by C T Cassana
“After all,” the boy added, “she’s desperate to have a son. Maybe we can adopt each other.”
“And what are you going to do with two mothers?” said Lisa, mussing up his hair. “Come on, let’s go. It’ll be dark soon.”
. . .
After entering the first coordinates, the children appeared on a wide but largely empty avenue. The temple facade, much more majestic and impressive than the courtyard where they had been moments earlier, was now behind them. On both sides of the street, two imposing walls closed off the royal precinct from the rest of the city.
They walked together down the avenue, admiring the buildings and the people who passed them by and eyed them curiously. They had gone more than three thousand years back in time, but that broad and elegant road could easily have belonged to their era.
“If it weren’t for the lack of cars, satellite dishes and Coke ads, I’d say we were just in a different country in the twenty-first century,” said Charlie.
“It’s incredible to think that all this is going to disappear,” added Lisa. “No doubt all these people think this city is going to be here forever, that it will be eternal.”
“The pharaoh wouldn’t be too happy if he knew that in a few years they’re going to be pulling it all down to recycle the rocks.”
They both arrived together at a big stone bridge rising over the avenue to connect the two walled enclosures of the royal palace and other official buildings. The walls of the bridge were decorated with beautiful paintings of the royal family, gardens and ponds with flying ducks. When he saw them, Charlie let out a sigh, as if he wanted to apologize to the guide.
“The bridge that connects the House of the King to the Royal Palace,” said Lisa, pointing to the building on their right. “The queen must be in the Palace, so we have to get in there.”
The children withdrew to one side of the street to prepare for another leap in space. The place they had chosen was not exactly secluded, leaving them exposed to the gazes of the passers-by, but that didn’t trouble them in the slightest. Perhaps it was because they were so excited that they were on the verge of euphoria, or because the whole scene seemed so unreal, but it was clear that they felt less frightened by that largely unknown society and the people around them than by the tourists of their own time. They didn’t feel the need to be careful, but were quite prepared to appear or disappear wherever and in front of whomever they pleased. It was all simple, feasible and extremely exciting.
In the blink of an eye they were inside a small courtyard surrounded by columns in the shape of lotus leaves or in a beautiful room decorated with frescoes of ducks and other wild animals. They went slipping in and out of the different rooms of the palace without problems or mishaps. When they heard voices or footsteps, they simply turned the clasp again and appeared in a different room even more beautiful and luxurious than the last.
Suddenly, they appeared in a large and sumptuous chamber, furnished more opulently and abundantly than any of the others they had visited until then. On one side of the room was a narrow table, resembling a dresser, with a mirror and several gold boxes filled with jewels. Lisa admired its fine motifs, the precious stones embedded in it, the nail polish of different colors... it all looked worthy of a queen.
Meanwhile, Charlie had gone over to what appeared to be a bed and decided to lie down on it, pulling back the wispy white curtains that surrounded it. It was curious, he thought. These people knew how to build temples and palaces in great style, not to mention their skill in painting, yet inexplicably they had trouble with the most basic things, like how to make a simple bed. There was no mattress, not even a pillow; just some netting made of strips of leather joined to a wooden frame, and a curved structure of the same material that appeared to serve as a headrest.
The boy couldn’t resist the temptation and flopped down on his back, with his arms crossed over his chest, in a pose like the mummy of Tutankhamun.
Lisa was still engrossed in all the jewels, searching for some clue as to their owner, and she didn’t notice that someone was coming up behind her. She only realized that she and Charlie were not alone when she heard a question, spoken in a threatening tone and in a language she did not understand.
When she heard it, Lisa turned around and saw a very slim, pretty girl pointing a gold dagger at her. Lisa held her gaze, keeping calm, while she tried to guess who it might be. Judging by the jewels in the box and the ones she was wearing, by her distinguished bearing and the fine white pleated tunic she had on, she must have been an important member of the royal family; perhaps one of Nefertiti’s daughters. Lisa calculated that she would have been a little older than Charlie, although she was dressed and made up like a grown woman.
She also noticed that behind the girl who was threatening her was another who looked even younger, dressed much more simply and frozen with fear. Lisa deduced that it must be a servant.
The girl holding the knife was breathing fast and also looked frightened, but not enough to lower her weapon. When she saw that Lisa wasn’t answering her, she asked again, frowning and raising the dagger.
“Charlie, stay still where you are,” said Lisa with a smile, speaking pleasantly and without raising her voice. “I don’t think they’ve seen you.”
The Egyptian girl stared at Lisa, clearly not understanding what she was saying. Then she asked her question again, but this time rather more aggressively than the last.
Lisa realized that this was getting serious, so she decided to take a chance.
“Nefertiti,” she said as clearly as she could. “I’m looking for Queen Nefertiti.”
The Egyptian girl took a step back. Her face filled with terror, followed by profound indignation, and she began to scream. Her servant reacted to the screaming and ran out of the room to alert the guard. In a few seconds, she came back with several soldiers who surrounded Lisa and pointed their spears at her. They were all dressed in a garment resembling a white skirt that left their torsos bare, and their heads and bodies were clean-shaven.
Although they had the intruder surrounded with no way of escape, the men looked quite nervous. At first, Lisa thought that it was because of her appearance, which was very different from any Egyptian girl; but then she noticed that they seemed extremely agitated and realized that they were discussing and pointing at her shirt, as if there were something about the silhouette of the black puma jumping forward that terrified them.
“Charlie, stay hidden and keep calm,” Lisa said again in a sweet voice, as if she were speaking to the guards. “Wait until things have calmed down and then come and find me.”
The boy listened to her while holding his breath, watching the scene from out of the corner of his eye and trying to decide what on earth to do. His head was swimming with confusion while he watched his sister surrounded by nine or ten men with their weapons trained on her. It was unlikely that he would be able to break through them to reach her, and utterly impossible for him to appear at her side using the cape.
“If they catch you, they’ll take the cape away and we’ll be stuck here forever,” added Lisa, trying to keep the fear she felt from overpowering her voice. “Everything will be fine. I know you’ll do it.”
Suddenly, a man much taller and more muscular than the others burst into the room. When she saw him, Lisa guessed he was the chief, because he was the only one wearing a flat necklace and because he slapped aside two guards who didn’t even dare to raise their eyes to look at him.
The man walked right around her while looking her up and down with disdain. When they were face to face again, he fixed his stare on her. Lisa lifted her gaze timidly until she was looking into his black eyes, filled with rage and contempt. In that glare was no sign of the astonishment or anxiety she saw in the eyes of the other soldiers; only a ferocity that froze her with terror. On seeing her reaction, the man smiled smugly, as if he enjoyed the effect that his presence had on others.
Then he bowed his head before the Egyptian girl and w
alked out of the room, followed by the guards, who led Lisa away as their prisoner.
The Egyptian girl remained standing, watching the soldiers depart. With a regal bearing and an impassive expression, she waved her hand in the air and curtly ordered all the palace staff to leave her bedchambers, where they had come when they’d heard her screams. Only the servant who had been with her when they had discovered the intruder was allowed to stay.
After everyone was gone, she sat down on the golden chair beside her dresser, and as she looked at the same jewels that Lisa had been admiring moments before, she broke down and cried.
. . .
Charlie couldn’t take it any longer. He had spent too long lying on the rickety bed with the back of his neck against that ridiculous wooden headrest, listening to the girl weep inconsolably while her servant tried in vain to pacify her. And he couldn’t decide which of the two things was making him feel more uncomfortable.
On several occasions he came close to turning the clasp on his bracelet to get out of there, convinced that sooner or later his head would explode. He tried to distract himself and imagined appearing and disappearing in his reclining position in the most ludicrous situations: on the table where the pharaoh and his court were dining, under the street bridge like a time-traveling vagrant, right in front of the burly guards who had taken his sister away, or even in the bed of the beautiful queen herself. Anywhere would be better than where he was right now, and the company would surely be more cheerful.
But as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t leave yet. First he had to get his backpack, which he had left at the foot of the dresser where the girl had decided to weep for all eternity, or at least until he had turned as stiff as Tutankhamun’s mummy.
Seeing that the girl was still sobbing and seemed to have the energy to go on for a while longer, he decided that the time had come for action. He felt as if he were in a James Bond movie, in one of those scenes where the world’s most famous secret agent had to rescue a package containing some valuable object of vital importance to the Crown without anybody noticing his presence. He had seen scenes like that hundreds of times and he knew exactly what he had to do. He just needed to sneak stealthily over to the backpack without either of the two girls seeing him, grab it in one swift move and escape as quickly as he could with the help of the cape. By the time the two girls had a chance to react, he would have disappeared before their eyes. A risky plan, but simple.
Charlie got up, holding down the uncomfortable headrest so that it wouldn’t bang against the bed. He rose gradually, placing his feet on the floor and moving almost in slow motion, without making a sound. The weeping had not abated by the time he had completed Phase 1 of the approach. Everything was going according to plan.
Very quietly he drew in a deep breath, preparing to begin Phase 2, without doubt the most dangerous phase of the whole mission. Now he had to make it five or six yards to a point right behind the enemy, without having his presence detected. He was not afraid; he had undergone rigorous training and was prepared to deal with situations like this. Surprise and stealth were his secret weapons.
Resolutely he pulled back the bed curtains... without realizing that he was treading on the end of one of them with his left foot. “Whishhhhh!” The sound of tearing cloth suddenly cut through the silence in the chamber.
The girl jumped up, brandishing her dagger once again and pushing her servant to one side. Right behind her she found another intruder, a boy, staring at her with a petrified expression, and who looked even more bizarre than the girl the guards had led away only moments before.
“Oh, shoot,” said Charlie when his eyes met the girl’s.
She moved closer to him, her weapon held at the ready while she looked him over carefully. He must have been about her age, perhaps a couple of years younger, although he didn’t have a shaved head with one long lock like other boys. Instead, his whole head was covered by a short but messy mop of hair.
Charlie worried that the scene with the soldiers and spears that he had witnessed with his sister might be repeated, this time with him in the starring role of prisoner. He had to avoid this any way he could... he had to go straight to Plan B.
“My-name-is-Char-lie Wil-ford,” he said, speaking slowly and enunciating each syllable that came out of his mouth.
The girl continued to hold up her dagger, albeit with a little less force and conviction than before. Clearly this intruder was not particularly threatening, although he was certainly very odd.
“I-come-from-Lon-don, Eng-land,” Charlie went on, raising his arms slowly to show the palms of his hands. “I-come-in-peace.”
His whole body was draped in a material that she had never seen before, that changed color from black to cobalt blue depending on how the light hit it. It was open at the front and he was wearing more clothing underneath it, but she couldn’t see it clearly.
Seeing that his words appeared to calm the girl and that the servant was practically in a state of hypnosis, Charlie decided to continue with his explanations.
“We-come-from-the-future,” he went on, “and-we-don’t-want-to-hurt-you.”
Charlie raised his hands higher in the air, revealing the huge crocodile emblazoned on his shirt. When she saw it, the girl opened her eyes wide as if she had seen a ghost.
“Sobek!” she exclaimed, staring at him almost without blinking.
At that moment, Charlie remembered how nervous everyone had become when they saw his sister’s shirt, and fearing a similar reaction, he decided to go without further ado to Plan C. Everybody knows that any diplomatic mission is more persuasive if it is accompanied by a demonstration of force.
The boy turned the clasp on his bracelet to disappear and reappear at a frenetic pace in different points in the room, while the two girls watched, completely stunned.
“Sobek!” repeated the girl with the dagger in her hand, and this time she knelt down submissively, leaving the knife on the floor.
Her servant also prostrated herself before him, as if he were a god.
Charlie picked up the weapon and put it away as a precaution: he would hate to be stabbed in the back like some careless spy in a B movie.
Then he looked for a moment at the two girls, trying to weigh up the situation and deciding whether to rethink his strategy. He had the backpack with the map of the city and Lisa’s notes that would help him find her. But now the enemy had surrendered unconditionally to his overwhelming superiority, and he could use this to reach this sister. It wasn’t that he needed help from anyone, much less from a girl with an excessive fondness for weeping and a servant who looked frightened of her own shadow. He would find Lisa on his own sooner or later, but who knew how many rooms he would have to appear in before he did. He was sure that the girl who had threatened him with the knife would know where they had taken her. It was obvious that she was somebody important in the palace, probably a princess who could come and go wherever she pleased. With her help, the rescue mission would be faster and more discreet.
It was decided; he would allow her to take part in the mission. After all, even James Bond worked better when he had a girl by his side.
. . .
Captain Senre entered the guards’ headquarters with his men and the prisoner behind him, and marched over to the cell block.
He had to report urgently to his superior, the Chief of the Pharaoh’s Guard, and give him a first-hand account of what had happened before anybody else told him the news. He thought it best to present the whole thing as a minor incident and play down the fact that an intruder had managed to get all the way to the royal chambers before being apprehended. As Captain of the Palace Guard, he was directly responsible for preventing such a thing from happening; and if it were deemed serious, he would be accused of negligence and punished severely.
He had to act quickly, but also decisively. The soldiers who had caught the girl were frightened, some even terrified. On their way out of the palace he had heard them mutter and argue among them
selves over the true identity of the prisoner. Some said she was a Hittite spy, others that she was a Hyksos assassin who had tried to kill the pharaoh’s daughter; still others that she was a priestess of the goddess Bastet who was trying to put an evil spell on her.
Senre knew that unless he took control of the situation, in no time at all there would be whispers all over the city and sooner or later one would reach the ears of the pharaoh, which would mean the end of his career and possibly even of his life.
Before leaving, he called his men to attention. He could see the fear in their eyes, and smell it on their skin. He seized the intruder by the arm and pushed her roughly into a spot in front of them. He looked her over carefully; he had to admit, everything about her was strange. He had traveled all over Upper and Lower Egypt and to many of the neighboring kingdoms, but he had never seen such odd shoes and clothes, or a complexion so pale, like the face of the full moon, nor had he ever heard a language anything like the one she spoke. But the most disturbing thing of all was the color of her eyes: deep green, like the waters of the Nile.
The captain took a step forward and gave his men a stern rebuke to ensure their silence.
“You call yourselves soldiers, but you’re as cowardly as a gaggle of superstitious women,” he told them, his disdain palpable in his voice. “I have heard you mutter and talk without a hint of shame about how frightened you were by a simple girl. You’re an absolute disgrace.”
The men stood still in silence, not knowing how to answer. Captain Senre paused for a long time, allowing the silence to stoke the profound sense of shame they all now felt.
“You claim that she is a spy, a priestess, even an assassin,” he went on in a mocking tone. “And that she has terrible powers.”
With a swift and precise movement he pulled out his sharp knife and brought it up to Lisa’s neck, pressing its point to her skin without actually piercing the flesh. The girl let out a scream of terror.
“What assassin is this, who is frightened by the edge of a blade? What spy lets herself get captured by a young girl? And what priestess shrieks instead of using her magic?”