Chapter 6 – Where Sun and Sand Meet Part 1
A/N1: See Historical notes for Chapter six for details about Nubia and Kush and warfare in ancient Egypt. The troops Mereneith took with her numbered approximately 10,000 infantry and 3000 chariots.
A/N2: Many of you lovely reviewers have made comment or thanked me for the excessive research that I appear to be doing for this fic and I feel like a bit of a fraud for that. You see I have a B.A. in Egyptology and Ancient History and have been a freelance lecturer and educator in the subject for the past 16 years. So it's more like I'm just enjoying myself by using my existing knowledge and skills more than knocking myself out looking things up, lol. :-)
Mereneith climbed the last step up to the parapet acknowledging the sentry who brought his spear to attention beside him but did not take his eyes from the sandy horizon. She stood beside the tall man and surveyed the desert floor beneath the towering outer ramparts of the mighty fortress. Spread out below them were the carefully spaced horse lines of the chariot brigades flanked by neat rows of tents for the charioteers and their mounted warriors and beyond them the further tents of the Braves of the King and the Division of Amun. Glancing back over her shoulder she saw similar neat rows of tents taking up the huge space between these outer ramparts and the walls of the fortress proper. Nodding to the soldier she moved off to do a circuit of the outer walls before she gathered her Commanders to go over the latest reports from the southern forts.
When she'd arrived at Aswan three days after sailing from Thebes she had been pleased to see her General, the Troop Commander Kenamun had already dispatched three of the four assembled Divisions south to the Fortress of Buhen along with a large flotilla of supply ships. They waited for two days for the ships to return and then the supply ships were reloaded and the rest of the troops had sailed against the noticeably rising flood waters of the inundation joining up with their fellows eight days later. Mereneith had spent the day inspecting the troops and chariot corps, acquainting herself with her lesser officers, and letting the men see she knew her trade when it came to war. This was, after all, not her first campaign, even if it was likely to be the greatest campaign so far of her reign. She would be content if it were the greatest of her reign ever, war was a wasteful endeavour and not one she actively chose to pursue.
The Commandant of Buhen had given over his quarters to his king during her stay and had moved in with his second in command. The meeting of senior officers however, needed to take place in the courtyard of the temple of Horus as the only enclosed area in the fortress that could accommodate the numbers. The latest news from the south appeared to be that the king of Kush had withdrawn to consolidate his forces after having raided as a far north as the settlement of DedunSai. The garrison from Amara had come to the town's support and the Kushites had attacked only once before withdrawing to the south.
As promising as the successful Egyptian defence against a raiding party might have been, the reported number of the enemy massing further to the south, 10-12 thousand strong was of much greater concern to the Egyptians. Small raiding bands from Kush of a few hundred up to occasionally a thousand men, were a sporadic but constant event on the frontier, but the deployment of such a major force as the one reported had not occurred for more than 150 years. Something had happened to make the king of Kush reckless enough to strike with such force and risk the might of Egypt's retribution. Mereneith and her senior officers were particularly concerned about this unknown element in the equation. Kenamun, who knew his king well enough to know she prized truth above courtly niceties, made a suggestion of what might be at least partially responsible for the action. The Kushite ruler had only recently taken the throne and was a young man of 19 intent on making a name for himself and distinguishing himself from his forebears; Kenamun suggested that his youthful lust for glory might be coupled with a lack of respect for the female Horus, thinking that a female ruler would not prove any sort of challenge to his own warrior prowess. Those officers who knew Mereneith and had campaigned with her in the past had all let forth a laugh at that which had brought a gratified feral smile to Mereneith's features in response.
The rest of the meeting dealt with the details of troop deployments, scouting necessities and the coming march along the Nile as they headed south to confront the Kushites. It was at this juncture that the prince and now Troop Commander, Sethirkopshef made his presence known by querying why they didn't just portage the ships of the fleet around the cataract and sail from Buhen to the fortress of Iminuserkhepesh -Huiefersy. He'd taken note that some 35 of the supply ships and four of the transport ships had been moved in this way in order to ghost the marching army carrying the chariots and extra gear and food that would keep them supplied in the barren areas they would be travelling through.
At first Mereneith and her senior officers indulged the question as it came from someone new to military campaigns and it was an acceptable way for him to learn, but when he'd been told the reason and he had followed up with the demand rather than request, that he travel with the flotilla, the gathering cooled considerably to the haughty young man. Mereneith eyed her kinsman, resplendent in a coat of golden scale armour that would be of little help to him in battle save to make him an easy target to hundreds of bowman greedy to claim such riches for their own. She reminded herself he had no experience in this and tempered her annoyance when she spoke.
"Why would you want to travel with the supply flotilla Troop Commander?" Her choice of title was deliberate and she hoped he would take the hint. Alas the young man appeared to be oblivious to her tone and her words as he snottily replied.
"I am an Irtpa-ha and should not have to sweat and slog through sand dunes as we travel, it is beneath my dignity. I shall travel with you, Majesty, in the comfort of the lead ship of the fleet." The young man planted his feet and crossed his arms over his chest daring anyone, even the king to gainsay the rightness of his claim. He'd faltered a little in his resolve at the rumble of chuckles from the hard military men around him when he'd said the second part of his statement, but he chose to see this as their collective dislike of having to provide the proper respect to two royal personages instead of just one. He continued to look at his distant cousin, waiting for her to agree to his claim.
Mereneith stifled her sigh of irritation with the young man, unsurprised at his ignorance and haughtiness and stepped forward till she stood directly in front of him. She was pleased to see that she topped his impressive stature by a good two inches and could look down at him to make her point very clear.
"You believe I will be lolling on a couch on the foredeck, fan bearers and cupbearers seeing to my needs as I sail and my men march under the fierce eye of my Father the great God Amun-Ra?" Her eyes bored into the prince who flinched at her casual reminder of her divine parent. Sethirkopshef took a half step back, realising he'd gravely miscalculated the woman before him. He looked at the other men scrabbling for a hint of support from any one of them but meeting only hard looks ranging from pity and annoyance to outright hostility.
"You are new to campaigning Irtpa-ha, and it seems that my late unlamented husband was as great a failure as a military instructor as he was as a Consort. Allow me therefore to correct his faulty instruction. I, and all who hold command under me, march with their men, we march as one, we serve as one and we fight as one. This, Troop Commander, is how you lead men, from the front, not from the rear." She tried but she just couldn't keep the sneer from her voice as she finished. "And not from the side and on your back in the comfort of a supply ship."
The prince had the good grace to blush at this very public lesson, but his eyes held pure venom and he glared at Mereneith's back as she turned and walked away dismissing the meeting as she did so.
Andrea sat among the comfortable cushions piled on the floor of her private reception room and smiled at the two little girls busily instructing a number of servants where to put down the food and drink, and bowls and ceramics, and an array of dozens of other small items on the three low tables in front of the young woman. She shot an amused look at Sesen who was seated beside her ready to assist the young princesses in their lesson. The Chantress managed to note the girls' attention refocusing on the two of them and adjusted her jovial smile to something a little more serious for the instruction about to take place.
The king had sailed some five hours earlier and Andrea had thought it would provide some distraction for Mereneith's Hawklings if they were to start her lessons that morning. She smiled again as the little girls each dragged a cushion to sit beside and between the tables before making themselves comfortable and facing the two women.
"Sesen, please tell Mama we talked about this yesterday and Miwsher and me decided that it would probably be best to teach her the words for the things she will need most of all like food and clothes and jewels and stuff like that." She beamed at the dark skinned woman when she relayed Andrea's approval of the system and compliment on the little girls' intelligence for coming up with the plan.
They spent several hours with the princesses teaching the Queen the individual words for each item and giggling when her pronunciation wasn't quite right or her accent twisted the sounds into a slightly different word altogether. Andrea bore the giggles gracefully and about an hour or so into the session hit on an idea that she thought the girls might like and that she thought Mereneith would probably approve of as well. As the children taught her the Egyptian words for each item she in turn started to teach them the Cretan word for the same item.
Neith-hotep was very enthusiastic with this change in arrangement and took to the new words with great glee. Neith-nodjmet enjoyed herself as well but felt it far more important that Andrea learn Egyptian as quickly as possible so they would be able to speak to her more easily. She liked Sesen, and it was kind of fun having the extra dimension of translation going on, but she longed to be able to have private conversations with her new parent without the need for a go-between.
The lesson lasted until an hour past mid-day when Nebet Segret returned to take the girl's back to the Royal nursery for their mid-day meal and afternoon sleep. Sesen organised the servants to remove the remains of the lesson and the delivery of a light mid-day meal for the queen before they too took the opportunity for a nap. Andrea had discovered that sleeping through the oppressive heat of the early afternoon was a well-used custom in Egypt practiced by the highest to the lowest in the land as their circumstances permitted. As she stretched out on her couch one of her servants moved forward and she felt the cooling air moved by the sway of the great ostrich feathered fan waft across her sweating skin. The regular swoosh of the fan quickly lulled her to sleep.
Later in the afternoon she met with the Chief Steward in her outer reception room. Satneith was there to begin the queen's instruction in some of the duties she would need to carry out and to inform her of the events she would have to attend in the coming weeks. The efficient noblewoman had tailored these events to ease the new queen into her role as gradually as could be managed. The first week held only one event which was a small banquet to be held for the noble Ladies of the court to meet the Queen in a more informal setting than the two State banquets Andrea had already attended. This meeting was necessary for the Queen to eventually choose those Ladies who would be her attendants for religious and Court functions.
The following week required Andrea travel across the river to the village of Setma'at to oversee the distribution of wages to the royal funerary workers and to meet with the Chief Engineer and the Royal architect Djedu in order to commission them to begin the search for a likely sight for her own tomb in the Valley of the Silent Goddess. These activities would require several days in the week and provision would be made to accommodate the Queen in one of the small palaces attached to the mortuary temple of her husband's grandfather the Osiris Amunmose. Andrea was a little taken aback by the matter of fact way the Steward had introduced the morbid subject of death into the conversation. A few words from Sesen about the major importance of getting the work started on her tomb as it would take several years to complete mollified her a little, but she wasn't completely convinced of the necessity until Satneith pointed out it was Mereneith who had left the command that this be done while she was in Nubia.
The week after that and Andrea's duties began to multiply, beginning with a nocturnal vigil in the royal shrine of Hapi the god of the great River, on the Night of the Tear in order to ensure a good flood, not too low and definitely not too high. This was followed by her attendance at the Court reception for the new ambassador from Mitanni and then she would need to prepare for the festival of Mut where she would have to fulfil the role of divine vessel for Great Amun's consort. Satneith was adamant that Andrea needed to begin immediate lessons in dance and music for the last of these events as she would be required to lead the priestesses in the central ceremony of the festival.
When Satneith finally departed Andrea felt truly drained even though this had only been the planning session for the duties, she felt as if she'd already carried them all out in the space of a few hours. She released Sesen to her own devices for the remainder of the evening and made her way into the garden adjoining her rooms. Wandering amid the greenery she came to a small pool teeming with fish and sat down beside the water. She drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest as a wave of homesickness swept over her and she let the tears fall as she hadn't since that first day when her uncle took her away from the Mother's shrine. She cried for the loss of her old life, the loss of the life she was supposed to have had and she cried for her new life in this strange and different land.
She tried to think of the kindness of Sesen and indeed that of Mereneith as well, but this was still an alien place with strange unknown customs, unknown gods, and she felt very small and alone. As her tears continued to fall she shivered when a cool breeze brushed past her shoulders. Looking up when she felt the breeze again she immediately noted that the pond surface was smooth, not a single ripple disturbing the water. She felt the breeze a third time and noted that trees and plants around her remained as still and unmoving as the water in the pond.
The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck rose when the breeze brushed past her a fourth time, only now she swore she could hear words whispered as it passed over her body. "Be brave, have faith, all will be well." The words of the Mother, spoken the day before during her coronation, quietly echoed in the still garden and brought Andrea's tears to an awed halt. Wiping at her wet cheeks Andrea stood and raised her arms in the posture of supplication. Her face shone with renewed wonder as she recited the evening prayer to Mother Rhea, adding her own hymn of gratitude for her blessing and reassurance.
The march from Buhen to Iminuserkhepesh took six full days. The army had marched close to the banks of the river for most of the distance save for a day and half at the midway point where they loaded up with supplies of water and struck out across the desert to avoid a large bend in the river that would have added more than two days to their journey had they stayed by the water. The fleet sailed quickly ahead and met main body of troops when they re-emerged at the riverside having followed a well-used desert trail.
As they marched the Egyptians were pleased to see the mighty swell of the annual floods rising daily and rushing their gift of water and rich black earth northward to the fields of Egypt. The floodwaters making it necessary for the tag-along fleet to row the whole way fighting against the current and the shifting hazards the churning brown waters brought along with their gifts. One or two of the ships had run aground in the shifting channels of the river, their borrowed pilots from Buhen and the local area unable to foresee the changes made by the flood. Other ships had pulled the stranded ships from the sucking; shifting sand-spits and none had been lost or damaged.
When the walls of the largest of the southern fortresses, Iminuserkhepesh -Huiefersy, appeared a great shout rose from the throats of more than 14000 men when they saw the blue and white streamers of the royal pennant flying above the ramparts. This stronghold was less than half the size of mighty Buhen and made up for the lack of an outer fortified wall by being mounted on the only raised rock outcrop for miles around. From its' heights the fortress was able to monitor all river traffic and all land traffic on both sides of the river for miles around.
Mereneith, General Kenamun and her Troop Commanders left the junior officers to see to the troops' encampment and went to meet with the Fortress Commander. His news was grim; the Kushite forces were massing once again and had been seen only a few miles south of the border town of Soleb some four days earlier. Their numbers were closer to 14-16 thousand at least 6000 of which were the famed archers of Ta-seti. Mereneith's immediate action was to organise a rigorous and wide ranging scouting system and set it in motion, she wanted no surprises as they headed toward the enemy. Her second action was to order the men to be ready to march two hours before dawn, her plan to rest them for a few days after their march from Buhen abandoned with the new intelligence from further south.
Three days out from Iminuserkhepesh the king ordered the chariots be brought from the ships and assembled, the road along the banks was well packed and wide all the way down to DedunSai and she wanted her shock troops ready for any surprises that might await the slight bend in the river that hid the small fort of Amara from their view. When they struck camp the next morning the 3000 strong chariot corps led the way, the Braves of the King, infantry as well as chariots at their centre.
A day later the dawn was still an hour away when two of the advance scouts came galloping over the dunes in their haste to get their news to the king. One man had an arrow still embedded in his shoulder when he fell from his mount at Mereneith's feet. Their news brought all to a state of hyper alertness and a flurry of more scouts were sent out to east and west as well as cautiously south once more. The scouts had seen smoke rising in a dark plume on the horizon and had dismounted to get a closer look. When they'd reached the top of the dunes that gave them clear sight to the small fort they saw that as they'd feared it was the source of the smoke. The great gates stood drunkenly askew and the ground around the walls was littered with the bodies of Egyptians and Kushites, the fort was lost but it had not died an easy death.
The scouts crawled back to their tethered horses and made off as fast as they could, they thought they'd made good their escape when they stumbled upon a small group of Kushites swimming in the shallows of the swollen river washing away the grime of battle. One of the enemy had not been in the water and had managed to fire off a volley of arrows one of which hit its mark.
Mereneith sent the injured man to be tended to and called her Troop Commanders together to plan their advance. As the king set out her instructions she made sure that her inexperienced kinsman's troop of 500 chariots was safely wedged between her own troops and those of General Kenamun who would be leading the right flank. She was also careful to make sure Sethirkopshef understood his orders precisely. She may have been pressured into giving him a higher rank than his experience warranted because of his status, but she wanted no mistakes made just because this was his first battle.
They marched for an hour before another scout returned and reported the raiding party was just beyond the next dune and numbered a thousand or so men, about half of which were archers. Mereneith, the Braves of the King, and the chariots pulled ahead of the main body of troops and fanned out to form a wider massed front as they picked up speed. The infantry Braves had moved to the flanks, trotting double time to retain their place just to the rear of the flashing chariot wheels their job, to capture any of the enemy trying to flee the central battle.
Mereneith felt the breeze on her face as her charioteer, Ahmose, urged their horses forward increasing the pace as they rounded the great dune that had been the last barrier between her and her prey. She stood tall, her bow already strung and arrow notched as the milling mass of Kushites finally came into full view. They gave a mighty shout and turned to meet this surprise attack, causing the king to think fleetingly of their stupidity in obviously not having sent any scouts of their own to keep them informed of possible reprisals. Letting fly her first arrow she shouted her praise to her Father Amun as the bolt sped straight to its' intended home, the throat of a massive warrior just bringing his axe forward to swipe at the first of the chariots to sweep into the swirling mass of dark skinned bodies.
The action was swift and short lived the weight of the chariot charge rolling over the Kushites in minutes leaving a third of their number dead or wounded from the first onslaught and too dazed to mount an effective defence as the chariots wheeled about and returned for a second attack before circling the dwindling group and picking men off from a distance. Eventually a handful some 140 tired and wounded survivors finally laid down their arms in surrender. Mereneith was delayed in attending these captives as Ahmose had been wounded in the thigh and she took the time to take the reins herself and drop him off for the doctors to tend before she returned to the area where the captives had been taken.
As she trotted her team toward the heavily guarded prisoners, many unable to stand because of their wounds, she caught the flash of a raised sword in the mid afternoon sun. Dismounting and throwing the reins to another charioteer she pushed through to the scene at the centre of the crowd and saw Sethirkopshef wiping the blade of his sword on the hide kilt of a body sprawled at his feet. Kenamun was standing beside him a scowl etched deep into his features and a restraining hand on the young man's shoulder pulling him away from the body. Sethirkopshef rounded on the General his sword arm rising to strike at the man for daring to lay hands on him. As his blade descended Mereneith's own deadly kopesh hooked the weapon out of the boy's hand and in the next instant she was standing before him her blade hard against his throat.
"You dare to raise your hand against my second in command? You're brother in arms and your superior?" Her voice was low and deadly and caused those around them to take a step back from the royal confrontation. Sethirkopshef glared at her angrily.
"He has no right to lay hands on my royal person." Breathing heavily he took a step back away from Mereneith's blade which still remained poised near his throat. The heat of battle still beat in the young man's veins and this thundering euphoria overrode his common sense and allowed him to follow this up with a very dangerous statement. "You're not the only one with divine blood in their veins Mighty Horus!" He spat her title out with a snarl of derision. "I too have the blood of the great Osiris Amunneferra the Good God that was, just as much as you do Mereneith." He continued to glare at her, the battle rush still lending strength to his anger.
Mereneith eyed him with dislike, amazed at his ridiculous statement comparing his diluted blood stream three times removed from the great Osiris Amunneferra with her direct descent and immediate divine parentage. Her arm shook, she itched to slice his impudent tongue out and silence his whining and haughty posturing for good and all, but he was her kin and she would not have his blood on her hands. Swift as a cobra strike her sword whipped down and to the side hooking Sethirkopshef's weapon and sending it flying from his hand. As soon as the weapon was clear Mereneith stepped forward and struck the man across the face with her fist so hard he collapsed to one knee. Holding his aching jaw he looked up into eyes hard as basalt and cringed back from the controlled rage he saw there.
"Hear me and take note kinsman, for I will not say this a second time. I allow you this one last indiscretion because it is obvious you are still in the haze of battle fever, but this is your last allowance. Defy me again, disrespect your military superiors and I will break you down to spearman and you will end your days in the backwater of Amun's Garden of Kharga in the western most oasis."
The colour drained from his face at this very real threat of exile, he shuddered at the thought of this fate worse than death and felt the battle fever clearing causing him to sag and sit back in the dust of the desert floor.
"General Kenamun I give you my kinsman's fine golden armour in recompense for his insubordination. Please see that he is issued with a sturdy leather corset before we march tomorrow. In the meantime have him assigned to the groomsmen for the rest of the day perhaps attending to the horses will cool his blood sufficiently that he will learn some sense before our next engagement." Kenamun waved forward two junior officers who assisted the prince to rise and led him off to the horse lines to begin his punishment.
While the prince was being led away Mereneith took the time to examine at the prisoner he'd killed. The man's kilt was of fine supple cowhide, he wore gold bangles on one ankle and both arms and his body was criss-crossed with numerous wounds including the gaping slash across his neck inflicted by Sethirkopshef. With interest she noted the jewelled headband from which sprouted a two large hawk feathers that had once reared proudly over the man's head but which were now wilted and torn as they lay on the ground soaking up the blood of their owner. This man had been a man of rank in Kush, a chieftain of his own clan, the jewels indicating he may even be a member of the ruling family. Raising her eyes to her General she merely raised one eyebrow and the man began to describe what had happened before she arrived on the scene.
The surviving Kushites had been disarmed and gathered together to wait for her questioning as had been ordered. Suddenly the prince had thundered up in his chariot and leapt from the moving vehicle before he began strutting in front of the captives railing away about their foolishness in attacking Egypt and threatening them with their woeful fate when he brought them before the Great God when they returned to Thebes. The wounded chieftain had derided him for being nothing more than a nursing babe demanding to see his true conqueror the great She-Devil and then he spat at the prince's feet.
It was this insult that had prompted the young man's murderous reaction apparently. However, Kenamun stepped forward and spoke in a low voice that only Mereneith could hear.
"Before he spat at the boy Majesty he said something strange to the prince, something about 'The King of Kush's pet snake would strike in Thebes before the boy could make good on his threat.'" The General looked meaningfully at Mereneith before adding. "It was actually then Majesty, when the Irtpa-ha unsheathed his sword, before the man had finished speaking and before he spat at the boy."
Mereneith stood in silence as she mulled over this strange statement and the young man's reaction to it. It would seem that Irsu of Crete was not the only one with ties to a traitor in the capital, eyeing the dead man once more, she wondered if it was the same viper or a different snake altogether. Given her kinsman's actions as Kenamun observed them she began to wonder if the prince too was involved in some way. It was hard to tell at this point, he may have been drawing his sword in response to the earlier insults and not the cryptic statement. Confronting the boy if it was just another act of youthful stupidity would only make matters worse between them and added strife on campaign was not something she wanted to happen. She ordered the most severely wounded prisoners be killed and the others sent to the doctors while their fellows had their arms bound behind them and were marched off to the river to be placed aboard the transports.
When the group of prisoners moved off Mereneith spoke quietly to Kenamun enquiring how well he knew the junior chariot officers in the Division of Ptah. This was the Division over which Mereneith had made Sethirkopshef Troop Commander and only one month before.
"All the junior officers in the Division are sound Majesty. I know three of the Officers of 50 and the Commander of Two Hundred Senuser and I entered our apprenticeship together and served as spearmen then bowmen in the Division of Horus before I earned my place as Commander of Bows in the Braves. Senuser became an Officer of 50 in the Division of Ptah and then rose through the ranks as I did until he became a Commander of Two Hundred just before I became Troop Commander of the Braves. I have him marked for the next Command rank that becomes available in the Braves Majesty." The man finished and waited patiently on his king's command. He had an idea of what she might demand and if he was correct he agreed with her acting on her suspicions about the prince.
Mereneith instructed Kenamun to have Senuser brought to her tent later that night to receive instructions about keeping a close watch on Prince Sethirkopshef. She made it clear that this was to be done quietly without the young man finding out, a task easily accomplished as the prince refused to mingle much with his own officers preferring the company of the other Troop Commanders as proper to his rank.
Mereneith walked back to her chariot and leapt up and into it even as she took the reins from the waiting soldier who'd been holding them for her. She started the horses moving toward the horse lines as her mind turned away from the carnage around her and the annoyance of her kinsman's behaviour, real and potential, and focused on what was waiting for her and her troops further south. With a satisfied grin she urged the horses to a gallop. Successfully routing the small advance raiding party was hardly a resounding victory in itself, but it was a nice way to kick off the campaign proper and Mereneith finally took the time to savour her first blooding in this conflict.
