Three Novels of Ancient Egypt

The king rejoiced and made ready to attack with the chariot battalion, supported by selected forces of lancers and others. The chariots descended on the Herdsmen's position, filling the air ahead of them with flying arrows, and burst through their lines at many points, the lancers behind them protecting their backs and pursuing those of the enemy who scattered, killing or capturing them. The Herdsmen fought with their usual courage but they fell like dry leaves before the furious winds of autumn. The Egyptians took possession of the field. Ahmose was afraid that he would allow Apophis to escape from his grip, so he attacked Aphroditopolis at the same time as the fleet attacked its beaches. Inside its walls, however, he found no sign of the Herdsmen and did not come across his arch-enemy. Then spies provided him with the information that Apophis had left the city with some of his forces after the nightmare of the previous night, leaving some men behind to delay the Egyptians’ advance. Hur said to the king, “From today on, resistance will be futile. Apophis may already be making haste toward Avaris, to take shelter behind its impregnable walls.”

Ahmose did not sorrow for long. His joy at conquering a city of Egypt that had been forbidden to his people for two hundred years knew no bounds and he distracted himself with the inspection of the city and its people from all else.

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The army continued its great march, meeting — with no resistance and finding no sign of the enemy. The people of the villages and cities welcomed it, stupefied with joy, unable to believe that after two full centuries, the gods had lifted from them their anger and that he who was conquering their cities and had driven off their enemy was a king drawn from among them to revive the glories of the pharaohs. Ahmose found that the Herdsmen had fled from the cities, leaving their palaces and estates and carrying whatever they could of their possessions and wealth. Every place he came to, he heard that Apophis was fleeing fast with his army and his people to the north. Thus, the king regained in one month Habsil, Lykopolis, and Kusai, ending up finally at Hermopolis. Their entry into the latter had great significance for Ahmose and his soldiers, for Hermopolis was the birthplace of Sacred Mother Tetisheri, her birth having taken place in her ancient house before the occupation. Ahmose celebrated its liberation, and the men of his entourage, the commanders of the army and the fleet, and all the troops took part in the great festivity, the king then writing his grandmother a letter congratulating her on the independence of her first home, and assuring her of his feelings and of those of his army and people. The king, the commanders, and the leading officers all signed this.

The army continued its triumphant march. It entered Titnawi, Sinopolis, Hebennu, and finally Arsinoe, descending between the pyramids on the great Memphis road, indifferent to the hardships of the journey and the length of the way. Along the way, Ahmose smashed the shackles with which his wretched people were bound, breathing into them, from his great soul, a new life, so that one day Hur said to him, “Your military greatness, my lord, has nothing to compare to it except your political skill and your administrative proficiency. You have changed the features of the cities, eliminating systems and constructing systems. You have drawn up the practices that should be followed and the customs that must be observed and you have appointed patriotic governors. Life flows again in the valley's veins and the people have witnessed, for the first time since the distant past, Egyptian governors and Egyptian judges. Bowed heads have risen and a man no longer suffers or is looked down on because of his dark complexion. On the contrary, it has become a source of strength and pride for him. May the Lord Amun indeed protect you, grandson of Seqenenra!”

The king worked wholeheartedly and untiringly, knowing neither despair nor fatigue, his unswerving goal being the restoration to his people, whom abjection, hunger, poverty, and ignorance had brought close to the breaking point, of honor, self-esteem, a well-provided-for life without deprivation, and knowledge.

His heart, however, despite his labors and preoccupations, had not been rescued from its private concerns. Love made him suffer and pride wore him out. Often he would strike the ground with his foot and say to himself, “I was tricked. She is just a heartless woman.” He had hoped that work would force him to forget and bring him solace, but he found that his spirit slipped away despite him to a ship tossing in the waves at the rear of his fleet.

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