Jewel Of The Nile [COMPLETE]

FORGOTTEN HEIR - CHAPTER ONE

A teaser for Chapter One! Follow the story of Ankhesenamun and Tutankhamun through the eyes of her daughter, Princess Makara.

Chapter One

Makara

I knelt down on my knees as the High Priest prepared the scented oils. The rich, vibrant carpets beneath me softened the impact on my joints as I bent down. The small room was covered in gold silk ribbons gliding down from the ceiling. A statue of the Goddess Isis stood in each corner of the chamber, standing high and holding up her baby, Horus. On each statue, her eyes gleamed with blue gems. A small, well-positioned gap in the ceiling allowed Ra's light to illuminate the small worship room at the edge of the palace complex. 

Priestesses shook their sistrums, murmuring hymns. A large portrait of the sky goddess, Nut, looked down on us all as we sat and prayed. Prayed for my Mother, and that her delivery would give Egypt the male heir it so desired.

Prayed for my Uncle, the King, who had watched his wife raise a child that was not his. Who had watched all of his children either die in the womb or in the midwife's arms.

Prayed for the child itself; and that it may live a long and happy life, with a prosperous reign that would begin at the end of my Uncle's.

My Mother's screams echoed throughout the palace, sending a shiver down one's spine. I tried my hardest to block out her cries from my ears, but they forced their way into my mind, taunting me nonetheless.

A warm, gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I glanced up, only to see it was the Vizier Ay, my Great-Grandfather.

"Hush, my child," he soothed. "The Queen will be fine. Childbirth is a normal process, as I am sure you know by now, and her screams are purely natural. Your Mother will live."

"And her baby?" I asked, turning around to face him. "My brother? The future king of Egypt? Will he be fine?"

Ay bowed his head respectfully. "That, my child, is a question only the Gods know the answer to. And to make sure their answer is the one that benefits us the most, we must pray."

He was right. The Gods were in control of everything that happened in our lives. If they were pleased and content, they would reward us with riches beyond anyone's wildest fantasies. But if they were not...if chaos ruled the people and ma'at were not present throughout the lands of Egypt, then everyone would be punished. The Royal Family even more so. For we were responsible for guaranteeing that everything was right in this world of ours. If one small thing was amiss, or if it was something as simple as someone being wrongly punished for a crime or someone being unfairly wealthy when they didn't deserve it, we would have to keep an eye out for the wrath of the gods. For it could strike at any time.

This baby was not the first of my Mother's children by the King. Many of hers had died in the womb, the only child making it to the actual stages of birth being another girl. And even then, my sister did not survive a minute of life.

Every day, my Mother and Uncle prayed to Taweret, the Goddess of childbirth, and Min, the God of fertility, to gift them with a son that would live. But none of their prayers had been heard yet, it seemed.

The screams and cries that echoed throughout the palace continued relentlessly, haunting my mind until I almost felt the need to shake my head to get them out. It was not a good thing, having to hear your Mother in so much pain and not being able to do a thing to stop it. This was the first time I had actually been in the palace during Mother's childbirth; last time, I was taken to my Father's home, as Mother thought I was too young to be around.

Now, at nine years old, I was old enough to understand what was happening. And while I knew, as the Vizier had mentioned, that childbirth was normal and the screams were natural, it didn't make the feeling of uneasiness go away.