ships, scarred from hard use and needing paint, lay on the oppo site side of the quay from Sitamon’s craft. Three other trad ing vessels were moored north of the harbor, close to the muddy riverbank. Dozens of small boats and skiffs had been pulled out of the water and lay along the shore. All had been forced out of time-honored mooring places to make space for the visiting flotilla.
“I’ll wager my new kilt that those seven vessels will remain in Buhen throughout the time Amonked travels up river,” Imsiba said in a sour voice.
Bak knew what his friend was thinking: Sitamon’s ship and all those that sailed nearby waters would have to wait in line to load and unload cargo at the single quay available to them. “Where else can they moor this far south? Kor has no space for them.”
Imsiba muttered an oath in his own tongue. He had no desire to captain his wife’s vessel or tend to her business, but anything contrary to her well-being distressed him.
The three small boys scrambled to their feet and ran to the massive pylon gate that stood before the mansion of the lord Horus of Buhen. The snake slithered quickly into a hole in the mudbrick wall. Commandant Thuty, Nebwa, a white-clad priest, and several local princes, each wearing the bright garb of his own people, filed through the portal and walked down the southern quay.
A rather plump man of medium height crossed the gang plank of the lead traveling ship and strode forward to greet them. He wore the calf-length kilt of a scribe, a broad mul ticolored bead collar, and wide matching bracelets. An un impressive costume for a man who trod the corridors of power. A younger man followed, carrying a spear, a shield, and a baton of office; an army officer, Bak guessed. Not far behind walked two more men, both tall and slim, one with hair so light it caught the sun. The women remained on board.
The two parties met and words were spoken. Thuty and his party swung around to escort the newcomers up the quay. A crow flying overhead called to two of its mates perched on the battlements. Their loud, harsh voices shat tered the silence, emphasizing the absence of people and their failure to welcome this man who had come to steal away the fragile prosperity along the Belly of Stones.
Bak prayed to the lord Amon that Amonked would come and go without incident. He did not know the man and he abhorred the task he had traveled south to perform, but he could well imagine the wrath of their sovereign should her cousin suffer hurt or humiliation while traveling at her be hest.
Bak raised his baton of office, saluting the guard standing in the entry hall of the commandant’s residence, and hurried down the corridor beyond. Coming toward him were the priest of the lord Horus of Buhen and the local princes who had accompanied Thuty to the harbor. Greeting them with a smile, he stepped aside to let them pass, then hastened on to the audience hall.
Bright shafts of light reached through windows near the high ceiling and fell into a forest of red octagonal columns.
Across this largest room in the building, he heard voices softened to murmurs beyond the open portals of several rooms in which scribes and officers toiled. The hall itself was empty, the public scribe gone, his place by the entrance unoccupied. No craftsmen or soldiers or traders sat on the long bench built against the opposite wall, awaiting their turn to speak of a record gone awry, a reprimand made, short rations, long hours, or any other of the innumerable complaints arising from life in a frontier garrison. The empty space, the near silence, and unfamiliar voices in the room Thuty used as an office told him Amonked and his companions had not yet gone.
The commandant had summoned Bak, the reason unspe cified. Not sure if he should make himself known or wait until the lofty visitors left, he peeked into a good-sized room with four red pillars supporting a high ceiling. Thuty oc cupied an armchair that held pride of place on a low dais against the far wall. He sat stiff and straight, feet planted flat on the floor, hands flat on the arms of his chair, his demeanor stern. Bak smiled at the stance. Thuty giving the visitors from Waset a taste of frontier formality.
Nebwa, standing at the commandant’s right hand, noticed
Bak and beckoned. Crossing the room, he took his place at
Thuty’s left hand, where he studied the newcomers with interest. Amonked stood immediately in front of the dais.
He was probably in his mid-thirties but looked older. Wear ing no wig over his thinning hair and jewelry that could only be described as modest, he was no more impressive at short range than at a distance. To his left stood the man with golden hair. On his right, a tall refined-looking indi vidual, groomed to perfection, also in his mid- thirties. A nobleman without doubt.
“This is Lieutenant Bak,” Thuty said. “He’s the officer in charge of the Medjay police in Buhen. His men will guard your quarters while you’re here.”
“I have my own guards,” Amonked said. “I need no ad ditional men.”
Bak queried Nebwa with a raised eyebrow. The only guard he had seen anywhere near the commandant’s resi dence was the man in the entry hall, long assigned to the garrison. Certainly not a member of Amonked’s entourage.
“Our worthy guest has brought fifty men,” Nebwa said.
“Spearmen.” Only one who knew the troop captain as well as Bak did would have noticed the covert cynicism.
“They’ll accompany him upriver.”
The soldiers on the cargo ship, Bak assumed. A guard of honor probably. But would they be alert, competent de fenders of Amonked’s person? Directing a smile at the lofty visitor from Waset, he said in a smooth voice, “You’re a man of substance, sir. One who shoulders the weighty tasks of the storekeeper of Amon. My Medjays may not be needed, but their presence will add to your status in the eyes of those who reside in this city.” He dared not look at Nebwa, fearing his friend would laugh aloud at so shameless a ploy.
“Oh, very well.” Amonked’s face was blank, revealing nothing, but Bak had the uncomfortable feeling that he not only knew he had been manipulated but had allowed it to happen.
A twitch at the corners of the light-haired man’s mouth drew Bak’s attention. Pale hair and greenish eyes betrayed an ancestry far to the north of Kemet, from Keftiu perhaps or from the mainland north of that island kingdom. Bur nished skin indicated a life spent outdoors. Muscles rippled each time he moved his arms and legs, speaking of an active life. He looked older than his companions, around forty years of age.
Amonked’s glance shifted to Thuty. “I’ve served as storekeeper of Amon for a number of years, sir, and I’m proud to hold the title. However, our sovereign, Maatkare
Hatshepsut, has deemed me worthy of a new title, one more fitting to my present task. I’m now inspector of the for tresses of Wawat.”
Bak caught his breath, startled. Nebwa muttered a few quick words, impossible to understand but the meaning easy to guess. Thuty sat quite still, as if unable to move.
The title was ominous, indicating an uncommon power over the fortresses for which the commandant and the viceroy were responsible. A power to make decisions no man with out military experience should ever be allowed to make.
Amonked seemed not to notice how shocked they were.
The light-haired man shifted his feet, looking uncomfort able with the disclosure. The nobleman watched closely the officers on the dais, his face expressing interest but no in volvement.
Thuty cleared his throat, pulling himself together. He should have praised the queen for her discernment in ap pointing so talented a man to so responsible a position.
Instead, avoiding the issue altogether, he let his eyes settle on the light-haired man in an uncompromising stare. “Cap tain Minkheper. You know, I assume, that no ships can journey through the Belly of Stones when the river’s as low as it is at present.”
Minkheper smiled, letting the commandant know he took no offense. “I’ve sailed the waters of Kemet for many years, sir, and I’ve vast experience on the Great Green Sea.
I’d never dare challenge the lord Hapi or any other god great or small without first learning of the many hazards
I’m likely to face.”
“We’re fully aware,” Amonked said, “that we’ll have to transfer to donkey caravan and march through the desert along the Belly of Stones. A long, tedious journey, I’ve been told, with none of the comforts of sailing, but we’ll manage.”
