The Golden Queen

Twenty Four

Twenty Four

WHEN I awakened the next day, my head ached as my eyes fluttered open to the warm light of the sun. I stirred slightly, burying my face into the comforts of my pillow. I reached across the bed for Ahmose, only to find empty space. I rose up groggily, and brushed my tangled hair out of my face. Outside, the sky was the color of a tangerine, and the trees along the shore didn't seem to be moving. Had we stopped sailing?

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, confused. Something shuffled behind me, and I turned to find Ahmose sitting on the sofa. He was already dressed, and was watching me.

"How early is it?" I wondered aloud, gazing out at the burnt sky.

"It is nearly twilight," he replied. It was the time of day, just as the sun was rising from the horizon, or setting. This confused me even more as I examined the horizon.

"It is morning, right?"

"Nay," he answered. "You slept through the day. The sun is beginning to set." I got up from the bed and peered out the window, glimpsing the pyramids in the distance. We had reached Giza while I slept. "I hope you are not angry with me for not waking you. You were resting so peacefully, and truthfully, I am thankful for the time it bought. I dread saying goodbye."

I glanced at him. He smiled, but his eyes conveyed only sadness. My body began to stiffen, realizing I was about to lose him. But it didn't have to be this way...

No, I thought sharply. I was from the future; I belonged in the twenty-first century with Clair. How selfish would I be to choose a man over her? I was already dressed, having slept in the clothing I had worn yesterday. In fact, I hadn't changed clothes since I left the palace. I needed to bathe; I wanted to shower.

As he watched me, I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to make myself somewhat presentable. He had now seen me at my worst. I hoped I didn't smell unpleasant.

"How do I look?" I laughed, knowing my appearance was less than flattering.

He approached me and looked down at me with his usual, thoughtful gaze, and sighed, "You look so beautiful."

He wasn't just saying it. In his eyes, I saw the sincerity of his words. Trailing to his lips, I remembered the passionate embrace we had shared last night while in bed together. I needed to go before I lost my courage.

"Take me into the city, please?" I asked.

Giza was much like Thebes; a metropolis composed almost entirely of mud brick homes and shops. Though Giza was much smaller than the ancient capital of Egypt, the port was busier as sailors came from the Nile delta, carrying merchants and travelers from the Mediterranean. Ahmose had donned on simpler attire so we wouldn't be pursued by townsfolk for Pharaoh's consult. His golden barque had drawn attention, and his simpler clothing wasn't exactly common.

But when we merged with the crowd in the port, he appeared more like one of the foreign merchants coming off the other ships. Ahmose slipped his arm around me, keeping me close to him so we wouldn't be separated. "Where should I take you?" he asked over the crowd.

Now that I was in Giza, I had no idea where to start searching for a way back to the future. It was nearly impossible to grasp my bearings with so many people around. Where would the museum stand three thousand years from now?

Off in the distance, the pyramids, three shining beacons beyond the city, stood secluded. It would be easier to concentrate away from all the people.

"Let's get to the pyramids," I replied, and we snaked through the crowd. Outside the city, it was a long walk across the landscape to where the pyramids stood, and the roar of the crowd became a quiet murmur as we came to them.

I thought the search for the proper location would be more difficult, but I suddenly felt the need to reach out and touch one of the large stones that comprised the structure of the central pyramid. It was mystical, and felt exactly as the force that had called to me that day in the museum. Was this my way home?

I glanced back at Ahmose, wondering if this would be the last time I would see him. His eyes were sullen as he watched me. His face dropped momentarily, and when he raised his eyes to meet mine, his expression became stoic. He knew it was time, and he was trying to let me go. "Goodbye, Kara."

"Goodbye," I replied, and turned away before he could see my tears.

As I placed my palm against the polished stone of the pyramid, the warmth of the structure began to flood my body. It was the same sensation that had overtaken me, the force that had drawn me into the past. This was my way home. Through the pyramid, I could sense the twenty-first century. And then a gentle breeze caressed me. I closed my eyes and let the warmth take me, the world around me spinning as I crossed between dimensions.

A hot gust swept the sand around me, creating a vortex that pulled me closer to the pyramid. I pressed my palms into the stone, waiting for the mystical force to pull me through. In my mind, I saw the dusty streets of Cairo that led to the museum where Clair surely dwelled. It was drawing me closer to her, so close, I could vividly smell her perfume. I was going home.

When it was over, I collapsed into the sand, my knees and palms sinking into the hot dirt. The world fell quiet, save for the gentle breeze that cooled my cheeks. I dusted my palms on my jeans because they burned. It was too quiet. Why couldn't I hear the bustling of business, the roar of traffic, the voice of Cairo? If Clair saw me now, would she call my name?

"Kara," a familiar voice murmured softly. I sensed his approach even before I turned from the pyramid. Ahmose waited anxiously close by, unsure if he should come to my aid when I had suddenly collapsed. I gazed around me, and the world appeared exactly as it had before I closed my eyes. Giza remained a mud brick metropolis bleached by the sun, and the Mediterranean sparkled bluer than I had ever seen. I could not believe my eyes. I shouldn't have been so surprised, but I sensed my old life as vividly as the hot sand that scorched my knees.

Though I felt the force that had brought me to ancient Egypt, I was still here.

"No!" I screamed at the sky, or maybe at God. I slammed my hands into the dirt.

Clair was gone. Everyone I had ever known, loved, or would ever come to love; they were all gone. The twenty-first century was lost forever. The rumbling in my gut became a quiver in my chest as tears sprung to my eyes.

"Why am I still here?" I demanded in vain. My own words were incoherent in my mind, but Ahmose must have understood, because his face became masked in a grim expression.

Maybe the reason I was here was greater than I could understand, something that could not be resolved by science. Then I began to cry.

Ahmose came to me, sunk to his knees before me and placed his palm against my back. He lifted my chin to look at him. "Kara," he replied miserably. It was hard to see his face through my tears, but I glimpsed pain in his eyes. "I love you."

His voice softened, confirming the agony I thought I saw in his face, and his grasp on me weakened with hesitance.

"Stay with me," he pleaded. "I love you. Please, stay with me." Was he the reason I hadn't crossed back through time? Had he somehow impeded the mystical force?

But not even I understood the meaning of these tears. I believed I wept because of sorrow. But now, as he held me and soothed me with the ancient melody of his voice, it was possible I wept out of relief. I was relieved to be here, to be in his arms, to hear him whisper my name. He told me he loved me. His words spun in my mind like a cyclone, and I could no longer concentrate on anything but the jittery thumping in my chest.

"I love you too," I professed, acknowledging the emotions that speared me whenever he touched me. I leaned in to press my lips to his. This kiss was gentle at first, and quickly grew with passion as I desperately pulled him against me. We were wrapped in each other's arms, and held one another until night fell over us.