Soldier of Sidon (11 page)

The innkeeper shook his head. "Didn't you hear me? No man could have made those cuts. They say even an ax couldn't have done it. Besides, he had no sword."

A new customer carried over his bowl of beer. "Tell them about the dog. Go ahead. Spoil their supper."

"It was a jackal, not a dog," the innkeeper told us. "It yipped the way jackals do, and when they got there it had pissed on all three of the bodies. What do you think of that?"

She is getting up. I will remember and write in the morning.

THE NECKLACE, THE
ivory ring, and the silver ring are all very attractive. Myt-ser'eu will try to get me to give them to her, I know. She is trying on the necklace now and admiring herself in the mirror she bought. I may trade them to her or sell them to her cheaply, but I will not trade or sell this scarab. It is a beetle of gold and sea-blue enamel, a beetle with gleaming wings. Last night when I breathed on it by chance its wings seemed to move. That cannot be--they are silver, I think. Yet it seemed to me I saw them move. It is like the ankh, a sign of Khepri. He is the eldest god, she says. The rest are his children, men and women his grandchildren many times removed. The ankh is his because he gives life, the scarab because the morning sun is one of his signs. A bright beetle would not suggest sunrise to me, but I am not of Kemet. Myt-ser'eu says letters are sealed with these scarabs to attest to truth within--this is indeed picture writing here on the belly of mine, and a tiny ankh--and scarabs are laid over the hearts of the dead before their bodies are wrapped. In this way a dead woman is assured
that the living wish her life and will attend to whatever omens she may send.

URAEUS SAYS SCARABS
are most sacred and may not be killed, and that I should not toy with mine. I did not toy with it just now--only hold it up to the light. It is very beautiful, the work of a great, great craftsman.

Uraeus joined us at the inn. I bought a black lamb, which he and Myt-ser'eu said I must do, and my men and I drove it to the temple of the wolf-headed god. The priest in the leopard skin was pleased and smiled upon us. I hope the god smiled as well.

The wind has returned, a strong north wind that bends every palm and stirs up dust in the red land. Muslak swears we will make Wast by nightfall, but Azibaal doubts we can sail so far in a single day.

QANJU SUMMONED ME
. He and Thotmaktef had been working under a sailcloth shade the Crimson Men put up. What they said was important if I am indeed the hero, as they insist. I will write down every word I recall.

"I have neglected you, Lucius," Qanju told me. "We have had no need of your eight, and it appeared to me that you were managing them as well as anyone could. You understand, I'm sure. One attends to the matters that require it, and in doing so one may neglect the matters in which all is well." He smiled as he said these things. He smiles much, the smile of a wise man who adjusts the quarrels of children.

I said that I had not been conscious of his neglect, and that I would have called on him or Thotmaktef if I had required their help.

"Exactly. Now we require yours and call on you. Will you give it?"

Of course I said I would. Myt-ser'eu had told me that the ruler of Kemet had put Qanju in command of everyone on this ship.

Thotmaktef said, "That is well. You forget, I know, but you may not have forgotten this. Has the local god Ap-uat a reason to favor you?"

"Certainly," I said. "I bought a black lamb this morning and offered it for myself and my men, explaining that I was in charge of them and asking that I be given the power of memory others have, and that we might win every fight."

Qanju nodded. "No reason but that?"

I shook my head.

Thotmaktef said, "I have never been to your city, but I have heard that the wolf is honored there."

"No doubt it is," I told him. "The wolf is an animal that should be honored. This Ap-uat is a man with a wolf's head. Pictures of him were shown to us in his temple this morning."

Thotmaktef nodded. "I knew it already, but I saw them too. The big one in which he is shown with Anubis wrapping the mummy of a dead general is very fine."

That surprised me and I said so, adding that I had not seen him there. "I forget," I said, "but not as quickly as that."

"Neither did I see you. Shall I tell him more, Noble Qanju?"

Qanju said he should, smiling as he had before.

"The chief priest of that temple sent a lesser priest to us, asking that the Noble Qanju come to him. This priest did not know what the chief priest wanted. Or perhaps he did, but if he did, he would not reveal it. In any event, the
Noble Qanju asked me to return to the temple with him to find out. I myself am a priest, a priest of the temple of Thoth in Mennufer. Perhaps you remember that, Latro?"

I shook my head.

"It is so. I was taken to the chief priest and explained, adding that the Noble Qanju certainly would not come now, as the wind was rising and he was eager to put out. The chief priest then gave me this." Thotmaktef held up a small scroll and coughed apologetically. "It fell from a rack in the House of Life this morning. There are scribes there, as in every House of Life. Perhaps you know. None of them had ever examined it, or so he told me."

I shrugged. "No doubt there are many scrolls there."

"Nothing like as many as we have in Mennufer. He described you, calling you Latro. I explained that you were in command of our soldiers, and that you were a good and a brave man."

Qanju nodded and smiled. "The chief priest then asked Thotmaktef the same question I asked you a moment ago. In reply Thotmaktef relayed to him what Captain Muslak had told him of your city."

"About the wolf standard your armies carry into battle," Thotmaktef said. "Even as Hathor was wet nurse to Osiris, a she-wolf was wet nurse to the brothers who founded your city. When I told the chief priest that, he was satisfied and gave me the scroll. He would have told me what was in it as well, but I was anxious to get back to the ship and promised that the Noble Qanju and I would read it at once."

Qanju said, "As we now have. It contains a prophecy. Anubis is the god of death here. They must have told you that when they showed you the picture Thotmaktef described."

"Myt-ser'eu and Aahmes did," I said.

"A hero of Anubis who had forgotten Anubis would visit the temple, according to the prophecy. He would offer a black lamb."

Qanju waited for me to speak, so I said, "If I'm death's hero I don't know it, but I did indeed offer a black lamb, as I told you."

"This hero is to have the shield of Hemuset," Qanju continued. "The priests at the temple in Asyut, where the prophecy was apparently made, are to inform him of this and tell him how to find it. If you feel this doesn't pertain to you, I won't trouble you with any more of it."

Behind me Uraeus whispered, "My master wishes to hear more." I had not known he had followed me until then.

"Do you, Lucius?"

I nodded. "If you care to tell me, Noble Qanju."

"That is well. Here is what you are to do. You must find the temple beyond the last temple. There you shall find the shield. If I were to speak further, I would be repeating things I myself learned from Thotmaktef only moments ago."

The scribe cleared his throat. He is young, with honest eyes. His head is shaved. He said, "Hemuset is the goddess of fate. She's a minor goddess." He coughed. "By which I mean only that there's no great cult attached to her. When a child is born, she attends its birth, unseen, and decrees the fate of the child. She carries a shield with an arrow on it--in pictures, I mean. It's the way artists show her. Sometimes the shield is small, and she wears it on her head. It symbolizes the protection a man receives from his fate. He can't be killed until he's fated to die, in other words."

Qanju murmured, "Continue."

"The arrow symbolizes his death. Fated to die, he perishes."

Uraeus whispered, "No one sees her shield or her arrow, master."

"I understand," I said.

"If a man meets her," Thotmaktef continued, "and looks at her shield, he sees his entire life reflected there. Or so it's said." He coughed again. "None of this about Hemuset is in the scroll, it's just background. The scroll says Ra will guide you--guide the hero--to the temple beyond the last temple. Whatever that means."

Qanju sighed. "What it actually says is that a scarab will lead you to it. The scarab is a beetle found in this region. It is one of the signs of their sun god."

Now I wonder whether my scarab is meant. I cannot see how it could lead me to anything. But perhaps it will. The gods must know I do not see everything.

"I have said that we require your help," Qanju continued, "and we do. I must ask the obvious question first, however. Do you know yourself to be the hero mentioned in the prophecy?"

"I doubt that I am," I said. "I do not think myself a hero at all."

Behind me, Uraeus whispered, "You have been dead, master. Surely that is meant."

"If I have been dead," I told Qanju, "I have forgotten it."

"You were," Thotmaktef told me.

Qanju smiled. "If not dead, you were near enough to death to deceive me. Sahuset restored you--perhaps only to consciousness. Do you feel gratitude to him?"

"Certainly," I said, "if he saved me from death."

Thotmaktef said, "You should not have told him, Noble Qanju."

"I disagree. Suppose that we had kept it from him. Would he not have reason to distrust us after that?"

"He would forget it."

"He would write it in his scroll, as he writes so much. If he did not, his slave would tell him. What is gained by a lie is only a loss in disguise, Thotmaktef."

"I beg pardon," Thotmaktef said.

"Granted. Lucius, you have a woman with you. Do you know it?"

"Myt-ser'eu? Certainly. She went to the temple of the wolf-god with us."

"That is well. There are three women on this ship. Will you name them, please?"

I shook my head. "I have seen a woman taller than Myt-ser'eu but not as beautiful. She wears much jewelry, but less than Myt-ser'eu. Her right hand bleeds. I don't know her name."

"She cannot be yours," Qanju said.

"I don't want her. I have Myt-ser'eu. We shared a bed in an inn last night. You may have her if you wish."

"That is well." Qanju smiled. "All matters involving women are fraught with difficulty, and when the women are young and handsome, with great difficulty. Thotmaktef, I ask a favor. Will you bring Neht-nefret here?"

THOTMAKTEF ROSE. "WE'LL
have to get him before long, I think."

Behind me, Uraeus whispered, "I will go, if my master wishes."

Qanju shook his head. When Thotmaktef had left us, Qanju stared across the gunwale and fingered his beard. "He is a good young man, Lucius; but he has learned a great deal already and is learning more. Learning often turns good to evil."

I said, "In that case, learning itself must be evil."

"It is not. Everything depends upon what one learns, and the great thing--the thing to learn best--is that learning must serve us. If it does, we continue to serve Ahura Mazda, assuming that we served him when we began to learn. But if we serve learning, we learn too late that the dark god has donned it like a mask. Ah! Here is the beautiful Neht-nefret already. Well done, Thotmaktef. Have you a cushion to offer her?"

"I can sit on the deck like everybody else," the young woman called Neht-nefret said, and seated herself swiftly and gracefully. She has fine eyes, made finer still with
kohl, a hard mouth, and a bandaged hand. "Is this about what I think it's about, Noble Qanju?"

He nodded. "Are you and Myt-ser'eu friends, Neht-nefret?"

"You know we are. I'd do anything for her. We're like sisters."

"Would Myt-ser'eu say the same?"

"I'm sure she would."

Qanju spoke to me. "If you would like to speak with Myt-ser'eu privately concerning this, Lucius, you may do so now. We will await your return."

I shook my head.

"Then we may begin. It might be well if Neht-nefret first told you how the three of you met."

Neht-nefret said, "I know you forget, Latro, but you're too smart to believe that women always tell the truth. I'm going to tell you the truth now, just the same. This is all true, and when you leave here you can ask Myt-ser'eu or Muslak, and they'll tell you the same exact thing. Myt-ser'eu and I are singing girls--it means good-looking young women of no family you can hire to entertain at parties. We'll sing or dance, serve drinks, or whatever you want, and we're under the protection of Hathor."

"A great goddess here," Qanju murmured.

I nodded. "She was wet nurse to Osiris." Thotmaktef's eyes flew wide when I said that, although he had told me himself a few minutes before.

"That's right," Neht-nefret said. "Girls like us need her protection more than you might think, so you have to go to the temple of Hathor to hire us, and the priests look after us as much as they can, refuse the money of men of bad character and so on. Try to get us out of trouble when we get into some."

I said, "I think I understand."

"That's good. I hope so. I need protection now, Latro.
I think I need it pretty bad, and Noble Qanju agrees. Hathor's priests aren't here and I'm hoping to get it from you and Muslak."

I said that I would certainly protect her if I could.

"Thanks. I was supposed to tell you how we met, and this is how it was. You and Muslak came to Hathor's temple in Sais. That's where we're from, Myt-ser'eu and me."

I nodded.

"He wanted a river-wife and picked me. You said you didn't want one. Then you saw Myt-ser'eu and wanted her. Back then, Muslak was the only friend you had."

"Our captain," Qanju murmured.

"He's still the best friend you've got here, Latro. You may not know it, but he is, and he likes me just like you like Myt-ser'eu. Last night we slept in an inn. Not the one you and her slept in, another one."

I recalled awakening in the inn and nodded.

"It was late and we were both asleep. We'd had quite a bit of beer, and you know afterward. Well, I woke up. I think Hathor must've done it, because there wasn't any reason. I woke up, and a woman with a crooked knife was bending over me. I could see her in the moonlight that got past the shutter, and I saw the shine along the edge and grabbed the blade. Look."

She unwound her bandage. There was a long, fresh cut, not very deep, across her palm; it had been smeared with yellow salve.

"I screamed and Muslak woke up, and the door slammed. He'd barred that door before we went to bed. We talked about it after my hand stopped bleeding. I said I thought he'd barred it, but I'd been sort of--of elevated, you know, so I wasn't sure. He said he most certainly had, he'd had a few bowls but he could drink a lot more than that without getting so drunk he'd go to sleep in a
place like that without barring the door. Well, the bar was lying on the floor. We found it and put it back up."

I asked how the woman had gotten in.

Neht-nefret shrugged. "You tell me."

Qanju smiled. "Thotmaktef?"

"I have a theory," Thotmaktef said, "and the Noble Qanju agrees. This woman--others have seen her, if it is the same woman--is often accompanied by a large black cat." He hesitated. "Have you ever seen a leopard, Latro?"

"I don't know. I may have. Certainly I saw the skin of one this morning."

"Yes, I suppose you must have, at the temple of Ap-uat. The chief priest of every temple in our nation wears a leopard skin as his badge of office. Since you've seen that skin and remember it now, you should have some idea of the size of a living leopard. They're far bigger than any ordinary cat, but smaller than a lion."

I nodded.

"This cat is about the same size, but it's black instead of spotted. It could have climbed the outside of the inn. It's mud brick, and I've often seen cats climb mud brick. Inside, it could lift the bar with its teeth."

Neht-nefret looked as skeptical as I felt.

"It could have been trained to do that," Thotmaktef insisted. "We train animals to do things that are far more difficult."

"A baboon would be better," Neht-nefret said. "It would be easier to train, and they have hands."

I agreed and added, "From what Neht-nefret has said, this woman ran when she saw the man she was with--"

"Muslak."

"Was waking up. That would not have been necessary if the cat were her guard."

Neht-nefret said, "Muslak's sword was beside our bed."

"Did you see this cat?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

Thotmaktef said, "A man with a sword might have killed the cat in the wink of an eye. She would not want to lose it. Besides, she may have sent the cat into the corridor to make sure she wasn't interrupted."

I asked whether he and Qanju were certain the woman was on our ship.

Qanju said, "It would appear that she has been with us since we set out, though she is seen only at night."

I suggested that the ship be searched for her. Thotmaktef said that it has been. A moment ago, I asked Uraeus whether I was among the searchers. He says I was not among them this time.

Now I am sitting in the shade to write. We just passed three laden lumber ships; Muslak says they are carrying wood from Triquetra to Wast. May not this woman have her own ship? A ship or boat in which she follows ours? What Uraeus tells me cannot be true.

I HAVE READ
what I have written. Here I add that Muslak and I will take care to stay at the same inn tonight. We have agreed on that, and that I am to remain awake and watch.

The scarab is to guide me, but it has no wings now. No doubt they have broken off.