The Mirror
Suddenly the boat started moving, and they were traveling upstream. Crowds of people dressed in dirty rags stood along the edge of the river, hanging on the Pharaoh's every word.
They had been traveling up the river for about an hour now, and the sun was directly above them. Anck-su-namun dared not wipe the sweat off her fore head for fear of smudging the paint.
Now, it was Imhotep's turn. He stood at the very front of the boat, wearing his heavy black robes, which must have been very hot, and lots of jewelry. Anck-su-namun knew that most people of high status, like priests and scribes, did not know how to swim, their job taking up all their time, and she feared for Imhotep's safety. One slight bump and he'd...
The boat came upon a bed of large rocks. Anck-su-namun held her breath. The boat managed to clear them, and all that was left was one big, easy-to-maneuver-around boulder. But Seth was up to his old tricks again.
The boat hit the boulder, and, just as Anck-su-namun suspected, Imhotep wobbled a bit before falling overboard and under the boat, since they were going against the river he would, umm, drift, in the opposite direction then the way they were going. He was headed straight for the bed of rocks. The river was not shallow enough for him to stand, and he had been knocked unconscious when he bumped underneath the boat.
Anck-su-namun stood up and did the first thing that would come to the mind of anyone who had been a lifeguard when they were fifteen; she ran to the end of the boat, while at the same time trying to remove as much jewelry as possible, and jumped into the river.
The Pharaoh and the people watching were absolutely horrified. Their High Priest of Osiris was, most likely, going to die, and one of the Pharaoh's most beautiful concubines jumped in after him, basically committing suicide.
Anck-su-namun's first thought was how pleasant the cool river water felt after the blazing sun, but she had little time to dwell on that. Propelling herself forward, she swam with all her might towards the unconscious priest. He had already been through the bed of rocks and most likely had severe bruises and cuts.
Anck-su-namun slowed and navigated her way between the large boulders, then returned to full speed. She was getting closer to him. Her nostrils and mouth were clogged with murky brown water, but she swam on. She was almost an arm's length away from him, then after a few more strokes, reached out and grabbed the back of his robes.
She made sure his head was out of the water then moved oddly sideways to the bank. She dragged his body onto the sand, breathing hard. Imhotep, himself, was not breathing at all. Damn it. She thought, Pharaoh's already going to kill me for just touching him, but how do you explain mouth-to-mouth to an Ancient Egyptian?
She didn't care, all she had to do now was help her, erm, patient. She plugged his nose and breathed air into his lungs, and after a few tries Imhotep woke, coughing water out all over the sand, gagging and choking