The Heart Of Ahkmenrah | Rami Malek

7. Far Too Sweet

Word count: 2883

The hours ticked by, Elizabeth's hand had developed a familiar ache that came with her shaky handwriting as she gripped her pen, listening to Ahkmenrah with great interest.
He had just finished telling her what he remembered from his youngest days.

"My brother would never let me borrow his toys, and whenever I was gifted some from my family, he would take them and break them. He was always quite possessive and destructive, jealous of the attention I received from the people of our home, less people fawned over him when I was born I suppose" Ahkmenrah remembered, picturing his life as a child in his mind, something so far away.
"I don't have any siblings, but I pretty much grew up with Nick and the one year I have on him does make a slight difference on the "power" dynamic we had" Elizabeth smiled
"You could say my upper hand presented itself in the form of me taking his dessert"
Ahkmenrah laughed, a normal relationship between young relatives was foreign to him but he enjoyed listening to Elizabeth as much as she enjoyed listening to him.

"When I was young we had honey cakes for dessert, like you did to Nick but with a harsher intent, my brother did often take them from me when no one was watching" he reminisced
"However my mother would always give me another one before bed, I guess she knew how he picked on me"

"Normal sibling stuff" Elizabeth smiled at him, his eyes were on the floor but she could tell his mind wandered.
"Perhaps not the murdering part though" Ahkmenrah chuckled, his eyes returning to her. He appeared to make light of his unfortunate and tragic demise. Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak before stopping as the question she had rolled around her mind for a moment.
"Do you remember.... your death?" she bit her lip wishing she had been more polite.
"It's okay if you don't want to answer as I imagine it is unpleasant to think about" Elizabeth added.
"It's fine Elizabeth, no need to worry about offending me" he looked at her, his warm smile reassuring her, she could look at him forever.
"It began when my parents passed, they left the throne to me despite me being the youngest, they felt I possessed the ability to rule a land better than Kah did. This infuriated him and he made it his goal to destroy me and take the throne, whether it was accompanied with throwing me in a hole in the ground or ultimately my death. It started off small, he started spreading rumours of me being a corrupt ruler, to place distrust in the people. It did not work as they seemed to genuinely like me as a pharaoh, I was strict when I needed to be and had them do as I wanted but during my reign there were no wars."

Elizabeth pictured all of this in her mind, sitting next to Ahkmenrah he appeared to be a normal, kind person with odd fashion choices. It was hard to imagine that he did once rule Egypt, has people wait on him and do as he said. He had lived in a palace, indulged in the finest goods available in the ancient world, all of this and in the present he was a humble man, who's former position had little effect on how he treated people. He was.... a perfect example of a good person.

"Although I was popular with my people, it seems that those around me turned on me, guards and such had given into my brothers facade of me. I don't know if he bribed them or that they did start to believe his lies, but they started to inform him of my whereabouts at all times and no longer protected me from assassination from foreigners. It reached a point where I guess he grew tired of trying to ruin my image to dethrone me, and wanted it over quick.

I felt something bad was coming, I did not expect him to kill me, I know that we had never gotten along but death...... is just something you don't see coming. I'm not sure if your history books know it, but his first attempt to kill me failed, poison. Kah had put a lethal poison in my meal and the taster whose job to make sure my food was safe was in on it too, so he put it in after he had tried it for me. It was common to have somebody eat your food before you as assassination attempts were common when you're in a position like a pharaoh. It was not fast acting so I was able to go back to my chambers with nothing but a headache, figured I had a particularly rough day.
I was standing by a window looking at the stars when my vision began to blur, my lungs burned and my limbs shook, I remember falling and hearing the screams of my servants but nothing more. I awoke a few days later, apparently I had been taken to a healer who had worked with my parents and she was able to help me. I was very weak, walking was exhausting and I was constantly faint, the possibility of me recovering fully was uncertain, those who ingest this poison are never expected to live." Ahkmenrah continued.