Her face was a mass of cuts and bruises from when she had been subdued. The other women chimed in with cries and catcalls, shouting her down.

  ‘Leave him be,’ one of them said. ‘He saved one of us. That’s more than anyone else has done since we were dragged away from our homes.’

  ‘See what good that does when we’re sold into the brothels in Memphis,’ the hard-faced woman shouted back.

  The trail wound between jagged strips of rock that burst from the ground like the bones of giant beasts and then ran along the rolling dunes, so that the walk became a constant, energy-sapping series of climbs and descents. Finally, Piay heard the rustle of excited voices moving down the line from where Khin was being carried. Straining, he heard the Shrikes telling one another that the next oasis was close and the going would soon be easy.

  Piay wondered whether he would be allowed to share any of the water from the oasis. His mind was so focused on his thirst that he barely noticed the trail disappearing between two high ridges. Then he felt the air cooling as they walked from the full force of the blazing sun into the shadows between sheer rock walls on either side. The little ravine also provided some respite from the harsh wind and the biting sand.

  It reminded Piay of walking into Khonsu’s temple, but there he was at liberty to pause and kneel before his god in the cool, incense-laden air. There would be no opportunity to rest his weary legs and moisten his cracked lips here.

  Maybe at the oasis . . . They might let us all rest there, he thought.

  He could hear laughter up ahead. The Shrikes were in high spirits. They, too, were thinking of that tantalising oasis up ahead. When Piay heard the blood-curdling shriek that echoed around the ravine, his first thought was that it was some kind of joke.

  Then he saw the looks of alarm on the faces of the bandits nearest to him. He looked along the line and there, barely twenty paces ahead, lay a Shrike sprawled in a swelling pool of blood, an arrow deep in his neck.

  For a moment, silence suffocated the valley and then someone yelled, ‘We’re under attack!’

  As if that were a signal, a volley of arrows rained down into the ravine, some punching into the Shrikes as they ran for cover, others clattering harmlessly off the rocks. Another volley followed almost immediately, then a third with equal speed.

  Piay’s first thought was, It’s the Sons of Apis!

  Then he cursed himself for missing something obvious.

  Forget the Eye of Horus, they just want revenge for their dead friend.

  Barely a pace from where Piay stood, a Shrike fell as an arrow hit. Another spun away as two more punched into his chest. Piay saw another three men go down in a single one of the volleys loosed by the unseen bowmen, somewhere up above.

  The Shrikes were well-practised at killing peasants, looting buildings or ambushing traders’ caravans, but most were not trained soldiers, and though Khin was shouting out orders, trying to organise a proper response to the attack, few of his men were listening. Most were simply running as fast as they could towards the end of the ravine, up ahead.

  None of the arrows had touched Piay or the women to whom he was tied, but he couldn’t count on that remaining the case. He had to find shelter, and that meant they all had to find shelter together.

  ‘Follow me!’ he shouted. ‘I’ll keep you safe!’

  One of the women tried to run along the line and became tangled up in the rope that strung them all together.

  ‘We have to go in the same direction!’ he roared. ‘Otherwise we’ll all die!’

  Maye saw the wisdom in the words and joined in with Piay’s commands, urging her sisters to follow his lead. He had seen the direction the arrows had come from – along the western edge of the ridge – so he herded the women to that side, where they crouched among the boulders. The arrows kept raining down into the chaotic mass of Shrikes. Then came a new threat: a volley of short spears.

  Piay frowned. Those spears were the standard weapon of Egyptian soldiers, equally well adapted for throwing or stabbing. So, who was hurling them now? He craned his neck, squinting as he looked up towards the silver glare of the sky.

  Now Piay could see figures silhouetted on the top of the ridge. Then he felt his heart leap. Those men were not the Sons of Apis. They belonged to the Blue Crocodile Guards, he was sure of it.

  ‘Keep your heads down,’ he called to the captured women. ‘With any luck you will soon be freed.’

  He glimpsed flickers of hope in those faces, but still they could not bring themselves to quite believe him. The remaining Shrikes might have had no thought on their minds apart from the desperate need to get out of the ravine, but from the women’s point of view, the victors of this battle might just be another group of bandits or slave traders.

  Piay saw one of the women flinch.

  ‘Over there!’ she shouted, pointing towards a male figure, scrabbling from the cover of one boulder to another as he made his way towards them.

  ‘Hannu!’ Piay shouted. Then he turned to the women and said, ‘Don’t worry, he’s a friend.’

  ‘I thought you’d gone for good,’ Piay said, as Hannu used his sword to saw through the rope that bound him. ‘They told me the boat had sailed.’

  ‘Yeah, well, the others all left . . . But me and some of the lads wanted to tell you, in person, just how unbelievably stupid you were to go into that camp on your own. And this was the only way we could do it. Word of thanks wouldn’t go amiss.’

  ‘Thank you, thank you, my dear friend, my most trusted companion,’ Piay exulted. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you!’

  ‘Huh!’ Hannu grunted, as if he didn’t believe a word of it.

  But as he moved down the line of women, his mood improved, for with every one that he released from her bonds, he received hugs, kisses and expressions of gratitude, often followed by floods of tears as the women’s emotions overwhelmed them. The Blue Crocodile guardsmen, too, were coming down from their perches atop the ravine wall to help cut ropes and hand out leather flasks of water.

  Maye turned to Piay and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest.

  ‘You, too, have our endless gratitude,’ she whispered, ‘for none of us would now be free if you had not risked your life to come into the camp for the girl. You are a good man, Piay of Thebes. The gods will see this and know.’

  ‘Thank you,’ he said. Then, as the excitement of his release gave way to more practical thoughts, he asked Hannu, ‘If the boat’s sailed, what are we supposed to do?’

  ‘Walk along the river and around the next bend. It’s waiting for us there.’

  ‘It’s so good of everyone to think of me . . .’

  Hannu sniffed. ‘Nah, they don’t care. They just want to tell you what a total ass you are, too.’

  T

  he patchwork of green fields spread out to the edge of the shimmering Nile. Piay breathed in the scents of the vegetation, soothing after the dry desert air.

  The Shrikes had left their baggage carts behind as they fled, so the freed women had been able to scavenge a selection of garments, fabrics and tent-cloth that would serve to cover them until they got home. They and the guardsmen then shared out the most valuable, portable items of booty, to compensate the women for their suffering and the soldiers for their service.

  Now the women had all gone their separate ways and Piay was marching with Hannu at the head of the guards.

  ‘I bet Harrar wasn’t happy when he heard you were coming to get me,’ he said.

  ‘Pah! He didn’t have a say in the matter. I’d got the whole thing sorted with their officer yesterday afternoon. We left before dawn, so his lordship was still asleep. We got close to the camp as the Shrikes were packing up, saw which direction you were all going. Just a matter of finding a good place for an ambush, after that.’

  ‘So what was their captain going to say when Harrar found out what had happened?’

  ‘Simple – the Blue Crocodile Guards are currently under the overall command of Lord Taita. Taita gave orders to guard you. That’s what his men are doing, and if Harrar’s got a problem with that, he could take it up with Taita.’

  ‘How about Myssa?’

  ‘Ah, yes, well . . . I reckon she might go after you like we went after the Shrikes.’

  ‘That bad?’

  ‘Well, look at it this way . . . That girl’s been worried sick about you. She’s begged Harrar not to sail. She’s made up crazy stories about the Sons of Apis laying ambushes on the river, just to scare Harrar into staying put all night. So she’ll be crying her eyes out with joy when she sees you.’

  ‘And then she’ll make me pay for making her suffer.’

  ‘Got it in one.’

  ‘Even though she’s the one who said we had to go after the girl.’

  Hannu grinned. ‘You expect a woman to be reasonable? You’re even dumber than I thought. So . . . did you learn anything useful, while you were there?’

  ‘Yes, as a matter of fact I did.’

  ‘So, what’s the news?’

  ‘We’re in a three-way race between us and two Hyksos brothers who hate each other’s guts. We all want to be the first to work out what Imhotep was up to, a thousand years ago. And, as we have both seen with our own eyes, the Sons of Apis will go to any lengths to stop the lot of us.’

  ‘So who are these brothers, then?’ Hannu asked.

  ‘One of them is called Khin, alias Akh-Seth,’ Piay told him. ‘He’s the leader of the Shrikes. As a matter of fact, I had a nice chat with him last night, over a cup or two of superb Syrian wine.’

  Hannu gave a disapproving grunt and said, ‘If I’d known you were having it easy, I’d have stayed on the damned boat.’

  ‘Well, not that easy. Khin was planning to cut me up and send me to you piece by piece until you handed over the Eye.’

  ‘That’s more like it! Hyksos bastard!’

  ‘Yes, well, Khin says his brother, who goes by the name of Akkan, is way worse than him. He claimed that Akkan can speak to Seth. Seems Akkan asked to be given strength and power. Seth said, fine, but you’ve got to sacrifice your only child to me.’

  The blood drained from Hannu’s face. ‘Tell me he didn’t do it.’

  ‘He did it – killed his seven-year-old boy.’

  ‘I don’t believe it . . .’ Hannu shook his head in horror at what he had just heard. ‘I mean, I have met some evil sons of whores in my time. But killing your own son . . . What kind of a man does that?’

  ‘That’s a fair question,’ Piay replied. ‘And here’s another . . . Just how much power will Seth grant a man who is willing to do that in his name?’

  T

  he sun was already beginning its descent to the western horizon when Khin and his two Hyksos henchmen finally managed to gather all the fleeing Shrikes into a single group again. The operation had taken shouts, orders, kicks, and even the occasional whipping, and it had left Khin in a foul temper.

  ‘I feel like a farmer rounding up a flock of runaway sheep,’ he told the Hyksos, as he tried to calm his nerves with a brimful cup of wine. And though he knew it might make him look weaker in the eyes of his underlings, he could not stop himself from adding, ‘I’d wager my life that my brother doesn’t have to put up with nonsense like this.’

  ‘So what are you planning to do, master?’ one of the men asked.

  Khin paused for a second to control his temper and then said, ‘Well, for a start, we need to establish a new camp, somewhere nice and private, where we’ll train these ill-disciplined vagabonds. Let’s see if we can knock some basic military discipline into them. Meanwhile, I intend to keep my eyes peeled for any sight of that cocky little pup, Piay of Thebes.

  ‘Believe me, if he should ever cross my path again, I’m not going to waste time talking to him. I’m certainly not going to give him any of my food or drink. I’m just going to kill him. And you two men are welcome to join me in making sure that his death is so painful and protracted that he will be begging us to let him die, just to stop the agony.’

  B

  ast stared at Piay with her unnerving eyes and purred as Myssa stroked her.

  ‘I was worried for you at first,’ Myssa said with a smile. She was sitting cross-legged with her cat by the steersman’s platform. ‘But then I decided that you must be alive. Bast would have let me know if it were otherwise.’

  So far, Hannu’s assessment of Myssa’s mood had not been accurate. She had greeted Piay with a loving hug and kind words, without a trace of irritation over what he’d put her through.

  Maybe she’s saving her anger up for later, thought Piay, who was learning that he could always trust Myssa but should never take her for granted.

  ‘It was really just a long walk,’ he said, feeling duty-bound to assume an air of manly indifference to his ordeal. ‘I’d been on the boat too long, needed a chance to stretch my legs.’

  Myssa laughed at his little joke, as she always did.

  He tried his luck again. ‘I met some charming people and decided to stay the night. Always nice to meet fresh faces, don’t you think?’

  Piay was just about to try another line including the phrase ‘ten naked women’, when he realised that the hairs on the back of his neck were prickling. He turned his head to see Harrar, sitting in front of his tent and glaring at him with a poisonous look on his face.

  ‘You’ve got to build bridges with that man,’ Myssa said, glancing in Harrar’s direction.

  ‘I’d rather fight every member of the Sons of Apis single-handed.’

  ‘Well, you don’t have a choice. Taita is expecting you and Harrar to work together in Memphis.’

  ‘No – he was expecting me to work with Azref. Harrar’s a very different proposition.’

  ‘But you need him, just the same.’

  Piay sighed. ‘I’m going to try my luck with a Hyksos,’ he said. ‘That’s a lot easier than Harrar.’

  He made his way along the deck to join Captain Gatas, who was leaning against the rail with Shamshi squatting beside him like a pet dog. The barbarian didn’t seem troubled by his captivity. In fact, he appeared to be enjoying himself, whistling through his teeth and nodding at everyone who passed.

  Piay levelled a finger at him. ‘We need to have words.’

  The barbarian raised his eyebrows in a show of innocence. ‘Surely I have already told you so much—’

  ‘Well, I’ve got some new questions to ask you.’

  ‘You may count on me.’ Shamshi pressed his right hand against his breast. ‘I am a man of honour.’

  ‘Then tell me all about Khin and Akkan,’ Piay said. ‘I met Khin last night and he told me about his brother. It took me a while to remember where I had heard that name before – Akkan, son of Abisha – but it was from your lips. I’m assuming you know them both. When Gatas captured you, you were working for Akkan – even if he did run away the moment he saw an Egyptian.’

  ‘Akkan is not a coward,’ Shamshi said, with an intensity which suggested that he still, even now, had faith in his former leader.

  ‘Well, then where is he?’ Piay asked. ‘He cannot simply vanish into thin air.’

  Shamshi twisted his mouth into an ugly smile. ‘I think you will be surprised, Egyptian, at what Akkan the Child-Killer can and cannot do.’

  ‘So, tell me about those two brothers. We are entering a contest in which the losers will probably die. Why would one brother fight another to the death?’

  Shamshi shrugged. ‘Maybe because they are too alike, so there is only room in this world for one of them.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Piay asked, thinking that Khin’s assessment of himself and Akkan was very different from Shamshi’s.

  ‘If you met Khin, then you know that he is a sly dog, always plotting this and that.’

  Piay laughed. ‘Oh, he’s sly all right. But mostly he was plotting how exactly to kill me.’

  ‘That he did not choose a simple knife to your throat is all that you need to know about the kind of man Khin is. But other than that, he is no different from Akkan. Both are bloodthirsty, cruel, as likely to stab a man as slap him on the back and . . . Wait.’ Shamshi held up a finger. ‘I have deceived you, forgive me.’

  ‘In what way?’ Piay asked.

  ‘Because there is another way in which the two sons of Abisha the Canaanite differ. Akkan is driven to solve the riddle of Imhotep for the glory of the Hyksos. And now that we have been defeated, for the first time in the long story of my people, I am sure that he wishes this more even than before. But Khin’s only desire is to solve the riddle for himself.’

  ‘That’s not what Khin says,’ Piay observed. ‘He swears that he is still a loyal follower of King Khamudi.’

  Shamshi’s only response was to spit contemptuously onto the deck.

  ‘So, you’ve taken sides in the quarrel,’ Piay said. ‘Very well, then, tell me what you know about about Akkan, and the lengths to which he will go to serve his gods.’

  ‘Ah . . .’ Shamshi said. ‘So you have heard the story of the Child-Killer?’

  ‘Is it only a story?’

  Shamshi shrugged. ‘Who can say for sure what happens when a man and his son are alone in the wilderness? Still, as one who is himself devoted to the service of Seth, the all-merciful, I can tell you that, yes, Akkan has the god’s great favour. But he is not the first of our warriors of whom that is true. There was another before him, who claimed Seth spoke to him. Sakir was his name.’

  Piay felt a deep chill to hear that name again, and he locked eyes with Hannu. Sakir was the murderous, seemingly indestructible warrior who had claimed to be Seth’s agent upon this earth, and had tracked Piay halfway across the world to destroy him. Neither sword, nor axe, nor fire seemed to kill Sakir. Only when Piay had stabbed him with a spear and trapped him in the hold of a sinking galley did his end come.

  Shamshi noticed the look. ‘So, you have heard of him?’

  Piay ignored the question. ‘Was Sakir connected to Akkan?’ he asked instead.

  ‘Only because they were both led to Seth by the same man.’