Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe Page A

Imperishable Ones--the stars of the north. They're almost gone." She kissed me. "And you're mine again!"

7

THOTMAKTEF

    THE SCRIBE IS here. His master has sent him to assess the readiness of our ship. His master is Qanju. He did not tell me this, but I heard him say it. He himself is of Kemet, and a priest. We spoke of writing. He showed me their picture writing, and explained the way it is read. It may be written in either direction, but the man must face toward the end. The birds face the end also. It may also be written down, but not up. He wrote the satrap's name and enclosed it in a shield.
    He said we should take a Nubian with us because such a one would know the country. I had not thought of that. He says there are many Nubians in the army of Kemet. "They are fine archers," he told me. "We have archers as good, but not many."
    Neht-nefret whispered, "They are wonderful lovers, Latro. I had one once."
    "Yes," Myt-ser'eu said, "foreigners always make the best lovers." She squeezed my hand when she spoke.
    "They are good fighters," Thotmaktef declared.
    I asked about their tactics.
    He laughed and said, "You neglected to tell me thatscribes and priests know nothing of war. You are more courteous than my own countrymen."
    I said, "What can I know of what you know of war?"
    "I know very little, just what I've picked up from Qanju and the other men of Parsa. But they know a great deal."
    "Not more than we," Neht-nefret insisted.
    "Not
those
tactics," Myt-ser'eu said, and everyone laughed.
    I like this young scribe. He is eager to teach, yet very ready to learn. Not many men are like that. I cannot know whether he is brave or not, for Myt-ser'eu says we have not known him long and there has been no fighting. Yet his eyes say he is, and what is better yet, that he does not know it. I would rather have him at my side than most men. Surely his god must favor him! What god would not favor such a priest?
    He will tell his master we are ready. Muslak says there will be no need to wait for tide or wind.
    I CAST US off and leaped on board. Men on the yard untied the sail. The wind is stronger in the middle of the river, but we keep to the bank where the current is less--though it seems to me that there is hardly any current at all. The river is very wide, so that little is lost to such current as there may be.
    There are three archers of Parsa and five spearmen of Kemet with us. All obey me, and none like it. Two quarreled. I knocked both down. They drew daggers, which I took from them. When they got up again I gave them back and told them that if they did not sheath them I would kill them both. They sheathed them. I hurt Uro's spear arm, although I did not intend it.
    I inspected them, and set them to work cleaning theirgear and sharpening their weapons. Just now I inspected them again and dressed them down for their shortcomings, both individually and as a group. Just now I set them to cleaning and sharpening some more. The captain suggests that we have them sweep the ship and scrub its deck each day, saying that it will become dirty very quickly with so many men on board. I told him we would do that as well.
    All the soldiers wish to be my friends, but I am not friendly with any. Myt-ser'eu says that is wise, and I know she is right. She is my river-wife, just as Neht-nefret is Muslak's. Neht-nefret is a pretty woman, taller than Myt-ser'eu and more graceful. But Myt-ser'eu is beautiful and loving. I would not exchange her.
    Both are more clever, I think, than Muslak and I might wish; they are great friends, whispering and gossiping.
    I HAVE BEEN thinking of the things I must know when I read this again. We are on Muslak's ship. Its name is
Gades
. We are two women and twenty-seven men. Men: Qanju commands, Muslak is captain, Sahuset is a learned man of Kemet, Thotmaktef is a scribe, I command eight soldiers, and the rest are sailors. Women: Neht-nefret and Myt-ser'eu. The first is Muslak's, the second mine. She is four fingers