by Gene Wolfe
The fields to left and right are marvelously fertile. I do not believe I can ever have seen such fertile land. If I had, it would not surprise me as it does. Everything is green, dark and full of life. The crop this year will be bountiful. All these fields are as flat as my hand. Here and there, there are small hills. These have a house or two on them, or a village when they are larger, I suppose because they are less fertile than the fields. People who till the land cannot be rich, but these look well fed and seem busy and content. When we wave, they smile and wave in return.
The river is sea-blue or blue-green. It looks like good water, but Muslak says those who drink of it fall ill. Everyone drinks well water, wine, or something else in this land. I am going to ask the women about this. THEY SAY WE must not drink from the river at any season, and that it changes color to mark the changes of the year, now blue, now red, now green. We can wash ourselves in river water, but not mingle it with wine to drink. It will be bluer at Mennufer, Neht-nefret says. She has been there, though Myt-ser'eu has not.
Myt-ser'eu wished to know what I had been writing; I read it to her. The houses and villages are built on the hills so they will not be drowned when the river rises. Sometimes it rises very high, and then they are swept away and must be rebuilt. Neht-nefret says it is better to build on red land, but there is no red land here. I said I would make a raft of logs and live on that. She said wood was costly. NOW I HAVE seen a raft such as the people here build. It was of reeds. These would rot soon, or so I think. Being on this ship made me think of rowing. I believe I have done that-my hands know the loom of a sweep. I asked Muslak whether we would row when the wind died.
"It won't. The Great River is the best for shipping in the whole world, Lewqys. A north wind blows you up it for most of the year. When you want to go back down, you can furl your sail and let the current do the work."
That is marvelous indeed if it is true. Since we spoke I have seen a big boat rowed. The white oars rose and fell with the chant, so that it seemed to fly. It was gay with paint, the property of a rich man who lounged in the stern, and flew very fast, like a warship. Who could object? Such things fill the bellies of the poor.
Our ship is not like it, though it is painted too. Ours is wider and has a tall mast and a big sail. There are ropes to brace the mast, and others to hold the corners of the sail, which is sewn of many strips. There can be no loom wide enough to weave such a wide sail. When I spoke of this ship to Myt-ser'eu, she explained that the satrap wants it, and us.
"Don't your people build good ships?"
"The best in the world." Myt-ser'eu looked proud. "Our ships are the best, and our sailors the best."
I glanced at Muslak and saw that he smiled. He does not agree, and it seems to me that he must be right. Little skill can be needed to navigate this river, if it is as he says.
"Then why doesn't the satrap use your ships and your sailors?" I asked Myt-ser'eu.
"He doesn't trust us. The Great King treated us terribly in my mother's time. Now he is not here and things are better, but he fears we will rebel against him. Our soldiers are very brave."
I asked Muslak what he thought of them.
"They are," he told me. "Many fought for the Great King, and they're tough fighters-better than my own people are. We're sailors and traders. When we need soldiers, we hire mercenaries."
Looking at this green land, where barley shoots up wherever a seed is thrown, I can see that what Muslak said must be true. Only good fighters could hold it. If the people of Kemet did not make fine soldiers, it would be taken from them. OUR SHIP PASSES white temples as massive as mountains-mountains white as snow beneath this blinding sun, and sharp and pointed as any sword. Who would have thought human hands could make such things? Neht-nefret says the ancient kings are laid there. The people of Kemet built many temples, Muslak says, and very large ones, of which the mountain-temples are largest of all. If gods wished temples, would they not build them? They build mountains and plant forests instead, and that is what I would do were I a god. IT IS MUCH later. I am on the roof of our inn, where I write by lamplight. Myt-ser'eu is asleep, but I think I will wake her soon. I have read this scroll, and see that I must write. I will do this first, though I must hold the papyrus very near the lamp to see the letters.
We are staying here for the night, though most of the sailors will sleep on the ship. Muslak and Neht-nefret have a room on the floor below, but my river-wife and I sleep in this roof-bed. We are in a tent of nets, which seems very strange to me. The mosquitoes are evil here, she says, and her people sleep as high up as they can to escape them. The wind that blew us up the Great River blows the mosquitoes away, if they fly too high.
There was music and dancing tonight, which Neht-nefret and Myt-ser'eu wished to join. Muslak agreed to pay, and all four of us had a fine time. Everyone who was not dancing or playing the flute sang and clapped. I did not know the songs, but I clapped with the rest, and quickly picked up the choruses. The young women danced and danced, which was very pretty. Myt-ser'eu was the loveliest, and Neht-nefret had the most jewelry. All eyes were on them, which they greatly enjoyed as anyone could see. Three men played double-flutes while two beat drums. The young women swayed, stepped this way and that, shook rattles, snapped their fingers, and kicked higher than their own heads while we sang and cheered.
We did not drink wine, but "beer." It is a wine made from barley. I cannot imagine how a juice can be pressed from barley, but that is what Myt-ser'eu says and Muslak confirms. Chaff floats upon it, there is a taint of leaven. It is warm with cardamom and too heavy and sweet for my taste, but I drank two bowls because everyone else drank. Sucking up the beer through a tube of thin clay leaves the chaff on the bottom when the bowl is empty. When the evening was over, we played a game in which we broke our clay tubes. He who holds the longest piece wins.
At last the young women tired and the young men danced. It was an easy dance, so I joined it. I was not the best dancer and the rest laughed at my errors, laughter without malice that even a child could bear. I will dance better next time. The flute-players and drummers did not join our dance. All the women sang, most clapped, and Myt-ser'eu played her lute. When everyone was tired we drank more beer and washed in the river. She wears an amulet that protects her from crocodiles.
In what I read today I wondered about the sails I saw on roofs. This inn has such sails, and Myt-ser'eu explained them. There are holes in the roof below for both. One is open on the north-facing side and catches the north wind, directing it into the inn. The other lets the wind stream out again. The first is like the mouthpiece of a flute, the other like the little holes a player fingers. Our inn is the flute. When the wind blows well, as it does tonight, the rooms inside are cool and there are few mosquitoes because the doors and windows are shut. Myt-ser'eu says her people are the wisest in the world. I do not know that, but they are surely very clever.
I was a soldier in a city called Sidon. That is plain from what I read. I wish to go there and speak with those who may remember me. Muslak says that when we leave Kemet we will sail to his own city of Byblos, and that it is near Sidon. It will be easy, he says, for me to reach Sidon from there.
Now I will blow out the lamp and wake my river-wife. There are others sleeping on the roof. I do not think they could watch us even now. When the lamp is out, they will surely be unable to watch us through the nets, which are fine nets for small fish. These a man might see through in sunlight, but the other sleepers will not be able to watch even if they wake. I must remember to be quiet, and to hush Myt-ser'eu, who moans and trembles.
4
NIGHT HAS GONE
I HAVE WATCHED the boat of a god bring the sun, a great and wonderful sight I must set down here so that it shall never be forgotten. He steered the boat that held it. With him were a baboon and a lovely woman who wore a plume in her hair. His head was that of a falcon. When the sun cleared the horizon they were gone, and their boat with them. Perhaps the falcon-god flew away. Perhaps
it was only that they and their boat could no longer be seen in the glare of the sun. I would like to ask the woman who slept with me about them, but feel I should tell no one. Some things are too wonderful to be spoken of.
We are in a ship at anchor. I remember lifting the anchor with another man. We threw it over the side, careful not to be caught in its cable. The woman had made a place where she and I could sleep, in the stern too near the captain and another woman. "Come to my bed," she said, and motioned to me in a way I found irresistible. We lay upon a folded sail and covered ourselves snugly with the sailcloth, for the wind grew cool when the sun was gone. She whispered of love, and we kissed many times. I caressed her and she me, I wondering always whether the others slept; at last I heard them snore. When we were exhausted and ready for sleep, the stars above us shone brighter than any jewels. They seemed close enough to touch, tracing men and strange beasts.
I woke early, sore from sleeping on the folded sail. I stretched and scratched, and looked for something better than river water to drink, but found nothing. Soon, I thought, I would return to the sleeping woman and embrace her again. The east grew bright-I saw the prow of the boat that bears the sun, and watched. Then I saw the falcon-headed man with his steering oar, and the other gods, and knew that I must write of them, as I have. MYT-SER'EU AND I lounge in the shade. No one works now but the steersman, who must keep our ship turned so that our sail catches the wind. Our sailors talk, argue, lay bets, and wrestle for sport. I could wet my pen with sweat, but it leaves a black mark on my chest.
I have had my head shaved, and that is why I write. Neht-nefret saw me scratching and examined it. I had lice-she showed me several. Myt-ser'eu says I got them in an inn, but I do not recall an inn. She cut my hair as short as she could, and Neht-nefret oiled it and shaved it with her razor. The two of them made a hundred jokes at my expense and laughed merrily, but I could tell they were dismayed by the scar they found there. They guided my fingers to it.
Neht-nefret and Myt-ser'eu shave each other's heads, Neht-nefret said, and said too that I had seen them do it but that I can remember nothing. That is not quite true, yet true enough to sadden me. They wear wigs.
Between kisses, Myt-ser'eu is sewing a headcloth for me such as the men of her people wear. (I know that this is so because I saw one on the riverbank not long ago.) It is simple sewing, a circle large enough for my head at one end, another a little larger at the other. MY HEADCLOTH IS finished. It protects my shaven head and my neck and ears from the sun. Muslak laughs and says no one will know I am foreign. Neht-nefret insists we do not speak well enough for men of Kemet and teaches us both. We try to speak as she does while Myt-ser'eu giggles. Azibaal and the other sailors say only Muslak is brown enough-I am too red. Both women say brown is better and feign to spurn me. THREE WARSHIPS ARE passing. They have sails but are rowed as well, and so go very fast. There are bearded men of Parsa on them, and men of Kemet too, long-legged soldiers with spears and enormous shields. We would have died very quickly, I think, if they had attacked us. The women say they would be raped, not killed, and Muslak and I would be chained to benches and made to row. I would not be chained. I would rather fight and die than row until death under the whip.
Those ships are nearly out of sight now, but we still hear their drums beating the rowing-rhythm. There is no singing. Free rowers would sing at the oars, or so it seems to me. The whip steals the song.
Muslak says the ships belonged to the satrap, the brother of the Great King. This satrap wants our ship too, though he has many others. Muslak does not know why.
Before I cease to write, I must write that we sail on the Great River of Kemet; it is because of this river that Kemet is also called Riverland, I think. Is it a great nation, as Neht-nefret and Myt-ser'eu insist? I do not see how that can be when it is no more than this green valley. I have climbed the mast to look at it, and it is so narrow here that I could see the desert to my right. The valley land is black wherever it is not green-the contrast with the ocher desert beyond could escape no eye. We passed a distant city-its name is On, says Neht-nefret. Myt-ser'eu wished to stop there so she might look into the shops before its market closes, but Muslak refused, saying we must make Mennufer before dark.
Many canals water the land, but the river does not dwindle because of them. This seems strange.
One bank is near, to our right. The other is so distant now that it can scarcely be seen. We sail here because the current is slower, and because Mennufer is on this side. Ships coming down the river hold the middle of the channel; those sailing up, as we are, the sides. There are many palms, tall, graceful trees whose leaves grow only at the top. They sway and sway in the wind and were surely lovely women not long ago. Some jealous goddess turned them to trees. OUR SHIP IS tied to a pier at Mennufer, but Myt-ser'eu and I share this room and will sleep here. When we docked, Muslak told us he would hurry to the White Wall to tell the satrap we had come. Myt-ser'eu and I said we would see the city. He gave me money for the purpose. I bought Myt-ser'eu a necklace and new sandals, but we still had more than enough to eat at this inn. After eating we returned to the ship; but Muslak was not there, and Neht-nefret said he had not returned. She was angry because he had not taken her to the White Wall-she has never been inside, while Myt-ser'eu has not been to Mennufer before at all. Myt-ser'eu and I returned to the inn and rented this cool and comfortable room, four flights up and next below the roof. Servants brought us water in which to wash and will wash our clothes for us, bringing them in the morning. Our bed is matting stretched on a wooden frame. It seems very poor to me, but Myt-ser'eu says it is better than the one we had at the last inn. I have an oil lamp with a fine, high flame to write by.
The city is noisy and crowded, exciting but tiring, particularly when one goes from shop to shop in the jewelers' quarter. The streets are narrow, and the buildings crowd together like men. The floor on the street is always a shop. There are other things above, and Myt-ser'eu says sometimes these are finer shops for the rich. This inn has a cookshop on the street-it was where we ate-and rooms for rent above. The highest are best and cost most. The walls at the street are very thick, as they must be to support so many levels above them. This keeps the lower levels cool, while the wind and a thick roof cool the upper levels.
Myt-ser'eu wants to buy cosmetics tomorrow. She says that she may only look at them and we may buy nothing, but I am not so young as to believe it. She also says that her own city, called Sais, was the capital of Kemet not long ago. Now the satrap rules from here, and she is glad. She would not wish him and all his foreign soldiers in her city. I am a foreign soldier myself-so I read. Yet Myt-ser'eu left Sais with me. No one can know the heart of a woman. MYT-SER'EU HAS NO new cosmetics, but she is good-natured about it. I tell her we will visit the perfumers' quarter when the satrap has spoken to us. This morning we walked about the saddlers' quarter first. Myt-ser'eu insisted I get a bag in which to carry this scroll and my ink, one that would protect them. We found such a bag and bought it after much haggling. We were about to enter the perfumers' quarter when Neht-nefret dashed up. We were to meet Muslak at the gate of the White Wall at once. He had a dozen sailors searching for us too, she said, but only she was wise enough to guess where Myt-ser'eu would take me.
We rented donkeys and rode to the gate of the White Wall, on red land some distance from the city. The donkey boys are to wait for us there. Muslak and Azibaal soon joined us, and we were admitted by the guards. Muslak has a firman.
Before I describe this fortress I should say that only the center of the city we left is noisy and crowded. Beyond it are many houses of two and three floors, fine and large, with walled gardens and more gardens on their roofs. Away from the shops, the streets are wide, traversed by carts and chariots. It would be very pleasant, I think, to live in one of those houses. There is no city wall. None at all.
Muslak wished us to remain where the soldiers had told us to wait. I was eager to see the fortress and left anyway, promising to return so
on. I climbed to the top of the outer wall, walked along it some distance, spoke with the soldiers I met there, and so on. The best quarter of the city lay at my left hand and the fortress at my right. There can be few such views in all the world.
I was slower in returning than I had wished because I became lost, but the rest were waiting still when I returned. Myt-ser'eu had the bag we had bought for my scroll, so when a young scribe passed I asked him for water to wet my pen. (I had found two wells, both very large, but I had nothing to put water in and did not wish to disobey Muslak again.)
He is a priest, and his name is Thotmaktef. He was friendly and gossiped with us. I showed him my scroll and explained that I could not write as the people do here, but only with the tongue with which I think. He brought me a little pot of water, and had me write my name and other things on a scrap of papyrus. The people of Kemet write in three ways,* all of which he showed me, writing his name in all before he left. There is more to say of him, but I wish to think more upon it before I write it.
Perhaps I should not write of it at all. NO ONE IS permitted to build a house within bowshot of the White Wall. The White Wall itself surprised me when I saw it. It is tall, but I had expected it to be taller. It surprised me a second time when we entered, for it is much thicker than it is high. The temples in the city have thick walls and monstrous pillars, but they are nothing compared with this great fortress. There are rings of defenses, square towers to guard the gates and the corners of the walls, and a dry moat. Archers on the towers would command the wall, should an enemy drive the defenders from it.
