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

Chapter 28

Neiko sat in her room drawing pictures of Hawote battle plans, especially of possible maneuvers for both the Seven Tribes and the Crackedskulls as well as locations of Crackedskull reinforcements.

There was a knock on the door, and Neiko gritted her teeth. "Who is it? If it's you, Ramesses, go away!"

"It's me, Sito. May I come in?" Sito asked. "I only have a few minutes."

Neiko came, opened the door, and let him in. Then she shut and locked the door. "What's new?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just coming to see how you were doing. What are these maps?" asked Sito.

"Oh, I was going to bring these to dinner tonight to talk this over with you guys after Weenie Man and the ball-and-chain leave. Did you know it's the annual Seven Tribes' dance tonight? I was hoping we would join them—well—sort of. We have to make a fire. We can't have drums because we'll wake Ramesses, and then he'll cut it short. So we have to have the beat and music in our minds. Good enough?" asked Neiko wriggling in excitement. "We would have to chant quietly," she added and then grinned.

Sito smiled. "That's a great idea. I've missed that dance for eleven years, and now we can have our own small version of it. We will have to do it really late, though. Yet, we still have our Indian clothes, and we'll use your makeup as war paint. I'll see you tonight," Sito said giving her a brief hug and leaving in order to return to work.

* * *

Pharaoh had permitted the Indians to eat dinner together as a strategy. That night at the table—Neiko and Nefertari had begged him to let them come to dinner, and Ramesses had his own hidden agenda for allowing them to tag along. Neiko talked with her friends about the maps. Because of the festival back home, she couldn't wait. Yet, it was one more way to avoid engaging in conversation with Ramesses.

"Okay, I believe the Crackedskulls have something big going on here at Skull Mountain in the Etowah Territory on Scraah Land. So we need to send a few trackers or spies there to check it out. The main fortress, I believe, is here," she said pointing at the mark on the map.

"Raven set this fortress that is near my parents' house in the Central Territory to keep an eye on me when I lived there. Now, I've moved out, but they are still close by the way the crow flies. They may have to return to Skull Mountain because a Georgian is making a mobile home park close to it. This will help cut down on convenient attacks on me or anyone else that lives in the Central Territory—or—Raven may interfere with the construction with some kind of guerilla attack or equipment sabotage; he's done that before. We should spread our defenses because they may move troops at both fortresses at any time. We will have to worry about more outside/public attacks and larger numbers than ever before because Raven is ready for this war to finally end," Neiko said, pointing to the maps, indicating possible Crackedskull movements with her finger.

The Indians talked about the maps in front of Ramesses, but he didn't say anything; he only watched Neiko as she pointed to the places, talked, and illustrated. He said nothing to her most of the evening, but he watched her with cunning and a sly smile was on his face.

Nefertari noticed his odd behavior, and it worried her. He only had that expression when he was up to something. He was going to do something rash, perhaps resort to brutal force and craftiness. She knew he had been pushed to the limit of his patience by Neiko's defiance and her friends' intervention.

As soon dinner was over, Nefertari stopped Sito and Neiko both. "Did you both see that Ramesses was acting a bit odd this evening? He wasn't ranting about Neiko's behavior today, and he had a look on his face that unnerved me. I fear for you, Neiko, and possibly for your friends," She said as she turned to Sito.

"I didn't even notice. He isn't going to hurt Neiko, is he?" asked Sito with his eyebrows raised in worry.

Nefertari shook her head. "No, he loves her too much to harm her. He is going to do something brash, and it will be very soon. I know he is going to try to break her with force in a different way since browbeating isn't working. I just want to tell you to be careful, Neiko. He is tired of rejection; it is getting to a dangerous level now. I fear he may even threaten you to make you submit," Nefertari said, turning to Neiko.

"Thanks for telling me, Nefie. I hope to leave before then and head for home. Will you tell him the truth about us and how we must get home before the you-know-what?" asked Neiko referring to the secret dance.

Nefertari giggled. "Nefie? I like that. You may call me that—all five of you—but don't say it around Ramesses because he'll be jealous."

"Okay, I have some things to do, so I gotta go. See ya later?" Neiko said.

Neiko walked down the hall, humming while looking around, making sure Ramesses was nowhere in sight; he wasn't. Neiko was about to open the door. Ramesses came out of nowhere, grabbed her, spun her around. He held her tightly to him, pressed her against the wall, and held the back of her neck with one hand. He wasted no time and started kissing her. Overtaken with surprise, shock, and fear, she struggled to free herself. She squealed in fright because she had never been kissed before in her life. She was unable to move and her strength started to drain. Her head started spinning due to the intense passion that seemed to be seasoned a lot longer than a few months time—years or maybe even a decade. It also took her breath. He wouldn't let her come up for air. She almost couldn't stand up and started to teeter.

Finally, he stopped and released her. She panted in ragged breathing because of intense fear, exhaustion, and loss of breath. He walked away, smiling and without saying a word, but she got the message from his eyes that this wasn't finished—he'd be back.

Nefertari ran to her a moment later looking for him. "Have you seen Ramesses?" she asked, and Neiko pointed to where he had gone still panting with fear in her eyes. "Neiko, what's wrong?" she asked trying to steady her because she almost fell over.

Neiko told her what had happened. Nefertari escorted her into her room and tried to calm her; she talked to her about what Sito had told her.

* * *

Later that night, all five slipped out into the garden to perform the dance. They were painted and dressed in their Indian clothes. They had a pile of dead sticks ready for the fire they had gathered from pruning the garden weeks ago. Sito lit the fire, and they waited for it to grow. When it was burning steadily, they began the dance with the drumbeat in their head. They danced around the fire, chanting; their shadows were large and moving on the wall. More instruments of Hawote filled their heads, they saw images of their far home with other Indians dancing, and they felt they were back there in Hawote. Their chants intensified, and so did the images and sounds in their heads.

They were sent back to the reality of ancient Egypt by an angry shout. The Indians stopped in mid-dance.

"Oops!" gasped Mactalon as he saw Ramesses standing on the porch in his night robe with Nefertari by his side; his bald head glistening in the moonlight.

"I don't care, and I will not hear of it tonight! Go to your rooms right now! I will discuss this in the morning!" Ramesses snapped and stormed back to his room.

Nefertari stayed behind; she was interested in what they were doing.

"I felt I was back in Hawote with everyone else," Neiko said sullenly.

The others nodded.

"I know, but we're gonna get it tomorrow," Sito said.

"What are you doing here, Nefie?" asked Neiko.

"I came to see what is going on. You all live an interesting life. I want to be an Indian," Nefertari said, and everyone looked at each other.

Sito looked at her like he wanted to talk her out of it and shook his head. "It's late. We will talk more tomorrow. Let me take you to your room," he said, and then he took her to her bedchamber.