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Shield Of The Sun
Part One 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. Copyright ( Fred Watson August 2007 The above is an excerpt from part one of a serialisation written by Fred Watson, and can along with part two and 68 other short stories be read or downloaded, free from his website. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Fred Watson published his first book, a fantasy adventure novel aimed at the 8-12 age group, in November 2006. A grandfather of four, he loves to write for all age groups, has an abiding interest in history and continues on a regular basis to add new stories etc to his website.www.footprintpublishing.co.uk/storiesfordads.html”> Footprint Publishing |
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