Jewel Of The Nile [COMPLETE]

Chapter Thirty-Six

Soldiers clustered around this one man; this one man who was capable of killing a god.

Drums banged as they marched forward, blocking him from our sights.

Tutankhaten sat on the throne, head up high. He looked so small - so little - against the chair that signified the power of Egypt. He was at the mercy of all these big, powerful men.

We were at the mercy of all these big, powerful men.

The prisoner procession left and the guards stationed themselves around the room, leaving a rugged, dirty looking man on his knees.

The killer looked up around in mock awe. "Wow. So this is what a palace looks like."

"Silence, prisoner!" Ay spat. "You shall not speak while your crimes are being read out."

The man did not respond, so Ay continued. "You have been found guilty of committing the most blasphemous of acts, the worst of the treasons. You have been found guilty of murdering the Pharaoh and his Queen in front of hundreds of their subjects. The punishment is death. You will be publicly executed -"

"Wait," I interrupted. Ay, Tutankhaten, and everyone else in the chamber looked at me quizzically.

"Wha - what are you doing?" Ay stammered, speechless.

I ignored him, and leaned forward, taking a closer look at this man. "No," I said quietly. "Not death."

"But...but My Lady, he ...he killed your siblings!"

"Yes, he did," I agreed.

Tutankhaten frowned, and leaned over to me. "Ankhesenpaaten, what are you doing? This man does not deserve to live!"

"No, he does not," I muttered softly. "So live he shall not. But death...that's what this man wants. To be reunited with his false gods; because this man clearly believes that he will be rewarded in death for his horrible, ghastly crimes."

"My Lady, you flatter me -" The man begun.

"Silence from you!" Ay roared. Then, more quietly, to me: "My Lady, what is it you wish?"

"Sentence him to a life of hard labour. A life of limited food supplies, a cell for a home. The rest of eternity serving the family he so hates," I stated slowly. "Surely that would be a punishment equal to death?"

"My Lady, he murdered the Pharaoh and the Queen!" Horemheb interrupted rudely.

"Yes, General, I am well aware of the blasphemous crimes this evil man has committed. But as I said before, death, for this man, is a reward. It is too light a punishment. This is not."

"My Lady, I cannot thank you enough -" the man began.

"Silence!" I hissed angrily. "You think you are worthy enough to address someone as high up as me? You think, after what you have done, I would allow you to speak to me? You are a fool. You think your gods exist? You think you have faith for them? Tell me, when you are shivering and rotting away in your cell at night, awaiting another day of hard, gruelling, back-breaking labour, tell me, where will your gods be then? What kind of God rewards a murderer? And that is exactly what you are. A murderer. No, your gods will have abandoned you. You will wish you had received death as your punishment. And when you do finally draw your last breath, you shall be banished in the afterlife, to spend all of eternity in darkness, and your name forgotten. You should consider yourself lucky that you are not receiving a punishment even harsher. You killed the three most important people in all of Egypt today. And now you will pay."