The Eye of Ra

by Dakota Chase

  I wasn’t satisfied yet, though. I worked the edge of my knife between the joints of the chariot frame until I succeeded in prying the wheel itself loose. Bracing my feet against the chariot, I pulled on the wheel with all of my strength. There was a sharp crack, and I winced, afraid that someone might have heard it. Then the wheel came off the axle, and I fell backward.

  “Are you okay?” Grant whispered as he helped heave the wheel off of me.

  I sat up, feeling my chest, checking for damage. “I’ll live,” I whispered back. “Think anybody heard that?”

  He peered cautiously around the side of the chariot, which now listed sharply toward us, the axle resting on the sand. “I don’t think so. I don’t see anyone coming.”

  “Good. Let’s get out of here.”

  We ran in a crouch, again sticking to the shadows and out of range of the firelight, until we reached the far side of Tut’s tent. “That should do it,” I said. “That chariot isn’t going anywhere tomorrow.”

  Satisfied that we’d prevented Tut from riding off to his doom the next day, we lay down on the sand and tried to get comfortable, but it was easier said than done. The sand made for a lumpy bed, and it was chilly without any blankets. While the desert was broiling hot during the day, at night it cooled off considerably.

  I lay on my side with my arm cushioning my head, shivering. Suddenly, I felt a warm body curl up next to me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Grant smiling sheepishly at me. “Dude, what are you doing?”

  He gave a little shrug. “Sharing our body heat. I’m freezing.”

  His body was curled against my back, and the sensation was doing naughty things to my front. “I don’t think this is such a good idea, Grant.”

  “Why not? It’s what the Boy Scouts teach you to do to survive in the wild if you don’t have a tent.”

  I bit back a moan and rolled to my stomach. At least that way, he couldn’t see that I was pitching my own personal tent in my shendyt. Turning my head, I found myself looking into his eyes. They looked black in the near darkness. His face was in shadow, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking from his expression.

  I don’t know if he moved forward, or I did, or both of us at the same time, but our lips touched. Did you ever touch a battery with the tip of your tongue and feel a tiny electrical spark? That was how the kiss felt, tingly and warm. It was the sort of kiss that had haunted my dreams, not at all like the bruising one we’d shared back in Tut’s palace. My body jumped to attention, as if our lips were playing reveille to the troops.

  A small voice spoke inside my head, telling me to back off. Neither of us was ready for anything more than a simple kiss, certainly not on the eve of battle in the middle of ancient Egypt.

  I don’t think either of us wanted it to end, but we had to breathe eventually, and besides, I knew the voice in my head was right. This could only end badly if we kept going and let nature take its course. I pulled away, lifted myself up on one elbow, and cupped his chin with my free hand. His stubble tickled my palm. “Nice,” I whispered. “Did you mean it this time?”

  “Yeah, I did, and I have news for you—I meant it the last time too,” Grant said. I could see the whiteness of his teeth glinting in a smile.

  “Really? You’re not going to go all jackassy on me in the morning, are you? Blame it on stress? Not going to try beating my head in with a rock or throw me in front of a speeding chariot?”

  “Nope. Scout’s honor.” He held up his hand with the Scout’s three-finger salute in front of my eyes.

  I smiled too. “Okay, then. Cool.” We stared at each other for a long few moments. I wanted to kiss him again. Oh God, did I ever, but I knew if I started, I wouldn’t want to stop. I sighed, long and deep, then flicked his nose with my fingers.

  “Ow! Hey, what’re you—”

  “Get some sleep, lover boy. I have the feeling tomorrow’s going to be a long, crappy day.” I scooted away a few inches, rolled to my back and closed my eyes. I pretended not to notice when he laid his head on my shoulder, but it was difficult.

  Really, really difficult.

  I didn’t get much sleep that night. I spent a long time listening to Grant’s soft snores, and concentrating on keeping my hands to myself. My mind was whirling out of control. Everything was different now, and I had no clue how to handle it.

  Our relationship had changed so much in the past few days. It sort of boggled my mind. I mean, we were in the fix we were in because we’d been fighting, trying to knock each other brainless. Then, once we were in Egypt, we became friends out of necessity since we only had each other to depend on, and now….

  What, exactly, were we now? Boyfriends? I admitted that I kind of liked the sound of it. I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Grant. Yeah, I liked that a lot, and the idea of spending time with him and kissing him whenever I wanted to.

  Trouble was, I didn’t know if Grant would like it once we were home again. Now he did, sure, because we were stuck in a world where nobody really knew us and we only had each other to rely on. But how would he feel once we were back at school? When people would look cross-eyed at us for being more than just friends, and when the name-calling started. Heck, neither of us was “out.” Would he want to stay in the closet and keep our being together a secret?

  Would I?

  I finally decided I just couldn’t decide. There was nothing I could do about it now anyway, not until we scored Tut’s amulet and got back home. Until then, I needed to concentrate on getting the amulet, making sure Tut didn’t get murdered, and keeping both Grant and me safe. I figured that was more than enough to keep me occupied.

  And when we finally did get home, well, we’d see what was what then. That was the best I could do.

  Chapter Eighteen

  THE CAMP woke before the sun. It was still dark when the men began moving around, eating cold breakfasts made from last night’s leftovers. I groggily blinked awake and shook Grant’s shoulder.

  “Hey, get up! It’s morning… or it will be soon,” I said.

  He tried to roll over, so I gave him another shake.

  He swatted my hand away and slowly sat up, rubbing his face. “Okay, okay. I’m up, I’m up.”

  Suddenly, a shout went up from the vicinity of the chariots, fully waking both of us instantly. We knew what it was—someone had discovered Tut’s chariot had been tampered with during the night. Grant and I looked at each other and held our breaths. Would our plan work to stop Tut from going into battle?

  “Okay,” I whispered. “Game faces on. We can’t let on to Tut that we know anything about what happened to his chariot.”

  “Well, no duh,” he said, rolling his eyes at me.

  I arched an eyebrow and made a mental note. Boyfriend or not, the sarcasm had to go.

  After we’d used the facilities (in this case, a bush near the edge of the camp), we tied on our sheaths, picked up our shields and spears, and hightailed it over to Tut’s tent.

  “I know not who may have done this, my lord,” Ay was saying as we peeked into the flap of Tut’s tent. Damn! Ay was the last person I wanted to see that morning.

  Tut saw us before we could duck back out and waved us inside. “Someone has sabotaged my chariot!” he exclaimed. “Surely none of my men would do such a thing, but how could the Hittites have slipped by the guards at the river? I fear it is a sign from the gods, a bad omen. Perhaps they do not wish us to battle the Hittites today.”

  Ay glanced at us, and his face crumpled into an awful scowl as he pointed a finger at Grant and me. “Perhaps there are traitors among us, my lord. These two… how well do you really know them? They appeared only a few days ago. Since then, all manner of disasters have befallen Egypt. First Nefertiti was taken, then the Hittites’ attack on the village, and now this.”

  Just as I suspected, Ay was trying to blame Grant and me for everything he’d done! Well, everything except for the chariot… that was our doing, not that I was about to confess. “We had nothing to do with any of
that, Tut,” I retorted. “First of all, the guards would’ve told you if we were anywhere near Nefertiti’s room that night. Secondly, the Hittites probably wouldn’t have raided the village if Ay hadn’t gone and attacked them first!”

  Ay looked positively furious at my outburst. His face turned scarlet and then purple, and he reached for his sword. “How dare you speak of me that way to the pharaoh? I will—”

  “You will do nothing,” Tut hissed. “Except find out who destroyed my chariot.”

  I decided to press my luck. “You asked the gods for a sign, Tut. Maybe this is it.”

  “What do you know of the gods?” Ay demanded.

  “It is none of your concern. I do not believe our visitors from the You-Ess have caused us harm, Ay, but someone has. I order you to find out immediately who is responsible!” Tut barked. “Now! Go!”

  For a moment it looked as if Ay might disobey Tut and kill us anyway, but at last he grunted and stalked out of the tent in a huff.

  One thing was clear—we’d just made a really bad enemy.

  “The sooner we get out of Oz altogether, the safer we’ll sleep, m’dear,” Grant whispered, quoting a scene from The Wizard of Oz.

  Unfortunately our ruby slippers were hanging around Tut’s neck.

  We should’ve learned by now that Tut’s ears were sharp. “Oz? What is this ‘Oz’ you speak of?”

  “Nothing, nothing. So, somebody messed with your ride, huh?” I quickly asked. The last thing I wanted to do at the moment was try to explain Dorothy and friends to somebody who’d never seen a photograph, let alone a movie.

  “My ride? Do you mean my chariot? Yes,” Tut answered, frowning. “I shall have their hands cut off for this.”

  Ouch. I noticed Grant slip his hands behind his back. I didn’t blame him. The thought of having my hands chopped off made me slightly sick to my stomach. I swallowed hard and tried not to look guilty. “So, I guess this means you can’t go into battle, huh? Gee, that’s a shame. Well, I’m sure Ay can handle it,” I said.

  “Nonsense. Although I prefer my own, any chariot will do. My men will simply harness my horses to another chariot,” Tut said, waving his hand as if it were really not a big deal.

  Crap! I looked at Grant, and he seemed just as disappointed as I was. After all the trouble we’d been through, not to mention the risk we’d taken, we hadn’t succeeded in stopping Tut from going into battle at all! Now, what were we going to do?

  The next thing Tut said made my slightly sour stomach go on full red alert, lurching violently. “You have planted seeds of doubt in my mind about Ay. He dares too much; I no longer trust him at my back. You, my friends, will fight at my side today. Go now, and ready your chariots. We will cross the river as the sun rises.”

  If I hadn’t been so petrified, I would’ve felt relieved at hearing Tut finally say that he didn’t trust Ay. As it was, my heart was pounding.

  Oh… oh, hell no! We couldn’t go to battle! We could barely drive the damn chariots, never mind try to fight while the things were rocketing over the sand. We’d be killed for sure. “Uh, Tut, I mean, we…,” I stammered as my mind raced, trying to find a reason to back out without either angering Tut, or making him think we were cowards.

  Grant tried too, but Tut was impatient and cut him off, shooting us a stern look. “You must go now. I will follow shortly.”

  We saw his guards take a small step forward and knew it was our cue to hightail it out of Tut’s tent before he lost patience with us altogether.

  Outside the tent, Grant and I paused, staring at each other. “Now, what do we do?” he asked. “Hide?”

  The sky to the east was beginning to lighten with the coming sunrise. Outside the camp’s perimeter, men were harnessing the horses to the chariots, while others, the infantry, were already crossing the riverbank. We were out of time.

  I gestured around me. “Hide? Where? We’re in the desert. There’s not a lot of coverage here, in case you didn’t notice.”

  “You don’t have to be sarcastic!” he whispered hoarsely. “I have eyes, you know.”

  “Sorry. I’m a little nervous seeing how we’re going to have to fight a freaking war!” I retorted.

  “Hey, I’m in the same boat you’re in, remember? I’m not usually a confrontational type of person. I didn’t even like to play dodge ball in gym class!”

  “Hey, you two!” A gruff voice called out. “Your chariots are ready. Lord Pharaoh wishes you to ride out to the river with him.”

  We turned to find two chariots hitched and ready to roll. Meek danced on his toes in front of one of them.

  Grant and I made bug eyes at each other but slowly made our way to the chariots. I think both of us were racking our brains trying to figure a way out of the mess we’d gotten ourselves into, but neither of us to have any answers. I stepped toward the second chariot, but Grant ran around me and tagged it.

  “Oh, no. I had Meek the last time,” he said, jumping behind the second team of horses. “He’s all yours this time.”

  “Aw, man, it’s going to be bad enough trying to keep my head on my shoulders where it belongs without worrying about Meek taking a chunk out of me besides,” I grumbled. I eyed Meek as I walked around the chariot. “You behave, or else you’re croc bait, horse,” I said to him.

  Meeks snorted and tried to bite me as I passed. Damn horse. I dodged him and climbed up into the rig. “If there’s one thing I’m not going to miss about this place,” I said, picking up the reins, “it’s you.”

  Grant was having trouble balancing the reins and his spear and shield all at the same time. “How do they do this without dropping everything?” he grumbled.

  Beats me, I thought, looking around at the other drivers. The first thing I realized was that nobody rode double into battle. Only the archers were in the chariots, and each man rode alone. The second thing I noticed was how they were managing to guide their horse and leave their hands free for their weapons. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” I said. “Look at these guys!”

  “There’s no way! I can’t do that,” Grant gasped.

  “Me either!” I agreed.

  The archers had tied the reins around their bodies, leaving their hands free to use their bows and arrows. By throwing their weight one way or the other, they guided the horses in the direction the archer wanted to go. Leaning backward brought the chariot to a stop and leaning forward told the horses to get moving. It was amazing to watch, but there was no way I could duplicate their feat. The Egyptians were incredible. Then again, they’d probably learned to drive a chariot at the same age I was learning to ride a bike.

  Tut approached, escorted by his guards. He wore his familiar cone-shaped hat with its bobbing ostrich feathers. The Eye of Ra amulet hung from his neck, and he wore a long shirt of golden, overlapping scales that I figured was some sort of chain mail—the ancient Egyptian answer to the bulletproof vest. I swore I could hear him clinking as he hopped into a nearby chariot. His horses were wearing their ostrich feathers, colorful blankets, and golden face masks. The chariot was plain and simple, like the rest of ours, but that was where the similarity ended. I realized that anyone who saw him would know he was the pharaoh.

  I didn’t understand it. “Why does he want everyone to know who he is? Doesn’t that make him, like, a prime target or something?” I asked Grant.

  “Yeah, but I think the point is for intimidation. He thinks he’s a god, remember? If you believe that sort of stuff, then wouldn’t you be peeing your pants to see an honest-to-God god riding at you?” he answered.

  It made sense, I supposed, in an ancient Egyptian sort of way. “What are we going to do?”

  Grant didn’t have the opportunity to answer. When Tut’s chariot pulled away, our stupid horses—okay, maybe they were a lot smarter than I’d like to give them credit for being, since they knew exactly what they were supposed to do without our even jiggling the reins—took off after him.

  Suddenly, we were surrounded by chariots,
all moving toward the riverbank. I saw in the far distance that the infantry had already crossed the river and was marching double-time in neat lines on the other side.

  We were completely boxed in. Tut was directly ahead of us, and the rest of his army on each side and behind us. There was nowhere for us to go but forward. Our horses pulled against the reins, and our chariots rumbled toward the low, flat ships waiting at the river.

  Like it or not, it looked as though Grant and I were going to war.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I’D THOUGHT the Hittites were camped just on the other side of the river, but I was wrong. Tut’s army marched for hours toward the rising sun, to the far eastern borders of Egypt. The sun was nearly overhead when I heard a low, droning sound that reminded me of a beehive I’d seen once. We crested a dune and saw the Hittite camp far in the distance. Smoke from their fires curled into the new morning sky. Closer was line after line of Hittite warriors, all facing us. Their own scouts must’ve seen Tut’s army approaching, and they were ready for battle.

  Tut’s infantry stood in long lines halfway between us and the Hittite army. I saw Tut raise his scimitar to the sky and scream out a war cry that chilled my blood.

  Tut’s cry was drowned out by the voices of a thousand men answering his call. The infantry, already far ahead of the archers and chariots, broke into a run. Soon all I could see of them was a cloud of dust kicked up by their feet in the distance.

  Tut’s horses broke into a gallop, which must’ve been the signal the archers were waiting for, because the horses behind and to the side of us began to run. My horses and Grant’s joined the stampede, hurtling themselves forward against their braces. Our chariots rocketed over the sand, bumping, jerking, and jolting. My teeth rattled together from the bone-jarring ride.