The March of Deshret

The March of Deshret is the second novel in The Bronze Horus series, self-published on Amazon.com and all its regional sites by Julius Janeliūnas. It was released on June 24th, 2022. It continues the story of The Rise of Kemet directly, picking up where the first novel left off.

## Back cover

The war continues.

The eastern emperor continues his march west, along with his newly formed Eastern Coalition of Elam, Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti, and the Kingdom of the Levant. Opposing them stands the Organization of Free Kingdoms – Egypt, the Mycenaean Confederation, Alashiya, and the Hittite and Assyrian exiles, seeking to reclaim the kingdoms they had lost.

The March of Deshret is the second novel of The Bronze Horus, an alternate history series in the world where the Bronze Age Collapse never happened. The March of Deshret directly follows The Rise of Kemet and continues the story of characters such as Amenemheb, Ramesses XI, Muwatalli III, Tiglath-Pileser, Shilhak-Inshushinak, and more, as the largest war in history so far, encompassing most of the known world, rages on.

Will the OFK manage to defend their lands and reclaim the lost kingdoms? Or will the EC finish their conquest of the known world and establish the largest empire in history? That will be decided soon enough, as the two giants clash in the greatest battles their kingdoms had ever seen, and their outcome will decide the fate of this world…

## Plot summary

The novel begins with some Egyptian civilians protesting against the government's decision to allow Hittite exiles to stay in Egypt. The protesters try attacking the Egyptian medjay, but are pushed back and dispersed. Amenemheb, the royal envoy of Egypt, gets back from the city to the palace where he goes to a meeting attended by the pharaoh and various other officials, discussing the possibility to include female soldiers in the Egyptian army. Some are against the idea, but the majority supports it, and the pharaoh Ramesses XI begins drafting the decree. In a few days Amenemheb sails out with his entourage to Iunet, to meet up with some of the only women in Egypt who have military experience, as they had organized the women's rebellion a couple years back.

The group reaches Iunet and the meeting with Hathorhotep, the mayor of the city, goes well, as she introduced the group to he most experienced female soldier Nedjmet. Misaphris and Duathathor, who are in a relationship and are both employed by Amenemheb, are left to take her to the capital Men-nefer and present her and her ideas to the pharaoh, while Amenemheb and the remaining part of his group venture further south, to meet with Harsiotef, the brother of the Kushite qore Taharqa. Harsiotef had written a letter to Amenemheb proposing to meet and discuss some options for cooperation. Amenemheb meets with Harsiotef on the outskirts of the city of Buhen in Lower Kush, and the two of them agree on a plan. The Egyptians agree to assassinate Taharqa, so that Harsiotef could take over Kush as his successor, put an end to the war with Egypt, and make his kingdom part of a union with Egypt. They all sail back to Men-nefer, where Harsiotef meets up with the pharaoh and he agrees to this plan as well.

Meanwhile in the Levant, the war continues. Shilhak-Inshushinak, the king of Elam and the leader of the EC, unexpectedly uses war elephants from India for the first time in battle in the Fourth Battle of Kadesh, causing the OFK army to be defeated. The Egyptian army is scattered, and half of the soldiers are killed or captured, including the general Horminuter, who is sent to Ugarit to be kept prisoner, although in good conditions, and Shilhak tries convincing him to join his side. Horminuter continues refusing over the coming months, even as Shilhak's advance over the Levant continues, and Phoenicia leaves Egypt to become neutral and independent and so supply both sides with weapons and ships, agreeing to join whichever side wins the war in the Levant. Eventually Shilhak leaves the front to his generals and goes to the east to reassure fellow EC members of imminent victory and keep them in line. On the way, he visits Dilmun and Magan, who are now ruled by the corporatist factions, which had been supported by Lim-Kiririsha, Shilhak's wife who has been left in control of Elam while he was away fighting in the east. Dilmun and Magan had undergone short civil wars, but the corporatists ultimately won and joined the EC. The Lullubi under Zubani now also become a more formal part of the EC and are given the go ahead by Shilhak to take away some of their own forces from the Levant to expand their realm to former Azzi territories. Shilhak, after touring the faction, gets back to Susa, the capital of Elam, for a short while and meets with his wife Lim and his son Shilhak-Humban, his designated successor, before leaving to return to the front.

Meanwhile in Egypt, Ramesses officially signs a decree allowing women to join the army, as after the recent losses in the Levant there is a shortage of soldiers. This infuriates the conservative protesters even more and their ranks are expanded even further. They begin rioting even more intensively and destroying minority neighborhoods. Eventually it is discovered that the Sons of Montu - the most notorious terrorist organization in Egypt - is behind these protests, intel which was provided to Egypt by Harsiotef, as the Kushites under Taharqa still supplied, as intermediaries between them and Elam, the Sons with weapons and resources. The Sons of Montu, seeing that the government is closing in on them, launch a surprise attack on the palatial quarter, hoping to take out the government. They manage to get into the complex but are ultimately defeated by Ramesses and his royal guards, Nedjment and a division of her newly trained female soldiers, and the city's medjay. Most of the participating civilians are sentenced to hard labor, while the Sons of Montu members are killed or captured and tortured for information, with one soon revealing the headquarters of the organization. The headquarters are raided by the army that night and the remaining members are taken out, thus putting an end to the organization. Its leader Montuherkhepeshef, Ramesses XI's uncle, is also captured and publicly executed by being burnt alive. This for the most part puts an end to the riots and protests over the situation.

Soon enough, in early 75 AEE, the Hittites under Muwatalli III finally set out from Egypt to reclaim Hatti, using hundreds of Egyptian and Alashiyan ships to cross the sea. However, on the way they are ambushed by EC fleets - first an Elamite fleet from the east, and later also by Hakkarpili's secret fleet from the west. Yet the OFK fleet is rescued by a Mycenaean fleet under Anaxandrides and the OFK manages to win the battle and secure the sea passage to Hatti. Muwatalli and his troops disembark and meet up with Eteweokles and his Mycenaean army. The two of them are wary of each other, but they agree to work together as they both are in the same faction and want the end of the EC and Hakkarpili's rule. They first take the city of Tarhuntassa in the south and make it their headquarters. Muwatalli also contacts the Alliance to Restore the True King, a resistance against Hakkarpili, led by Minimu, a designated survivor of the Pankus. The Hittites and Mycenaeans advance north, taking the city of Tuwanuwa and also meeting with the resistance and its leader. They split up temporarily, with the resistance taking Purushanda, and Muwatalli's Hittites and Eteweokles' Mycenaeans taking Kanesh, before reuniting after crossing the river Halys. Muwatalli meets up with his brother Nerikkalli, who tells him that Hakkarpili has killed his mother Kapurti, brother Arnuwanda, and forcibly married and impregnated his sister Niwalka.

In Kush, Taharqa advances further, eventually taking the city of Chenem-Waset. However, he is assassinated by an Egyptian assassin known as the Silver Serpent, recruited and helped by the Egyptian captains Rashaken and Sutenhi. Harsiotef takes over Kush as planned, but Taharqa's wife Benemba resists and the Kushite Civil War begins. Her side is defeated easily and Harsiotef reunites the country, preparing for unification with Egypt. The Silver Serpent is paid by Ramesses, while Sutenhi and Rashaken become one of the founders of the Kemet Intelligence Agency, Egypt's main foreign intelligence and operations force.

In Hatti, Hakkarpili continues to lose more and more battles and soon runs out of soldiers as no one wants to fight for him anymore, thus he hires thousands of mercenaries from barbarian lands to fight his battles. The most notorious of these hires is the Cimmerian warlord Tugdam, who begins gaining notoriety among other hired barbarians. Seeing that Hakkarpili has no chance to win and so pay them, Tugdam turns on him and rallies the barbarians to his side. They begin ravaging the lands around the capital Hattusa and eventually take the capital Hattusa itself, ransacking it for loot and slaves to take home, with only the palace itself remaining unoccupied by them. The OFK forces soon reach and surround Hattusa and put it under siege so that the barbarians could not escape. After a long battle, costing thousands of lives, the walls are eventually breached and the Hittites under Muwatalli manage to get inside. However, they get word of a new barbarian force coming from the east, and the Mycenaean wanax Eteweokles volunteers to take care of them. He marches his men to combat these new arrivals but is killed during the engagement. Yet at the same time he manages to kill the leader of these barbarians and so scatter them, allowing the remaining Mycenaeans to win. Hattusa itself is soon cleared by Muwatalli and Tugdam is killed. Muwatalli then reaches the palace and kills Hakkarpili, and has his soldiers kill Hakkarpili's chief advisor Washuba and Hakkarpili's newborn son, while rescuing Niwalka. This puts an official end to the Hittite Civil War, and the Mycenaean leaders sign a treaty with Muwatalli to confirm their new relationship.

Shilhak eventually returns to the Levant with new soldiers and generals, and Horminuter finally agrees to join him. They march south and reunite with the Elamite generals Kindattu and Eparti, who defeat the Egyptians once again. Most of the Levant is taken by the EC and Shilhak prepares for another attack on Egypt, but right before it begins he is assassinated by Horminuter via a poison slipped into his drink, after the Egyptian has been killed after his first fake attempt to distract Shilhak from the main assassination method. General Eparti also tries to assassinate Shilhak before this but his plan fails. Kindattu becomes the leader of the army and wishes to retreat and not engage in the battle, as Shilhak had written in his contingency plans, but Eparti, broken out from captivity by his soldiers, disagrees and wants to go ahead with the battle. These disagreements lead to Egypt defeating the EC army near Ashkelon and scattering it in different directions. Kindattu's force returns east and begins entrenching themselves in Assyria, while Eparti goes to Ugarit, but the city is soon taken, along with the rest of the Levant. Eparti kills himself to not be captured, while Harharran, the former king of the Levant, is taken by the OFK. The OFK Mandate of Amurru is established in its place, to be administered by all independent OFK members, meanwhile in the EC Zubani's realm is given full member status as the Kingdom of Lullubum.

While the siege is still ongoing, the OFK officials visit Mycenae to attend Eteweokles' funeral and meet with potential successors, which are Tirynthius, the preferred candidate of the OFK, and Hecataeus, who is much more aggressive and supported by Tiglath-Pileser. The Second OFK Conference also takes place in Enkomi, the capital of Alashiya, where the OFK decides to seek peace with the EC, but Tiglath does not agree to this as Assyria is still not reconquered by him and so he leaves the conference and the OFK, going rogue with some of his soldiers and attempting to retake Assyria himself. Nonetheless, Ugarit falls and the peace conference soon begins in 76 AEE in Damascus. The OFK denounced Tiglath and his Assyrian renegades, and the EC does the same for the remaining anti-Muwatalli holdouts in Hatti. New borders are drawn, spheres of influence are divided, and various documents are signed and eventually the Treaty of Euphrates is signed by all attendants, which marks the end of the OFK-EC War.

With the war over, Phoenicia rejoins Egypt, and Ramesses, after touring his kingdom, announces the formation of the Commonwealth of Kemet, Kush, and Retjenu, which was the result of many meetings and treaties between him, Amenemheb, Harsiotef, and various Levantine representatives. The new union is still ruled by Ramesses, but now Kush and Retjenu - formerly known as Egyptian Levant - gain much more autonomy and have self rule for domestic matters, with Harsiotef being in charge of the state of Kush, and a council of Phoenicians and Canaanites in charge of Retjenu. Meanwhile Lim-Kiririsha, now the ruler of Elam and the leader of the EC, solidified her control of Elam by ridding it of opposing nobles and begins talks of unification with Babylonia and Assyria, taking the first steps towards it, such as introducing a common currency for the faction, and proposing a royal marriage between her son and the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia.

In the epilogue, Tiglath's group is hunted down by OFK soldiers, led by the former Assyrian general Shu-Kutum, who kills Tiglath-Pileser, as he is considered to be too high risk to be left alive and potentially captured by the EC. However, the remaining members, instead of being disarmed and captured as agreed in the peace treaty, are let off and given additional weapons so that they could cause even more trouble in the EC held Assyria. The KIA sends one of their agents to Assyria so that he could continue supplying the Assyrian renegades in their campaign to disrupt the Kingdom of Assyria under Ninsina.

In the second epilogue, a group of Egyptian and Phoenician explorers, sent on a mission years ago in search of new allies for Egypt, discover a new continent far to the west and after sailing past many small islands eventually disembark on a large landmass. The explorer group proceeds further inland, where they find a large city of a yet to them unknown civilization.