“I don’t think that was a good idea,” said Hapu as he watched the boat shrink into the distance.
The only other boats at the quay were local fishing boats made of papyrus reeds.
“Now what are we going to do?” moaned Hapu.
“We’ll have to spend the night here,” replied Ramose. “You were both desperate to get off that boat. Now we are off it, and you are still complaining.”
“There’s nowhere I can make a fire,” said Karoya. “The streets are crowded and there’s no open land. We’ll have to walk into the countryside.”
“I don’t like the idea of that,” said Ramose, looking at the unfriendly people. “We’ll have to see if someone will sell us a cooked meal and maybe let us sleep on their roof.”
Everywhere they asked, people wanted many deben of copper to let the travellers share their meagre meal and sleep on their roof. They stood in the dirty main street of the town. They were all starting to wish they were back on board the cargo boat.
“You don’t want to stay in this place,” said a voice at Ramose’s shoulder. It was a short man with a beard and eyes that looked in different directions. “It’s full of thieves.”
“We don’t have much choice,” Ramose said. “There are no other boats leaving for the north.”
“I’m aboard a naval boat, taking men up to the Delta,” the man replied. “I could talk to the captain for you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you sailed with us. We’ve just stopped to buy some fresh meat. We’ll be leaving again in about an hour.”
The three friends returned to the wharf. While they had been searching the town for somewhere to spend the night, the naval boat had tied up. It was a sleek craft. Ramose grinned at Hapu and Karoya as they boarded the boat. They couldn’t believe their luck.
“This is more like it,” said Hapu as they moved off.
The naval boat was bigger, cleaner and faster. It cut through the water at twice the speed of the cargo boat under the power of twenty soldiers at the oars. The captain stood at the stern shouting orders and operating the rudder oar.
They travelled until it was dark and then camped on the riverbank. Their camping place was away from any town or village and it was very peaceful. The soldiers invited them to share their food.
After they’d eaten all the lamb and onions they could, they laid out their reed mats on the sandy shore beneath a grove of date palms.
“It’s good to be away from that awful town,” said Karoya looking up at the stars through the palm fronds.
“Maybe our luck’s changed,” said Hapu.
Ramose listened to the stillness of the night and hoped he was right.
Their new friend was called Hori. He was travelling with two other men. One was a big man called Intef, who seemed to have an excess of muscles, but a shortage of brains. The other was called Seth. He had a mean mouth and a scar on his neck as if someone had unsuccessfully tried to chop off his head.
“We’re going to Memphis to join the navy,” Hori told them over breakfast. “The captain is my sister’s husband’s brother.”
Ramose couldn’t help wondering if a man who was cross-eyed would make a good soldier, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
“We’re joining a unit that is going to sail over the Great Green to conquer the eastern lands.”
Karoya was horrified at the thought of sailing on the sea.
“I’ve heard that sometimes the boat goes so far out to sea that you can’t see the shore.” Karoya’s eyes were wide. “That can’t be true, can it?” she asked.
“It’s true,” said Hori. “And sometimes the waves rise up to the height of three men.”
“Why are you going to do this?” said Karoya. “Why don’t you stay on land where it’s safe?”
“We were working in the alabaster quarries in the south. It’s hard work. I heard that Pharaoh, may he have long life and health, was recruiting for the navy. My friends and I thought we’d give it a try.”
Ramose couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was something he didn’t like about Hori and his friends. Perhaps it was the way one of Hori’s eyes always seemed to be on him.
They made good progress. “At this rate we’ll be in Memphis in two days,” said Hapu the next day.
Hapu had been in a very cheerful mood ever since they’d come on board. He chatted happily to Hori, telling them all about the work on Pharaoh’s tomb.
“It’s supposed to be a secret, Hapu,” said Ramose wishing his friend was grumpy and silent again, instead of happy and talkative.
“I haven’t said where the tomb is,” said Hapu. “And anyway it’s destroyed now.”
Ramose was starting to get nervous about arriving in Memphis. He had begun to think that he would never regain his place as heir to Egypt’s throne, never see his father, never become pharaoh. Suddenly, in two days, he would be able to contact his sister again and see his sick father.
Now that the wait was over, the thought of arriving in Memphis quite scared him. His plan for actually getting inside the palace there was rather vague. He decided that the best thing to do was to find his sister first, but how he would get to her without the vizier knowing he hadn’t yet worked out.
Hori came and sat beside him.
“You are a scribe, I see,” said Hori looking with one eye at the palette and pen box in Ramose’s bag.
“An apprentice scribe,” said Ramose.
“That’s a nice set of scribal tools,” said Hori.
“I inherited it from my previous master, who died in the flood,” lied Ramose closing his bag. He was conscious that the ebony palette inlaid with gold, ivory and turquoise was far too rich for an apprentice scribe to own.
“Tell me what you make of this,” Hori said pulling a very old-looking piece of papyrus from his own bag.
Ramose noticed that it had a royal seal, though the blob of wax was cracking with age. He unrolled the papyrus and read the flowing script.
“It’s instructions,” he said.
“Instructions on how to get inside a pyramid?” asked Intef.
Seth thumped him in the chest to silence him.
“No,” replied Ramose. “Instructions on how to lead a good life and attain knowledge. I’ve read many texts like this. My tutor made me copy them out endlessly.”
He turned over the scroll. “There is mention of a pyramid, the pyramid of one of the old pharaohs.”
The three men leaned forward. “Does it say anything about the tomb within the pyramid?”
“It could be about the location of a tomb, but it’s written like a puzzle, a riddle, as if the person who wrote it didn’t really want anyone to find it. Where did you get it from?”
“Oh, I just picked it up somewhere,” Hori said vaguely. Intef and Seth, who had hardly spoken since they’d been aboard, started whispering to each other. “I’ll hand it in to the authorities when we get to Memphis.”
They tied up in the afternoon. “Why are we stopping so early?” asked Hapu. “We usually keep going till sunset.”
“This is a good place to moor for the night,” said the captain. “Further up, the riverbank is rocky and it’s more difficult to get ashore.”
The soldiers set up their camp on shore near some pretty farming land. Some of them used the extra daylight hours to wash their kilts at the river’s edge. Others fished with their spears. Karoya helped the cook collect fuel for the cooking fire.
Hapu leaned back comfortably on a ridge of sand. “I shall almost miss this life.”
“Make the most of it, you could be in prison this time tomorrow,” said Ramose in a low voice. “Arrested for breaking into the palace.”
“Don’t be so gloomy. It’s too nice a day.”
The sun was setting and the sky turned pale orange. It was a nice day, but Ramose couldn’t help but worry about what might be ahead of them.
They had a pleasant meal of ox meat, newly baked bread and vegetables. After dinner the soldiers played senet and a rather childish ball game. Hapu joined in enthusiastically.
Ramose laid out his reed mat away from the soldiers where it was quieter. The others eventually settled down to sleep, but Ramose lay awake looking at the stars. He couldn’t sleep. Hapu was snoring softly. Karoya was sleeping under her head shawl. All the soldiers were asleep as well. The only other creature awake was Mery who was trying to settle down on Ramose’s stomach. Ramose had pushed the cat away at least half a dozen times, but it kept coming back, digging its claws into his chest. Ramose sat up abruptly and grabbed the cat. He stuffed it into his reed bag.
“Now perhaps you’ll go to sleep and leave me alone,” hissed Ramose.
He tied a leather thong around the opening. The bag was loosely woven, the cat would be able to breathe easily enough. He lay down again with a sigh.
Just as Ramose was starting to drift off to sleep, he felt a hand clamp over his mouth. It was a dirty, sweaty hand that smelt of onions. Ramose tried to pull it off, but other hands turned him over roughly and tied his arms behind his back. A gag was tied tightly over his mouth. Ramose fought furiously against his bindings but he couldn’t break free. A short, dark figure hauled him to his feet and forced him to walk away from his friends and into the darkness. He struggled against his captors. They muttered and cursed him. Something cracked him on the head.