House of Scorpion

by Mark Gajewski

  “Watch your tongue!” I snapped. “I’m the son of a king.”

  “So what? That doesn’t mean anything here. You’re failing at what you’ve set out to do because you’re blind and arrogant and trust the wrong people. Incompetent men. Obstructionists. Porters would be using my labels by now if you’d let me arrange it like I asked days ago.”

  Tamit was infuriating. She was drawing battle lines for a battle she couldn’t win. Especially not by insulting me.

  “You?” I laughed. “How?”

  “Never underestimate what men will do when they’re trying to outdo other men to win a girl, Majesty.”

  “That’s it? You think workmen in the harbor will fall all over themselves to please you because of your supposed charms?”

  “How would you know if they’re ‘supposed?’ I assure you, Majesty, plenty of men want to be with me. Unlike you, they don’t despise me for being a commoner. Why do you think Hemu was so rude to me the day we met? I’ve turned him down a dozen times and he can’t handle rejection. Hori’s son is pursuing me. Didia’s. Paser, Didia’s assistant – though he’s too shy to even talk to me. Half the men in this workshop.”

  I saw a few cringe.

  “So that’s your solution, Tamit? Pit the men who work at the harbor against each other? What happens if you never choose one? They’ll tire of the game soon enough. What happens if you do? Those not chosen will turn against you, just like Hemu, and it’ll be worse than now. So – stay away from the harbor, Tamit. Keep out of this. I’ll fix it myself.”

  “Keep out of it? Fine!” She was shouting now.

  So was I.

  “I’ll go marry one of those boat captains who keeps begging me and travel far away from this settlement! But once I’m gone, Majesty, there’ll be no one here to rescue you!” Tamit stormed out of the workshop. Again.

  Craftsmen were staring at me, open-mouthed. That Tamit had dared take me to task in front of them a second time was intolerable. Enough! I was going to punish Tamit for her insolence this time. I wasn’t going to let her leave Ptah’s Settlement until she paid for her crime. After that, pity the poor captain she talked into marrying her.

  “Get back to work!” I shouted at the craftsmen, then stalked out myself.

  It was too late in the day to do anything about the labels. Besides, I wanted a few hours to figure out what to do in case Tamit had been telling the truth. If she had I had a major problem on my hands – insubordinate overseers.

  The next morning I headed to the harbor at dawn, determined to discover what was really going on. I strode to the nearest quay. Porters were unloading goods. A label was attached to every container. Something had changed dramatically overnight. Didia had obviously set his men to using labels. Tamit had lied when she claimed he’d refused. He’d just taken longer than expected to put the new method in motion.

  I spotted Didia at the far end of the next quay, at the bottom of a gangplank. He was screaming at a porter who was on the boat’s deck, a jar in his arms. I hurried towards him.

  “I gave explicit instructions not to waste time putting labels on anything! Who told you to? Hori? Some other overseer?”

  Tamit had been telling the truth. Didia was defying me. I was an idiot for not believing her.

  The porter quailed before Didia. “My Lord, the containers on the boat are already labeled. I didn’t do anything.”

  “I did.” Tamit walked past the porter and descended the gangplank and strode directly to me, brushing past Didia. “I’ve spoken with every boat captain this morning, Majesty. I’ve given them labels. Their crews are attaching them.” She moved to within inches and looked up at me, defiant. Her skin was golden in the early morning light, her hair shining, her eyes dark and piercing. “I told you I could fix your problem and I have. You’re welcome. Now, get out of my way. I’m done with you.”

  She started to push past me.

  I grabbed her arm. I swallowed my pride. “Stay.”

  She jerked her arm free. “Why should I?”

  I humbled myself. “Please?” I turned my attention to Didia. “Has Tamit delivered labels to you every day this week?”

  “Yes,” he said sullenly.

  “But you decided not to use them.”

  “I don’t have enough porters.”

  “Yet there are plenty of porters to move piles of containers multiple times because they don’t know what’s where, and plenty of porters to search through half a dozen warehouses looking for specific items.”

  “That’s not my problem.”

  “You’re right. It’s not. But you are a problem.” I glanced at Tamit. “As I’ve been. Blind and arrogant.” I noted Paser lurking nearby, watching us, a man Tamit claimed desired her. “Paser. Come here.”

  Paser hurried to me and bowed.

  “Are you too proud to take orders from a girl?” I asked, indicating Tamit.

  “No, Majesty. Most assuredly not.”

  Tamit smiled at me. She’d been correct. She was rubbing it in.

  “You’re the harbormaster now, Paser. Do whatever Tamit tells you to do.”

  “Yes, Majesty.”

  “Didia, go find Hori. Tell him you’re going to be one of his porters from now on.”

  “But Majesty…”

  “You had your chance, Didia. Just like you’re getting your chance, Paser. Don’t throw yours away like Didia did.”

  “I won’t, Majesty,” Paser assured me.

  “Tamit, you’re in charge of implementing your labels at the harbor and warehouses,” I said. “You’ll carry a stick of authority within the hour. Paser and Hori and Hemu and every man who works for them will obey you or I’ll know the reason why.”

  “Assuming I agree to take charge, Majesty,” Tamit said sweetly.

  Assuming she agreed to do exactly what she’d wanted to do all along. Tamit was the most infuriating girl I’d ever met. I turned on my heel and left.

  “You’re very gracious in defeat, Majesty,” she called after me.

  She was lucky I needed her.

  ***

  Days of the Demons

  Iry

  ***

  A party was in full swing in the torchlit garden of what had once been Didia’s house but was now mine. I’d invited the elites of Ptah’s Settlement to celebrate the ending of the old year and beginning of the new with me. The garden with its flowers and small pond and towering palms was crowded and noisy, everyone festive. I’d seized Didia’s house and servants the same day I’d demoted him for disobeying my orders. He was now a lowly porter and, from what I’d heard, miserable, working among men he’d once lorded over. His wife and children had fallen along with him; they were now making bricks for my walls. The house was appropriate to my status and I used its garden regularly to entertain the elites and their families in order to build loyalty between them and me. If I succeeded Father I’d have to initially dwell in the South and I needed Ptah’s Settlement to remain faithful to me in my absence. What I’d done to Didia had served as an appropriate warning and his insubordination hadn’t been repeated in the ten months since. My subsequent generosity to the elites hadn’t hurt either.

  They’d settled into the roles I’d assigned them as I’d settled into mine. The first rocky months were behind us and the settlement was operating relatively smoothly. I’d gone all out for this celebration, as a reward for how far we’d come. My cooks had spent the day roasting an ox for tonight’s feast, as well as oryx and gazelle and ducks and geese, supplemented with freshly-caught perch and tilapia. Bowls and platters throughout the garden held several varieties of freshly-baked bread and vegetables and fruit – onions, garlic, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, celery, aquatic plants and tubers, peas, beans, lentils, figs, dates, persea and dom-palm nuts. There were even bowls of honey for drizzling on the bread and pieces of honeycomb, taken from the hive in the corner of the garden. Serving girls were circulating, filling and refilling cups with fine Retunian wine sent by Raherka from Sakan. A warm b
reeze was blowing, perfumed by flowers. Stars were flowing like a river across the sky. Laughter and conversation were competing with the instruments and melodies of female musicians and singers seated beneath a sunscreen adjacent to the house.

  I picked out numerous friends and acquaintances and overseers gathered in small groups all over the garden, as well as delta rulers I was attempting to draw into my orbit. Hori and Hemu and Paser were present, of course, and their wives and children. Raia and Niay and Meru and their families. Sety and his wife Merit and son Senebi – Sety was going to continue on to Tjeni after the party to deliver a boatload of wine and luxury objects to Father that I’d been accumulating ever since my arrival here. I believed that load of goods, carried south on one of Niay’s new boats, would prove to Father that my making Ptah’s Settlement beholden to him was worthwhile. Sety and Merit were talking with Heby, Farkha’s ruler, and his daughter Nebta, and Farkha’s master ivory craftsman Minmose. The leaders of other delta settlements – Khered and Rama and Itjet and On – were conversing close by platters of meat.

  I took advantage of a momentary lull in female companionship to grab a cup of wine from a passing servant and quickly drain it. That was the downside to these parties – elite daughters latched on to me from beginning to end. And not just here. Any time I strolled down the lane where we elites lived I had to contend with them “accidentally” bumping into me. All had designs on me, a king’s son, one or two because they were actually attracted, the rest because they were being urged on by ambitious fathers. But after my experience with Matia I was leery of getting close to any woman. I couldn’t help doubt a supposedly-interested woman’s motivation. And so at parties I forced myself to smile and speak pleasantly to them all to avoid being pinned down by a single one. Sometimes I wished I lived in a nondescript hut in the workers’ section as Tamit still did despite her change in status, free to come and go as I pleased, unbothered. But I was a king’s son and the ruler of Ptah’s Settlement and had responsibilities to live up to and appearances to maintain, and so I resided among the elites. Seeing all these women in my garden, I was reminded as always that if I succeeded Father I’d need an heir to succeed me. Marriage was inevitable. To someone. But not to anyone in Ptah’s Settlement. At least, not to the one woman I actually desired.

  “Hiding from the ladies, Majesty?” Merit asked, approaching on Sety’s arm.

  “You know me well, My Lady. Are you enjoying the party?”

  “I’m ecstatic, Majesty. I’ve never been to a party as impressive. The last time I visited Ptah’s Settlement – years ago – it was nothing like this.”

  “Merit’s never complained overly much when I’ve visited King Scorpion’s court, but I know she’s envied me,” Sety said. “Royal panoply and all that.”

  “Sety’s taking me with him to Tjeni this time!” Merit’s eyes were shining. “I can’t wait to see it. He’s promised to introduce me to King Scorpion!”

  “I’m taking Senebi too,” Sety said. “I’m going all the way to Nekhen this trip. King Khab sent word he wants me to help celebrate one of his festivals. It’s a good opportunity for Senebi to visit the oval court since he’ll bear the talisman after me.”

  “Would you mind if I speak to your husband alone for a moment?” I asked Merit.

  “Of course, Majesty. Thank you again for inviting me.”

  “Nekhen, ‘eh. An opportunity for you to spy on Father’s behalf,” I said when we were alone.

  “There’s that, yes.” Sety chuckled.

  “Any idea how things are going in the South?”

  “The blockade of Nubt’s going well, or so I’ve been told by several of my captains. The flow of luxuries from the North has been cut off and Nubt’s elites are growing restless. They blame the lack on King Ika for not standing up to your father. Egged on by Sabu, of course. They’re too blind to see what’ll happen if they actually go to war against us.”

  “How about the North?”

  “My spies tell me that Sakan has cut noticeably into the amount of trade goods that reach Pe and Dep.”

  “After such a short time?”

  “Amazing, actually. It’s because many boats now stop at a harbor a few miles from Sakan instead of voyaging all the way to the delta by sea. More convenient for them, especially since they can barter for our goods right there. A shorter voyage home too.”

  “Sakan and Ptah’s Settlement are now the key distribution centers for valley trade.”

  “That’s correct, Iry. With Farkha playing a minor but important role as a transfer point.”

  “Are Pe and Dep’s elites as restless as Nubt’s, Sety?”

  “Not so far. But King Ny-Hor’s health is failing and so for all practical purposes his son Antef’s in charge. Antef’s a brutal man and no one has the courage to challenge him. We’ll see if that changes as Sakan’s impact grows.” Sety snagged a cup of wine and the girl refilled mine. “Anything you’d like me to pass on to your father, Iry?”

  “We’ll have twice as many men working on the wall around the warehouses this year than last, thanks to Meru having time to prepare. They’ve already started arriving, in fact.”

  Sety nodded. “I brought the first wave of workers with me from my estate, all experienced men who worked on the wall during the last inundation. Meru showed it to me this afternoon – very impressive. Thigh-high after only two months of effort last year. Tens of thousands of bricks piled up and ready to be used during this inundation. I was impressed with Meru, Iry. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “The walls will be twenty feet high when they’re completed and will gleam white with plaster, Sety. I can support so many workers thanks to delta estates like yours. They produced more staples this year than last, which is good because Ptah’s Settlement is growing. Tell Father I appreciate the craftsmen he’s sent to me – our workshops are producing more and better objects than before.”

  “I spoke to Minmose earlier – he said you’ve sent apprentices to Farkha to learn how to carve ivory.”

  “Our objects were substandard. I intend to change that. Oh – and tell Father I’ve constructed two new warehouses in the past month to handle the additional goods we’re receiving from the North. Plus a small shrine to Horus. I intend for Horus to be as much a god of this settlement as Ptah is.”

  Sety fingered the talisman. “I appreciate that, Iry.”

  “I thought you would.”

  “Niay took me out on his newest boat this morning, Iry. It’s an amazing craft. So large. The antelope-headed prow was a nice touch.”

  “Much like potmarks – everyone will know the boats in my fleet.”

  “And the sail – innovative and magnificent,” Sety gushed.

  “Niay’s an accomplished boat designer and builder.”

  “As is his father, and grandfather, and as the rest of his ancestors were.”

  “Niay’s built me two vessels so far. Even delivered the first a month earlier than he promised. I’m sure you can appreciate how important they are to me, since you have a fleet of your own. Thanks to Niay I can obtain specific commodities and objects whenever I want from wherever I want and send them to Father on my schedule. I’m not dependent on the whims of captains beholden to estates or settlements anymore.”

  “When war comes that’ll be a necessity,” Sety concurred.

  “Even more importantly, the labels Tamit invented are now attached to every container that moves through Ptah’s Settlement. Warehouses are organized according to those labels. So far, she’s designed more than fifty. Every boatman and porter who works in Ptah’s Settlement knows what every label means. Handling goods is now more efficient and exact than it ever was before. Much of the success I’ve had here is due to her. She’s the most valuable overseer I have.”

  “The other overseers and porters and boatmen and such don’t object to having a girl direct their work?”

  I caught sight of Tamit at the far end of the garden, her unbound golden hair unmistakable, glintin
g in the torchlight. She was surrounded, as usual, by a variety of men. Paser said something and she laughed, her smile wide, teeth white. She momentarily rested a hand on his forearm. He placed his atop hers. Hori’s son didn’t look pleased. Nor the others. I knew it wasn’t just elites and their sons who orbited Tamit – she counted captains and boatmen and porters and craftsmen among her admirers. Many were pressing her to marry. Paser, dejected, had told me so, for he was one she’d rejected. So far Tamit didn’t seem overly interested in any particular man; I’d seen her out and about with a variety the past months at my parties and at the festivals we regularly held to honor Ptah and the changing of the seasons. Which was good for me – a husband might take Tamit away from Ptah’s Settlement if he was from the North, or refuse to let her work outside his home if he was local. Though I suspected a man who tried to restrict Tamit’s freedom in any way was not one she’d tie herself to. Just turned nineteen, Tamit was by far the most sought-after woman in the settlement. She wasn’t the greatest beauty by a long shot – that title fell to several elite daughters who worked hard at it – but she’d filled out in the past half year and dressed now in fine linen skirts and adorned herself simply with tasteful jewelry. It was easy to see why so many desired her; Tamit was approachable and driven and passionate and intelligent and burned with an inner fire that attracted everyone who came in contact with her. Selfishly, I hoped she’d put off marriage as long as possible – I’d come to depend on her. She was the only person in the settlement I could truly count on no matter what. In fact, I knew Ptah’s Settlement wouldn’t function half as well without her oversight.

  “I got rid of an overseer who refused to work with Tamit,” I replied. “Didia.”

  “I’ve stayed in this house plenty of times in past years. I wondered why you’d taken possession.”

  “No one’s repeated Didia’s mistake. To answer your question, working for Tamit hasn’t been an issue, Sety. Mostly because Tamit has a way of making men want to please her.”