which they were disembarking
‘Hold your ground, Captain Merab!’ I snapped at him. ‘I am going forward to parley with these newcomers.’ Before he had a chance to argue with me I had unhooked my sword sheath from my belt and, without drawing the naked blade, I reversed it and held it aloft in the universal sign of peace. Then I trotted slowly down the slope to meet this troop of foreign horsemen.
I vividly recall the sense of doom that overshadowed me as we closed. I knew that this time I had pushed Tyche, the goddess of Providence, too far. Then to my astonishment the leader of the band of horsemen barked an order and his men obediently sheathed their swords in a sign of truce and halted in a tight formation behind him.
I followed their example and reined my own steed down to a halt, facing them but with a few dozen strides separating myself and the leader of the group. We studied each other in silence for the time it takes to draw a deep breath, and then I lifted the visor of my battered helmet to show my face.
The leader of this foreign band of horsemen laughed. It was a most unexpected sound in these fraught circumstances, but at the same time it was hauntingly familiar. I knew that laugh. However, I stared at him for fully half a minute before I recognized him. He was a greybeard now, but big and muscled and sure of himself. He was no longer the young buck with the fresh and eager face searching to find his place in this hard, unforgiving world. Clearly he had found that place. Now he had the air of high command about his person and a mighty army at his back.
‘Zaras?’ I said his name dubiously. ‘It cannot possibly be you, can it?’
‘Only 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.
