Pharaoh. Уилбур Смит

twice that number, including several hundred chariots. Nearly all of these were Lacedaemons, so despite the fact that I was indubitably the most experienced and skilled commander in Egypt and probably in the civilized world, nevertheless I felt I should as a matter of courtesy concede command of our combined forces to King Hurotas. I made my condescension apparent by inviting Hurotas to express his views as to how the second phase of our offensive should be conducted, which was as good as offering him supreme command.

      Hurotas gave me that boyish grin I remembered from long ago, and replied, ‘When it comes to command, I bow to only one man, and he just happens to be seated at this very table opposite me. Please proceed, Taita. Let us hear your battle plan. Where you lead we will follow.’

      I nodded my approval of his wise decision. Not only is Hurotas a mighty warrior, but he never lets his pride override his good sense. So I aimed my next questions at him: ‘Now I want to know how you suddenly appeared at Luxor without any of us, including the Hyksos, knowing of your arrival. How did you bring your flotilla of twenty large war galleys hundreds of leagues upriver, passing the Hyksos forts and walled cities to reach us here?’

      Hurotas dismissed my question with a casual shrug. ‘On my ships I have some of the very best pilots that there are on this earth, not counting you of course, Taita. Once we entered the mouth of the Nile River we travelled only at night and tied up to the bank and hid under a camouflage of cut branches during the day. Fortunately the sky goddess Nut granted us a dark moon to cover our nightly progress. We passed the main enemy strongholds on the banks of the river after midnight, and we kept to mid-river. Perhaps a few fishermen saw us, but in the dark they would have taken us for Hyksos. We moved fast, very fast. We made the journey from the mouth of the River Nile to where we met you here in only six nights’ hard rowing.’

      ‘So then we still have the element of surprise on our side,’ I mused. ‘Even if a few of the enemy survived the battle at the pass, which seems unlikely, on foot they would take many weeks to find their way back to Memphis and spread the alarm.’ I jumped to my feet and paced the deck, thinking quickly. ‘Now what is absolutely vital when we attack Khamudi’s capital city is that none of the enemy manage to escape and somehow make their way eastwards to the border of Suez and the Sinai, and from there reach their ancestral homeland further east where they might be able to regroup and come against us again a few years hence – to repeat the same sorry cycle of war and conquest and enslavement.’

      ‘You are right, Taita,’ Hurotas agreed with me. ‘We have to finish this. Future generations of our people must be able to exist in peace and flourish as the most civilized nation in existence, without fear of the barbaric Hyksos hordes. But how might we best reach such a happy conclusion?’

      ‘I plan to use the bulk of the chariots as a blocking force along the eastern border to prevent any of the surviving Hyksos making a run for safety, to reach their ancient homeland,’ I told them.

      Hurotas considered my proposal for just a few seconds before he smiled. ‘We are fortunate to have you, Taita. You are without doubt the most experienced and skilful charioteer that I know of. With you guarding the border I would not give any Hyksos a dog’s chance of making it back to his kennel.’

      Sometimes I suspect my old friend Hurotas of ribbing me with his extravagant praise, but as on this occasion I usually let it pass.

      By this time it was almost midnight; however, the darkness barely slowed our preparations for departure. We lit brush torches and by the light they afforded us we reloaded all the chariots aboard the Lacedaemon galleys. When this was done we boarded our men, including the remnants of my own native Egyptian regiments.

      With this additional cargo the ships were so crowded that there was no room for the horses on board. I gave orders to the grooms to drive the loose horses northwards along the east bank of the Nile. Then, still in darkness, we pushed off from our moorings and headed downriver to enter Hyksos-held territory, with the leadsmen chanting the soundings in the bows and the pilots calling every twist and turn of the river. The trotting herds of horses almost kept pace with the speed of the flotilla, even though our ships had the favourable current to carry them onwards.

      We covered almost thirty leagues of the voyage downstream before sunrise. Then we went ashore to rest through the heat of the day. Within a few hours the herds of horses had caught up with us, and were grazing on the pastures and the crops growing on the river-bank.

      These crops had been planted by Hyksos farmers, for we were now in enemy-held territory. We thanked them for their generosity. And then we sent them to their places on the rowing benches of Admiral Hui’s galleys where the slave chains were buckled snugly on to their ankles. Their womenfolk were hustled away by Hurotas’ men; however, I made no enquiry as to what became of them. War is a brutal business, and they had come into our land without invitation, and seized the fields from our peasants and treated them worse than slaves. They could not expect to be treated any better by us.

      When all was secure the three of us sat under the sycamore trees on the river-bank, while the cooks served us a breakfast of roasted sausage and crisp brown bread hot from the clay ovens, which we washed down with jugs of freshly brewed beer; and which I for one would not have exchanged for a banquet at Pharaoh’s board.

      We went on board again as soon as the sun had passed its zenith and continued our northwards voyage towards Memphis. But there was still almost two days of sailing ahead of us, and this was the first time since Hurotas and Hui had returned so unexpectedly that I had been given the opportunity to speak to them about the life we had known together so many years ago. In particular I was anxious to learn about what had become of the two young princesses whom they had taken into exile with them when they fled from the wrath of the princesses’ brother, Pharaoh Tamose.

      The three of us were seated on the poop deck of the flagship, and we were alone and well beyond earshot of any members of the crew. I addressed myself to both of them.

      ‘I have questions for both of you which I am sure you would rather avoid. You will remember that I had a special affection for the two beautiful young virgins that you coarse ruffians had the gall to steal away from me, their protector, and Pharaoh Tamose, their loving brother.’

      ‘Let me put your mind at rest, for I know just how it works, that lascivious Taita mind.’ Hurotas cut me off before I was able to put to him my first question. ‘They are no longer either young or virgin.’

      Hui chuckled his agreement. ‘However, we love them more with every year that passes for they have proved themselves incomparably loyal, true and prolific. My Bekatha has given me four fine sons.’

      ‘And Tehuti has born me a single daughter who is lovely beyond the telling of it,’ Hurotas boasted, but I was sceptical of such claims because I am well aware that all parents have an inflated opinion of their own offspring. It was not until much later, when I laid eyes for the first time on Hurotas’ and Tehuti’s only daughter, that I realized that he had done her a serious injustice.

      ‘I do not expect that either Tehuti or Bekatha gave you messages to pass on to me.’ I tried not to sound wistful. ‘The chances of us meeting again were remote, and surely their memory of me has faded over the years …’ They would not let me complete my modest disclaimer before both of them burst out laughing.

      ‘Forget you?’ Hurotas demanded through his laughter. ‘It was only with the greatest difficulty that I convinced my wife to remain in Lacedaemon rather than to return to Egypt with us to find her darling Tata.’ It made my heart lurch to hear him mimic her exact rendition of my pet name. ‘She did not even trust me to memorize her messages to you, so she insisted on writing them down on a papyrus scroll for me to deliver to you in person.’

      ‘A papyrus!’ I exclaimed with delight. ‘Where is it? Give it to me at once.’

      ‘Please forgive me, Taita.’ Hurotas looked abashed. ‘But it was really too bulky to carry with me. I had to consider leaving it in Lacedaemon.’ I stared at him in dismay, trying to find the words to castigate him as severely as he deserved. He let me suffer only a little longer, and then he could contain himself no longer and he grinned. ‘I knew what you would think of that idea, Taita!