City of the Dead

the camp. We kicked out the fire and got the chariots ready. I only left two men to guard the tents. The rest of us set off after the king.’
    ‘Was it light?’
    ‘The sun was just coming up. We went as fast as we could, but we didn’t call out to them. If they’d really found cattle we didn’t want to spoil the hunt. Then we saw the chariot ahead of us.’ Nehesy broke off, shuddering at the memory. ‘I thought, that’s my job buggered. But I feared for the king, too,’ he added quickly, catching Huy’s expression.
    ‘I don’t know how it could have happened, anyway,’ he continued, it was in open desert, and Sherybin’s one of the best drivers I’ve ever known. Maybe a rein snapped, or some other piece of tack broke. Must have done, because we found the horses not far away. They were panicky, but there wasn’t a mark on them. Worst of all was the chariot. It was a new one, heavier to make it more stable, but something must have happened to turn it over. Poor Sherybin... if you could have seen him. Did you hear what happened?’
    ‘Yes.’
    The king was lying a short way off, face down. His arms we're spread out as if he was embracing Geb.’
    ‘How had he died?’
    ‘The back of the skull was smashed in.’
    Huy was silent for a moment, trying to visualise the scene. But the only pictures his heart brought to him were of the wind swirling the sand into lonely, wild spirals in an empty grey void.
    ‘Not even the trackers could find any trace of the cattle they were supposed to be after,’ said Nehesy.
    ‘What about the one who’d found them in the first place? Had he come back?’
    ‘No one’s seen him since.’
    ‘How long had he been with you?’
    ‘I don’t know. Half a year, perhaps. But you know these country people. He probably saw the accident, got frightened, and ran off into the desert. You can live out there indefinitely if you know how. My guess is that he joined a ship bound for Punt. It’s happened before, when people get scared enough.’
    ‘And Sherybin?’
    Nehesy thought. ‘At least a year. He was young, but he was a good charioteer. That is why I let him drive the king.’
    ‘They got on well?’
    ‘They were like brothers.’
    The dogs had lost interest in their master now, and had gone to lie down around the edges of their pen. Two rested their heads on their paws. The others still kept a watchful eye, between yawns.
    ‘Where is the chariot now?’ asked Huy.
    Nehesy looked at him in surprise. ‘Horemheb kept it.’
    Huy looked at him. ‘But not the horses?’
    ‘No; they are back in the stables here.’
    ‘How did he react to your story?’
    ‘He was satisfied.’ Nehesy said this challengingly, as if Huy should take warning from it.
    ‘May I see the horses?’
    Nehesy spread his hands. ‘Of course.’
    They walked out of the animal house and into the bright sunlight. The steeds were quiet now, standing in the scant shade afforded by the palm trees planted for the purpose in their corral. Nehesy undid the gate and led Huy towards them. At the smell of an approaching stranger, they stamped uneasily, and one flattened its ears; but Nehesy’s presence reassured them.
    ‘Which did he drive?’ asked Huy.
    ‘These two,’ replied the huntsman, stroking the necks of a pair of sturdy animals which stood side by side. Huy, a townsman by nature and inclination, had not had much to do with horses, but the expensive and exotic beasts fascinated him. He approached them shyly, delighted by their gentleness, and the friendliness with which they responded to the touch of his hand. He looked carefully over their flanks and their trembling thighs, where on one a muscle twitched. Their tails flicked restlessly at angrily buzzing flies. There was not a mark on either horse.
    Huy straightened. ‘I don’t know anything about these animals,’ he said. ‘But if the harness had snapped — if the chariot had overturned while they were still in the traces, mightn’t there have been some breaking of the skin, or at least a burn mark?’
    Nehesy looked at him.

    Much later Huy sat in the sun, tired, letting its heat warm him like a lizard. Immobile as one, he let his heart sort out the events of the day.
    It had not all been as successful as his meeting with Nehesy. The huntsman, believing him to be performing some kind of official duty, had indicated where he could find the chariot, but not mentioned that it was impounded. From the guards . Huy learnt that this was so