River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt (Novels of Ancient Egypt)

by Wilbur Smith

  I took the dead pigeon in my hands, and lifted it to the sky. ‘Joyfully I accept this trust that you have placed upon me, oh Horus. Through all the days of my life I will be true to it.’

  The falcon called again, one last wild shriek, and then it banked away and on quick, stabbing wing-beats, flew out across the wide Nile waters and disappeared into the wilderness, back towards the western fields of paradise where the gods live.

  I plucked a single wing-feather from the pigeon. Later I placed it under the mattress of the prince’s cot, for good luck.

  * * *

  Pharaoh’s joy and pride in his heir were unbounded. He declared a nativity feast in his honour. For one entire night the citizens of Upper Egypt sang and danced in the streets, and gorged on the meat and wine that Pharaoh provided, and they blessed the Prince Memnon with every bowlful that went down their gullets. The fact that he was the son of my Lady Lostris, whom they loved, made the occasion of his birth all the more joyous.

  So young and resilient was my mistress that within days, she was well enough to appear before the full court of Egypt, bearing her infant at her breast. Seated on the lesser throne below that of the king, she made a picture of lovely young motherhood. When she opened her robe and lifted out one of her milk-swollen breasts and before the assembled court gave the infant suck, they cheered her so loudly as to startle the infant. He spat out the nipple and roared at them in scarlet-faced outrage, and the nation took him to its heart.

  ‘He is a lion,’ they declared. ‘His heart is pumped up with the blood of kings and warriors.’

  Once the prince had been quieted again, and his mouth stopped up with the nipple, Pharaoh rose to address us, his subjects.

  ‘I acknowledge this child to be my issue and the direct line of my blood and succession. He is my first-born son, and shall be Pharaoh after me. To you noble lords and ladies, to all my subjects, I commend the Prince Memnon.’

  The cheers went on and on, for no one amongst them wanted to be the first to fall silent and bring his loyalty into question.

  During all of this I stood with other servants and slaves of the royal household in one of the upper galleries which overlooked the hall. By craning my head, I was able to pick out the tall figure of Lord Tanus. He was standing in the third rank below the throne with Nembet and the other military commanders. Although he cheered with the rest of them, I could read the expression on his broad, open face that he strove to disguise. His son was claimed by another and it was beyond his power to prevent it. Even I, who knew and understood him so well, could only guess at what agony he was suffering.

  When at last the king ordered silence and he had their attention once more, he continued, ‘I commend to you also the mother of the prince, the Lady Lostris. Know all men that she sits now closest to my throne. From this day forward she is elevated to the rank of chief consort and the senior wife of Pharaoh. From henceforth, in name she will become Queen Lostris, while in precedence and preferment she ranks after the king and his prince alone. Furthermore, until the prince has reached the age of his majority, Queen Lostris shall act as my regent and, when I am unable to do so, she will stand at the head of the nation in my stead.’

  I do not think there was a soul in all the Upper Kingdom who did not love my mistress, except perhaps some of the royal wives who had been unable to provide the king with a male heir, and who now found themselves outranked by her and superseded in the order of precedence. All the rest showed their love in the acclaim with which they greeted this pronouncement.

  To end the ceremony of the naming of Pharaoh’s heir, the royal family left the hall. In the main courtyard of the palace, Pharaoh mounted the sledge of state, and with Queen Lostris seated at his side and the prince in her arms, they were drawn by the span of white bullocks down the Avenue of Rams to the temple of Osiris to make sacrifice to the god. Both sides of the sacred avenue were lined a hundred deep by the citizens of Thebes. With a mighty voice they demonstrated their devotion to the king and their love for the queen and her new-born prince.

  That night, as I waited on her and the child, she whispered to me, ‘Oh, Taita, did you see Tanus in the crowd? What a day of mixed joy and sorrow this has been. I could have wept for my love. He was so tall and brave, and he had to watch and listen when his son was taken from him. I wanted to jump to my feet in all that throng and cry out, “This is the son of Tanus, Lord Harrab, and I love them both.”’

  ‘I am pleased for the sake of all of us, Your Majesty, that for once you were able to restrain that wayward tongue of yours.’

  She giggled. ‘It is so strange to have you call me that—Your Majesty—it makes me feel like an impostor.’ She transferred the prince from one breast to the other, and at the movement he released from both ends of his tiny body a double blast of air which in volume and resonance was truly imperial.

  ‘It is apparent that he was conceived in a wind-storm,’ I remarked drily, and she giggled again and then immediately afterwards sighed dolefully.

  ‘My darling Tanus will never share these intimate moments with us. Do you realize that he has not yet held Memnon in his arms, and it is possible he never will? I think I am about to cry again.’

  ‘Restrain yourself, mistress. If you weep, it might sour your milk.’ A warning which was untrue but effective in bending her to my will. She sniffed back her tears.

  ‘Is there no way that we can let Tanus enjoy our baby as we do?’

  I thought about it for a while and then made a suggestion which caused her to cry out with pleasure. As if to endorse what I had said, the prince broke resounding wind once more.

  The very next day when Pharaoh came to visit his son, the queen put my suggestion into effect. ‘Dear and divine husband, have you given thought to selecting official tutors for Prince Memnon?’

  Pharaoh laughed indulgently. ‘He is still only an infant. Should he not first learn to walk and talk, before he is instructed in other skills?’

  ‘I think his tutors should be appointed now, so they can grow to know him, and he them.’

  ‘Very well.’ The king smiled, and took the child on to his knee. ‘Who do you suggest?’

  ‘For his schooling we need one of our great scholars. Some person who understands all the sciences and mysteries.’

  The king’s eyes twinkled. ‘I cannot think of one who answers that description,’ and he grinned at me. The child had altered Pharaoh’s disposition; since Memnon’s birth, he had become almost jovial, and for a moment I expected him to wink at me. However, his new, congenial attitude to life did not extend quite that far.

  The queen continued, unruffled by this exchange, ‘Then we need a soldier well versed in the warlike arts, and the exercise of arms to train him as a warrior. He should, I think, be young and of good breeding. Trustworthy, of course, and loyal to the crown.’

  ‘Who do you suggest for that position, my dear? Very few of my soldiers answer to all those virtues.’ I do not think there was any guile or malice in Pharaoh’s question, but nevertheless my mistress was no fool. She inclined her head gracefully and said, ‘The king is wise, and knows who, from all his generals, best suits that role.’

  At the very next assize the king announced the prince’s tutors. The slave and physician, Taita, was to be responsible for Memnon’s schooling and deportment. This surprised strategy, the Great Lion of Egypt, Lord Harrab, shall henceforth be responsible.’ Accordingly it became the duty of Lord Harrab, when he was not on campaign, to wait upon the prince at the beginning of each week.

  While my mistress waited for her quarters in the new palace that I was building across the river to be completed, she had moved from the harem into a wing of the grand vizier’s palace that overlooked the water-garden I had built for her father. This was in accordance with her new status as the senior wife and consort. The weekly audience that Prince Memnon held for his official tutors took place under the barrazza, with Queen Lostris in attendance. Very often there was a score of other officials or cou
rtiers present, and occasionally Pharaoh himself arrived with all his train, so we were under considerable constraint.

  However, once in a while there were just the four of us present. On the very first occasion that we had such privacy, Queen Lostris placed the prince in his father’s arms for the first time and I was witness to the incoherent joy with which Tanus looked down into the face of his son. Memnon rose to the occasion by puking down the front of his father’s uniform, but even then Tanus would not relinquish him.

  From then onwards we reserved any special event in the child’s life for when Tanus was with us. Tanus fed him his first spoonful of gruel, and the prince was so startled by this unaccustomed fare that he screwed up his face and spat the offending mess down his chin. Then he howled loudly for his mother’s milk to wash the taste from his mouth. Queen Lostris took him on her lap and while Tanus watched fascinated, she gave him the breast. Suddenly Tanus reached across and tweaked the nipple from the tiny mouth. This amused everybody but the prince and me. Memnon was outraged at this cavalier treatment and made that fact known, while I was shocked. I imagined the king arriving unexpectedly to find the Great Lion of Egypt with a right royal handful which he seemed in no hurry to relinquish.

  When I quite rightly protested, my mistress told me, ‘Don’t be such a prim old woman, Taita. We are only having a little innocent fun.’

  ‘Fun, yes. However, there is some doubt as to the innocence of it,’ I muttered, for I had seen both their faces light up at the intimate touch, and sensed their mutual passion like thunder in the air. I knew that they could not restrain themselves for much longer, and that even Tanus’ sense of duty and honour must in the end succumb to so great a love as theirs.

  That very evening I visited the temple of Horus and made a generous sacrifice. Then I prayed and asked the god, ‘May the prophecy of the Mazes be not too long delayed, for they cannot help themselves. It will mean death and disgrace to all of us.’

  Sometimes it is best for men not to attempt to interfere with destiny. Our prayers can be answered in ways which we do not expect and do not welcome.

  * * *

  I was physician to the prince, but in truth he had little need of my medical skills. He was blessed with his father’s rude and abundant health, and precocious strength. His appetite and digestion were exemplary. Anything placed in his mouth was devoured with leonine voracity, and promptly re-emerged from his nether end in the desired shape and consistency.

  He slept without interruption and woke bellowing for food. If I showed him a finger, he would watch it move from side to side with those huge dark eyes, and the moment it came within range, he would seize it and attempt to haul himself into a sitting position. In this he succeeded sooner than any other child that I had attended. He raised himself and crawled at the age when others had only begun to sit up. He took his first tottering step when others would only begin to crawl.

  Tanus was present on that remarkable day. He had been on campaign for the past two months, for the forces of the red usurper had captured Asyut. That city was the pivot on which our northern defences turned, and Pharaoh had ordered Tanus down-river with all his fleet to retake the city.

  Much later I heard from Kratas just how terrible had been the fighting, but in the end Tanus breached the walls and was at the head of his beloved Blues when they broke in. They drove the pretender from the city and back beyond his own borders with bloody losses.

  Tanus sailed back to Thebes and the gratitude of the kingdom. Pharaoh laid another chain upon his shoulders, the Gold of Valour, and made up the back-pay of all the troops who had helped him achieve this victory.

  Tanus came almost directly from the king to the barrazza in the water-garden where we were waiting for him. While I stood guard at the gateway, Tanus and my mistress embraced with all the fire that had burned up so brightly while they had been apart. At last I had to separate them, for that embrace could lead in only one direction.

  ‘Lord Tanus,’ I called sharply, ‘Prince Memnon grows impatient.’ Reluctantly they drew apart, and Tanus went to where the infant sprawled naked on a robe of jackal skins that I had spread for him in the shade. Tanus went down on one knee before him.

  ‘Greetings, Your Royal Highness. I bring you tidings of the triumph of our arms—’ Tanus mocked him lovingly, and Memnon gave a happy shout as he recognized his father, and then the sparkling gold chain caught his eye. With a mighty heave he hoisted himself to his feet. He took four lurching steps, seized the chain and clung to it with both hands.

  All of us applauded this feat, and, supporting himself by the chain, Memnon beamed about him, accepting this praise as his due.

  ‘By the wings of Horus, he has as sharp an eye as you do for the yellow metal, Taita,’ Tanus laughed.

  ‘It is not the gold that draws him, but the winning of it,’ my mistress declared. ‘One day he too will wear the Gold of Valour upon his chest.’

  ‘Never doubt it!’ Tanus swung the boy high, and Memnon shrieked with pleasure and kicked his legs to urge Tanus to further rough play.

  Thus, for Tanus and me, the child’s advances seemed to mark the change of seasons, just as surely as did the rise and fall of the river. On the other hand my mistress’s life revolved around those hours spent alone with the child and the man. Each interval between Tanus’ visits seemed too long for my mistress to support, each visit too short for her to bear.

  * * *

  The inundation of that summer was as benevolent as any that we had forecast at the ceremony of the waters in Elephantine. When the flood receded, the fields glistened under their new coat of black mud. In their turn, they were soon obliterated by the dense green stands of corn and fruit. By the time the prince took his first upright step the granaries of Egypt were brimming, and the larders of even the poorest of her subjects were filled. On the west bank the Palace of Memnon was taking shape, and the war in the north was running in our favour. The gods smiled on Pharaoh and all his realm.

  The only discontent in all this was that the two lovers, though close enough to touch, were cleaved apart by a gulf wider than the valley in which we lived. Each of them on separate but numerous occasions taxed me with the prophecy of the Mazes of Ammon-Ra, as though I were personally responsible for the fulfilment of the dream visions. It was in vain to protest that I was merely the mirror in which the future was reflected, and not the one who moved the stones on the bao board of destiny.

  The old year died, and the river began to rise once more, completing the endless cycle. This was the fourth flood that the Mazes had foretold. I, as much as any of them, expected my vision of the Mazes to be fulfilled before the end of the season. When this did not happen, both my mistress and Tanus taxed me severely.

  ‘When will I be free to go to Tanus?’ Queen Lostris sighed. ‘You must do something, Taita.’

  ‘It is not me, but the gods, whom you must question. I can pray to them, but that is all I can do.’

  Then another year passed without any change in our circumstances, and even Tanus was bitter. ‘So much faith I have placed in you that I have based my future happiness on your word. I swear to you, Taita, that if you do not do something soon—’ He broke off and stared at me. The threat was all the more forceful for not being spoken.

  Yet another year drifted past, and even I began to lose faith in my own prophecy. I came to believe that the gods had changed their minds, or that what I had seen was my own wishful fantasy.

  In the end Prince Memnon was almost five years old and his mother twenty-one, when the messenger came flying wild-eyed from the north, in one of our scouting galleys.

  ‘The Delta had fallen. The red pretender is dead. The Lower Kingdom is in flames. The cities of Memphis and Avaris are destroyed. The temples are burned to the ground and the images of the gods thrown down,’ he shouted to the king, and Pharaoh replied ‘It is not possible. I long to believe this despatch, but I cannot. How could this thing come to pass without our knowledge? The usurper was possessed of
great force, for more than fifteen years we have been unable to overthrow him. How has this been accomplished in a day, and by whom?’

  The messenger was shaking with fear and exhaustion, for his journey had been onerous, and he knew how the bearers of disastrous tidings were treated in Thebes.

  ‘The red pretender was destroyed with his sword still in the scabbard. His forces were scattered before the war trumpets could sound the alarm.’

  ‘How was this accomplished?’

  ‘Divine Egypt, I know not. They say that a new and terrible enemy has come out of the East, swift as the wind, and no nation can stand before his wrath. Though they have never seen him, our army is in full retreat from the northern borders. Even the bravest will not stay to face him.’

  ‘Who is this enemy?’ Pharaoh demanded, and for the first time we heard the fear in his voice.

  ‘They call him the Shepherd King. The Hyksos.’

  Tanus and I had jested with that name. We would never do so again.

  * * *

  Pharaoh called his war council into secret conclave. It was only long afterwards that I learned from Kratas all that transpired in those deliberations. Tanus, of course, would never break his oath of secrecy, not even to me or my mistress. But I was able to worm it out of Kratas, for that lovable, brawling oaf was not proof against my wiles.

  Tanus had promoted Kratas to the rank of Best of Ten Thousand, and had given him the command of the Blue Crocodile Guards. The bond between them was still as solid as a granite stele. Thus, as a regimental commander, Kratas was entitled to a seat on the war council, and although at his lowly rank he was not called upon to speak, he faithfully relayed all that was said, to me and my mistress.

  The council was divided between the ancients, headed by Nembet, and the new blood of which Tanus was the leader. Unfortunately the final authority lay with the old men, and they forced their archaic views upon the others.