Desert God (30 page)

Four days later I stood on the low hills above Ur of the Chaldees and looked down on the town and on the green Euphrates River for the first time. I was chagrined to realize that the river was wider than our Mother Nile, which until that time I had never doubted was the greatest river in the world.

The Euphrates’ banks were heavily forested for as far as I was able to see in both directions. Large fields of agriculture had been hewn out of the forest. After the harsh desert landscape through which we had travelled for so long such an expanse of lush greenery was a delight to my eyes. On the river-bank below where I stood sprawled the city of Ur. At its centre was a large ziggurat, a temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, the principal deity of the Sumerian and Akkadian people. This one was a pyramid-shaped building with five terraces of receding size banked one on top of the other. Not only was it a temple, but it served as a refuge for the priests and priestesses when the river burst its banks and inundated the city and its surroundings.

We started down the road into the city. I rode at the head of our column with Lord Remrem and the princesses, and before we reached the foot of the hills a procession of priests and priestesses emerged from the main gate in the city wall of dried red mud-bricks, and came to meet us.

Although Babylon was still 120 leagues further upstream, I had not wanted to arrive in the capital city of King Nimrod immediately after completing the desert crossing. I wanted to impress the Sumerians with our wealth and pomp. In our present travel-worn condition we looked more like desert Bedouin than the representatives of one of the greatest and most prosperous nations on earth.

As the procession approached I recognized Lord Phat Tur walking at the head of it between the high priest and priestess from the temple. Phat Tur was the Egyptian ambassador to Sumeria. He and I had known each other since long before he had left Thebes to take up his present post. He was a diligent and reliable official, so I was confident that the preparations for our arrival in Babylon had been well taken care of. I dismounted to greet him warmly and then as we walked together back to the city gates we chatted together as old friends.

‘As you requested, Taita, I have chartered ten large comfortable river barges to carry you, the princesses and the senior members of your delegation upstream to Babylon, as soon as you are ready to travel. Naturally I will accompany you. But in the meantime I respectfully suggest that the greater part of your caravan should travel ahead of you by road to Babylon, to await your arrival there.’

By the time we had settled into the accommodation that Phat Tur had arranged for us in the great ziggurat the sun was setting. I left the princesses and their women to unpack all the finery that they had brought with them from Thebes. At last they were able to begin the primping and preening in preparation for their arrival at the court of King Nimrod in Babylon.

I had explained to the royal ladies just how important it was that they make a grand showing to impress His Majesty King Nimrod as well as the Cretan ambassador, who would report it all to his master, the Supreme Minos in Crete.

I dined that evening with Phat Tur and Remrem. We sat out on the wide terrace of the ziggurat under the panoply of stars, and indulged our appetites on huge golden river perch as long as my arm, which had been netted that morning in the Euphrates. We washed the luscious pink flesh down with several flagons of a pleasant red wine from the vineyards that grew along the river-bank.

Once we had eaten we were able to turn our full attention to my grand plan for prosecuting the war against the Hyksos to its ultimate conclusion.

‘As you well know, it is my intention to inveigle both King Nimrod and the Supreme Minos into a military coalition with our beloved Pharaoh. Once we have achieved that, then we will have King Gorrab laid out on the anvil with three great hammers pounding him into annihilation.’

‘As always your choice of words is captivating but not particularly edifying, my good Taita. I am not entirely clear as to who is the anvil and who are the hammers that you speak of so eloquently,’ Remrem demurred. I sighed inwardly. Sometimes conversation with Remrem is rather like taking a cripple up the mountain. He has to be helped every step of the way.

‘You must forgive me. I was using a metaphor. I should have made myself clearer. The Sahara is the anvil, and the armies of Crete, Sumeria and our Egypt are the hammers.’

‘Then what you might have said was that we would have Gorrab surrounded,’ Remrem lectured me pedantically. ‘Your reference to hammers and anvils was somewhat confusing. Plain speech is always preferable, don’t you think?’

‘Indubitably; and I am grateful to you, my lord, for your scholarly advice,’ I replied with such restraint that I surprised even myself. ‘However, the point that I was trying to make was that neither Crete nor Sumeria are as committed to the struggle against the Hyksos as we are.’ With relief I switched my attention from Remrem to Phat Tur. ‘I would very much like to hear your views on King Nimrod’s position. Perhaps you might be able to enlighten us further.’

Phat Tur inclined his head in acquiescence. ‘I was eagerly waiting for this opportunity to meet you face to face, and to explain matters to you more fully than was ever possible by messages carried on the leg of a pigeon. Of course you know that Nimrod inherited the crown from his father King Marduk who died fourteen years ago.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘I know all that.’

‘The last thirty years of Marduk’s reign were spent in rebuilding Babylon, and transforming it into the most beautiful and splendid city in creation.’

‘I had indeed heard that Marduk had undertaken some extensive works. However, I doubt that Babylon can ever match the splendour of Thebes.’

‘Then I think you have a surprise in store for you.’ Phat Tur smiled. ‘It is generally believed that King Marduk spent over six hundred lakhs of silver on the project. What is certain is that he stripped the treasury bare in the process of carrying through this obsession of his.’

I stared at him in amazement. It took me some little time before I could frame my reply. ‘I was led to believe that Sumeria was as rich, if not richer than Crete?’ I shook my head doubtfully.

‘Yes. That is what most people think. I have been living in Babylon for the last five years and at first I also believed the myth of the great wealth of Sumeria. It is only very recently that I learned the truth. King Nimrod does not have sufficient funds to pay his own ministers. His civil service is in tatters. His army is crippled by lack of weapons and equipment. His troops are deserting in droves because he cannot pay them. He could not possibly mount an offensive against the Hyksos, even though he is fully aware that by not doing so he places his country in deadly jeopardy.’

Both Remrem and I stared at him speechlessly.

Remrem’s expression was stricken. I knew that he was seeing our entire project crumbling to dust. He had been certain that Nimrod of Sumeria would make us a powerful ally. Phat Tur was busily destroying that hope.

On the other hand I was elated. For me the way forward was now clear. Nimrod was insolvent. He was losing his army and his country. He must be desperate. I had almost ten lakhs of silver hidden under the false floorboards of my wagons and in the saddlebags of my camels, and hundreds of lakhs more piled up in Pharaoh’s treasury in the Valley of the Kings. King Nimrod and Sumeria belonged to us. I would be able to dictate our own price. Nimrod dared not refuse me.

I had my first hammer in my hand, despite Remrem’s quibbling and nitpicking at my choice of words. My other hammer was waiting for me on the island of Crete. The price for it in silver was minimal, but the price in misery and heartbreak might prove extortionate.

T
he following morning I woke in elated spirits when my head slave, Rustie, brought my breakfast and with it a silver tumbler of my favourite wine. I diluted the wine with rose-water and sipped it as I paced the terrace looking down on the mighty river which has been a focus of history since the beginning of time.

Despite my recently acquired intelligence as to King Nimrod’s impecunious state, the magnificent vista of river and distant snow-capped mountains laid out before me and the exquisite wine in my cup, I felt my mood evaporating. I knew that there was something important that I was overlooking, but like a mosquito buzzing around my head it was eluding me and though I tried I could not swat it down.

I took another turn around the terrace and then I stopped in mid-stride with my right foot in the air. Rustie was staring at me in alarm. ‘Is there aught amiss, master?’ he demanded.

I lowered my foot to the paving. ‘Nothing that cannot be dealt with,’ I assured him. I went to my writing table and dashed off a few words on a scrap of papyrus. I folded and sealed it and handed it to Rustie. ‘Please take this to Her Royal Highness Princess Tehuti at once; and make sure you deliver it into her hand. Then go to the head groom and tell him I want two of his best horses saddled and waiting in the yard. I will be there immediately, if not sooner. I do not want to be kept waiting.’ Rustie fled to do my bidding.

What I needed to do could not be done within the ziggurat. I had no doubt that there were hidden rooms built into the stone walls, and secret windows and listening posts manned by minions of King Nimrod or at the very least those of the high priest. I could well imagine with what glee they would report to their masters the fact that I was purveying over-ripe fruit.

I drained the rest of the wine in my cup with much less ceremony than it deserved and hurried to my room to don my riding cloak. Then I went down to the stables in the rear of the ziggurat. Tehuti kept me waiting less than half an hour, but when she came she was gay and laughing. Her lovely face was aglow with happiness and high spirits, and a new and delicate beauty which had never been there before. She ran to embrace me and stood on tiptoe to whisper in my ear.

‘Rustie says you have a surprise for me. That’s why I was not to tell the other girls that I was going to meet you.’ She laughed in my face. ‘Tell me! Tell me! You know that I cannot abide secrets, my darling Tata …’

‘Let us go where we can be alone.’ Despite her insistence that she would curl up and die with the suspense, I boosted her into the saddle, and then galloped ahead of her down to the bank of the River Euphrates. When I rode on to the towpath I slowed my mount to a walk and let Tehuti come up alongside me.

‘How can you be so cruel? I know you have a gift for me. I swear by my love for Osiris that I cannot bear your torture another moment.’

‘This time I have no present for you. All I have is a simple little question. How long is it since you and Zaras returned from the pool of Miyah Keiv?’

‘Oh, that is an easy one. It is forty-three days and …’ She glanced up at the sun to gauge its height. ‘… and about seven hours.’

I nodded without smiling. ‘And since then have you missed anything?’

‘Oh, no! See! I still have my magical ring.’ She held out her hand towards me, and the diamond on her finger sparkled almost as brightly as her eyes.

I did not return her smile but looked into those lovely eyes expressionlessly. After a short period of my silence the joy that suffused her features faded, and was replaced by an expression of confusion, until suddenly she realized exactly where my questions were leading her. She dropped her eyes from mine.

‘You forgot to tell me, didn’t you, Tehuti?’ My tone was remorseless, unforgiving. ‘You have missed your red moon by almost a month; and you tried to hide that fact from me; even though you had given me your word.’

‘I did not seek to deceive you,’ she whispered. ‘I just wanted to keep my baby alive inside me for a very little longer. I would have told you, Tata, truly I would have.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘I am sure you would have told me after it was too late. You put your own life and the throne of Egypt in jeopardy by your thoughtless selfishness.’

‘I will never do it again, darling Tata.’ Her voice choked, and she turned her face away from me to hide her tears whilst she struck them from her eyes with the back of the hand on which she wore the diamond ring.

‘So you say.’ I was angry and I did not attempt to hide the fact. ‘Come with me now.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘Back to my apartment in the ziggurat.’

I had prepared the draught before I went down to meet her in the stables. I had boiled the dried bark of the knob-thorn tree which I had brought back with me from the wild land beyond the cataracts of Mother Nile. By the time we reached my apartment the virulent juices had cooled. I led Tehuti into my sleeping chamber and sat her upon the couch. Then I brought the cup to her, and made her drink every last drop of the black brew. I knew that the taste was bitter as gall, but I would not spare her. Thrice she gagged and almost retched, but I was unrelenting.

Only when the cup was empty would I take pity upon her. By then her face was white as a sun-bleached bone and her eyes were bloodshot and swimming in their tears.

‘I am so sorry, Tata. It was wicked and stupid of me. I betrayed your trust and I know you can never forgive me.’

I sat down beside her and took her in my arms and rocked her until her sobs quietened. When she fell asleep I covered her with a fur blanket and went down to talk to the other two girls. I explained to them that Tehuti had been struck down by a contagious and pernicious fever and because of the threat of infection to themselves I could not allow them to visit her until she was cured.

I returned to where Tehuti lay and I stayed by her side over the harrowing days and nights that followed. During the days I read to her, played my lute and sang to her all her favourite ballads. During the nights I took her into my bed and nursed her like a sick child until the effects of the sleeping draught that I had given her took effect.

On the third night she woke me with her moans and whimpers of pain. I took her in my arms and rocked her, all the while murmuring endearments and encouragement until I felt the contractions of her womb commence. Then I massaged her stomach to ease the pains and to assist the good gods in voiding the dead thing within her.