Escape from Ancient Egypt (Neiko Adventure Saga Book #2)

Chapter 5

Early the next morning, Neiko came outside to see what had happened to her friends. They were gone when she awoke, and she hadn't seen them all morning after the guards fetched her from the cell. She wasn't given any chores to do that day. Her situation was becoming weirder by the day in her opinion, and it didn't make any sense at all.

They were running around the garden and showed signs of great fatigue, but if they slowed their pace, they were whipped. When they came her way, they stopped and flopped on the ground, panting.

"What's going on?" asked Neiko.

Tito swallowed and panted. "They—are—exercising us to death—again."

"What? Why? I know those three are up to something," Neiko replied. She remained clueless about what Kenes had cooked up for her though.

"No idea, but this seems like some sort of training. But for what, the army? We have been at it all morning long before dawn. We never trained this hard in warrior training," complained Mactalon as he sucked oxygen into his burning lungs.

"I know! It's not good to strain people in training," said Neiko, shaking her head.

Het came up with three canteens of water and threw them on the ground with taskmasters behind him. "Drink up. Rest time will be brief," he said curtly.

The three men turned up the canteens and chugged the water as it cooled their parched throats.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Tito as he breathed heavily.

"You will find out soon enough, savage," Het snapped and walked away like a runway model strutting his stuff.

The three Indians shot him daggers. They hated being called savages.

"Okay, no one will tell us diddly," grumbled Mactalon as he chugged down his water.

About ten minutes later, the three were back at training.

Neiko dug in the sand with her toe. "What am I supposed to do? I can't talk to my friends, and Kenes doesn't want me to work, so what good am I?" she mused as she sat under a palm tree and watched her friends in their hard training. She probably didn't want to know what was in store for her.

Later that night, everyone went out into an arena-like structure. It was like a much smaller and Egyptian version of the Coliseum where pit fights were held. The three of them were given weapons. "You will practice your fighting skills with your weapons in a mock fight. In a real fight, it is to the death. Then we will go into the city for real action," said Kenes.

"We don't fight and kill people for sport! We only fight and kill against people who try to hurt and destroy our land and our enemies—the Crackedskulls!" protested Panthero. "If you're looking for bloodthirsty savages, then I think you need to catch some Crackedskulls instead!"

"The men you will be fighting are your enemies! What land is this anyway?" asked Kenes with a snarl.

"It's called Hawote. You'll only make those men our enemies; we won't do it. I'd rather work in a mudhole than kill people without a cause!" snapped Tito as he threw down his spear.

"Me neither!" followed Mactalon, and he threw down his shield and sword.

"Right behind you, guys," said Panthero as he pitched his daggers.

"Pick them up, and you will do as you are told," growled Kenes as he puffed out his chest and jabbed his finger at them "If you refuse to obey, I will have you scourged with ten lashes. You've been warned."

The three of them spat at his sandaled feet.

"You are a heartless dog!" Tito said with hatred.

Neiko looked around, confused. She felt like she was watching a foreign movie that forgot the English translation captions. Will someone please tell me what is going on?

"Enough, tie them to the fence and whip them!" Kenes said vehemently. "It is time to remind you who is in charge here. This is what happens when I must repeat myself!"

They were seized and tied in a row as Kenes continued his rant. Seconds later, Het went and started to strike Mactalon with all of his strength. Kenes' other men whipped the other two.

Neiko ran up and grabbed Het trying to stop him. "Stop it!" she yelled, but he pulled free from her grasp. Hotep pulled her away before she could do further harm since she was about to side-punch Het into the stomach or groin. Hotep tried to restrain her, but she wriggled and bucked to get away from him to help her friends.

Kenes tried to stop her from interfering when she almost broken free from Hotep's hold. Kenes laughed at her as he held her wrists. "Look at this wild spirit, would you? I've never seen a woman this lively in all my days!" he chuckled with a strange look in his eyes that made Neiko's blood run cold like she was looking into the eyes of a stalker.

"Let her go, Egyptian dog breath!" Mactalon yelled indignantly between gritted teeth and grimacing at the pain as his eyes flashed in rage. He instantly guessed what was waiting around the bend for Neiko, and it turned his stomach and kindled his rage.

"Give them ten more lashes for insulting me!" Kenes shouted authoritatively as he continued to restrain Neiko.

The tormentors laughed as they struck the three because they couldn't bear much more and started groaning. When the assault had finished, they spat on the afflicted Indians and kicked them because they couldn't stand up due to the intense pain.

"Now get up and do your training. The next time you fail to comply with my orders will end in thirty lashes!" Kenes snapped cruelly after releasing Neiko to take center stage.

The wounded three tried to stand up, but they couldn't. However, the Egyptians kicked them mercilessly until they stood up. Neiko still tried to rush to her injured friends, but two of Kenes' men held her fast. She had even thought about attacking Kenes while his back was turned. While everyone watched, the three picked up their weapons and practiced in pain to sharpen their rusty warrior skills that night.