Raiders of the Nile

XVI

The hour was not yet dawn when I woke to the familiar but unexpected voice of old Hepu, urgently saying the same thing over and over.

“Wake up, Roman! Wake up!”

I opened my eyes but saw nothing but a dark shape looming over me. Hepu, himself the color of night, was practically invisible in the darkness. He gave me a swift kick. The old man was not as feeble as he looked.

I sat upright. Next to me, Djet rolled to one side but continued to snore.

“Hepu!” I whispered. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“All the way from my house outside the village I’ve walked, in the darkness, stepping over who knows how many scorpions and snakes-and this is how you thank me?”

“For what should I be thanking you? Waking me up in the middle of the night?”

“It’s not the middle of the night. It’s almost dawn. And that means they’re likely to come for you any time now.”

I felt a prickle of dread. “What are you talking about, Hepu?”

“You are the thief, aren’t you? The young Roman who killed that man in Canopus and ran off with his ruby?”

“I-”

“Don’t deny it! How many young Romans are traveling through the Delta on camelback, with no companion but a boy? It must be you.”

“And what if it is? What are you trying to tell me?”

Djet mumbled, then loudly shushed us. I gave him a firm nudge, but he hugged himself and clung to sleep.

“They’ll be coming for you, very soon, young Roman. Coming for you, and for the ruby, so they can claim the reward.”

“Who will be coming? And how do you know about this ruby?”

“Yesterday, after I left the trading post, I walked home. After dark, a neighbor paid me a visit. He said some men from Sais had arrived in the village while I was here at Menkhep’s.”

“Men … from Sais?”

“Yes. They were led by a man with a long beard, called Harkhebi.”

I rose to my feet and gave Djet a kick. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Go on, Hepu.”

“The men from Sais called everyone to a meeting, where this fellow Harkhebi told a curious tale about a terrible murder in Canopus, and a Roman outlaw thought to be somewhere in the Delta, traveling on a camel with a boy. This man Harkhebi said there’s a generous reward for the Roman’s head and for the return of the treasure he ran off with.”

Djet at last scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide open.

“All this my neighbor told me,” said Hepu, “just because he likes to gossip. Neither he nor any other villager at the meeting knew anything about you; only those of us here at Menkhep’s trading post yesterday met you, and none of us were at the meeting. My neighbor’s news so surprised me that I almost blurted out, ‘The Roman is spending the night with Menkhep!’ But before the words came out, I thought better of it, and shut my mouth. Who was I to betray a bandit like you, after all the things I said to you yesterday? I only wish I had known who and what you really are. What tales you might have told me, about you and your bandit friends!”

I shook my head. “I’m not actually a bandit, Hepu.”

“Ah, well, of course you have to say that, don’t you? Bandit’s oath of honor?” He gave me a toothless smile. “After my neighbor left, I went to bed. But sleep would not come. I tossed and turned. Surely, I thought, one of the men who was here yesterday will betray you. Old Rabi will do it, if no one else does.”

“Rabi?”

“It was he who made that rude joke about Roman women, and gave you such a sour look when you spoke of Cyrene. Rabi doesn’t like foreigners, and he’s a greedy bastard. If he didn’t hear about the meeting when he got home last night, he’ll surely hear about it first thing this morning, and then he’ll hurry at once to find this Harkhebi and set him on your trail. I couldn’t sleep, thinking of the terrible things they’ll do if they capture you. The hours of torture, the terrible pain, the slow, agonizing death-”

“Yes, yes, I understand!”

“So at last I gave up on sleeping, and I rose from my bed and walked all the way here to warn you. How my old feet ache! But why are we still talking? You must go at once, young Roman. I suppose you were heading for the Cuckoo’s Nest, anyway, eh? What other reason could you have to pass through this miserable backwater?” By the first faint light of dawn, I saw a twinkle of admiration in his rheumy eyes.

“Yes, I … I am heading for the Cuckoo’s Nest.” I only spoke the truth.

“Then you must be off at once, if you want to keep ahead of them. Ha! And there I was yesterday, telling you about the deadly traps and snares that keep outsiders from ever reaching the Cuckoo’s Nest! You must know all about those perils, and how to pass them safely.”

“If only I did!” I muttered under my breath.

Djet, who had apprehended the situation, needed no order from me to begin gathering up our things. He ran to the camel, which was tethered to a nearby palm tree, and began to rouse the beast, which shook its sleepy head and spat at him.

I rushed to help Djet put on the camel’s riding tack, but the beast, irritated at being awakened so early, made the job twice as difficult as it should have been. As the dawn grew brighter, and still the camel was not yet ready to be mounted, I felt a rising panic.

At last we were ready to set off. I checked the bag of treasure a final time, then reached inside and pulled out a silver ring set with a blood-red carnelian.

I turned to Hepu and pressed the ring into the weathered palm of his hand.

“Thank you, Hepu.”

His rheumy eyes lit up. “Never have I seen something so lovely! Never have I held so much wealth in my hand!”

I pressed his fingers shut. “Whatever you do, don’t let them find this on you. Hide it somewhere and come back for it later.”

He nodded, and then, to my surprise, he put the ring in his mouth and swallowed it.

“An old bandit trick,” he said. “But of course, you know that.”

As I turned to mount the camel, he touched my arm.

“Young Roman, one last favor!”

“What is it, Hepu?”

At the same moment, Djet grabbed my other arm. He pricked one ear, as if his keener hearing had detected a sound too faint for me to notice. His eyebrows shot up in alarm.

“The ruby,” said Hepu. “I’ve never seen a ruby. Will you show it to me? Just one look…”

“That noise,” whispered Djet. “Can’t you hear it? A twig breaking … and something rustling … over that way…”

As quickly as I could, I pulled the ruby necklace from the sack and held it before Hepu. He let out a gasp. With trembling fingers he touched the crimson stone.

A thought struck me: why not give the ruby to Hepu, and be rid of it? Such a bold gesture might please Fortuna, whose favor I needed now more than ever. But if it were truly cursed, why should I pass my misfortune to a man who was trying to save me? And what if the ruby was the price required to ransom Bethesda?

The debate in my head abruptly ended when a voice cried out: “Look! The ruby!”

I wheeled about and saw, framed by a patch of underbrush some thirty feet away, the face of Harkhebi. More men appeared to be bunched in a crowd behind him, largely hidden by the greenery.

Harkhebi simply stood there and stared, as if transfixed by the ruby. I had been caught red-handed.

In a single motion I stuffed the necklace back into the sack, mounted the camel, pulled Djet in front of me, and snapped the reins. The beast sprang upright with a sudden flailing of limbs that sent Hepu staggering backward.

“Hut! Hut!” I cried, and off we went, with Harkhebi and his party scrambling to follow.