Out of the Black Land - By Kerry Greenwood Page 0,59

off the crowd without any difficulty, standing steadfast like a colossus, and I suddenly felt safe. The procession was now moving on, the Sacred Barge was past, and the pile of people disentangled themselves with much personal abuse and settling of crumpled garments and straightening of holiday garlands.

I admired Hani’s strength. His legs were like columns and his body was thick and solid, like ebony. Muscles moved under his oiled skin as he breathed. I dared to look around him at the retreating procession and he said, ‘Come up, maiden,’ and lifted me without any apparent effort and set me on his shoulders.

I looked through the nodding red plumes on his braided head and saw the whole procession stretched out like a brightly coloured river. At the head, the Chief Priest and the Sacred Barge, then the Pharaoh’s family, then the press of the households of all the people employed at the palace. My fear had gone and I felt immensely proud to live in the Black Land where such spectacles could be seen. Not even in the Island of Kriti, where the Bull-King lived, could there have been such a magnificent sight.

‘Hani, Tani, Teti, all my staff, we follow,’ ordered Ptah-hotep, but I had seen someone I knew and grabbed Hani’s hair to make him stop. Between two ram’s head sphinxes stood a man I had not seen for years. He was a tall man with a blue bead on each lock of long hair. ‘Horemheb!’ I screamed, and because my voice was high, it carried over the multitude of voices and he heard me and wove a path through the people to me.

‘Such a mount, little Princess,’ he grinned, reaching up to me to take my hand and kiss it. ‘Such a horse only a princess could ride.’

‘His name is Hani and he just rescued me,’ I told him. ‘This is the lord Ptah-hotep, Great Royal Scribe may he live. This is Captain Horemheb, my lord,’ I said formally, because even if I was sitting on a Nubian giant’s shoulders, I was still aware of protocol and I wanted to show Horemheb how much I had learned since he rescued me from the Nile. He seemed impressed.

‘My lord,’ he bowed to Ptah-hotep, ‘I have returned to deliver a report to Pharaoh Amenhotep may he live of events on his border. Might I ask you a favour? Offer my scribe some assistance in writing his report. Here he is,’ he reached into a group of soldiers and extracted a young man, somewhat dusty and crumpled by his passage through the mob of worshippers. ‘His name is Kheperren, and he has been valiant and faithful. I want to ensure that he does not censor his own part in a recent victory over the vile Kush.’

‘Captain, I will do as you request,’ said Ptah-hotep with surprising formality. He took the young man by the hand, as token of agreement with the captain. But from my vantage point on the Nubian’s shoulders, I saw his eyes widen as though he had been given a sudden shock.

The crowd shoved us and we shifted, throwing the scribe almost into Ptah-hotep’s arms and pushing even the massive Hani into close proximity with Horemheb. They were almost of a height. Horemheb grinned at Hani, and his equally huge twin Tani, and punched him lightly in the chest. ‘You are slave to the lord Ptah-hotep? Have you never thought of joining me as a soldier, little one?’

I thought that this was an insult, but Hani laughed.

‘We had enough fighting in Desaret against the Tribes,’ he replied. ‘Our sister is concubine to the lord Ptah-hotep, and we stay with her.’

‘Then you must be from the Village-between-two-trees, ‘ said Horemheb. ‘Yes, that would be enough fighting for any stomach. We will be in the palace for the festival. Come along to the field if you fancy a little exercise. Mentu of your office will be there, I have no doubt. He has a new chariot team; matched greys, faster than the sun, he says.’

I could not see Hani’s face, but Tani his twin was regarding Horemheb with approval. ‘We will come, lord, if our lord allows,’ he said.

‘What did he mean about where you came from?’ I asked.

‘In the Village-between-two-trees, men are loyal to their sisters,’ said Hani. ‘The brothers accompany the sister to her new husband, and stay with her. If Tani, Teti and I marry, our wives will stay with Meryt our sister, and we will be