Desert God. Wilbur Smith

still awed.

      ‘Aton and I have weighed the greater part of it,’ I replied.

      ‘That does not answer my question, Tata.’

      ‘We have weighed only the bullion from the first two Minoan ships, and a part of that from the third and last. So far the total is four hundred and forty-nine lakhs, Pharaoh. There is probably another one hundred lakhs still to be weighed, although it might be as much as one hundred and fifty.’

      Again he was silent, shaking his head and frowning. At last he spoke once more. ‘Almost six hundred lakhs. That is enough to erect a city twice the size of Thebes with all its temples and palaces.’

      ‘And then to build ten thousand ships and still have sufficient left over to fight a dozen wars, my Pharaoh,’ I agreed softly. ‘Enough to win back all of your very Egypt from the Hyksos barbarian.’

      ‘You have given me the wherewithal to cut down and destroy Beon and all his multitudes,’ Pharaoh agreed; his voice quickened and rose with the vision of it.

      ‘You are too late, Pharaoh.’ Aton came to his feet and moved in front of me to get the attention of Pharaoh. ‘Beon of the Hyksos is dead and drowned already.’ He stepped back and pointed at me with a flourish. ‘Taita has killed him,’ he declaimed.

      Pharaoh’s gaze swivelled back to me. ‘Is this which Aton avows true? Have you killed Beon in addition to all your other services to my Crown?’ Pharaoh demanded.

      I bowed my head in acquiescence. I find boastfulness abhorrent in any man, more especially in myself.

      ‘Tell me about it, Taita. I want every detail of the death of that monstrous animal.’

      Before I could reply Aton cut me off. ‘Please give me your royal attention once more, my Pharaoh.’ He bowed to the king. ‘This is a tale that deserves all your royal attention. After our final triumph over the Hyksos tyrant it will become part of our glorious military history. Future generations will sing of it to their sons, and the sons to their sons. I beg Your Majesty to allow me to arrange a triumph this evening which will be attended by every member of the high council of state and all your royal family. It will be a triumph during which we will be able to pay due honour to a feat of arms which has probably never been equalled in our history.’

      ‘You are right, Lord Aton. Taita has laid before me a feast that cannot be swallowed at a single gulp. We must savour every mouthful. I must inform my council of this incredible stroke of fortune. Eight of my councillors are ensconced in my palace in Thebes, near at hand. Lord Kratas follows close behind me from the north and you, Taita, and Lord Aton are already here. We can assemble the full council within three or four hours.’

      ‘Ample time for you to bathe and rest, my Pharaoh.’ I glanced down at his attire.

      ‘It is good honest dirt, Taita, and paid for in Hyksos blood.’ Pharaoh grinned at me. ‘But as so often is the case, you are right. Have my slaves heat the water for my bath.’

      By the time the high council of Egypt was fully assembled the third and last trireme had been unloaded and the bullion from its hold weighed on the balance. The formal triumph had been prepared and the sun was setting.

      I went to inform Pharaoh, expecting him to be resting. To relieve him of the necessity of travelling to his palace and returning again before nightfall, I had ordered that his father’s burial chamber be set aside as his temporary lodging. It had never contained a corpse and so the chamber was not tainted with death. It was a quiet cool place and well aired by vents drilled through the rock to the surface. His servants had set up his cot and all his portable campaign furniture here.

      Far from resting I found Pharaoh very much awake and alert, pacing the chamber and dictating despatches to three of his secretaries. He was dressed in a clean uniform, over which he wore a polished bronze breastplate embossed with gold. His hair was freshly washed and curled. He was as handsome as his mother had been beautiful.

      When I went down on one knee before him, he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. ‘No, Taita,’ he chided me. ‘It is my fast intent to make you a nobleman and a member of my inner council before much longer. You must no longer kneel to me.’

      ‘Pharaoh is too gracious. I do not deserve such honour.’ I adopted my self-effacing role.

      ‘Of course you don’t,’ he agreed. ‘I do it only to prevent you from endlessly bobbing up and down in front of me. By Seth’s in-growing toenails, as Kratas might say, I swear you make me giddy. Stand up tall and tell me the full tally of the treasure you have garnered for me.’

      ‘I promised you 600 lakhs, my Pharaoh, but we are twenty lakhs short of that amount.’

      ‘That is enough and more than enough to win me back my kingdom, and for you to keep your head atop your shoulders.’ At times the royal sense of humour tends towards the ghoulish. ‘Are the other members of my council assembled?’

      ‘Every single one of them, including Lord Kratas. He arrived an hour ago.’

      ‘Take me to them.’

      When we came out through the gates of the tomb I realized at once the magnitude and extent of what Aton had contrived in my honour. Pharaoh led me down between the ranks of royal guardsmen in full ceremonial uniform to the great tent that had been set up on the bank of the canal.

      When we entered his entire court was already there, waiting to greet us. This included the royal family: his two sisters and his twenty-two wives and his 112 concubines. Then there were the noble lords, his military generals and the state councillors and their high-ranking staff; every man and woman in all of Egypt that Pharaoh dared trust with the secret of the Minoan millions was gathered here to greet me.

      They rose to their feet in unison as we entered and the men drew their swords to form an arch for Pharaoh and me to pass beneath. At the same time a massed band of lutes and wind horns in the desert outside the tent burst into a heroic march.

      It took Pharaoh and me some time to reach the seats that had been prepared for us. Every person in the assembly wanted to touch me, to grip both my hands and to shower me with compliments and salutations.

      At close intervals around the wall of the tent stood enormous jars of wine, each of them taller than a man. When at last the entire company was seated the servants filled large goblets with red wine from the jars and set one in front of Pharaoh. He waved it away.

      ‘Taita is the one we are here to honour. Serve him the good red wine and let him be first to drink of it.’

      Every eye in the great tent was on me as I came to my feet and raised the goblet towards Pharaoh.

      ‘All honour towards Pharaoh. He is our very Egypt. Without Pharaoh and Egypt we are but dust. All our petty strivings are nothing.’ I brought the goblet to my lips and I drank a deep draught while all those lords and ladies came to their feet and shouted my name. Even Pharaoh smiled.

      I sensed that the less I said the more they would love me, so I bowed to Pharaoh and sat down again.

      Pharaoh stood over me and laid his right hand on my shoulder. Then he spoke out in a strong clear voice that carried to every corner of the great tent.

      ‘Lord Taita has met with my favour,’ he began simply. ‘He has performed for me and for Egypt a service as great, or greater even, than any man before him. He deserves to be honoured by me and by every Egyptian born and yet to be born.

      ‘I have elevated him to the nobility. From henceforth he shall be known as Lord Taita of Mechir.’ Pharaoh paused and there was a polite silence in which most of the illustrious company tried to conceal expressions of mystification. Mechir is a village on the east bank of the Nile, thirty leagues south of Thebes. It is a cluster of nondescript mud huts, and a population made up of an equally nondescript assortment of specimens of the human race. Pharaoh let us ponder this conundrum for a short while.

      ‘I have also granted to him, to have and to hold for all time, all the royal estate situated on the east bank of the River Nile