Five Years Later

It had been almost two weeks since Jabri died. Once Amun learned of his father's death, his murder, he quickly sent word to Imhotep, he didn't know if his brother would come back home for the long run or not, as he had been a High Priest of Osiris for two years now, raising through the ranks at the temple he left for seven years ago. The High Priest of Osiris at the temple here in Thebes was getting older, and there was a lot of things he couldn't do anymore, and as he got older, he preferred being away from people. But he and his priests however, did mummify his father's body, and the funeral was to be held when Imhotep got home, so all of Jabri's sons could be together. Imhotep was expected to arrive any day now.

They had caught the man that killed him, and he was currently in the dungeons, and Amun all of a sudden found himself promoted, thrown into his father's role as the head of the guard at the fresh age of 24. He sighed a bit as he rubbed his face.

Amun had already given daily orders to the guards, and then he had to go meet up with the Pharaoh, the current High Priest of Osiris, Abasi and his younger brothers, Bakari, Seth and Hamadi in the throne room. He wasn't sure what they had to discuss, but he knew it had to involve his father. He was the last one in and gave a bow to the Pharaoh as he did so.

Neferure traveled along with Imhotep, as the priestess of Ma'at, the goddess of justice, she would be the human vessel for the god, as the pharaoh passed sentence of the murder. Imhotep held steadfast as he drove the carriage faster and faster in the direction of the palace. Neferure had no doubt in her mind that his heart was heavy with grief and he would want revenge.

The carriage stopped and Neferure encouraged Imhotep to go in. He ran ahead of her as she walked trying not to cause any sense of urgency with the other servants of the palace. Not an easy thing to do when more then likely everyone knew there was a murder. Imhotep walked through the doors and saw the pharaoh was already discussing the situation with his brothers and the current high priest. Within a few minutes Neferure came to his side and nudged him in.

Amun and the others looked up when they came into the throne room. "Uncle, the funeral is tomorrow, shall the trial take place after that?" Neferure spoke up in soft tone not wanting to offend her uncle.

Nodding. Seti looked around the room. So much had happened and he knew that this would not end well for anyone in the court. With one murder, there would be gossip that other would turn to killing to get their foot in the palace on kill the pharaoh himself. Killing the head of the guard was sending a message.

"Imhotep, Neferure you know what must be done. I will retire for now and take council with my other advisers. If you need me do not hesitate to come." The Pharaoh said as he stood and left with his six advisers.

Neferure felt uneasy but nodded in agreement with her uncle. Though it was her job to bring peace at this moment she wasn't sure how to do that. Instead she watched as Imhotep went to his brothers and said five words. "I want to know everything." Imhotep with his voice as cold as stone.

Amun gave a nod to his younger brother. "Let's take it out to the courtyard." He didn't any spying ears, and half the guard was usually assigned around the throne room, while only a handful in the courtyard.

He turned and made his way out there, tell the two guards at the door to go take a break. It still felt strange to be giving orders, as his father had been head guard for Amun's entire life, and he had only been in the position for two weeks, but they listened to him.

Amun sighed and turned to his brother once they were gone. "It was the end of the day, papa had just given orders to the night guard, and we were on our way to meet the others," He referred the others as their younger brothers, all three guards themselves, though Seth was still in training. "To visit mama." Their mother had died in childbirth with Seth, and Seth himself had almost not lived. So now, all the brothers had left, were each other.

"From out of nowhere, a cloaked figure came and just stabbed him."

"No motive? The man just came out of nowhere and stabbed him? Amun, this must have been planned, you know that as well as I do. This murder had to have had help, Papa never did the same thing twice so someone had to have been following him." Imhotep sighed.

"We haven't been able to get anything out of him." Barkari spoke up. "We've questioned him everyday, nothing." He shook his head. "We even tried torturing, he's not budging."

Amun looked at Barkari and then back to Imhotep with a nod. "Yeah, we're thinking he's a hitman, but we don't know who sent him."

"We need to question him, right after the funeral. I will go and help the high priest prepare for tomorrow. Since you are the head guard now do not go anywhere alone brother. Keep a watchful eye and since I will be busy tonight, watch after Neferure. If anyone killed her, I'd hate to think how the pharaoh would take that." Imhotep said taking a deep breath and then taking off to help the high priest of Osiris and see his father for the first time since his death.

Neferure waited far enough away that she didn't hear what had happened. After all one of the 42 rules of Ma'at was not to eavesdrop. Though she hated that rule, she knew she would be given all the facts when the time was right. Sighing she looked down at her orange gown and tried to think of what would be the best course of action at least for tonight.

She saw Imhotep walking off, judging by the look on his face he needed time to himself. Sighing she tried to think of what to do when she saw the new head of guard walking her way...and she couldn't remember his name. Great way to start her first assignment as the high priestess of Ma'at.

"I am very sorry about your father, I know nothing I can say or do will help ease this pain, but please know I will make sure the murder is punished to the full extent of what the Pharaoh will allow." Neferure spoke softly in a calm and caring tone.

Amun nodded. "I do not doubt that." He sighed. "He's with my mother now, and knowing that, helps a litte."

"You were the guard that helped me five years ago, I knew you looked familiar." Neferure said with very small smile also trying to distract him from the fact she couldn't remember his name.

"I am." He nodded. "I'm Amun." He added as an afterthought, as he had an inkling.

"Yeah, I don't think I asked you that before I passed out. I'm Neferure. Horrible time for introductions but anyway, I cannot eavesdrop since it is against the rules of my goddess, could you please tell me what happened?" Neferure asked nervously only to realize that may offend him. "Unless you don't want to, I would never force someone to speak."

"I know." He gave a small smile and nodded. Then he shook his head. "We're not too sure. We think the man that did it is a hitman, we just don't know who sent him. He won't talk."

"He can lie to us all he want's, he cannot lie to the gods. He may have an earthly death but in the afterlife know the gods will give him a far more just punishment then we ever could." Neferure said as she touched Amun's arm to show him comfort but when she feels a spark she resists the urge to pull back.Horrible timing Hathor!

"I know. Thank you." He told her softly, having had felt the same thing.

Abasi meanwhile, had just gotten back to the temple, grumbling under his breath. The priests under him saw him coming and quickly got back to work.

Imhotep saw the high priest was agitated and went up to him. "What troubles you Abasi?" Imhotep spoke up crossing his arms before the high priest showing he did not fear the old priest.

Abasi glanced over to the younger high priest. "Everything." He shook his head. "I can't stand this place anymore. I'm getting old. People are starting to annoy me more. It's too loud.

"Annoy you? You are preparing a murdered man for the underworld and you think to complain about that? If we annoy you that much then please ask the Pharaoh to be replaced, I am sure he would have no problem retiring you." Imhotep said a bit annoyed with the old priest.

"The dead doesn't bother me." Abasi said. "It's most of the living." He nodded. "And I did. Four years ago. There wasn't anyone to replace me."

"I will replace you then. Then you can never be annoyed again. How can I help prepare my father?" Imhotep said trying to end the conversation.

Abasi nodded. "We did start the mummification process already, since we knew that it would be a couple weeks before the funeral, and we didn't want him to decay." He said, starting to walk, leading the younger high priest towards the preparation room. "But other than that, there's still a few things left to do." He told him as they entered.

Imhotep went to work, he hated doing this work on his own father but he knew it needed to be done. Who better than himself to make sure the ritual was done correctly. Completely ignoring the others in the room, he followed through on the list of things to do with his father's body.