CHAPTER 4 REGAINING COURAGE

/Shimon Muran! Off all of Ra's creations, giving HIM the Millennium Book! This is complete blasphemy! It's illegal! He used to own the ankh and how he's supposed to get his "second" item?/ Bernarda Nefertina ponders to herself as she sits upon the reed-woven rug in her chamber, stroking the feathers of her pet peacock. Brushing a tear off the tip of her delicate nose, she looks at the painting on walls of her chamber with awe in her eyes whilst her hand went absent-mindedly to stroking the beautiful tail feathers of her peacock once more. Logically enough, this was not the first time that the Royal Scribe of the 18th dynasty of the Pharaohs found herself in this type of situation.

Yes, there had been the time when Bernarda reached an argument with Mahado when they were little so she threw his golden sandals into the Nile. Afterwards Mahado had stolen her emerald bracelet which she supposedly inherited from her mother. Only that time they were little and things were simple, now matters had gotten much more complicated. And yes, Seth had appeared out of nowhere and was made the High Priest – something which Bernarda considered to be a complete outrage. Then again, she never dared to complain about it for holding the position of Royal Scribe at the age of fifteen was plenty enough for her already and she did not intend to lose it. Back then, six or seven years ago when Bernarda was only eight, Atemu nine, Mahado eleven and little Mana seven, they had considered each other friends, playmates, Ra's children who were blassed to walk along the banks of the Nile and have mud fights – only to return home and get scolded by the priests for bringing so much filth into the palace. And now, the tables have apparently turned.

"How times have changed," Bernarda whispers, saying it to nobody in particular. She looks at the picture of the Isis and Osiris tale upon her wall once more and chuckles to herself. Had it really been all these years ago that Isis, Shadah and herself had wanted to act out the tale so they wrapped Atmu in mummification bandages and then Shadah hid him in the palace while Bernarda and Isis frantically searched for him all night only to find out that Mahado took the bandages off the young prince and returned him to his chambers? /Mahado, he has not changed a bit./ And that was as close to the truth as she could have put it. On the other hand, Shadah, Isis and perhaps even Karim even though he was a bit older were so mischevious at times back then, Bernarda easily remembered hanging around with them even though she was at least three years their junior. /Then again, perhaps they liked me because I was able to sneak into temples unnoticed and do whatever they wanted me to do. It really is not my fault that Isis would get caught every single time and I would not!/ As for Seth, well, Bernarda had always considered him to be an exception. And she never knew him as a youngster, so that could be part of the reason.

Yet now that they all held Millennium Items save for Mana who remained a loyal apprentice to Mahado, things had changed too much for Bernarda's likings. Seth and Isis had become as serious as if they were the ones in charge of all of Kehmet and began to view Bernarda as an enemy because she was able to read rituals and trexts of sacred ceremonies as well as any priest and ever re-write them in hieroglyphs. /Is that why I was given the Millennium Book at the mere age of twelve upon having almost completed my schooling as a scribe? Out of all the scribes at court why was a young girl who does not even know of her heritage chosen to bear one of the sacred items when the rest of them all went to the Pharaoh and his most trusted priests?/ The Royal Scribe found this very strange, she had not been able to pull out any logic behind her being the owner of the Millennium Book besides her uncanny ability to understand and interpret strange writings. Not like it was in the family or anything, she had absolutely no idea that she was Akunadin's daughter, Seth's half-sister and cousins with the Pharaoh and most of his priests through a long, complicated bloodline. All in all, Bernarda was completely clueless that she was of royal blood, or partically of it at elast. On the other hand, Bernarda did know that Mahado, Isis and Karim had all inherited their Millennium Items from their parents, so where did she get her Book from?

Wanting to find out the answer, the scribe's hands twiddle with one another as she looks around her chambers for the Millennium Book, yet it was nowhere within her sight. "Holy Ra! I have to go and retrieve it from Shimon Muran!" she exclaims, snapping out of her thoughts and suddenly standing up, startling her pet peacock and sending it running to the opposite end of the room.

"Yet how do I retrieve it from him?" Feeling down in the depths, she places her head in her hands and tries to prevent tears from flowing across her face, yet she could not. Few people, more likely none knew her true feelings about her life. Yes, at first glance Bernarda Nefertina appeared to be rather sarcastic yet charming and even flirtatious in her style and sense of humor, it was nothing like the playful energy which Mana never seemed to run out of but a cold case covering a warm heart which could easily be shattered once the shell had been broken.

/My heart, whom does it belong to?/ Stroking her fingers through her hair and still finding them caught in the tangles which had been there since the mud fight with Seth, Bernarda takes up her hairbrush and starts to pull it across her straight brown hair with a silver streak which she had no idea how it came to her hair. Oddly enough Bernarda's hair had a weird habit of acquiring blond highlights in the sun and therefore over the years of living under the hot Egyptian sun it had gone from a dark chocolate brown to a golden brown with some bits slightly lighter than others. That was one more thing that bothered her, why would her hair go lighter yet the other people she knew did not have that problem? /Then again,/ she thought with a sigh /I have been told off time and time again for paying attention to useless details. A scribe's flaw, perhaps./ Finishing with brushing out her hair, Bernarda proceeds ahead with the make-up and jewelry, after all, if she was about to go and talk to Shimon Muran about the Millennium Book and any other related matter, she was also determined to make herself look presentable.

Taking a deep breath as she takes one last look at herself, Bernarda closes the door of her chamber as she exits. Wincing upon hearing the door close so loudly, Bernarda suddenly realizes that the hallway was eerily quiet, the guards were completely motionless and the scribe could have sworn that she could hear a grain of sand be blown across these surroundings. True enough, it was the hottest part of the day now and most of Pharaoh Atemu's subjects were in their homes or fields.

Quietly creeping around the corner of the hallway, Bernarda tiptoes down the staircase and makes her way through a maze-like structure of walls until she reaches the throne room. Before entering, she would have to get approval from the guards so the scribe presumed it was a wise idea to observe the situation beforehand. As usual, the doors were left open at this time of the day because the priests believed that nobody would come in at this time of the day in the first place. A commoner had no right to enter, and those of the palace entered only when they dared.

/And apparently, the priests are mistaken as far as this scribe is concerned,/ she thinks with a mischievous smirk as she hides her svelte form behind a giant stone obelisk and looks over the situation. As usual, Shimon Muran was sitting on the chair next to the Pharaoh, being the Grand Vizier for well over three decades. The priests loitered about in the nearby area, Mahado sitting in his favorite chair, Karim and Shadah busy in a conversation and the elder Priest Akunadin as well as Seth were both apparently in deep thought, something easily given away by the furrow in the brow of the Millennium Eye's holder and how Seth's hands anxiously twirled the Rod at random moments. /Not too different from how I play with my peacock quill when I'm nervous./ Bernarda admits to herself with a nervous gulp, wishing she had brought her quill with her so she could have something to hold onto. Having a feel for the scenario now, Bernarda leaves her hiding spot from behind the obelisk and approaches the palace guards.

"Half right there!" the first one exclaims, raising his spear in the air.

"Have a good reason to get executed before the Pharaoh?" the second one demands.

/Gosh! Pity Joseph is not the one on duty today/ Bernarda ponders, having no idea how she was going to get past these two muscular figures. Her usual resort in the past had been to forge a fake invitation from the priests in her Millennium Book and use her item's power into brainwashing the guards into thinking that it was all authentic. The guards had never bothered in the past to check with the priests so Bernarda's manipulative little trick had stayed safe, though the scribe would not even dare to imagine what the Millennium Scales would have done to her very soul if her secret was let lose.

"I have come to have a talk with Shimon Muran," Bernarda says, looking both guards straight in the eye. "I was inforemed by the Pharaoh that he has something which rightfully belongs to me." Having said that, Bernarda keeps her fingers crossed behind her back while holding her breath. After all, the scribe had been more than just truthful,, her only guilt was in wording it so that Shimon Muran appeared to be the one to blame. Yet as a scribe, Bernarda had had more than just her fair deal of experience in manipulating words, especially to the usage of either her or the one who would grant her payment when her task was completed.

"The only thing that rightfully belongs to you now is a ceremony where your soul shall be pulled out of your guts!" the first one roars, menacingly bringing the spear closer to Bernarda.

Edgily, the scribe takes a step back as the spear is brought closer to the middle of her throat. Panicking deep down inside and yet refusing to show it, Bernarda realized that it was time to go to the bottom of the scenario by fighting, as much as she hated the very thought of doing it.

"Whatever it is that rightfully belongs to me," she manages to utter in a rather frustrated tone, "You can be kind enough to add that spear of yours to the list!" Having said that, Bernarda fakes an attempt to run away in the other direction, only to pivot around on her right foot and grab the dull end of the spear with her hands.

"What in the name of Ra are you doing?" the second guard demands, grabbing the back of Bernarda's robes and yanking them so hard that the scribe had no choice but to release her grip on the other guard's spear and scream helplessly as she went flying backwards into the wall, crashing into a humungous terracotta clay pot.

With a loud crash and throbbing aches all over her body, Bernarda slowly tries to stand up to face the guards once more, though her arms give way once she noticed that there was a deep cut flowing dark, velvety blood on her lower left leg. She tries to cut the flow off with her hands, yet the red liquid to fall out from where the clay pot had cut her when she was smashed against it.

Slowly she begins to become lightheaded due to the loss of blood in her system and everything around her begins to spin in circles. Not being able to sustain the hurt for a moment longer, her mind goes blank as a faint aura begins to glow around her body and chaos within her very being...

"Huh?" the second guard blurts out in astonishment, dropping his spear to the floor in surprise. His colleague just stares blankly in mock horror, not having the experience which priests had in such situations.

Bernarda Nefertina remains passed out on the floor, mind idle as the grave, her magenta aura swirling in mists as the Sorceress of Chaos starts to take shape...