Jewel Of The Nile [COMPLETE]

Chapter Fourteen

"Hmmm...I think it says...The statue of Apollo is almost complete. Is that right? What is an 'Apollo?' " I asked. It was my first uninterrupted lesson in weeks, and I had finally began to start translating Greek to Egyptian. It was hard, though, because they had many customs and beliefs that were different to ours, and often I thought I had translated something incorrectly.
"No, that is correct," assured Ahmose. "Apollo is the Greek God of the sun. This is a simple excerpt of a letter from from the builders to their King. Well done, you are learning quickly."
I smiled, and went on to the piece of Greek I was to translate. "This is hard; it is much longer. Um...The temple of the....Oracle...requests your...impending presence. I do not know this word."
Ahmose leant over to see it. "Additionally."
"Additionally, your fans are too low. What? That makes no sense?"
"Funds. His funds are too low. Nevertheless, you did well. Perhaps now you can write them in hieroglyphics? Or should I give you a letter in Egyptian and ask you to translate it into Greek?"
"Um, perhaps I should write in Egyptian, not translate an Egyptian letter," I laughed. "That is even harder than my assignment."
"Speaking of which," added Ahmose. "Ay has given me a copy of his letter to the Greek King. Remember, it is written in Greek. You need to translate it into Egyptian."
He handed me the sheet of papyrus. I quickly scanned my eyes over it. There were so many unfamiliar symbols on it! I stared at Ahmose.
"I do not even know half of these symbols!" I cried. Ahmose laughed at me.
"You will learn them. In your spare time, get started on the translations that you do know. Now, write them out in hieroglyphics. I will check on your siblings in the next room. Hopefully Menna isn't bullying them too much."
I grinned. "Hopefully he is not," I agreed. Ahmose exited the room, leaving me to complete my task in silence. For almost a month, I had been getting private lessons, without my brother and sisters, and it was wonderful. Although I missed seeing my younger siblings in my lessons, it was nice to have private lessons, for Ahmose would often have to teach them something that I would already know, and I would have less time to do me work and I would get distracted easily. Now, I could focusing on accomplishing my tasks at and get them done at a much quicker rate.
I got to work on trying to translate some Greek passages into hieroglyphics. However, I was no artisan, so my images were not looking very aesthetically pleasing. Nonetheless, I continued, hoping my hieroglyphics were still readable.
The door swung open and Menna walked in. Why him? Where was Ahmose?
"Ahmose said I was being too harsh on your siblings, so he sent me here while he looked after them," Menna sniffed, answering my questions. He leant over my shoulder to see my work, and gasped.
"Oh my goodness! Look at those hieroglyphics! Ghastly! They are so sloppy! You can hardly read them! Re-write them better this instant! Those are a disgrace!"
I clenched my jaw, trying not to lose my temper. Honestly, sometimes I would just fly off at the simplest of things, like this. But I really was doing my best - as I said before, I was no artist. But then again, Menna was the Royal Scribe, so he would want my hieroglyphics to be perfect.
I sighed, got a new piece of papyrus and started again.
"No! Wrong! The bird's head faces left, not right! Too messy! Do it again!"
I was running out of papyrus. Even in the palace, papyrus was not something to be wasted, as it was hard to make, and would be needed by the artists and scribes at any random time. Smenkhkre was mad at me already - if he found out I was wasting papyrus...
"You are on your last piece of papyrus," Menna stated. "Do not muck this up. Otherwise I will be forced to report to Ahmose, and your mother, that you are unwilling to complete your task!"
"Unwilling?" I laughed, and gestured towards all the used but wasted papyrus. "How is this unwilling? I cannot help that I am no artist. I cannot make my hieroglyphics perfect, like you expect me to. If I was unwilling to comply, I would not have started, and you would not have made me waste all that papyrus."
"I did not make you waste it. You did that yourself by failing to meet the requirements. You..." He faltered as Ahmose rushed through the doorway.
"Menna. I must speak to you. Quickly, come. Ankhesenpaaten," he said with a tight smile. "Continue your work. You are doing well with your translations."
Menna exited without a word. I continued my work for a bit, but was ever so curious as to what was going on. I contemplated on whether or not to listen in, and I soon settled for me to eavesdrop.
Yes, I should have learnt my lesson when this happened with father. But if I were to be Queen one day, should I not know problems of my people? Yes, that sounded almost believable.
The two tutors had shut the door, so I pressed myself against the hard, cold, timber and tried to listen as best I could.
To my surprise, Ahmose and Menna were speaking in Greek. Thankfully, throughout my studies I had picked up on how to speak it, but I was not extremely fluent, so I could not understand everything they said.
(A/N: In the exchange between Menna and Ahmose, there may be some words that won't make sense to us, but it is what Ankhesenpaaten thinks she heard since this is from her point of view.)
"There are rebellions outside the pantry," Ahmose said in a rushed voice. "They are thoughtfully to storm the pantry."
"What?" Menna exclaimed. "I must go! Where is the Pharaoh? It is my job to scribe when these events happy."
"No. Not so face. Ankhesenpaaten and the others willow know if you leave incredibly."
"Well, I must go."
"I know. Just wait. We will not do anything yet. No, what we must do is pretend naught is when. If the children know something is when, they will play. We do not want that. Leave it to me. Now, we must chair Ankhesenpaaten."
(A/N Translation:
"There are rebellions outside the palace. They are threatening to storm the palace."
"What? I must go! Where is the Pharaoh? It is my job to scribe when these events happen."
"No. Not so fast. Ankhesenpaaten and the others will know if you leave immediately."
"Well, I must go."
"I know. Just wait. We will not do anything yet. No, what we must do is pretend naught is wrong. If the children know something is wrong, they will panic. We do not want that. Leave it to me. Now, we must check Ankhesenpaaten.")
I flew back to my seat and resumed my translations. Ahmose and Menna walked back into the room again, just as I was picking up my quill. Ahmose gave me a grim smile.
"Princess, Menna has to leave as the Pharaoh needs him. I do not want to leave your younger siblings by themselves, so I am joining the two classes once more. Menna has to leave now," he said, nodding at the scribe. "And I have to get the Prince and Princesses. Please remain here while you are alone."
I nodded enthusiastically. "Of course. Why would I leave?"
Ahmose looked at me knowingly and left with Menna. As soon as the exited, my mind began thinking again. Rebellions at the pantry? That was obviously the product of my poor language skills. Words close to pantry...pantry...palace? And that would make sense, too. Ahmose was talking about the Pharaoh and my siblings and I. About not having us know...there were rebellions at the palace?!
I ran over to the nearest window in the room. It was positioned up high, so I dragged a chair over and stood on it. Leaning out so far until I almost fell, I tried to see or hear any signs of a rebellion. I found nothing. Slightly disappointed, I hopped of my chair - just in time, for as I was putting it back, Ahmose re-entered for the third time, with Tutankhaten, Neferneferuaten Tarsherit, Neferneferure and Ahset in tow, and although I did not know why Ahset was here, I suspected it had something to do with the rebellion - if there even was one.
My siblings sat down in various seats and continued the work they had bought with them without a word. Ahmose must have spoken to them before. I tried to act as innocently as I could, so that Ahmose and Ahset would not suspect I knew.
A loud bang from somewhere in the palace made our heads all snap up in unison. Ahmose ran out to see what happened, and then ran back.
"Quick. Get them out of here!" He panted to Ahset. "Hurry!"
We followed Ahmose and Ahset to a sector of the palace I had never been in before. The walls were different, the tiles were different - clearly unused by the Royal Family. In fact, I did not even know this existed.
"What is going on?" Neferneferure whispered to me.
I gestured, I do not know.
We were almost running to catch up with Ahmose and Ahset now. Ahmose kept glancing fearfully behind us, as though we were being followed.
He led us down a series of steps and into a big hall.
"Tutankhaten...Ankhesenpaaten...Neferneferuaten Tarsherit....Neferneferure...good - that's everyone," counted Ahset, sighing in relief.
Ahmose nodded. "Good. The leader of the rebellion got into the palace. We had to get them away - who knows what the city folk are capable of."
"Rebellion?" piped up Tutankhaten. "What rebellion?"
"Um...nothing, my Prince," Ahmose lied. Tutankhaten stood up straight.
"Ahmose, you know I can just command you to tell us what is going on."
Ahmose paled.
"Oh, just a little mishap with the people," Ahset brushed off quickly, attempting to rescue Ahmose. "Nothing to be too scared about, although it is always best to take precautions."
"Ahset, I am disappointed you thought I would believe that." Sometimes, my brother's words and actions defied his young age. Sometimes, he seemed almost older than me.
"It is nothing for you to be concerned about," Ahset assured him. But we were all sceptical.
Another loud bang, this one even closer.
"Stay here! Don't move!" Ahmose barked, and then just disappeared.

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Hey Guys! Sorry this chapter took so long to write, and that is so much shorter than the usual. I wanted to write a chapter when nothing exciting happened - as though it was a normal day, but I soon realised that would be boring. So I had to quickly add something else to keep the story interesting!

What do you think about Ankhesenpaaten's reaction to Menna and the work he keeps setting her? Do you think she is write in her judgement about him, or is she overreacting?

Leave your answers in the comments!

Honestly, the only excuse I have for taking five days to write a tiny chapter is that I have been flat-out with school, after-school commitments and, above all, HOMEWORK - in specific, maths. Year Ten is a pretty big leap from Year Nine, but oh well. I just won't be able to publish a chapter as often, which I'm sorry about, but I will do one whenever I can.

Until next chapter!!!!!