Kadesh A Novel of Ancient Egypt by Max Overton

Chapter 1

Year 2 of Usermaatre Ramesses

The trading ship Ulgash was heavily laden and thrashed its way slowly southward just off the coast. If the northerly winds had been blowing it would have raised its sail and made better time, but the wind had backed to the west and any attempt to use its large square sail would have driven it onto the rocks. Captain Akkad-li fretted as he stood by the steering oar, alternating between exhorting his rowers to greater efforts and scanning the seaward vistas. The shores were unfriendly without even a basic harbour, and for this Akkad-li was grateful, for pirates were not unknown in those waters. Another two days to reach the relative safety of the Kemetu river if all went well...a day if the wind became favourable.

The steersman tapped Akkad-li on the shoulder and pointed out to sea. Two small smudges on the horizon marred the faintly curved line between sea and sky. The smudges grew in size, becoming squares of red and brown sails.

"Sherden pirates," Akkad-li groaned. He turned toward his already straining oarsmen. "Pull, you sons of whores, or we're all lost," he bellowed.

The sails of the Sherden pirates inexorably drew closer, the ships using the westerly winds to bear down on their prey. Oarsmen lost heart as they saw their doom approaching, and the stroke faltered, the Ulgash wallowing as they lost way. One of the merchants on board approached Akkad-li, nervously fingering the hilt of a short sword tucked in the sash of his robes.

"Do we fight?" he asked.

"Are you mad?" Akkad-li countered. "We would be slaughtered." He shook his head wearily. "We must trust to their mercy."

"Mercy? From pirates?" asked another merchant.

"These are Sherden pirates," Akkad-li explained. "They are more pragmatic than others of the Sea Peoples. They will rob us of everything we have and then let us go, knowing that they can capture us again in the future, with a fresh cargo."

And that is what happened. The Sherden pirates rapidly overhauled the wallowing merchant ship and forced its surrender. They boarded the cargo ships and disarmed everybody, herding them to the stern while they examined the cargo. Pirates started transferring the cargo across to their own ships, while their captain spoke to Akkad-li.

"You were unlucky," the pirate captain said. "Another day...half a day even...and you might have looked for the protection of Kemetu ships."

Akkad-li shrugged. "Such is life. When asked, whom shall I say robbed us?"

"Robbed? I prefer to regard our action as relieving you of the necessity of unloading and selling your cargo in Kemet. Instead, we have bought it from you."

"Ah, I must have missed that part," Akkad-li said. "What great sum did you pay us?"

"I gave you your lives," the pirate captain said. A few of the pirates within earshot laughed at their captain's witticism. "Surely you value your lives above any cargo?"

"You make a good point, Captain...?"

"Mutbaal. And you are?"

"Akkad-li."

"Well, Captain Akkad-li, now I must leave you to continue your voyage..."

"Sail," cried out a pirate from his position atop the mast of one of their ships.

"What direction?" Mutbaal demanded.

"Southwest...two sails...no, three...more."

Mutbaal ordered his men back aboard his own vessels and had them man the oars, the ships slowly turning and threshing their way slowly away from the Ulgash and out to sea. The other sails were in plain sight from the deck now, and could be seen to be white.

"Kemetu," Mutbaal snarled. "And we have the wind against us."

"We could run for it," one of the other pirates said.

"They're fornicating Kemetu naval vessels. We'll never outrun them. We have a choice; boys--surrender and be executed, or fight and die."

It was not in the Sherden nature to surrender, so they fought, two pirate ships against five naval ships, the smallest of which was nearly twice as large. There was only one possible outcome, and after a short but fierce fight, the majority of Mutbaal's crew lay dead and he, along with a score of others similarly wounded, knelt in front of their captors, their arms bound.

"I should just kill you," the Kemetu commander said. "You are foul pirates and deserving of death."

Mutbaal wished his arms were free so he could gesture his defiance, but had to be satisfied with a yawn and a grin.

"Do as you wish, Kemetu. I will not beg for my life."

"Then will you beg for the lives of your men?"

"They are all free men and able to speak for themselves."

The commander surveyed the bound men before him. "What say you? Beg and I might spare you."

"Your mother is a diseased donkey," one of the men replied. "We are Mutbaal's men and where he goes, we go. Do your worst, Kemetu."

"You are Sherden?"

"We are," Mutbaal said. "What of it?"

The commander thought for a few minutes and then ordered his men secure the pirates beneath decks.

"I am going to take you back to Kemet. Your Sherden brethren have wrought much harm in Ta Mehu, and I think the king might like to say a few words to you before he decides your fate."

The voyage back to the shores of Kemet took only a day and a half, and a further half day to pierce the sluggish freshwater stream of the Great River, before docking at the newly built City of Ramesses. When Mutbaal was brought on deck with bronze chains binding him, he stopped and stared at the great palace, the huge stables and barracks, and at the city starting to spread out around them.

"This is Per-Ramesses?" he asked. "I believed it to be a mere frontier fort."

"Soon it will be the capital city of Kemet, with resident army corps to protect the northern borders from scum like you," the commander replied.

"What's your name, commander? So I might tell everyone who captured me."

"You'll have no opportunity to talk. I imagine the king will have you executed immediately."

Mutbaal shrugged. "No doubt, but I'd still like to know your name."

"I am Commander Kamose."

"Born of the Bull, eh? I'd have thought you more suited to land battles."

"You surprise me, pirate. I thought you all a savage lot; people who did not understand the nuances of a civilised tongue."

"One picks up a few words here and there," Mutbaal said. "When one raids a country, one likes to understand what the natives say of you."

"I can imagine what they said of you."

Mutbaal grinned. "I have a Kemetu wife back home, and two sons off her. I captured her on a raid some five years past. She helped my understanding of all things Kemetu."

Kamose scowled. "I wondered why you could speak our tongue."

"My name is Mutbaal, if you are interested. It means, simply, Man of Baal."

"I've heard that name."

"I shared it with a king of Kanaan who lived not so long ago. Give me time and I will make the name more famous than he ever could."

"You won't have the time, Man of Baal. You'll probably be dead in a day or two."

"Ah well...all men die. Perhaps I can inspire others by the manner of my death."

"You have courage, at least. I had not thought to look for that in a pirate."

Conversation ceased then, as the rest of the prisoners were brought up on deck, and they were all herded off the ship and marched to a prison adjoining the barracks. They were all housed together in a large cell that was reasonably clean, if only because it was of relatively recent construction. Mutbaal made the rounds of all his men, checking on their wounds and speaking words of encouragement.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" asked one of his men.

Mutbaal considered lying to keep their spirits up, but decided his men deserved the truth. "Very likely, but we've lived with death all our lives, haven't we? What counts is not how long we live, but how we meet death. Let's show them the Sherden are not to be taken lightly."

His men cheered his words, but Mutbaal turned away with tears in his eyes. He prayed to Baal that he, and his men, would be able to meet death bravely when it came.

The next day, the Kemetu king sent for the pirates and they were all led shackled into the great audience hall in the palace, where Ramesses sat in splendour on his throne. Courtiers, nobles and senior army officers lined the walls, staring as the captives were brought in, and several made disparaging remarks about the facial hair and uncouth appearance of the Sherden. Mutbaal heard and understood them, and though his men probably had not got the sense of the words, he struck back, speaking Kemetu in a deep clear voice.

"Pay no attention to these foreigners, for as every Sherden knows, a man without a beard is a woman."

Murmurs of astonishment and then anger broke out, quickly quelled by the officers of Tjaty Paser who called for silence. Guards took hold of Mutbaal and his men and forced them to their knees in front of the throne.

"Usermaatre Ramesses, Son of Re, Lord of the Two Lands, Ruler of Bee and Sedge, Life, Health, Prosperity!"

The assembled court echoed the last three words, and after the echoes had died away between the tall pillars of the hall, Paser spoke again.

"Son of Re, these are the Sherden pirates who have ravaged so many traders bringing trade goods to Kemet. Our illustrious naval commander, Kamose, braved great dangers, fighting against huge odds, before slaughtering several hundred pirates and capturing this handful, together with their leader, so that you may see them and pass just sentence upon these killers."

"Son of Re," Mutbaal called out, "you are being lied to..."

A guard stepped up and hit him over the head with a staff, knocking him sprawling. Another drew a sword and gripped Mutbaal by his long hair, drawing his head back.

"Wait," Ramesses ordered. "Raise him up. I would hear this pirate who speaks our language."

There was a delay of a few minutes while Mutbaal was revived and given water to drink. Then, with blood still matting his hair, and crusting on one cheek, he faced the king again.

"Son of Re, hear me. What you have been told is a lie."

"You are not a pirate?"

"Well, yes, I am, and yes, I have preyed on merchant vessels. In fact we took a nice little ship just before Kamose and his sailor boys showed up."

"Then how are these lies?"

"We were outnumbered by your navy, Great King, not the other way round. And as for several hundred pirates, well... I've never commanded even as many as a hundred...half that, perhaps. Your sailors killed perhaps thirty and captured twenty others, and I dare say if you ask the right people, they'll tell you Kamose lost as many men."

"So Commander Kamose exaggerated a bit. You are still a killer, though?"

"I cannot deny that, Son of Re. My people gave me two ships and ordered me to seize merchant vessels. I try not to kill unnecessarily, but sometimes people imagine they can drive me off." Mutbaal grinned and shook his head, wincing as the motion sent stabs of pain through his head. "I swore an oath to my Baal that I would perform my tasks to the best of my ability, and I have kept my word."

Ramesses conferred with Paser in a low voice for a few minutes, before turning back to the pirates. "My Tjaty tells me that there is some doubt about my commander's report..."

"Don't be too hard on him. He's only trying to look good in your eyes."

"Silence!" Paser yelled. "You do not interrupt the king, on pain of death."

"My apologies, Son of Re. I meant no disrespect."

"As I was saying," Ramesses went on, "there is some doubt about the official account of the battle. If it was as you say, you fought well."

"We are well-trained, Son of Re. I could not ask for better men under my command."

"So, Captain Mutbaal, what are we to do with you?"

"You could reward us richly and send us home, Great King."

Ramesses stared for several moments and then laughed. "Why should I reward you when you have done nothing for me?"

"Then command me, Son of Re. I will serve you and you will richly reward me."

Once more, Ramesses stared at the pirate chief. "I believe you mean that."

Mutbaal shrugged. "I am a mercenary. I sell my skills to whoever will pay me. If you pay me more than I could get as a pirate, I will serve you faithfully."

A murmur of outrage swelled among the listeners to this conversation, silenced in a moment when the king raised his hand. Ramesses beckoned to Tjaty Paser again.

"Can this man be trusted? Should he be trusted?"

"As to whether you should, Son of Re, he is a worthy enemy and could be a valuable addition to your forces. Can you trust him? Perhaps; if you can bind him in a way that means something to him."

"Mutbaal of the Sherden," Ramesses said. "Do you fear the gods?"

"I am named Man of Baal, and I hold Baal above all other gods. That is not to say I hold other gods in lesser regard, particularly when I am in their lands...so, yes, I fear the gods."

"Among the Sherden, is an oath taken in the name of Baal binding?"

Mutbaal nodded. "It would be a foolish man who foreswore his god." He smiled. "I think we might come to a mutually beneficial arrangement, Great King."

Ramesses nodded. "I think we might. Mutbaal, will you serve me? Will you swear on your Baal that you will obey me, use your sword on my behalf and remain faithful to me?"

"And in return?"

"First, I will spare your life. Further, I will honour you and your service, rewarding you in ways that will make your former life of piracy seem like scratching in the dirt like a peasant."

Mutbaal considered the king's words. "I will swear on my Baal that I will keep faith with you, Son of Re."

"And your men?"

Mutbaal turned his back on the king, earning hisses of dismay from the onlookers, though the pirate ignored everything except his men. He spoke in the Sherden tongue and listened to their responses, speaking again, before turning back to Ramesses.

"My men will enter service under my command, Son of Re, and we do hereby swear by the Baal we all hold sacred, that we will fight for you faithfully, obeying you in all things."

"Then strike the chains from the arms of these men," Ramesses told Paser. "Have them housed and fed as honoured members of my army."

"Under whose immediate command, Son of Re?"

"Under Amun, for Amun corps is where I fight. These men fight for me personally."

Paser made an expression as if he had tasted something bitter, but bowed before his king. "Let it be as you command, Son of Re."