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Copyright Fred Watson August 2007
A serialisation
Part 11
After the slow journey up river crammed into a couple of commandeered cargo boats with the rest of the troops the three young men, Tuti, Abba and Hann had settle into their new personas as if born to them. They had arrived at the riverside town of Akhmim midmorning and had been given the job of unloading the stores and setting up camp. A task that took no time at all, once they had organised the green troops into teams to prevent them getting under each other feet. The stores had been unloaded, first to the dockside and then transported to the outskirt of the town.
The first stage of their journey, the easy part, was over, the stores were stacked and the tents erected and tomorrow they would cross the river and set off on the desert route that led to the oasis of Kharga. But for now two of the young officers were resting in the shade while they waited for Commander Ayi to return from a courtesy visit to the local Nomarch, Nebamun under whose governorship the outpost at Kharga fell.
‘Where has Abba disappeared too?’ Hann asked.
‘Not sure, said he was going to check something out,’ said Tuti.
‘Let’s hope he is back before the commander; you know what he said about staying together.’
‘Quit worrying, he’ll be back, beside the big ox is more than capable of looking after himself.’
‘It isn’t him I’m worried about, I thought we might wander into town tonight and if Abba upsets any of the locals we might not get.’
‘What makes you think that the commander will give us permission? He keeps an eye on us like a mother hen with her chicks, he’ll never let us go.’
‘I wasn’t planning on asking him, I thought we might just…’
‘You thought you might just what?’ asked commander Ayi as he strode into earshot.
‘Inspect the tents,’ said Tuti.
‘And set up perimeter guards, Commander,’ said Hann.
‘Very good, carry on then.’
As they walked away Hann nodded his thank to Tuti for his quick thinking and it looked as if they had gotten away with it. But they should have realised that with the commander that was never the case.
‘Just one thing, Hann,’ he called, ‘Where is Abba?’
‘Shite, though Hann trying think of an excuse that the commander would accept, ‘I er, I mean Abba has gone to, has er… Has taken a detail to the well to refill the water skins.’ He finally managed to blurt out.
The commander pinned him with an icy stare, as if to question what he’d said, but then shrugged and said, ‘ In that case I shall await his return. Carry on.’
As soon as they were out of earshot Tuti hissed at him from the side of his mouth, ‘That was a bit stupid.’
‘I know, I know, but it was all I could think of.’
‘Well, all I can say is that I look forward to hearing your explanation, when he does return.’
‘Aren’t you going to back me up?’
‘Of course I am, but that just means that we are all going to get it in the neck when he returns without any water. Come on, you set the guards, I’ll inspect the tents and we’ll meet back here… and don’t forget.’
‘What?’
‘Try to think of a good excuse.’
All the time he was placing the sentries Hann was trying to come up with an excuse. Tuti was right he had been stupid, now his mind was racing through ideas discarding one after another and in the end he decided it was a waste of time, he had told a lie to cover up for his friend and he was about to be found out. The commander would chew him out, confine all three of them to camp and work them hard. So what was new, he did that already. Still he really had fancied a night in town, a few drinks in a bar and who knows maybe a pretty local girl. Some chance.
Half an hour later they had finished and Hann was giving his report, when the commander interrupted, ‘ Ah, the wanderer has returned.’
The dreaded moment had arrived; Hann and Tuti turned and were amazed to find Abba at the head of six men, each man leading a donkey laden with full water skins. A much-relieved Hann finished his report followed by Tuti and then Abba. After which the three of them were given a lecture on sticking together and that was it, they were dismissed.
Hann could barely contain himself until they were out of earshot before bursting out with, ‘How did you know about the water?’
Abba looked puzzled, ‘Hann told the commander you’d gone for water,’ said Tuti.
‘So?’
‘So, how did you know?’
‘I didn’t, I knew I’d be a while scouting around, so I sent a squad to get water and joined up with them on the way back.’
‘It would have been nice if you’d told one of us, it would have saved us a lot of hassle,’ snapped Tuti.
‘Whoa brother, don’t get all riled up, I didn’t get the idea myself until I was about to leave the camp. Besides you should be pleased I have found us a place to go tonight, an inn called the house of the crocodile. It’s is deep in the alleyways of the dock area and best of all there are three beautiful young serving wenches.’
At the mention of the inn and the wenches Tuti forgot his annoyance and smiled. This would be an adventure, just the three of them out in a strange town on their own and best of all there would be no commander Ayi to tell them what or what not to do. While they admired and respected the commander, they also found him to be a veritable pain in the neck. He was a strict disciplinarian and gave them no favours and they could put up with that. But they also felt that because he knew their real identities he was overprotective and restricted their movements outside of the unit. Well tonight for a few hours a least they were going slip out camp and enjoy a bit of freedom for a change.
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