by N J Adel
And my own.
I was hoping these inexplicable consequences of the mummification had affected only myself. A probable error in my burial process.
Now, the signs all over my companions shattered my hopes. Whatever was happening to us was a result of the procedure itself.
“Yes,” I answered blatantly. “We all have awoken with unexpected results.”
“Such as?” Nur stepped forward, taking his place next to Redamun. They looked almost like brothers with their sturdy bodies, bronzed skin, and mouths sculpted to perfection each in its own way.
Their eyes were different, though, and Nur had cropped hair and was half a forearm shorter than my guard.
What struck me was the shape of Redamun’s nose. He used to have a straight one like Nur’s, but it was broken in a stupid inn fight he had before he joined my service. It never healed properly and had become crooked ever since.
Now it was one of the straightest noses I’d ever seen.
“I beg your pardon, Majesty, did you hear my question?” Nur asked.
I blinked. “Yes. I can’t confirm anything without proper testing, but I think we’re experiencing sharper senses than normal…among other things.”
“Healing,” Drusus suddenly said, his excited high pitch piercing. “You are invincible.”
“What?”
“What silly joke is that?”
“There is no such nonsense as being invincible.”
My three companions said at once.
My head whipped toward Drusus as he stood in the corner with his brows shot far up his forehead, his sac between his legs. I was so taken by the joy of the reunion that I’d forgotten he was still here. “Did I tell you to speak?”
He shook his head, stunned. “Apologies, Majesty. I was unable to contain my exhilaration.”
My fists clenched as I gave him a pointed look, that strange energy stirring in me. Then I glanced back at Tia and the men.
“Who is this again?” Redamun glared at him.
“Drusus, one of Ari’s descendants,” I said.
Drusus came forth. “His great great great—”
“He does not look or sound like Ari in any way.” Nur interrupted. “Is there any truth in his words?”
“Yes. Is he even who he says he is?” Redamun stepped between me and Drusus.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Drusus exclaimed. “How dare you? You might be a superior being but that doesn’t give you the right to—”
“Enough!” My chest heaved with the fire inside me. The wild energy I couldn’t fathom or control.
They stopped speaking immediately, their heads bowed. Tia came to me and rubbed my arm, comforting me.
Her touch—my first human touch in a hundred years—soothed me. It seemed to have taken away the edge of my rage, calming it, stopping whatever was taking over me.
I inhaled the heated, dull air. “Drusus is speaking the truth.”
“About his identity or the healing? Redamun mumbled.
“Both.”
Tia’s hand stilled as Nur looked at me in disbelief. “But, Majesty, this is—”
“Impossible? Preposterous? Insane? Perhaps. Preserving the living was insanity at our time, and now look at us. Irrefutable walking evidence that it is not.” My gaze lifted to Redamun’s face, and I pointed at his nose. “Here’s your proof we have accelerated healing abilities.”
I ambled toward Drusus as they studied Redamun’s unbroken nose. “The deepest of my scars has vanished as well. I’m sure if you examine your own bodies, you will find similar effects.”
“As for this man’s identity, it’s been verified beyond doubt.” My gaze met the blue one. “Ari’s drawing of me you possess has a special signature. Something only he and I used.”
Drusus mused for a few moments. “The eye of Horus emanating rays at bowed men upside down?”
“Seratis’s symbol, only written backwards.” I sighed as my mind leafed through the dark memories. “Some sort of a joke between us when the fable started, not knowing people would believe the lie and nothing humorous should have been made out of that tragedy.”
Nur came forward, his expression saying what he couldn’t put in words. “I apologize for doubting you, Drusus.” He glanced at me. “You’re right as always, my Queen. Redamun’s nose is perfect and none of us has any traces of old scars.”
“You should have shown gratitude to this man, not distrust. Who else could have known about Awakening Day? Who else would have come here with supplies and clothes to help us on this marvelous day? Who would have known our story and all the secret sequences if it wasn’t for Ari?”
He shifted his glance to Drusus. “Again, I apologize. You must understand how shocked I was to learn about the…unexpected surprise.”
“It’s a wonderful surprise.” Redamun flexed and relaxed his bulging arm muscles, laughing. “Imagine never having to worry about a single wound ever again. We should have a huge feast to celebrate.”
“It’s too early to celebrate anything yet. This could be more complicated than you think,” I said.
“If sleeping for a hundred years would give me healing powers, I’d be elated not upset, my Queen.” He strode toward me and raised my hand to his lips, sending a chill down my spine. “Your Majesty’s discovery could be the end of human suffering, every ill person’s dream. Every warrior’s. You should be celebrating.”
Then why did I feel quite the opposite? Even my beautiful guard’s delicate kiss on my hand, a long-missed one, wouldn’t sway this terrible feeling I had inside.
Drusus shifted on his feet. “About the hun—”
“Drusus, isn’t it? I owe you an apology, too, for calling you a liar,” Redamun interrupted the poor man again. How many times would he have to endure this before speaking up?
“It’s—”
“This is my Queen here, though. My only job is to protect her, and part of it is to be doubtful about any stranger who dares approach her. Let bygones be bygones?”
“Of course. But this isn’t—”
“Oh, come on. You’re a tough rnp to please, aren’t you?
“Would you let me speak?!” Drusus exploded.
Finally.
I chortled.
Redamun lifted his hands between him and Drusus in a backing down sign. “All right, Ari’s blood. Be calm.”
“Sorry to raise my voice in your presence, Majesty, but this is rather important and displeasing at the same time, and you must be informed about it as soon as possible,” Drusus said.
“Then speak,” I permitted, alarmed.
He swept all our faces with a dimmed gaze before he focused on mine. “The formula, the equation had…a time error.”
“A time error?” I repeated, unable to decide whether there was really a mistake in my equation or Drusus was being Drusus at the moment.
“Uh…yes. It’s a… Mother of Gods…” He wiped the sweat off of his forehead.
“What are you trying to say?” Nur asked, jumping into the conversation impatiently.
“Well, you haven’t been mummified for one hundred years as planned. It’s longer than that. By a lot,” Drusus replied.
I exchanged a quick glance with my apprentice, earlier words Drusus had spoken and I’d dismissed gathering in my head, my heart sinking to my knees. “How much longer?”
His silly grin stretched over his face. “One thousand years.”
CHAPTER FIVE
My blood rushed out of my face.
I felt it.
Saw its movement in my head.
Heard it.
Literally.
Drusus had been trying to tell me from the start, but I refused to listen.
When he didn’t tell me the tongue of his name. When he kept repeating he was Ari’s great great great…
How many greats would he have said if he’d finished that sentence?
Even the color of his eyes screamed at me that something was wrong with time.
�
��You’re a mad man.” Redamun jabbed his index finger in Drusus face.
“I’m truly sorry, but this is the truth. Ari had discovered the error later and wrote about it in his notes.” Drusus opened his sac, got out some papyri and handed them to me. “Yet he couldn’t risk your lives opening the tomb before time to awaken you and try to fix it.”
Dazed, I took the scrolls and opened them. Nur’s head popped up next to me, not that it would make any difference spotting the mistake now.
“Is this true, my Queen?” Tia asked, almost sobbing.
That we were long forgotten? That everything we’d worked for was gone? That I risked their lives and mine for nothing?
“Please tell me he’s crazy,” Redamun pleaded.
A lump clogged my throat as I braced myself against the wall, fighting the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. All I could do was shake my head to answer him.
His lips curled over his teeth as he roared. Then he punched a wall tile next Drusus.
“Whooa!” Drusus jumped as the tile shattered into pieces, leaving a huge hole in the granite behind it. “Bloody hell. I’ve learnt a lot about your strength, but I never thought you could smash a rock half your size with one bang.”
Redamun stared at his unharmed knuckles in silence, Tia crying in the background.
Nur looked up from the scrolls. “So is the tongue still the same? The government system?” He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “Where are we now? Is this even still Egypt?”
“Yes, but we are no longer independent.” Drusus bit his lip. “Aegyptus, the Roman province of Egypt is ruled by the Roman Emperor. A prefect is in charge of the province. Alexandria is our capital, and we mostly speak Demotic now, a mix of Egyptian and Greek.”
“Romans? Greek?” I shouted incredulously. “Who in all Gods’ names would allow the West to rule the East?”
“Cleopatra, my Queen. She was defeated and took her own life in the end,” Drusus answered.
I gasped. “Not even killed in battle. What is this madness? A true Egyptian would never do that. A true one would have sacrificed herself for this land rather than ending her life in vain.”
“Well, she wasn’t Egyptian by blood. She was Greek. They took over for about three hundred years before the Romans.”
I hid my face in my hands, tears I could no longer fight wetting my cheeks and palms.
I had lost my war once again before I even started.
This time, my defeater wasn’t a man to be conquered with enough power.
It was time itself.
Unstoppable.
Immortal.
The strange energy that balled inside of me with every heightened emotion threatened to leave my body and erupt in this tomb, razing it to the ground.
I succumbed to my knees, the rubble from Redamun’s wall bang scraping them. My arms circled my body, as if to contain the destructive force.
“Majesty!” Nur threw the scrolls and crouched down to hold my shoulders.
I shrugged him off, and when Redamun and Tia hurried toward me, I lifted a hand at them, ordering them to stop. “No one touches me.”
Their feet stopped before me, and I tilted my chin up in a feeble attempt to hold back the tears and control my temper.
Nur’s face contorted. “Majesty, are you…crying?”
Queens don’t cry in public, but I don’t care if anyone sees. Not anymore.
I was no longer royalty. Not even a citizen of the only kingdom I’d known.
A foreigner with no claim on this land.
My gaze traveled among my three confidants, and I could feel their shock, seeing their ruler’s tears for the first time.
“Daughter of the Sun, Her Majesty, Queen Meha wasn’t born to cry,” Redamun said, his voice sick with emotion. “I know the situation is hard on us and must be much harder on you. But, please, my Queen, nothing is worth your tears.”
Tia sniffled. Her little mouth curved up with a tender smile through her own pain. “We are here for you, Majesty. Serving you and only you. No matter what.”
“We’ve already proven we can’t stand living under anyone else’s reign. So, if we must, we will create a kingdom of our own, just for Your Majesty and us.” Nur chuckled, and they joined him.
The warmth of their words, their love that didn’t falter in calamity melted my heart and tamed the wildfire spread within me. But their aches, even though hidden, led straight to my soul, searing it.
“I have failed you, and you are trying to cheer me up?” My voice shook.
“You have not failed us, my Queen. We are awake, aren’t we?” Nur gestured at his body. “Strong. Healthy as wild horses. Unhurt, with a big chance we may remain this way until we die. So fear not. We will find a way to adapt in the new world.” He looked at his friends. “As long we’re together.”
Drusus cleared his throat, and for the second time today I forgot about his existence with us. “May I say something?”
Redamun glared at him. “I advise you to speak no more. Every time you open your mouth, you say something that angers Her Majesty. I can’t let you disturb her again.”
I picked myself up, sniveling, my dress covered in blood and dirt around the knees but no pain there. “It’s all right. Let him speak.”
“Thank you, my Queen,” Drusus said, mutual eye daggers flying between the two men. “With all due respect, you are all talking and thinking like earthly logic still applies to you. Why does Your Majesty think you can’t rule again? Right now, you’re the strongest person on this planet, if that’s the right term to describe you. Human laws are void when it comes to you.” His gaze shifted among us. “Any of you.”
“What are you trying to say, Drusus?” I asked.
He smiled at me, his eyes glistening. “Not only can you rule Egypt again, but you can rule the whole world if you wish. With your powers, you can do anything you want. You are a goddess.”
“Again with this nonsense.” I rolled my eyes, losing my patience, my friends mumbling their disapproval of his words behind me.
“Use your mind a little. Do goddesses shed tears?” I picked a shattered tile piece with a sharp edge with one hand and held out the other in front of Drusus. “Do they bleed?”
Swiftly, I sliced my palm with the sharp rubble and let my blood trickle before him.
“Majesty,” Drusus gasped.
“What are you doing, my Queen?” Redamun snatched the tile from my hand, hurting his in the way.
“Proving a point,” I said.
He tossed the rubble aside and held my hand in his, his blood joining mine. Then he looked at Nur over his shoulder. “I need a piece of the linen wrap to tie the wound.”
My apprentice marched to his sarcophagus while my eyes locked with Redamun’s as we both pretended to forget about our intertwined touches.
His fingers closed around the back of my hand and squeezed gently. The sound of his breathing and the slight tremble in his lips told me the words he could never say out loud.
Not now.
Not a thousand years ago.
I could feel his scorching desire through the passion of his touch. It had never faded, only grown stronger.
Perhaps it felt more powerful now because we both had been denied that kind of intimacy, even of a simple touch, for so long. Or because I was no longer a Queen, and we could act upon the forbidden emotions we’d harbored for each other all this time.
There might be an upside for that misery after all.
“Here.” Nur tapped on my guard’s shoulder, and then winked at him. “Not that you’ll need it.”
“Eh?” Redamun stared at him, not leaving my hand.
“With your permission, my Queen.” Nur caught both our hands and parted them, and then he gave Redamun a mocking glare. “Don’t we heal now? Look, there are no signs of either of your wounds. I’m sure Majesty’s knees aren’t scraped either, or haven’t you noticed those?”
Having two manly hands on mine at the same time
felt amazing, and I wondered how it would feel if I had more than just their hands on me…
Holy Gods, I had been dead for so long. And the lack of air in the tomb had messed with my sanity.
Focus, Meha. Now isn’t the time for sinful muses.
I looked at my palm with nothing but the blood stains to prove I’d just cut myself, same around my knees. “The revival effect is still in action.”
“So are the sharp senses. They’re not withering. They’re getting stronger,” Nur said.
“Magical,” Drusus blurted out.
I threw my hands in the air. “For the love of the Gods, there is no such thing as magic or goddesses in the shape of humans or any of that garbage ridiculousness in your head.”
“Perhaps to you there isn’t, my Queen. You’re a mistress of knowledge. You understand things most people can’t. That doesn’t mean you tell them that.”
My eyes narrowed at him, an old familiar rage spread under my skin. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Please listen to me, Majesty. This could be your way back to the throne.” He looked at my companions. “We tell the people Her Majesty is a goddess with magical powers. Invincible. Immortal. Even if you bleed in public, you will heal. Instant proof that you’re—”
“Silence.” I closed my eyes, taking a long breath, and I heard him swallow.
Then I opened my eyes and gave him my most menacing of stares. “Listen carefully as I shall not say that again.” I moved toward him and stood so closely that I could feel his quivering breaths on my forehead.
His big chest moved up and down as he stepped back and his back hit the wall. I could sense not only the intimidation I’d planted in him with one look but also his…need.
Much to my surprise, it triggered mine.
As much as that strange connection that made me feel Drusus’s precise emotions amazed me, it annoyed me as well.
My gaze raked his humongous body from head to toe, and I almost forgot what I was about to say, lost in more sinful imaginations.
I blinked myself to awareness, the anger helping me regain my line of thoughts. “I was buried alive, doomed to wake in a time not mine, for two reasons. One is for Bessen Ra to be dead, long gone so I could rule again without him trying to kill me every single day.