"Of Princes And Slaves"
Part 15
by Osiris Brackhaus & Beryll

 

- Ardeth Bey (Oded Fehr) -

"... so he must be removed. You know that I am right..."

I was only listening to Nekhem's words with half of my attention. The rest was firmly fixed on the shadowy twilight in the hallway that I was guarding.

The palace guards who had held this post only a couple of minutes before were now lifeless, dragged into the rooms behind me and discarded like broken toys.

I had noticed my princeling wince, when he had stepped over one over their bodies, though he had tried to hide it, tried to appear brave and aloof. He did not fool me. The killing of men loyal to his realm, believing in their duty to their ruler hurt his heart, even though he knew it must be done to accomplish what he considered a greater good.

When we had gotten close to the palace he had asked me only to kill when it was necessary and I had readily agreed. It would have been foolish to risk detection by removing guards and making noise. I had also wondered if I would feel remorse at killing city-dwellers as they were kin to my lover.

I had felt nothing like that, pulling my bloodied sword from the limp body of the last of the three who had guarded this door. Only fierce satisfaction and the not very honorable wish to even spit in their faces. These were the godless creatures who had killed countless of my people. These were the enemies who had captured me and nearly destroyed me.

For a split-second I had looked at Nekhem and only seen the prince who had come so close to breaking me. For that moment memory had almost overruled love and my hand had clenched around my sword so hard it had hurt, old hatred rising and threatening to devour me.

But the words inscribed on his cheek had burned into my heart just as quickly, reminding me of who I was and who he was.

It had been a warning I would take to heart. The darkness of the city had taken root in my soul and I would have to be on guard to never ever let it gain control of me. Or I might destroy the one thing that was now the light of my life.

Again my eyes scanned the murky depth of the corridor, searching for possible threats that might sneak up on us in the shadows provided by the flickering light of fire bowls. But all was quiet. The fight in front of the 'quarters' that had been assigned to the arrested High Priest of Osiris had gone unnoticed. For now.

It was a dangerous game that Nekhem had set his mind on. He risked everything in one single throw of the bones. Either he would take it all or he would lose both our lives. To steal into the palace, free the High Priest, free Senem-Nef as well and then find his brother and kill him - that was much to accomplish in one night that had been half over already when we left the temple of Isis.

But the lady there had assured him that the gods looked favorable on his endeavor and I had seen clearly in his eyes that he might very well lose his nerve if he didn't finish this as soon as possible so I had not argued.

There was a chance after all - how ever slim it might be - that we could do it. We had achieved our first goal at least. Or partially so as Nekhem was still trying to convince the reluctant High Priest of his plan.

I listened to their bickering a while more, feeling the urgent wish rise in me to treat that priest the same as I had treated the guards - with my sword. This was not a place I wanted to linger. The palace above me seemed to press down on my head and shoulder, suffocating me in it's stony silence. It was beyond me how anybody could live in this place, let alone call it beautiful.

Finally there was silence in the rooms behind me and for a moment I wondered if my princeling had lost his patience as well and slit the old fool's throat like someone should have done a long time ago.

I was disappointed as the High Priest stepped outside, his head raised high in arrogance, staring at me with all the contempt of a master eyeing a slave. I stared back with just as much venom and hatred and was satisfied when the old man recoiled slightly, his eyes searching for help from Nekhem who had followed him. He found none.

"Go." my princeling whispered. "Find help with your temple. And speak with the priests of Horus."

The High Priest managed a haughty nod and then stalked off into the shadows.

"Do you think he will safely make it to his temple on his own?" I asked Nekhem quietly.

My beloved shrugged and I was pleasantly surprised to find my own dislike for the priest mirrored in his face. "If he doesn't, it's the will of the gods. Who are we to interfere." he said and I had to smile at the lack of patience I heard in his voice.

Gently I took his hand and pressed his fingers to my lips for just a moment.

"We will find out soon enough, what your gods have in store for us." I said, fear of our future draining from me rapidly, as I realized that even death would not be able to part us now. To walk through the wild of my ancestor's plains with him, that would be glorious indeed. And if we died this night it would be a most honorable death and the ties I had forged between our souls would keep him by my side forever. There was nothing to fear.

He seemed to pick up on my change of mood, as he smiled at me tentatively. "I hope for them it will be a good thing." he whispered.

--

It was only half an hour later and again the blackness of anger was about to overwhelm me...

"...my prince, you must not endanger yourself so!" Senem-Nef was just saying to Nekhem and I was beginning to wonder if it had been such a good idea after all to save him from the crocodiles. Maybe he would have been better off in their bellies. Would have saved him a lot of worries.

"Senem-Nef, I am not a boy anymore. And of all people, I do not think I will have to lecture you on duty." Nekhem answered evenly and the former head of his guard was momentarily silenced by the obvious changes in his ward.

I felt pride in my heart seeing my princeling like that, standing proud, his head held high, his hand gripping the sword he carried at his side. He might never make a good fighter but he certainly was able to hold himself like a warrior.

I watched as realization that this was not the boy he had been protecting from all danger for such a long time but a young man, growing into his responsibilities quickly dawned on Senem-Nef's face and fear for his 'princeling' and pride in the strength showing in his master were clearly fighting in his heart.

Our eyes met and these emotions quickly departed from his face as he stared at me with anger.

"I told you that barbarian was not to be trusted." he admonished Nekhem, seeing that I was armed and clearly the one who had killed the guards outside his prison.

My princeling smiled happily at that. "You were right." he agreed. "He has stolen everything I own. Including my heart. And I have no intent to ask it back."

Senem-Nef growled deep in his throat and not for the first time I felt doubt that I would be able to take on the giant Nubian in an earnest fight. He would probably tear me limb from limb. I gripped my sword harder, waiting for him to make up his mind.

Finally his gaze shifted back to Nekhem and he bowed. "Whatever you deem necessary, my prince, I shall carry out." he said and I relaxed slightly. For now there would be no war between us. But should we survive this night there would be a reckoning, that I was sure of.

"Thank you." Nekhem answered, genuinely grateful.

He had time to open his mouth to say something more, but was interrupted by a shout of alarm. Looking up I saw two guards round the corner of the corridor we were standing in, these much more alive than the ones lying at my feet. From the corner of my idea I noticed Nekhem draw his own sword and Senem-Nef pick up the curved weapon of one of the fallen guards. There would be plenty of them soon, now that we had been noticed. I just hoped that Nekhem's brother would join the fray sooner or later as it would now be virtually impossible to find him should he choose to flee.

---

- Prince Nekhem (Orli) -

We had been noticed.
So the Gods had decided it would be today I had to face my brother, one of us being destined not to see the sun rise ever again.

With a heavy heart, I gripped my sword's hilt tight, ready to oppose the guards that had raised the alarm, as Senem-Nef already rushed forward, followed only moments later by the dark, looming frame of my lover. This was all happening too fast, too suddenly for me to think, and I felt utterly at a loss. If one of them were killed or even seriously hurt in this preliminary skirmish, I would be lost. Not only would I never be able to face my black-hearted brother, but also I would never be able to live with the fact that one of them died to protect me.

Never before had I notice how many people there actually had been surrounding me in the first years of my life that would have died gladly to protect me, dear faithful Senem-Nef among the first of them. Suddenly now, when I had something I could lose I really learned how truly gifted I had been.

So with a yell from the deepest core of my heart, I raised my sword as well, stepping up to where the two were fighting, though there was little enough of the fight left when I came up. Ardeth had already finished 'his' guard, Senem-Nef was wrestling the other one against the wall.
I arrived just in time to see my lover slit the second guard's throat with his dagger.

Of course, Senem-Nef stared at him with burning eyes, incredulous at the apparent honourless way my desert warrior was meddling with his fight.

"We have to hurry," Ardeth said gloomily as he sheathed the dagger again, not necessarily in my captain's direction, but openly enough. "Things like this will have to wait for later. Our duty is with Nekhem tonight, not with our style of killing."

Without waiting for any kind of reply from Senem-Nef, Ardeth strode off into the poorly lit corridor ahead of us. My captain gave me a glaring look, but nothing more than that either. He knew too well that we had to hurry.

So we both took off into a light run, trying to get so far out of the palace's lesser known regions as possible. I tried not to look at the dead bodies piling on the floor. Those men had just been doing their duty, had fought bravely, and were killed in a fight they never had had anything to do with in the first place.
Silently, I prayed to Osiris to welcome the souls of these brave warriors with all honors, for they had fought honorably. And died miserably none the less.

Catching up with my lover, the three of us now rushed through the dark maze of hallways truly like nightly ghosts. Due to the proximity of Father Nile, the palace had close to no basement, but apparently the massive build of the place had allowed for more than enough low, badly lit corridors.

No other guards massing up to block our escape so far. I found myself kindling a vain hope we might still get out of here unscathed, able to return and fulfill my grisly business another night, any night but now.
But still I knew I had no choice. I had to try now or I might never again find the strength to return.

I was not until we reached the great hallway in front of the main inner garden that my last hopes to escape were finally shattered. Standing in front of us, blocking both the exit to the outer palace and the main hall, at least four dozen guards were assembled, their swords raised, ready to attack at their commander's call.
And naturally, that commander would be my brother, as heir apparent and chosen of Horus in charge of the military since his coming-of age. So it would happen now.

All the gods I ever prayed to, do you hear me? Don't desert me in my hour of greatest need, when I am doing nothing but what honor demands.

For a moment, there was nothing heard in the pristine place but our heavy breath and the occasional rustle of a shuffling feet or the soft clank of a leather armor hitting another.
Through the line of huge columns on my left that separated the hallway from the garden, some patches of the night sky could be seen, Nut's dark indigo belly already fading as Horus got ready to cross the sky once again.

I could feel the desperate resolve in both Ardeth and Senem- Nef, and I looked at each of them, slowly shaking my head.
Then suddenly, a wave of noise and movement broke the formerly silent lines of warriors ahead of us, opening to reveal my brother, striding to the front line of his force, radiating confidence and strength.

Hept-Seshet was wearing nothing but a shimmering white skirt and a wide collar, his naturally black hair straight and cut like those silly wigs my people sported all the time. Wide golden bands gleamed at his upper arms and ankles, his lithely muscled, agile body gleaming with a soft sheen of precious oil. He looked so much like a paragon of a Prince of the Realm that I found myself seriously questioning my reason to come here.

Was I really so convinced of my own perfection that I assumed I could go and judge him? I couldn't seriously ever have believed that I could beat him, could I? Had there been any way to run, I would have put as many leagues between me and this perfect prince as I could have.
But there wasn't.

"So you have returned," Hept-Seshet said clearly, sounding perfectly at ease. "I always thought you were the smarter one of us, brother."

His voice, deep and resonant, speaking like a great leader, made me want to wince.

"I would have let you live your miserable life in the desert among the slaves as you deserved. But you had to come here." Shouldering his sword with leisurely ease, he walked up to halfway the distance between his soldiers and our little group. "Now you will die."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ardeth tensing up, getting ready for an attack, and it was only in the last moment I could grab his wrist to stop him.

"NO.", I said, my word ringing far louder in the hallway than I had wished for.

"What," he whispered heatedly, his eyes blazing. "His people will never reach me before I reach him. We have a chance."

"Please, Lover, NO." All the gods, how was I to explain? "These people consider him a son of gods, and a mere mortal would commit the greatest crime in attacking him. Should you kill him, your life would be forfeit, and even I couldn't save you anymore."

Vaguely angered disbelief spread on Ardeth face, and he hissed "You knew this all the time..." As I didn't' deny, he added grimly: "And I don't mind risking my life."

"You may risk your life as you wish, my love, but your soul is a risk I must never take, at any cost." Kissing him softly, I sealed his mouth before he could word any reply, and started to walk towards my brother.

I only heard Senem-Nef's voice behind me, softly saying: "When the gods fight, we mortals don't meddle."

And my impossible lover only snorted derisively, muttering something luckily no-one else but me understood for the almost heretically indecent curse it was.

"So you're bedding that slave, huh?", my brother snared at me when I turned my eyes to meet his. "Always knew you weren't man enough to take a woman."

"This is not about being a man, brother," I replied evenly, surprising myself with the resonance my own voice produced.

"Then what is this about? Petty vengeance? You're holding your sword like a girl, you don't even stand the dream of a chance against me."

"Neither is this about fighting." Cold was spreading in my mind, growing with each step I put between me and my love. "This is all about honor, and that duel, you've lost against me long ago."

Hept-Seshet snarled at the insult, raising his sword, getting ready.

"Already afraid to die?", he spat at me with a grin.

"Yes," I answered softly, adding in a loud, proclaiming voice: "I am Nekhem, second Prince of the realm, Son of Isis and Osiris, soulbound lover to Ardeth Bey."

I could see an insecure flinch in my brothers face as I spoke, and even though I didn't know why I added that last bit, it felt so right I couldn't suppress a smile despite the situation.

"And I name you traitor, Hept-Seshet, traitor to the realm and to the royal family. You're the black snake at the heart of the realm, and you will not life to ruin Egypt any more!"

Snickering meanly, he began to move sideways, both of us starting to circle each other, waiting for a chance to attack.

"Really?", Hept-Seshet said, still grinning, adding "You and which army? These two pathetic figures?"

"No, me and the gods."

For the fist time, his apparently unbreakable grin faltered, and before I could think of anything more to say, he lurched himself at me, trying to bring me down with a massive strike from above.

To my own surprise, I managed to dodged below his blow, coming to stand almost behind him, even being able to nick the skin of his leg above his ankle-guard in the move.

Immediately, he spun around, looking at me with increased interest. "So my little brother has learned that his hands have more uses than only to hold scrolls to read...."

We circled each other again for a moment, then Hept-Seshet attacked again, I parried his blow, he tried to feint, I blocked, he thrust from below, I parried, he couterparried, I dodged. the sound of swords hitting swords rang painfully loud in the early-morning silence, and I wished so dearly I wouldn't have to spill my family's blood on the floor of my home.
No, I suddenly realized.
My former home.

"Was it your lover who taught you that?", Hept-Seshet tried to taunt me, but I only smiled.
"What do you think I am supposed to do with him once I disposed of you for good? Just the crocodiles?"

Still, I kept my mind focused, trying to find a weak spot in his defense I might be able to break through. But I was not optimistic, for so far, I had only survived by luck.

"Or maybe I will have him skinned, strung up in the yard and salted. He'll make a nice reminder for all those who think of living above their status."

I mustn't lose this fight. Even If I wouldn't overly mind dying now, there were people who would suffer incredibly.

"No, I've got a better idea," Hept-Seshet added nefariously, launching an attack just to keep moving and test my own defense. "I think I will keep him. If he's good enough in bed to turn that dried-up husk of a scholar you were into such a lively young girl, he'll sure be great sport for me. Do you think he will scream nicely when I take him?"

This time, I lurched at him, the thought of my brother forcing Ardeth to submit to him in this way unbearable. I slashed wildly at him, but Hept-Seshet parried my blows easily.

"Does he like it a bit painful?"

I thrust my sword at his side, but that unfortunately had been exactly the move my cursed brother had been waiting for. White hot pain blossomed at my left arm when his blade bit deep into the flesh, and I couldn't do but yelp in pain and withdraw a few steps.

"You even scream like a girl," my brother snared, launching another ferocious attack. I tried to fight him off, but slowly, I realized that my body still was not used to fight for such a prolonged time, especially not after a whole night without sleep. Also, the polished marble we were fighting on was so very different from the loose sand I had been learning on, and I found it increasingly harder not to slip.

By now, my brother and I were constantly exchanging blows, and I could clearly see he was just tiring me out. He knew that with whatever training, I could not possible match the stamina he had built up all his life.

Somewhere on the border of my field of vision, I noticed a commotion among the soldiers, and when next time I turned that I could risk a glimpse, I looked to see what was happening there. And what I saw almost made my breath stop.

The High-priest of Osiris had returned, bringing with him not only his respective colleague of the Temple of Horus and Lady Meret, but also the Pharaoh and Queen Dedyet. My parents.
Mother was staring at us in shock, her hands covering her mouth as if stifling a scream, Lady Meret gently holding her arm.

All the Gods, why my MOTHER?! Wasn't it enough I had to kill her firstborn? Did she really have to WATCH?

I was so shocked at the sudden appearance of my parents that my guard must have slipped for but a second, but that was all Hept-Seshet had been waiting for. Faster than I had thought possible, his left hand and his feet moved simultaneously, sending me flying to the ground with such impact I lost my vision for a heartbeat or two.

Dizzy, I noticed the numb pain and the wet feeling in my hair - and my grinning brother, his sword raise high above his head, standing above me. Right that very moment, the first rays of the sun crept over the palace's roof, bursting though the garden and into the hallway with golden radiance.

"What a nice gesture of my god to come watch my greatest triumph, don't you think?", Hept-Seshet said smilingly, bringing down his sword with a vengeance.
To my own surprise, and probably mostly on instinct, I managed to get a secure grip on my sword again, and raised the blade to block his killing blow. Catching the sunlight in a scintillating blaze, both weapons impacted, and by whatever fate or spell, my godless brother's sword shattered from tip to hilt, pieces of metal skittering across the polished floor.

Stunned out of his wits, Hept-Seshet stared at the bladeless hilt in his hand, and before I could think better of it, I brought up my sword, rammed it right into his unprotected belly, thrusting up ever higher, gutting him, impaling him, screaming with all the rage I had in my heart.

For a second, he just stared at me, as if even his body didn't accept the fact that he had just been run through with a sword. Then he dropped on his knees, still staring at me, futilely moving his broken sword in my general direction.

I pulled my sword out of him, and hadn't I been so exhausted, I would have thrown up at the sound of this and the gushing blood that poured from the gaping wound.

"I should have throttled you when you were still a toddler," Hept-Seshet hissed, a trickle of blood running from his lips.

Anger welled up in me again, hot anger on this godless, honourless city-dwelling demon-worshipper, and I rose to my feet, both my sword and my chest dripping with my brother's blood.

"Tell Sobekh I asked him to chew slowly when he swallows you, traitor!", I spat at him, an he gave me a bloody snarl in response. I seriously contemplated beheading him right there.

"Slave-lover chick..." Hept-Seshet whispered coarsely, coughing up blood.

"Well, seems Horus favors girls these days then," I gave back acidly, watching emotionlessly as his eyes lost focus and my brother's mutilated body slumped down lifelessly on the floor.

I couldn't bring myself to look up, though. My heart was empty, and the thought of facing my Mother's eyes after having killed her son was just too much to bear. If it hadn't been for the gentle touch of my lover's hand, I would have stood in the glaring sunlight above my brother's corpse until the end of time.

----

- Ardeth Bey (Oded Fehr) -

So he had done it. Against all odds and probabilities my beloved princeling had killed his brother. Maybe I should have been less surprised that the demons he worshipped had some true power here in the heart of their realm. Maybe I should even have grateful to them for saving my lover.

But the only thought prominent in my mind was a violent curse thrown in their face for putting him through such pain. How much easier it would have been had Nekhem simply allowed me to do this for him, his brother wouldn't have lasted long. Arrogant bastard he had been.

As I slowly pulled Nekhem against me to hide his stricken face from his family, the guards and the priests, I also felt faint pride in his strength and glared at them with all my hatred for there dark ways, daring them to hurt my love. None of them moved, staring at the mutilated body of the first born prince in horror and disbelief.

Finally it was the only of the priests I did not know who spoke: "Clearly Horus has chosen a new champion." he declared, his voice ringing in the eerie quiet of the hallway. "Hail Nekhem, prince of the sun, heir apparent to the throne of the realm."

There was no cheer as he seemed to have expected and he glared at the guards who still stood like statues waiting for an reaction. It was that priestess of Isis who instead took him by the arm and whispered in his ear and that seemed to bring life back into the whole crowd, as the woman who must have been Nekhem's mother rushed forward, completely ignoring her fallen son to yank the living one from my arms and pull him into her own, sobbing with obvious relief.

I let her. In fact I stepped further back when the pharaoh appeared next to his son as well, his face unmoved but his eyes full of relief as well. I let them separate me more and more from Nekhem, as they surrounded them with their care, their questions, their love.

It hurt like I was cutting my heart out in tiny bits but it was what was necessary. He needed his family now to refill the hole he had torn where he brother had been in his heart. I watched from the shadows still untouched by the rising sun as they asked their questions, as he greeted them one by one, as he talked and swallowed unshed tears, wondering if he would cry them in my arms at some point.

Wondering how he would ever leave this place behind.

It seemed so right to see him like that. A prince again, yet changed as he had grown in strength so much since he left this palace behind.

The darkness in my heart told me to run, to flee the suffocating confines of this evil place, while he still loved me, while he still remembered what he had sworn in the dark of our tent. That we would come back with me. That he would be mine forever once honor had been served. For he would become that prince I had hated too soon. And I would find myself again a slave.

Yet my heart denied all this and looking at the dark lines on his cheek I knew that even should he force me to my knees, I would still stay. I had pledged my soul to him and I would never break that oath, even should it break me.

Over the crowds I caught the eye of Senem-Nef, watching me. He had directed the guards to return to their posts in his efficient ways, getting things back under control with an iron fist. But now he looked at me and surprisingly it was pity I saw in his eyes. He nodded to me slowly, a gesture of respect among warriors and I wondered how I had won his approval so suddenly.

Then my attention was drawn back to Nekhem, as the pharaoh started to lead him away and my princeling stopped in his tracks, his eyes searching, then finding me. The ghost of a smile appeared on his lips then and all I could find in his eyes was his love for me and a wariness of all the people surrounding him. He pulled away from his father then almost unconsciously and foolish hope returned to my heart that he might keep his promise yet.

----

Nekhem (Orli)

Suddenly, all my family was around me, hugging me, asking me where I had been, showering me with their care and affection. No-one seemed to care that I had just killed my brother, his corpse lying no more than a few paces away on the same white marble we were all standing on, his sticky blood clinging to my hands, my chest, my face probably as well.

Lady Meret bowed to me, as did the rest of the palace staff and most of my father's advisors, and even the High Priest of Horus who until then had never noticed me in years gave me a companionable hug and a manly punch in the side. I could have slapped him.

Didn't anyone of them care? Mother's eyes were filled with tears, and yet they seemed to be genuine tears of joy, father's wrinkled face was unusually emotional, though still unreadable for me.

I still couldn't believe all this. I had killed Hept-seshet, run him through with my sword and all I heard was subdued cheers. Maybe they all had hated his guts.
Whatever.

I had done my duty, and now I was free to go and be gone for good. This place of politics and intrigue, this huge place of stone and gold was no longer my home.

"Someone go get the Firstborn's sigil!", I heard my father exclaim, and I shuddered as I realized he was talking of me, of someone getting the ring from the finger of the nameless person whose place I had now acquired.

"Father, please," I started, but he didn't even notice me speaking. "FATHER."

Abruptly, he fell silent, looking at me in vague bewilderment.

"There's something, ... I..." Where by Seth's darkness was Ardeth? Of all people, I needed him most, he was my rock, my shelter in this crowded desert. Where was he?

Finally I found him, hiding in the shadows of a column, trying to be as little noticed as possible.
Like a good slave.

But he was no longer, just as I was no longer a Prince of the Realm, whatever the Priests might proclaim.

I walked briskly through the hall towards him, and took his hand, smiling.

"Come with me," I whispered, noticing with a pang of pain how haunted he looked.

Pulling him after me, I returned to my father and the crowd surrounding him, holding his hand firmly even as he tried to withdraw.

"Pharaoh, may I present to you, Ardeth Bey, the man I have pledged my love and life to."

The exasperated murmur in the crowd was as satisfying to me as I had hope. What an outrage. Taking a male lover was a minor flaw easily overlooked, especially when one was as favored by the gods as I was.
But pledging to him, and a SLAVE on top, was just unthinkable.

"Father, I have come here to do what honor and duty demanded of me, and now the Realm can look up again for a brighter future."

Looking in my father's eyes, I felt he already knew what I was about to say.

"I have done what honor demanded, and now I will return home to my tent and tribe. I will never come back."

"You dare to talk about honor and duty and in the same breath reject your duty to the Realm?", the High-priest of Osiris snapped from the sidelines, and all I could bring myself to was to smile tiredly at him while he added: "There's no-one but you now to rule after your Father will have passed on into the next life!"

"Look, the Pharaoh will always be able to sire another heir. But none of us can make a new life for themselves. And mine, I will live where my heart is."

The old man almost pouted at me, but luckily for him kept his mouth shut.

"Father, Mother, you know I love you. But you can't force me to stay." Saying those words to my beloved parents almost broke my heart, but I knew there was no way I, we could possible ever be happy here.

For a heartbeat, silence once more filled the large hallway, then my father stepped forward to me, taking my head in both his hands, gently kissing my brow.

"If you have to go, then go, my son, go with all the blessings a Pharaoh and father can give. Remember we will always welcome you here, and if there is anything you need, you will but have to name it."

"Thank you, Father, but apart from my freedom, there is nothing I might want." Smiling at Ardeth who stared at me in open joy, I had another idea and so I added cheekily: "Though, great Pharaoh, as my father, there is a debt you still have to settle no-one probably has told you of..."

----

As we rode out of Theben's east gate, looking into the bright morning sun that now had fully risen into the sky, I looked back at the city and the favor I had asked my father for. Neatly lined up behind us, there was a dozen of the Realm's finest horses, all of them immaculately white, together with two chest-laden camels.

"Do you think this will be an appropriate dowry?", I asked my lover who was riding at my side.

Ardeth laughed heartily, showing his brilliant teeth, and my heart felt like bursting with joy for being allowed to spend the rest of my life peacefully with this man. He reigned his horse closer to mine, pulled me over and kissed me passionately. As my left shoulder pressed against his chest, I winced in pain from the wound I had carried from the duel with my brother. With a soft nudge, my gorgeous desert warrior let go of me then, turning towards our treasure, surveying the animals with an expert's eye.

"Well, they're still too small for decent horses, but they're young and healthy, so my father probably won't reject your father's offer right away."

We both looked at each other with a light-hearted snicker, for we knew we were returning home carrying a treasure worth a story told many times at the tribe's fire. At least, a treasure in his people's eyes.

"Hey, you've sustained your first wound in battle!", Ardeth started as if trying to stop me from brooding. "That's an important thing for a young warrior, and worth a great feast!"

"I'm not proud of it." The sight of my gutted brother would still haunt my dreams for long years to come.

"You'll never make a great warrior," Ardeth said after a pause with a weird kind of pride in his voice. "But maybe we'll make a great horse-thief of you yet." he finished, pointing towards the horses trailing behind us.

I just smiled at him, and he returned a wide grin.

"I love you, my little night spirit."

"And I love you, my great warrior."

"So we're riding home now?"

"Yes. Home."

----

Fin.

 

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Osiris Brackhaus & Beryll

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