the name is somewhat different but everything else about me is the same, Taita. Except possibly I am a trifle older and I trust a little wiser.’
‘You remember me still, after all these years. How long has it been?’ I demanded of him wonderingly.
‘It has been a mere thirty years, and yes, I remember you still. I will never forget you; not if I live for ten times longer than I have already.’
Now it was my turn to laugh. ‘You say your name is changed. What name are you known by now, good Zaras?’
‘I have taken the name Hurotas. My former name had certain unfortunate connotations to it,’ he replied. I smiled at this blatant understatement.
‘So now you have the same name as the King of Lacedaemon?’ I asked. I had heard that name before, and it was always uttered with the deepest awe and respect.
‘The exact same,’ he agreed, ‘for the young Zaras you once knew has become that king of whom you now speak.’
‘Surely you jest?’ I exclaimed in astonishment, for it seemed that my old subordinate of yesteryear had risen high in the world – in fact to the very pinnacle. ‘But if you speak the truth tell me what has happened to the sister of Pharaoh Tamose, the royal Princess Tehuti, whom you abducted out of my charge and care.’
‘The word you are groping for is wooed and not abducted. And she is no longer a princess.’ He shook his head firmly. ‘She is now a queen, because she showed the good sense to marry me.’
‘Is she still the most beautiful woman in the world?’ I asked more than a trifle wistfully.
‘In the vernacular of my kingdom, Sparta means “the loveliest one”. I named the city in her honour. So now the Princess Tehuti has become Queen Sparta of Lacedaemon.’
‘And what of the others who are also dear to my heart and memory that you took north with you, all those years ago—?’
‘Of course, you are speaking of Princess Bekatha and Hui.’ King Hurotas cut my questions short. ‘They are also now husband and wife. However, Hui is no longer a lowly captain. He is the Lord High Admiral and the commander of the Lacedaemon fleet; the same fleet that you see down there on the river.’ He pointed behind him at the tremendous array of shipping anchored against the bank of the Nile. ‘Right now he is supervising the landing of the remainder of my expeditionary force.’
‘And so, King Hurotas, why have you returned to Egypt now after all these years?’ I demanded.
His expression became fierce as he replied: ‘I came because at heart I am still an Egyptian. I heard from my spies that you in Egypt were hard pressed and on the verge of defeat at the hands of the Hyksos. These animals have despoiled our once lovely homeland. They have raped and murdered our women and children; among their victims were my own mother and my two young sisters. After they had violated them they threw them still alive on to the blazing ruins of our home and laughed as they watched them burn. I have returned to Egypt to avenge their deaths and to save more of our Egyptian people from a similar fate. If I succeed I hope to forge a lasting alliance between our two countries: Egypt and Lacedaemon.’
‘Why have you waited twenty-three years before you returned?’
‘As I am sure you will recall, Taita, when we last parted we were a mere handful of young runaways on three small galleys. We were flying from the tyranny of a Pharaoh who wanted to separate us from the women we loved.’
I acknowledged the truth of this with a nod. It was safe to do so now, for the Pharaoh in question was Tamose and, as of yesterday, he was dead.
King Hurotas, who had once been the young Zaras, went on, ‘We were seeking a new homeland. It took all this time for us to find one and build it up into a formidable power with an army of more than five thousand of the finest fighting men.’
‘How did you achieve that, Your Majesty?’ I asked.
‘By a little polite diplomacy,’ he replied guilelessly, but when I looked sceptical he chuckled and admitted, ‘together with more than a little blatant force of arms and outright conquest.’ With a wave of his hand he indicated the mighty army that he was disembarking on to the east bank of the Nile below us. ‘When one has a warlike array such as that you see before you, strangers are seldom disposed to argument.’
‘That sounds more like your style,’ I agreed, but Hurotas dismissed my retort with a nod and a smile and went on with his explanation.
‘I knew it was my patriotic duty to give you all the succour and assistance in my power. I would have come a year earlier, but my naval squadrons were not sufficient to carry my army. I had to build more ships.’
‘Then you are more than welcome, Your Majesty. You have arrived at precisely the critical moment. Another hour and you would have been too late.’ I swung down from the back of my horse, but he anticipated me and he jumped down from his own mount, as sprightly as a man half his age, and strode to meet me. We embraced like brothers, which was what we were at heart. However, I felt more than mere brotherly love for him, for not only had he brought me the means to save my very Egypt from this marauding pack of vicious predators, but it seemed also that he had brought back to me my darling Tehuti, the daughter of Queen Lostris. Mother and daughter, those two women are still the ones I have loved best in all my long life.
Our embrace was warm but fleeting. I drew back and punched Hurotas lightly on his shoulder. ‘There will be more time for these reminiscences anon. However, at this moment there are several thousand Hyksos waiting at the head of the pass for our attention: mine and yours.’ I pointed back up the ridge, and Hurotas looked startled. But he recovered almost immediately, and grinned with genuine pleasure.
‘Forgive me, old friend. I should have known that you would provide me with generous entertainment immediately on my arrival. Let us go up there at once and deal with a few of these nasty Hyksos, shall we?’
I shook my head in mock disapproval. ‘You have always been impetuous. Do you remember what the old bull replied when the young bull suggested that they rush down upon the herd of cows and cover a few of them?’
‘Tell me what old bull said,’ he demanded with anticipation. He has always enjoyed my little jokes. I did not want to disappoint him now.
‘The old bull answered, Let us rather saunter down at our leisure and cover the lot of them.’
Hurotas let out a delighted guffaw. ‘Tell me your plan, Taita, for I know you have one. You always do.’
I set it out for him quickly because it was a simple plan, and then I turned away and vaulted back into the saddle of my mount. Without a backwards glance I led Merab and my small band of horsemen back up the hill. I knew that I could rely on Hurotas who had once been Zaras to carry out my instructions to the letter; even if he was now a king he was sufficiently astute to know that my counsel was always the best available.
As I crested the hill again I saw that I had not arrived ahead of time, for the Hyksos horde was advancing once more upon the battered and depleted ranks of Egypt, who stood to meet them. I urged my horse into a gallop and reached the shield wall only seconds before the enemy fell upon us again. I turned my mount free and seized the bronze shield that somebody thrust into my hands as I squeezed into my station in the centre of the front rank. Then with a sound like summer thunder the Hyksos front rank crashed, bronze on bronze, into our enfeebled line once again.
Almost at once I was swallowed up in the nightmare of battle wherein time loses all meaning and every second seems to last an eternity. Death pressed in upon us in a dark miasma of terror. Finally, after what seemed like an hour or a hundred years, I felt the unbearable pressure of Hyksos bronze upon our fragile front line ease abruptly, and then we were moving rapidly forward rather than stumbling backwards.
The discordant bellowing of triumphant enemy war cries was replaced by terrified screams of pain and despair in the barbaric Hyksos tongue. Then the enemy ranks seemed to shrivel and collapse upon themselves so that my forward vision was no longer totally