Characters:

Rameses: Malik

Moses: Atemu

Tzipporah: Yami

Hotep: Seth

Huy: Mahado

Aaron: Akefia

Miriam: Mana

Pharaoh Seti I-Ahknemkhanen

Prologue

The sun was unmercifully stifling as they worked on the temple. Teams of men mashed mud with their feet, while another team poured in sand. A separate team poured in water, most of it over the workers rather than in the mixture, sending them flying face first into the mud. Another team threw in armful after armful of straw, to form a mixture.

Once the mix was finished, men formed and set bricks to bake in the noonday sun. The bricks that were ready were stacked onto platforms and heaved onto the backs of the stronger workmen, who then, with the aid of pulleys, hoisted them up to the builders. The sound of grunting echoing throughout the construction site.

"Faster, you swine!" bellowed the overseer as he cracked his whip overhead. Close by, another overseer cracked his whip, this time, catching on the back of a worker, slashing open his back. All around them were the echo of chisels, cracking whips and screaming from the workers.

In another area of the construction site, men hauled heavy bags of supplies on their raw and bleeding backs. Seeing one man had collapsed from a combination of exhaustion and the weight of his heavy bag, a kind-hearted worker helped him up. "Get going! The temple won't finish itself!" snapped the overseer, as he shoved both workers back to work.

In The Slave Village

The sound of approaching slaves made her heart race faster as she held her newborn son closely to her bosom.

"My dear son, I have nothing I give, but this chance that you may live. I pray we will meet again when you will deliver us," she hummed quietly as she wrapped him tightly in a ragged shawl, her two elder children watching her every movement.

Suddenly the sound of shouting soldiers, screaming women and the sound of vessels breaking as soldiers went from shack to shack, shattered her thoughts. "Leave no cradle unsearched! Find every last child! You know what to do!" shouted the Capitan of the Guard to his men.

"No! Please! Not my son! Take me, take anything in my house, but please, not my son!" one woman pleaded, as a soldier ransacked her shack. "Out of my way, woman!" he sneered as he approached the cradle where the infant was hidden. "Please! No! Please, spare my child!" she screamed, as she held fast to his legs, as he took the wailing infant by the foot and stormed from the house. He threw the woman to the ground, where she lay screaming and sobbing.

Silently, and away from the eyes of the soldiers, the frightened family fled towards the river, the mother holding her son close.

Ever vigilant that no one followed them, she paused by the riverside to hold her son one last time before placing him in the reed basket produced by her daughter.

"Hush now, my baby, be still love, don't cry. Sleep as you're rocked by the stream. Sleep, and remember my last lullaby, so I'll be with you when you dream," she sang softly, as her infant son drifted off to sleep. She paused to give him one last kiss, before covering him with the basket lid and wading out into the river.

"River, oh river, flow gently for me. Such precious cargo you bear. Take him somewhere he can be free. Oh river, deliver him there," she whispered as she released the basket into the gentle flow of the River Nile, tears flowing down her face.

She watched as the basket floated on the current of the river, her daughter running ahead to watch over her brother.

"No!" the little girl gasped as she watched the basket float between the two passing ships just in time.

In The Queen's Grotto

"Look here Malik, this is a lotus bloom, my favorite flower," she said, handing the flower to her son, who began to pull the petals from the flower.

The basked floated into a grove, where it finally came to stop, gently nudging the woman. "By the Gods! Where in the world did this come from?" she asked, setting her son down on the steps with his nurses before lifting the lid.

"Oh my, well hello there," she said with a small smile as she spotted the infant, who smiled coyly.

"Brother, you're safe now, and safe may you stay, for I have a prayer just for you," the little girl whispered, her hands folded in prayer to her gods. She watched as the Queen of Egypt lifted her baby brother from his basket. "Grow baby brother, come back some day. Come and deliver us home," she whispered, as she left the grotto, knowing her little brother was safe.

"My Queen, are you sure it is wise to touch this infant?" Nefet asked, stepping forward.

"Yes, my Queen. What if it is a slave child?" Nofret echoed.

"Mind your tone! This is a helpless infant who was clearly set adrift. He has done nothing to you!" snapped the Queen, as she gazed lovingly at her new son.

"Yes, my Queen," the nurses echoed as they lowered their gaze, taking Malik's hands and following the queen back into the palace.

"Mommy?" said Crown Prince Malik, tugging gently at his mother's beaded gown to get her attention. "Come Malik, let us go and show your father your new baby brother. Atemu," said the Queen as she nuzzled her new son.

The nurses and Malik followed obediently behind the Queen as they ventured farther and farther into the cool recesses of the palace.