additions, for that was just before he was posted permanently to the fractious seaboard principalities Egypt overruled.

  Speaking of fractious princes, my young acquaintance Aziru of Amurru had become a sea brigand of renown, and it was said of him by Hatib that of all the princes in Canaan, from the Niblani Mountains to Byblos, he was the one to watch. I was watching him as best I could through Khinti’s father’s many-eyed servants, but even they found that when they blinked the spike-bearded Amurrite disappeared, and when they would chase after him, the best they could do was tell me where he had been.

  So when I came in from performing a ceremony at the rock sanctuary, having dismissed even Khinti, I was understandably surprised to see him sitting in my eagle-clawed chair with his booted feet up on a footstool drinking king’s wine from a golden goblet.

  “Do you not recall me?” he rasped, peering reproachfully over the cup’s rim at the drawn sword that spoke for me. “After so fine a gift, and such friendly letters, I am greeted with a drawn blade? And not any regnal sticker, either, but a working weapon… I heard you wanted to see me. If you don’t, I’ll just go out the way I came, and none will know of it.”

  “Do you ever use doors?”

  “My lot at present precludes it.” He was still watching the setting sun behind my back at the window, or the blade I was holding. I kept moving until I had satisfied myself that I had no other guests, and until I saw that judging look I knew so well from my own experience go across his face: he was wondering if he could get by me and out in safety. “As it does, I am afraid my reciprocating in the matter of the ship you gave me… such a timely and appropriate present I have received from no man. Even my father could not display such largess, though he well loves me. When and how I can repay you in kind I do not know – a Great King like yourself has resources. I have none. But I wanted you to know that your ship is in good shape, and myself in part because of it.”

  “Do not be so sure you cannot reciprocate. If you want to repay me, then we will see what you owe. Aft
er all, I am a king, and always in need of circumspect confidants. And after all, I gave you the ship because I liked what I had seen, and thought I would like better what you might do with it. Now all that has become as I thought it might. So, in point of fact, by doing what you were doing for your own self, you were serving me. Do you see?”

  “No,” he said, still watching me closely, stroking his pointed beard.

  “Have you not harried the princelings unto desperation and stolen sleep from the governors of Egypt?”

  He grinned. “Yes I have.”

  “Then you owe me nothing. That was what I had hoped you would continue to do. I merely made it more likely that you would continue.”

  “I am mystified. I thought… I mean, did you not send out those men to call me on my obligation?”

  “No, just to see if you were well, or if you needed anything, or if you might like to come up to Hattusas. And I see that you are well, and presently I will hear if you need anything, and you are – never mind how, for the nonce – in Hattusas. I am content.”

  His pointed beard stabbed the air as he rubbed his neck, chuckling. “Will you let me know if you need an apprentice to your kingship? Such dissembling as this is beyond anything I have seen or heard even in the courts of Tyre, where men say perfection of the art has been attained.”

  So I laughed with him, to further put him at ease. “Shall I call you Aziru, or simply ‘Criminal,’ as your neighbors do?”

  “What you will, my lord. But I think I have it… if I am not obligated, then perhaps I might want to become so? Is that what you are about?”

  “Perhaps. It is your father with whom I would have to treat, should ever we wish to formalize matters. Now, I am pleased that you are here, and willing to aid you to the extent that you can accept aid from me without engendering Egypt’s wrath further, and we will see how things progress.”

  “Stay! You go too fast for me, my esteemed benefactor, far too fast.” He rose and set the goblet down and walked to the window. “Beautiful view, like fire on the mountains, and the city walls so white… fire and ice. I had no idea the palace was so large. Nor so well-defended.”

  “We try.”

  He turned. “How does my father’s desire to acquire a viable seaport – which is really all he wants and all we need – now, lord king, that is not humorous… How does what we do help you?”

  “If I tell you that, then we are into serious matters. Before I do, think a moment on what that might come to mean: I am once-defeated…”

  It was his turn to make a disclaiming sound, and I went and joined him by the window.

  “I heard all about that; had a Sutu friend in it for the Mitannians. But tell me what you are saying: what will it come to mean, should you and I exchange more than a politeness or two?”

  “It will mean a lot more narrowing-of-eyes and stroking-of-beard on your part, I suppose. Your father’s troubles with Egypt can only escalate. Mine with Mitanni will soon do the same. But I can handle my troubles, and you may not be able to dispatch yours so easily. Wait until I have finished!”

  He took his hands off his hips and leaned back against the embrasure’s frame…

  “If I were to expand southerly, I would come to Amurru long before I came to Egypt. If I came to Amurru, I would like to do it in a friendly fashion. That is all.”

  “That is all? Do I understand you correctly? You are thinking of driving down as far as that? On your summer jaunt, no doubt? To Alalakh? Ugarit? What about the Egyptians? They use Ethiopians and Nubians in the northern legions, you know, it is not just the slight folk with their cosmetic palettes.

  “You are jumping to conclusions. As far coastward as the country of Kinza, which is under Egyptian protection, and the country of Ugarit, the very sunshade of Pharaoh in the Canaan lands, I will not go. No, I will be coming to visit you from a different direction.” I made no mention of Alalakh, whence, as he had guessed, I would surely go.

  “From the rear, so to speak?”

  “More than likely. Remember, I do not share your fixation for coastal expansion. But I approve it.”

  ‘Are you saying to me what I think you are saying?”

  “We could have adjoining borders and friendly relations withal; nothing more am I saying.”

  “Let us, then, discuss how this thing might be done.”

  “As you wish, Aziru,” and I went to refill my goblet.

  “Ah… my lord, I am a prince, only, you know that. What my father will do I cannot say.”

  “Aziru, what your father will do is as clear to me as the color of your eyes. But you and I will speak together, and you will go away and think upon what I have said, and tender unto Abdi-asirta, King of Amurru, my message:

  “He may enter into my vassalage under his own initiative, or not. One way or the other, very soon, under my suzerainty he and his will surely come.”

  “I think,” said Aziru, “that it is time for me to depart.”

  “Tsk. As you wish.”

  “But you cannot just say that to me –”

  “I just said it.”

  “Everything we are doing to get out from under Egypt’s sandal, and you expect me to stand here and meekly accept the fact as soon as we have done it, you will place your own foot there?”

  “Why not? You are old enough to lead sea-wolves who take down the ships of Sidon, of Sumur, and even the flag ship of Byblos’ Egyptian governor – you are old enough to know the truth when you hear it.”

  “Bitter herbs you offer, Great King. You extended my father your formal protection, and he refused it. You offered the King of Ugarit a place in your Empire. He wrote to our Lord Pharaoh, (Lust! Parsimony! Hedonism!) and told him what you had done. Not even a dog can have two masters. We are too poor a country to live under tribute. Do you understand? When your delicate threat arrived, we did not run to Nimmuria Amenhotep with it, because we desire no master! Surely you, of all people, can understand a king who wishes to be his own person, not anyone’s servant!”

  “I understand. I also understand that however many Hapiru people you recruit you will never find enough of them to protect you from the legions of Egypt. As for you being a poor nation: I will make you richer than your wildest dreams, and then I will put you under tribute. But it will be a reminder, only. And you may shake your head and speak your princely declaimers, but consider this: I will do it. Your only choice is whether Amurru will be a willing adherent. By the time I am at the gates of your father’s city, he had better have his mind made up.”

  “Or?”

  “Are you sure you want to ask me that now?”

  “My lord, I am sure of nothing but that I should not have come. My father will not be pleased with what I have to tell him.”

  “But there is something you must do for me, before you leave,” I said, and reached out and clasped him by the shoulder. He stiffened, looked at my hand a time, and then up to my face. “You must accept my hospitality. In the while before mealtime, you and I are going out of the citadel the way you came in, then again we will come up here, exactly the same way. And if by then none of mine have caught sight of us and raised the alarm, I will raise such a din that the Thousands Gods will be waked from their ease by it!” I felt the tension drain from him, and took away my hand as he, smiling, agreed.

  “But it is not so easy,” he warned, his eyes dancing.

  “How old are you?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  “When I was twenty-three, many simple things seemed difficult.”

  “Then, my lord,” he said, throwing a leg over the window’s sill, “follow me, with all haste.”

  Now, my men did not sight us, and I found that the rope-burns on my palms fueled the fire of my displeasure.

  I called my brother Zida and that delayed our dinner, and after he left I called in a servant to show the prince of Amurru to a chamber where he might be pleased to rest, or seek the baths or a bodyservant’s ministrations before the meal was served.

 
The servant who answered my call was that black girl I had gotten in Alashiya, and I instructed her, when I saw his face, to be unswerving in her service of his needs, for she was the very representative of my hospitality. And I was feeling hospitable, indeed: having dug the furrow and planted the seed, it remained only for me to wait until the seedling sprouted.

  CHAPTER 22

  The following year, in late summer, Telipinus and his half-brother Kantuzilis took their manhood testing successfully. There had been some doubt in our minds of Kantuzilis’ fitness for the trial, him being afflicted ever and again by this ailment or that, tremblous of limb and scaly of skin. But he rose to the occasion, which was of great relief to Takkuri’s sister and to my Queen, who seemed determined to bestow her love on not only her own children but every child of the seed whom I had sired over the years upon this woman or that, regardless of status. She knew all their names and their tempers and their tribulations, while I could hardly tell the one from the other and was not inclined to learn.

  Zidanza, who I had adopted for Titai and who had been Takkuri’s sister’s charge, she took in hand and treated as a royal prince, and he followed her like a puppy, having never had any attention at all from anyone before, and in his case I said nothing about it, for I myself felt sorry for that one, and it was decided that we would enter him into the Meshedi the next year as if he were a full son of mine.

  Zida and I discussed it, and both agreed that my wife was going to need a personal troop sooner or later, and this Zidanza seemed like a likely candidate for the post, and even would be grown into it just about the time we were planning to go down into Syria for extended campaigning.

  Like lions, we were waiting, sending out scouts and letting others do our hunting for us, and gathering in provisions for the moment when we would spring.

  We heard that the old king of Ugarit – who had not liked me at all – had died. His son and successor, Niqmad, was the subject of much discussion, both within Hatti and without.