Being the heiress was hard work.
In the couple of months after my wedding, I was expected to attend many more offical events and the like. I barely had a moment to myself. Most mornings, I was expected to attend prayers, and then I would have one hour for lessons. Ahmose would have to squeeze in anything he could, as for the rest of the day, Tutankhaten and I would have a full schedule. Whether it be having a luncheon with esteemed guests that turned into our evening meal, attending trials with the Pharaoh and Queen, accompanying them to view something in the city - we would always be busy. Often, as soon as I got back to my bedchamber, I would simply plonk on my bed and fall asleep. I had not even seen Kahmose since the wedding. We were that busy.
We were constantly tossed into the public eye. I suppose it was because if Smenkhkre died suddenly - and without an heir as he now was - and any time soon, we would be handed the kingdom of Egypt. We had to know what we were dealing with from the start. We had to learn.
Today, as I left lessons, I was informed that surprisingly, I had nothing to do. Meritaten and Smenkhkre were attending the execution of all the rebels, and saw fit not to include my brother and I in this occasion. It had taken a few months to round up all the participants in the plot and many interrogations but they had finally all been found and gaoled. And now, they were being executed as traitors for their crimes against their country.
I must admit, they chose a good day for it...or perhaps a bad day, depending on whose perspective you look at. It was cloudy, and had been raining on and off all day. The wind had a cold aspect to it, making me shiver every time a draft came in. It did not rain often, but when it did, the results were usually much worse than this. The rain often lasted for days and sometimes even developed into storms.
As today was the first free day I had had in so long, I was at a lost of what to do. Stay for a longer lesson? Go to the garden? See what Tutankhaten was doing?
Well, it was raining, so I suppose that the garden was ruled out of my options. I knew I could not go see Kahmose; what if they needed me back here? Maybe I should see Tutankhaten. I knew he would be at no lessons either, unless he asked for longer ones like I was considered.
I stopped a servant who was walking past me. "Excuse me, do you know where Prince Tutankhaten is?"
She bowed and proceeded to answer me. "I believe he is in his chambers, my Princess."
I nodded, thanked her, and went to my brother's chambers. I was not often in this section of the palace; why would I be? There was no need to be in the men's wing, nor was there often any need for them to be in the women's wing.
Over the years it had gotten considerably smaller. Even originally, it was small. Only three royal men would inhabit it at the most. After my father died, that number decreased to two. In fact, some of the important court members, such as Ay and Horemheb, even resided in the men's wing as there were plenty of spare rooms.
I knocked on the doors of his chambers so I would not interrupt anything. Perhaps my little brother was doing something important and was busy.
"Enter," he said in his small, commanding voice. It was quite comical, really.
I walked in with a huge smile. "Brother, we have the rest of our day to ourselves! A free day! What should we do?"
Tutankhaten was bent over an incomplete game of senet. "I watched my servants play a game together, but I still do not understand it."
I meandered over to where he was sitting. "Senet? 'Tis easy! Here, let me show you. Choose a colour: brown or blue. Now, you see these three rows? Each row has ten 'houses' on it. You get seven pieces each, and see these four sticks? When you throw the sticks, each side has a different colour. This side, for example is red while the other is white. When you throw it, whatever colour that shows up allocates how many moves you get..."
I continued to explain the rules of my favourite board game to Tutankhaten. While the game itself was relatively simple, the rules were difficult to explain, but eventually I managed to teach him.
This mostly consisted of us playing a game and me correcting him whenever he was wrong.
But, after a long, long time, we finally managed to have a decent game...where surprisingly enough, Tutankhaten beat me.
I stared at the board as he moved his final piece of the board, before I had even gotten any of mine close to the last row. "What....how..."
Tutankhaten burst out laughing at my reaction. "I suppose you could say I am a natural at this game!"
"No." I shook my head. "You just had a good teacher!"
My brother was about to say something in reply when a knock on the doors beat him to it. He frowned. "I do not normally get this many visitors. Come in!"
The doors opened, revealing Ay. "Prince Tutankhaten you are required - oh, the Princess is with you."
"Yes, is that a problem?" he replied, standing up.
Ay shook his head and bowed. "Not at all. I was just looking for her earlier."
I stood up as well. "And you found me. What is it?"
"The Queen has suddenly fallen ill. She is recovering in her chambers so is unable to attend the execution of the traitors. As a result the Pharaoh has commanded both of your presences in replace of her absence. Hurry now, please be prompt." With that, Ay left, giving us no information on where to meet our brother, or at what time.
I suppose our free day was over.
••••••
After running around asking many servants and guards, we found out that Smenkhkre was waiting for us at the dock. We were to board the Royal Ship and sail upstream until we reached a 'suitable' spot for the execution. Why we needed a certain spot for a drowning, I knew not. Perhaps I could avoid watching the actual drowning somehow.
With an entire regiment of guards, Tutankhaten and I hurried down the wet and slippery path to the Nile. It felt strange to walk on wet gravel - normally, whenever it rained, I would stay indoors. The rain was cold - an unusual temperature change that I did not like at all. It made me feel cold. I did not like that feeling. Not in the slightest.
So, with soft, woollen shawls wrapped around my arms, we reached the dock and boarded the ship. Smenkhkre was waiting for us out on the deck, leaning against a railing. Out in the open. Subjected to the rain. Sighing, we walked over to him, forced to endure more of the pelting down, cold droplets. Oddly enough, the Pharaoh did not seem to mind the strengthening rain. He was staring down at the Nile, not registering us until my brother tapped him on the back.
Smenkhkre turned around, surprised. "Oh, you are here."
Tutankhaten nodded. "What is wrong with Meritaten?"
Smenkhkre waved the question away. "Oh, she was just feeling ill. Weak, if you ask me. A ploy to get out of this." He pointed to the river. "Ah, well. She does not wish to attend? She will not. And she will not be attending any public events for the next few weeks. And as a result she will be staying bedridden for the next few days."
"What?" I was aghast. His sister, his wife was ill, and he thought it was just a ploy! I was horrified. "How can you say that? The Queen would not abandon her duties if it were not serious. She is clearly sick!"
"Do not question my judgement!" Smenkhkre roared, glaring at me.
I stared back evenly. "You cannot accuse the Queen of lying and deceiving you. What if she is, in fact, ill? How can you be trusted with an entire kingdom if you do not even treat your wife correctly?"
"Better me than you!" The Pharaoh shouted, causing everyone around us to stop what they were doing and look up.
"I would not be so sure," I muttered, making sure he would hear me.
"Get out of my sight," my brother commanded without looking at me. "Now!"
Without a further word, I gladly did as he asked of me. I felt Tutankhaten's eyes on my back as I walked away. A servant rushed forward and gave me a cloth to dry myself as I went under the shelter.
"Where are the prisoners?" I asked him as he was about to hurry off.
The servant bowed. "I believe they are below deck; in the cells, my Princess."
I nodded. "Thank you."
I knew Smenkhkre was watching me but I refused to look back. I was not sorry about what I said; rather, I was sorry about what he said! How could he be so heartless? Meritaten was a timid little mouse; there was no way she would lie just to get out of something, even if the event was as ghastly as witnessing the drowning of almost 100 plotters.
And I would have thought my brother would have known that.
Clearly not.
Tired, cold, wet, and annoyed, I sat down in a chair allocated for me in front of a large, wooden table clearly meant for a feast later on. A feast? After we had just basically murdered almost one hundred people? It was enough to make me physically sick. Perhaps I could go back to the palace before we set sail? Keep Meritaten company, rather than her careless husband.
Almost as though it could read my mind, the boat lurched forward and began to sail upstream. The Nile was a wide river, at the very least 150 cubits long. If you did not drown immediately in the river, two possible outcomes would occur: one, you would not be able to swim to the banks unless you were an incredibly good swimmer and thus probably drown from being in the river for a great length of time, or two, the crocodiles and other water elementals lurking beneath would get to you. Honestly, drowning was like throwing someone a feast compared to that. I would not wish the death of being eaten alive on anyone.
Near the men with the oars was a huge pile of rope and heavy stones. I suppose that was how they ensured nobody would survive - tie them together and tie the rocks to weigh them down. It was ingenious - ruthless and horrible, yes, but ingenious nonetheless.
My brothers had stopped talking and Tutankhaten meandered over to where I was. He sat down next to me and patted my hand.
"Ankhesenpaaten, you really must not aggravate the Pharaoh," he said, getting right to the point.
I held my head up and pulled my hand away. "Hmph! He should actually be a half-decent person for once then."
Tutankhaten hesitated. "Sister...I agree completely, but you must ignore it. Remember, we can always right his wrongs when we come to the throne."
"Yes, and how many years away is that? Too many, I tell you. Smenkhkre may do whatever he wish to me, but that just proves my point, does it not?"
"Not too many," my brother insisted. "Remember, Smenkhkre and Meritaten are already old. Smenkhkre is almost thirty. We will not be waiting too long."
"Oh yes?" I raised an eyebrow. "How many years did father rule for? And grandfather? And his father? Father was Pharaoh for seventeen years. Grandfather was Pharaoh for thirty-eight. What if Smenkhkre has a long reign as well? Thirty-eight years or more of misery and wrong-doings. I refuse to just sit back!"
Tutankhaten sighed. "Fine, but to his face, at least...we want to avoid what happened to you before to happen again."
Of course, he was referring to my time in that cell. I had to admit, I did not want to experience that again. But if it meant bending down to my brother's will and ignore everything he did?
"Please," my husband begged.
"Fine," I grumbled. "I will try and contain my anger for now."
"Good." Tutankhaten rose from where he was sitting. "Now, I believe we will be stopping soon. The Pharaoh will want us up where he is, watching with him. Please do not resist."
Tutankhaten was not incorrect. We did stop soon and we were required to stand by the Pharaoh. And I was not incorrect either: my suspicions about the ropes and rocks were absolutely accurate. We watched on with straight faces as the prisoners were marched up the main deck and as the guards tied to ropes and rocks on them, although I will not deny that I did look away once, or twice...or maybe three times.
These people did a bad thing. And they were suffering the consequences. I kept telling myself that.
They were all forced to stand up on the edge of the ship and jump or get thrown in, depending on the amount of resistance shown. I did not watch most of that at all. I knew Smenkhkre was not happy with me, but I did not care.
And then their leader came out. He was bloody and bruised; in fact he reminded me of myself during those frightful three days.
Smenkhkre clearly recognised him and stood up. The guards tried to stop him but he pushed them away and approached the traitor.
"You dared question the strength of the Pharaoh," Smenkhkre whispered, bending down. "Stupid, stupid man. And now you will pay with your life. Remember, I can control the lives of you and those you love. And I am now."
Instead of remaining silent as the idiotic man should of, he smiled, and spat blood right in the Pharaoh's face. Everyone saw.
A kind of silence fell upon the barge that I had never witnessed before - fright, astonishment, and utter fear about what would happen next.
The silence was disturbed by the same man laughing. "You think you can abolish this just by killing me? You are the stupid man. We have more allies than you think. I advise you to watch your back, O Mighty Pharaoh, because you do not scare me, and you do not scare anyone."
Smenkhkre paused, not reacting for quite a while. That was the most deadly part of the entire day. Then, very quietly, he calmly wiped the blood from his face and violently kicked the man right in the stomach. The man flew across the deck, sprawled out across the wooden planks. The Pharaoh then simply walked back to his throne and sat down.
That was the last execution that I watched.
Afterwards, the feast was laid out, but neither myself nor my brothers ate from the lavish food in front of us. I had lost my appetite, and I did not blame the others if the same had happened to them.
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Hey Everyone! So I felt like I had to post another chapter for you guys super soon. I mean, it's holidays, and I'm not going to post often? Ridiculous!
I know I said I couldn't post until the weekend because my friend is coming over, and that's true - she's arriving in twenty minutes and staying for three days; until the weekend. Although I'm quite annoyed: I told my mum her ETA and my mum told me that pretty much right now, I have to go outside and wait for her so she knows what house. It's cold (3 degrees Celsius). It's windy. I have no winter clothes on except winter clothes. And she wants me to wait outside for twenty minutes - does she want me to get hypothermia?????
Anyway, there's chapter 27! 28 will be out on the weekend, probably Sunday the 9th, but maybe Saturday, depending on how fast I write it and whether or not I get writer's block. I can't wait to write chapter 30 though! Some stuff's gonna go doooowwwwwnnnnnnnnnnn.
Now, before I leave there is one thing I want to say.... OVER 500 READS HOLY MOLY WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! That's half a thousand reads...that means so much to me. Thank you so much, guys.
So yes. Leave your opinions in the comments, and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye!!!!