Read The Chronicles of Amon book 2 The Sea of Marmara Page 37

  Chapter 15.

  What none of the players in this gigantic chess game knew was that Amon had been monitoring their plans from their inception. His ‘resources’ (transceivers) had recorded all the conversations between Kushkamin and Hakim, so by the time overtures were being made to the Kushites (the southern-most tribes, as Hakim had called them), they had already been recruited by the Pharaoh. There was a long-standing animosity on the part of the Kushites because Kushkamin had betrayed and abandoned them to join up with the Nubians. It took almost no negotiation to persuade their leaders to go along with the deception.

  The battle began. The eastern flank advanced as planned, drawing Pharaoh’s mounted forces southward. After a short engagement, the conspirators’ plan began to crumble.

  Instead of pursuing the fleeing Nubians, the horsemen turned west and attacked the eastern flank. Before they realized what had happened, the southbound Nubians ran head-on into a wall of Kushite archery. Within minutes that battle was over.

  The remainder of the plan quickly fell apart. Within a short time Kushkamin realized what was happening.

  The horsemen he had expected to charge through his infantry ranks and attack head-on into Pharaoh’s city, never arrived. They had been slaughtered by more Kushite archers. Now the rearmost infantry ranks began falling under a fusillade of arrows from the Kushites who had swung north toward their rear. To the west Kushkamin’s forces were also under attack. All around him his men were dropping, one after another.

  Kushkamin’s men were running in all directions, panicked, dropping their weapons as they fled the bloodbath. He knew then that he had been betrayed.

  Enraged, he began searching frantically, finally locating Hakim, surrounded by a wall of Kushites. He was standing mute, all the color drained from his face, his sword hanging limply at his side.

  Kushkamin fought his way toward Hakim, but soon was himself surrounded. Though he swung his sword furiously, no one tried to kill him.

  “Hakim, you worthless Kahfir! You have betrayed me!”

  Hakim chuckled, shaking his head in realization.

  “And so I have. But alas. All my conniving. All OUR conniving, has brought us naught. It would seem that the man I colluded with has in fact, betrayed us both.”

  The two circles merged, forming one large circle around the two men. A dozen men fell on them, quickly disarming them.

  From outside the circle they heard a single voice rise above the din.

  “Open! I will see these two!”

  The wall of warriors parted slightly. A small man came limping through the opening. He was clad in little more than rags. Numerous wounds on his arms and legs dripped blood. A gash across his forehead had congealed, but part of the skull was visible.

  He walked slowly up to Kushkamin, stopping close, glaring up into his face.

  “Remember me, Kuchie? Has it been so long since we last spoke? Do you not remember? How we spent hours on end running through the dunes as children, splashing in the tepid waters near our homes?”

  A look of surprised recognition came upon Kushkamin’s face.

  “Yes. Now you remember. I’m your old friend Kazim. The boy who you grew up with. The boy who shared your secrets, your dreams.

  “Yes! Now you remember. The son of the man you betrayed and murdered so he would not tell how you abandoned me, and my family, and your own family too, then ran into the night, never to be seen again.”

  Kushkamin’s shoulders began to tremble.

  “How did you. . . .?”

  “How did I know? And more! How did I escape?

  It’s all very simple. When you ran into the darkness, I followed. But your legs were longer than mine. I couldn’t keep up. When I gave up and stopped, I heard them. The assassins who came at your bidding, to murder them all. My family. YOUR family. All the others of our clan. I buried myself in the sand beside a baobab so they could not find me. The one we used to climb. Remember?

  “When the dawn came the assassins were gone. All that remained were the headless corpses of our fathers and the other men. I found infants, floating face down in the water, spared from evisceration, but left to drown. Children and women, raped and beheaded. Even the animals were not spared.

  “I left that place of death and wandered for days. Finally your uncle Hamal found be and took me in. I told him my story. I remember his face. It looked like it was made of stone.

  “From that day until now I have dreamed of this. The day when I could avenge the deaths of my loved ones. But alas, I must forego my revenge.

  “Instead I must fulfill the commitment I made to my Pharaoh. You and this other cur, together with all the other moguls who survived this battle, will be taken to the palace. There you will stand before our beloved Cheops who will take revenge in my place.”