Hey guys!
Oh, God! I'm publishing this late again. It's already 23.10 here with me in the Netherlands. But I had a busy week and I'm still updating.
Thank you for all the reviews, again. And please keep reviewing, I'm begging you on my knees.
I still haven't finished the last chapter of this story and I'm still wondering if I'm not taking a too big jump into time. So maybe I will make a view more chapters that will make the jump slightly smaller.
All will be explained in one of those chapters. Like Amarra's past with the black haired woman who is helping Anubis and why Sacmis couldn't kill baby Amarra... No, that will be explained in a sequel. Together with the whole legend of the Phoenix.
I'm giving too much away again. Blast it.
On with the story. I hope you will like it. Again, it was quite hard to turn a song into a normal script. But I enjoyed it, so that's okay :D.
I don't know when I will update again. I hope next Friday but it might just be a little later too. So keep an eye out. And please review!
XxX Emmetje
A Girl in the Egyptian Army
Chapter 9
March to the Desert Pass
The next day they broke down their camp already early in the morning and marched out towards the desert pass. It was the beginning of a long and boring march.
Atemu and Hakizimana were at the front of the hurt, on their horses. After them there came three other men, all three carrying a flag that held the colours of the Egyptian empire. And behind them came Amarra with Kahi. Atemu had asked her if she was okay with her horse being used to pull the cart with food, cannons and tents in them. She had agreed. And after her came the rest of the recruits.
To reach the desert pass would take at least a week and they would have to cross the Nile at some point. Amarra had the luck that she could sometimes sit on the cart but her fellow soldiers had to walk all the way and that tired them.
During their march the men sang songs, making Amarra press her hands against her ears several times as most of them couldn't really sing that well.
During the last day of the march they were nearing the Nile and by that time, Amarra was pretty sure that she heard all the songs at least ten times.
"You would think they would get tired of singing songs," said Amarra while pressing her hands against her ears.
Atemu, who was riding on his horse beside her, laughed a little. "They have to do something."
"Then let them start picking flowers or braid each other's hair. Anything but singing."
"Look at the bright side, if our battle strategies won't work, they can always sing our enemies to their defeat."
Amarra gave him an annoyed look. "Yeah, yeah. You joke about it all you like. But this is torture for me. If they keep going on like this I might end up killing myself long before we even reach the pass."
He grinned a little. "They are not that bad…" At that moment Chike held on a high note and this time Amarra wasn't the only one who pressed her hands against her ears. "I take it back. That's bad."
Hakizimana passed them, giving the Pharaoh a disapproving look and Amarra a nasty one. "You know, there are still cliffs that we will need to pass. And it might be a plan to throw him of one of them."
Atemu signed. "Don't tempt me." He gave her a last smile before pressing his heels into his horse's belly and trotting after Hakizimana.
Amarra glanced after him with a smile and felt how something was hit against her head. "Au!"
She turned around and saw that Mushu had thrown something at her and that he was giving her a look with his arms over each other. "Keep going on like that and you might as well just tell him who you really are."
"I wasn't flirting with him," hissed Amarra back.
"No, it just looked like it."
"We were just talking."
"I think there is a lot more to all that sweet talking that you two do then just friendship."
Amarra stuck out her tongue and he did the same back, making Kahi sign and shaking her head while neighing a little.
"This herd makes me feel like we are cattle," said Yafeu who walked up to her together with Chike. "And if my feet keep hurting like this, I think they might fall off."
"And we haven't stopped for centuries," complained Chike. "I'm starting to get hungry."
"Yeah, it's not easy to ignore our growling stomachs and our acing feet," said another soldier.
"Then think of something else instead," said Luzige, who also walked up to them.
"And what might that be?" asked another soldier.
"Please, don't say a song," muttered Amarra.
"What might that be?" Luzige laughed as if it was the most stupid question ever. "What do you think it might be? A girl worth fighting for."
Amarra gave him a weird look. "Huh?"
"You heard me right, my redheaded friend," said Luzige while putting an arm around her shoulders. "A girl worth fighting for."
When he took out a piece of scroll that showed the image of a girl that was all dressed up as a bride, Amarra quickly freed herself from his grasp and tried to get away from the men as far as possible, as they were all now looking rather dreamily.
"You've got to be joking," she muttered, very annoyed. "This has to be even worse then their singing."
And much to her displeasure they didn't leave her alone. Luzige appeared beside her again, grabbing hold of her shoulders once more. "I want her paler as the moon with eyes that shine like stars."
Yafeu appeared on her other side and pulled Amarra towards his height. "My girl will marvel at my strength and adore my battle scars."
Amarra was pulled up in the air by Chike who then held her on his shoulder. "I couldn't care less what she wears or what she looks like. It will all depend on what she cooks, like beef, pork and chicken. Hmm."
"That's not helping to forget your stomach, Chike," said Amarra who quickly jumped on the ground and tried to put some distance between her and the men again.
"I want a sweet girl who can make me laugh."
"You crazy? As long as she is beautiful, she will do perfect for me."
"I don't want one who is skinny. She must have the shape to get children. Lots of them."
"As long as she is warm and friendly and loves me."
"I want someone who just is obedient and knows her place."
"I prefer one who gives advice."
"This is worse then getting dressed up," muttered Amarra, shaking her head while pressing a hand against her forehead in a hopeless gesture, when more and more of her fellow soldiers started to tell what kind of women they wanted, had or liked. "Even worse then meeting the matchmaker."
"Pay attention, men!" called Atemu back at them, once again unknowingly rescuing Amarra from the torture the men around her gave her. "We've reached the Nile!"
"Great, just what I wanted," complained one of the men. "Getting wet."
For a short while they stopped at the river bank to get some rest and eat something before they readied themselves and their luggage to cross the river.
During that cross, Yafeu gave her a small push with his elbow. "Bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer."
"Not really," said Amarra uncomfortable, trying to get away from him without getting off the path they had found and where the river was at its lowest.
"Oh, come on. You've your ways. They must have been drooling all over you."
Amarra shook her head, again pulling an uncomfortable face. "No, really. They wanted nothing to do with me."
"I don't believe any of that," grinned Yafeu, again nudging her with his elbow. "Be honest now. How did you do…"
His last words fell silent when he tripped over something and ended up in the water, making a view fish jump and getting caught by Chike and giving Amarra the chance to put some distant between her and the other men.
"I bet the ladies love a man in armour," said Luzige when they climbed back on shore.
"You'd be surprised," said Amarra while passing him, wringing out her clothes. "They prefer someone who hadn't put his life at stake because those are the ones that don't run off to battle and get killed in progress. You aren't exactly much useful when you're dead."
"Sounds like you speak form experience," said Atemu, stopping when he passed her.
Amarra scratched the back of her neck. "I've got a sister, remember?"
"Your sister is nothing but an ignorant girl that doesn't know her place," said Hakizimana, riding past them again.
Amarra pulled an angry face. "I swear, one more remark like that I will have his blood."
Atemu placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile. "I won't stop you."
"You really are the oddest Pharaoh ever."
"Thank you, I try my hardest."
Amarra laughed and watched him jump on his horse again and ride on. The next moment she felt something burn her backside and with a slight jump, she turned around again while rubbing her buttocks that had been on fire. She got a stern look from Mushu and she rolled her eyes while walking on, pulling Kahi with her.
After walking for another while, they passed some fields where men and women were working and much to Amarra's displeasure, Mushu whistled from out the cart, making all the women look at her and giggle, thinking she had been the one who had whistled.
Amarra quickly placed her hand against her face and looked towards the other direction. "Thank you very much, Mushu. Now I feel like an idiot."
"Well, someone got to do something to not make anyone suspicious about the fact that you keep flirting with His Majesty," said Mushu.
"Will you stop that already? I'm not flirting with him."
"No, it just looks that way."
"Oh, what a beauties, aren't they?" said Luzige, who once again walked up to her. "That's what I've missed the most since we went off to war."
"You and everyone else here," said a soldier who walked past them.
"So to what kind of girl are you attracted too?" asked Yafeu, also now joining them again together with Chike.
"Can we really talk about something else?" begged Amarra.
"Oh, I think someone here has already someone on the eye," said Chike, nudging her side again.
"No! Where on earth…" She gave an annoyed sign. "What is it with everyone thinking I like someone?"
"Come on, there must be a kind of girl that you like or certain things she needs to require to get your attention," said Yafeu. "For example: my girl will have to think I have no flaws."
"And that I am a major find," said Chike.
Amarra rolled her eyes. "How about a girl who has a brain and who always speaks her mind?"
The three exchanged looks before shaking their heads. "Nah!"
Amarra's face got now slightly annoyed about how her own personality got rejected again so she asked in a slightly winey and childish voice: "Then how about a girl who is quite, kind, graceful, polite, delicate, refined, punctual and mannered?" Everyone was suddenly staring at her and she rubbed her arm nervously. "What? My sister needed to learn those words out of her head when she went to meet the matchmaker and strike a good match. She just wouldn't shut up about it."
The men shook their head before walking on, making Amarra sign and telling herself that she should be careful with what she said.
Luzige put an arm around her shoulders and tried to impress her by showing of his biceps, which he didn't have. "My manly ways and turn of phrase are sure to thrill her."
"Unlikely," said Amarra while removing his arm from her shoulders again.
Only to be pulled towards Yafeu who muttered to her: "He thinks he is such a lady killer." With a laugh he slapped Kahi's backside. This caused Amarra's horse to give a kick back, hitting Yafeu, before walking on, making Luzige fall on the ground in the mutt as he had been leaning against the cart.
Amarra pulled up her nose and quickly traded the mutt for a slightly better road. Patting Kahi on the side of her neck as a sign that she did good, she turned to Mushu. "And you think I'm flirting with Atemu?" she hissed at him. "It keeps looking like all the men here are flirting with me."
"Atemu, eh?" said Mushu, giving her a knowing look while putting his arms over each other. Amarra's cheeks flushed red. "Since when do you call His Majesty by his first name?"
"Since he asked me too."
"Get a grip on yourself, girl!" said Mushu angry but in shushed voice. "If he would ever find out that you're a woman, the acting nice to you will be over and he will have your head. This whole romance you invented…"
"I'm not inventing anything. And there is no romance. And I am NOT flirting with anyone."
"Keep telling yourself that, darling. You can lie to yourself but not to me."
Amarra made a gesture with her hand, like trying to wave him off like an annoying little fly. Next moment she heard something crash into one of the sides of the cart.
"Where did you do that for?"
"I didn't do anything," said Amarra, before biting uncomfortable on the nail of her index finger. "Not on purpose anyway. I'm sorry, Mushu. That sometimes happened."
"Anything else I should know about what you can do and what might happen from time to time?" Amarra gave him an uncomfortable look and he held up his hand. "Forget I asked. I don't want to know."
Amarra shrugged with a small smile and turned her attention ahead again, walking on with Kahi at her side.
"You know, I've a girl back home who is unlike any other," said Hakizimana in a way that just screamed that he trying to get them jealous.
"Mothers don't count," said Amarra, not being able to resist. The whole herd started to laugh and Amarra smiled a little proudly when she saw that even Atemu couldn't hide his laugh. She did however get another nasty look from Hakizimana. "What? It's true. The only girl who would ever love you is your own mother."
Hakizimana muttered something and Amarra got a satisfied look that he didn't say something out loud back in her face. Probably because Atemu was eyeing him sternly. If he would only know about all that he was doing for her.
"So, is anyone here married yet?" asked Amarra. The men shook their heads. "I thought as much."
"But when we come home in victory they'll be lined up at our doors," said Luzige.
"Yeah…" Amarra scratched the back of her neck again. "I wouldn't really…"
"What do we want?" interrupted Luzige laughing.
"A girl worth fighting for!" cheered the other men, making Amarra sign and shake her head in defeat.
"What do we need?"
"A girl worth fighting for!"
"Wish that we had –"
"– a girl worth fighting…"
Everyone stopped talking, cheering and walking at the same time. They had walked around a hill and were now standing in front of the village where they would meet Atemu's generals and their armies.
Or, they were standing in front of what should have been the village. Not much was left over from it.
A dark and red cloud was forming itself above the village and the walls around it, the gate to it and every single house in the village was destroyed. Nothing was left except a view wooden beams and some empty house skeletons.
The bell that was hanging close by the walls, that were hardly standing up anymore, was moving with the wind and was making a soft noise. It was left hanging on only one single rope.
Amarra's heart stopped for a moment and tears formed themselves in her eyes when she saw the destruction. Who could do this? Why would someone do this?
They walked through the leftovers from the gate and into the leftovers of the village. Atemu startled everyone a little when he jumped of his horse and gave the rains to Hakizimana, who was staying behind by the walls.
The young Pharaoh turned to his men, with a pained look in his eyes. "Search for survivors."
"How could anyone have survived this?" whispered Chike.
But nonetheless they did what he said and went their separate ways, looking for survivors. When she had taken her distance from the others (she had left Kahi also behind with Hakizimana) a soft noise made Amarra look up and frown a little. "Phoenix?"
The bird flew towards her and dropped something just after it had passed her. Amarra walked towards the thing the bird had dropped. It was a small doll with black hair.
Taking it softly in her hands, her eyes only saddened even more. She held it softly against her chest and closed her eyes while shading a tear. Children. There had been children here.
A weight on her shoulder made her look up again and she saw that the bird had landed on her shoulder. "Who did this, sweetheart?"
The bird shrieked loudly and angrily while flying up again and towards one single direction. Amarra followed it, still holding the doll in her hands.
The bird led her through the streets and then finally landed on one of the remaining beams, staring sadly at something that was just behind a small hill in the village.
When Amarra walked past it, she immediately stopped dead in her tracks and gasped loudly. The feeling in her hands went numb, making the doll fall out of them and on the ground again.
But she could care less for the doll on that moment as the horror she saw in front of her was too big.
Hundreds of dead bodies were laying there. A view were piled up like they had been nothing more but pigs, ready for the slaughter.
And the children. All the children had the same fate just like most of the other people. There eyes were wide open and their last emotion was still written in them. Fear.
Amarra stumbled towards them, falling on her knees in front of them. The tears were now streaming over her face and she didn't even care that if anyone would see them, they would question if she was really man enough.
"Sacmis," breathed the young redhead woman out, recognizing the method of the killings immediately. "Sacmis, how could you do this? How?"
She closed her eyes and let her head hung down, the tears falling only more and more over her cheeks. The bird flew towards her again and landed beside her in the sand, resting its head on her lap, making a grieving sound.
She heard movements from behind her and the bird's head shot up again, letting out a protecting sound. But Amarra placed a hand on its head and shook her head. And with another grieving sound and a worried look, the bird flew up again.
Amarra rubbed the tears away and looked around. Atemu had walked up to her and the others too. The shock in all of their eyes were the same.
"I don't understand," whispered the young Pharaoh, taking a step towards the dead people. His dead people. "My generals and their armies should have been here."
"Your Majesty!" called Hakizimana's voice from a distant.
Everyone hurried towards the direction from where he had called. Amarra too but not before she had closed the eyes of one of the children that were laying dead in front of her and not before she had picked up the doll again.
When she joined the others and stared down the hill, she gasped again. Even more dead bodies were laying there but these bodies were those of Atemu's soldiers. No one had been spared.
Chike, who had walked among them to see if there were any survivors, came back with the sword of one of the generals. He gave Atemu the sword. "I'm sorry, Sire. There were no survivors."
Atemu took the sword from him and stared at him, sadness and even guilt in his eyes. He turned around and walked away from them. Amarra glanced worried after, understanding completely the pain he felt and the guilt that was now eating him from the inside.
The other men glanced down towards the destroyed camp too, the same shock and horror on their faces. The same pain to see fellow soldiers dead.
Amarra gave the others another single glance before she walked towards Atemu, who was now sitting kneeled on the ground. The sword was pushed in the ground in front of him. "I'm so sorry, Atemu."
"I knew this wouldn't end well," said Atemu without glancing at her. "I knew Anubis was stronger then ever and that he wouldn't stop for anything. Yet I gave them orders to go. How could I have done that?"
Amarra kneeled down beside him. "There was no way you could have known that this was going to happen."
"But that was it. I did know it. I knew this was going to happen. I knew they would die."
Amarra shook her head. "You're now telling yourself that you knew it because you want to blame someone." She placed a hand on his. "Blame them, not yourself. They killed these people without a reason. They burned these villages down just for fun. They murdered your soldiers just because they want to do something." He looked up at her. In his eyes she saw that he was listening to her. "They can't get away with this. We shouldn't let them. But we have just finished our training. We don't have the experience in war you have. We need someone to guide us through this. We need you to keep your head in the game and to stay focussed or else everyone will die. Every single soldier that you have, here and in other villages and cities and every single one of the Egyptian people."
He stared at her for a view minutes before he sighed and stared ahead. "You're right. There are other people still out there that are counting on us. We can't let them get hurt too." He stood up, strong and radiating authority again. "We will go after them." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."
"We all need a wake up call from time to time."
He gave her a nod before walking towards his other men. "Anubis and his men are moving quickly. We will need to move fast and reach Luxor on time to warn them. We will take the desert pass." The men looked doubtful. "We're the only hope the people there have left. We can't let them suffer the same fate as what happened here."
"Sire, I really do…" said Hakizimana.
"Be silent!" snapped Atemu. "We're moving out and we're taking the desert pass. Stay on your watch, men. There is a chance we won't be there alone."
While everyone else walked back towards where they had left their stuff, Amarra staid on her knees in front of the sword and placed the doll against the bale. From up high a loud thunder was heard and the wind was picking up. She didn't notice it.
She bowed her head and closed her eyes. A single tear slipped over her cheek again. Then she slowly opened her eyes again. A new fire was burning in them. A hunger for revenge. A toll to make someone pay for the deaths of the innocent people and Atemu's soldiers. "Mark my words, Sacmis. You will pay. I won't let you get away with this. Even if it is the last thing I do."