Eve of the Pharaoh: Historical Adventure and Mystery

by R. M. Schultz

  Scooping up Croc, I sloshed back to the boat. Suty swatted him on his back as we passed. Croc tore out of my arms with claws bared, racing onboard and hiding amongst the crates.

  Akhenaten tapped his foot. “Enough!” he said. “You have all seen how many I killed and will commemorate the event on the walls of my future tomb, a record amongst even the ancient kings. Leave the cats and the dead. Now we sail!”

  Pushing the boat back toward the flowing river, the soldiers remained quiet. The late morning mist had burned off, the air still. Complete silence.

  A horrible roar erupted from the depths of the marsh. The boat bucked underneath me and tipped violently toward the water’s surface.

  Journal Translation

  THE BOAT SPUN AROUND and dipped to the opposite side, tilting farther over. Murk from the marsh rose over the edge, sloshing in. Another pounding blow. Sliding into the railing from her sitting position, Nefertiti pitched overboard. Soldiers launched into the water along with Akhenaten and myself, shrieking in surprise.

  Screams rang in my ears before my body smacked horizontally into the wet surface, my head sucked under. Turbulent water and bubbles erupted around me, disrupting my vision. My blood thickened with fear. What terror could capsize a barge? And did it lurk beyond the swirling debris? I thrashed through the filth, tasting muck—I hadn’t become much better of a swimmer since I’d rescued Croc years ago.

  Resurfacing, a net of algae clung to my face and neck, threatening to suck me back under. My breath came in panicked gasps. Massive jaws and teeth smashed into the barge, the creature’s smooth skin, large eyes, and small ears not resembling a crocodile. What was it—

  The vessel spun again, sending Suty and Mahu teetering. The larger man managed to hurl his spear. Plunging into the water, the weapon’s velocity diminished. If the bronze pierced the creature’s hide, it did not carry enough power to even distract the beast. Gaping jaws of the brown-skinned monster thrust toward the hull. Tremendous tusk-like teeth struck wood with a loud crack as an arrow buried into the side of its face.

  Bellowing, the beast plunged under water with an elephant-like splash. Violent thrashing arose on the far side of the boat. The eyes of another creature submerged. A soldier treaded water in front of me, but his chin slipped beneath the surface. Frightened screams ended in waving hands, gurgling, bubbles, and then ripples.

  Terror engulfed me with compressing force, my arms and legs thrashing on their own.

  Another soldier disappeared. How many creatures waited below? Would they suck me under at any moment? A body resurfaced, bitten in two and surrounded by pulsing red liquid. Panicking, I kicked away from the boat.

  Nefertiti screamed. My arms kept stroking, but my head turned. Her limbs flailed. Pain struck my heart. Was she being attacked, or could she not swim?

  Forcing a couple deep breaths, I struggled toward her despite consuming fear. “Are you wounded?” I yelled.

  Her eyes pulled open wide as her mouth emitted deafening screeches. I swam closer, reaching out. Grabbing my shoulders, she climbed and thrust me under water. My air disappeared as I blew bubbles of surprise. In her terror she wanted to stand on me for leverage. My lurching strokes—no one had ever taught me to swim—weren’t enough to pull myself to the surface. My lungs and throat ached.

  I did the only thing I could. I dove deeper. When Nefertiti’s head sunk under she immediately let go. I swam away, but a giant form plunged toward me through the swirling murk. My heart stopped. Massive jaws unhinged. I rolled as fast as I could. Teeth snapped shut. A leviathan-like body smashed into me, sending me spinning with disorientation.

  I expected to be crushed, but the jaws did not ensnare me. Several seconds passed and I resurfaced. Nefertiti squealed. Eerie suspense from unseen death waiting below summoned a fear unlike any other. The emotion so thoroughly haunted my mind, I still cannot help recalling it whenever I enter water.

  Grasping Nefertiti’s dress from behind, I paddled with all my might. She screamed and splashed, which might draw the attention of the creatures. The prospect of something lurking below and pulling me under was the only thought in my mind.

  Massive jaws snapped off another soldier’s arm. Red liquid swirled around me as we approached the boat, the shore too far away. Arrows and spears rained overhead. Clinging to the edge of our vessel, I pulled Nefertiti against the wood. She still wasn’t coherent, but Mahu hauled her up and extended his hand for me. Squeezing his palm with as much strength as I could muster, I kicked as he pulled. But it was too late.

  An unbelievable crushing pressure clamped down on my lower leg. Something pierced my flesh and grated against bone. I cried out in shock and blinding pain, and Mahu let me fall back into the river. An arrow whistled over my shoulder. The compression on my ankle released. Mahu yanked me up, and I collapsed into the shallow water filling the hull. Red liquid pulsed from my lower leg, intertwining with the murk.

  Mahu continued firing arrows until the last surviving soldier hauled himself in. Crawling and splashing through the boat, I clawed my way to the stern.

  “Row!” I yelled in my cursedly quiet voice.

  The remaining soldiers took up paddles as Mahu scanned the ripples, releasing an arrow. Oars broke water, and the boat lurched. Tilting the rudder, we angled toward the open Nile. Reversing the handle veered us to shore. “Keep rowing!” I said. The vessel pitched while I attempted to keep it straight, summoning all of my strength.

  “Stop!” Mahu yelled. “Take us out to the river!”

  I shook my head in disobedience. Now I understood my life-given duty as clear as the blue sky. The short conversation with Mahu was as deep a discussion as I’d ever shared with someone other than Father. “We can’t leave without him!” I said.

  Screaming, Mahu’s face contorted like a possessed man’s. “He’s gone! The hippopotami got him! The royal son is dead! Get us out of here!”

  My existence would become the consequence of my own decisions and actions. I did not desire a mediocre life.

  “There!” I yelled, pointing. Wing-like shoulder blades floated along the surface, Akhenaten’s body face down. No blood swirled around him. The boat bucked under a blow, and the men cried out. But they continued to row, in spite of the dread permeating the air. Mahu signed at the waters with his index and little fingers extended before reaching out and hauling in the gangly corpse.

  “Row hard!” I said, shifting the rudder. Another impact vibrated the hull and shook my bones. Wood splintered as the boat rocked, but we weaved toward the body of the Nile. I held my breath. Overwhelming pain arose in my leg.

  Mahu rolled Akhenaten’s body onto its back. Examining the body, he placed a hand upon the royal son’s neck. No visible wounds showed themselves, but Mahu shook his head. “Once I witnessed a doctor save a child from drowning … but I’m not gifted in medicine or magic.” Raising a fist into the air, the captain drove it down onto Akhenaten’s chest. The body jerked under the blow, and Nefertiti screamed.

  Red tinged water erupted from Akhenaten’s mouth, sending him into fits of coughing. Turning my master onto his side, sputtering and convulsions followed.

  I dropped the rudder in utter shock. A man—no, a god-favored man—had risen from death before my very eyes. What kind of dark magic did my master wield—

  “No!” Nefertiti said, but clamped a hand over her mouth.

  Stories of magic carried in bloodlines, in the descendants of the Aten, were true. They possessed power over death itself, even resurrection! Akhenaten was surely the Aten’s chosen one. But disappointment overwhelmed me, dragging my shoulders down. I had hoped to bring the body back to Pharaoh, as we should, imagining my bravery would be justly honored. But now … awe and fear solidified in my soul.

  Akhenaten continued to gag and choke as a soldier draped a dry blanket over him. After opening and securing the sail, the men bailed water from the hull and assessed for structural damages. No boards were broken on top, but they’d have to inspect the undersi
de when we were long gone from this place. Hopefully we wouldn’t sink.

  A strong wind whipped the sail, and we flew along like an albatross. Wet hair blew into my face. I felt like a hero and more alive than I ever had. I’d saved my master.

  Steering the vessel, I learned by making incremental adjustments, some correct and some incorrect. I just never repeated the same mistake.

  Rolling onto his stomach, Akhenaten propped himself on his elbows. His entire body spasmed, his eyes vacant. Placing a knee underneath himself, he tried to stand but failed multiple times. Mahu offered assistance, but Akhenaten pushed him away. Crawling to the bow, he sat with his back to me.

  Nefertiti sobbed while the pain in my leg intensified. A deep purple encompassed my entire lower leg, a puncture wound at its center.

  Journal Translation

  A HIPPOPOTAMUS TUSK HAD pierced flesh and bone, and blood still cascaded from the wound. I felt faint. Clenching my teeth, I tried to concentrate on steering. But the pain became unbearable.

  Warm hands caressed my skin as Nefertiti applied pressure to the wound and wrapped it in a dry cloth. Circling my leg and purring, Croc sniffed and licked the bandage. A glimmer returned to Nefertiti’s eyes as she whispered, “I’d hoped Akhenaten was dead.” Her lower lip trembled and a tear ran down her cheek.

  Sympathy stung my heart. “Things will be different now … after that,” I said.

  Her plump lips turned up into a faint smile as she finished dressing my wound.

  Mahu stood and spoke. “We return to Memphis. The omens say this voyage is cursed and should be abandoned.”

  “We stay the course,” a resonating voice echoed from the front, followed by a fit of coughing. Akhenaten trembled, but didn’t turn around.

  “But Your Majesty,” Mahu said, “we are in no physical or mental condition to continue to Elephantine, much less the borders of the empire.”

  “You have not seen what I have!” Akhenaten screamed, turning and coughing red-tinged fluid onto the deck. Wiping stringing saliva with the back of his hand, his black eye paint streaked across his cheeks. “We need to visit Thebes now more than ever. The wheels of this ancient world grind quickly. I must seize the moment … my time!”

  Akhenaten’s dilated eyes contained a madness beyond what usually lay veiled beneath.

  No one argued.

  “We sail day and night,” Akhenaten said. “The rising level of the Nile will cover any sandbars.”

  Thankfully, the red tinge of silt now flowed in the river, indicating the commencement of the inundation.

  Mahu conceded to Akhenaten, but folded the sail to half its breadth at night. The captain and I alternated navigation duty and slept when we could. Croc purred and yelled high-pitched meows, growing uncharacteristically affectionate and clingy.

  “What was it you were doing before pulling Akhenaten from the marsh?” I asked Mahu one evening, the moon’s faint light illuminating the water’s surface. “Pointing at the hippopotamus like this?” I extended my index and little fingers.

  “Not now!” Mahu said, his eyelids pulling back as he waved at me to stop. “It’s a simple spell to ward off crocodiles. I was trying whatever I could, but don’t waste magic! People are born with mystical powers, but must learn how to wield them. Most carry so little you’d never see its effects, but a rare few possess powers no man should.”

  Could I possibly hold magic within me and be special without anyone ever knowing it? Hope broke into the dark world like sunlight. I’d try this magic if we ever encountered a crocodile, to determine if I had the capability. But did my predetermined status as a lowly servant mean I’d not control enough to matter? Shadows lingered over my excitement, optimism ebbing as quickly as it came.

  Suty yelled at his sulking comrades, who slouched and hung their heads, “Pay attention, ya fools!”

  Akhenaten continued to stare south.

  One short soldier leaned over to another, his voice tight with tension, “Seth’s chaos and his serpent, Apep, are trailing us on this voyage.”

  My lips pursed in wonder. Did the men need to mourn their three dead comrades, and contemplate the bizarre disappearance of the other?

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done,” Nefertiti said as she unwound my stained bandage. “The crew risked everything for Akhenaten, but you did more for all of us than anyone would expect of a servant … more than we’d expect of a royal man.”

  The honor of being appreciated rose as a tingling through my face and cheeks. I knew what heroes felt, and my life took a new course. Mahu’s advice was all I needed. Nefertiti would see me as a man and would fall in love with me. She’d love me for how I felt about her, and for the lengths I was willing to go. My current status wouldn’t matter, but I’d climb through the ranks of men for her if need be. For the first time I didn’t feel like a servant.

  My wound burned when she removed the cloth, as if my limb had caught fire. Pain ascended into my thigh. Reeking like the carcass of a rodent covered in maggots, thick yellow fluid drained in gobs from the puncture. My toes curled in disgust. But Nefertiti no longer ignored me as a man and I couldn’t jeopardize that. I clenched my jaw to hold back a whine, as any hero would. This injury just needed more time to heal, like the lacerations I’d sustained as a clumsy child.

  Securing a new bandage, wrinkles of concern arose on her soft forehead.

  Days blended together upon the vast waters among barren desert, scattered trees, shrubs, and farmland. My thoughts turned cloudy, and I tired easily.

  I awoke, startled to find I’d blacked out at the rudder. Nefertiti knelt by my side, my leg throbbing. Lifting my kilt revealed that my injured leg had swelled to twice the size of my other leg. Streaks ran upward under my skin, twisting into black and purple near my groin.

  Nefertiti pointed as her mouth fell open. “Mahu, look!”

  Striding over with wide eyes, Mahu said, “The marks of death reach for his heart. We need to get him to a doctor, magician, or priest soon, or he’ll be lost.”

  Something loosened in my throat, my jaw trembling with dread. I could die? Now that I was a hero and had accomplished something, I was going to die? Fear and loneliness overwhelmed me, and I started to shake. I’d never pass the underworld’s judgment. There was still so much I had to learn and assist Akhenaten with to gain favor. And what would happen to Nefertiti?

  Standing for the first time in days, Akhenaten wheeled around. His eyes dilated with anger. “Who placed the servant boy in charge of steering this vessel?” His cracked lips twitched, eye paint still running ragged across his countenance. “He is always stepping beyond his boundaries, and it is detrimental to us all. We are falling out of favor. Remove him!”

  I sat frozen in shock. Akhenaten should treat me as his savior!

  Suty tossed me aside. Crashing into the hull with a smack, I lay there drifting in and out of awareness for an unknown duration of time. Nefertiti and Mahu’s faces swirled in a fog of feverish nightmares.

  My eyes opened, but everything was blurry when we ran aground. Awaiting us, armed guards motioned to come ashore. Mahu carried me off the barge while Akhenaten led his soldiers into a mysterious city.

  We were escorted into a magnificent temple. However, unlike any house of worship I’d seen, this one was enclosed and dark. My breathing changed to shallow panting as anxiety mounted. How would the healing light of the Aten reach me? Or was this where they brought the blasphemers, people who cursed God?

  Placing me upon a mud-brick slab, several men examined me under firelight. One with a white sash across his chest touched my wound. Blinding pain shot up my spine and into my head. I screamed and tried to thrash away, but was held firm. They poked and prodded my leg, muttering amongst themselves.

  The magician wearing the sash shook his head. “Amputation won’t help if the marks extend to his body,” he whispered. “At least he’s only a servant.”

  Loneliness gripped my heart, my head slumping back as I lay dying in the tem
ple. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Father … Croc wasn’t here either, or Nefertiti. I would die alone, journeying into that desolate darkness without love or friendship—

  A man in a leopard-skin cloak with clean-shaven head entered the hazy scene. Another followed, wearing the typical white kilt with a writing pallet suspended over his shoulder by rope. This doctor inspected my wound, made notes with his instruments, consulted a stack of papyrus, and whispered to the other two. “The hippopotamus planted the seed, but now the disease seeps through his blood.”

  Circling me, the man in the white sash set down a series of statuettes. He produced a bronze wand in the shape of a cobra and shook it in my direction, speaking gibberish.

  Cupping my forearms, the priest in the yellow animal-skin cloak nodded. The magician set the cobra wand on my chest and tied knots up a length of rope, placing it adjacent to my leg. “This servant has been bitten,” the magician said. “Give me breath. A shriek shall call out from the malignant humors that are scattered throughout this body. If the poison passes the seven knots I will not let the sun shine. I will not let the inundation rush forth!”

  The priest produced an ivory knife, shadowed hieroglyphics inscribed upon its blade. Blackness consumed everything for a moment, but the lamplight flickered and returned.

  “It has taken hold in the tibia,” the doctor declared.

  The priest held the knife high before plunging it down into me.

  Present Day

  A THUNDEROUS ECHO RESOUNDED, shaking the walls of the tomb. I awoke from dreams of the mysterious woman and unknown friends. One flashlight was dead, the other faint. Maddie lay still. A shudder ran through my bones as I tried to gasp, but my dry throat and cracked lips barely created a painful whisper. I swallowed in fear. Was she dead? Reaching out, I touched her shoulder and shook her. Nothing. My fingers stretched toward her neck, to check for a pulse.

  “Don’t think because you showed me one tomb that I’m going to let you put your hands on me,” Maddie croaked as she opened an eye. One corner of her parched lips formed a faint smile, beneath streaks of dried blood. “Gavin, I give you a lot of crap, but …” She may have winked, although it could’ve just been a blink.