Eleven
I stormed into my chamber. Thutmosis was a stupid jerk! My hand slapped around the wall furiously searching for the light switch. Then I remembered I was in ancient Egypt, and there was no electricity! I screamed out of anger, frustration, hysteria; I wasn't sure anymore.
One of the guards ran into the chamber to make sure I was all right.
"I want electricity!" I demanded, knowing there was nothing he could do about it. He looked at me, confused and bewildered, my eyes accusing him of withholding science from me. "I want a hot shower! I want deodorant! I want a razor to shave my legs so I don't have to worry about cutting my leg off with this thing!" I cried, holding up the blade I had been using in place of a razor. I threw it down on the table and glared at the poor guard angrily.
He left the room very quickly, frightened by my insane ranting. Alone, finally, I sank back onto the bed and wept miserably. Why was I here? I belonged in the future with Clair and the other scientists. That was my world, and my heart ached for it.
I got up and went over to the table to remove my jewelry. I kept only the lotus ring on my finger. I liked the way the silver band felt against my skin. I slipped out of the fancy robe and into a simpler one, more comfortable around my chest and shoulders. I was exhausted from everything, and the worst parts still weighed heavily on my mind. I was glad to be alone now, left with my thoughts and memories of the twenty-first century.
I pulled my Blackberry cell phone from my satchel and gazed in its black screen. I'd turned it off days ago to save power. I held the cool metal in my hand, wondering if there was any reason to save its power. Ancient Egypt didn't have cell phone towers; ancient Egypt had nothing. I wasn't planning to make some calls anytime soon, so I mashed the button down and the screen lit up.
Once it was on, I scrolled through my media options to the music selection, and decided to play Time Changed Everything by Nyctalgia. It was an ironic piece of music to play, but its soft melody and somber sound seemed fitting for my mood. I needed to do something that was familiar to me, reminiscence of what my life was like before all of this. I needed to be a twenty-first century woman again.
I sat the phone down on the bed as the music began to play. I stood from the bed and raised one arm to curl around in midair, as if grasping my imaginary partner's shoulder. I positioned my other hand as if I was clasping his hand. I started to move in time with the music, slowly, delicately, in step with the piano that seemed to weep in my phone. I moved with little thought, having done it so many times before. This dance was as natural to me as walking.
My sadness only grew. I wanted so badly to go home, to touch the people who once warmed my life with their love. They seemed like only a dream now, too distant for me to reach like stars.
As the days passed, my old life grew farther and farther away as did my chances of ever returning there.
"What are you doing?" a gentle voice said to me, far from my ear, but close to my heart. The voice was like an ethereal whisper, drifting through the shadows from where it came. I turned around and met Ahmose's amber eyes as he peeked through the darkness. "I apologize if I've startled you," he said. "Your door was open."
"Please come in, Your Majesty," I replied. I was a little nervous to see him, wondering why he had left the banquet, and if he was angry with me. I felt guilty for leaving him so abruptly. My arms fell to my sides as Ahmose stepped from the darkness. He paused for a moment, hearing the piano piece coming from my phone. His eyes scanned the room as he came to stand by me, searching for the music. I started to show him my phone, but he spoke instead.
"You left so quickly this evening. I hoped the festivities would ease your troubled mind. I was worried," he said.
"Please forgive me. Thutmosis upset me," I confessed. "That is why I left. I hope you are not angry with me." He fell quiet for a moment, so I decided to change the subject. "It was very considerate of you to invite me, Your Majesty. The banquet was lovely and the food was delicious. As you said, my mind is troubled, and I guess I just wanted to be alone." I glanced over his clothes and saw he was wearing a clean tunic. I felt humiliated once more as I recalled the mess I had made tonight. "I hope I didn't ruin your clothes."
He looked down at his fresh attire and said with a smile, "They were only garments. They can easily be replaced." I gazed into his handsome face; his amber eyes were especially beautiful by firelight, but they suddenly fell anxious. "Do you wish for me to leave you?"
"Please don't go," I responded quickly, not wanting him to leave this way. A gentle smile returned to his lips, and he came closer, so close, I could easily reach out and touch him if I desired.
"Please explain the strange movements you were doing moments ago," his voice was soft. "And this music, it's so intriguing...and sad. Are you sad, Kara?" Even with the simplest of gestures, he was flawless, an unearthly being who had fallen astray from the celestial road of heaven.
"I am a little sad," I responded. "I was dancing, hoping to cheer up."
"Ah, yes, I remember. It looked a bit strange though. Didn't you say this dance required two people?" He smiled.
"Yes, but I was alone with no one to dance with." He cocked his head as he pondered for a moment, recalling the time we had danced together like that in the ballroom.
"I will dance with you," he insisted, reaching out and taking my hand. My palm felt hesitant under his, shivering from his ghostly touch. His presence alone stirred up all kinds of emotions in me. He was mysterious, powerful, and incredibly desirable. At times I felt tense around him, and there were moments he would give me a simple glance and I would fall weak in the knees. I wondered if he was aware of how attractive he truly was. His hand was warm against mine, and hesitantly, I guided his arm around my waist.
My heart pounded. I curled my hand around his shoulder, and clasped his hand with my other hand. We were so close I could smell the jasmine on his skin. It felt so familiar being this close to him.
I told him, "Do you remember the steps? Just follow my lead." I started to move, but he seemed hesitant at first, unsure of which way to move. He quickly caught onto the steps and followed in step along with me with little trouble. His hand was warm against the small of my back.
"I like this dance," he said. Alabaster lanterns lit the chamber, casting shadows everywhere. Ahmose's eyes mixed from brown to gold in the firelight, and shadows danced along with us in a ghostly waltz. The soft piano piece drifted somberly around us as we moved from the warm light and into the dark. It was magical, surreal, like a dream. "Our people must not be much different. You enjoy dancing, and the kind of dance doesn't matter to me because it always brings people together. I like dancing with you."
He leaned into me, like he wanted to kiss me.
I dropped my arms anxiously, ending our dance. His countenance fell when he realized I was uneasy. I picked up my phone and stopped the music. He leaned over my shoulder suddenly to examine it. "What is that?"
I shivered as his breath tickled the back of my neck. I could sense his warmth against my back. "It's a device from my world. It's called a phone. It was playing the melody," I explained. He held my arm and slowly turned me around. My eyes shyly trailed from his chest to his face. "In my world, these devices can do many things, such as play music and take photos." I left out the part where it can be used to call other people. I knew it would be too difficult to explain when there weren't any cell phone towers to demonstrate.
"What are photos?" he asked suddenly. He sat down on the edge of the bed and waited eagerly for my answer.
I sat down next to him and pulled up the photos on my phone. I scrolled through them and came to one of my father standing in front of one of the great pyramids of the Giza plateau.
"This is a photo," I showed it to him. As soon as he saw it he snatched the phone from me. His eyes lit up in astonishment.
"It's a tiny portrait. Who is this man, and why is he standing in front of Lord Khufu's pyramid? What happened to its limestone casing?" He handed the phone back to me.
"That man is my father," I replied. "He lived and studied in Egypt for many years. And the limestone casing on the pyramids was never meant to last forever. It eroded away after many years, and in my time, this is how they appear."
He leaned next me to look at the photo again, closing the little distance that had been between us. I offered him the phone so he could look at it more closely.
"His clothing look like the garments you wore upon your arrival," he mused. The photo impressed him, so I scrolled to another, one of me with Clair's Maltese dog. "It's so strange, yet beautiful," he smiled. He leaned away. "How does this phone work?"
"I can take a photo of us," I said, excited. I scooted closer to him and turned the phone away so the camera was facing us. I pressed the button with my finger and the phone made a shutter sound. I turned the phone around and we looked at the photo of us.
"Amazing!" he breathed. He stared at the photo in wonderment, leaning against my shoulder again. His arm was warm against mine. "I'd like to have it. Can you make it come out?"
"Not without technology," I replied. I really hoped he wouldn't ask why. I had no idea how I would explain computers and printers to him.
My phone buzzed once the photo finished saving and the date appeared on it. I'd been here for so many days now I had forgotten what day it should have been in my time. According to my phone, it was 11/13/14: November 13, 2014.
"What do those numbers mean?"
I was stunned by how much time had already passed. "It's the date," I said absent-mindedly. "This is what time of year it should be in my time. It should be the year 2014."
Suddenly, the screen on the phone briefly flashed before going black. The battery had died. Ahmose shook the phone and mashed the buttons trying to get the photo to reappear.
"It won't come back on. The battery is dead," I explained.
"Dead?" he repeated sharply. He thought I meant it had literally died.
"What I mean is, the phone won't work again until it has been recharged," I replied. "It needs electricity to do so. Without it, the screen will remain black." Ahmose scrutinized the phone scornfully and rubbed his face. He handed it back to me, confused. He changed the subject.
"What year do you think it is now?" He was still having difficulty understanding the concept of time. I paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the difference between anno Domini and BC. According to my father's journals, Ahmose's reign began around 1440 BC, and must have been in his early twenties when he became king.
"How long have you been pharaoh?" I asked. Depending on how many years he was into his reign, I could subtract that number from the year 1440 to determine what year it was now.
"I was predestined to rule over Egypt. Thus, I've been pharaoh my entire life," he replied, as if the answer should have been obvious. And I knew it should have been; naturally, Pharaoh was born pharaoh. Perhaps I could determine the date from his age.
"How old are you now?"
His expression changed, becoming a mixture of humor and patience. "I have lived for twenty-three years," he answered. He was a young man at only twenty-three. This didn't give me any clues.
"How long has it been since your mother passed away?"
I regretted asking the question as soon as the words passed from my lips. Ahmose's brows furrowed and his lips sunk into a frown. "It has been nearly a year," he replied somberly. The current year should've been 1439 BC. My stomach suddenly cringed. I shouldn't have been so startled. I already knew I was millennia in the past. I was swept away by this ancient fantasy, and it had never truly dawned on me I was more than three thousand years away from home.
I stood from the bed and walked to the window, clutching the stone side for support. My legs felt like putty beneath me, and my head was so light, I was drifting through air.
"What's the matter, Kara?"
"Three hundred sixty-five days make up one year. My world, my home, is over three thousand years from now," I responded pitifully. He fell quiet, but I could sense his empathic eyes without even turning around. "The current year is 1439 BC. It is 2014 AD in my world."
Maybe I was truly insane, locked away in an asylum somewhere; everything around me was nothing more than an illusion, and Ahmose himself was merely a creation of my deepest desires. It seemed as if everyone I'd ever known were lost forever. I started to cry.
He came to hold me, wrapped his arms around me, and breathed in my hair. He wiped my eyes, and we were locked in an intense gaze; a small hurtful frown hinted on his lips, which were so close to mine. With his arms around me, I felt both safe and afraid.
I began to feel woozy, so I placed my hand against his chest to steady myself. Beneath the thin fabric of his tunic, his chest was hard and chiseled like marble. He clasped my hand suddenly, his breath catching in his throat at my touch.
I looked into his eyes, "Your Majesty..." And then I started to slip from the dizziness.
Ahmose caught me and swept me up into his arms. "Kara, are you all right?" he cried, shaking me gently. My head rolled over against his shoulder. He carried me over to the bed and laid me down. I heard him speaking to me, but my mind hardly registered it. My dark feelings consumed me, wrapped me in their menacing torrents.
But I was still conscious. I had only lapsed for a moment. When I opened my eyes, my arms were still wrapped around Ahmose's neck, and his around my back. Embarrassed, I released him and sat up. He placed his palm against my forehead like a concerned lover. I felt of my own face and wondered what had caused me to become so light headed all of a sudden.
"Kara?" Ahmose spoke gently.
"I'm not feeling well," I mumbled, rubbing my dank forehead.
"Have you fallen ill?"
He clasped my chin and looked into my eyes, as if to examine me. I wanted to give him an honest answer, but how could I explain all the turmoil I felt inside? I was terribly homesick, and earlier this evening I had been so afraid of losing him to another woman. "I'm lost," I answered. "I am here, but it is not where I belong."
His eyes held so much warmth and compassion; he wanted to understand me. "Have I not been kind to you?"
I wasn't sure I understood his question. "Of course. You have made my stay more than endurable. Why would you ask such a thing?"
"If I have been kind to you, offered you a comfortable place to stay along with my unconditional friendship, why do you wish so badly to leave me?"
"Ahmose," I cried and he came to wrap his arms around me. I was desperate for the comfort they used to bring me in my dreams. I laid my head against his shoulder. The rich silks that were wrapped around him felt nice against my cheek. I had longed for this feeling for many nights now, the sensation of being locked in the fortress of his arms. Even if he did not share my feelings, I could not forget the lulling in my heart that had first drawn him into my dreams.
"Kara," he whispered in my hair, the steady beating of his heart thudded against my ear, nearly in sync with my own heart. His arms held me in a warm embrace.
"It is not you I want to leave," I cried. "It is this world. I do not understand it."
Ahmose was silent as I continued to bury my face into his chest. Then he pulled me back so he could look at me. "What do you not understand that has you so disheartened?"
The banquet hall flashed in my mind, and I remembered how it felt to watch another woman try to lure him into bed with her. The last thing I wanted to do was ask him about women. Though it seemed I had known him for so long, in reality we had only been acquainted for a short while. The pharaohs were notorious for having many wives so they could have many sons to secure the crown of Egypt. As pharaoh, Ahmose would want to ensure his crown would pass to his heir. That meant he must have had a wife at some point. Regrettably, I could no longer deny my attraction to him.
Ahmose held my hand, nervously awaiting my reply. His fingers clasped mine, strong but gentle, no longer adorned by gems or rings. Helplessly, I grasped his wrist and traced my fingers into the contours of his palm as I gathered courage.
"Have you finally chosen a bride? I know you were considering someone..."
He fell quiet for a moment and drew in a breath. "Nay, for the time being, I have decided to stop searching for a bride. I am waiting for someone to impress me. And so I have sent them all away, back home to their families. It wasn't fair to keep them nearby when I have already decided I do not want to marry any of them."
Knowing he was single, for the time being, brought me some comfort. Even if he couldn't be with me, at least I didn't have to watch him marry someone else. But I couldn't help but wonder why he was alone.
"Ahmose, what happened to your first wife?" I hadn't meant to ask such an intrusive question, but I had been wondering about it for some time now. At the banquet, Thutmosis brought up marriage, and before that, when I had first arrived, Ahmose became furious when I accused him of being a married man.
He dropped his head for a moment. I glimpsed anger in his eyes, something I was not used to seeing in him. "She killed herself," he replied flatly.
"That's horrible!" I gasped. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," he cut in. "She betrayed me, humiliated me. She lost my respect long ago." From his tone and sudden rigid demeanor, I suspected she had an affair. And from the way his eyes flared as he pondered, I dared not ask. "Any woman who cannot honor marriage and sacred love will never have my trust or affection."
I scooted closer to him until our arms brushed. "Pharaoh's feelings are admirable, but I thought marriage was only for convenience in Egypt. I did not know Pharaoh had love in his heart."
He looked at me, surprised, or maybe offended. It was difficult to tell; the exchange of emotions happened so quickly. "In Egypt, marriage is a sacred union, a commitment between a man and a woman. But my heart has hardened, and for a long while, I didn't believe a marriage for me would ever mean more than establishing the dynasty. But when you saved me with your medicine, you made me change my mind. This life is fleeting, and I don't want to settle down for convenience. I want to wait and maybe I will fall in love someday." He brushed the back of his hand along my cheek.
"Is that why you didn't want to be with Thutmosis' mistress? You don't love her?"
"I will never love a woman like that. Just as Thutmosis does not love her, he only uses her to possess her body. He offered her to me so easily, but where is the honor in sharing a woman? I would never do such a vile thing." I recalled our conversation in the garden. He reached out and stroked my cheek again. "You thought I loved her?"
"I didn't know," I answered quietly. "I don't know much about Pharaoh." I didn't want to ask any more ugly questions.
Ahmose didn't like my answer. He really didn't like the woman either. "You have been here for many days, but I hardly know anything about your life in your own time. Do you have a husband?"
I was surprised by the question, and Ahmose frowned, realizing he had caught me off guard. I had been engaged once, a very disastrous relationship that ended long ago, one that had caused me to be wary and distrusting of men.
"No, I have never been married," I replied stiffly.
Ahmose seemed pleased. His eyes fell distant, his lips quivered. "Kara, do you believe in love and marriage?"
He was unlike the other men I had encountered here. Many men didn't understand the meaning of either word.
"I...don't know," I whispered.
"Have you never loved before? Surely you have; you are so beautiful. Men desire you. You must have loved someone." Men desire you, he'd said. I wondered if he was one of them, and felt my cheeks flush.
"Not true love," I replied, and images of my ex fiancé flashed in my mind. Whenever I heard the word marriage, love was seldom the phrase I would associate it with. In my mind, marriage was usually followed by entrapment and deceit. "With it I found only lies and betrayal."
Ahmose's eyes found mine then. Their golden depths were a shallow pool of melancholy, unlike the vibrancy they usually were. "He was a fool," he growled. He came closer to me. "I have seen your good nature. You chose to help me when you didn't have to, even when you knew the prize of my death was my kingdom. You are capable of an enormous amount of compassion-and love, I'm certain. I am blessed to have you as a friend. I am happy you are here."
I smiled as his words embraced my heart with their warmth. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
I stifled a yawn, and he laughed a lovely sound. "You are welcome to stay as long as you desire. And in the mean time, I hope you will tell me more about your world in the future. I find your technology to be fascinating."
"Time," I murmured. "Surely it passes, and I am unable to keep track of it. I hadn't realized how much time has already passed since my arrival."
Ahmose gazed out the window and fell quiet for a moment. He rose from the bed and stepped out of the room. He was only gone for a moment, and when he returned, he cradled something in his arms. He sat it on the table next to my bed, and I gazed into its glassy surface. It was an hourglass.
"In Egypt, this is how we track the passage of time," he said. I smiled and ran my fingers along the wooden shafts that supported it upright. In the glassy, polished surface, my reflection smiled back at me. "I will leave you now to rest," he said, and leaned in to kiss my cheek. His lips lingered against me for a moment longer than it had earlier. And after he left, I fell asleep to the comforts of the tender emotions he rekindled in me.