Chariot - VII

Section of a Novella from Tarot Blanco

Onto zestfulness you men,

and none dies,

Inimical a sun.

They shall kill all of the doves before they end with a scream and a kiss. I will see to it. Look at them a prisoner of the cutter, I shall hang anyone who does not lay down his arms before the great King, the mighty King, the inexorable King. Or cast them out into the wastelands that cringe into the desert and slowly peel a man’s skin away before he passes out from thirst. I see screaming for me the chariots that I alone can produce armed with archers and a driver. My drivers have skill because they practice all the day drilling with their steeds motioning back and forth on their wheels.

It is a joy to behold.

I have gone out of the Kew Kingdom slithering up the coast of the Levant, taking tribute from the towns who thought they had been me. I am taking a few men to behead so that the rest will know that I am mighty and that I take what I want. The four leaders, that of Amun, Re, Set, and newly organized Ptah are loyal to a man, and would never tell me anything that would upset my mortal brow or fluster my beard. Each of them knows that the worst sin is to tell me that my command is not law.

But now I see a messenger in a chariot and he seems to be signaling that he has some important information. Though I may crumple my four head I know that I need peace to drive the pieces of my enemy before me.

“Speak.” Longer words are not in my manner.

“Oh great King, mighty Emperor, and leader of all. It seems we have been ambushed and the Army before us is larger than you were told by the captured Hittites. They have surrounded both Amun and Re.”

“What of Ptah?”

“Utterly vanquish by a large mob of chariots which slid behind them and then under a rain of arrows charged with the infantry holding spears.”

It means that we are scattered and may not be able to take Kadesh, which was my goal to come so far from our kingdom out into the wastelands which no one holds for very long. But I may have one more trick to pull because, in addition to my heavy chariots, I have later ones that only hold one driver and one archer. They use lighter horses, thin wheels, and less armor but are quick and used primarily to shuttle men hither and yon.

“Go to the rear, and assemble all of the light chariots. Charge but not from the front but far to the left.”

The men simply nodded and took every measure to gallop his horses. Then I told my driver to put up the blue canopy with white stars and I put on the armor made with moons. If I drive in from the front my hope is that the enemy chariots, seeing that I have joined the battle, will pursue open to capture and ransom for my life to my new capital at Pi-Ramesses. Even from this distance, I could see the chariots of my enemy, threefold and lobbing arrows before them. But I can see the later chariots coming from the outside waiting until they have a good opportunity to shoot from surprise.

And then they closed, with the lighter chariots letting free a fast swallowed of arrows into the side and rear, surprising my enemy who was too attached to my armor to look for the trap. Foolish mortals, I am a God and today I shall prove it. The boast will go back to how I won a tremendous victory by deciding to spare Kadesh. I can see the white murals laying forth the light. Sweeping before all too amazing victory leading the infantry forward into battle. However, I shall punish Amun, and all his soldiers, for giving me the prisoners, because I believed them to have hard data when in fact they were spies intent on deceiving me.

When picking through the dead I did not find the Hittite leader who calls himself King even though I have not given permission to use that title to him. My horses needed water, so I gave them to the driver reminding him to let the white one drink while the black one waited and then have the white one weigh while the black one slakes his thirst. Then I will mount up and wave to my warriors and let them give thanks to me who has drawn the victory forever more.

-

It is the now.

And on the grizzled plain, there is no trace of a kingdom for the nothing so oppressive, except save a granite foot that reaches for the sun, a marble moon that is broken, and a ruby eye that accuses to the dawn. There are bits of writing in a strange and forgotten tongue that no one can read. We know there is a castle nearby but we do not know if he was attacking or defending the ramparts which are torn by wear and ruined so that the mud bricks are a shamble of their former selves.

This is all that we know of Ozymandias and the Army he said he led.