Eye of the Moon (27 page)

“Victory is Egypt's!”

“The Kushites have ceased their fight! They've given up!”

Cheers broke out. Men beat their swords against their shields. The earth shook with the stamp of hundreds of feet. “Vic . . . tory! Vic . . . tory! Vic . . . tory!” came the chant.

“Given up? They
can't
have!” I twisted around to look at Anoukhet. “This is all
my
doing. It's because I was captured. They've lost the battle because of me!”

“Never!”
she growled back at me. “They would
never
give up!”

A soldier pointed at us. “What about them?”

“Let's load them onto a chariot and display them to the Kushites to show how easily a battle is won when women are made soldiers.”

“The battle is
not
over!” Anoukhet bellowed. “The Kushites would
never
cease to fight!” I felt her struggling to free herself. “Cut these ropes. I'll tell them what cowards the Egyptian soldiers are. That you hide behind chariots and horses using girls as your shields, while they, the Kushites, fight out in the open, shoulder to shoulder as one man. Free me so I can return to battle. I will use my
other
arm!”

There was raucous laughter. “She's a wildcat!”

The captain walked across and crouched down next to her. I strained my neck to see. He cupped a hand under her jaw and lifted her head so that she was incapable of looking anywhere but directly back at him. A horrible sneer was etched across his brutish face. “And then? What then, my lovely?”

“You'll be the
first
to die by my arrow!” Anoukhet spit out.

“I think not!” he sneered. “Do you think I'm troubled by the threat of a
slave
girl? We'll capture you again. And then it won't be just your bow fingers we'll cut off. We'll chop you up bit by bit. And your bowmen will be ridden down like dogs under our horses' hooves.” He flung her jaw away from him and
stood up abruptly. “
Then
let's see your Kushites come groveling and begging us for mercy.”

“Never!”

“Don't you see they've deserted you? Don't you see what cowardly dogs they've proved to be for having retreated, leaving two girls to our mercy?”

“
Mercy?
Ha! When did an Egyptian soldier
ever
show mercy? Is cutting off a finger mercy?”

Without warning, an arrow whistled through the air and flew down at an angle, pinning the toe of the captain's left boot to the ground. Then another came in quick succession and shivered to a halt in the toe of his other boot. The arrows had bright red feathers without a pattern.

Despite the pain, I felt a smile creep across my face at the sight of the captain pinned down with two red-feathered arrows sticking up from his toes.

I twisted around to see from which direction the arrows had come, searching for a sign of Katep.

Then his voice bellowed down from the cliffs. “The Kushites have retreated by my commander's orders. But not for long. Look to the top of this cliff. You'll see five hundred arrows pointed directly at you and your men—each one marking the heart of his
individual target. The commander has only to shout the command and they'll be released. Each arrow will find an Egyptian heart.”

The captain's eyes flashed with anger as he searched the cliffs for Katep. Then he wrenched his feet free of the two arrows. “Ha! From such an angle and from so far, you'll not find your target,” he bellowed. “You've not even found my foot!”

“I could find the mole on your cheek. We are the People of the Bow, remember. There are no better marksmen on earth.”

“Be brave enough to show yourself, then.”

There was a movement to my side. I saw an Egyptian soldier very slowly and stealthily lift his bow.

“Show yourself!” the captain taunted again.

“No! Katep!
Don't!
” I bellowed.

A dagger was suddenly at my throat, pressing hard up against my skin with its sharp tip. “You're better off silent!” the captain hissed next to my ear.

From the corner of my eye I saw a figure suddenly appear on the cliffs. It wasn't Katep but Tuthmosis.

“Let her go!” his voice rang out.

He stood above us totally transformed. He'd found a leopard cloak. It hung from his shoulder
and wrapped his body with its great claws. Even from a distance I could see the gold pectoral shining against his chest. And on his head he wore the single tall white ostrich plume of Truth. He carried no weapons.

“So you're Katep! What use are you without your bow?” the captain sneered.

“I'm not Katep. Let her go, I say!”

The captain gripped me harder. His arm was choking me. I felt a small trickle run down my neck. Sweat or blood—I wasn't sure.

“Who are you to order a captain of the Egyptian army? You have no authority over me!”

“Do as I say!”

“What is she to you? What will you do to save her life?” he sneered.

I felt the blood hammer behind my eyes as I struggled to breathe. One swipe and the dagger would slice through my throat. One sharp jerk of his arm and my neck would be broken. There was silence. Everyone focused on Tuthmosis and waited for his answer.

“I'm Tuthmosis, son of Amenhotep. By my authority as king, I order you to let her go.”

“King?”
The captain began to laugh as he released his grip.

I slumped back against the post.

“Do you hear that? This piece of dirt thinks he is the son of the great Amenhotep!” He looked around at the group of soldiers, then threw back his head and laughed even louder. “Come down and prove you are king!”

With the speed of the leopard he wore, Tuthmosis jumped from the ledge right at the captain. They sprawled to the ground. The captain was taken by surprise. So was everyone else. Before anyone had the chance to react, Tuthmosis had wrestled the dagger away from him. Then, with one stride and a quick upward thrust, he sliced through the rope that bound both Anoukhet and me and eased us to our feet.

I stood trembling, feeling I would vomit. Next to me Anoukhet was silent.

I heard the soft swish of bows being lifted. Whether it came from the Egyptians or the Kushites on the cliffs, I wasn't sure. My body stiffened.

Tuthmosis stepped in front of us. “You may draw your arrows, but the Kushites on these cliffs are quicker. It's true what Katep has said. You are surrounded.
Each and every one of you has an arrow aimed at your heart.”

For a moment there was complete silence.

“You will regret this day!” the captain bellowed.

“I think not!” Tuthmosis held up the heavy gold pectoral that hung across his chest. The carnelian and lapis lazuli caught the rays of the rising sun and glinted. But it was the huge central stone of the scarab that seemed like a living green light of fire. It sparked and flashed in every direction, invoking the power of the gods.

“This is the pectoral insignia of my heritage. It bears my name.” His voice echoed around the cliffs and must have been heard by even the farthest soldier. “By this I'm the king's son. Appointed by the gods to rule Egypt. I am the intermediary that stands between the gods and you—the people of Egypt. If you harm me, you harm the gods. Their wrath will come down on you, and your families, and Egypt, a hundredfold.”

I sensed rather than saw the soldiers around me drop their bows. A soldier next to me clutched an amulet at his throat and another drew a wedjat eye in the sand with the tip of his boot.

“The god of chaos will come down on you. I will put the curse of—”

I heard the soldiers gasp and call out to prevent Tuthmosis from speaking the name of the god of chaos.

“Ha!” the captain spit out. “Don't listen to him. If it's true and he
is
Tuthmosis, then it's true what Wosret said! He hides here among the Kushites. A
traitor
turned against Egypt.” He gave Tuthmosis a searing look. “
You're
not the king. Your brother has been appointed by the high priests of Thebes as king.
He
is the living god—not
you
! You have no power over us! The gods will not listen to you!”

“Kill him, Tuthmosis!” Anoukhet hissed. “He's insulted you! If you don't, I must.” She pushed through the crowd and tried to pull the knife away from Tuthmosis.

“Be still, Anoukhet!” He gripped her hand tightly. “I don't need his blood on my hands. It's honor I want . . . not blood! There must be no more bloodshed.”

Anoukhet tossed her head and thrust her shoulders back defiantly. “This is what we fought for,” she cried.

For a moment the two of them stared at each other with blazing eyes. Then Tuthmosis turned. I saw him take in the scene of the bodies of the dead soldiers that lay around us. “No!” He shook his head. “Look around you. Is this what Egypt stands for? Bloody battle after bloody battle? Men slaughtered because of the need and avarice of a few? This was my father's way. To show his power, my father made people die for him. Did that make him a
good
king?”

“Your father was a brave man!” The captain spit the words out. “You're nothing but a coward! It's good the throne is not yours. It's good your brother rules. Let's hope he follows the example of your father.”

“Kill him, Tuthmosis!” Anoukhet urged again.

Tuthmosis turned to the captain with slate-hard eyes. He shook his head. “I won't kill you. But take a warning back to Wosret.”

“Ha! Wosret has no time for warnings. Least of all from
you
!”

“This is a warning he'll have to heed. Tell him the kingdom of Egypt belongs to my brother. But warn him that should he ever send his army south again to attack the Kushites and lay claim to their land and
possessions, by this royal pectoral I will return to take my rightful throne.”

“What?”
Anoukhet grabbed his arm. “No . . . you can't do this! You can't give up so easily. You have to take back what is yours
now
! We fought for this. We came all this way for you to fight for your kingdom. Now it's
yours
! Kill this man. Be done with it. He's nothing but a poisonous viper. Stand up for yourself. Let them see you are Tuthmosis, king of all Egypt!”

From the corner of my eye I saw the quick movement the captain made. He grabbed a khopesh from a soldier. I saw it glint in the sunlight. Then he swung it back with all his might. The blade came slicing in an arc . . . seeking to silence Anoukhet once and for all . . . seeking out a mark against her neck.

But just as the blade swung down, the captain's feet staggered from beneath him. His arm flailed wide. The khopesh flew out of his hand. He fell prone at our feet.

Protruding from his chest was one of Katep's red arrows.

And then suddenly, as if this was a sign, a hail of arrows pelted down from the cliffs. They darkened
the sky as thick as a swarm of locusts and found their marks around us.

“Quick!” Tuthmosis grabbed hold of Anoukhet and me and dragged us to the nearest chariot. “Leap on! Hurry! The Kushite bowmen have run out of patience. We can't stay them any longer. The battle has begun in earnest. Take up any weapon you find. We'll fight our way through the Egyptians.”

He snatched up the reins and wheeled the horses around so that the sand spun up in our faces and the chariot plunged forward. Arrows flew in all directions.

“Hold on well!” he shouted as soldiers tried to pull us down. “And pray the wheels are made of strong wood and the axle and linchpins hold.”

Then, as we broke free, he grinned back at us with his leopard cloak flying and its paws clawing the wind and laughed as he saw our faces. “And be
glad
this is not the first time I've driven a chariot!”

   
27
   
ON THE BANK OF THE GREAT RIVER IN THE LAND OF KUSH