The atmosphere in the camp had been festive. The Atenists truly believed they were escaping persecution. Many of them cherished the hope that in Canaan their leader, Akenhaten, would once again manifest himself. This was the constant chatter about the camp fires. They also put great trust in the promises of Lord Ay. Their only fear was of troops from Memphis under Horemheb, as well as those Egyptian patrols which guarded the mines of Sinai. Lord Ay, however, had promised a military escort. After five days of waiting this had eventually arrived: chariot squadrons, a corps of Nubian archers and Menfyt foot soldiers from one of the imperial regiments outside Thebes. General Nakhtimin had solemnly vowed that his presence and the sight of his standard would be surety enough for a safe departure from Egypt. He had been cordial, talking to Meryre and Lord Tutu as if they were close friends and allies. Late on the day they had arrived, the massacre began. The camp was being prepared for the evening meal. After a hail of arrows, the chariots came racing in, followed by the foot soldiers. Some of the Atenists had stood and fought; Lord Tutu and a group of priests had fled deeper into the valley.
‘And Meryre?’ I asked. ‘The High Priest?’
‘He wasn’t there that evening.’ Mert wiped her eyes. ‘That’s right: we, the Apiru scouts, stayed on the edge of the oasis. Lord Meryre’s entourage always left just before sundown to go into the desert.’
‘To perform sacrifice,’ Djarka observed.
‘So that’s how they escaped,’ I whispered. ‘They would leave armed with provisions.’
‘How did you escape?’ Djarka asked.
‘I hid in the oasis. Now I remember. I was beneath a bush, my face pressed against the earth. I pretended to be dead. Nakhtimin’s men came through. They began to plunder and strip corpses. I escaped unnoticed. I lay there all night. By the morning Nakhtimin had moved into the valley, which he had sealed off. I found a water skin, a linen cloth full of bread and strips of dried meat. I wandered into the desert. The sand-dwellers found me, and the rest you know. I never saw much of the killing, but,’ she closed her eyes, ‘I’ll never forget the screams: men, women and children, my own kin. Some were sleeping. Others were gathering near the cooking pots. Most were unarmed.’
‘And the mercenaries?’ I asked.
‘They were the ones who fought, the only ones to fight.’ She put her face in her hands and continued sobbing.
Djarka took her back to our pavilion. He made her comfortable before joining me at the gate to our makeshift defences.
‘Have we discovered what you came for?’ he asked, coming behind me. ‘Was it worth it, my lord, to collect bones and burn them?’
I stared up at that valley, more hideous in the dimming light.
‘What did you find here,’ Djarka persisted, ‘that you didn’t know already? Lord Ay simply wished to destroy the last of the Atenists, so he gave them safe conduct here and had them massacred. Will you go back to Thebes, Lord Mahu, and confront him? Who will care? Horemheb and Rameses would have paid to have been part of this.’
‘Rameses, perhaps,’ I replied. ‘Horemheb, no. Rameses is a killer through and through, but Horemheb has some honour, and so do I.’ I turned around. ‘I am searching for something else, Djarka. This valley is sacred to the Apiru, that’s why they met here. I feel it here.’ I beat my chest. ‘There’s something else. Something Ay fears.’
‘He fears Akenhaten will return at the head of Hittite troops and Canaanite mercenaries.’
‘No, no.’ I shook my head. ‘Why did he send Nakhtimin here?’
Djarka couldn’t answer, but just before darkness, a group of my hardiest scouts returned. I had promised debens of silver to any scout who brought in something remarkable. They returned empty-handed, but their sweaty, grimy-faced leader grinned from ear to ear as he knelt before me.
‘My lord, we have found it. Deep in the valley, high up in the cliffs, along a hidden trackway, the mouth of a cave concealed by bushes.’
I pulled the man to his feet.
‘And inside?’
‘Like a temple, my lord. A great cave, a cavern of the dead.’
‘More corpses?’ I asked.
The man fought to regain his breath. ‘Coffins,’ he declared.
‘Coffins?’
‘Burial places,’ the man explained. ‘Dug into the wall of the cave are ledges on which bodies, wrapped in linen and fastened with cord, have been placed. I touched one; it crumbled to dust. There are paintings and, we believe, three corpses from the massacre. I suspect these men were not killed, but were wounded and dragged themselves there to die. One of them wore this.’
He handed over the ring. He had already polished it clean. I recognised the hieroglyphs of Lord Tutu beneath the sign of the rising Aten. If it hadn’t been for the darkness and the danger I would have gone immediately to that cave. I had already given the order that we were to withdraw the following morning. When I declared that we would stay at least another day, a chorus of protests greeted my words. Nevertheless, I was beside myself with excitement. I had to search this cave and see what it held. Djarka was most vociferous in his opposition, until I tired of his hypocrisy. I grasped him by the arm and pulled him away from the camp fire.
‘You knew about that cave all along, didn’t you?’
‘I knew of it, but not its whereabouts. This valley is sacred to my ancestors. They use it as a burial place for their leaders. It’s a holy place, not to be violated …’
‘By the impure,’ I finished for him. ‘I mean no disrespect, Djarka, but I must see inside that cave. I believe Lord Ay was searching for the same; it is one of the reasons General Nakhtimin came here.’
Just after dawn I entered the valley with a powerful escort. We moved slowly, following the winding path, alarmed even by the grains of shale tumbling down the rocky sides. The valley seemed to catch the sun. Dust rose in clouds to clog our noses and mouths and sting our eyes. Above us the vultures circled and in the rocky inclines we caught a glimpse of the sleeping hyaenas. There were caves high in the valley sides but the one the scouts had found was hidden by some clever trick of the eye. You had to turn and look back down towards the valley, studying the rock face carefully before you saw the man-made path. It led up to where a cluster of hardy bush and bramble sprouted in the shade of a jutting ledge.
I told the guards to make camp and remain vigilant. Djarka and I clambered up to the ledge. The gorse was fierce, scoring our flesh as we pushed our way through, and the yawning cave entrance came almost as a surprise. I stepped inside. The impression of being in a dream was heightened by the warm darkness, such a glaring contrast to the sunlight beyond. Djarka had brought a fire bowl. We lit the cresset torches fixed in their wall niches, and the cavern came alight. On one side a series of ledges stretched up to the ceiling and disappeared into the darkness beyond. On each ledge lay shrouded corpses. Some, by the texture of the shroud and the cord binding them, were relatively new; others had crumbled to nothing more than piles of dust and shards of bone. Tutu’s skeleton and those of his acolytes lay deeper in the cave. I examined each carefully. Untouched by the scavengers, their flesh had simply rotted, but some of this still remained clinging to the bones. They were a grisly sight, particularly Tutu, who in his day had been a man of glory, a Lord of Light in the City of the Aten. One of the skeletons had a hole in the skull, possibly the work of some arrow. Savage cuts to Tutu’s left ribs proved he must have known of this cave, been wounded and slunk here with his acolytes to hide and die.