One: The Pharaoh's Daughter
So this is just another idea that I couldn't get out of my mind. This chapter doesn't include Gajeel. He will come into the story in a bit. Just wait for it!
Sweat stung the Pharaoh's eyes as he sat upon his gilded throne. It was particularly hot this summer, and he wasn't enjoying it. His robes felt sticky against his skin, and the dirt had caked to his feet. His headdress was achingly hot.
The Nile was running low due to the extreme heat, and it would surely affect his people. How could they be expected to survive without the life the Nile brought to them? Without the surging waters they would have nothing to drink, and nothing to water their crops with. The silt that the Nile brought was crucial to growing food in the desert sands.
There was truly only one thing that Pharaoh could do: the slaves' rations would have to be cut back. That didn't mean that their work load would lessen accordingly. If he allowed that then the statues built in his honor would not be finished before he moved on to the next life. It also didn't meant that the Nile's banks would diminish any slower. It simply meant that the stores of water saved for the Pharaoh and his family would last until the rains came again.
Pharaoh had decided long ago that the water that came straight from the river was not fit for any man to drink. In order to ensure that the royals and slaves alike (for who liked to lose many of their slaves due to disease) were not affected by the diseases carried in the waters, he ordered that the water be collected and purified. It was important that the purified water be stored and saved so that when the Nile was low and muddy all of Egypt would not perish. In this manner, Pharaoh had taught the people that while it was safe to bathe in the water of the Nile, it was not safe to drink directly from it.
The goddess Tefnut and the god Sobek had both come to Pharaoh in a dream and warned him of the dangers of drinking the water. They explained that the waste from all of the people living near the water would seep back into the river. Essentially, they would be drinking their own fecal matter if the water was not purified. Tefnut had lectured Pharaoh in his dream that the water must be heated until it boiled to rid it of the harmful diseases residing within it. It was strange to see the goddess and god speaking to him in his dream, but it was not unusual.
Over the ages the gods had come to the Pharaoh as the link between man and god to impart their wisdom upon their people. It was Pharaoh's job to not only rule his people, but to care for them as well.
Pharaoh knew that there would be much groaning when he announced his decision to ration the water stores. It amused him when his slaves thought they had a right to object. Though, it only amused him momentarily. They would surely receive the whip if they were to cry out against him. After all, he was the Morning and the Evening star.
There was a reason that Pharaoh had expanded the lands of Egypt so far. He did not allow for any man or woman to speak out against him. He was a God, and they were all but ants crawling at his feet waiting for him to drop a crumb to sustain them.
A smile ghosted across his weathered mouth, though it lasted but a moment.
"Slave!" He called to the dark-skinned woman waiting for his command. He truly did enjoy being Pharaoh. It was a responsibility he would gladly bear in this life and the next.
The woman approached Pharaoh with a palm frond in her hand and began slowly fanning him. The relief was immediate. He could feel the sweat drying upon his skin in a manner that cooled the blood that was practically boiling beneath the surface. He stretched his feet out and crossed them at the ankles; causing his leather sandals to rub against his skin in a rather uncomfortable manner.
He needed to order a scribe to write up the decree. It must be made known that no slave was to be seen consuming more than two skins worth of water a day. It was drastically less than they were normally allowed. When the Nile was flowing fast and strong he did not limit their intake of the water. When the Nile receded during the dry season he limited the slaves to five skins of water a day. Most of the water was diverted to keep the harvest from dying. The rest was diverted into the stores to use when the Nile was but a muddy trickle winding its way across the desert sands.
There had been Pharaohs in the past who had not deemed it necessary to limit the water usage of the people. Though the water would continue to flow for quite a while, it was good to get the people used to drinking less now. The water would be collected and stored in greater quantities than usual in case the river ran dry. It had yet to happen during Pharaoh's reign, but he would not leave such a thing to chance. He would prepare the people for the worst.
He could still remember the story his father had told him as a child. He told Pharaoh that long ago the Nile had run dry and all of Egypt's crops had failed. Nothing would grow, and the people were living off the stores meant for winter. It was not a good time, and many perished. Pharaoh would not allow such a thing to happen to his people again.
With a suppressed groan, Pharaoh lifted his aged body from his chair. The golden cuffs at his wrist banged painfully against his bone as he waved the slave girl away. With slow steps, Pharaoh made his way towards his personal chambers. There he could have a scribe summoned to write up his decree. There he could rest away from all prying eyes.
"Father?" A soft voice called out to him from the way he had just passed. Pharaoh's footsteps stilled as he waited for the waif of a child that he knew was approaching to catch up.
"My daughter." A true smile lit Pharaoh's face. The blue-haired beauty before him was the most important thing in the world. Though he had often wished that his wife had blessed him with a son before passing into the next world, he would never replace the daughter he had been given.
A pair of soft hands enveloped Pharaoh's frail arm, and he gladly leaned on his daughter as she escorted him to his chamber. He worried more every day that he would pass without his daughter choosing a husband. His greatest concern was making sure that she was well cared for in his absence. His daughter was not the kind of woman that could rule Egypt on her own. She needed a strong man to guide her.
Pharaoh shuffled over to an elaborate sycamore chair with lion's paws for feet, and ebony and ivory was inlaid into the wood. His weight sank onto the plaited cord of the seat, and he sighed in relief.
"Come to me, Daughter, and allow me to examine your face." Pharaoh waved his daughter over from where she was preparing his bed. That was a task better suited to the small slave boy that waited outside his chamber. The Pharaoh's daughter should not soil her hands with such menial tasks.
He watched with a bemused smile as the small girl finished smoothing out the bedding and adjusting the headrest. The legs of his bed were carved with ornate depictions of the sun god, Ra. Though lately Pharaoh wished Ra would shine a bit less brilliantly.
"Father." His daughter whispered as she brushed her pale hands across his own. The look in her hazel eyes told him that she knew he wasn't going to last much longer. He could tell that she was going to fight him just as stubbornly as before at his suggestion.
"Daughter. I would speak to you concerning the manner of your matrimony." He closed his eyes and removed his headdress while waiting for the onslaught. A bead of sweat rolled from his shaven head down the side of his face.
"I would not marry, father. I need not any man to care for me." Though her kohl lined eyes were lowered to the floor, her voice was firm.
Pharaoh studied his daughter closer than he could ever remember doing so before. She resembled her mother greatly. They had the same wavy blue hair that was said to depict the goddess Isis' favor. His daughter kept hers long and free as she opted to not wear a headdress. A single band of gold wrapped around her head as a sign of royalty.
She wore two beautiful bracelets upon her wrists that shone in the light. They were gold inlaid with hieroglyphs and the symbol of Isis. His daughter worshipped the goddess fervently. A thin necklace that bore the symbol of a sun disk with two horns hung from her slender neck. Pharaoh's daughter lined her eyes heavily with kohl to accent their unusual color.
Her lips were small but rosy, and her waist was thin. She was unusually short for a woman, and her breasts were small beneath her dress. The sandals on her feet looked like they would belong to a small child instead of the young woman before him.
"Levy, my daughter. I wish you would reconsider." He slowly removed the bracelets from around his arms and handed them to his daughter for her to stow away in the chest that held his valuables. She shook her head silently as she returned to remove his sandals.
There would be no convincing her. Pharaoh knew this. The best that he could do would be to appoint someone to guide her. Levy would have her way. Pharaoh only hoped that it would not lead to the destruction of Egypt and the fall of the dynasty. He had worked so hard his entire life to bring Egypt out of the slums it had fallen to under his father's rule. He would not see it fall beneath his daughter's.
"Good night, father." Levy started towards the door. Pharaoh knew she was leaving him in peace to finish the rest of his nightly rituals. It would do the girl no good to know that he had started taking other women to bed since the death of her mother. Levy's mother was Pharaoh's Great Royal Wife.
While it was common practice for the pharaohs of Egypt to take lesser wives and concubines to bed as well, Pharaoh had been monogamous. He remembered telling the blue-haired woman how much he loved her, and how she was the only one he would ever love. It was true. Since her death he had never loved another woman. His daughter was the only exception.
Since Pharaoh had no sons he was hoping that Levy would marry an ally of his nation; perhaps a prince of Lebanon or Africa. The union would strengthen their ties with the nation of choice while also providing security for his daughter.
Pharaoh decided that he would arrange the marriage of the Lebanese prince, Abdal to his daughter. It would anger her when she found out, but it was the best thing for her. While Lebanon and Egypt were friendly and engaged in trade, this would ensure that Lebanon would come to Egypt's aid should they need it. Pharaoh could not imagine a time when he would require Lebanon's aid, but he was always thinking of the future of his people.
Pharaoh sighed and cleared his mind of such matters. That was a task for tomorrow. He called to the servant boy and waited for him to enter his chambers. The slave seemed disconcerted to see his ruler in such a vulnerable looking state. Pharaoh ignored him, and requested the aid of a scribe. While he waited for the boy to return with the man Pharaoh dug through one of his chests.
This was a special chest that he kept hidden from all others. It was hidden within a special compartment built into his bed. The architect of this special design had been killed by Pharaoh himself at the completion. The guards were led to believe that the man had attacked him, and Pharaoh had retaliated against him. Though, it would not matter since Pharaoh was the Morning and the Evening Star. It would be as he said.
Pharaoh pulled an ornate necklace from the hidden chest and examined it in the dwindling light. It was a beautiful piece of worksmanship. It had belonged to Levy's mother, and Pharaoh meant to make a gift of it to his daughter to easer her anger over the marriage that she would surely not want.
A light knock upon Pharaoh's door signified the arrival of his scribe. Pharaoh remained seated as his most trusted scribe entered and sat upon a three-legged stool inlaid with emerald and silver designs. The next hour was an arduous ordeal of perfecting the wording of his decree. Once that was finished Pharaoh left his scribe to take care of the distribution of the notice.
Pharaoh lay down in his bed and contemplated that which was to come in the future.
Pharaoh met his daughter's angry gaze with his own stern face. He was not about to have this arrangement ruined by his daughter's wish to be independent. Today was the day that Abdul would arrive from Lebanon with his entourage. Pharaoh would make sure that all went well. After all, this man would be the next pharaoh after him.
Abdul's father had been more than happy to send his younger son off to marry the princess of Egypt. Though Pharaoh didn't like the idea of Lebanon ruling his kingdom as well, he knew he didn't have a choice. He had no sons, nephews, or any other relatives to speak of besides Levy.
Levy was dressed in a shabby looking robe that was not fit for an Egyptian princess. She had even refused to line her eyes with kohl.
"Daughter. You will go back to your chambers and prepare yourself properly for the arrival of your husband." When Levy shook her head and started to protest, Pharaoh raised his voice. "You will go, immediately." Levy finally backed down from her father and left.
It was a good thing that his stubborn daughter had finally left, because Abdul arrived at that moment carried on an elaborate litter of satins and silks. He brought with him twelve male slaves that ranged from dark-skinned to the tanned Hebrews, and an assortment of scribes, entertainers, and women. It seemed that he had also brought gifts for the consummation.
Though there were no marriage ceremonies in Egypt, Pharaoh knew that Lebanese men did things much differently.
"Majesty." The young Lebanese prince bowed low to Pharaoh. He simply inclined his head in return. This man was tall and his skin was lightly tanned. While his hair was black as night, his eyes were as clear as the sky. Pharaoh found that he was pleased with Abdul's appearance and mannerisms. He would not have to worry about his daughter.
"I welcome you to my home, prince of Lebanon, long-time ally and friend of Egypt. May you live a long and enjoyable marriage to Daughter of Pharaoh." With the formalities taken care of Pharaoh sent the prince and his entourage with a guard to his new chambers.
Abdul was going to be the next pharaoh of Egypt, and it probably wouldn't be long. Pharaoh chose to have Abdul's chambers close enough to his that he could easily interact with the boy and teach him what he would need to know. Levy was a smart girl and knew of most matters, but Pharaoh did not want Abdul to be walked on by his strong-willed daughter. It would be best if this princeling knew what he was doing when the time came.
For now though, Pharaoh would rest while Abdul settled into his new home. He would surely want to consummate the marriage bed, and Pharaoh needed a rest. It was becoming more frequent to find Pharaoh sitting or lying down these days. The statues were nearly finished, and Pharaoh's burial tomb was already being prepared.
The only thing Pharaoh had to worry about now was whether or not this foreign prince would be able to tame the wild spirit of his daughter. Pharaoh longed to make the journey to the afterlife. He longed to shed this body that was rife with pain and enter his new body. Above all, Pharaoh longed to see his beloved wife again.
With a long heart-felt sigh, Pharaoh made the agonizing trip to his chamber. Perhaps he would not take a woman to bed this night. After all, it was the night of his daughter's wedding. He would not soil such a momentous occasion with his own petty desires. He wished for his daughter's happiness, and desecrating the memory of her mother was not the way to go about that.
Tonight Pharaoh would simply rest. He would allow his aged body to recover as much energy as possible. He would need all of it to train the young Lebanese prince to be the next pharaoh, and perhaps to teach him the ways to subdue a strong-willed woman.
I hope you enjoyed this! I probably won't be updating this story as often as some of the others, but I will do my best. The more interest that is shown, then the more often I will update! See you next time!