Chapter 1
The small boy played to hide his mounting anxiety, fear he caught from his nervously pacing father. Seven years had passed, and the newborn Kahmunrah had sprouted into a healthy child. Kneeling beside his 'army,' Kahmunrah snuck a sideways glance at the king, who was so wrapped up in his own head that he didn't give notice to his firstborn.
Merenkahre had resumed his pacing- he'd done it so frequently, his servants wondered how permanent grooves had not been worn into the floor yet. Of course, they never let him hear such jokes. If you were a close friend of his, you would understand his terror- this was his wife's fourth childbirth. Both sensed it would be the last one, one way or the other. Of the three previous births, only the eldest son had survived, despite the priests' and midwives' best efforts. Rumors abounded of a curse, but who would have wished the royal family so ill?
Clearing his head of rumors and memories, Kahmunrah focused on his toy soldiers. He knew he should feel nothing but excitement, but already at such a young age he suspected this childbirth would end like the others before it, the other siblings he'd never really met. He'd never even seen them! Why should this one prove different? Shrugging off unexpected sadness, he concentrated on battle maneuvers.
At last, an infant's cries sent both Kahmunrah and Merenkahre dashing for the queen's chambers. Did I look like that? The boy wondered to himself. The baby was so tiny and wrinkly, it scarcely resembled a human being! He wrinkled his nose. Shepseheret noticed. "What is the matter?"
Kahmunrah hesitated, hovering near the entryway. "Will he break if I hold him?"
She smiled. "He won't. Come, I will help you hold him if you'd like."
Closer up, the baby looked even stranger. Still, part of himself unwittingly fluttered towards the child, connecting to him as his mother positioned his arms around the baby. "What is his name?"
"Ahkmenrah."
Even as he was dimly aware of his father sending a messenger out to spread the news, he could hear the streets intoning the name, hailing this infant into the world. The one who'd outlived his predecessors, a survivor. Uncertain how to feel, Kahmunrah jiggled his newborn brother up and down as their parents looked on proudly. He felt he should be happy, too, but the only thing sinking into his brain was how different things were about to be for him.
How true this would prove to be.
