“The next one’s yours, my friend.” Sergeant Imsiba ducked around a pair of dressed geese hanging by their feet from the frame of a spindly lean-to. “Less than half the morning gone and already I’ve seen enough men dancing around the truth for one day.”
Lieutenant Bak, officer in charge of the Medjay police at the fortress of Buhen, grinned at the tall, dark, heavy muscled man walking by his side, his stride smooth, leo nine. “You’re much too generous, Sergeant.”
“I doubt that wretch thinks so.” Imsiba pointed toward a short, wiry man being hustled along a sandy path by two spearmen, one on each arm, heading toward the citadel gate. “Did you see the way he added weight to the balance each time he rested his hand on the upright?” The big Med jay shook his head in disbelief. “You’d think we’d have seen everything by this time, but the trick was new to me.”
“Another lesson learned, another triumph for the lady
Maat.” Maat was the goddess of right and order.
Imsiba smiled at the pomposity, a mimicking of a scribe neither man especially liked.
Bak stepped aside, letting two young women pass by.
They giggled, flustered at the small courtesy paid by this man who was slightly taller than average, with broad shoul ders and strong limbs, carrying a baton of office. Running his fingers through his short-cropped dark hair, unaware of the stir he had caused in their breasts, he said, “Comman dant Thuty will see he cheats no one else for many years to come.”
A grim smile played across Imsiba’s face. The comman dant of Buhen was not a man to be toyed with. His judg ments were firm, the punishments he meted out seldom forgotten by those who erred.
The two men strolled on, following a casual path be tween lean-tos set up in irregular rows to shade sellers, buyers, and trade goods offered in the twice-weekly market located on an empty stretch of sand between Buhen’s outer wall and the citadel. They veered around men, women, chil dren, and animals; stepped over discarded garbage and ma nure piles, and tried not to bump the slender posts that supported the frail shelters. All the while, their eyes darted hither and yon, searching for a furtive look or action that hinted at a dishonest trading practice. A nod here, a good humored smile there, a wave and a shout of greeting ac companied them along the way, easing a task thankless but necessary, one they performed periodically.
Though this was the coolest time of the year, the day was unseasonably warm. The sun beat down, wrapping them in heat, sealing them in a thin layer of sweat. A light, sporadic northerly breeze sent dust devils racing along the paths. The smells of commerce rose around them: spices, fish, livestock, fresh-cut wood, braised meat, manure, on ions, unwashed bodies, perfume. Voices ebbed and flowed, donkeys brayed in distant paddocks, and dogs barked con stantly.
“Lieutenant Bak!” Raising his weapon, waving the bronze point above his head to catch the sun and attract attention, a husky spearman wove a hurried path toward them. “Sir!”
Bak and Imsiba quickened their pace to meet him.
“What’s the problem?” Bak demanded. He recognized the man as a member of the ten-man company of soldiers as signed to maintain peace in the market.
“A rumor, sir. At least I hope that’s all it is.” They were probably of a like age-twenty-five years-but the spear man responded to the officer with the respect he would show an older, senior man. “A tale sweeping through the market even now. One I pray you can put to rest.”
Rumors flew up and down the river faster than the swiftest wind, growing in detail as a sandstorm builds while sweeping across the desert. Bak would have smiled, but the worry he saw on the soldier’s face warned him not to take this tale too lightly. “Tell me what you’ve heard.”
“They say the army is going to be torn from Buhen, from all the fortresses along the southern frontier. They say we’ll have to return to Kemet. That those who wish to stay in this land of Wawat-and there are many of us-will be men alone, abandoned by our sovereign and our home land.” The spearman’s voice shook with emotion. “Sir, I took as my wife a woman of this land. How can I tear her and our children from their home, their many relatives, their village? I can’t! I just can’t!”
“We’ve heard no such rumor.” Imsiba, Bak noticed, looked as concerned by the tale as he was-and as skep tical. The very idea was unthinkable.
Commandant Thuty would have been the first to hear and pass on news of such import. Thuty had said nothing; therefore, the rumor must be just that: a rumor. A tale that must be laid to rest before everyone along the river, military and civilian, grew worried and afraid. The army consumed not only grain shipped from Kemet, but large quantities of produce grown and supplied by farmers who dwelt along the river. Without the army, the farmers would not only be vulnerable to raiding desert tribesmen, but they would have no ready market for their crops. Their farms would decline, the land would die.
But oft times even the most outrageous of rumors carried a grain of truth. “I doubt the tale is true,” Bak reassured, “but I’ll look into the matter before nightfall.”
“He’s trying to cheat me, sir!” The thin, dark man, whose knee-length kilt made of soft cowhide, dyed red and worn shiny from use, identified him as a man of the southern desert, glared at the pudgy trader seated on the sand in front of him.
The trader sniffed his indignation. “He errs, Lieutenant.
Have you ever known me not to give fair measure?”
Bak, who had never before seen the trader, walked among a dozen or so long-haired white goats milling around the tribesman. A yellow dog held them close, nip ping the flank of any who dared stray. Ignoring the fine, soft hair brushing his bare legs, Bak placed his hands on his hips and eyed the objects spread out in front of the trader: a basket filled with stone beads and amulets, a dozen sacks open at the top to show the grain inside, fifteen or so baked clay jars of beer and honey and oil, and a stack of hides stinking of the acrid solution in which they had been tanned. Beads of all colors, strung to make them more de sirable and coiled for maximum effect, and seven stone amulets on braided cords lay on a strip of white cloth.
Nothing out of the ordinary; an indifferent offering at best.
“I can count as well as the next man,” the tribesman said,
“and I know what’s right and what’s not.”
“You people are all alike.” The trader raised his chin high and looked scornfully at his accuser. “You come off the desert, bringing the most pathetic of your animals, and expect to get in exchange half the wealth of the land of
Kemet.”
The tribesman’s eyes flashed anger. “He tried to give me five jars of oil, lieutenant, not the six he promised. The rock crystal amulet is cracked, and none of the bead neck laces look as long as he claims they are. I’d bet my only daughter that the wheat has been weighted with stones.”
The trader scooped the bright necklaces off the cloth, flung them into the basket of beads, and sprang to his feet.
“Look at those creatures!” he said, sweeping his arm in an arc over the goats. “They’re as poor and lean as the ears of grain in a dessicated field, unfit for slaughter for at least two months.”
The abrupt removal of the strung beads told Bak they would not stand up to close examination. Nor, he suspected, would the trader’s other wares. Smothering a sigh, he glanced up at the lord Re, a yellow orb in a pallid sky.
Barely midday with at least an hour before buyers and sell ers began to drift away. He prayed to the lord Amon for sufficient patience. He wanted very much to speak with
Commandant Thuty, to set his heart at rest about the rumor he had heard time and time again since talking to the spear man.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, rubbing his hand on his damp kilt, he knelt among the goats. He caught the nearest, whose alarmed bleat frightened the rest and set them to flight. With short, sharp barks, the dog turned them back. Bak ran his hands over the captive animal’s back, stomach, legs. The hair was as soft and curly as that of a nobleman’s pampered concubine. Freeing the animal, he went on to the next and a third.
“They could use some fattening,” he said, “but are oth erwise in good condition.”
“You see!” The trader swung toward the tribesman, his expression gleeful. “They’re not worth full price. As I told you.”
The tribesman flashed Bak a look of frustration and dis illusionment. He obviously believed that, as so often hap pened, a man of authority had here again taken the side of the man with the smoother tongue.
Muttering an oath at the nomad’s unfounded fear, Bak rose to his feet. With a quick step forward, he lifted the strings of beads from the basket. The trader sucked in his breath, reached out to grab, pulled back at the last moment.
Bak held up the bright lengths of color and measured them against his arm. No two strings were the same length and all were shorter than they should be. Picking up the amulets suspended from cords, he examined each in turn. The rock crystal was cracked, as the tribesman had said. The others were poorly carved and inferior, the stones more often than not faulted.
Flinging beads and amulets into the basket, Bak knelt before a bag of wheat. The trader muttered an obscenity.
Bak dug his fingers deep into the bag and fished out a pebble the size of a radish. Exploring further, he retrieved a half-dozen similar stones and two roughly the size of duck eggs. A goat came close, nudging his elbow, inching to ward the open bag and the grain inside. The trader stood tight-lipped, plainly aware that no excuse would serve. The tribesman looked torn, his satisfaction at being proven right mingled with mistrust of the outcome.
Bak stood up, having seen enough, and motioned the nomad to remove his goat before it could eat any of the wheat, altering the weight and thus destroying the evidence.
He waved an arm to catch the eye of the sergeant in charge of the ten-man patrol. The soldier came running, two spear men close on his heels.
“Take this man and his trade goods to the guardhouse.
Have my scribe Hori inventory everything, making special note of the weighted bags of grain, inconsistent lengths of beads, and whatever else he finds amiss. I’d not be sur prised if the beer is diluted, and he’ll probably find pebbles in the honey and oil.”
“Lieutenant.” The trader sidled close to Bak and lowered his voice. “I enjoy my freedom, sir, as you enjoy yours.
There must be something I can do for you, or some object
I can give you that you’d not ordinarily get for yourself.
Something of value, something worthy of a man of good taste, a man willing to overlook one small mistake.”
The tribesman edged closer, suspicious, trying to eaves drop.
“Small mistake?” Bak asked, accenting the word small.
The trader failed to notice the dangerous glint in the of ficer’s eye. “I’ve a servant, a pretty thing of fourteen years.
She’s no longer pure and chaste, but the better for it. A gift well worth accepting.”
“Are you offering me a bribe, sir?”
The trader paled. “No! No, sir. You misunderstand me, sir.”
“Take him away,” Bak said.
With the indifference of a man who had repeated the task many times, the sergeant ordered his men to collect the objects spread out on the sand while he clamped his pris oner’s arms together with wooden manacles and led him away.
The tribesman watched, dumbfounded.
Bak laid a hand on his shoulder. “He’ll not cheat you or any other man for many months to come-if ever again.”
The man, made shy by the kindness, stared at the animals milling around his legs. “I could not sacrifice my goats for items so shoddy. They’re like children to me and my woman, brothers and sisters to our boy and girl.”
“Most men who trade at this market are honest, many of them farmers who give value for value.” Bak knelt among the goats and scratched several eager heads. “Has no one ever told you that the value of these animals is in their fine hair, not their meat?”
“I sometimes trade the yarn my wife spins from their hair, and I know its worth. But to live, we must eat their flesh as well as take their milk and their warm coats.”
Bak rose to his feet. The goats pressed close against his legs, trusting, innocent. As tame and gentle as household pets. He glanced around the market, his eyes darting from one lean-to to another, seeking a farmer who often came to sell his produce. At last he found, seated in the shade be neath a woven reed roof, surrounded by fruits and vegeta bles, the large sturdy body of Netermose, a warm-hearted and considerate man who loved his land and animals above all things.
“I know a man, a farmer who’d value these goats more alive than dead. Let me take you to him.”
“Hor-pen-Deshret.” The caravan master Seshu made the name sound like a curse. “They say the swine has come back.”
Troop Captain Nebwa scowled. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Who?” Bak, standing at the edge of the market, tore his eyes from the fluctuating stream of people walking toward the citadel gate, hastening home with produce, live animals, and innumerable other necessities of life.
“Hor-pen-Deshret.” Nebwa spat on the ground in a show of contempt. “Self-styled Horus of the Desert.”
The tall, bulky officer, a coarse-featured man in his early thirties with unruly hair that always needed cutting, was
Commandant Thuty’s second-in-command. Having come from the practice field outside the walls of Buhen, where he had been overseeing the training of new recruits, he was covered with dust streaked and mottled by sweat.
“The wiliest and most ferocious of all tribesmen,” Seshu said. “A man who knows no fear.”
Nebwa’s scorn was evident. “For years he dreamed of ruling this segment of the river, making himself rich by collecting tolls from all who pass through.”
The caravan master nodded. “A dream he’s never lost, so they say.”
Seshu was of medium height with the rangy muscles and sun-darkened skin of one who had spent many of his forty years marching beneath the sun. His eyes were sharp and quick, his cheekbones prominent, his nose aquiline, testi fying to ancestors who trod the sands of the eastern desert.
Bak, who vaguely recalled hearing of Hor-pen-Deshret, stepped into the thinning stream of people. With Nebwa and Seshu on either side, he strode toward the citadel gate and the commandant’s residence. Compared to the rumor that the army might be leaving the frontier, the return of a desert bandit seemed of minor significance.
“He and his followers raided caravans, farms, villages, even small units of troops when he deemed the risk worth the gain,” Nebwa explained. “They made off with food, animals, women, weapons-anything they could lay their hands on. All who dwelt along the river feared him. Finally, five or six years ago-long before you came to Buhen,
Bak-Thuty’s predecessor, Commandant Nakht, had all he could take of the miserable snake. He took out a company of troops to destroy him, personally leading the column, with me at his side. We never managed to lay hands on the wretch, but we slew many of his followers and chased him far into the desert. I’ve not heard of him for several years and thought never to see him again.”
“I dared hope he’d died.” Seshu, his face rueful, stopped at an intersecting path that would take him to the animal paddocks. “It seems the gods have chosen not to bless us.”
“I don’t believe it!” Nebwa’s voice was hard, his ex pression resolute, the troop captain at his most stubborn.
“He wouldn’t have the nerve to come back.”
Flinging a skeptical look Bak’s way, Seshu turned around and walked up the path.
A spate of laughter drew Bak’s eyes to a party of soldiers cleaning windblown sand out of the sunken road which abutted the terrace that ran along the base of the citadel wall. He did not envy them. The sun beat full-force on the tall towered wall, which rose stark white above the desert sand, catching the heat and holding it close, turning the deep-set road into an oven. High above, a sentry patrolling the battlements walked out onto a projecting tower to look down upon the rapidly emptying market.
“Whether true or not,” he said, “we must tell Comman dant Thuty of the rumor, along with the tale that the army’s to be torn from Wawat. And we must go now, before he hears from another source.”
“He won’t thank us for passing on such nonsense.”
“Nor will he thank us if we tell him nothing and the rumor gets out of hand.”
“Lieutenant Bak! Sir!”
Bak’s eyes darted forward to where his scribe Hori was trotting toward them along the path, dodging men and women laden with trade goods and a couple panting dogs too tired and hot to bark.
The pudgy youth of fifteen or so years swung in beside his superior officer. “Commandant Thuty has summoned you, sir. You and Troop Captain Nebwa.”
“What now, I wonder?”
“The scribe who brought word to the guardhouse said a courier came from Ma’am, bringing a message from the viceroy.” Hori licked beads of sweat off his upper lip.
“Soon after, he heard the commandant yelling at mistresses
Tiya and Meryet, ordering them to silence the children and keep them out of his way.” Tiya was Thuty’s wife and
Meryet his concubine. The many small children of the household were always underfoot, usually ignored by their unabashedly tolerant father.
“Oh-oh,” Nebwa murmured.
Bak muttered an oath. Thuty could be erratic at times, but he was basically a fair man. What could the viceroy’s message have contained that would make him strike out at those closest to him?
“He’s a mid-level bureaucrat! Storekeeper of Amon!”
Commandant Thuty’s voice pulsed with fury. “What can our sovereign be thinking? A man like that. One who doesn’t know a thing about the army, probably doesn’t know how to heft a spear or even march in step, and he’s supposed to inspect the fortresses of Wawat!” Thuty raised a fist and smashed it down hard on the arm of his chair.
“By the beard of Amon! What malign spirit has possessed her?”
Bak exchanged a quick look with Nebwa, standing be side him before the commandant. Normally lacking in tact, too honest and straightforward to exercise patience, Nebwa had for once been silenced, as unwilling to break in on the tirade as Bak was. Neither had seen fit to pass on the ru mors they had heard in the market.
“Not even Inebny, the viceroy, the most powerful man in Wawat and Kush, can stop that wretched inspection. Do you know why?”
“No, sir,” Bak and Nebwa chorused. The fact that Thuty had not thought to offer them seats or beer to quench their thirst was a measure of his anger.
Thuty bounded onto his feet and stalked across his pri vate reception room to the open door. He was a short, pow erful man, with thick dark brows and a strong chin thrust forward under a tight, angry mouth. The courtyard outside was as still as a tomb sealed for eternity. To attain such rare peace, Tiya and Meryet must have removed their chil dren from the building.
“He’s our sovereign’s cousin!” Thuty spat out. “Cousin to Maatkare Hatshepsut herself. One who crawled the cor ridors of power as a babe and who’s walked them ever since. One well-practiced in pleasing the most lofty of the land.”
“I don’t see the point, sir.” Bak ran his thumb under the waistband of his kilt, trying to displace some of the grit collected there. He felt as dirty as Nebwa looked. “The viceroy inspects the fortresses on a regular basis. Why would she send another man to tread in his footsteps?”
“Doesn’t she trust Inebny?” Nebwa asked.
Thuty gave the pair a surprised look, as if it had never occurred to him that in all his ranting and raving he might not have made himself clear. “Why aren’t you two seated?
Where’s the beer I ordered for us?” He walked out into the courtyard and yelled for a servant to bring the beverage.
Nebwa winked at Bak, who returned a quick smile and glanced around the room in search of something to sit on.
Weapons were stacked against the wall. Toys were scat tered across the floor and on every chest, table, and stool.
Beside Thuty’s armchair, a basket overflowed with scrolls.
He brushed the playing pieces for a game of senet into the drawer of a game table and set several child-sized bowls on top, freeing a stool for its proper use. Nebwa grabbed a portable camp stool in one hand and with the other scooped up from the floor a rag doll, a wooden pull toy, and several balls, and threw them into a basket. Practicing, Bak as sumed, for the time when his baby son would reach an age to clutter.
Marching back to his chair, Thuty adjusted the thick, colorful pillow and dropped onto it. While the two younger men settled themselves before him, he rubbed his forehead, his eyes, the stubble on his chin. Not until the servant had come and gone and each man had sampled the thick, acrid brew in his jar did he begin to speak. He sounded tired, worn down by his outburst.
“Amonked, storekeeper of Amon, is this very instant on his way upriver, inspecting the fortresses of Wawat. Ac cording to Inebny-warned by several dependable sources in the royal house-our sovereign has dismissed as of no consequence our military actions against raiding tribesmen who covet what by right is ours. She wants to shut down most of the fortresses along the Belly of Stones and turn the rest into storehouses for trade goods traveling up and down the river. The army would be pared down to a few men. The bureaucrats would reign supreme.”
So the rumor is true, Bak thought, appalled. No wonder
Thuty is so upset.
As commandant of Buhen, the largest fully manned for tified city on the frontier, Thuty loosely administered the chain of ten fortresses strung farther south along the seg ment of river known as the Belly of Stones. This was a most rugged, desolate, and arid land, and the river was filled with rapids and small islands, making navigation im possible except at the highest flood stage. Even then, ships could only make the voyage with extreme difficulty and at great peril. Much of the year, trade goods were carried past the Belly of Stones on donkey caravans traveling the desert trail alongside the river. Troops were garrisoned in the area to protect and control traffic through this natural corridor, collect tribute and tolls, and conduct punitive military expeditions. None of these tasks was of sufficient importance to earn a man the gold of valor, but Bak had no doubt of their necessity.
“We’ve blinded the woman with our success,” Nebwa growled. “If we’d ever lost a gold caravan or if one of her precious envoys had been carried off to the desert to stand as a hostage in exchange for riches, she’d not be so quick to dismiss us as useless.”
“Does Menkheperre Thutmose know of this?” Bak asked. The young man of whom he spoke was Maatkare
Hatshepsut’s stepson and nephew, co-ruler in name only, the individual many people believed to be the sole rightful heir to the throne. While she resided in Waset surrounded by loyal advisers, the youth lived in the northern capital of
Mennufer, where he had begun to rebuild an army that had languished from years of royal neglect.
“What difference would it make? You know how she is when she sets her heart on a goal.” Thuty took a deep drink of beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Amon ked’s well into his mission. He should reach Buhen in about a week.”
“What can we do?” Bak asked in a grim voice.
“I plan to go upriver with the inspection party.” Thuty formed a calculating smile. “I’ll tell him how important the army is to this land and its people, and how important they are to us. How they thrive because we’re here to protect them as well as the gold and ebony and precious stones so desired by the royal house. I’ll…” He caught himself, gave a cynical snort. “I want each of you to assign a man to go with me. Both should be trustworthy and dependable, sergeants who can stand up for themselves should the need arise and not let a flock of self-important scribes browbeat them into submission.”
“Sergeant Pashenuro,” Bak said. “Other than Imsiba, he’s the best Medjay I have.”
Nebwa scratched his head, thinking. “Sergeant Dedu.
He’s been training new recruits and can use a break.”
“I know them both and approve.” Thuty threw an an noyed glance at the courtyard, beyond which could be heard the loud whispers of two women. “I’ve sent a courier up the Belly of Stones, warning the fortress commanders of Amonked’s mission. I hated to give them the bad news so soon, but thought they should be prepared.”
“Better now than after they hear the rumor going round,”
Bak said, and went on to explain, adding for good measure
Seshu’s tale of Hor-pen-Deshret’s return.
Thuty was irritated, yet relieved his message had gone out when it had. The anger and resentment the courier would leave in his wake would in no way equal the re sentment a rumor would rouse. As for Hor-pen-Deshret,
Thuty paid small heed. He shared Bak’s feeling: with po tential disaster so near at hand, the news of one tribesman’s return seemed of small import.
“You’ll need more than two sergeants to guard Amon ked’s back,” Nebwa said, stretching his legs in front of him and wiggling his filthy toes. “Maybe I’d better send along a company of spearmen.”
Thuty scowled at a jest too close to the truth.
“How long will he remain in Buhen,” Bak asked, “and what kind of protection will he need?”
“Not for long, I hope.” Thuty tapped the arm of his chair, thinking. “While he’s here, we’ll quarter him and his party in the house Lieutenant Neferperet occupied before he and his family returned to Kemet. It’s close enough to this res idence that he can’t complain and far enough away that they’ll not be underfoot.”
“The building’s run-down,” Nebwa said.
Thuty waved his hand, dismissing the objection. “I’ll have it repaired, repainted, and refurnished. That should suffice. They can’t expect the same luxury they have in the capital.”
“Protection?” Bak reminded him.
“I want that house well-guarded, Lieutenant. By Med jays, not soldiers whose futures might lay in Amonked’s hands.” Thuty’s voice turned as hard as granite. “I don’t want him harmed while he’s here by someone angered at his mission. Nor do I want any of his minions in trouble or causing trouble.”
“Yes, sir.” A new thought intruded. “Has he been told the river’s too low to sail south beyond Kor? That he’ll have to travel by donkey caravan between Kor and Semna?”
The old fortification of Kor was an hour’s march upriver from Buhen. Located at the mouth of the Belly of Stones, it was used as a staging post, where trade goods were trans ferred from ships to donkey caravans for the long journey south around the rapids, and from donkeys to ships after the return trip.
“If he hasn’t heard it from the men who sail these waters, the viceroy will see he knows.” A burst of laughter, quickly stifled, drew Thuty’s eyes toward the door. “He’ll need a caravan master, troop captain. A man you’d trust with your life. As much as we dislike what he’s come to do, his jour ney must go well, giving him no reason for complaint.”
“Seshu,” Nebwa said without hesitation. He glanced to ward the door and the lengthening shadows visible in the courtyard. “He’s in Buhen now. Shall I go get him, sir?”
“Yes, and quickly.” Thuty’s voice turned as dry as a field long untouched by floodwaters. “With luck, I can coerce him into taking on Amonked’s caravan.”
“I fed that boy Hori,” Nofery grumbled. “Now I suppose you’ll want me to fill your belly, too.”
“A jar of beer will do.” Bak followed the obese old woman out to the courtyard, where a slender dusky-skinned youth was lighting a torch to stave off the dark of night. “I ate at the barracks with my Medjays. Stewed fish-as usual.”
“You heard him, Amonaya,” she said to the boy. “Bring some beer, then get out your writing implements. Hori awaits you.”
The youth made a face behind her back, letting Bak know he did not appreciate the lessons the police scribe had agreed to give him. Lessons Nofery had insisted he take so he could, in the future, help her run her place of business, the largest house of pleasure in Buhen.
A loud curse drew Bak’s eyes to an open doorway and the good-sized front room of the house. Inside, four men sat on the floor playing knucklebones, while a dozen more and two scantily clad young women stood in clusters around the room, beer jars in hand, talking in low, agitated voices. Wagers were made, the bones clattered across the floor, the winner raised his hands high and shouted his plea sure. Bak feared for his safety. Tempers had shortened as word of Amonked’s mission spread.
Nofery shuffled across the court to an armless wooden chair positioned so she could see into the front room and her customers could see her. With a self-satisfied smile, she settled herself like royalty on the thick pillows padding the seat. The chair, which she had had shipped all the way from
Waset, was new, a symbol of her prosperity.
Turning away to hide a fond smile, Bak sat on a mud brick bench built against the wall. The cool breeze he had first noticed while bathing in the river at sunset had stiff ened, rattling the dry palm fronds atop the lean-to that cov ered half the courtyard and making the leaves of a potted sycamore dance and rustle. A half-dozen large jars leaning against the rear wall gave off a strong odor of beer.
“The commandant’s expecting a lofty visitor. Have you heard?”
“Who hasn’t? Word spread through Buhen like chaff in the wind.” She shifted her massive buttocks, grimaced. “A nobleman’s coming to the Belly of Stones, they say, to conduct an inspection. To write the fortresses all off as useless, and us with them.”
The tale had not yet lost touch with reality, Bak noted, but within a few days it would be exaggerated beyond rec ognition. By the time the inspection party arrived, Amon ked would be the most despised man on the frontier. “You long ago dwelt in the capital, old woman. Did you know the one who’s coming, this storekeeper of Amon?”
A young, almost grown lion padded out of the shadows to lay at her feet. As she reached down to scratch the crea ture’s neck, Bak glimpsed a familiar look of calculation on her face. “If I’m to tell you anything of value, I must know his name.”
“You haven’t heard?” Bak asked, with exaggerated amazement. “What am I to do? Seek out a new spy, one whose business isn’t so prosperous it distracts her from walking through this city, eyes and ears wide open?”
She clasped her hands before her breast and raised her eyes to the stars. “How many times have I prayed to the gods to free me from your attentions?” Her voice was as exaggerated as his had been.
He patted her fat knee, covered by the long white shift she wore. “Now admit it, old woman. You’d miss me and the tasks I set you.”
“Like I’d miss a thorn in the sole of my foot.” Her voice was gruff, but her eyes twinkled.
Laughing softly, Bak stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. “The inspector is named Amonked.
Cousin to our sovereign.”
She stared at him, thinking thoughts he found impossible to read but suspected would cost him dearly. Suddenly she began to chuckle. “Storekeeper of Amon. Not much of a task, if you ask me. I’d have thought his unquestioning devotion worth far more than that to our sovereign.”
“You never cease to amaze me,” Bak admitted, laughing.
“Did you know every man in the capital?”
“I knew of Amonked, that’s all.” She glanced at Amon aya coming through the door, carrying a basket filled with beer jars. The youth drew a low table close, set his burden on top, and hurried away. “He never came to the place of business where I toiled, nor did I ever see him when I was summoned elsewhere to entertain men of status or worth.”
Bak reached for a jar, broke the dried mud plug that sealed it, and handed the drink to her. She had once been young and beautiful, a courtesan who had counted princes among her customers, so he had been told by a man who had known her long ago. The years had stolen her good looks but not her memories, unpleasant for her but good fortune for him. Prying those memories from her oft times took more patience than the lord Amon himself possessed, but the knowledge she passed on was well worth the effort.
The knucklebones clattered, a man moaned, and Nebwa burst through the door. He grabbed a jar from the basket, broke the plug, and swung around to hand it to Seshu, close behind. Both men’s hair was damp, betraying a recent dip in the river, and both wore spotless white thigh-length kilts similar to the garment Bak wore.
“Look at the two of them,” Nebwa said, eyes darting from Bak to Nofery and back again. “As somber as a priest and a god’s chantress.”
Seshu walked up to Nofery, smiled, patted her cheek.
“Nice chair, my dear. As the most delightful woman on the southern frontier, it befits you.”
Bak choked on a laugh, and Nebwa looked uncertain how to react. To treat the old woman in so impudent a manner required either a strong friendship or uncommon courage. She guffawed, laughing so hard the tears flowed, and Seshu with her. The two officers joined in.
When the laughter died away, Bak asked Seshu, “Did you agree to lead Amonked’s caravan?”
“I did.” The caravan master found two stools and drew them close, offering one to Nebwa. “I can’t say I like the swine’s purpose. Without the army manning the garrisons along the Belly of Stones, the land of Kemet may as well surrender the whole of Wawat. But… well, I couldn’t re fuse the task. I know better than most the marauding tribes who make sporadic raids along the Belly of Stones-and there’s the rumor about Hor-pen-Deshret.”
“A tale as false as a ceremonial wig,” Nebwa stated with conviction.
Ignoring a certitude he obviously did not share, Seshu said, “I’d never rest easy if I turned my back and let this caravan walk into trouble. Not only Amonked could be injured or slain, but many drovers as well.”
“I’ve heard of no recent raids,” Nofery said.
“There’ve been none.” Seshu rested both hands on his knees, his beer jar between them. “The tribesmen have been quiet this year, staying well clear of the river, because water has been plentiful on the desert and food has been available for animals and men. From what I hear, none of the wa terholes has dried up, and most of the oases are lush. But that doesn’t mean they’ll ignore temptation.” He paused, drank from his jar, added, “I can’t see a man of Amonked’s status traveling with as few amenities as you and I would.”
The four looked at one another, sobered by his words.
They, like all who lived on the frontier, knew how fierce tribesmen could be when tempted by sufficient bounty. All three men had firsthand experience, having personally faced desert raiders in combat, while Nofery had seen caravans straggle into the fortress with most of the donkeys strayed or stolen and more men dead than alive.
Rather than belabor the point, Bak took a fresh beer for himself and passed replacements to the others. “Nofery was about to reveal her deepest, darkest secrets.”
“Aha!” Seshu’s brow cleared, his voice grew husky with false emotion. “Have you been holding out on me, my love?”
A smile flitted across her face. “We were speaking of
Amonked as a youth. As I told Bak, I didn’t know him. He was younger than I, and not one to spend time in houses of pleasure. Still, the world of the nobility is small, and I knew of him.”
She reached down to pet the great tawny cat, making him purr. “Amonked was reputed to be a nice, good-natured boy, a favorite of Hatshepsut, then a princess. The king’s first and most favored daughter, spoiled by both mother and father. He was her shadow, a child she could always depend upon to do her bidding.” Nofery’s expression darkened, her voice turned grim. “Unless he’s changed, he’ll see she gets her way even if he firmly believes the army should retain control of the Belly of Stones.”