Called to Duty (Adventures Through Time)

by Capri Montgomery

  Copyright © 2012 Shunta Montgomery

  All Rights Reserved

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  Publisher’s Note:

  Called to Duty is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, event or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Books by Capri Montgomery

  A Rancher’s Love

  Fashionably Dead

  Betrayal of the Dove

  Pirate’s Treasure

  Shadow Hills (January-June series)

  Vendetta

  Love’s Last Hope

  Seducing the Bodyguard

  Fahrenheit

  Secrets and Lies

  Returning Sheba

  Saints and Sinners

  The McGregor Affair

  Dream Walker

  The Geneva Project

  The Admiral’s Daughter

  Dangerous Obsessions

  Watch Over Me

  Maid for Hire & Educating Australia

  And Many Others…

  Coming in August ~ Explosive: Deadly Connections Book ten in the Men of Action series.

  Chapter One

  Nefertari, Princess of Nubia knew the soldiers of Pharaoh would kill her father if she did not agree to what he wanted. She did not wish to become his bride. She wanted to marry the man of her choice, but the Pharaoh had elevated himself to the status of the gods and no one would refuse him—no one except her, and her father.

  “No!” She struggled against the men holding her arms as she watched her father. His ebony arms were spread wide with two of Pharaoh’s men holding him out stretched and the Pharaoh himself ready to run him through with the sword. “I will do as you ask, please do not kill my father!” He was the only parent she had left as her mother had died in battle just months earlier.

  Ramathes the ruler of Egypt, of all that was golden and rich, looked at her with one devious glint in his eyes as he ran her father through with the blade of his sharpened sword. She cried, she screamed and she tore herself away from the men holding her, getting to her father’s side as he took his last breath. She could see the fear in his eyes, fear for her. In her anger she pulled the dagger he kept hidden behind his back free and she lunged for the Ramathes, slashing his face good before he overpowered her and knocked her out.

  When she came to she was in a holding cell with four men; men who looked foreign, as if they were not meant to be in her time. And then she knew, she knew what had been done. Her mother had told her about the crossings of two worlds, and how when the fight was unbalanced, when the war had tipped the scale to the dishonorable, the goddess would bring equilibrium. Were these men friend, or foe? Were they brought for the side of the Nubians, or for the side of the Pharaoh? She could only guess that he had yet to determine their origin, and their loyalty. If he knew the answers to those questions they would either be with his men or killed just as all those who opposed the Pharaoh’s oppression had been killed before.

  Not many knew of the tale that passed along the Nubian tribes for the ability to travel the times was determined to be a fate the goddess Amesemi had blessed the Nubians with and had not shared with any other people.

  “Who are you?” The one with the raven hair and the crisp blue eyes asked her.

  “Who are you?” She countered.

  “I’m Alexander Dumas. This here is Gregory Shields,” he pointed to the blond with the catlike eyes. This color for human eyes was foreign to her, yet those eyes were beautiful. “That’s Mitchell Davis,” the other had dark eyes and reddish brown hair. He too was tall, foreign, and a warrior, she was sure of that. “And last but not least we have Ian Jacobs.” He was shorter, but no less big in muscles. All four men would make great warriors in her court someday.

  “Now, who are you?”

  “I am Nefertari, Nubian princess warrior.”

  He chuckled. “They hit you a little too hard huh? Nubia’s been gone a long time.”

  “Never! Nubia shall not fall to that wretched beast. I will die before he conquers my people.” She was the only one left in line for the throne. In Nubia it was not impossible for women to rule. The strongest warrior of the family would rise up and be ruler. Unfortunately, this war had claimed everybody, except her brother and he was not interested in ruling. He was only interested in fighting and leading the men into war. He had told their father as much. If her father had listened to her he would have been safe on Nubian land, but he left and the traitor to their people, to their king, had betrayed them, leading him into an ambush.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but things are kind of sketchy here. There’s no electricity, or running water…”

  “Electricity? What is that?”

  “Um…wow…” Ian looked flustered and at a loss for words.

  “You are from what time?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “When do you come from?”

  “You mean where?”

  “You are not from here I know, but what time? What year?”

  “Two thousand twelve,” he balked.

  She gasped. “Goddess! I can’t believe she searched so far ahead. You must be very skilled warriors.” She shook her head trying to clear the emotions and thoughts racing wildly within her. “What garb is that you wear?”

  “Our uniforms,” he took a step back from her. “Is this some kind of joke? Are you crazy or just a ploy to get us to divulge military secrets? I can give you name rank and serial number, but you won’t get anything else from me.”

  She chuckled. “I do not need anything else other than to know that we have the same enemy. If you are entrusted to the Pharaoh then I will kill you, just as I will kill him for what he has done to my father. But first I will make Hex pay for his betrayal. That is the oath I swear to the goddess. My father’s death will not go unpunished.”

  With the jingling of keys she went back to her spot on the floor, and lowered her head as if she were a wounded child. The man who came in, she knew him to be just an ordinary guard. He was alone, she knew he was because they would underestimate her. She was the youngest, but she was the most skilled and that was a secret her father had taken to the grave with him.

  “Inaka shookis,” he laughed. “You will be a concubine for the Pharaoh…or a wife, but for now you will be a good girl and let me take you up to bath.” He reached for her and she, being the skilled warrior she was, pulled the knife from the laces of his sandal, from right against his calf muscles and she slashed his throat first, then she ran the dagger across his chest before violently thrusting it in and cutting out his heart. This was the fate their Pharaoh would suffer as soon as she had the chance. But right now it was imperative to reach her people.

  “Stay or go,” she looked at them. “The choice is yours.” And with those words she was out the gate headed towards some of the soldiers’ resting horses. The men from two thousand twelve were behind her. “Do you ride?”

  “What?”

  “Do you ride when you come from?”

  “Uh…yeah…”

  “Then ride,” she took hold of a horse, riding bareback and they took the saddled horses. The call went out just as they cleared the gates and she knew they would have soldiers following them. She would be prepared for she knew where the Nubian warri
ors were hidden.

  She rode hard and fast. The sound of horses beating against the hot sand filled her ears with their music. They would ride all night if need be. They would ride forever. They had not been taken all the way to Egypt so she was still close to Nubian territory. She would reach their first encampment before dusk. She was sure of that.

  “They’re coming up fast and there are a lot of them!” Alexander yelled loud.

  “Mihi’ki, Don’na Ka’lor, Nefertari!” She kept riding hard as she called her warning to the warriors she knew were lurking.

  “Who the hell are you talking to?”

  “Them,” she kept riding as the warriors uncovered themselves from beneath the sand and she rode through. She had given them warning that she was coming and the four behind her were friend—for the moment. They were permitted to pass and as they did she could hear the war getting ready to wage behind her. She wanted to fight, but she had to get this warning back to her brother. There was a traitor among them and if there were one then there would be more. She cleared the gates of the encampment as did her four future men before the gates were closed once more. She jumped down from her horse and immediately rushed into her brother’s tent. She knew which one it was for he was a general of their army and so his tent was bigger and better protected. The four men passed with her.

  “Nefertari,” he threw his arms around her.

  “Inka,” she pushed away. “Hex betrayed us. It is he who delivered our father to the demon ruler.” Pharaoh was definitely not from the gods. No gods or goddesses could ever inflict such evil on the people unless they were gods who opposed the light.

  “We found his body. I feared you were gone too.”

  “Never,” she placed her hand on his cheek. “But I promise you my brother that I will not let our father’s death go without justice. I am going to cast my dagger against Pharaoh and when I do I will cut his beating heart out of his cold chest.”

  “No. I will not let you go back into battle.”

  “I am now the ruler of our people and I will go,” she nearly barked.

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  He couldn’t stop her and he knew that because now she was his ruler. Now he answered to her. “Then I would suggest we win.”

  “Who are the strangely dressed ones?”

  “From two thousand twelve,” she noted. “The goddess has sent us warriors.”

  “Excuse us,” Alexander boldly stepped forward and the guards drew their weapons. Nefertari stayed their hands with a simple gesture.

  “Speak,” she commanded.

  “We don’t know what is going on here. One moment we’re in Afghanistan and the next we’re,” he waved his hand around… “we’re here.”

  “You are in the era of the gods and goddesses; in a time when Egypt ruled. Your time is not here, but years away. The goddess has brought you back to balance the power.”

  “Would have been nice if she had brought us back with our weapons.”

  She shook her head. “Legend has it that no future weapons may return to the past. It would unbalance everything. But you can make what you need.”

  “Not likely,” he mumbled. “So has this happened before? Not that I’m saying I believe you or anything.”

  “Not that I know of; it is merely legend and now truth. You do not belong here. How else would you explain it?”

  “Shared psychosis,” he said. “An elaborate Hollywood production.”

  “What is Hollywood?” Inka scowled.

  “Okay, look a lot has happened and I’ve seen a lot of strange things since being held in that stinkin’ building but time travel isn’t possible.”

  “And yet you are here.”

  “There has to be a logical explanation.”

  “Well when you find it be sure to let us know. Now,” she returned her attention to Inka. “I must prepare for battle.”

  “Must you go back out there tonight? I must get you back. Our people will need you on the throne.”

  “I am a warrior. I shall fight.”

  “You are now our ruling queen. You must rule.”

  “I will not rule from behind my men!”

  “They did things differently way back when,” Alexander noted. “Lead thee into battle,” he shrugged.

  “Please get them some appropriate attire.”

  “I don’t ditch my clothes,” they all agreed.

  “You will stand out too much if you do not. You will be…”

  “A sitting duck,” Alexander agreed.

  “What?”

  “Future metaphor,” he nodded. “We’ll change.”

  “Get them weapons and make sure they can use them.”

  “I think you should train them, Nefertari. You are one of our best warriors. Train the big one.”

  “Hey,” Alexander took offense to that. He was six feet and built with muscles, but just because the other guys were five nine and under did not make him “the big one” in the least. Plus, he didn’t need training. After surveying the mass of swords and hooked blades he reconsidered that last thought. He knew hand to hand combat, but this was fighting with ancient weaponry and he couldn’t guarantee how effective he would be in battle without some training.

  “Fine. I know you are just trying to keep me from getting on my horse and riding out there tonight. I will take them back to our home and prepare them, but you must come with me, Inka.”

  Inka growled and Alex figured Nefertari had her own plans for keeping her brother out of battle without her. She was probably worried that he, too, would be taken from her because of this war.

  “Fine. I cannot allow our new queen to travel alone.”

  “You cannot,” she smiled. “Helos can command.”

  “That I can.” A tall black man stepped forward. He was dark and bald, built bigger than some of the bodybuilders of their time, and he looked as if he could handle himself with that spear he had in hand. “Nefertari, my queen,” he bowed on one knee.

  “Rise, Helos. You know you’ve chased me around the pond far too many times…”

  “You are now our queen. Even as our princess your father reminded me of my place when it came to you.”

  She wrinkled her nose and dismissed his words with a wave of her hand. “Helos has been with my family since he was a child. He and my brother are like brothers.”

  “My mother,” the angry look that came to his face made him appear even more ominous. “Tuk, the predecessor to Ramathes decided he wanted my mother for his concubine. He killed my father, and rather than go with him my mother killed herself. I was going to be taken back to the heart of Egypt to serve as a slave, but I escaped and this family took me in—they sheltered me and now I shall die for them.”

  “There will be no dying my friend,” Inka said boldly. “We will win. Should you manage to die before I return I will ask the gods to bring you back so I can kill you again.”

  They both laughed. Alex took in everything that was happening around him. He was still trying to absorb the situation. Time travel was not possible. Time travel due to some mystical goddess seemed even more fantastical; yet here he was in a place and time that he couldn’t understand, or even explain. Maybe he was unconscious on the battlefield in Afghanistan and he was dreaming the entire thing. “Somebody hit me,” he mumbled. He wasn’t expecting anybody to do it, but Nefertari took him literally. She hit hard. He rubbed his chest from where she had hit him. “What did you do that for?”

  “You asked for somebody to hit you; so I hit you.”

  “That wasn’t literal.”

  “It sounded literal.”

  “It’s just…it’s something we say when we’re trying to…never mind.”

  “No; please explain this weird custom of yours. Why ask to be hit if you do not wish to be hit?”

  “It’s like when you don’t believe something is real so you tell somebody to pinch you to see if you’re dreaming. They don’t pinch you,” he said quickly when she appeared to be gettin
g ready to pinch him.

  “Oh,” she shrugged her beautiful caramel toned shoulders. She really was beautiful. Those big brown eyes were dark like the midnight sea. Her hair was long and curly yet it looked so soft that he wanted to brush his fingers through it. He had seen women pay hundreds and spend hours in a salon to get those same types of big, free flowing soft curls. His ex had nearly wiped out his bank account on twice a week salon visits.