Shield of the Sun, Part 15

Copyright Fred Watson August 2007

A serialisation

            Part 15

Puzzled Hanno peered around him, ‘Where are your men now?’ he asked.

‘I will come to that in moment, Lord,’ Kefu said and then continued. ‘The priest had a head start, but the Bedouins could track a scorpion over dry rock, so we travelled fast and caught up with them at dawn, but it was already too late, they were all dead. We found one, obviously a soldier, over there, another also a soldier, lay partly in the fire.

Ah, thought Hanno that explains the part of the smell he had difficulty in identifying.

‘And Abbados?’ he asked.

‘It appears that after killing the two soldiers the priest fought with the third man. From the signs, the fight went on for some time, both were mortally wounded and the strange thing is that they sat side by side as they died. ’ 

‘So he is dead, and did he have the shield with him?’

‘Aye, he is, and aye, he did, Lord.’

Hanno was saddened at this confirmation of Abbados’s death, how could he not have been. And despite the treacherous theft of the shield, he had been, and Hanno still thought of him, as his childhood friend. He had to ask, ‘Where is his body?’

‘In a small ravine, beyond those rocks, with the others,’ said Kefu pointing to his left.’

‘And the shield?’

‘In a cleft behind me.’

‘The Bedouins?’

‘When they saw the shield they became greedy and attacked me for it. I managed to kill one and wound the other, the dead one is also in the ravine and the other ran off unfortunately he took the donkey with him.’

Hanno’s face fell and Kefu laughed, ‘Don’t worry, Lord we had already unloaded the supplies, so he will have to eat the donkey, he has nothing else.’

At the mention of supplies Hanno’s spirits lifted and he remembered that he had eaten nothing but a bit of dried snake in the last thirty-six hours, ‘Let’s stoke up the fire, have something to eat, get a few hours sleep and then we’ll bury Abbados in the morning.’

After a meagre meal that consisted of porridge, coarse bread and beer, Hanno felt like he had eaten a feast and had no problem dropping into as sound sleep. He woke early the next morning to find that Kefu had already made more porridge for breakfast. They ate quickly in silence, neither looking forward to the morning’s task, but each determined to get it out of the way.

Washing the last mouthful of porridge down with some water Hanno stood and followed Kefu to the ravine. The stench of corruption hit like a hammer blow and they quickly tied strips of cloth across their faces, before pulling Abbados’s body clear of the rest. With no hope of digging in the stony ground, they had to be content with dragging it further along the ravine and covering the body with rocks. An ignominious end to a royal prince and a burial far from Kemet, without mummification or religious observances would prevent Abbados from attaining the afterlife.

When the last rock was in place they returned to the camp, packed the stores into two bundles and taking the shield, moved on to a new location. They didn’t travel far, only far enough to leave the stench of death behind, then they holed up in the shade of another group of rocks, to shelter from the heat of the sun. While they rested Hanno explained to Kefu that he was making his way back to Tyre and asked him to come along. Kefu however was determined to make his way back to Kemet and see to his family. As night fell they wished each other well and parted company, Hanno and the shield heading north towards the distant mountains, and Kefu west towards the great river.

The next day, Hanno dreamt once more of his friends, as he slept through the heat of the day.

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