But if the goddess heard my words, she gave no sign. Daylight was fading, and the track of the canal wasn’t bringing me any closer to finding a peasant’s home or even a boy sent out to herd goats for his family. Hunger dug deep into my belly. How grateful I would have been for a mouthful of bread, even if it was as hard as baked clay! I paused, torn between following the canal a little longer or giving up on my search. The land was silent except for the chirr of insects and the distant cries of birds. Not even a dog’s bark, I thought. I took a deep breath through my nostrils. Not even the smell of a cookfire. That decided me. Reluctant but resigned, I turned my back on Ra’s sinking sun-ship and headed toward the river.
I don’t know if I walked faster because of the coming night or if I’d simply taken a shorter route than following the irrigation ditch, but it felt as if I’d taken less time to return to the sacred river than to leave it. As I neared the water’s edge, I heard the sound of raised voices. Moving cautiously, I crept closer until I saw two men loudly arguing as they waded through the shallows, hauling a boat between them. It was a larger version of the one the rogue hippo had destroyed, except this one was laden with baskets brimming with the feathered bodies of dead ducks and other game birds. One of the men looked much older than the other, perhaps his father. I hoped he wasn’t. No son should fling so many curses and complaints at his father’s head.
“Why I have to listen to you, you worthless frog skin! It’s more my hard work than yours that’s filled this boat! Stupid old bag of bones, you’re already blind in one eye and the other’s halfway gone. I’m the one who killed all these birds, and you think you can claim half?”
“You couldn’t kill ’em if you couldn’t find ’em,” the older man replied just as hotly. “You’re a poor excuse for a hunter. You’d waste your days sticking this boat into every patch of reeds on the river and praying to Lady Neith for luck. And that’s the only way you would find your quarry. The gods might’ve stolen the light from my left eye, but my right’s still sharp enough to read the game signs and know where the birds are.”
“Pfff! Sharp as mud, you mean. You nearly steered us onto a bank full of crocodiles!”
“No such thing! Tell a few more whoppers like that, boy, and you won’t have to worry about Ammut gobbling up your heart. Your mother’ll do the job first. Trust me, I know my sister’s temper when it comes to liars.”
“Ah, Ma’s not that bad,” the younger man replied with a snort.
“Oh, no? How d’you think I really lost sight in this eye?”
The two of them laughed over that and the harsh mood was broken.
I watched them secure their boat and build a small fire using whatever they could scrounge that would burn. I stayed where I was, hidden in a stand of dead reeds. Hapy had withdrawn his waters from them and left me thankful for a hiding place where I could wait out the night. I was close enough to the hunters’ fire to discourage any wild beasts from bothering me. As for encountering any crawling things—insects, lizards, or serpents—I’d have to pray to Isis for protection and take my chances. I was too afraid to risk letting them see me, though when they began to eat their modest evening meal of bread and cheese, my empty stomach complained stridently that some risks were worth taking. I fought back the aching emptiness, folded my arms around me, and squatted down in my nest of reeds.
I didn’t think I’d fall asleep where I sat. I honestly expected that my fears and sorrows wouldn’t let me nod off, especially after that who-knows-how-long slumber I’d had earlier that day after crying myself into collapse. But in spite of all that, fatigue stole over me, body and mind, and sleep followed.
I awoke to the sound of a loud crash and found myself flat on my back in the dead reeds, staring up at the moon and stars. When I’d fallen asleep, I’d really fallen, toppling backward, rattling and crushing the plants around me. Before I could take a breath, I heard the old man shout out, “What’s that? Who’s there?” and saw shadowy hands shove aside the few reeds left standing.
“Well, look at this, Uncle!” The young man’s expression was hard to read in the dark, but it seemed he could see me well enough. His hands shot out and grabbed my wrists, yanking me to my feet and hauling me out of the reeds to the side of the fading fire. “You might know where the ducks nest, but I’ve caught something better.” He laughed. I hoped it was a friendly laugh; it had to be!
“Who is that?” The older man squinted at me. Even in such faint light, I could see the thick white film covering his left eye, though the other one looked as keen as he’d claimed. “Who are you, girl? What’s happened to you? You look as if you’ve been fighting jackals bare-handed!”
I glanced down at my ragged dress, my scraped and filthy arms and legs. I could only imagine what my face and hair must look like after all that had happened to me that day. “I—I—” I bit my lip. “I was on the river and a hippo destroyed my boat.” It wasn’t exactly a lie; it was only part of the truth. May Ma’at forgive me.
“You look it,” the older man said, clicking his tongue in sympathy. “When did it happen?”
“This morning. I’ve been walking ever since. I’m trying to get to Dendera.” I clasped my hands, hoping fiercely that the next words out of the older man’s mouth would be an offer to take me there.
Instead, I heard “Pretty little thing, aren’t you?” from the nephew. He chucked me under the chin with his roughly callused hand and grinned before he kissed me so hard that our teeth clacked together.
I didn’t think about what I did next; I just did it. I made a fist and punched him so hard in the center of his chest that his head made a loud thunk! when it hit the ground. When I heard that, I spun on my heel and dashed away.