Naguib Mahfouz - Three Novels of Ancient Egypt

She shook her head violently, as though rejecting an accusation made against her and said, “Indeed, I used to wear it frequently, because the palace witch had made it into a talisman to drive away harm and evil.”

He discerned her evasiveness but, not despairing, said, “I thought it might be for other causes, to which the cabin of the royal vessel might bear witness.”

Her face turned deep red and she said angrily, “I do not remember today the whims of yesterday; and it would be proper for you to talk to me as the enemy must talk to a captive.”

He saw her face was cruel and hard, so he swallowed his disappointment yet again. However, in an attempt to suppress his emotions, he said, “Are you not aware that we add the women of our enemies to our palace harems?”

She said sharply, “Not such as me.”

“Are you going to go back to your threats of fasting?”

“I do not need to anymore now.”

He examined her suspiciously and asked her sarcastically, “Then how will you defend yourself?”

She showed him that in her hand she had a small weapon, no longer than a fingernail, and said with assurance, “Look! This is a poisoned dagger. If I scratch my skin with it, the poison will pass into my bloodstream and kill me in moments. The envoy gave it to me secretly, unnoticed by your watchers. Thus, I knew that my father had placed in my hand something with which to do away with myself should any dishonor touch me or any person provoke me.”

Ahmose grew angry and, frowning, he said, “Was that the secret of the chest? To hell with anyone who believes the word of a Herdsman pig with his filthy beard! Treachery runs in your veins like blood. However, I see that you misunderstood your father's message, for he secretly sent you this dagger so that you could kill me.”

She shook her head as though mocking him and said, “You do not understand Apophis. He will accept nothing but that I live honorably or die honorably. As for his enemy, he will kill him himself, as he is accustomed to kill his enemies.”

Ahmose struck the ground — with his foot and said in extreme exasperation, “Why all this trouble? How little do I need a slave girl like you, blinded by conceit, pride, and a corrupt nature! In the past, I imagined you to be something that in reality you have nothing in common with, so to hell with all illusions!”

The king turned away from her and left the chamber. Outside, he summoned the chief of the guards and said to him, “The princess is to be transferred to another ship, under tight guard.”

Ahmose left the ship downcast, his face dark, and returned in his chariot to the camp.

Finding inactivity oppressive, the king ordered his commanders to prepare themselves. At dawn on the second day, the army marched off with its myriad companies and the fleet set sail. In two days it reached Ptolemais. There was no sign of the enemy to be seen nearby, so the vanguard entered the city peacefully, the army in its footsteps. The vanguard probed as far as Panopolis, the northernmost city under the aegis of Thebes, and entered it without resistance. The good tidings were brought to King Ahmose that Panopolis was in Egyptian hands and he cried out, “The Herdsmen have been cleared from the Kingdom of Thebes!”

Said Hur, “And soon they will be cleared from Egypt.” The army continued toward Panopolis and entered it proudly and triumphantly to the patriotic music of the band and blew on the bugles to announce victory. The flags of Egypt were raised over the wall of the city and the soldiers spread out through the markets and mixed with the people, cheering and singing. A crazy joy, beating in every breast and resonating in every soul, filled the city. The king invited the army and navy commanders and his entourage to a luxurious banquet, at the end of which cups brimming with vintage wines of Maryut were offered, along — with lotus flowers and sprigs of basil. The king told his men, “Tomorrow — we cross the borders of the Northern Kingdom and the flags of Egypt will be raised above its walls for the first time in a hundred years or more.”

The men called blessings on him and cheered his name at length.

However, in the late afternoon of the same day, the guards saw a squadron of chariots flying a white pennant moving fast toward the city from the north. The soldiers surrounded them and asked them where they were headed and one of the squadron told them that they were envoys of King Apophis to Ahmose, so the soldiers took them to the city. On learning of their arrival, Ahmose went to the palace of the governor of the city, summoned Hur, the commander of the fleet, and Commanders Mheb and Deeb to him, and took his seat on the governor's throne, his commanders around him, and, around them, the guard in their dress uniforms. Then he gave permission to the envoys to enter. The Egyptians, not knowing what the envoys carried with them this time, waited impatiently. The envoys of the Herdsman king came. They were a mixture of commanders and chamberlains, in military and civilian dress, their flowing beards preceding them. There was no sign in their faces of the defiant demeanor or obstreperousness that Ahmose had expected. On the contrary, they approached the king's seat and bowed together with the greatest reverence and respect, so that the king almost gave voice to his astonishment. Then their leader said, “The Lord grant you life, King of Thebes! We are envoys to you from the Pharaoh of Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt.”

Ahmose cast a look at them that revealed nothing of the turmoil that was taking place in his breast and said to them calmly, “The Lord grant you life, envoys of Apophis! What do you want?”

The envoys appeared displeased at the king's ignoring of their sovereign's titles. However, their leader said, “King, we are men of war. We were raised on its fields and we live according to its code, bravely and courageously, as you know from long experience. We admire the hero, though he be our enemy, and we cede to the judgment of the sword, though it be against us. You are victorious, King, and have regained the throne of your kingdom. Thus it is your right to possess it, just as it is our obligation to surrender it; it is your kingdom and you are its sovereign. Pharaoh now extends to you his greetings and proposes to you an end to the bloodshed and an honorable settlement that respects the rights of all, restoring the friendly relations between the Kingdom of the South and the Kingdom of the North that have been severed.”

The king listened intently to the envoys with outward calm and inner astonishment. Then he looked at the spokesman and asked him wonderingly, “Are you really come to sue for peace?”

The man said, “We are, King.”

Ahmose said in a voice indicating decisiveness and resolution, “I refuse such a peace.”

“Why do you insist on war, King?”

Ahmose said, “People of Apophis, this is the first time you address an Egyptian with respect, and the first time you do not insist, because you cannot, on describing him in terms reserved for slaves. Do you know why? Because you have been beaten. For you, my good people, are wild beasts when you win but sheep when you are beaten. You ask me why I insist on war. This is my answer: I did not declare war on you in order to regain Thebes, but because I gave an undertaking to my Lord and to my people that I would liberate the whole of Egypt from the yokes of injustice and oppression, and that I would restore to it its freedom and glory. If he who sent you truly wants peace, let him leave Egypt to its people and return with his to the deserts of the north.”

The envoy asked him in a peremptory voice, “That is your final answer?”

Ahmose replied confidently and strongly, “It is what we opened our struggle with and what we shall end it with.”