As soon as we had dealt with the Hyksos chariots Aton’s guides led us to their cavalry lines. There were almost two thousand chargers being held in the reed-thatched stables.
One thing – perhaps the only thing – I will concede to the Hyksos is their excellence in horse-handling. These animals had clearly been carefully bred and selected, then devotedly groomed and trained to burnished perfection. I love horses in preference to any other animal species, including most human beings. At the very least you can trust a horse.
We drove them down to where our ships lay on the beach of the bay. I was not certain how to dispose of them. Two thousand horses is a great multitude. We did not have room for them in our ships, even with the addition of Nakati’s squadron.
When the suggestion was made by one of Nakati’s officers that we slaughter these magnificent creatures rather than allow them to be recaptured by the Hyksos I felt every nerve and sinew of my body burn with indignation. I turned on Nakati.
‘Are there not fifty men amongst these blackguards of yours that understand and love horses?’ I demanded of him.
‘There are, my lord.’ He could see how infuriated I was.
‘Give them to me, Nakati. I will divide the herd between them. Then each of them should attempt independently to drive his animals south into Egyptian territory. They will choose separate routes. I will pay a bounty of a silver deben for each horse they deliver to my estate at Mechir. If any man of them dies in the attempt I will care for his widow and children for life. My oath on it!’
Within less than an hour Nakati had assembled the volunteers. They drew lots for their share of the captured animals and then drove them out into the gathering twilight, splitting up into smaller groups as they went.
Some of them had decided to drive their horses into the Sahara and try to circle to the west around the Hyksos positions to reach our very Egypt. Others were determined to cross the Nile Delta; swimming their horses through the tributaries of the great river to reach the Sinai Peninsula in the east before turning south along the shores of the Red Sea to reach Thebes.
I watched them go and said a devout and fervent prayer to Horus and Inana, begging them to watch over my horses during the perilous journey that lay ahead of them.
Now I could turn my attention to the prisoners.
With the garrison of the chariot depot and the survivors of the battle in the Bay of Zin we had captured 793 Hyksos charioteers and sailors. Zaras and Nakati had these prisoners kneeling in long lines on the beach above the high waterline. They had been stripped naked and their arms were tied behind their backs. They were resigned and morose as men waiting at the foot of the gallows for the summons from the executioner.
‘What should we do with these miserable creatures?’ I demanded of Nakati and my officers. None of them showed much interest in the subject. Our ships that had been damaged in the battle had been hastily repaired and relaunched. Those that were beyond repair had been set on fire and were burning on the sands. The battle had been fought and won. Everyone was anxious to go on board and sail away, before fresh Hyksos hordes came howling over the dunes for blood and vengeance.
‘Kill them,’ suggested Hui off-handedly.
‘I agree.’ Zaras nodded. ‘Kill them all.’ He spoke in Hyksosian and loud enough for the nearest prisoners to hear and understand.
‘That is good advice.’ Nakati gave his opinion. ‘If we let them go they will be back tomorrow killing our men and raping our women.’ The others growled agreement, but Nakati held up his hand for their attention and went on speaking: ‘However, Lord Taita, I know you well enough by now to be certain that you will never agree to our very sensible suggestions. You could never kill in cold blood a man who has surrendered to you.’
‘Perhaps you give me too much credit for chivalry.’ I shrugged. ‘I might surprise you.’ But of course he knew my protestation was insincere. He grinned at me.
‘Let me make a suggestion,’ he proposed. ‘Let me show you how we can make certain that these swine never again shoot an arrow or wield a sword against Pharaoh and our very Egypt. Then you can release them to the dictates of your conscience, my lord.’
‘How do you propose we achieve that? Will we ask them to give their parole, and place our trust in that?’ I was irritated by the futility of this debate. I also was anxious to go on board the Outrage and head back to Crete, where my princesses were. I had already made up my mind to release the captives just as soon as we sailed.
‘A moment more of your attention, I beg of you.’ Nakati nodded to a group of his own Sea People who were standing guard over the kneeling prisoners. They dragged one of the Hyksos charioteers forward and pushed him face down on the sand with his arms still tied behind his back. Nakati stood over him and drew his sword.
‘Hold up your thumbs, fellow!’ he ordered, and the prisoner obeyed gullibly. With a double flick of his blade Nakati severed the thumbs from both his hands at the second joint. The prisoner screamed with pain and despair as the blood spurted from the stumps and his disjointed parts fell twitching into the sand.
‘I will wager that this man will never again wield a sword or draw a bow against Egypt,’ Nakati said. We gaped at him in shock and dumb amazement for a few moments before all my men let out whoops of delighted laughter.
Then Zaras stepped forward before I could intervene. With his foot he rolled the naked and maimed prisoner on to his back. He drew his sword and slipped the point of it under the man’s flaccid penis. ‘And here is the way to make certain he never again rapes an Egyptian woman or one of our new-born infants.’ With an upward slash of the blade he severed the member at its juncture with the prisoner’s groin. Then he speared it on the point of his sword and flipped it into the surf that lapped the beach.
‘An offering to Poseidon, the god of the sea, if he accepts such a foul piece of swine flesh.’
The men around me shouted with approbation; but my voice was louder than any of them.
‘Cease that brutality at once, Zaras. Put up your sword. You descend to the same level as any Hyksos animal!’
Zaras ran his blade back into its scabbard, but when he turned to face me his chin was up and his eyes were as fierce as mine. ‘My Lord Taita, there is no space in our ships to take them into captivity,’ he defied me. ‘If you release these animals unharmed how many more of our own people will they slaughter? How many more of our children and women will die?’
Slowly I felt my rage wilting before his stubborn logic. I realized that my own judgement was clouded by the memory of the injuries that had been inflicted on me by the gelding knife. I was reluctant to allow those same brutalities to be visited on another human being, however evil and monstrous. I took a long deep breath to calm myself and then I modulated my voice to exclude the anger from it.
‘You make good sense, Zaras. I am going to meet you halfway. We will take their thumbs but leave their pricks for Seth to pick.’ I deliberately used the childish euphemism for the penis. I was attempting to de-escalate the tension that had flared between us. Hui and the others guffawed openly and Dilbar grabbed at Akemi’s crotch.
‘Ain’t your prick feeling a peck peckish? You ain’t seen a ripe cunny since we sailed from Krimad.’ My men were all boys at heart. I forced myself to smile along with them. But when I turned back to Zaras the smile dropped from my lips.
Zaras was glaring at me ferociously. Gradually silence fell over the rest of the men. The only sound was the wind and the whimpering of the wounded prisoner who lay writhing on the sand. When Zaras spoke again his voice was cold and clear. It carried to every one of us, and chilled our hearts.
‘My sisters were seven and eight years of age when the Hyksos overran our village. My father was with his regiment. The Hyksos raped my mother first and then both my sisters, taking turns with them for half a day. I was five years old, but I had managed to escape and hide in the fields from where I could see everything. When they had finished with them they threw my mother and sisters
into the flames of our cottage while they were still alive and screaming.’ Zaras drew a long breath, and then he asked me, ‘What would you have me do now?’
There was no answer that I could give him. I shook my head sadly, and said, ‘Do your duty to Pharaoh, and to the memory of your family.’
‘Thank you, my lord,’ Zaras replied. Then he drew his sword and went to join Nakati.
Between them they selected thirty of their best axe-men to perform the amputations. Each of them was given four assistants to pinion the prisoners and drag them forward. The first victims clenched their fists, and refused to present their thumbs for the blade. The axemen wasted no time trying to persuade them to do so. They simply lopped the entire hand off at the wrist. The prisoners that followed were more cooperative.
Then the assistants rolled them on to their backs, and with just as little ceremony their genitalia was hacked away and they were turned loose to stumble into the dunes; moaning and clutching their injuries in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.
The seagulls were attracted by the smell of blood. Raucous flocks of these scavengers gathered to squawk and flap over the growing piles of thumbs and sexual organs. They gulped down these titbits almost as swiftly as the axe-men could hack them loose.
I was sickened by it all. I turned away and went to where our ships were drawn up on the beach. I tried to ignore the screams and supplications of the Hyksos captives. Instead I concentrated on supervising the loading of our chariots and horses, together with the amphorae of water and provisions that we had found in the cavalry depot.
When he had finished the bloody work on the beach Nakati came to take his leave of me. In accordance with our agreement, he intended to continue wreaking havoc on the Hyksos ports and towns along the shores of the Middle Sea.
When at last Zaras clambered on board the deck of the Outrage he came to me immediately and went down on one knee before me. ‘I disobeyed you, my lord,’ he confessed. ‘I defied your orders in front of the men. You would be fully justified if you reduced me to the ranks and dismissed me from your command.’
‘You did what you knew was right,’ I replied. ‘No man can ever do better than that. Take command of the ship and set sail for Krimad.’
He rose to his feet. ‘Thank you, Taita. I will never disappoint you again.’
As the sun sagged wearily to the western horizon I climbed to the masthead of the Outrage, from where I made one last survey of the sea behind us to be absolutely certain that there was no sign of pursuit by a Hyksos squadron. All was clear. The north coast of Egypt was merely a thin strip of blue above the darker blue of the sea. Our flotilla was closed up with stern lanterns lit to enable our navigators to maintain their precise stations in the formation through the hours of darkness.
The leadsman in the bows called, ‘No bottom with this line!’
We were in deep water and on course for Crete. I was in my preferred position at the masthead. I heard Zaras dismiss the watch below. The rowers shipped their oars and curled up on the deck to sleep. The wind was fresh on our quarter and all our sails were spread.
Suddenly I was weary to the very depths of my body and soul. The fighting had been gruelling, and my confrontation with Zaras even more so. I considered descending the mast and retiring to my narrow bunk in the stern cabin, but the following breeze was warm and still redolent of the odours of my beloved Egypt. The gentle oscillation of the mainmast lulled me. My body ached dully with the bruises and nicks that I had received in the battle of Zin Bay. My cabin seemed far away. I made certain that the line around my waist was secured to the mast against which my back was pressed, before I closed my eyes and let my chin sag on to my chest.
When I woke again the moon had reached its zenith and its reflection on the surface of the sea was keeping pace with us, casting a pathway of glittering silver over the wavelets. The smell of Africa had been replaced by the salty tingle of the ocean. The only sounds were the susurration of the water under our hull, the regular creaking of the mast in its boot and the whisper of the wind in our rigging.
My aches had dissipated, and my weariness with them. I felt vigorous and alert once more. I was filled with that strange sense of elation which I had come to recognize as a sure sign that the goddess Inana was close. I looked for her eagerly, and felt no surprise when I saw her gliding along the pathway of moonlight to meet our ship. The hood of her mantle was thrown back, and the moonlight played on her face. She was lovely past imagining.
When she came abreast of the Outrage she stepped from the surface of the sea on to our deck and looked up at me.
Her expression changed and so did my mood. I was suddenly filled with a sense of dread and foreboding. I knew that Inana had not come to commend me for my victory on the plains of Zin.
She did not speak, but nonetheless I heard her voice echoing softly in my head.
‘The god is angry. Cronus demands the ultimate sacrifice.’
‘I do not understand.’ I tried to speak, but the words stuck in my throat.
‘Go to them. They are in mortal danger.’ Her voice was silent, but I heard the warning clearly above the sound of the wind and water.
I tried to stir myself to go down to her, but I was unable to move. I wanted her to explain her enigmatic message, but I could not speak.
Then the dark shadows of sleep fell over me like a net, and she was gone. I struggled to retain my senses. I tried to cry out in the darkness: ‘Don’t go, Inana! Wait for me! I don’t understand.’ But the darkness overwhelmed me.
I don’t know how long I slept the second time, but when I did manage to struggle back out of the darkness the dawn was breaking and the black-winged gulls were dipping and diving across our wake.
I looked down and the deck below me was bustling with activity. The first watch of oarsmen were filing down the companionway to take their turns on the rowing benches.
I untied the rope that secured me to the mast and slid down the backstay to the upper deck. As my feet hit the boards Zaras hurried to meet me. He was smiling and shaking his head.
‘My lord, you didn’t sleep in the rigging again, did you? Does your bunk no longer please you?’ Then he saw my expression and his own smile faded. ‘What is it …?’
‘Jettison all our chariots immediately,’ I ordered. ‘Transfer all our horses to the other ships of the squadron.’
He gawked at me. ‘Why, Taita?’
‘Do not question my orders. I don’t have time to argue with you again.’ I was so impatient that I seized his shoulder and shook it. ‘Take a full team of oarsmen from every one of the other ships. I want to be able to change rowers every hour.’
‘Every hour?’ Zaras blurted.
‘I want attack speed all the way to Krimad.’
‘Attack speed?’ He looked incredulously at me.
‘Don’t keep repeating everything I say, Seth damn you, Zaras,’ I growled at him. ‘I want to be in Krimad five days from now, or even sooner if possible.’
‘You will kill my men,’ he protested.
‘Better they die, rather than the royal princesses.’
He stared at me aghast. ‘I don’t understand …’
‘Both the princesses are in mortal danger. We may already be too late, but every hour we lose is an hour closer to their certain deaths.’
He spun away from me shouting to the watch officer, ‘Fly the signal for “All Captains”.’
The other ships came alongside us two at a time, one on our port and one on our starboard side. Each of them put twenty of their best oarsmen on board the Outrage, with water and rations for five days. In exchange we gave them the slaves and weaklings from amongst our own crew.
We transferred all our horses across to them, hoisting them on the loading pulleys and swinging them across the gap between our vessels. We used the same equipment to lift our chariots and jettison them overboard. I wanted the Outrage to be floating high and light. Even five days to Crete was a tall order.
When
it was the turn of Hui’s vessel to come alongside, Zaras took him aside and spoke quietly to him, but I read their lips. Hui turned away from him and came striding down the deck to me with a determined expression on his face.
‘Very well, Hui,’ I forestalled his argument, ‘put a good man in command of your ship and come over to us. But be warned you will take your turn on the rowing bench.’
As soon as we had our full complement on board and the first team of rowers in their places on the benches the drummer gave them the beat. He built up gradually from steering speed to attack speed at ten strokes to the minute.
The Outrage took wing and we flew through the water. Within the first hour we had left the rest of the flotilla below the horizon behind us.
When I changed teams the men who were relieved fell off their benches, lathered with sweat and choking for breath. Day and night over the next three days our speed never bled off.
Zaras and Hui took their shifts on the benches and even I rowed a full hour in every twelve. When men half my age faltered I never missed the beat. The memory of Inana’s unspoken warning sustained me.
Go to them. They are in mortal danger.
It was afternoon on the fourth day. I had just relinquished my place on the rowing bench and, still dripping sweat and panting, I went to the ship’s bows to scan the sea ahead.
I had no way of calculating how far we had still to go before we raised the island. I was not even certain that we were still on course. I had placed my faith in Inana to guide me. However the sea ahead of us was still empty and the horizon was slick and unbroken.
There was no wind. The sky was cloudless, burnished bright and merciless as the blade of an executioner’s axe. The air was heavy and oppressive. It had a faint but unpleasantly sulphurous taste that seared the back of my throat. I coughed and spat over the side, and then I looked back over the stern. The only movement was the undulation of our wake and the stippled whirlpools left by our oar-blades on the polished surface as they rose and fell.
Desert God Page 39
