"Then it was deliberate?"
"Either that or the gods are angry with Carthage. If it was set by an enemy, we will know in the morning. I know what to look for." Then a new battalion of firefighters arrived, their capes dripping from recent soaking, and the harbormaster turned away to shout his orders at them.
Through the night they watched as the immense flames roared across the water. A very few skippers managed to get their vessels out of the harbor before the fire cut off escape in that direction. Flames leapt from ship to ship, and in time the heat grew so intense that vessels burst into flame before they were actually touched by fire. At that point, all effort at control had to be given up. The plaza itself had to be abandoned and the shofet and the harbormaster went atop the great wall, where the population had assembled to gape at the unprecedented sight. The surviving firefighters were sent to the naval harbor to prevent the fire from spreading there. Above all, the military fleet had to be preserved.
Toward morning, the flames became a single column of fire, sucking into the center of the harbor whatever remained to burn. The fire drew a great gust of wind down the streets of Carthage, pulling leaves from the trees, scraps of papyrus, wicker furniture, domestic fowl, even a few scrawny beggars into the great central inferno. After that, the fire itself died swiftly.
The sun rose to reveal a harbor that was nothing more than an expanse of floating charcoal and ash. Charred corpses and the pale undersides of innumerable boiled fish provided variety, and for hours the stones of the wharfs were too hot to tread. In the late afternoon Hamilcar accompanied the harbormaster to the northeastern end of the harbor along the great seawall that separated the sheltered harbor from the open sea. The heat still rising from the stones was intense but bearable. The stench of burned wood, oil, pitch and bodies was bad, but no worse that the usual sacrifices. Teuta came with them, and both monarchs held sachets of perfume and spices beneath their nostrils.
"It began here," the harbormaster said. A row of bodies lay stretched upon the wharf. There were twelve of them looking half-cooked, their arms and legs drawn up and inward in the usual fashion of burn victims. "They were the crew of an oil ship named Dagon-Gives-Abundance, from Tyre. It was anchored between other oil ships and pitch and bitumen carriers, here next to the seawall. The wind blew inland, so these bodies were spared the intense heat that would otherwise have reduced them to ashes.
"They did not leave the ship when they lost control of the fire," Teuta noted. "That is what sane men would ordinarily have done."
"Quite true, Your Majesty," the harbormaster said. "These men could not go overboard because they were already dead when the fire started. If you will come closer you will see how they died."
Hamilcar and Teuta bent low and examined the charred bodies without revulsion. Both of them were accustomed to far worse. Cruelty was a commonplace, and both war and religion demanded it.
"As you can see," said the harbormaster, lecturing like a schoolmaster, "the necks of some are cut deeply. Others have large wounds in the chest, probably made by sword or spear. These men were asleep on the deck. The throats of sleeping men were cut easily. Some awoke, and they were stabbed or speared. Three or four skilled men could have accomplished this efficiently, making very little noise. If any on other ships heard," he shrugged, "it would have meant nothing to them. Drunken brawls among sailors are frequent."
Hamilcar and Teuta straightened. "What do you think, Shofet?" she asked. "Was it the Egyptians or the Romans? Or have you other enemies who would profit by this?"
Hamilcar thought for a while. This woman had impressed him greatly, and she clearly was able to follow his thoughts. Whether or not she was a suitable bride for him, she was a valuable ally and possibly a sagacious counselor. He could not be seen taking advice from a woman, not even an allied queen, but he was already thinking himself above these old customs.
"Please come aside with me, my lady," he said. They strolled to the sea side of the wall, where it was cooler and the salt-smelling breeze carried the offensive smells away from them. She waited for him to speak first.
"I am at war with Egypt and with Rome," he began, "but any king with imperial ambitions has an abundance of enemies, some of them posing as allies or as neutrals."
"That is very true," she said.
"Such a king also has enemies within his own land, within his own family and household."
"These are my own thoughts."
"The might of Carthage is based upon sea power. Our fleets, both merchant and naval, dominate the waters from the Gates of Melkarth to the Euxine Sea. Attack my fleet, and you attack my greatest power. Egypt, which is also a maritime power, has much to gain by such an act and understands this. Rome, a landlocked power until recently, likewise has a great interest in forcing me to confront them on land, where they fancy themselves unbeatable."