And indeed, this operation had great impact and was repeated on the second day, and then, the following day, took place at two more points on the wall, the Egyptians’ pressure on the enemy increasing to the point that victory turned into a readily realizable hope. At this juncture, a messenger came from Shaw, governor of Sayin, at the head of a force of troops, bristling with arms, that had recently completed training and accompanied by a ship loaded with siege armor and ladders and a number of siege towers. The king received the soldiers with pleasure, his faith in victory doubling, and ordered them to be paraded in the field in front of his camp so that the existing troops could greet them and find in them new hope and strength.
The following day, the fighting took on a terrifying aspect. The Egyptians put their all into one attack after another and faced Death with heedless hearts. They wrought huge losses on their enemy, which started to show its fatigue and despair and whose sword arms, one by one, began to falter. Commander Mheb was able to tell his lord as he returned from the field, “My lord, tomorrow — we shall take the wall.”
As all the commanders — were of one mind on this, Ahmose sent a messenger to his family summoning them to Habu, — where the Egyptian flag fluttered, so that they might enter Thebes together in the near future; and the king passed the night strong in faith, great in hope.
12
The promised day broke and the Egyptians awoke crazy with excitement, straining at the leash, their hearts yearning for the music of battle and of victory. Their companies advanced to their places behind the armor and the siege towers and gazed angrily at their objectives, only to be met with a sight incredible and unforeseen that caused them to raise a clamor of astonishment and confusion and exchange looks of perplexity and shock. What they beheld on the encircling wall were, shackled to it, naked bodies. They saw Egyptian women and their small children whom the Herdsmen had taken as shields to protect them from their pitiless arrows and projectiles and behind whom they stood, laughing and gloating. The sight of the naked women, their hair loosed and their modesty violated, and of the small children with their hands and feet bound, wrung the hearts of all who beheld them and not just of those who were their husbands and sons. The men's hands fell to their sides, their sword arms paralyzed, and confusion spread through their hearts till the news reached the king, who received it as though it were a lightning bolt from the sky and cried out in anger, “What barbaric savagery! The cowards have taken refuge behind the bodies of women and children!”
Silence and despondency reigned among the king's entourage and commanders and no one uttered a word. As daylight grew and they saw the wall of Thebes in the distance protected by the bodies of the women and children, their skins crawled with dread, their faces turned pale with anger, their limbs shook, and their souls went out to the tormented captives and to their brave families who stood in the field before them helplessly, tormented and oppressed by their powerlessness. Hur cried out, his voice trembling, “Poor wretches! The exposure day and night will kill them, if the arrows do not shred their bodies.”
Confusion enveloped the king and he stared with horror-stricken, sorrowful eyes at the captives and their children who protected their enemy with their bodies. What could he do? The struggle of months was threatened with failure, and the hopes often years with disappointment and despair. What plan could he devise? Had he come to deliver his people or to torture them? Had he been sent as a mercy or as an affliction? He started to murmur in his sorrow “Amun, Amun, my Divine Lord, this struggle is for your sake and for the sake of those who believe in you. Tell me what I should do, before I am forced to find a way out for myself!” The rattling of a chariot coming from the direction of the Nile roused him from his prayer. He and those with him looked at its rider closely and saw that it was the commander of the fleet, Ahmose Ebana. The commander descended and greeted the king, then enquired, “My lord, why is our army not attacking the tottering Herdsmen? Were our troops not supposed to be on the wall of Thebes by now?”
In a sad voice and with heavy accents, gesturing in the direction of the wall, the king said, “Look and see for yourself, Commander!”
However, Ahmose Ebana did not look as they were expecting but said quietly, “My eyes have informed me of the vile, barbaric act, but how can we permit ourselves to be made accomplices with Apophis, when we know him so well? Are we to give up the struggle for Thebes and for Egypt out of concern for a few of our women and children?”
King Ahmose said bitterly, “Do you think I should give the order to shred the bodies of these wretched women and their children?”
The commander replied enthusiastically and confidently, “Yes, my lord! They are a sacrifice offered up to the struggle. They are just the same as our brave soldiers, who fall all the time. Indeed, they are just the same as our martyred sovereign Seqenenra, and the brave departed Kamose. Why should we care for their going so much that it incapacitates our struggle? My lord, my heart tells me that my mother Ebana is among those unfortunate captives. If my feelings speak truly, then I do not doubt that she is praying to the Lord that He put your love for Thebes above your pity for her and her unfortunate sisters. I am not the only one among our soldiers to bear this wound, so let each one of us place around his heart the armor of faith and resolution and let us attack!”
The king looked long at the commander of his fleet. Then, grim and pale, he turned his face toward his entourage, the commanders, and Chamberlain Hur and said in a quiet voice, “Mighty Ahmose Ebana has spoken the truth.”
A deep breath escaped from the men's bodies and they shouted with one voice, “Yes, yes! The commander of the fleet has spoken the truth. Let us attack!”
The king turned to the commanders and spoke decisively, “Commanders, go to your troops and tell them that their sovereign, who for Egypt lost grandfather and father, and who does not hesitate to give himself for its sake, commands you to attack the walls of Thebes that are shielded by our flesh and blood and to take them, at whatever cost.”
The commanders went quickly and sounded the bugles and the ranks of the troops advanced, bristling with weapons, their faces dark. The officers called out in resounding tones, “Live like Amenhotep or die like Seqenenra!” and immediately the most horrible battle into whose perils man had ever thrown himself commenced. The Herdsmen shot their arrows and the Egyptians returned the fire, their shafts immediately cleaving the breasts of their women and piercing the hearts of their children, so that the blood flowed unchecked. The women nodded their heads to the soldiers and called out in high, hoarse voices, “Strike us, may the Lord grant you victory, and take revenge for us!”