Keeping their horses to a slow walk, Hathor and Naxos rode together at the head of the army, with only a few scouts out ahead. The Akkadian cavalry still followed the well-beaten track that Elamites had created on their march from the beach.
A few miles beyond, Hathor came across an even more visible sign of the enemy’s passage. Eight bodies, six men and two women, lay naked alongside the trail. The men, hacked to pieces and covered with blood, had probably died fast enough.
The women, their faces covered with so much blood that Hathor couldn’t even tell if they were old or young, showed large bruises on their thighs and breasts, the usual signs of repeated rape. Both had wide belly wounds that would have killed them slowly. One had a clump of sea grass shoved into her opening.
Swarms of the fearless black sea flies nearly covered the corpses, as they feasted on the still fresh meat. Hathor wondered how many men had taken the women before they died. Even death might not have stopped the most brutal of Elamites.
Most likely farmers, Hathor guessed, harmless and helpless before the Elamite swords. Hathor knew that every man would stare at the bodies as they rode by. Behind him, the laughter and loud talk faded into sober words.
Hathor wasted little more than a look at the dead. Helpless farmers had suffered at the hands of soldiers and marauders since the beginning of time, and he’d killed more than a few of them himself.
After a brief glance at the bodies, Naxos, too, had ignored the sight. Dead Sumerian farmers meant nothing to him. “So, Hathor, what do you think we will find?”
“The last of the invaders reached the city three or four days ago,” Hathor replied. “By now they’ve sealed the approaches and started preparing for the assault. I expect that we’ll find them spread out, with the largest concentration of men north of Sumer, in case anyone tries to reach the city or break the siege. They’re obviously not watching the south, or we’d have seen their patrols.”
“What do you suggest we do when we get there? What would the mighty Eskkar do?”
Hathor took his time before answering. He knew the King of Isin’s pride still rankled that he had agreed to follow Eskkar’s battle plan. All the same, Naxos already knew what Eskkar would do.
Long before the expedition set out, Eskkar, Hathor, and Naxos had prepared several plans of action, depending on whether or not the Akkadians were discovered, even when they were discovered. If the element of surprise remained intact, the leaders had already agreed on what to do.
“My Lord Naxos, King Eskkar asked you to take this command. He told me to follow your orders as I would his own. He asked only that I take no foolish chances with my men’s lives. You’ve no need to compare yourself to him. The command is yours.”
“Bah! I know Eskkar well enough. He’d sacrifice Isin and Sumer, too, for that matter, to save his city.”
“Perhaps he would. But he did not. As Eskkar told you, the fate of the war is in your hands. Even if he wins a victory over the Elamites, it will be of little value if Sumer and the southern lands fall.”
“We’re still outnumbered three or four to one,” Naxos said. “The Elamites may swallow us whole.”
Hathor laughed. “Eskkar once told me that in every battle he ever fought, he was always outnumbered. It’s the will to victory that wins battles. The Elamites are confident of their numbers and sure of their conquest. That will be their weakness. Lead your men with honor. No man can do more.”
Naxos digested that for a moment. “You like Eskkar, don’t you?”
For the first time, Hathor heard only honest curiosity in the King’s voice. “Yes, I do. We are friends. Fifteen years ago, he gave me back my life when a single word could have ended it. Since that day I have found nothing but honor in the man. He cares naught for glory or gold, only for the life of his city.”
Hathor remained the only survivor of the hated Egyptians, who had once fought against the soldiers of Akkad. Hathor and others had seized control of the city after a night of bloodshed. But the Egyptians ruled Akkad only for a few days, before Eskkar returned and led a small group of followers over the wall to rescue his wife and child and reclaim his city.
When the battle ended, Eskkar had fought and captured Korthac, the leader of the Egyptians. Attempting to flee, Hathor had taken a wound that left him unable to fight or escape. Only Trella’s plea to her husband saved Hathor from the torturers and death.
In the years since, a bond formed between Eskkar and Hathor. Both men started life as outcasts, and both found themselves alone in a strange land. Eskkar understood what Hathor had faced in those first few years, before the people and soldiers of Akkad had, grudgingly at first, accepted the role that Eskkar had given him.
Over time, Hathor received many gifts and honors from Eskkar and Trella, but by far the most valuable was his wife, Cnari, who had given him his first real family.
Naxos broke the silence. “Yet Eskkar builds an empire that threatens to swallow Isin and all the other cities of the Land Between the Rivers.”
“You would prefer the constant battles between cities, like the Sumerians did? Or more attacks from the steppes warriors, or this invasion of the Elamites? Perhaps, King Naxos, the age of empires is upon us all. Rather than resist its coming, you might find it more pleasing to become a part of it.”
A shout ended the conversation. One of Naxos’s scouts had returned, galloping his horse until he pulled up at Naxos’s side.
“We saw Sumer’s walls and the Elamite army!” The excited scout waved his hands as he spoke. “We’re less than three miles from the city.”
Even Naxos’s dour face showed excitement. “Were you seen? Did they spot you?”
“No, my lord. Their camp, thousands of men, is spread out in a ring around the city. I ordered my men to stay and keep watch. I came back at once.”
“Good.” Naxos turned to Hathor. “What do you think?”
Hathor had further questions for the scout, but the man had seen little more than the enemy camp and the city.
“Well, it doesn’t look as if they know we’re behind them.” Hathor kept his voice calm. “Let’s ride ahead and see for ourselves what’s there. Meanwhile, I think we should keep our men moving ahead. If we stop here, and someone sees us, it may look odd. If we keep moving ahead, they may think we’re just more reinforcements from Elam.”
Naxos rubbed his beard for a moment. “All right. We’ll take a look.” He ordered his commanders to keep the men going at the same slow pace, told the scout to lead the way, then urged his horse into a gallop.
Hathor touched his heels to his horse, and followed. A mile sped beneath their hooves, and the two leaders soon reached the four scouts waiting for them at a stand of palm trees. The men had tied their mounts to a bush, and now lay on the ground beneath the northernmost stretch of trees.
Hathor dismounted and calmly fastened his horse to a nearby tree, deliberately taking his time. Naxos must have taken the hint, for he slowed himself down. Together the two leaders moved forward, until they reached the others, hugging a small rise in the earth.
Dropping to the ground beside the scouts, Hathor peered beneath some low hanging palm fronds. He took in the grassy countryside that encompassed Sumer. The farmhouses that had once surrounded the city had vanished, knocked into a rubble of mud bricks days ago by the city’s defenders. Anything useful to an invading army had been removed or destroyed. He saw no herds of sheep, goats, or cattle. Black scars covered the land, where Sumer’s defenders had torched the crops and grasslands.
Closer to Sumer, he saw smoke from many fires rising into the air. The fires followed the rough curve of Elamite soldiers that had encircled the city on three sides, from the northern riverbank to the southern riverbank. Both leaders stared at the sight, studying the ground, the enemy, and the lay of the land between. The nearest Elamites were at least a mile away.