Chapter 4

While we walked, I reminded Sally of the kind of danger that we were in. The Egyptians at the time were very dogmatic, at least the priests were, about the sanctity and dignity of the pharaohs. They might decide to kill us out of hand for even being this close to the son of the current pharaoh. Sally took the whole thing much calmer than I did, as if she knew a secret that I was not a party to. Okay, if she was not worried, I would just do the worrying for both of us.

With the boy to slow us down, Sally told me he was only 6 years old, we could not make very good time. I offered to carry Prince Kilgot, but Sally vetoed that for political reasons. I didn't argue, but I did wonder what she meant. It took us an hour to reach the Nile and another 20 minutes to reach the boat where his mother was waiting. This was way past the kid's bedtime, and the prince was showing the strain.

Finally, we arrived, and I was glad that we were still alive, but I didn't know how much longer that would last. We approached the ramp leading up to the boat and halted. Sgt. Ackmus went aboard to report to Queen Hepsol that her son had finally arrived.

A woman in very fancy dress rushed onto the boat's deck and Prince Kilgot shouted, "MOTHER, HERE I AM!" and ran up the ramp to her. The woman gathered him up in her arms and practically smothered him with affection. Once that was over, the two chattered to each other like the proverbial magpies. Suddenly, the Queen summoned Sgt. Ackmus and talked to him for a few minutes. I had a feeling that we were in trouble when Sgt. Ackmus nodded his head and trotted toward us.

He commanded his men to form a guard of honor around us, and we all marched up to Queen Hepsol. To our surprise, we were greeted as long lost friends before we were even close enough to bow to the queen. She rushed to Sally and me and hugged us with what seemed like genuine warmth. The next thing we knew, we were invited into her private chambers and offered seats and refreshments. Both of us knew better than to decline, so we accepted the seats and the chilled pomegranate juice we were offered. I am not a fan of pomegranate juice, but I did know to drink whatever I was offered by a queen of Egypt.

Once we were comfortable, we had to relate the details of what we had done that night to help her son, and then she wanted to know where we were from. I made up some cock and bull story about how we were tourists from a land far to the west, but I made sure that the story was simple enough that I could remember it if and when I had to tell it again.

The queen and her entourage was headed back to the capitol in the morning, and she wanted to know if we would like to join her. She seemed like such a nice person that I almost agreed, then I remembered my commitment to the merchants for three more weeks of guard duty. I regretfully declined with an explanation that I had given my word to the merchants that I would protect them, and I just could not bring myself to break such a serious promise.

Queen Hepsol hit the ceiling when she heard about the way the local authorities were shirking their duty to protect the merchants. She sent for the captain of her boat and ordered him to postpone sailing for at least two days. He was dismissed, and she called for Sgt. Ackmus. He was ordered to have the head of the local guard in her presence before mid-morning. He was dismissed, and she said to me, "Sir Billackerman, thank you for bringing this dereliction of duty to my attention. I will take care of the problem tomorrow morning, and you will be free to travel with us without breaking your promise."

Oh, God, what else could I do? I thanked her for helping me out and resigned Sally and me to a visit at the royal palace.

The next morning was an entire shift in perspective for us. We had been housed in a plush for the time cabin aboard what I now knew was the royal yacht assigned to Queen Hepsol. As it turned out, Queen Hepsol was the favorite wife of Pharaoh Alquot, who was simply known by his name. All of the other males named Alquot had changed their names when Alquot came to the throne.

We were served breakfast with the queen and the prince and invited to remain while she took care of the business with the local guard. When the current captain of the guard was brought into her presence, the queen refused to mention his name. She said that she did not want to insult any one else who had the hitherto unblemished name that he carried. Queen Hepsol did tell the malefactor why he was called to account. She had him bound and ordered that he be thrown to the crocodiles. The man was dragged from her presence and she called for Sgt. Ackmus.

"Sgt. Ackmus, from now until I might decide to take further action, you are Captain of the Guard for this city. Please go, Captain Ackmus, and see to the proper maintenance of our peace." The new captain bowed and left to assume his new duties, at a significant increase in salary and prestige, it should be noted.

We heard later that Prince Kilgot met Capt. Ackmus at the ramp and there was a tearful parting on both sides. It seemed that everybody who knew Prince Kilgot loved him, including Sally and me.

That afternoon, Queen Hepsol invited me to her chambers and chased everyone else out. "Sir Billackerman, I have something very serious to discuss with you. I have heard of your ability to fight and I know of your loyalty to anyone you pledge yourself to, so I sincerely hope that you will accept the offer that I am about to make.

"Prince Kilgot is in considerable danger, and I need someone to look after his life and welfare. I am asking you to take the job. As nearly as I can tell, you have no other loyalties here in Egypt that would conflict with you taking the position as Captain of the Guard for Prince Kilgot. I am sure that you have already foiled one attempt to assassinate the prince, and I am expecting more in the near future. As long as he has a chance to become pharaoh, his life is in danger, and I think that you are the best possible man to protect him. Will you protect my son?"

"Yes, Queen Hepsol, I will protect your son with my life. What assets do I have to work with?" I was to get a group of 20 men who were fanatically loyal to the prince and would take orders from me once the queen explained the situation to them. Other than that, I would always have access to the queen. She warned me that no one else in the palace was to be trusted, even Prince Kilgot's siblings. In fact, they might be the most dangerous of all. She did not think that Alquat was a danger, but all of his advisers most certainly were. Uniformly, the priesthood was dangerous, and she thought that the attackers when I first encountered the prince were agents of one of the high priests. More on that later.

My next step was to tell Sally of my new job and to tell her of hers: she was now the nanny to Prince Kilgot. She would get full details of her new post this afternoon from the queen, but she was now part of the royal entourage, as was I. We had been permanently assigned the stateroom we were currently using, and she was free to redecorate it if she so desired. However, I did suggest that she wait a little on that until she had more experience in her job.

Uh-oh, late that afternoon, I received word of my first assignment as official protector of Prince Kilgot. A certain High Priest Urshalomo had "requested" that Queen Hepsol and Prince Kilgot attend a dinner at his home since they were going to be in the city for a few more days. Queen Hepsol was absolutely convinced that this was a way to get Prince Kilgot where he could be murdered, and I had to make sure that it did not happen. Politically, there was no way to reject the invitation, so she and the prince had to go. She was sure of an attack on the way back to the yacht.

I was certainly not up on local politics, so I could not argue with her about the necessity for the acceptance of the invitation. I was also convinced that this smelled of another assassination attempt. Okay, the queen had her own bodyguard, so, theoretically, I had only to worry about Prince Kilgot, but I certainly was not going to ignore any threats to the queen.