Authoress' Note: Thanks for reading!
A caravan wound its way through the shimmering desert sands of Egypt, mounted soldiers escorting it through the dunes. The richness of the gold encrusted litters blatantly proclaimed the occupants' wealth.
In one of the palanquins rode the reason for all the extravagance. She was a young girl, perhaps sixteen, bedecked in a blue silk robe that complemented her azure eyes. Her mahogany hair was pulled back from her delicate features in a gold net encrusted with precious stones. Tea, Princess of Kush, was on her way to be married to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Tea was most displeased about her impending marriage. It was a political match, arranged at her birth, and one in which she had no say. The princess had spent most of her life doing as she pleased at the palace. She had played in the dirt with the servant boys as a child and, as she matured, spent hours perusing her father's extensive libraries. This pleasant life had continued until, three days before, she had been tracked down, bathed, perfumed, and unceremoniously stuffed into her exquisite robe. "Oh yes, it's exquisite," thought Tea, "not to mention hot, heavy, and ostentatious." Tea complained to herself about the robe for a little while longer, then branched out to bash her future husband. "I bet he's old and fat......with buck teeth!" This description cheered Tea so much that she began adding other hideous features to her caricature. "But I've heard he's a cruel man....." This thought suddenly interjected itself into her consciousness and concerned Tea far more than her betrothed's appearance. She had no stomach for brutality.
Just as she had finished that thought, Tea heard screams and crashes coming from the tail end of the caravan. Poking her head out from between the silk drapes, she was met with complete chaos. In an ironic twist of fate, bandits had targeted her entourage, attracted by its lavish decorations. Tea didn't have time to think as the mounted highwaymen quickly surrounded her procession. She tore off her cumbersome garments and flung herself out of the palanquin.
By virtue of sheer luck, Tea rolled unnoticed down the opposite side of the dune, coming to rest at its base. She lay in the hot sand listening to the screams of her servants and guards being massacred. The princess was too stunned even to cry. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the bandits set the wreckage on fire and rode away with Tea's dowry. With the image of black plumes of smoke billowing into the sky still burned into her mind, Tea closed her eyes and knew only darkness.