Egyptian #01 - River God by Wilbur Smith

Author:Wilbur Smith [Smith, Wilbur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, History, Historical Fiction, Fiction, General, Historical, Action & Adventure, Egypt, Adventure Fiction, Ancient, Slaves, Eunuchs, Slaves - Egypt - Thebes (Extinct City), Egypt - History - to 332 B.C, Thebes (Egypt: Extinct City), Thebes (Egypt : Extinct City)
ISBN: 9780312945978
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 1932-05-28T04:00:00+00:00

River God

‘Bak-Her!’ they cried, as Pharaoh placed the jangling gold chains, that had so recently belonged to Lord Intef, but to which he had now added the star pendant of the warrior’s decoration, about Tanus’ neck. ‘Hail, Lord Harrab!’

As Tanus withdrew, Pharaoh turned his attention back to the prisoners. ‘Lord Intef, you are deprived of your title as a lord of the Theban circle. Your name and rank will be erased from all the public monuments, and from your tomb that you have prepared in the Valley of the Nobles. Your estates and all your possessions, including your illicit treasure, are forfeited to the crown, except only those estates that once belonged to Pianki, Lord Harrab, and which by fell means have come into your possession. These are now returned in their entirety to his heir, my goodly Tanus, Lord Harrab.’

‘Bak-Her! Pharaoh is wise! May he live for ever!’ the people cheered wildly, and beside me my mistress was weeping unashamedly, but then so were half the royal women. Very few of them could resist that heroic figure whose golden hair seemed to dim the chains upon his breast.

Now the king took me by surprise. He looked directly at where I sat beside my mistress. ‘There is one other who has done the crown loyal service, the one who revealed the whereabouts of the stolen treasure. Let the slave, Taita, stand forth.’

I went down to stand before the throne, and the king’s voice was gentle. ‘You have suffered unspeakable harm at the hands of the traitor Intef and his henchman Rasfer. You have been forced by them to commit nefarious deeds and capital crimes against the state, by conniving with bandits and robbers and by concealing your master’s treasure from the royal tax-collectors. However, these were not crimes of your own inspiration. As a slave, you were forced to the will of your master. Therefore I absolve you from all guilt and liability. I find you innocent of any crime, and I reward you for your service to us with a bounty of two takhs of fine gold to be paid out of the treasure confiscated from the traitor, Intef.’

A murmur of astonishment greeted this announcement, and I gasped aloud. It was a staggering amount. A fortune to match those of all but the wealthiest lords in the land, enough to buy -great tracts of the most fertile land along the river, and to furnish magnificent villas upon that land, to buy three hundred strong slaves to work the land, enough to fit out a fleet of trading vessels and send them to the ends of the earth to bring back more treasure. It was a sum large enough to boggle even my imagination, but the king had not finished.

‘As a slave, this bounty will be paid not to you, but to your mistress, the Lady Lostris, who is a junior wife of Pharaoh.’ I should have guessed that Pharaoh would keep it in the family.

I, who for a fleeting

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