Through the Sands of Time
Note from The Author: I do not own YUGIOH, but I do own all original characters besides the ones I am doing an introduction for.
I also will be doing some Historical Notes for this story, just so people can get an idea on what ancient life is all about.
Historical Note 1:
The Pharaoh had many wives or concubines as they are called, which meant that he also had many children. Pharaoh had also two main wives they were the only ones that could bare the heirs or heiresses.
Prologue:
All through the harem, everything was quiet not even a servant stirred. It was the perfect time to escape into the city streets. Princess Isisa knew all the secret entrances and exits out and into the palace. It was one of those days that she needed to escape; Seshafi wasn't much of a playmate and at age 11 she wasn't allowed to go hunting because her father wouldn't let her.
Isisa looked around, she saw her stepmother's body servant walking by and froze in the shadows. If her stepmother found out that she was wearing servants' clothes, she would for sure have her whipped, even though she was the Princess and older sister to the heir. Isisa and her mother were not close; Isisa was sometimes blamed for being a girl.
"You are not an heir," her mother would say every time Isisa did something wrong. That is how is always was when she was younger.
Isisa had tried to be on good terms with her mother, but the only person that she was on good terms with was her nurse, Baba. Baba was an elderly woman who had lost her child in a fire and she always told Isisa stories about live outside the palace. This made Isisa dream every night about going out side the palace walls and roaming the streets, but they were only dreams until she followed a servant down into the streets of Thebes and back to the secured walls of the palace.
Isisa hated the harem it reminded her every bit about the schooling she had to do, but she didn't mind the teachers. Her father, Pharaoh Aknamkanon was proud that she was his daughter. Well, not proud, but he liked that Isisa had her own view of things.
There were things that Isisa loved to do, but as the Princess, she could only do behind the walls of the palace. It was then when she was only a few years old, her mother died giving birth to a boy. Isisa's father had wept at her death and had given Isisa a dress her mother wore on their wedding day. It was a dark blue dress with a silver design sewn on to it. He had also given her a scarf made out of the finest light blue silk. It was rare that a Pharaoh would give such a gift to a child, but he had done it because Isisa looked just like her mother. After the seventy days mourning Isisa looked at the things her father gave her, he had said she would not get them until she turned of age and was to be married. Isisa had hoped that day would never come.
One day, many years later Isisa had followed her brother Atem to the stables where in the stable yard he was learning to fight with swords. She found this fascinating and walked out to be with him. At first Atem's teacher, General Nesbek thought that she was just curious, but as things went along, he found that she was attending regularly more then any other son from Pharaoh. He approached Pharaoh Aknamkanon about this.
"My Lord may I have a word with you"
"Of course, go ahead," stated the Pharaoh
"Your daughter, her highness Princess Isisa has been attending archery classes, not to mention chariot driving and the sword lessons," stated General Nesbek
"I see, how is she progressing then?" asked the Pharaoh
"My lord she is out witting most of your sons including his Majesty the heir"
"I see, let her continue then, just as long as she does not get hurt," stated the Pharaoh
Princess Isisa had learned to fight and drive a chariot, but her most favorite things to do where archery and chariot racing. She even had developed at a young age on what horses were good for chariot driving and which were good for breeding. It amazed a good many people, but Isisa's father was getting tired.
"Isisa it is time you should start acting like a lady and not a man," said her father one day as Isisa was being punished for something she did not do.
"But all my sisters do is sit, talk, eat, gossip and complain about clothes and latest fashions. They don't do anything fun," pleaded Isisa
"Isisa I have had enough, you start acting like a lady before the feast of the Flooding or I will enforce it. IS that understood," shouted her father
'Yes father" said Isisa quietly
It was after that the sneaking out had started. It was just so that she could get a breather and lose all the stress she had built up, but soon it became a consistent thing. But as Isisa eased out of the shadows, she felt for the door. When she found the handle, she turned it and quickly went in and closed the door behind her. She walked down the stairway and found her self at another door. Isisa opened the door slowly, poking her head out to see if any guards were around. Seeing none, she slipped out and ran down the halls.
Isisa had made sure that she did not wear any jewelry, fearing she would get robbed or worse. The only thing she had on was a silver ankle bracelet that Mahad had given to her for her naming day a year ago. Isisa ran down the hallway and just as she turned off near the kitchen, she bumped into Atem
"What are you doing here?" she hissed
"What are you wearing?" he asked
"That is none of your beeswax," hissed Isisa again
"Your sneaking out aren't you, well take me with you" demeaned Atem
"No" said Isisa
"Well then I will tell father that you have been going out of the Palace without a guard," taunted Atem
"No don't do that, okay come, but take off that gold collar, and those arm bracelets we have to appear poor" hurried Isisa
"Okay don't rush me," said Atem
When Atem had gotten off his jewelry Isisa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the secret passage.
"Why do you want to get out of here in the first place?" asked Isisa after they had left the palace far behind them.
"Oh, my roommate wet the bed again and the girls are driving me nuts" said Atem as he skipped beside Isisa
"How about you" teased Atem?
"I am looking for a husband" lied Isisa
"Okay and I am getting married to Seshafi," mocked Atem
As they got to the market place Isisa warned Atem about the dangers, but as they were walking through the market Atem spotted something that caught his eye. The two stopped and looked at a vender. Isisa held up the necklaces that the vender was selling. It was then when two older men had walked past, their conversation could be heard from where Isisa and Atem where standing.
"Hey do you see that girl over there" said one fellow
"Yes I see her, the one with the silver anklet," asked his friend
"Yes that one, she would make a nice meal don't you think" said the other
"Yea but she needs to fill out a bit more then you can go and be the bull to her," laughed the friend
Atem heard what they were talking about, and his face went red with anger. [That is my sister] he thought, but as the two kept making sexual jokes about Isisa, he was losing it. Finally, he lost it and attacked the one man who had said that she needed to fill out more. It was too late for Isisa to hold Atem back, because both men were now fighting with a boy with only 9 summers on him.
The fight escalated as more men joined to help Atem, but it was the guards that ended the fight. They had pulled off all the men and at the bottom of the pile was Atem, bleeding badly. Isisa ran beside him and held his head.
"Are you alright brother?" asked Isisa
Atem did not respond, a guard approached her and asked
"Miss is this your brother"
"Yes he is hurt really badly, you must help him" begged Isisa
"I am sorry, but we are going to have to take him with us, he is Pharaoh's problem now" stated the guard
A way of panic flew over Isisa, if her father knew that she had been out of the palace grounds, she was going to be in for a whipping. Then just as Isisa is thinking on what to do, the commanding officer comes and recognized her.
"Princess is that you" he asked
Isisa looked up, and nodded,
"Please guards formation," shouted the officer
The guards made a protective barrier around the Prince and Princess. They were escorted back to the palace, but there meeting them at the top of the stairs was the Pharaoh. The officer had sent a solider ahead of them to notify the Pharaoh about the accident.
So, as Atem's unconscious body was brought back to his room, Isisa was brought to the throne room. Pharaoh Aknamkanon was not pleased with Isisa's actions, when she was brought forth the throne, he just glared at her it wasn't until she started to fidget that he started to make his move.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE PALACE GROUNDS, AND NOT ONLY DID YOU LEAVE THE GROUNDS YOU TOOK YOUR BROTHER. HEIR TO THE THRONE OF EGYPT AND YOU DID NOT EVEN TAKE A GUARD WITH YOU. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, WHAT HAND OF SETH'S HAVE YOU CAUSED. YOUR BROTHER IS SEROIUSLY HURT, SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOUR SELF" shouted the Pharaoh
The room fell silent as the Pharaoh waited for his daughter's reply.
"DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY"
Isisa did not say a word, but looked at the floor.
"GUARDS TAKE HER TO HER ROOM. NOW!" shouted her father
Two guards came forward and took Isisa back to her room, where her nurse Baba was waiting.
"What have you done this time?" said Baba softly as she helped Isisa change out of her clothes
"I just wanted to see the city through your eyes," said Isisa with tears in her eyes
"It is alright, here have something to eat and I will be right back," stated Baba as she left the room.
It was half an hour when Isisa started to go looking for Baba. She heard cries coming from down the hall and she followed them. When she came to the source of the cries she was in shock, for there on the ground was Baba being whipped. Isisa saw the guard raise his arm to whip Baba again, Isisa ran towards the nurse and flung her body over the old woman to take the bite of the whip.
Isisa cried out in pain as the whip man lowered his arm and let the whip bite into Isisa's back. Her dress was ripped and blood started to seep out from the cuts of the whip. The whip man stopped, but a voice from the darkness said,
"Whip the child"
The whip bite into Isisa's back as pain raced from one end to the other, her cries her louder then Baba's and had gotten the attention of Shimon the Vizier. He came running down the halls with other officials with him. The whip man heard them coming, dropped his whip, and ran. The man in the darkness did the same. When Shimon got to the bloody mess, he checked Isisa's pulse seeing that she was still alive he ordered someone to bring her to her room.
"Mahad good thing you are here still, the Princess has been hurt," exclaimed Shimon
"Yes I can see that," said Mahad as he saw that barely lifeless body of the Princess bring brought to her room.
"I will go attend to her as soon as I am done with the Prince, Pharaoh's orders" explained Mahad
"I see, but hurry the poor girl needs your help," said Shimon
"I know," replied Mahad
The Pharaoh looked from the door way as Isisa was placed on her stomach, he called for one of his royal bodyguards.
"Ramous"
"Yes my lord" relied a well built guard
"This is your last day is it not" asked the Pharaoh
"Yes it is, may I ask why," replied Ramous
"I need you to bring the Princess to the Temple of Hours and place her in the hands of the High Priest Kafele is that clear those would be your last orders" stated the Pharaoh
"And if Priest Kafele asks why she is here" stated Ramous
"She is banished from here," said the Pharaoh as he left.
Ramous looked at the girl in front of him. [Why is such a delicate soul to be banished for something she did not commit] thought Ramous as he looked at the sleeping girl, he knew what he was going to do. Him and his wife Kara have been trying for a girl or even a playmate for his older son Tamous. He was going to take the princess since she was of course to be banished and pass her off as his own child. He knew that he could do that; Isisa would have a better life with him and Kara then with the High Priest Kafele. The reason being that there was a rumor that he had been sleeping with young girls and plucking them of their innocents. Ramous did not want Isisa to end up like that, so he looked around the room she shared with another girl. He asked a servant to pack some plain dresses for Isisa.
Ramos then picked up Isisa in his arms trying not to cause her even more pain. He slung the bag of clothes over his shoulder and walked out of the palace.
When he arrived at his home city, up the Nile for two hours away from Thebes; he paid the boatmen and paid them extra to keep them quiet. Ramous walked for half an hour to the out skirts of the town. When he arrived home, his wife was there to great him.
"Husband what is this you have brought with you" asked his wife Kara
"The Pharaoh's daughter" said Ramous
"The…"
"Kara hush, he had her beat for all I know. He has now banished her and I do not wish her to go to that molester Kafele," whispered Ramous
"I see, what is to become of her," asked Kara
"She is to be our daughter, if anyone asks we will just say that this is our daughter that we have had sent to a relatives in Thebes. They had abused her and we have taken her back into our home." stated Ramous
"But her name, surly the Pharaoh will know it is his daughter" pointed out Kara
"Our daughter's name is Lotus understood," said Ramous as he placed Isisa on a low cot.
"Ramous are you sure things will be okay" asked Kara
"I think everything will be fine," said Ramous as he kissed his wife
