Sorry for the long wait, I had trouble finishing this chapter, and maybe I was too lazy to try, also. But now the chapter's here and I hope you like it. I know I do, well I'm satisfied at least.
Chapter Four – Facing the Court
It had been almost three weeks since the snake incident and Isis had barely seen Mahad anywhere. She assumed he was busy. He was to be in the Pharaoh's court after all, surely he had more important matters than spending time with her, a mere slave. But Isis was still saddened by his absence, it was so boring without Mahad around, though she had a lot to do and was pretty busy herself, but she missed conversing and walking with him. Maybe it was because of her ability. Maybe he was like the others who wanted nothing to do with her once they discovered what she was capable of. But a part of her didn't think that it was the reason for his absence, after all he had seemed pretty interested in her ability, had even called it a gift, there had to be some other reason why she hadn't seen him.
Isis had to remind herself that what Mahad did and why he was too busy to greet her was not her business, he was practically a court member and hence what kept him busy was not something she needed to know or worry about.
One afternoon Isis was washing dishes along with a couple of other kitchen workers. She placed the newly washed dish on top of the neat pile next to the sink for someone else to dry and was about to take another dish when someone roughly opened the kitchen door. It was a tall muscular man dressed in white and with a weapon in one of his hands.
"Which one of you is Isis?" the man asked. His tone was not really friendly.
Isis gulped. What had she done?
Beset grabbed her arm and pulled her forth to face the man. "This is her," she said, "what do you want with her?"
"That I haven't been told," the man said, "but it is hardly any of your business is it?" he said coldly.
Beset glared at the man. Isis thought it to be good that the man was no longer looking at her; luckily he hadn't seen her glare.
"Hand over the girl," the man demanded. His demand made Isis shiver in fear. What was he going to do to her?
Beset sighed and released Isis's arm, not taking her gaze away from the girl.
"Come along girl," the man said in a harsh tone.
Isis looked at Beset, who nodded sadly. The old woman smiled, telling her that it would be all right, but even though Isis trusted the woman, who had been like a mother to her the last couple of years, it still didn't ease her worries.
She gave a cry in surprise when she felt herself being pulled out of the kitchen, and the last thing she saw before the wooden door was closed was Beset's unhappy face.
A small tear slid down the girl's face as she was led away from the kitchen. What was going to happen to her now? She looked down on her own feet, not daring to look at the man, she was too afraid to do so. Isis didn't even notice where the man was taking her; at the moment she was so afraid that it didn't matter where she would end up.
A couple of minutes later Isis noticed that the man had stopped. But she was afraid to look up and take in their surroundings, at the moment she found it best not to know where the man had taken her.
Isis heard a door being opened and she felt the chills down her spine. She heard voices from afar but she could not make out the words they were speaking, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to either. She felt a great relief when she felt the grip the man had around her wrist loosen. For a moment she almost thought that he was going to let go but he didn't.
"Only speak when you're spoken to," the man warned her, the tone in his voice still not changed from what it was before.
Isis just nodded, her eyes still closed.
Then the man's grip around her tightened a little, but only a little, and he dragged her forward by the wrist. Isis obediently followed.
As they walked further the voices fainted. They walked quite a distance but Isis had a felling that they were still in the same room. When they had reached a certain spot the man stopped walking and he released her wrist. "Bow," the man whispered to her.
Isis did as she was told.
There was a long silence in the room and Isis felt even more uncomfortable than she had felt before. Now she dared to open her eyes. She was looking down at a fine floor. It was dust free and looked almost completely clean, not the like the kitchen floor, which was always somewhat dirty. She didn't dare to look up to take a look at the surroundings. She was still afraid to disobey anyone.
A while later someone spoke.
"Mahad," the voice said, and Isis felt chills run down her spine. "Is this the girl you spoke of?"
Isis felt anger rise in her veins. That noble bastard had broken his promise and told someone about her so-called gift.
"Yes High Priest Aknadin," a gentle and soft voice said. Isis immediately recognized it as Mahad's voice and she felt even more betrayed.
"And are you absolutely certain that this servant has the powers that she claims to have?" the man, now identified as Aknadin, asked.
Mahad then began to tell the man about their encounter on their way to the dinning hall and the snake in the pot.
"Hm," Aknadin said, "so you think that her word is proof enough?"
"Yes," Mahad said.
"And how do you know that that girl did not put the snake there herself?"
Isis felt even more rage flow through her body. She would never do such a thing, if it wasn't for the fact that this was a High Priest she would like to give him some piece of mind, this was unlike her but his accusation had just made her so angry.
"My Lord," Mahad said, "I think I would have known if she was lying, I saw it in her eyes, she was telling the truth".
Isis felt a little better now, she was glad that Mahad was defending her.
"She is a servant, she works in the kitchen, we do not know anything about her, so how do we know if we can trust her? She may be a good actress and simply deceived you that day".
Isis felt the anger return, she had to clench her fists, how dared this man judge her like that? Priest or not he had no rights to say those things about her, she might have been a servant, but that didn't mean that she was a bad person.
"I saw it in her eyes, Aknadin," Mahad argued.
"Looks can be deceiving," Aknadin reminded him.
"Well instead of standing her arguing like this why not see for ourselves is she has the power that she claims to have?" a new voice, the voice of a woman, said.
Isis felt both relieved and nervous, she was glad that the court had stopped arguing about her but she was nervous for how they planned to make her prove her power.
Aknadin snorted. "Why would a mere servant possess such powers?"
"With all due respect Aknadin," the woman said, "are you suggesting that young Mahad spoke untrue? Or do you perhaps suggest that she somehow deceived him?"
"What is your point Meskhenet?" the High Priest asked the woman impatiently.
"Why do we not let Shimon have a look at her, instead of arguing over whether this girl is honest or not we let the key look into her mind".
"Why don't we let Menes give it a try with the scales instead?" Aknadin suggested.
"No," said Meskhenet, "there is no reason to put a young girl through that, now please Shimon".
Isis heard steps approach her and she really wanted to look up and see who was walking towards her but she thought that it would only make matters worse if she didn't bow.
Suddenly she felt a hand under her chin and she felt her head being forced upwards and she looked into a pair of big, round amber eyes. The man who was before her was short, perhaps around her height or maybe a little taller. He held an item of gold towards her head, the moment the cold metal touched her forehead, she thought she felt it glow and become hot. The next thing she felt was being completely empty and then the feeling disappeared and the man, who had been on his knees before her, rose to his full height and shook his head to the others. "The heart of this girl is pure, she is innocent and would not deceive young Mahad".
"Is that proof enough for you Aknadin?" asked Meskhenet, "or do you still think Menes should give it a try with his item?"
Aknadin sighed in defeat. "No I guess not, you can try the necklace on her".
"Maybe tomorrow," said Meskhenet, "I think the poor girl has had enough for one day".
Isis felt a pair of hands lock themselves around her wrists and she felt herself being forced back up on her feet. She allowed herself to glance up at the person who held her for a brief moment. She looked up and met the kind blue-green eyes of an older woman.
"Don't worry child," she said, "we will do you no harm".
Isis just nodded, not knowing what else to do.
"We will send for you tomorrow, now I suggest you go to sleep soon, some people tend to pass out after being judged by a millennium item".
Isis didn't know what a millennium item was but she did not have the courage to ask, she figured that she would be told anyway, eventually. She just nodded again.
"May I escort her?" asked Mahad.
There was an awkward silence in the room, it made Isis feel very uncomfortable, she didn't know if she was glad that Mahad offered to escort her or not.
"I do not see why you should not be allowed to escort her," said Meskhenet.
One of the men in the room looked like he was about to protest but he stayed silent.
"Thank you," said Mahad and he grabbed Isis's hand and followed her out of the throne room.
When they were a safe distance away Isis angrily pulled her hand out of Mahad's grip.
"Is something wrong?" the brunette asked her with worry in his ocean blue eyes.
"Why did you tell them?" she asked.
Mahad looked down at his feet with guilt displayed on his face. "I don't see any reason to hide your gift," he murmured.
"That doesn't give you any right to tell anyone," Isis said with an emotionless tone.
"I know, and I apologize for telling them, but I am not sorry though, you have a gift and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. As Meskhenet's apprentice you will learn to use your powers the best way and when she retires you will get to serve the Pharaoh as a Priestess and become his fortuneteller and help us protect Egypt with your knowledge".
Isis didn't say anything. She was digesting Mahad's words, thinking about what he had just said. It made sense. But she still hadn't forgiven him. He had promised her that her gift would remain a secret with him and now he had broken that promise to her.
"Please Isis, I mean no harm, but I don't want you to work in the kitchen for the rest of your life".
Isis looked at Mahad, who had now raised his gaze again to meet hers. His ocean blue eyes looked hurt.
"Why should I trust you, Mahad?" she asked coldly. "You broke the only promise you made me".
"I know Isis, and I know it was wrong of me but I did it for you, don't you want your powers to be acknowledged and put to good use? The court doesn't resent your gift as others did in the past, on the contrary actually, they are thrilled to discover that there is a person with a power like yours, they are not like those foolish villagers from your past, so please, don't throw away this opportunity".
Isis sighed. "You are right in many of the things you say Mahad," she said. "But I just feel betrayed".
Mahad lowered his gaze. "Is it really that bad?" he asked.
Isis nodded.
"There must be some way that I can make it up to you," the brunette said unhappily.
Isis smiled. "Be there for me, I'm sure my training will be hard, who knows what will happen? Who knows I might not even be accepted by the necklace…"
"You will," Mahad interrupted her happily. "And I promise, and this is a promise that I will keep, that I will help you through this, I owe it to you".
"Then you are forgiven," said Isis.
"Thank you," said Mahad.
They continued on their way to the kitchen.
"Mahad?" Isis asked suddenly after several minutes of silence.
"Yes?"
"What is a millennium item?"
"Oh," Mahad said in relief, having expected her to say something else like that she was afraid or something like that.
"Well the millennium items are seven in number, they are owned by the Pharaoh and his six guardians, and…"
What do you think? Was it good? Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter.