Okay, the only reason I'm posting this now is because our show is at two thirty (I have be there at two) and I'm going to be doing homework until then and will have no time left to post this. Oh, okay, the next post will not be until next Friday. As I already said in the first chapter, I will post one chapter each day we have a performance, and our next one isn't until next Friday, so please be patient! Oh, also, I based the named minister (as you'll read) off one of the Zosers (it's double casted), so it's just a variation of his name. He's a really good Zoser, and so is the other. Enjoy!
As Mimida and Coleb left the room, I continued to watch my bride-to-be.
"Now ladies, I have to make myself presentable for the Captain. And what better way to get his testosterone running than through dress? After all, I haven't grown up in a world of fancy, elegant and expensive fabrics and clothing all these years without learning a thing or two! It has made dress my strongest suit! Now let's polish this gem!"
As the handmaidens ran around, holding up dress after dress to Marmneris, I left, and decided to visit Pharaoh.
After asking a slave for directions, I entered the room of the Pharaoh.
"Good afternoon, your highness," I mumbled, bowing, "I heard from my father that you are not well."
The Pharaoh looked incredibly like a male Joanne, and even had a glint of kindness in his eyes. That calmed me down.
"Ah, Rogemes, what a pleasure to see you," he said, "You have been gone for so long, all of Egypt thought you wouldn't return!"
I grinned. "It seemed like a long time," I said, "It's good to be home. I was wondering, when my troops are rested, could we set out on another expedition? The maps we made were very precise."
The Pharaoh smiled. "I will think about it. Expect my answer at the banquet tonight."
"Thank you," I said, bowing once more before exiting the room.
I heard him burst into a fit of intense coughing as I shut the door. It was shame this poor man was dying, he seemed quite nice.
"Who would do this?" I asked myself as I walked into a large room. I could already see slaves setting up for the banquet, which was only a few hours away.
"Minister Kristoph," I heard my father say, "Put this arsenic in the Pharaoh's wine this evening. But remember, only a few drops. As much as I want him dead, I don't want him dead yet."
A possibly even more sinister voice than my father's said, "Very well Minister Benser. Who could have thought the copper mines would have been so useful?"
I quickly exited the room and walked dazedly down the elaborate halls. My own father and the league of ministers were killing Pharaoh? How could they do that with a clean conscience?
So wrapped up in my thoughts, I didn't notice Mimida and ran smack into her.
"Watch where you're going," she snapped, picking up the fabrics she had dropped.
"Who are you to talk to me like that?" I said, "You are just a common slave."
"And just a day ago I was free in Nubia," she replied, "If you and your men had not captured the other women and me, we would not be having this very conversation."
"Regardless of the time, you would have all eventually ended up within these walls as slaves," I said, "And so you should pay me much more respect. I could send you down to the copper mines in an instant!"
"And you should know that I am no longer your property! I belong to the princess now." Mimida replied.
"That does not matter," I said, "I could do it anyway."
"And if I died down there?"
"I'm planning on another expedition further south as we speak," I answered, "More of your people will be captured. There are many people in Nubia, and even if the death rate stays high, we will have enough slaves for years to come."
"How can you speak of us that way?" Mimida asked, tears in her eyes, "We are not animals, though you treat us like it! I would rather die than watch the beauty of my country fall to the hands of the filthy Egyptians!"
"That can I easily be arranged," I said through clenched teeth, pulling out my sword, "But I won't. It will be much better to watch you suffer and squirm as Nubia falls and Egypt prevails. You know, if you'd gone down the bend a few miles, you could have been in Nubia right now. There are no Egyptians there yet, but we all did marvel at its beauty."
"Of course you did, it's Nubia."
"All I've seen of Nubia is beautiful," I said, "We are close, but it is so much different than Egypt. Maybe I will go sailing with the princess to show her the land. You can be our guide. We'll go the corners of your land where the people have not been faced with the truth of my people. There will be no tides of time or space to bind us. We'll pursue every horizon! We'll trust something we've never trusted before!"
"It sounds wonderful, but it will not happen." Mimida said bitterly, "You raise my hopes and then shatter them, Captain."
"Anything can happen if you just believe," I encouraged.
"Yes, anything can happen for a Captain in Egypt. I am but a humble slave; so don't expect any pity or understanding. You have your own life to lead, and mine is being led for me…by my captors, my mistress, and all of Egypt."
"You go too far." I warned.
"No, you go too far!" she yelled, "You're engaged to a princess and are the successor of the Pharaoh. What a terrible tragedy!"
With that, Mimida turned briskly on her heels and stormed off. I watched her walk away with a sinking heart and a head pounding with rage.
"Why did I tell her that?" I asked myself, "She already knew it all."
Sighing, I turned around and headed to my room to prepare for the banquet.
Soon, I arrived in the great room, which had been miraculously been transformed into an elegant room for a feast with the simple hanging of brightly colored clothes, mostly silk. I took a seat next to my father and Princess Marmneris. The Princess was engaged in conversation with the Pharaoh, who looked worse than before. Minister Benser, my own father, was admiring the skimpily dressed belly dancers behind us. It was disgusting to watch Benny wink seductively and eye the slaves, but it was even worse knowing he was my father.
I spied Mimida in the corner, holding a gourd of most likely water or wine—probably wine—and talking to Coleb. Making sure I wasn't too conspicuous, I kept a careful eye on Mimida, thinking about the secret she had told Coleb. Would I be able to get the Nubian Princess to trust me so much as to tell me who she really was?
"Rogemes, what are you looking at?" Marmneris asked.
"Oh, nothing," I said quickly, "Is that a new style?"
The Princess giggled and ran her hand along the smooth fabric of her dress. "It is now." She said.
I smiled back at her and took a sip of wine from my goblet. I had admit, I was bored. The slaves all wore fake smiles, my father was still ogling the dancers and was probably planning on taking one or more of them to his bedchamber that night, and Marmneris was still trying to make conversation with me. It was not a pretty picture.
"Rogemes, maybe I should join you on one of your little expeditions," Marmneris proposed.
"That would be nice," I said, "But we eat dried monkey meat, and drink water so tainted, we vomit for days."
Marmneris' smile fell. "Then again, I am pretty busy."