Shield Of The Sun

He stood on a low mound, the great golden orb, casting long shadows on the plain below as Ra began his daily journey across a deep blue sky. His name was Hanno, a royal prince of the blood and he stood at the right hand of his boyhood friend Tutimaios, God King of the land of Kemet.Hanno the youngest son of king Ahab of the Kena'ani people, favoured his mother a former princess of Thrace. Red gold hair hung down to his broad shoulders, he had an open face with a generous mouth and a long straight nose. But it was his eyes as pale as the sky in the midday sun that set him apart. His clan inhabited the island city-state of Tyre that lay on the southeast coast of the sea known to the people of Kemet as the Wadj-Wer and were close allies and trading partners with the black lands of the great river.At an early age, as tradition demanded, Hanno, was sent by his father to live in the black lands at the court of the god king. So from the age of five he lived with and was taught alongside the favoured male children of the god, Tutimaios and Abados, and became like a brother to them.Now Hanno stood next to Tutimaios awaiting the final confrontation far beyond the borders of Kemet and the victorious, but battle weary army was about to come against a force that outnumbered them by two to one. Not only did the opposing army outnumber them, it was composed of mainly fresh troops. After already having suffered four defeats at the hands of Tutimaios's forces, the war like Aamu coalition had raised a fresh army from amongst its many peoples and were more determined than ever to gain possession of the rich fertile lands of the great river.Hanno knew that none of this would have mattered with Tutimaios and the shield in the fore; they would have dealt with this new menace as they had dealt with the others before. But disaster had struck. The warrior priest Abados, half brother to Tutimaios had disappeared, along with the shield.Yesterday Hanno had been certain of their victory in the upcoming battle. But now the outcome was in doubt, not because of a lack of leadership or courage on behalf of the Pharaoh. Tutimaios had at the death of his father inherited a country that was virtually lost to an enemy already living within its borders. Yet he had by force of will rebuilt the army, won his first four battles and had almost completed the process that would remove the threat of the Aamu forever. It was true that without the shield he may not have won through. But his courage and determination was such that he would either have succeeded or died in the attempt. If such thoughts raced through his head, he could not but wonder at the turmoil that must surely inhabit the mind of his friend. He looked towards Tutimaios and was amazed at the inner strength that allowed nothing of his friend's feelings to show on his face.Tutimaios stood with his legs slightly apart, his hands clasped behind his back. He was simply dressed in a pair of stout leather sandals, a linen kilt that glowed white against his sun-darkened skin and on his head the blue battle crown of the sun god. A smile touched the corners of his lips and all the outward signs showed him to be what he was, the God of the sun come to earth, the supreme ruler and protector of the myriad peoples that live in the rich river lands of kemet.But inside an icy hand squeezed his great heart and for the first time he felt an uncertainty, a fear, not for himself, but for the people and the land he loved. For years the land had been the subject of misrule. Successive pharaohs had allowed foreigners to settle the rich river lands. Even his father had welcomed them with open arms and they had settled throughout the land.But in recent years more of these immigrants had arrived to join their kin, until the north swarmed with them. The numbers wouldn't have mattered if the newcomers hadn't begun to ferment trouble. It had begun with disputes in the delta and locals being driven from their lands. And by the time Tutimaios had come to the throne the young Pharaoh had been faced with a country in turmoil, the northeast was ablaze and the troubles had threatened to spread throughout the land.There and then he'd vowed to drive the Aamu from his beloved Kemet. But the peacetime army had been small and contained many of the foreigners within its ranks. He'd had to build a new army, one that he could trust. The task had taken nearly a year to complete, but the army had still been small and outnumbered by the Aamu. He'd needed an edge and the sage Ini had delivered it to him. It came in the form of a shield made from a metal that came from the Great Amon. The sage swore that the ore he used to fashion the shield, came down from the sky glowing as bright as Ra himself and buried itself smoking hot in the sand of the Sinai.It had taken the mystic many years to find the secrets of the ore, but eventually when he'd learned how to smelt and work the resultant metal. He'd made a shield shaped in Ra's image and embellished it with gold and it was a thing of beauty and power. Since the shield had come from the god, the mystic made it a gift to the living god himself and taught him the secret of its power. A power so strong that it would surround and protect him, turning aside any blow, even one from the most determined enemy.Having gained the edge he needed to complete what had been in the beginning an almost hopeless task, Tutimaios began his campaign and true to his word he had in successive battles driven the Aamu from the land. In the first battle on a plain to the east of Bubastis his small army had split the enemy front, wiped out half of the enemy force and had driven the rest before them.Next came Quantir where the Aamu had taken and reinforced the fortress city, manning the walls with fresh troops. They had also regrouped and reinforce their army and now had a force of thirty five thousand men on the ground. This time when they'd fought Hanno and his six thousand had joined the centre and he'd fought alongside his friend Tutimaios, while new reinforcements had merged with the men of the generals Ayi and Utmas that held the left and right flanks. Once again Tutimaios had split the opposing force asunder with his wedge formation and had left ten thousand of them dead on the field. After forcing the surrender of Qantir he'd begun his pursuit of the enemy, and twice more the Aamu had reinforced and regrouped for battle and twice more by the power of the shield he had beaten and set them to flight. Now one final battle against the Aamu far from home would decide if Kemet remained free.Copyright ( Fred Watson August 2007The above is an excerpt from part one of a serialization written by Fred Watson, and can along with part two and 68 other short stories be read or downloaded, free from his website. dr seuss book collection