Magic of the Nile (46 page)

Pharaoh swore a violent oath. Hands on his hips, he stared at Tyema. “Imagining they can then beguile me to look to Nidiamhet herself to console my broken
ka
? When there has
never
been any other woman for my heart but my Ashayet? Fools.” He spat.

Tyema nodded. “The threat isn’t imminent, not to be carried out at once. Nidiamhet needs more training in the black arts to accomplish the entire plot, or so Jadikiria says. A party of Hyksos and priests of Qemtusheb has traveled into the Black Lands to tutor Nidiamhet and assist her. They’re camping out somewhere in the Forbidden Valley. At a temple the Usurper Pharaoh was building there, next to her tomb?”

Pharaoh pondered the information. “Are these infiltrators there now?”

Tyema nodded. “Nidiamhet and Jadikiria were going to drive to the temple today to meet with the priests.”

Nat-re-Akhte and Sahure exchanged glances. “We’re closer to the Forbidden Valley than to Thebes, sir,” Sahure said. He asked Tyema, “How many were in this party of Hyksos, did Jadikiria say?”

She shook her head. “No, just described them as a small group.”

“We know where the enemy is today,” Pharaoh said. “By tomorrow they may have scattered or moved to a new location. Mount up, we’re going to the Forbidden Valley. No time to summon reinforcements.”

Sahure took Tyema’s hand and drew her away from Pharaoh’s chariot. “You ride with me.”

“Are we actually going into battle?” she asked.

“Probably.” Sahure helped her into the chariot. “It’s not a thing I’d normally ever do, taking the woman I love into mortal danger but—”

“But we’ve been there together before.” She squeezed his hand as he unhooked the reins and prepared to give the horses the signal to move. “I’ll be fine. I think it’s meant for me to be with you and Pharaoh for the final chapter of this adventure.”

His jaw was clenched, one muscle twitching. “Our child can’t lose both of us.” As the horses accelerated from a walk to full gallop, Sahure shouted over the rumbling of the wheels, “When the fighting begins, take my shield to protect yourself and stay in the chariot. We’ll keep the enemy too occupied to even notice you.”

“And what of Nidiamhet?”

“She’s my first target,” he said. “I plan to kill her before she can use the death spell.”

I only hope preventing disaster is going to be that easy.
Tyema clung to the top rail of the chariot for dear life as they barreled along in formation behind and to the right of Pharaoh’s vehicle.

*****

Some indeterminate time later, Pharaoh signaled for them to halt. Tyema unclenched her stiff fingers from the rail and hopped from the chariot behind Sahure, anxious to know what the plans were.

“The Forbidden Valley lies over the next ridge,” Nat-re-Akhte was saying to Sahure as she walked up to join them. “I’ve sent a man ahead on foot to reconnoiter and report back. Never charge blindly into a situation, Lady Tyema.” He grinned. The prospect of combat seemed to have energized Pharaoh, making him appear younger and more care-free than she’d ever seen him.

“I’ll remember your advice, sir.”

Sahure glanced at the sky. “We have a few hours of daylight left, thank the gods. I wouldn’t want to be fighting over this terrain in the dark.”

“True. And the enemy might slip away under cover of night. I intend to make an example of them, execute at least a few publicly if we can capture rather than kill them outright. I need to send King Minos a strong message to keep better control of the exiles he gives sanctuary within his borders. He should also choose his own diplomatic personnel with more care. But the traitor within my own Court won’t survive the day.” Eyebrows raised, Nat-re-Akhte gave Sahure a sharp glance.

“No, sir.”

There wasn’t much further conversation while they waited for the scout to report back. Sahure took Tyema to his chariot and gave her his belt dagger. Sitting on the tail of the chariot, he watched her tuck the knife into her belt. Catching her hand, he said, “Tell me why you broke our agreement and went to the library?”

“Does it matter now? I wouldn’t have known about the enemies in the valley if I hadn’t gone.” Tyema was surprised to find how calm she felt. Apparently an incipient battle didn’t set off her physical ills the way any social gathering would. “I hope Sobek will be listening. We’ll need his help.”

“Should you pray to him now, perhaps? Before we get into the heat of the battle?” Sahure pulled her into a hug. “Gods, listen to me—I can’t believe I’m taking the woman I love into combat.”

“No choice,” she said. “I’m not going to wait here while you and Pharaoh finish this.”

“And I hear no trace of fear in your voice.” His tone was admiring.

“Apparently I’ve moved beyond fear.” The next moment they were summoned to Pharaoh’s side to hear what the scout had to report.

“A detachment of five men guards the entrance to the half finished temple. There are three small carts and two chariots waiting.”

“One of the carts belongs to Nidiamhet and Jadikiria,” Tyema volunteered.

“So probably only another five or six people inside, at most.” Nat-re-Akhte glanced at his own party consisting of Sahure, four chariot drivers, and six heavily armed members of his select regiment. “Some of those at the temple are noncombatants, which further reduces the odds. Better and better.”

“But there will be a threat of magic,” Tyema warned, not shy at all about speaking up in this gathering when it came to aspects of the coming battle which concerned her.

“I expect you and Sobek to combat the sorcery, priestess.” The seriousness in Pharaoh’s voice implied he wasn’t making the declaration lightly.

Hand on her amulet, comforted by the feeling of Mut’s feather alongside the emerald, Tyema straightened her shoulders and sent a swift prayer for assistance into the sky.
If only Sobek isn’t otherwise occupied with some problem concerning the Nile today and thus oblivious to my appeal. Even Merys herself couldn’t reach him when she faced the Hyksos by herself on the fateful day long ago.

“Is there a back door to the temple?” asked one of the soldiers.

“No, we have them nicely trapped, like vipers in a basket, which makes now the ideal time to strike, as I’d hoped,” Pharaoh answered. “Mount up.”

Tyema walked back to Sahure’s chariot, still fingering her amulet, thinking to Sobek.
I need your help, Great One! Pharaoh requires protection.

Sahure grabbed her elbow, hustling her into the chariot, breaking her train of thought. “Come on, Pharaoh is moving out already. We’re to bring up the rear, but we mustn’t lag.”

She barely had a chance to grab at the rail before the horses were galloping to catch up with the rest of their war party. The chariots swept up the road leading to the valley and crested the rise with a dizzying burst of speed. Tyema almost lost her footing as the vehicle rose in the air when it hit a rut and landed again on the sturdy wooden wheels, charging forward in Pharaoh’s wake. She saw the archers taking aim as the Egyptian chariots barreled down the slope toward the enemy. Just when it seemed the chariot horses would surely slam into the stone walls of the cliff housing the temple, the drivers wheeled their teams and the arrows flew, taking down the Hyksos soldiers guarding the entrance.

Sword and shield raised, Pharaoh jumped from his still moving chariot and ran toward the temple entrance, his bodyguards close behind. Sahure pulled his team to a halt, grabbed his sword and sprinted to join the battle as more soldiers boiled from the temple.

Crouched low in the chariot, shield angled to protect herself as ordered, Tyema peered through the opening, doubly terrified for Sahure now she realized the Hyksos party had been twice the size originally believed to have been present. She saw one of Pharaoh’s bodyguards fall, but the Great One and his men, including Sahure, were fighting fiercely and gaining the upper hand as far as she could tell.

Movement in another direction caught her eye. As the fighting shifted away from the temple entrance and toward the more open ground beyond, several figures swathed in cloaks emerged from the half-built temple, scurrying toward the Hyksos chariots and carts.

Sure Nidiamhet was among this group, Tyema cast aside the shield, rose and unfastened the reins. Skillfully she brought the horses around as she’d been trained to do by Sahure and galloped them through the field of battle, scattering the clusters of combatants, halting the chariot in position to block the enemy vehicles from leaving.

Nidiamhet threw off her cloak and stood forth. “Now you’ll die, priestess!”

Tyema grabbed the belt knife and threw it as best she could, but the oncoming enemy easily dodged her throw. Two men in the rusty robes of Hyksos priests attempted to pull her from the chariot as the high strung horses reared and lashed out. Tyema screamed for Sahure as the priests dragged her to the ground.

“Take the chariot,” yelled a third priest, an older man who’d been watching this struggle. “I care nothing about this Egyptian woman.”

The men released Tyema abruptly, leaving her lying on the ground, bruised and winded but for the most part unhurt. One Hyksos went to the horses’ heads, while the other jumped into the chariot to take up the loose reins.

Tyema scrambled to her feet as the high priest pushed past her, Nidiamhet and Jadikiria in his wake. The Minoan woman quickened her pace and yanked on the man’s robe with enough force to stop him in his tracks and make him face her. “What about us? We can’t all fit into the chariot?”

He attempted to tug his garment from her grasp. “You’re on your own now. You’ve botched this entire assignment and deserve whatever fate the Egyptians mete out. I’m not rescuing you!” As Jadikiria continued to argue and implore him to reconsider, delaying his escape, the man drew a knife and slashed at her hands. Letting go of his garment, she retreated with a high pitched scream, blood dripping from her fingers. Face set in lines of rage, eyes flared wide, he followed her, stabbing the knife into her chest several times before releasing the hilt as she fell. “And as for you,” he said to Nidiamhet with a twisted smile and a beckoning motion, “Come here.”

She seemed reluctant, glancing at the combat still raging a little farther down in the valley. “Where will you take me? What am I to do now, go into exile?”

“You’re out of choices, it seems.” He held out one hand and step by step Nidiamhet walked forward to clasp his fingers. The priest drew her closer as if embracing her, putting his face close to hers as he said, “I take you nowhere, fool. Throw yourself on the mercy of your pharaoh. But to save this expedition from being a total loss and myself from Qemtusheb’s wrath, I’m taking the ring and the curse. At least I know how to use them properly.” He fought to take the ring from her, holding her with one hand and working frantically to strip the ring from her finger.

Unsure what she should do next, Tyema prayed to Sobek as she watched the life and death struggle play out. Reluctant as she was to allow the ring and curse to be taken by the Hyksos, was the fate of those objects her affair? Wasn’t she only charged with removing Nidiamhet as a threat to Pharaoh? It seemed the enemy was going to resolve the issue for her. Sidling in tiny increments at a time, Tyema worked her way to the dagger she’d thrown so ineffectually a few moments before and scooped it up. The feel of the weapon in her hand was reassuring.
 

“Take me with you,” Nidiamhet was begging the priest, even as she fought him with surprising strength. “I have power, you said so yourself. I can wield the death spell, your god respects me, I’m an asset you need.”

“You have nothing we need, stupid Egyptian bitch.” The priest struck her across the face, stunning her for a moment and knocking her off her feet.

Anxious for reinforcements to help her with whatever was going to happen next, Tyema glanced at the skirmish winding up. To her relief, Sahure and Pharaoh had broken free of the fighting and were heading in her direction at a dead run.

Just as the two Egyptians reached the area in front of the temple, the priest in Sahure’s chariot panicked and set the horses to gallop. Pharaoh threw his belt dagger with deadly effect and the enemy fell over, dead or dying. The other priest had been knocked aside as the horses bolted and seemed dazed, a bloody slash on his temple where the left-side animal had kicked him as he fell.
 

“Surrender, Hyksos,” Pharaoh advised, shield raised and bloody sword at the ready. “Your day in Egypt is long over. Only death awaits you now.”

Nidiamhet slithered out of the priest’s slackening grip and put herself with her back to the wall. She raised her hands, the large oval black stone in her ring catching the setting sun and throwing violet shadows everywhere. Tyema saw the foglike aura of black magic growing ominously dark and thick around her.
 

“She’s going to cast a spell,” Tyema screamed, having had a heartbeat of warning as the lotus bracelet around her wrist tightened, before Nidiamhet launched a sinuous coil of the vile black magic directly at her. Instinctively, Tyema raised her arm like a shield to ward off the threat. Although feeling buffeted, as if by high winds, she was unscathed, the tendrils of evil parting like water around her arm, dissipating in the air with a hiss, as if acid had rained.
 

“Not so fast, Egyptians.” Nidiamhet’s attack on Tyema had distracted the group’s attention long enough for the lone remaining Hyksos priest to draw a knife. He stabbed Nidiamhet in the side and slid the ring off her finger, yanking the leather cylinder from around her neck for good measure. The thong parted with a whiplike crack. “She’d no idea what power she was playing with, no clue how to use the ring or the
utukkai
spell, but I—”