Read Online Andre Norton - Shadow Hawk by Shadow Hawk - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Shadow Hawk
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Historical, Juvenile Fiction, Egypt, Ancient Civilizations, Military & Wars
Ads: Link
smiled happily.
"It is just so, Rahotep, that I have many times seen your mother's father—my good lord and friend—fit that into place. Aye, even on that last day when all of us knew that there was no hope of victory! But no barbarian called it his spoil, and now it will gleam again among the arms of Pharaoh's following. Hail Hawk!" He gave Rahotep the salute due a nomarch.
The young captain laughed ruefully. "A nomarch without a nome, heading a party of eleven archers into a misty future, Hentre. But my thanks be unto you, not only for this"—he rubbed the bracer— "but for all else you have done for me since I was a child in the Women's Hall of the Viceroy's palace, tumbling over my own feet. And for what you did for the Lady Tuya, whom you served exceedingly well!"
So it was Hentre's figure Rahotep watched recede into the distance as the ship Shining in Thebes cast off its moorings and passed into the pull of the current under the careful direction of the bow pilot. A gong sounded and oarsmen bent to the task of adding speed to their going. Behind them first the quay with Hentre, then even the towering walls of Semna grew smaller and were gone as the turns of the river took them out of sight.
Once this waterway had been thronged with river traffic. The cargoes from Nubia, gold, ebony, ostrich plumes, aro- matic woods, and fine skins had gone north, while south had flowed in exchange the finished work of city craftsmen. Now trade was dead. No one moved a cargo willingly into Hyksos territory, except as tribute wrung from nomes by threats. Nubia's wealth stayed at home. Consequently, there was a sad lack of the manufactured articles she needed.
In place of the laden cargo boats, they passed the rafts of herders taking their charges from one side of the river to the other in search of better pasturage. And these half-wild rovers looked upon the energetic downstream swing of the oared ship with amazement.
If the simple people of the land were amazed, their lords were almost uniformly hostile. When Shining in Thebes tied up at quays and Nereb tried to bargain for extra supplies, he was met coldly. For the most part he had to deal with insolent overseers who might not laugh openly at Pharaoh's seal on a royal order, but who, trained by years of outwitting tax collectors, were able to evade any direct compliance with official demands. But there were wild fowl among the reed banks, and Hori of the archers proved himself adept with a throwing stick. They might not feast upon roast goose, but neither did they lack something to add to the hard snail-shaped loaves of bread.
No more recruits were added to Nereb's party until they reached the boundaries of old Egypt and came into the domain of the Elephantine lords. The nomarchs of Elephantine, while not yet ranged openly under the Theban standard, were inclined to join in support of Sekenenre. Two regiments of spearmen marched on board transports, making an armada behind the swifter Shining in Thebes. Meanwhile, Nereb, impatiently pacing the confined deck space of his ship, talked and Rahotep and Methen listened.
To the veteran, much of this was already an old story. To Rahotep some of the information was puzzling. The rest he grasped because of his interest in the north. But most of all he listened eagerly to all Nereb had to say about the Hyksos military might.
When the invaders had lapped over the Sinai causeway into the delta lands two hundred years earlier, they had come as a destroying wave into an Egypt already war-torn and divided by puppet kings and rebel nobles. Nobles drew back to their nomes, holding what they might, trying to take more from weaker neighbors. They had not joined together to fight a common enemy.
The chariots of the invaders swept like locusts across a field of new grain. And, like those avid insects, they left but the bare earth behind them. In the delta they built Avaris, that city that was mainly a fort such as Egypt—or Nubia—had never
"It is just so, Rahotep, that I have many times seen your mother's father—my good lord and friend—fit that into place. Aye, even on that last day when all of us knew that there was no hope of victory! But no barbarian called it his spoil, and now it will gleam again among the arms of Pharaoh's following. Hail Hawk!" He gave Rahotep the salute due a nomarch.
The young captain laughed ruefully. "A nomarch without a nome, heading a party of eleven archers into a misty future, Hentre. But my thanks be unto you, not only for this"—he rubbed the bracer— "but for all else you have done for me since I was a child in the Women's Hall of the Viceroy's palace, tumbling over my own feet. And for what you did for the Lady Tuya, whom you served exceedingly well!"
So it was Hentre's figure Rahotep watched recede into the distance as the ship Shining in Thebes cast off its moorings and passed into the pull of the current under the careful direction of the bow pilot. A gong sounded and oarsmen bent to the task of adding speed to their going. Behind them first the quay with Hentre, then even the towering walls of Semna grew smaller and were gone as the turns of the river took them out of sight.
Once this waterway had been thronged with river traffic. The cargoes from Nubia, gold, ebony, ostrich plumes, aro- matic woods, and fine skins had gone north, while south had flowed in exchange the finished work of city craftsmen. Now trade was dead. No one moved a cargo willingly into Hyksos territory, except as tribute wrung from nomes by threats. Nubia's wealth stayed at home. Consequently, there was a sad lack of the manufactured articles she needed.
In place of the laden cargo boats, they passed the rafts of herders taking their charges from one side of the river to the other in search of better pasturage. And these half-wild rovers looked upon the energetic downstream swing of the oared ship with amazement.
If the simple people of the land were amazed, their lords were almost uniformly hostile. When Shining in Thebes tied up at quays and Nereb tried to bargain for extra supplies, he was met coldly. For the most part he had to deal with insolent overseers who might not laugh openly at Pharaoh's seal on a royal order, but who, trained by years of outwitting tax collectors, were able to evade any direct compliance with official demands. But there were wild fowl among the reed banks, and Hori of the archers proved himself adept with a throwing stick. They might not feast upon roast goose, but neither did they lack something to add to the hard snail-shaped loaves of bread.
No more recruits were added to Nereb's party until they reached the boundaries of old Egypt and came into the domain of the Elephantine lords. The nomarchs of Elephantine, while not yet ranged openly under the Theban standard, were inclined to join in support of Sekenenre. Two regiments of spearmen marched on board transports, making an armada behind the swifter Shining in Thebes. Meanwhile, Nereb, impatiently pacing the confined deck space of his ship, talked and Rahotep and Methen listened.
To the veteran, much of this was already an old story. To Rahotep some of the information was puzzling. The rest he grasped because of his interest in the north. But most of all he listened eagerly to all Nereb had to say about the Hyksos military might.
When the invaders had lapped over the Sinai causeway into the delta lands two hundred years earlier, they had come as a destroying wave into an Egypt already war-torn and divided by puppet kings and rebel nobles. Nobles drew back to their nomes, holding what they might, trying to take more from weaker neighbors. They had not joined together to fight a common enemy.
The chariots of the invaders swept like locusts across a field of new grain. And, like those avid insects, they left but the bare earth behind them. In the delta they built Avaris, that city that was mainly a fort such as Egypt—or Nubia—had never
Similar Books
