After parting from Hanno, Kefu travelled in a south-westerly direction. There was a desert to cross on his way back to Kemet and if he was to cross it alive, he needed to backtrack to where the army had crossed and make use of the water caches left en route. Tutimaios had set up the caches to get his army across the desert and had, even on the day of the battle, ordered them replenished, ready for the journey back.
On the morning of the first day he had come across the rotted carcass of the stolen donkey. The scavengers had been at it but there was enough left for him to see that it had been partially butchered. It seemed the Bedouin was in front of, and travelling in the same direction as himself.
By travelling through the night and most of the morning he had reached the first cache of the crossing. The cache had been broken into; no doubts by men of the fleeing army and of course the Bedouin. But the were still many hundreds of the sealed water filled jars buried beneath the sand. Now in the hottest part of the day he had drunk his fill of water and was resting in the meagre shadow cast by his cloak, which was stretched between two spears stuck into the sand.
As the air cooled in evening he ate a cold porridge made from dura flour mixed with water, filled his water skin and set off again. He needed to reach home and find his family before the army of the Aamu reached Kemet.
Not long after dark he spotted the flames of a fire in the distance. At first he thought it would be nice to have company on the journey. But as he drew near he saw there were several men all Aamu and they had the most fearsome beasts with them. The animals had four legs and a tail, like a donkey. But there the resemblance ended. They were taller, sleeker and had eyes that shone, even in the firelight, with intelligence. At the moment the beasts were tethered to one side and with heads bent were feeding on some kind of fodder. Now and then however one or other of them would raise a head, snort and let out a snickering sound and he suspected they were catching his scent.
He was about to back off and make a wide detour around, when the first scream pierced the air. The sound, high pitched and wavering convince him that it was a woman they were torturing and he decided to intervene. But first, if the was to stand any kind of chance against four of them, he needed to get closer and find out exactly what was going on.
Crouching low he moved closer, all the while keeping his eyes on the camp and wincing as the screams continued to split the air. As he drew closer he could see the men grouped around someone on the ground.The screams were louder now as was the laughter of the men who were obviously enjoying the pain they were inflicting. Kefu dropped to the ground and began to crawl closer. As he drew near the screams stopped abruptly. Close enough now to hear and be heard he froze assuming that the victim who was hidden by the Aamu was dead. But the one he assumed was the leader leaned towards the prone figure and growled, ‘I ask you again. Who has the shield?’
There was a pause then a voice groaned, ‘Kefu, Kefu has the shield.’
Hidden in the darkness Kefu sucked in a breath, it wasn’t a woman on the ground it was the Bedouin. If the Aamu were in search of the shield they must have tracked him from the camp where Lord Abbados died.For a moment he wondered how they had manage to get in front of him. Then he realised that since they would have had to follow the tracks through the day, they could have easily passed him while he slept through the heat of the day. As to the speed at which they had travelled. The answer had to be that they rode on the backs of those fearsome beasts.
His thoughts were interrupted as the leader of the Aamu spoke again, ‘Who is Kefu and who is with him?’
There was a series of low moans before the answer came. ‘No one, there was no one with him.’
‘You lie, there was another with him,’ roared the leader, kicking the Bedouin in the side.
There was a scream and then silence as the Bedouin passed out.As the Aamu returned to the fire to await the recovery of their victim, Kefu had already backed away and was now circling around towards where the beasts were tethered. He knew that the Bedouin couldn’t give them information that he didn’t possess. But he knew also that if they could track him here, they could return back to the camp, track Lord Hanno and recover the shield.He needed to do something to prevent that and the only thing he could come up with was to stampede the animals and leave the Aamu on foot
Knowing now that the beasts could catch his smell, he circled around, came at them from downwind and got to within a few arms length before they caught his scent and began to snort. Quickly he jabbed two of the beast in the hindquarters, just hard enough to make them scream and then retired quickly back into the darkness. The beasts reared up and kicked out hitting the other two and then all four broke free of their tethers and raced across the camp. The men ran to try and stop them escaping, the leader managed to grab the tether rope of one and manage eventually to calm it down. The others didn’t fare so well, the charging animals ploughed into them trampling two of them into the sand, knocked the other flying and disappeared into the night.
‘Check out the others, and find out what spooked the animals,’ roared the leader as he leapt onto the back of the one he held. ‘I’m going to try and catch them.’
Kefu lay in the dark and as he watched the other man staggered to his feet, realised that he now had the opportunity not just to leave them on foot, but to stop them completely. After checking the others, who were obviously dead, the man walked to where the horses had been tethered and stared into he night. But before his eyes could adjust to the darkness, Kefu’s spear took him in the neck and he died with the blood bubbling in his throat. Taking the cloak from the dead man, he put it on and hid the body beneath the remaining fodder. Next he dragged the other two bodies together, covered them with their cloaks and went to sit at the fire.
After unsuccessfully trying to catch the horses in the dark captain Ephria returned to the camp, noted the covered bodies, dismounted, and after securing his beast, walked over to wake the soldier dozing by the embers of the fire. Kefu felt the touch on his shoulder and without raising his head, turned, punched his knife into the leader’s stomach and ripped upwards. The blow threw Ephria backward to land seated on the ground staring in horror as he tried to hold in his intestines with both hands. Kefu finished him off by slashing his throat, dragged the body over to the others, built up the fire and settled down to sleep believing two things. One that he had saved Lord Hanno and the shield from the Aamu and two that would learn to ride the animal at first light.
Meanwhile to the north Khaian and his men were still following the tracks that led towards the distant hills.
