Jewel Of The Nile [COMPLETE]

Chapter Fifteen

Ahmose did not even bother shutting the doorway to the hall as he dashed to the chaotic scene. I began to follow him but was pulled back harshly by Ahset.
"Do you want to get yourself killed?" She snapped. I grinned, as I realised what she had just admitted.
"So, you admit this rebellion is serious," I said, in triumph that I was right.
"What?...N....No," Ahset stammered, defeated. "You can get killed by doing anything."
"Yes, but one does not usually get themselves killed by walking down the passages in one's own home. Otherwise, mother would never let me leave my room," I pointed out, and began walking up the steps again. "If the rebellion is not serious," I continued, still stepping up and up. "Then I can walk around, and so can my brother and sisters. I am leaving this small, unpleasant room."
Ahset opened her mouth in protest, but no words came out. I ignored her, and began walking back the way we had came. I did not expect escaping to be that easy, but I needed to know what was going on. Why were the people protesting? Was Huy and Kahmose involved? Surely they would not - would they?
I had to find them. While I technically was still forbidden from going into the city, I figured that nobody would miss me, considering what was going on, and I would be back soon. The plague would well and truly have been eliminated by now. And all I would be doing was going to my friends' home to see if they were there. If not, I would return to the palace and my 'imprisonment' with my younger siblings. But I had to know. I had to find out if they were part of this.
The voices and bangs grew louder and more frequent as I reached the area of the palace that I was familiar with. Honestly, I was frightened, but I had to push my emotions out of the way. I needed to think straight with a clear head if I were to leave the palace without harm.
I turned a corner, and stopped abruptly. I had entered the Grand Chamber through a side door. In the centre, a squadron of guards and soldiers swelled in a tight circle - protecting, I realised, Meritaten and Smenkhkre. But although they were protecting the Queen and Pharaoh, they did not seem worried.
Standing in front of them, was a lone man, who was, judged by his clothes and appearance, a commoner. I recalled what Ahmose had said earlier: The leader of the rebellion is inside the palace. Was this that leader? How could such a small, unpowerful man cause such an uproar?
Except he was powerful. Now that he had created this rebellion, he had the control over all the people involved. They would listen to him, not the Pharaoh.
"Pharaoh Smenkhkre, I assure you that my people are under strict conditions not to harm any royals. That is not my mission here."
A deep, calm voiced rumbled from inside the circle. "They are not your people."
My sister, my brother, and the leader of the rebellion had failed to notice me. But Sete had. He was on the outside of the massive circle -and, judging by the size of it, there were more guards inside it.
"Ankhesenpaaten," he hissed quietly, drawing no attention to himself. "Get out of here! This man is unpredictable! Tis not safe for you!"
I saw no reason to protest, so I did as he asked. I quickly slipped out of the Grand Chamber and went around to the gardens.
You could faintly hear the shouting voices and the sounds of the guards at the entrance, but the garden was dead quiet. If the rebels wanted to attack, this would be the perfect place.
I had walked through the 'secret gate' many times by now, so I knew the way well. Turn right at the hedge next to the water fountain, a left about a hundred cubits further, another two lefts, four rights, push away some vines and there it was. Even though the palace was young compared to others in Egypt, it was already red and brown with rust and dust. It creaked softly has I unlocked the hatch and pushed the gate forward. Shutting it as slowly as humanly possible so it would not creak, I then turned around and dashed lightly to get to the city.
Ankhetaten was in uproar. People were crowding the streets - even though this was the poorest part of the city, and not many people would be here normally. But today, because of the rebellion, people piled into the smallest, dirtiest lanes in all of Egypt. Why - I could not imagine.
I tried to politely push through everyone, but since I had no muscle and was not raised to push people out of the way, I did not succeed and ended up having myself pushed and shoved in the most unwelcome of places. Thanks to this, I soon found myself a small, dark alleyway - suddenly cut off from all the hubbub of the larger streets.
Footsteps approached behind me - many footsteps - more than one person. My breathing quickened and I tried to walk away fast. I should have know not to go outside during a rebellion! What was I thinking? These people were dangerous, and now powerful too. If they were stupid enough to launch an attack on the palace they would be stupid enough to kill me, right here and now.
I let out a sharp cry as I banged my forehead into the sharp wall of a dead end. Tears sprang to my eyes from the pain as I felt small droplets of blood slipping down my face. What would everyone say when they saw me back at the palace? I never thought things through enough.
There was a cold, mean laugh from behind me. Reluctantly I turned around, to find myself face-to-face with a gang of older boys.
"You lost there, sweetheart?" grinned the one in the middle. I could tell from hearing his voice that he was the one who had laughed at me. "On your way home from meeting with the Pharaoh?"
"Looks like a rich snob to me," said another one, circling me.
"What shall we do to her?" sneered a third man, spitting at me.
"Now now, boys - look at her. So sweet, pretty, innocent. We shall let the lady decide. The usual options. We kill her right here and now or..." The one who had spoken first laughed again, with the others joining in. He stepped forward and stroked my face. "It would be a waste to kill something like you without having a little fun first."
I slapped his hand away, which, in retrospect, was an imbecilic move. His eyes flashed with anger, and he grabbed my arm roughly.  "Now listen here, you little -"
"I hope you are not making my dear friend the next of your victims."
I almost sobbed with relief. Kahmose stood in front of me, behind them, staring down my attackers. "It would not be a very gentlemanly thing to do, you know."
The man let go of my wrist and I ran right into Kahmose, sobbing into his shoulder. He hugged me back for a moment, but soon moved me aside. "You were already in trouble two days ago - would you like me to make another complaint against you three?"
My attackers glared at Kahmose, but did not reply. "Ankhesenpaaten - go. Go back to my home. I will be with you in a moment. Run!"
I did not want to leave him, so I shook my head, and watched on with tear-stained eyes.
The seemingly leader of the group stepped forward and sneered. "You couldn't beat us, Khamose. You know you couldn't. These are just idle threats and you know it."
"Leave now. There is nothing here for you anymore; nobody else you can abuse. Leave now or you will wish you did," threatened Kahmose. He turned to me again. "Ankhesenpaaten, go! Run!"
I could tell the tension in the air was thickening, and while I am ashamed to admit it, I fled. Behind me, I could hear shouts of, "Get her!" and Kahmose yelling, "No!", but I kept concentrating on finding my way out and to where Kahmose and Huy lived. For some reason, the rays of Aten did not reach here, so it made it hard to see.
As I made it out into the main streets and all the people - where the markets are - I again almost sobbed with relief. Those evil people would never find me in here. And I knew my way to Kahmose's and Huy's house from here as well.
I found the strength in me to push through all the people this time, wading closer and closer to my destination.
"Ankhesenpaaten!"
I turned around sharply at hearing my name, allowing myself to be pushed and shoved, but I could not see anyone I knew. If it were a stranger who had recognised me, they would have called me 'Princess Ankhesenpaaten.' So who called and where were they?
"Ankhesenpaaten!"
It sounded closer this time. I tried to walk towards the voice, but I did not manage to get very far. What if I were hearing things?
"Ankhesenpaaten!" Kahmose emerged from the people, took my hand and lead me out of the crowd. "Are you alright? What are you doing here? I thought you weren't allowed to come into the city."
I began to cry again, even though I wished I would not. Crying was a sign of weakness - and I had to be strong. I was the future Queen of Egypt! I could not be crying.
And yet I was. Kahmose pulled me into a tight hug and I just stood there, bawling my eyes out.
"They....were going.....to....to kill...me," I sobbed, gasping for air. "Why would someone do such a thing?"
"Because they're wicked. And evil. And they don't know who you are. But it's ok. You're safe now. Trust me, they won't be coming back."
I looked up at him. "Did you kill them?"
He did not answer my question; he just said: "They won't be coming back."
We stood in silence while I continued to cry softly into Kahmose's chest.
"Hey," he said softly, pulling me away. "Let's go down to the Nile and talk for a bit. Then you can explain why you came here."
"What about Huy?" I asked. "Is she coming to?"
Kahmose looked away. "Huy is...was...required elsewhere. She won't be back until dark."
I frowned, but decided to let it go.
Kahmose led me around the outskirts of the city, walking through the long, green grass towards the sheet of rich blue.
"So how come you're here?" shouted Kahmose from in front of me. "I thought you weren't allowed to see us."
"I had to," I yelled back. "I wanted to know about the rebellion."
Kahmose hesitated, but kept walking. "Oh, that? Just a minor little protest to get the Pharaoh to realise about the lack of bread and how it is so expensive. Don't worry. It'll be all over by tomorrow."
"It cannot be minor. It sent everyone into such a panic, and I could hear all the banging and yelling."
"Don't worry about it. It's a stupid protest. The pharaoh has already lowered the price of  bread. Yes, it is still very expensive, and yes, there is not much of it, but we can't abuse Pharaoh Smenkhkre's generosity. Otherwise he will forget about us all together."
We had reached the banks of the Nile. The wind caused ripples in its smooth waters. Crocodiles glided underneath the surface, only showing their pointy teeth, but we were not scared of them. Kahmose said crocodiles were often seen, and that they rarely attacked people. It was true, otherwise our civilisation would not have been built on the banks of it.
We found a group of rocks and sat down on them. The wind ripped my hair out of the nicely done hairstyle it had been in and sent it flying all over my face. A falcon flew above us in circles, spying his prey. Ducks and geese wandered through the reeds of the river. It truly was beautiful, peaceful place. I understood why Kahmose suggested we talk here. It seemed as though we were far, far away from the worries of the city, and yet barely a couple hundred cubits away were the tall houses and streets, filled to the brim with people.
And yet here we were, in the calm, taking in the beauty of the nature here. We truly were in the eye of the storm.

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Hey everyone!

So I'm really sorry my chapters are way shorter than they used to be, hopefully that doesn't annoy someone, but if it does - I'm very sorry. I just want this to have more chapters, so I want to split some events into two chapters, which is what I'm doing here. So they may not be as long as they used to be, but there will be more of them.

What do you think about this chapter? About the rebellion?  Do you think Kahmose killed those guys who were annoying Ankhesenpaaten?
What do you think Huy was doing? And most important - what do you guys think of Kahmose and Ankhesenpaaten???

Please leave your thoughts in the comments; I would love to hear what you think!

Thanks to everyone who reads my book, and especially to those who read every chapter as soon as one comes out. When I see someone has read my chapter even though I published it thirty minutes ago, it makes my day - really, it does.

Anyway, that's enough from me. See you guys in the next chapter!