The luxor curse, p.33
The Luxor Curse, page 33
part #1 of Kathryn Black Series
Kate had a thought. “You know that all our family, or should I say the vast part of our family, are connected with the Winter Palace, which I know has to be kept a secret, but only a secret because Nakhtifi, being unknown, is so vulnerable.”
“Come on, Kate, spit it out,” said Ramses, “as I can see the morning sun rising over there.”
“Ha-ha, Ramses, very funny, but I’m trying to make a very valid point. No soldier would have changed sides on a promise, as whatever they do affects their entire family, so gold must have been found and given. Half now and half later, or something like that, but, and this is my point …” Ramses gave a protracted yawn, but was soon all ears. “Greed made them change sides, so if we know which area their family live in, we only have to look for the family with a new car, large screen television and other ostentations that do not fit in within an area of traditional mud brick houses, as with greed goes stupidity.”
Everyone congratulated Kate on her insight. Without anything more being said, Bast turned back into cat form, jumped onto the ancient lookout tower, and was gone.
“Bast knows where to look as there are two villages not that far from here,” said Ramses. “Both are on the edge of the desert, with one being primarily made up of descendants of Tausert’s family, the other Setnakht’s. If there is anything awry, Bast will find it.”
“How do we bring this to an end?” asked Kate.
“There are several options, but firstly we need to hear from Bast before we know which one to take. Right Dad,” said Ramses joking with Nakhtifi, who returned a scowl.
“Why do you look younger than your son, Ramses?”
“Well, Kate, it is healthy living, bed before nine and never drinking wine.”
“Oh, do be serious, as it’s well after nine and you drink red wine as if it was water.”
“So young and so beautiful, yet you are starting to sound like my mother. It happens to them all, Alex. I would stay single if I was you. Just not worth the aggravation. Look at my son, see what marriage has done for him.”
“What Ramses, my dear father, is not telling you, is that everyone in the afterlife looks as they did at their most powerful. Hence, he looks youthful, like he does in the majority of his statues. Because he did not have the good grace to die young, I was over sixty when I became pharaoh. So, as this was the most powerful time in my life, I live in the afterlife looking like an old man even though I died younger than him. Who said that the afterlife was any fairer than life?”
Bast ran back into the room before she collapsed, panting, on the operating table, waving a paw. A gesture which said, ‘I have news, just give me a minute to catch my breath’.
Rose offered around the tea that she had just brewed. Everyone took a cup apart from Bast, who was still recovering. The cup which Ramses had taken was an empty cup, into which he poured his beloved red wine.
Bast sat up, changed into female form, her legs now dangling over the edge of the operating table. Still panting, she started to talk, “If they were not so stupid, just the slightest bit normal, it would make my job so much harder. Great thought by the way, Kate, as right in the middle of a couple of hundred self-built mud brick homes and donkey carts is a brand-new BMW 4x4, complete with tasteful Tweety Pie seat covers! Oh, and it gets better, as they were obviously not content with that, because it is parked outside of a house where a motorised satellite dish, large enough to pick up signals from Mars, is being fitted on the flat roof as I speak. Leaning against a wall I saw the discarded box from a flat screen television. It’s so large that they must have had difficulty finding anywhere to put it. The really good news is that I arrived as a big argument was taking place so I know exactly who we are up against. The soldiers who attacked us at the banquet are all from Tausert’s family, so we do not have to fight both Tausert and Setnakht’s soldiers, but there is even better news!” Bast took a few deep breaths before she continued. “Tausert is not behind the attack. Both Tausert and Setnakht remain loyal. It appears that just one school of Tausert’s elite soldiers agreed to fight for Merenptah as mercenaries.”
“How many soldiers is that?” asked Kate.
“Shall I Bast?”
“Please do, Ramses.”
“One hundred to five hundred, which would be nothing if they were not elite soldiers.”
“School?” asked Alex.
“Think of one of many military academies each dealing with different aspects of warfare. If you are right, Bast, this is better than we could have hoped for.”
“If you had listened to the argument that I listened to, you would know that I am right and, as I have said several times already, it gets better. They only turned mercenary because a member of their modern family desperately needed a large amount of money to pay for the hospital treatment of a very sick daughter. A deal was struck with Merenptah where the modern family were guided to find the gold, in return for the loyalty of the ancient soldiers, but once they had their hands on so much wealth, yes, you guessed it, they bought things for themselves rather than medical treatment for their daughter.
“The ancient soldiers have only just found this out. To say that they are furious is putting it mildly. So, when we go into battle, it is more than likely that we will only have to face Merenptah and his army, and we have beaten them before.”
“It is serious enough, but it could have been a lot worse,” said Nakhtifi with some relief.
“Bast, can you get the girl to a hospital?” asked Rose.
“Already done,” said Bast, “and your name is on the bill.”
“Thanks, Bast.”
“You are most welcome.”
“Regrettably, I know my son,” said Ramses of Merenptah, looking serious for once. “He had enough wives, yet he had Keydora killed because she refused to marry him. He tried to have her older sister, Henutmehyt, put to death because she also refused to marry him, even though she was protected by being a dancer of Amun at Karnak.” Alex and Kate gave each other a knowing look. “Thankfully, you were able to save her, Nakhtifi. Such is the brutality of Merenptah that he has to kill anyone who gets in his way, and Nakhtifi, my son, you most certainly got in his way. I am proud of you for doing so.
“Right now we have a battle that we must win, a battle for our future, as Merenptah will attack us again, especially as he now thinks that he has us at a disadvantage. I am just waiting to hear where he is massing his army, as we will have to ensure that this time we attack him before he attacks us. Tonight, we take the fight to him!”
Chapter 24
-
The End is Only
the Beginning
They had all reached the point of screaming because they needed to be out doing something, rather than sitting around waiting for news of Merenptah. An ancient soldier appeared, it was Ropet, quickly followed by Sanuba, who, much to everyone’s surprise, appeared with Cairo. He quickly moved away from the corner as he apologised, because he had not been able to get in any other way. Excitedly as well as animatedly Ropet and Sanuba had a big discussion with Ramses. Everyone listened to what was being said. Kate needed some help with understanding, whilst Alex needed every word to be translated.
Ramses was told that Merenptah was preparing an attack from the Valley of the Bees, an attack which would have already taken place if it wasn’t for dissension in his ranks. Tausert’s elite soldiers were steadfastly refusing to take part in the fight, having discovered that they had been totally betrayed by their own modern family. It was clear to all that it was only the circumstances which had caused them to change allegiance, and though they would have to be dealt with later, they were not now a force which was going to add to the problems of today.
Ropet and Sanuba left, allowing for a much more emotive discussion to take place, though whatever was said, it always came back to the same point. They must attack Merenptah now in order to reduce the size of his army, before he had the time to organise his troops for a full attack on them. They did not have to win the battle, all they had to do was give Merenptah a casualty rate which was unsustainable, as then his soldiers would lose the will to fight. To achieve this, they must have as many soldiers attacking his troops as there were removing their names.
“What was the warlock’s weakness that you spoke of a while ago?” asked Alex of Ramses.
“Well, Alex, unless the warlock can turn himself into a pharaoh, and I seriously doubt that his magic runs to a feat such as that, he needs Merenptah. In life Merenptah drew his strength from his warlock, though in death the roles have been somewhat reversed.”
“You likened it to a game of chess and the taking of the king. Can we get rid of Merenptah for good?”
“That was just a metaphor, wishful thinking on my part, as we can no more rid ourselves of him than we can of any pharaoh whose name is too well known. What we can do, and what we have been doing, with varying degrees of success over many centuries, is to reduce the size of his considerable army by removing them, and therefore their families, from the afterlife. The smaller his army is, the less power he has. It is a tactic that will take us another few thousand years if we are to be totally successful, as he has a massive army, though it is a tactic which infuriates his warlock, and that alone gives me great pleasure.”
“So,” said Kate, “let’s see if I’ve got this right. If we removed all the names from Merenptah’s army, he would have no army and therefore he would pose no threat to us or anyone. Let’s do that. Let’s get everyone removing names.”
“It is not quite as simple as that, Kate,” said Nakhtifi. “I am a totally unknown pharaoh, so I can all too easily be removed from the afterlife. Therefore, I must be protected, not because I value my place in the afterlife, but because my removal would also remove the many thousands of people who rely on me for their place in the afterlife. This always means that a very large part of my army is far less effective than they would be, if they did not have to worry about protecting me.”
Alex now understood that whilst it was only Kate who believed in the existence of a Pharaoh Nakhtifi, it was only her the warlock had wanted dead. Now that he and Cairo knew, all three of them were in mortal danger. He would not tell Cairo … yet!
The conversation went around in circles, until Rose finally spoke up, which appeared to Kate to be what the ancients had been waiting for.
“Well, Nakhtifi, tonight we will give your army the chance to be effective, very effective. In order to hit Merenptah as hard as we possibly can, we need to attack him and his army in the Valley of the Bees. We must attack before they are fully prepared for battle, while they are still reeling from the loss of Tausert’s elite soldiers. That means we must attack them now, not tomorrow, but right now.
“Merenptah will be ninety-nine percent certain that we know exactly where his army is massing. I think that before the loss of the elite soldiers he actually wanted us to know, perhaps even needed us to know, so our army would walk straight into the traps he had set for us in the surrounding hills. He and his generals will be expecting any attack to come from the high ground. They all know, as any military strategist would, that we wouldn’t stand a chance if we came at him head on down the valley. Attacking from the low ground we would be slaughtered. Yes, he and his generals would be confident in the knowledge that it would be certain suicide for us and our army if we were to attack straight on … so that is exactly what we will do. Our attack will come not from the high ground, but from the moral high ground.”
Rose took a few moments as she mentally went through her plan, though quite soon the look on her face told everyone present that she was more than happy with it. Ramses was rubbing his hands with glee, Nakhtifi looked the slightest bit uncertain, Bast gave a satisfied purr. The look on the faces of Kate, Alex and Cairo displayed that they were anything except happy with Rose’s plan, as suicide was not high on their list of things to do before they die!
“We need a diversion down the centre of the valley, along with a left and right flank of soldiers, followed by a left and right flank of name pickers, with each name picker assigned a soldier for protection. This way the pickers will be able to work quickly, without the worry of coming under attack. What we must do, if this plan is to have any chance of success, is to cause the most confusion that we can in the shortest possible time. That will only happen if our first attack is right down the middle, as that will split Merenptah’s army in two. Are you happy with this?” Rose asked, directing her question at Ramses.
“Did you see that?” said Kate in a whisper to Alex. “The greatest pharaoh Egypt has ever known is taking his battle orders from Rose. This is weird.”
“Everything about this holiday has been weird, so why should anything change now?”
“There is no detail to her plan, yet Ramses agreed, and not only did he agree, he happily agreed.”
“Yes, he did, though Nakhtifi instantly agreed as well. Obviously Rose must be very highly regarded by them both. There must be more to her than meets the eye.”
“Well, you two, do you have any questions before I go into details?”
Kate and Alex both had questions, many, many questions, but they both said “No” to Rose, as neither of them knew which question to ask first.
“Okay, tonight we are going to do things somewhat backwards,” said Rose, who was pleased with the general look of confusion on the faces around her. Even Cairo, who had said nothing, had not yet fallen asleep. “Ramses, would you please tell our young friends what the normal sequence of battle is?”
“Yes,” he said just before he took a sip of red wine. “Well, it is all quite straight forward really. My foot soldiers go in first. These are the least trained and lowest paid of my soldiers, and though their casualty rate is high, they are easy to replace. These are followed, though at a distance, by my first level horse soldiers. These are foot soldiers who have survived their first three battles without needing the services of Hathor. They are automatically promoted and mounted on my older horses. They cost me more as they also have a dental plan.”
“What!” exclaimed Kate in disbelief.
“Well, so many of them fall off and break a tooth or two whilst they are learning to ride, that I have a dentist remove all their teeth on the day of their promotion.”
Kate rolled her eyes as if to say ‘I should have known’.
“After these come my elite troops. These are a mixture of mounted and foot soldiers, many of which have specialist skills. They cost me a small fortune as they are housed in the royal barracks. Finally, it is my chariots. There are two horses to each chariot, with one charioteer and one archer in each. They are very highly skilled and extremely overpaid. So please, Rose, do not send these in first, as they are so difficult to replace.”
“Have no worry, Ramses, I will protect your treasured chariots, I always do. However, tonight we will alter the sequence of battle, as this time your first level horse soldiers will go in first, and I need them to go in at speed.”
“But most of those soldiers can only just about sit on a horse when it is walking, at speed they will all be on the ground.”
“Then tie them on, Ramses, and the same goes for you with your troops, Nakhtifi, as this time we use your troops as well, because this will only work if we hit Merenptah’s army both hard and fast.”
“What of my protection?” asked Nakhtifi.
“I’m going for shock and awe. More soldiers than they have ever seen attacking them, from a direction that they know we cannot attack them from. We will not be attacking for long. This will be a quick in and out, so surround yourself with just ten of your most trusted soldiers, twenty if you must, but no more than that. The rest will be back protecting you before you know it. I shall go straight through the centre of Merenptah’s troops to split them. That way they will all be focussing on me. With any luck they will not know what hit them until it is far too late. Your soldiers, Ramses, will be to my left, though behind me, as we go up the valley. Neither you nor they will have much space to get out of there should anything go wrong, as they will be up against the Theban Hills. Your troops, Nakhtifi, will be attacking down the right-hand side of the valley, in line with Ramses’. This will give you plenty of room to run should the need arise. With two horses and in a chariot on your own, you will be able to outrun anyone, except Ramses himself.
“Now for the name pickers and their guards. The name pickers are your foot soldiers, and they will go in immediately behind your first level horse soldiers. Are you listening, Nakhtifi, as your soldiers will be doing exactly the same?” He nodded, though not with much enthusiasm. “The name pickers will also be going in without swords or weapons of any kind. They must be totally unarmed, as they will need to move fast in order to remove names from the fallen bodies just as quickly as they can. Weapons would only slow them down.”
“Where will these fallen soldiers be coming from, as our first level horse soldiers will not be able to do more than cause panic?” asked Nakhtifi.
“Yes, but panic is the essence of my plan, as it will make it easy for your elite troops to finish off Merenptah’s soldiers one by one. Each of your elite soldiers, who will be doing the killing, will be paired with a name picker. I need every kill to result in the fallen soldier, his wives and his children to be removed from the afterlife. I also need you to both make sure, beyond any doubt, that your elite soldiers are on top form. They need to be told in no uncertain terms, that should the name picker they are paired with be injured in any way, they will be removed from the afterlife.”
“Now you have gone too far, Rose, I will not stand for that,” said Nakhtifi.
“Oh, do shut up,” said Ramses.
“I will not do it, this is barbaric.”
Ramses went to speak, but Rose held a hand up, and he stopped immediately. “This is not the time for a debate. I need to know if you will do as I say or not. Without your one-hundred percent commitment to my plan it will fail, and many more lives than absolutely needed will be lost.”
