Soldier of Sidon

This is not so strange as Beteshu the Panther, but it is strange nonetheless, and I should set it down. The landlord lit our way to the chamber we had rented for the night, and left the lamp with us when he bid us good night. (This is the custom.) Myt-ser'eu blew out the lamp before taking off her gown. Later, when I woke, it seemed to me our lamp had been of silver, formed like a dove. I thought it strange that an i

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Muslak said, "I hear there's a canal."

"There is," Thotmaktef told him, "I believe we will have to pay to use it."

Muslak nodded. "Fee for the city and hire oxen to pull the ship. Qanju will attend to all that."

Myt-ser'eu said, "I saw a woman today as black as my wig."

We had all seen black men, although I did not say so.

"All the people of Kush are as black as your wig," Thotmaktef told her, "and they rule here."

I said, "They are good bowmen-as good as the men of Parsa."

Thotmaktef nodded. "When my nation was in its glory, we enlisted mercenaries from Kush and Nysa by the thousand for that reason. Our own men are as brave as those of any nation, and we are the oldest nation and the best, but-"

Neht-nefret said, "What's this about Nysa? I thought we were going to Yam."

"We are going as far as the river will take us." Thotmaktef smiled. "And it will certainly take us deep into Nysa-my master told all of us that some time ago, and you should have listened. Of course, it may require a year to get there."

(Myt-ser'eu had been holding my hand beneath the table; I felt her grip tighten.)

"You'll drive my wife off," Muslak complained.

"If she's going to interrupt me, I would just as soon drive her off."

"He's angry because you have a river-wife and he doesn't," Neht-nefret told Muslak. "I've seen this kind of thing before."

"Then he'll be angry at Latro and me too," Myt-ser'eu said. "Are you, Thotmaktef? What harm have we done you?"

"None." Thotmaktef smiled again. "No doubt Neht-nefret's right. But I'll offer you both a morsel of good advice. You must learn to be kind, and polite, to those who have money. Suppose Latro were to cast you off because you interrupted him too often. Do you interrupt him?"

Myt-ser'eu shook her head. "Only when we're playing."

"Then you have little to fear. And of course he ca

Neht-nefret began, "If you-"

Thotmaktef interrupted her. "You might try to join the women of the town, of course. That is to say you might try if we were in a town when your present protector beat you soundly and told you to go. They would stone you, wouldn't they? There are too many such women already in most towns, and too few men who want them."

Myt-ser'eu said very softly, "I would go to the temple of Hathor. So would Neht-nefret."

Thotmaktef nodded. "There may be one here. Certainly you might look. I very much doubt that there are any left south of the cataract."

A stout, middle-aged man whose curling hair is starting to gray had come in. Neht-nefret waved to him. "Join us, Noble Agathocles! There's plenty of room for you."

He brought up a stool, sitting between Neht-nefret and me. "I didn't see you over here," he told me in a new tongue. "You don't mind?"

I spoke in that of Kemet. "You're very welcome here, but you'd better talk like this or the others may think we're plotting."

"They have river-horse meat here," Neht-nefret told him. "Can you imagine? Just like our king used to eat in the old days. We never got that in the delta."

"I've never eaten it," Agathocles said.

"Neither have we, but we all ordered it. It's supposed to be delicious."

Thotmaktef said, "I hope it really is river-horse, and not pork." Looking straight at Neht-nefret he added, "Sahuset eats pork. He told me."

Myt-ser'eu said, "They eat sheep's flesh in that place downriver where the wolf-god was."

"He is Ap-uat," Thotmaktef told her, "and his city is Asyut. They do indeed. They do, but I do not. What about you, Neht-nefret?"

"Certainly not!"

"But pork, of course. You eat pork?"

She shook her head violently.

Agathocles said, "Well, I do. Or I have, back home."

"Ah!" Thotmaktef smiled again. "Sahuset and our new friend here are eliminated, I think. That leaves only me, Neht-nefret."

Muslak nodded. "You'd better be nice to him, and not interrupt. Only not too nice. You know what I mean."

"It sounds like I've stepped into the middle of something," Agathocles muttered.

"It's over now," Muslak told him.

Everyone was quiet after that until a serving girl came with more beer, and Agathocles ordered. Then Myt-ser'eu said, "Sahuset has a wife, really. Latro and I met her last night. I suppose he's forgotten by now."

I had, but had read of her here. I nodded. "Her name's Sabra."

Muslak said, "There's no such woman on my ship."

"I suppose she met us here." Myt-ser'eu looked to me for support.

I said, "She must have known we were coming to this city-no doubt Sahuset told her before he left. Couldn't she have hired a boat?"

Muslak shrugged. "Well, she's welcome to travel with us, if her husband allows it and the Noble Qanju doesn't object."

Thotmaktef said, "What about me, Captain? You're bringing a wife, and so is your friend Latro. Might I have one too?"

Muslak laughed. "Do you expect me to find you a girl?"

"No, indeed. I'll do my own finding."

"Then I don't mind if Qanju doesn't."

22

KNOWING SPEECH IS ever worth hearing. Thus, before Myt-ser'eu blew out the lamp, I asked her whether she thought Thotmaktef would really find a woman that night.

She stretched and belched. "I had wonderful time, dancing and everything, but now I wish I hadn't drunk so much beer. If I hadn't, I could tie into you properly, O my lover and protector. Every now and then you can be just unbelievably stupid."

I laughed and said I was glad I had forgotten all the other times.

"Well, I haven't, and I wish I could. Didn't you notice him slipping away as soon as I got out my lute?"

"Of course I did. That's why I asked."

"Well, you might go looking for a girl at this time of night, and you might get knocked on the head for your trouble too. Should I leave on this amulet?"

"Yes," I said, "and if you take it off, I'll put it back on you after you go to sleep."

She yawned and stretched. "Twenty days in the moon you're asleep before I am. No, dearest Latro, that young priest is not the type to sift the alleys after dark. Is it all right if I lie down?"

I said I would prefer it.

"So would I." She removed her wig, hung it on the bedpost, and stretched herself upon the bed. "Let me say all this before we get too excited." She yawned again. "Thotmaktef has his girl. When he left us, he went to see her or went to get her. One or the other. He would never have spoken out the way he did, right in front of Neht-nefret and me, unless he had one. He might-I said might-have asked the captain privately this afternoon. But I doubt it. He-"