The Season of the Hyaena (Ancient Egyptian Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Aten. They first appeared in the Delta supported by Hittite mercenaries.’
    ‘Mercenaries?’ Horemheb jibed. ‘You mean troops loaned to them by the Hittite king?’
    ‘They have taken Avaris in the Delta,’ Ay said baldly.
    Now he had our attention. A horrified silence. If this pretender was at Avaris then he could sail down the Nile, his flanks protected by troops, and seize the great cities of Egypt.
    ‘We have troops there,’ Rameses murmured.
    ‘The pretenders have been accepted by General Ipumer and the Ptah regiment,’ Ay countered. ‘The troops were easily suborned by gifts of gold. Elements of the Hekhet and Basta regiments have also gone over to them. According to reports they have reached the Red Mountains.’
    ‘Why didn’t we know before?’ Huy demanded.
    ‘They moved quickly,’ Ay explained. ‘They freed the slaves at the Roiau quarry and impaled the royal overseer there; his son escaped to Memphis, that’s how we know.’
    I gazed across at a wall painting depicting Tuthmosis IV in battle against vile Asiatics; Pharaoh, triumphant, driving his blue and gold chariot pulled by dark, blood-red horses over the bodies of the slain against a glorious background of ivory yellow. At the bottom of the picture the artist had depicted one of the enemy caught in a thicket. The man’s eyes seemed to stare at me, that horrified surprise of a human being trapped by death. We were caught in a thicket, I reflected. Was this how it would end?
    ‘We must treat with them.’ The grizzled General Rahmose, shaking with fever, raised his hand, the first time that afternoon he’d demanded to speak. He sat with Tutu and Meryre and the rest of the Atenists. I wondered idly if they had anything to do with this present mischief; just something about the way they sat …
    ‘Treat with them!’ Horemheb shouted. ‘And what do we offer them? The Kingdom of Lower Egypt? Tribute? Why,’ he continued, ‘has this usurper been accepted so quickly? Akenhaten’s name is reviled.’
    ‘Not in every city,’ Rahmose retorted. ‘You call him an impostor, a usurper, but what if he is the rightful Pharaoh, the true son of Amenhotep III?’ Rahmose let his words hang in the air. He was right. Despised or not, Akenhaten had been rightfully blessed with the double crown of Egypt.
    ‘Mahu.’ Ay turned to me.
    ‘General Rahmose speaks the truth.’ I chose my words carefully. ‘Egypt is now dividing, splitting into factions. Some support the Aten, others Amun-Ra, whilst there are cities and provinces only too eager to shake off the suzerainty of both. What is this usurper offering?’
    ‘He has threatened vengeance against Thebes.’ Ay unrolled the piece of papyrus. ‘This is an extract from his proclamation: “Woe to the bloody city of Thebes, it is full of lies and idolatry. Soon it will be filled with the clamour of battle: the noise of the whip, of the rattling wheel and prancing horse, of the charging chariot, the flashing sword and glittering spear … a great heap of carcasses shall stink under the sun.”’ He let the papyrus proclamation fall to the floor. ‘And so on and so on.’
    ‘I should be sent north,’ Horemheb offered. ‘Myself and General Rameses. We will gather the Horus and Isis regiments.’
    ‘And if you lose?’ Ay declared. ‘If your troops mutiny? We are back to what we talked about before. We’d be stripped of both our shield and our sword.’
    ‘Mahu.’ Ay pointed at me. ‘I ask for your opinion.’
    ‘The Isis and Horus,’ I declared, ‘should be pulled back to Thebes to defend it as well as to protect us against any uprising. We must play for time, find out who this usurper is and what he intends.’
    ‘And what do you think?’ Rameses demanded.
    ‘He is a usurper,’ I replied more boldly than I felt. ‘We all know,’ I gazed around, ‘how Akenhaten’s Queen, Nefertiti, fell sick and died.’
    ‘Poisoned!’ Tutu spoke up. ‘Nefertiti took poison.’
    ‘Of her own