Minoan treasure ship.’
‘As you command, master.’ It seemed that Zaras had promoted me from plain Taita to master. However, he was still sufficiently familiar with me to ask impudent questions. This he did immediately.
‘Once we are out in the open sea, in which direction will we sail? Will we head east for Sumeria or west for the Mauretanian coast?’ Then he even condescended to offer me a little fatherly advice. ‘We have allies in both those countries. In the east there is King Nimrod, the ruler of the Land of the Two Rivers. In the west we have a treaty with King Shan Daki of Anfa in Mauretania. Which of them will it be, Taita?’
I did not reply to him immediately. Instead I asked my own question. ‘Tell me, Zaras, which king or ruler in the entire world would you trust with a treasure of five hundred lakhs of silver?’
Zaras looked bemused. He had not thought about that. ‘Perhaps … well, certainly not Shan Daki. His people are corsairs, and he is the King of Thieves.’
‘What about Nimrod?’ I suggested. ‘I am not certain I would trust him with a piece of silver larger than my thumb.’
‘We have to trust somebody,’ he protested, ‘unless we find a deserted beach and bury the silver on it, until we can return to reclaim it?’
‘Five hundred lakhs!’ I reminded him. ‘It would take a year to dig a pit deep enough, and a mountain of sand to cover it.’ I was enjoying his confusion. ‘The wind favours us!’ I looked up at the Minoan ensign, the golden bull of Crete, which still flew at the masthead of the trireme I had allotted to him. ‘And the gods always favour the bold and the brave.’
‘No, Taita,’ he contradicted me. ‘The wind does not favour us. It is blowing in from the sea, directly up the channel. It is pinning us against the land. It will take all our oars to get us out into the open waters of the Middle Sea. If you trust neither Shan Daki nor Nimrod whom then do you trust? To whom should we turn?’
‘I trust only Pharaoh Tamose,’ I told him, and he let his frustration with me show for the first time.
‘So is your plan to return to Pharaoh by the same route we followed here? Shall we carry the treasure on our heads from Ushu through the Sinai Desert, and swim with it across the Red Sea? From there it will only be a short walk to reach Thebes. Pharaoh will be surprised to see you; of that you can be sure,’ he scoffed at me.
‘No, Zaras.’ I smiled back at him indulgently. ‘From here we are going to sail south down the Nile. We are going to sail all three of these Cretan monsters and the silver in their holds directly back to Thebes.’
‘Have you gone mad, Taita?’ He stopped laughing. ‘Beon commands every yard of the Nile from here as far as Asyut. We can’t sail three hundred leagues through the Hyksos hordes. That really is madness.’ In his agitation he had switched back from Hyksosian into Egyptian.
‘If you speak Hyksosian anything and everything is possible!’ I contradicted and rebuked him. ‘Anyway, we have already scuttled two of our boats and I am going to burn the third before we leave Tamiat, just to make certain that we leave no traces of our true identity behind us.’
‘In the name of the great mother Osiris and her beloved son Horus, I think that you really believe what you are saying, Taita.’ He started to grin again. ‘And your plan is to drive me as frothing-at-the-mouth mad as you already are, so that in my madness I will agree with you. Is that it?’
‘In battle, madness becomes sanity. It is the only way to survive. Follow me, Zaras. I am taking you home.’ I started up the gangplank to the deck of the trireme. There were twenty of Zaras’ men there before me. I saw that they already had control of the ship and every man aboard her. On the deck the Cretan crew were kneeling in a row with their heads bowed and their arms pinioned behind their backs; most of them were bleeding from fresh wounds. There were only six
‘As you command, master.’ It seemed that Zaras had promoted me from plain Taita to master. However, he was still sufficiently familiar with me to ask impudent questions. This he did immediately.
‘Once we are out in the open sea, in which direction will we sail? Will we head east for Sumeria or west for the Mauretanian coast?’ Then he even condescended to offer me a little fatherly advice. ‘We have allies in both those countries. In the east there is King Nimrod, the ruler of the Land of the Two Rivers. In the west we have a treaty with King Shan Daki of Anfa in Mauretania. Which of them will it be, Taita?’
I did not reply to him immediately. Instead I asked my own question. ‘Tell me, Zaras, which king or ruler in the entire world would you trust with a treasure of five hundred lakhs of silver?’
Zaras looked bemused. He had not thought about that. ‘Perhaps … well, certainly not Shan Daki. His people are corsairs, and he is the King of Thieves.’
‘What about Nimrod?’ I suggested. ‘I am not certain I would trust him with a piece of silver larger than my thumb.’
‘We have to trust somebody,’ he protested, ‘unless we find a deserted beach and bury the silver on it, until we can return to reclaim it?’
‘Five hundred lakhs!’ I reminded him. ‘It would take a year to dig a pit deep enough, and a mountain of sand to cover it.’ I was enjoying his confusion. ‘The wind favours us!’ I looked up at the Minoan ensign, the golden bull of Crete, which still flew at the masthead of the trireme I had allotted to him. ‘And the gods always favour the bold and the brave.’
‘No, Taita,’ he contradicted me. ‘The wind does not favour us. It is blowing in from the sea, directly up the channel. It is pinning us against the land. It will take all our oars to get us out into the open waters of the Middle Sea. If you trust neither Shan Daki nor Nimrod whom then do you trust? To whom should we turn?’
‘I trust only Pharaoh Tamose,’ I told him, and he let his frustration with me show for the first time.
‘So is your plan to return to Pharaoh by the same route we followed here? Shall we carry the treasure on our heads from Ushu through the Sinai Desert, and swim with it across the Red Sea? From there it will only be a short walk to reach Thebes. Pharaoh will be surprised to see you; of that you can be sure,’ he scoffed at me.
‘No, Zaras.’ I smiled back at him indulgently. ‘From here we are going to sail south down the Nile. We are going to sail all three of these Cretan monsters and the silver in their holds directly back to Thebes.’
‘Have you gone mad, Taita?’ He stopped laughing. ‘Beon commands every yard of the Nile from here as far as Asyut. We can’t sail three hundred leagues through the Hyksos hordes. That really is madness.’ In his agitation he had switched back from Hyksosian into Egyptian.
‘If you speak Hyksosian anything and everything is possible!’ I contradicted and rebuked him. ‘Anyway, we have already scuttled two of our boats and I am going to burn the third before we leave Tamiat, just to make certain that we leave no traces of our true identity behind us.’
‘In the name of the great mother Osiris and her beloved son Horus, I think that you really believe what you are saying, Taita.’ He started to grin again. ‘And your plan is to drive me as frothing-at-the-mouth mad as you already are, so that in my madness I will agree with you. Is that it?’
‘In battle, madness becomes sanity. It is the only way to survive. Follow me, Zaras. I am taking you home.’ I started up the gangplank to the deck of the trireme. There were twenty of Zaras’ men there before me. I saw that they already had control of the ship and every man aboard her. On the deck the Cretan crew were kneeling in a row with their heads bowed and their arms pinioned behind their backs; most of them were bleeding from fresh wounds. There were only six
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