Chapter four
“I guess there really are a hundred and one uses for a rampaging elephant,” Shelley said as we were negotiating a steep path.
“Yes there is. Is that the only spell you have?”
“Ya, but you have all your spells right?”
“Um... no... I have no spells. I don’t have my bracelet,” I said.
“Oh... that’s not good is it?”
“We have to stop soon and start preparing some emergency survival magic.”
“Emergency survival magic?”
“Yes, it’s part of your training, we have to find local materials and use them to prepare spells to enable us to survive.”
We soon came upon a small clearing which exactly the things I had been looking for, I saw a small length of faded rope and a few pieces sun bleached wood. I picked up the rope and pulled it as hard as I could. It was still strong.
“OK, use your copy spell to make more rope and wood. I will make an anchor for our craft.”
I pulled a pad of paper and pen from my pocket. I flipped the pad open to a blank page and started to write a simple spell I knew from memory.
“The secret is to use very simple spells that you know from memory. This will prevent something catastrophic from happening,” I said.
I showed Shelley the spell before I activated it.
“Now we have an anchor for a flying craft,” I said pointing to the spells effect.
“Oh I see, now we just lash the other pieces of wood to it to make a platform.”
“Exactly.”
We spent about an hour making a crude platform out of the wood and pieces of rope. It wasn’t pretty but looked reasonably safe and solid.
“Ok now we need some kind of weapon to protect ourselves. Let’ s roll that rock onto the platform.”
We both maneuvered a large round rock onto the platform. It weighed about eighty pounds. I pulled out the pad of paper again and wrote another simple spell.
“Let’s go,” I said as I climbed onto the platform.”
I raised the platform about two hundred feet straight into the air then stopped it.
“Now carefully help me push the rock over the edge... don’t fall.” I said.
We heaved the rock over the side of the platform and watched it fall to the ground. I pulled out the pad opened it up to the spell, I then folded the bottom of the page. I wrote a few more lines onto the spell continuing over the fold.
“See, a simple way of activating a spell,” I showed Shelley the fold.
I unfolded the paper pointed the pad towards a large hill then folded it so that all the writing was visible. A large rock appeared two feet in front of the pad and then flew horizontally at great speed smashing into the hill.
“Cool! You created a hurtling rock effect and then put it in a spell,” Shelley looked impressed.
I lowered the platform until we were a few feet from the ground then flew it towards the beach. I followed the contours of the hills and cliffs in order to keep hidden.
“Kem did you notice that sorcerer guy that came from the ship before we ran away,” Shelley asked.
“I don’t think he was a sorcerer,” I replied.
“But he was summoning lightning bolts.”
“I think the staff was magical, not him.”
“Why?”
I looked at Shelley, “sorcerers don’t need gang planks or ships.”
“Where did the staff come from then?”
“I think it’s mine.”
“It’s yours!? What do you mean?”
“I went through a phase were I started making all kinds of magic items. I remember making that lightning staff.”
“You say it was a phase. Why?”
“You will soon find out it is very easy to enchant items with magic. It becomes very convenient every time you need a spell you just use a magic item.”
“Why’d you stop?” Shelley asked.
“After a while you have so many items you can’t remember what they do. Do you remember when we bought our big screen TV, the Blu-ray and the HD receiver?”
“Oh... ya... we could never find the right remote.”
“And we lost one too. Image having fifty or a hundred remotes and they all do stuff like summon lions or lightning bolts.”
“I see. So how do you think the sea-people got your staff?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.”
I carefully negotiated our rickety craft through the high cliffs then the lower lying hills and then finally to the rocky beach.
I felt the urge to vomit when I saw the dead horses and the overturned chariots from the battle the day before. The men must all have been removed for I could see no human corpses, the ships had disappeared as well.
“There should be a large city on the coast called Knossos, they’re probably sacking it right now,” Shelley said.
“Who are these sea-people anyway, what was this Bronze Age collapse?” I asked.
“Nobody really knows, most of the major cities around the Mediterranean were destroyed around twelve hundred BC, there are a few historical references to the sea-peoples being responsible. No one knows who they were.”
“Violent murderers,” I murmured.
I told Shelley to watch behind us as I cautiously maneuvered the craft down the beach, I could tell from the footprints on the beach which way the bearded conquerors had headed.
It was an hour or so before we heard the howls and screams of a city being sacked. I looked up and saw a large pillar of smoke billowing high into the sky. I rounded one last hill and we finally saw the city. It was an inferno, almost all the brightly painted buildings had huge orange flames flickering through the windows.
On top of one of the cities walls silhouetted against the sky I saw a group of men, they walked the unmistakable walk of drunken men. One of them held a large amphora of wine to his lips then handed it to one of his cohorts.
“Oh my god Kem, that’s horrible.”
I looked towards the sea and saw a single long wooden ship sailing towards the north. I recognized it as the larger ship which had held the old man with the lightning staff.
“We must follow that ship,” I said to Shelley.
I turned our craft and followed the ship at a discrete distance, we were only a few feet from the seas surface and I felt the salty spray of seawater against my face.
“You should take a nap Shelley, this may take a while,” I said.
I tied a length of rope around both our waists and then around one of the rafts poles for safety. Shelley curled herself up and fell asleep.
We followed the ship through the rest of the day and through the night, Shelley and I taking shifts navigating.
It was well into the next day’s morning when a large island dominated by high cliffs emerged over the horizon. The ship soon pulled into a harbor on the island that was surrounded by a large city of similar architecture to Knossos.
I set the raft down about a half a mile away from the city, we climbed off and stretched our aching joints.
“What now?” Shelley asked.
“We have to steal some clothes so we can blend in.”
“Clothes... but... um... what about... um...” Shelley stammered.
I looked at her trying to discern her discomfort, “what’s the matter?”
“Um... their boobs... they have them like... out there.”
I started laughing, I had forgotten that the female breast had become an object of great fear and danger in the future.
“We cannot wear their garb anyway, no one would believe that either of us is Minoan, my skin is to dark and yours to light.”
“So what do we do?”
“I am sure there are people from the Black Land here, we will use subterfuge to gain their confidence,” I said.
“Black Land?”
“Oh... sorry I mean ancient Egypt.”
“No, Black Land is good,” Shelley replied.
We hid
ourselves for the rest of the day until night fell, we built a small smokeless fire to make our now stale bread a bit more palatable. I snuck into the sea and caught a few fish with my hands.
I felt a wave of nostalgia when I realized it had been many years since I had practised my original trade. I was not as agile as I had been as a young child but a fish would still be wise to fear me.
“Wow Kem you swim like a dolphin,” Shelley had a look of admiration on her face.
I smiled as I threw the still wiggling fish onto the ground. I had not been any more than an average swimmer in my village.
I showed Shelley how to make a stone knife out of a piece of obsidian we found, we used it to clean the fish before we cooked them. They tasted impossibly good.
It was soon night, I used the stone knife to shred our clothes and then stained them with dirt.
“We will tell them we were shipwrecked,” I said to Shelley.
We stealthily crept into the city, the streets were dark illuminated only by the lamplight shining from the building windows.
I strained my ears until I heard the sound I was searching for. I grabbed Shelley’s hand and quickly walked towards its source.
We stood outside a large two story building the windows blazing with lamplight, the sound of loud music coming through the door.
“You found them by their music,” Shelley said.
“Black Landers love to dance and drink,” I replied,” so do the people of the Kush.”
I banged my fist against the door and waited.
The door soon opened and a young and slightly inebriated woman stood in the threshold.
“Oh forgive me mistress, I have no place to turn. I and my friend have wrecked upon the beach of this island.”
“You are a long way from home,” she said looking at my skin, “you are from the Kush?”
“Oh yes, but I have lived in Lunu for many years. I am a scribe.”
“And your friend... she is very unusual.”
“Her mother was captured after a great battle with the northern heathens, she is my servant.”
“Do you mean the battle of Kadesh?”
“Um... yes, yes.”
“That was a long time ago,” she said suspiciously.
“Yes... her mother was but a baby when she was captured and she is her fourteenth child.”
“Hmm... well you are both welcome, come in I will see if I can get you some clothes.”
We were both given a bath by servants, I amazed to see the house had running water and a rudimentary toilet.
We put on the simple dresses supplied by our host. They were very stylish but restricted our movement, the servants also painted kohl around our eyes.
We were soon ushered into the small party that was taking place.
There was a group of fifteen men and women in a large outdoor courtyard. I saw a small band of three women musicians playing a double flute, harp and a lute.
The hostess who had met us at the door saw us both and grabbed two cups of wine to give to us.
“I am Amisi, my husband is a wine importer,” she said as she handed the wine to us.
“I am Kemamonit and this is Shelley,” I replied.
“We are celebrating our demise,” Amisi said with a laugh.
“Demise?” Shelley asked.
“Yes the Sea-people have taken our fair city.”
“I don’t see any fires or sacking,” Shelley said.
“They used sorcery and magic, they have left us alone because we are from the Black Land. You have such an odd accent Shelley.”
“Sorcery?” Shelley asked.
“Oh yes they summoned lightning and caused the ground to shake violently. The regent capitulated in terror, they now occupy the palace and demand tribute.”
“What are you going to do?”
“There is a ship leaving for Avaris in two days, we will take what we can and go. They have said they will not stop us.”
“Why?” I asked.
“They fear our people, I don’t know why. “
“That’s odd,” I said.
Amisi stared at me intently for a moment, “are you named from the children’s stories Kem?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ve not heard them? The great ebony skinned magician Kemamonit who tricks young children with sweet treats and magic boxes, my mother used to scare me with them when I was a child.”
I felt my face go warm, “no...” I sensed Shelley staring at me.”
“I haven’t heard these stories either, perhaps you could tell us one,” Shelley said to Amisi.
“I’m sure she is much too busy with her other guests,” I blurted out.
“Nonsense, I will tell you a short one, it’s called The Box of Spiders.”
Pepi was alone in his family’s house, he was playing with his toys on the floor when he heard the sound of a bird wings behind him. He turned to look and saw a beautiful woman standing behind him.
“Pepi I have a magic box for you, but for it to work you must show patience,” she said.
The woman put a bowl of dark honey and a beautiful wooden box in front of Pepi.
“You must not eat the honey or touch the box until you hear the signal,” she said.
“What signal?” Pepi asked but the woman had turned back into a bird and had flown out the window.
Pepi waited, he heard a jackal howl. Was that the signal?
Pepi still waited, he heard a crow caw. That must be the signal. He could wait no longer, his stomach was grumbling with hunger. He grabbed a piece of honey and ate it as he studied the box, it had a simple lid which looked easy to open. Pepi opened it and peered inside.
“That was not the signal Pepi,” he heard disembodied voice.
Suddenly many spiders came out of the box and ate Pepi.
“That’s kind of gruesome,” Shelley said when the story ended.
“They’re all like that, Kemamonit always tricks the child and he or she gets eaten or lost or something else bad,” Amisi said.
“Very interesting huh Kem...” Shelley was staring at me.
I stared back at Shelley, “they’re just stories.”
Amisi looked at us both with a curious expression.
“So who are these two beautiful women?” A thirtyish year old man had walked beside Amisi and put his arm around her waist.
“Kem, Shelley, this is my husband Osiris,” Amisi said.
“Pleased to meet you,” I replied.
“So what brings you to our sad festivities?”
“They were wrecked on our island, “Amisi said.
“Was there anyone lost?”
“Oh no we were in a small skiff travelling between islands,” I said.
“Kem is a scribe, perhaps you could get her to look at our contract?” Amisi said.
“Oh... we shouldn’t impose.”
“I don’t mind,” I said.
“Are you sure? We are renting our house and our last scribe has left already,” Osiris said.
Osiris disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a roll of papyrus. I unrolled it and read the tedious language. I was astonished at the price he was charging, but I guessed the price of things had gone up in the intervening three thousand years.
The legal language was almost the same as it had been in my time, only now there was much more of it. The higher prices were compensated by a complete lack of trust.
“It looks fine, I assume you want with them take possession of the furniture since you aren’t bringing it with you?”
“Oh yes, it will be a long time before we return and by then it will be worn out.”
“Just a word of caution, I normally only do grain and cattle,” I said.
“You are too modest, besides we don’t really have a choice it’s you or nobody. Do you have a place to stay tonight, we have a spare room in the servant’s quarters,” Osiris said.
“Um... sure yes, thank you.”
“We chatted with
the other guests for another hour before the party ended and we were both shown to a small room. It was furnished with two comfortable looking beds with blankets on them.
I immediately took my dress off and crawled into one, Shelley did the same. I blew out the small oil lamp that was providing light putting us in darkness. I could see the stars through the room’s one window.
“Kem... that story... um... I have to know...” I heard Shelley whisper.
“It’s simple, I trapped and feasted on young children,” I said angrily.
“Kem... I have to know...”
“I’ll tell you in the morning... when I’m cooking you for breakfast,” with that I turned over and fell asleep.