Kamose replied confidently and vehemently, “Resolutely and disdainfully, my lord!”
“And what if this rejection drags us into war?”
Kamose replied, “Then let us fight, my lord.”
Commander Pepi said with enthusiasm no less than that of the prince, “Let us fight until we have pushed the enemy back from our borders and, if my lord so wills, let us fight till we have liberated the North and driven the last of the white Herdsmen with their long, dirty beards from the land of the Nile!”
Next the king turned to Nofer-Amun, the high priest, and asked him, “And you, Your Holiness, what do you think?”
The venerable old man replied, “I think, my lord, that whoever tries to extinguish this holy burning brand is an infidel!”
Then King Seqenenra smiled in consent and turning to his chief minister, User-Amun, said to him, “You are the only one left, Minister.”
The man hurriedly said, “My lord, I do not counsel delay out of dislike for war or fear of it. But let us complete the equipment of the army, which I hope will realize the goal of my lord's glorious family, which is the liberation of the Nile Valley from the Herdsmen's iron grip. Yet if Apophis truly should have his sights set on our freedom, then I will be the first to call for war.”
Seqenenra looked into the faces of his men and said in a voice that spoke of resolve and strength, “Men of the South, I share your emotions and I believe that Apophis is picking a quarrel with us and seeks to rule us, either by fear or by war. But we are a people that do not surrender to fear and welcome war. The North has been the Herdsmen's prey for two hundred years. They have sucked up the wealth of its soil and humiliated its men. As for the South, for two hundred years it has struggled, never losing sight of its higher goal, which is the liberation of the whole of the valley. Is it to back down at the first threat, squander its right, and throw its freedom at the feet of that insatiable glutton for him to look after? No, men of the South! I shall refuse Apophis's demeaning demands and await his answer, however he may respond. If it be peace, then let it be peace, and if it be war, then let it be war!”
The king rose to his feet and the men stood as one and bowed in respect. Then he slowly left the hall, Prince Kamose and the high chamberlain behind him.
4
The king made his way to Queen Ahotep's wing. As soon as the woman saw him coming toward her in his ceremonial dress, she realized that the envoy of the North had brought weighty business. Concern sketched itself upon her lovely, dark-complexioned face and she arose so that she might meet him with her tall, slender body, raising questioning eyes to him. Quietly he told her, ‘Ahotep, it seems to me that war is on the horizon.”
Her black eyes showed consternation and she muttered in astonishment, “War, my lord?”
He inclined his head to indicate assent, and related to her what the envoy Khayan had said, the opinion of his men, and what he had resolved to do. As he spoke, his eyes never left her face, in whose surface he read the pity, hope, and submission to the inevitable that burned within her.
She told him, “You have chosen the only path that one such as yourself could choose.”
He smiled and patted her shoulder. Then he said to her, “Let us go to our sacred mother.”
They walked together side by side to the wing belonging to the queen mother, Tetisheri, — wife of the former king, Seneqnenra, and found her in her retiring chamber reading, as was her — wont.
Queen Tetisheri — was in her sixties. Nobility, grandeur, and dignity distinguished her countenance. Her vivacity was irrepressible and her energy overcame her age, from whose effects she had suffered nothing but a few white hairs that wreathed her temples and a slight fading of her cheeks. Her eyes were as bright as ever and her body as charming and as slender. She shared with all members of the family of Thebes the protrusion of her upper teeth, that protrusion that the people of the South found so attractive and which they all adored. On the death of her husband, the queen had abandoned any role in governing, as the law required, leaving the reins of Thebes in the hands of her son and his spouse. Hers, however, was still the opinion to which recourse was had in times of difficulty, and the heart that inspired hope and struggle. In her retirement she had turned to reading, and constantly perused the Books of Khufu and Kagemni, the Books of the Dead, and the history of the glorious ages as immortalized in the proverbs of Mina, Khufu, and Amen-hotep. The queen mother was famed throughout the South, where there was not a man or a woman who did not know her and love her and swear by her dear name, for she had instilled in those around her, and foremost among them her son Seqenenra and her grandson Kamose, a love of Egypt both South and North and a hatred of the rapacious Herdsmen who had brought the days of glory to so evil an end. She had taught them all that the sublime goal to whose realization they must dedicate themselves was the liberation of the Nile Valley from the grip of the tyrannous Herdsmen, and she urged the priests of all classes, whether keepers of temples or teachers in the schools, to constantly remind the people of the ravaged North and their rapacious foe, and of the crimes by which they humiliated and enslaved the people and plundered their land, enriching themselves with their wealth and reducing them to the level of the animals that labored in the fields. If there was in the South a single ember of the sacred fire burning in their hearts and keeping hope alive, then hers was the credit for fanning it — with her patriotism and her wisdom. Thus, the — whole South thought of her as hallowed, calling her “Sacred Mother Tetisheri,” just as believers did Isis, and seeking refuge in her name from the evil of despair and defeat.
Such was the woman to whom Seqenenra and Ahotep made their way. She was expecting their visit, for she had learned of the coming of the envoy of the king of the Herdsmen and she remembered the envoys that these had sent to her late husband, seeking gold, grain, and stone, which they demanded as tribute to be paid by the subject to his overlord. Her husband would send well-loaded ships to escape the power of those savage people and double his secret activities in forming the army that was his most precious bequest to his son Seqenenra and his descendants. She thought of these things as she waited for the king and when he arrived with his spouse, she opened her thin arms to them. They kissed her hands and the king seated himself on her right and the queen on her left. Then she asked her son, with a gentle smile, “What does Apophis want?”
He answered her in accents full of rage, “He wants Thebes, Mother, and all that is of it. Nay, more than that, he would bargain with us this time for our honor.”
She turned her head from one to the other, alarmed, and said in a voice that retained its calm despite everything, “His predecessors, for all their greed, were satisfied with granite and gold.”
Queen Ahotep said, “But he, Mother, wants us to kill the sacred hippopotami, whose voices disturb his slumbers, and to erect a temple to his god Seth next to the temple of Amun, and that our lord take off the White Crown.”
Seqenenra confirmed what Ahotep had said, and told his mother all the news of the envoy and his message. Disgust appeared on her venerable face and the twisting of her lips revealed her exasperation and annoyance. She asked the king, “What answer did you give, my son?”
“I have yet to inform him of my answer.”
“Have you come to a conclusion?”
“Yes. To reject his demands completely.”