‘A warning,’ Hui replied.

And the message was clear. For strangers, only death lay ahead.

Golden sparks swirled towards the twinkling constellations in the sky. Though the night wind whipped up the campfire in one final roar, the flames were beginning to die down, the embers glowing red in waves of grey ash. In the wavering amber light, a jumble of tall, square tents billowed. Sobbing was heard from among them, no doubt from one of the girl captives, stifled as suddenly as it began.

Under the lamp of the full moon, the camp of the Shrikes was slumbering.

Hui’s eyes watered from a stray wisp of smoke. He could taste the sweet fragrance of the sheep dung and straw that provided the fire’s fuel. How long had he been lying on his belly on this slab of rock scrutinising the bandit camp, with Kyky and Qen barely daring to breath beside him? An age, it seemed. But the time had to be right, even though his ribs were sore, and his knees and elbows ached from sliding across the hard ground like vipers to avoid being picked out by the moonlight.

Egypt had once been the greatest empire on earth, he had overheard his father, the governor, telling one of the visiting dignitaries. But now it was besieged by jackals on all sides, and the good folk lived in constant fear. Their king lacked an heir and the strength to hold the Great House of Egypt together, and in the chaos, a false Pharaoh had arisen as challenger in the lower reaches of the Nile. His soldiers dominated there. In the west, the Libyans held sway along with the desert wanderers, the habiru, rogues and cut-throats all. Foreigners, not Egyptians. They had no standing in this land and never would. And in the east the barbarians, the Hyksos, tested the resolve of Egypt’s defenders with their bloody war-bands. Hui had heard many stories of those terrifying warriors. He prayed he would never meet one.

But it seemed, listening to his father, that it was the Shrikes who invoked the greatest fear.

These robber gangs, each led by their own chieftain, terrorised the length and breadth of the Nile. They would attack in broad daylight, even striking within the shadow of the city walls, cutting down any man, woman or child who stood in their way. They took what they wanted with impunity, disappearing into the wilderness to plan their next raid. His father had bemoaned the weakness of the palace officials who seemed incapable of doing anything to bring the Shrikes to justice.

‘The Shrikes are a force in the land to rival the state itself. No one would dare challenge them,’ his father had whispered. ‘They have no kindness, no compassion. Those murderous bandits would slit the throats of their own mothers if they saw gain in it.’