Chapter Ten

It was later in the day when Connie woke, and Izzy had the map out, navigating more carefully now as they made their last approach to Amarna. When she sat up, yawning, she noticed that Ardeth was strangely missing. It was a small dirigible, so the fact she couldn't see him meant he either jumped off the side or found a hiding place. Jonathan must have noticed her looking around in loss, because he said:

"He's astern," and pointed in that vague direction.

"Oh." Connie looked to her feet, eyes slightly glazed over. Gathering herself she glanced up to Jonathan, straightening up and lifting her nose with indignance. "Good for him." She nearly jumped when a set of hands touched her shoulders.

"Connie," Evy said, sitting down next to her. "How are you fairing now?"

Connie's eyelids wavered slightly and she pursed her lips. "I'm fine. I was always fine. Just the vertigo getting to me, that's all."

"Right." Evy cocked a brow slightly, then nodded. "Can I talk to you over here a moment?" Evy stood, stepping towards the prow.

Constance sighed, following her best friend mutely. Upon reaching the railings, Evy took Connie's hands, meeting her eyes with a measured frown.

"Connie, I know I said that I didn't want you doing anything... well... spiritual whilst you were here in Egypt..."

Constance felt a glower of strain fall over her features and she stepped back. "You were right, Evelyn. I'm not even going to try it-"

"No, I suppose you wouldn't want to," Evy said, placing her hands together and touching her fingertips to her lips. "That's why I want you to teach me how to go into a trance state."

Connie double took at her best friend, gripping the bow and glaring at her. She must have been dreaming, or Evelyn had lost her faculties. "What!"

"I've fallen into them accidentally before," she said, "I - I wanted to - that is I -" She pressed her lips together. "I want to do it again. I found it very relaxing..." She raised her brows very slightly.

Connie felt that uncertainty wash over her and she sighed. "It's dangerous if you don't know how to protect yourself. You could find yourself doing things that could hurt you or even someone else." Evelyn seemed to pale at this, and not in fear, but in knowing. She shrugged. "Sit down in a comfortable position then... I'll show you."

She sat down, pulling Evy down with her, and crossing her legs. "Sit up, make sure your airways are open and breathe in even, full breaths. Don't slow your breathing, or hasten it."

Evy nodded, doing as she said, her hands resting on her knees. "What now?"

"Shh," Connie said. She normally would have smiled, but smiles weren't in her. "Close your eyes. I want you to imagine a warm light around you. It encompasses you. It protects you." Her voice was slow, deep. "It is the light of God. Place your trust in it, and no harm shall befall you."

Evelyn's face became relaxed, her features softening, the rounds of her pupils slowing from their darting under the lids.

"Now I want you to feel yourself softly falling, with every breath counting down as you fall... from five to nothing. Five..."

Evelyn breathed.

"Four..."

Evelyn tilted her head back a little.

"Three..."

Evelyn twitched.

"Two..."

Evelyn's lips parted.

"One..."

She took a long breath in.

"Nothing..."

For Evelyn, the world fell down and vanished around her.

She could smell the oils of her father. It was a rich heady scent, thoroughly woven with that of finest musk and the sweetest frankincense. She turned her head to look at him, her heart breaking as she did so. He looked just like him. Just like him.

Daddy...

She could sense the cool regard of Anck-Su-Namun, and she tried to ignore the bristling of her skin. She looked very amused about something.

Looking ahead, she saw the Medjai guards lined up on either side of the walkway into the palace, looking ahead blankly, loyalty and purpose oozing from their very composure.

"Bring in the accused!" called out Seti, and she felt her heart seize. She turned her gaze back to the end of the large hall. The black marble and rosy red limestone around her gave the place a slightly salty, damp air. The weather was warm and balmy and she could almost feel the breeze from the Nile touching her skin. She gripped the seat underneath her, a gift from the Hellenic peoples from the north. The gilded arm rests stuck to her skin, and she felt tears in her eyes. Why was she crying?

From the end of the throne room there came the rhythmic flapping steps of leather sandals against marble. Shadows were long in the walkway beyond the door, and they shrank until their source came into view.

Blonde, pale, large eyes of fear and insecurity... it was her! Ramla - Ramla wasn't a word! It was a name! The woman, the woman that would be Connie, that looked to her like Connie and moved like Connie, was garbed in a simple white dress, silver bedecking her. Silver?

Not good enough for gold, a thought flittered through her mind. She was pale and unhealthy looking, and the only magical thing about her was her long fine golden hair. It was cut severely, much like her own. Evy, Nefertiri, she could feel the scratching itch of the wig she wore against her shorn scalp, and a wash of envy flew through her. I loved her hair, she remembered, I wished for hair so beautiful! The recollection came rushing back to her. Ramla - Connie - she belonged to her. She was a gift to her... mere property... She gulped. No, she'd been more than that to her.

Her eyes shifted to the men leading her in. Her throat grew tight, like her heart, her knuckles whitening on her chair. He was clean shaven, not a hair on his body, but his skin was the same coffee tone, his eyes full of gentleness and sadness. It was him! It was Ardeth! On a better look, she could see tears in his eyes, and his fingers around Ramla's light arms were not tight but firm, moving ever so slightly in a stolen touch. Ramla looked down to them, and she went to look up at him with her own sad broken gaze.

The loud clear voice of the Pharaoh stole her glance, and he spoke to her.

"Ramla, gift of the north, supposed seer and condemner of men..." He sighed dourly. "My trusted servants and soldiers have heard you utter words of treason. You spoke words that told of your will to see my death, and even insinuated my beloved Anck-Su-Namun and my favoured priest Imhotep in your ramblings!" He looked to his daughter for a moment, then back to Ramla. "Although you served my daughter well, and tried to conform to our proud and civilized ways, the ancient law you defiled with your words cannot be denied. Ramla, today you die at the hands of my bravest and most trusted of men. May Anubis guide you safely to your judgement."

Evy shook her head, gasped. No, this couldn't happen, it had to be a mistake - it was a mistake!

"No," she mumbled, grasping her father's arm and shaking her head again.

Her father placed his hand on hers, his dark eyes regarding her gently. "I am sorry, beloved daughter. This must be done, as it always has been done. It is done to serve Egypt, for it is to protect me, and I am Egypt itself."

He knew, she thought. He knew Ramla was right. She'd seen the death of his second priest, and saw it in every detail. He thought killing her would kill his fate. Her eyes turned to her friend, the woman that had drawn her baths, served her faithfully, listened to her speak of her troubles, who she turned from a hairy smelly barbarian girl to a clean, immaculate citizen of Egypt.

The very girl tried to look at the guard that seemed to be Ardeth once more, but a hand guided her down before she could let her eyes meet with the Medjai. She looked to that hand, to the arm it led to, then the face.

Her breath hitched in her throat, her heart heaving again. His eyes were brown, his skin a deep coffee, his brows black and dark, but his soul was there, and his face was echoed in this man's appearance... Rick. The way he looked at her, the Princess, it shook her. Oh dear, something was going on there. She thought on it more and it was clear. He loved her. This guard loved her - he was her guard, for her room. Rick looked to Ardeth (damn it all she couldn't remember their old names!) and nodded slightly.

Tears spilled down Ardeth's face, and he reached for his scimitar. Oh please, she thought, Oh please. You can't do this. You can't, not when you love her! The thought that replayed through her mind like an echo wracked her soul. He loved her.

The scimitar gleamed in the light, and clenching his eyes closed, his face glistening from his tears, he raised his arms. He breathed a word then, his voice almost breaking.

"Ramla..."

It was as if he had tried to pour every feeling he had and never got to say into one word, one sound, so that she'd know, if only for a moment. His only word to her, and it was a masked declaration of love.

The scimitar swept down, a flash of lethal blade, and the sickening slice of flesh echoed through the hall. At that very moment the guard froze, scimitar gripped in his hands tightly, his knuckles white, red vital blood staining his clothing. Evy felt herself leap up, throat roaring with pain as she cried out.

"No! No, no, no!" She fell down again, onto the ground, her body limp from the agony inside her. She sobbed, heavy sobs, and that firm voice spoke once more.

"Nefertiri... this is not the way for a future Queen to behave. Please rise, your brother Ramesses shall arrive soon from Nubia." Her father clapped his hands, and pointed to the body of Ramla, and spoke to his guards and executors. "Rashidi, Yafeu... clean up this mess."

A growl was in her chest and she sobbed again, letting out an aching cry...

Her eyes shot open, her whole body shaking as she practically threw herself out of the trance. Tears spilled down her face, and focusing on the girl in front of her a sob flew from her chest. "Oh God!" she wept, "Oh Connie!"

Connie nearly fell over as her best friend flung her arms around her, sobbing into her shoulder and hugging her tightly.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, "I'm so sorry I didn't stop it!" She sniffled, cradling her face in her hands tenderly. "You were the only sister I'd ever known and I let him kill you! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She buried her face into Connie's shoulder again, holding her close, her tears soaking through her shirt.

"Evy," Connie breathed, "Evy what did you see?" Connie knew, instinctively she knew, and the words that her friend was babbling at her were ones that chilled her, because they indicated that there was something more to her dream that symbolism, more to this trance session that relaxation.

"You," she hiccupped. "Your dream." She sniffled, shaking her head. "Connie I'm sorry, I haven't told you everything, and I should have, but I was afraid and I didn't know why. I think I know now." The slow careful steps of Rick approached, and Evy glanced up to him before looking back to Connie. "I had visions, once, visions about Ancient Egypt..." She gulped and continued. "It turned out that they weren't just visions... they were memories. Memories of a life I lived thousands of years ago. I mean, it felt unreal, but it was real and - and it was all true. Horribly true." Evy took her friend's hands in hers, tearful eyes gazing at them. "Remember when I told you about Imhotep and his second rising? The reincarnated Anck-Su-Namun was my enemy, Connie. She was my enemy because she killed my father, not George Carnahan, but... but Pharaoh Seti..."

Connie frowned, incomprehension gripping her as her best friend continued.

"I didn't believe any of this until I navigated my way around a tomb that hadn't been opened in three thousand years, knowing exactly where to go without seeing a map or reading any instructions. I knew because I had been there." Her brows tilted as Connie drew her hands away from hers, tears in her best friend's eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said softly, disbelief plaguing her. "You listened to me prattle about that dream, and you didn't tell me?"

Evy tilted her head. "I'm sorry, I am. I don't know why I didn't tell you. It's only now in hindsight that - well I just can't stand it! I let you die! I should never have!" Tears welled up in her eyes again and she put her face in her hands. "Oh God..."

She was angry. That was the first emotion that she could get a hold of. The second one was hurt. Hurt that Evy, the woman she regarded as her own sister in spirit, couldn't trust her with information that was integral to who Evy was. Embarrassment was another, that she had gone about those dreams with her stupid Spiritism mumbo-jumbo. No wonder they looked so amused. The latest emotion to run through her was a numb sense of pain. It made her weary beyond any experience, and being angry at a woman who had no control over what had been, and who had faulted and knew it, seemed a waste of energy. She sighed, tears in her own eyes, placing her hand on Evelyn's shoulder.

"Don't ever lie to me again," she said, sniffling. "It's worse than anything you could have done to me before. I love you, Evy, so dearly. Don't lie to me again."

Evy nodded, wrapping her arms around Connie once more and hugging her for dear life. "I won't, I promise." She let her husband rub her back as she hugged Connie, relief falling through her as she felt the grief finally release itself inside her, to be felt and spent. "I'm sorry, I love you, I do."

The women sat there for some time, hugging each other, tears being shed and 'sorry's being exchanged. Rick sat by his wife's side, arm around her, listening as she told Connie everything she saw. Evelyn kept one secret from her, one secret that she knew had to be kept for Connie's own good.