Free The City of Refuge: Book 1 of The Memphis Cycle by Diana Wilder Page B

back quickly.”
    Khonsu clapped him on the shoulder. “You've done well, Nebamun.”
    “Very well,” Lord Nebamun agreed. He turned to the others. “I am going back at once with the Commander. Nehesi will be invaluable as well if there's been a collapse. And you–” this to the messenger, “Your name is Nebamun ? I'll certainly have no trouble remembering it. You will drive me back to the city.”
    He waited for the man to go ahead of him, then hurried down the path with Khonsu and Nehesi following.
    “People were shouting as I was harnessing the team,” Khonsu’s driver told them.. “I heard one voice above the rest. I turned and saw an army pouring into this valley at a run from the cliffs. They were wearing royal insignia. Their leader took one look at what was going on, waded in with all his men and started giving orders. The way he was going about it, he may have things under control by now.”
    They returned to the city at a punishing speed. Khonsu, gripping the rail of his chariot, traded grim smiles with his driver. “What happened?” he demanded.
    The driver took a wide turn in the path with magnificent ease, gathered the reins more firmly, and looked over at Khonsu. “It was the damnedest thing, Commander. That bustling, sharp-faced little fellow, the sawbones His Reverence brought, went marching all over the House of Life with Captain Karoya. I went with them.”
    “But why was he looking at a temple?”
    “It was near the river,” Djer replied, feather-edging another turn and nearly overrunning Lord Nebamun's chariot in the process. They were approaching the northern limits of the city. “That old stick of a physician thought it'd be a good idea to have a place near the water so any really sick ones could be sent south to Asyut or north to Khemnu. He'd seen the place last night and wanted to take a closer look at it.
    “It's a terrible spot, Commander! Filled with weird carvings! Teti and Captain Karoya stayed inside with the Physician while I was sent to call for more men to help clear the rubble. We'd just started forward when I heard a whoosh! Like a wind. I looked up and saw the cliffs crumbling like a waterfall of earth and stone.
    “The officers went running for the wreckage, one yelling for Nebamun to grab two others and send to His Grace. We didn't have time to see who was killed!”
    Khonsu clenched his hands on the rail of the chariot. They were racing down the processional way now, past the temple on the right toward the line of high cliffs forming the southern boundary of the cup of land holding the city. The streets seemed to be thronged with three times as many as men as Khonsu had brought.
    “Thoth's beak!” Khonsu exclaimed. “An army!”
    **   **   **
    The overtopping cliffs seemed to dwarf and silence the pandemonium as the two chariots arrived. A horde of men stood before the entrance to the walled enclosure of what appeared at first glance to be a pleasure pavilion. Shouts of officers were heard from behind the walls, sounding above the steady beat of a drum.
    Nebamun, whose chariot arrived first, was staring up at the cliffs. “A landslide!” he breathed.
    “Your Grace?”
    “The cliffs!” Nebamun pointed. “See that patch along the edge, lighter than the rest? And the rocks below? The pavilion is up against the edge of these cliffs, directly beneath the overhang. Foolish, foolish to have built it so! I should have remembered and ordered them to stay away!”
    Khonsu looked up at the gash in the rocks. “I'll find out what's happening. Your Grace? Will you remain here until we know it's safe?”
    “Yes, yes, of course!”
    Khonsu jumped from his chariot and ran toward a squadron of infantry who stood frowning at the line of the cliffs. One lifted his weapon at sight of Khonsu.
    Khonsu stepped forward with his hands raised. “I am Khonsu of the Nome of Khemnu, in command of the Provincial Army here. Take me to your commanding officer at once.”
    One of the