Thanks toNeferBast RaMa'at, Buff, Erica, and Jennie. Nice to know four people read it. :) So for you four (and whoever else might meander on by) here is chapter 4. Enjoy.
Chapter 4 ~ The Morning and Evening Star
"Show me everything you know." Onus had to struggle to keep from spitting out the water he had just sipped.
"Sh-show you?" he repeated, wiping his mouth. "What do you mean show you?"
"I mean how to fight!" Nefertiri said, exasperated. "I want to be able to rip that smug, gold-painted grin off her face." She demonstrated with the air what she envisioned in her mind.
"Uh, I'm not so sure that's such a good idea," Onus started carefully.
"Why's that?"
"Well, a Med-jai fights to kill. Your fighting is more for show than to actually kill someone." He realized the second the words left his lips they probably should have been worded more delicately. But it was too late, as Nefertiri turned to the Med-jai, throwing one of her sais toward his head. He ducked out of the way, the gold-plated metal bouncing off the stone wall before clattering to the ground. "What I mean is I can show you four different ways to kill a man barehanded, but little good it will do you. I don't imagine the Pharaoh would like to have a mummified bride."
"I'd rather her be," Nefertiri said, sinking into a chair.
"Look, you're not the only one that doesn't like her," Onus said, lowering his voice as he carefully approached the princess. "Do you think there's a single Med-jai in this palace that wants to see that concubine put on the throne? The woman is power hungry... I can't even begin to imagine what she's going to do to this kingdom...what state she's going to leave it in for you."
"I'll never see the throne," Nefertiri said, glancing up at him. "She's the same age as I. She will outlive my father, my brother will not yet be old enough to take the throne—"
"Look at Tutankhamun," Onus pointed out.
"That's beside the point," Nefertiri snapped. "She has bewitched my father. He will leave the control of all of Egypt in her hands."
"Her and Imhotep," Onus said with a light roll of his eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing. Besides, you'll probably be married by then, anyhow, and that would make your husband eligible for the throne, wouldn't it?"
"Only if my father wills it so. I don't even want to think about marriage at this point." They locked eyes for a moment, turning away simultaneously. "Fact of the matter is, she's going to marry my father, no matter what I or any of Egypt thinks. He is the Morning and Evening star. His word is law." She sighed, adding, "And the day is not far off when he will choose my husband." She pushed herself up out of the chair, stepping out onto the balcony. Onus watched for a long moment, before stepping toward the doorway.
"Do you still wish to go out into the city, Highness?"
"I don't know what I wish," she answered, turning back to face him. "But I suppose that will have to do for now." She tired to smile, knowing her heart wasn't in it. He means well, but he'll never understand, she thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun was slowly beginning to set when they made their way out into the filling streets, mingling with the rest of Thebes as they escaped the stuffiness of their homes. Nefertiri picked up a small beaded bracelet from a booth, admiring the lapis lazuli as Onus glanced around, the small hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Something was not quite right. His eyes scanned the streets, catching site of the Nile looming just beyond the end of the road, the fields of flax waving in the evening breeze. He caught sight of a fishing boat, its sail flapping gently, the passengers leaping overboard... Onus took off into a sprint, dashing through the crowds of people as Nefertiri glanced up, confusion flashing through her kohl-lined eyes. She dropped the bracelet, running after the Med-jai, stopping at the water's edge where she noticed him just standing there, waist-deep in the Nile.
"Onus, what are you doing?" Nefertiri demanded. She received no response; he didn't even so much as flinch at her voice. "Onus?"
"I never asked," he started slowly, his eyes fixed on the ship as it sailed by, "to be trained to think everything was an emergency... To think that children were jumping from their father's fishing boat because the boat was sinking, not jumping in for a swim."
"Onus, it was a simple mistake," Nefertiri said softly. "Anyone may have thought that."
"No!" Onus said, spinning around, splashing the water with the flat edge of his sword. "No, only someone trained to think like me, like a Med-jai, would have thought that boat was sinking. I never wanted this! Do you hear me?" He was no longer talking to Nefertiri, but shouting to the sky. "I never wanted any of this!!!"
"Onus, come out of the water," the princess pleaded, glancing to the small crowd that had begun to gather around her. "You're making a spectacle of yourself."
"No, my parents have made a spectacle of me," he said, wading out of the water. "They listened to that old man and my life was signed away before I was even walking!" He pushed past the princess, through the crowd and running into the streets of Thebes.