Chapter 12

Hordes of people crowded the streets as they pushed past one another trying to catch a glips of the parade. Their clothes were a rich sea of reds yellows and greens mixed with the dust of the street.

I watched them as I waited on the steps of the palace for Nabneteru, who was to be my escort. My close call with death meant had put the Queen and Nabneteru on edge for the past week. I was not to wander around the grounds of the palace without someone with me, and I was not to leave the palace under any circumstances.

The sun beat down harder as if laughing at my current state of affairs; its relentless heat was the least of my worries.

The hairs on the back of my raised. My head snapped around.

I relaxed.

"Ramesses," I said with a wide grin. I had only seen him once since I woke up.

He didn't move closer as I stood up. I frowned not use to his quite countenance. A roar from the crowd went up behind me.

"I think that's your queue?" I said to him.

"It can wait," He said flatly.

What, the war? What was the matter with him?

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Fully recovered," I said trying to lighten the mood, "it was actually quite refreshing. Few weeks of peace and quiet to catch up on my sleep." I joked hoping he would smile.

His eyes burned instead, I took a step back, a little afraid, forgetting about the stairs. My foot, not finding anything under it, caused my body to fall backward.

A strong hand graded my arm, "Would you be more careful!" Ramesses said now close to me.

I was fed up with this game. "What is wrong with you? I can't tell if you're happy I woke up, or disappointed it wasn't out for longer."

He grabbed my face his eyes filled with sadness and pain, "Don't you ever say that again."

I froze, held captive by his eye and the butterflies in my stomach.

"I thought... I thought I'd  lost you. You just lied their day after day slipped further and further away from me. And I couldn't do anything!" His hands fell from my face.

I graded one of his hands. "You can blame yourself," I said quietly, "I made my own choices. It's not your fault."

That didn't seem to make him feel better.

"Why? Why did you do it?" He asked angry again.

I didn't say anything for a moment.

"She said," a felt my voice catch, "She said she could help me find my family." Saying it out loud made me realize just how hopeless my dream really was. I tear slip down my cheek and fell onto the beautiful marble floor.

Ramesses pulled me into his chest. It was the first time I had felt safe since I came to Egypt all those months ago. I closed my eyes wishing I could leave the world and stay right here for an eternity.

Ramesses spoke in a quiet voice, "I can't find your family or restore your memories, but I give try to give you new ones. Please don't cry anymore."

His thumb wiped away my tears. He kissed my forehead, then I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. I needed to feel something other than the sadness and loneliness that had pervaded my thoughts for the past week. My desperation was translated into my kiss, and he gave me what I need: strength and escape from my pain.

Ramesses pulled back as another cheer rose up from outside the palace. "I have to go, but I will make you a promise. When I come back you won't ever have to feel alone again."

My heart skipped a beat. Could he really keep such a promise?

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I stood next to Nabneteru as the golden chariots flew by the crowds with cheers rising and falling. It felt nice to be among so many people who didn't know who I was.

A huge cheer erupted as Ramesses road by. My stomach climbed higher into my chest.

As Ramesses reach the steps of a temple, the chariot slowed and he claimed out. Isetnofret was waiting and took his arm as they walked up the steps to greet Pharaoh Seti and Queen Tuya.  They were a beautiful couple. This was the first time I had seen Isetnofret since the Feast of Wagy. She looked every inch a queen next to Ramesses, as she waved at the crowds. I smiled happy for her success.

As the streets the cleared, Nabneteru and I began to walk back to the palace. He said nothing to me until we just outside the long hallway with massive columns that lead to the palace doors.

"Ramesses is in love with you," Nabneteru said. It wasn't a question.

I didn't say anything.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked calmy.

"To me it is," he said with the trace of a laugh in his voice.

I didn't look at him. "What are you going to do?" I asked not sure if he was angry.

"You should ask yourself that question. It is your life Natalie," Nabneteru correct.

"I won't ever go home, will I?"

He looked at me sadly, "No...I am sorry. If I had the knowledge I would send you home tomorrow."

I nodded. If this was to be my new life, I would be the one in control from now on.

"I don't think this is a good idea?" Chione said nervously as she helped me dress.

"Nabneteru said I couldn't leave without a chaperon," I stated confidently, "if you come with me I won't be disobeying that rule."

"I guess, but don't you think we should check with...," Chione started to ask.

"It will be fine, I promise."

I walked among all the carts selling things I didn't know the names of. "What's that?" I ask Chione. She looked where I was pointing.

"They are papyrus weavers. They make scrolls for businessmen."

I ran my hand over the beautiful fabrics on one of the carts. It felt so good to away from the palace and free from the strict set of rules that had been imposed upon me. News had come back that Ramesses has successfully begun to push back some of the Hittites out of Egypt's territories. Ramesses had been away for a little over three months, and in that time, I had been the ideal prisoner. I had gone to all my lessons on time, stayed out of everyone's way and not wander off. I could now could both read and write in five languages and had grasped a basic understanding of Egyptian law and how it was used. So, with everyone in a good mood, I decided to take a trip to the city outside the palace.

Nabneteru lesson, while quite thorough, had taught me nothing of what the life of an average citizen of Egypt. I looked around at the streets watching people go about their lives selling and buying things for their families, while children ran between the legs of the adults.

I watched a small child smile while he ate a piece of bread. He looked up at me.

"STOP! THEIF!" I turned to see a man running towards me. He graded the child roughly by the arm.

"You think you can still from me you dirty low life. I'll teach you what happens to children like you."

Before I could do anything to stop the man, a woman came running into sight.

"Please don't hurt him. He was just hungry."

He woman wore dirty clothes and looked very thin. My heart hurt for her.

"Don't hold him like that your hurting him!" I cried at the man squeezing the child's arm harder.

"Say out if this bitch! You want to pay for it?" he asked with a sneer.

I didn't have any money.

"I didn't think so." He said with a smug look.

Then two guards showed up as a result of the shouting. The angry man called them over and pointed at the woman. "This whore sent her child to steal from me," he accused.

"It's not true cried the women!" but guards had already grabbed her and drug her to the middle of the street.

"The little boy was just hungry!" I screamed at the guards, but they paid no attention to me.

"You know the sentence for stealing," one guard said pulling out a sword. They pulled to over over to a wooden table.

"No! Please, NO!" she screamed as the sword came down on her wrist. Blood soaked the ground.

"We need to go," Chione said, "Now!" She pulled me away from the screaming woman and the crying boy. The bread now forgotten on the dirty ground.

"It was just a piece of bread," I said. The tears ran down my face.

Chione washed the dirt from the street off me. "That is just the law, and eye for an eye," Chione said.

"Seems rather harsh, don't you think?" I asked.

"What's the alternative? We just let people take what they want from people who are also just trying to get by?"

I didn't have an answer.

I stood up of the tub and put on a sheer shift Chione had left out for me. I looked at the black-spotted mirror on the small table and watch another tear fall onto it.

I wiped it away angrily. I was done crying. What good had it done me or the people I had cried for. My mother was still dead, my family was gone, and a woman had lost her hand over a piece of bread.

You will never shed another senseless tear, I told myself. I won't help you or the people out there.

Looking back on it now, I think that was the moment my childhood ended. Once innocence is lost, it can ever be regained.