|
|
Shield of the Sun. Part 14 |
Copyright Fred Watson August 2007
A serialisation
Part 14
Hanno cursed, how could he have been so stupid, as to walk into so simple a trap.
‘Drop the axe and walk towards the fire,’ the voice commanded.
Having no choice, he did as he was bid and stepped into the meagre light of the fire, only hear a gasp from behind and feel the sword being withdrawn. Sooner than being run through from behind, he turned preferring to look his assailant in the eye as he dealt the deathblow and was astonished to see the sword lying discarded on the ground. In front of him the man he had thought was to be his assassin knelt with his head bowed. Without raising his head the bowed figure spoke in a voice that was somehow familiar, ‘My Lord.’
It was now Hanno’s turn to gasp. ‘Commander Kefu? Is that You?’
‘Aye My Lord.’
The last time Hanno had seen Kefu was just before the battle. When Kefu had reported to Tutitmaios that the guards had been poisoned and Abbados and the shield were missing. It appeared obvious that the Pharaoh’s brother Abbados had murdered the men, stolen the shield and gone over to the enemy. Then he remembered that Tutitmaios, not willing to believe such treachery of his brother, had ordered the commander to find the truth of the matter.
‘Are you out here in search of Abbados?’ he asked.
‘Aye, My Lord I followed the trail of the priest and the men with him, to here,’ replied Kefu, his head still bowed.
A thousand thoughts raced through Hanno’s mind, had Abbados killed the guards, had he stolen the shield, why, how many men were with him, who were they, where were they going, what were they doing out here in the middle of nowhere. Maybe the commander could tell him the answers, but first things first.
‘Kefu,’ he said, ‘Raise your head and stand, that is an order.’
Kefu rose to feet and raised his head and was surprised when he saw the man he considered to be his lord smiling at him.
‘That’s better,’ said Hanno, ‘Now let’s dispense with this, Commander and My Lord stuff, it is no longer necessary, Kemet is no more.’
‘The army is defeated?’ asked Kefu, ‘And Pharaoh Tutitmaios?’
‘The Pharaoh is slain, the army destroyed, the Aamu will soon fall upon Kemet and there is nothing we can do about it.’
With a stricken look Kefu collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut and put his head in his hands. Not knowing what else to do Hanno threw some fuel on the fire and sat waiting for Kefu to recover from the shock of the news. After a while with still no word from him, Hanno grew impatient of sitting in silence, he had questions that needed answering so he said, ‘Tell me of Abbados.’
Kefu lifted his head and stared at him blankly for a moment and then with a shudder seemed to get a grip on himself, ‘Sorry, My…’ he began, and then started again in a much firmer tone, ‘Sorry I was just thinking what would happen to my family back home.’
‘You have a wife and children?’
‘Yes a wife and two boys.’
‘Oh,’ he said and changed the subject; there wasn’t much he could say. How do you reassure a man who knows that his wife will most likely be raped and his sons enslaved, ‘You were about to tell me about Abbados.’
Kefu paused and seemed about to shrink back within himself, but instead he straighten his shoulders and began to talk, ‘Following the orders of the Pharaoh and taking two men with me I began to question anyone who might have had contact with the priest. My enquiries let me to the camp of the merchants where I was told of a Syrian who regularly supplied the priest with wines. I went to his tent only to find that he had fled in the night.’
‘And Abbados left with this man?’
‘Nay, Lord, I thought so a first, but when I questioned one of the donkey men, I learned that the Syrian and his donkey train had gone west and the priest had headed off towards the north on his own.’
Hanno noticed the ‘Lord’ but chose to ignore it, after all Kefu had been in the army a long time and the deference was ingrained.
‘This donkey man, he was sure it was Abbados?’
‘Aye, Lord he was certain, he had seen the priest with the Pharaoh many times. Anyway, he showed me where he had left the camp and my men, formerly of a Bedouin tribe and excellent trackers, began to cast around for the spoor. The ground was hard, it took a while and they had to circle out from the camp to intersect the trail. But find it they did and after following it a short distance we came to a place where the priest met with three others before continuing on. Returning to the camp we collected a donkey laden with supplies and set off in pursuit. ’
___________________________________________
|
|
| Shield of the Sun | This serial has been reformatted into shorter sections and parts 1 through to 32 can now be read on the stories for dads page. |
|
