Role Playing Fan Fiction ❯ The Lady of Time ❯ When someone asks you if you’re a Goddess, you say Yes! ( Chapter 1 )

THE LADY OF TIME

OR

HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?

 

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Iridia Sunheart.

 

Notes: Well, here we go. First stop is an alternative timeline in Fantasy Ancient Egypt. This is highly inspired from the manga 猬Ouke No Monshou猬 (Daughter of Nile in English).

 

Some translations of ancient Egyptian:

Tamit: Lady Cat.

Akhu: Light.

Heni: Song.

Yor: The Nile River.

Tawi: The Two Lands (Egypt).

Isfret: Chaos and Destruction.

Men-Nefer: Memphis.

Bahati: Wise Soul.

Per-Ankh: House of Life.

Ausare: Osiris.

Anup: Anubis.

Eset: Isis.

Inuheni: Music of the Waters.

Heka: Magic.

Sekhem: Life Energy.

Nekhti: Mighty.

Setiemhat: Set had walked away from the child.

Horimerit: Beloved of Horus.

Siaseti: Set is the honorary parent of the child.

Sutekh: Set.

Ayath: Mist.

Heqt: Queen.

Utshepit: Bronze Hand.

Peraya: Pharaoh.

Thesas: Lady or Lord.

Sa-Re: Son of Re.

Maaukepu: Lion Hunter.

 

Chap 1: When someone asks you if you猬re a Goddess, you say Yes!

 

 

The Hawk flew high in the air above the luxuriant vegetation around the mighty Yor (Egyptian name for the Nile which means 猬The River猬). It was its prerogative as the Sacred Animal of the god Horus the Avenger. His raucous call sounded high and far away. Evil wrong-doers, living outside the Path of Ma猬at, couldn猬t but winced at that sound. Its powerful eyesight was suddenly drawn to a brilliant blue-white flash emanating from a spherical field.

 

The field dissipated immediately, revealing a feminine silhouette achieving to fall on the hard ground. A rather curious ground: The ground, in a perfect 6 meters disk around the woman, was made of a sort of artificial grey stone instead of vegetation.

 

The Hawk sensed that something very important had happened. It was something born from Isfret (chaos and disruption) but it could be used for Ma猬at, the true and right way, to continue for Tawy, the Two Lands (local name for all of Egypt). Already, it could sense, dimly, the interest that all deities were taking about this person through their own awareness and their Sacred Animals.

 

Under the flying bird, Iridia Sunheart remained unconscious as the mysterious dark metallic dodecahedron in her right hand continued its primary mission and was busy making adjustments in her physiological and mental structures and reprogramming itself for its new owner.

 

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The young man pointed to the sky. 猬Look mother! Horus is circling near us. It is a good omen.猬 He was a boy, just shy out of his teenager years, and was clothed simply and poorly in a kilt of dirty white linen with sandals of woven papyrus. He was tanned and presented the features standard for an Egyptian: A slender small body, finely-shaped facial bones and predominantly African features. His eyes and short hair were black and he was wielding a short bow and a woven basket containing his hunt of the day.

 

The woman with him was a mature woman with a kind face marked by the vicissitudes of life. She was clothed with a dark blue loose shirt with billowy sleeves and a dark blue fringed skirt of linen. She, also, had woven sandals of papyrus. Her long wavy black hair was kept under a light blue shawl. She smiled at her son. 猬Yes, it is. So why don猬t you go quickly to find this boon before someone else is gifted with?猬 She continued to gather edible and useful plants in her own basket when she heard her son calling her urgently.

 

î…Mother! Come quickly! I need your help!猬

 

Intrigued, the woman went to her son and gasped as she saw what he had discovered among the bushes: Lying on a flat surface of grey stone, like an offering from the gods, was a young girl of indeterminate age, but probably only a few years older than her son. She was a foreigner, perhaps a Greek, with a very pale skin and a luxuriant mane of black hair. She was very strangely clothed with a light blue thing around her legs and a sleeveless black skin-tight shirt. Her footwear was very rich in the form of decorated leather. There was also a curious device affixed on her eyes in the form of a small metallic frame with a transparent substance on it.

 

The young boy turned an anxious visage to his mother. 猬What are we going to do, Mother?猬

 

The woman thought as she gently brushed some stray locks of raven hair from the face of the mysterious foreigner. She turned to her son and smiled. 猬We猬re going to follow Ma猬at as Horus itself has showed to us, my son.猬

 

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Iridia felt herself under a microscope. She was floating in darkness so deep that it was almost tangible. Around her, whispers were emerging from nowhere. Each whispers seemed to carry the same questions: Who are you? Why are you here?

 

Suddenly, two brilliant green eyes with a vertical pupil fixed her and seemed to pierce her being up to the core of her soul.

 

She awoke with a jolt. The two eyes seemed to pursue her even in the realm of consciousness for an instant. 猬Get away from me!猬

 

Her two hands, raised in defence, hit something that fell backward with a curse. 猬By the gods, woman! I was simply refreshing the wet rag on your brow. Nothing more.猬

 

Iridia blinked as she considered what and who she was seeing. It was a young man with African features except for his lighter skin tone and non-curling black hair. She blinked again as she considered his tattered clothing. She looked around her and gasped in dismay and confusion. 猬Where the hell am I?!î…

 

She was in a single room house made of sun-dried bricks with no windows except some slits set high in the walls. There was only one door opening on the exterior that provided the main illumination. She was resting on a simple pallet made of straw under a sheet. Another sheet, made of linen, covered her still clothed body. There was very little furniture in the house apart for a wood table and a few stools. Jars of baked clay and a few shelves constituted the remaining decorations.

 

She turned to the young man. 猬Who are you?猬

 

He smiled. 猬My name is Akhu (Light) and before you ask, you are inside the house of my mother. We found you unconscious this morning by the western bank of Yor.猬

 

Iridia frowned. She had distinctly heard the sounds 猬akou猬 and 猬yor猬 but she had instantly translated it in her mind as 猬Light猬 and 猬the river Nile猬.

 

î…The Nile? I猬m in Egypt?!猬 Her eyes widened. Independent of her willpower, she had distinctly pronounced the words 猬Nile猬 and 猬Egypt猬 as 猬Yorî… and 猬Tawiî…. Her mind froze as she also suddenly remarked that although she thought in French, her native tongue, the sounds she spoke were definitively in another tongue. A tongue she was sure she had never mastered or even heard before.

 

Unaware of the confusion in his guest, Akhu continued. 猬You must be quite the foreigner to ignore where you are. Yes, you are walking the land of Tawi. How did you find yourself in our country?猬

 

î…I猬猬 Iridia stopped herself. That was right, how did she find herself in Egypt, if it was really the place she was? She blinked as she remembered the last events in her memory: The buying of the chunk of lava, the accidental shattering of the hunk, the shiny crystal and the light-show猬

 

She gasped but sighed immediately in relief as she found the dodecahedron still safely clutched in her right hand. She raised an eyebrow as she examined it as something had changed since the last time: A small chain of the seemingly same metal as the dice-like device was now attached to it.

 

Driven by her instinct, she passed it around her neck where it safely hung just above her cleavage. Her second eyebrow joined her first as she 猬felt猬 that it was now as it right place and that it was slowly猬 猬charging up猬?

 

She plunged her luminescent green gaze in the black eyes of the young man and answered truthfully. 猬I have absolutely no idea how I came here.猬

 

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Iridia examined herself in what could pass as a mirror in the modest house: Water in a large clay bowl. The mixture of henna and some herbs had given her pale skin what could pass as a normal tan if only a little pale compared to the average Egyptian. The colour could resist a few washes. She had been warned that the current Pharaoh had ordered that any foreigner without any identification should be猬 executed. Of course, there was little she could do to disguise her European features or her 猬cat猬s eyes猬 as the mother of Akhu, a nice and gentle woman named Heni (Song), had remarked. And there was the small matter of her cultural upbringing.

 

Iridia groaned as she massaged her temples. Small matter? Yeah, right. As if the fact that she was also in ANCIENT EGYPT for God sake was a small matter. She sighed. At least, she had learned quite a bit. She was currently in one of the numerous gathering of houses for the slaves outside the main fortifications of Men-Nefer (Memphis), the capital of Egypt.

 

She rolled up her eyes. She knew about the 猬where猬, but not the 猬when猬. She had however the 猬how猬 on a chain around her neck and the 猬why猬 would alas required some experiments in the future. She was also sure that the mysterious metallic d20 was responsible of her new found knowledge of the Egyptian tongue and her physiological changes. She seemed to have lost more than a decade in age and her eyesight had been restored. She almost screamed when she had remarked that she could see perfectly without her glasses, something she hadn猬t experienced since her childhood.

 

She sighed as she examined the rest of her person. She was devoid of all her modern clothes and accessories and clad in a fringed cr猬me linen skirt with long billowy sleeves, a shawl, enabling her to conceal partially her eyes, completed her disguise. She regretted the necessity to also don current underwear which consisted only of a loincloth and a band of tissue to support her breasts. One didn猬t think of the usefulness of modern materials until when one is required to eschew them. Another funny fact was that she was now completely devoid of any body hair below her neck.

 

The proverb 猬knowledge is power猬 took all its importance in the current context. She had no or little knowledge which could help her to survive. The only solution was to learn whatever she could learn and rapidly. Fortunately, the two slaves who had taken her were determined to continue to help her. She remembered that the Egyptians of the ancient time were a superstitious lot. No modern person would have help her simply because a hawk, sacred to Horus, had circled above her.

 

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And so Iridia worked among the slaves as a slave: She had no choice in this case. Having no identification, she wouldn猬t last long if she tried to go somewhere else. And where could she go as a matter of fact: Anywhere, she would be a foreigner.

 

She had however the advantage of her modern education and open mind: It was paradox since she wasn猬t superstitious even if she acknowledged the existence of the supernatural. She had also the advantage to have been formed as a healer: a tremendous advantage among the slave community. The dodecahedron had also gifted her with the ability to READ all the forms of Egyptian hieroglyphs, including the hieratic and demotic shorthands of the scribes and the scripted cuneiform Akkadian, the lingua franca of the Ancient World.

 

Thus a physician had taken her under his wing during his journey among the slaves. The good doctor was old and frequently required the help and plain support of the youthful woman during the few days of the week when he descended from the upper-class quarters of Memphis to do his work.

 

What was strange to her eyes was the fact that even if they were renowned in the world as the very best of the era, Egyptians doctors almost didn猬t practice surgery. They use a mixture of alchemy and herbal medicine which involved dietary prescriptions and special exercises. Nonetheless, Iridia amassed a fantastic reservoir of herbal and chemical knowledge that she could use in conjunction with her modern medical knowledge: At least where she could replace a modern drug with a local equivalent.

 

The physician had been fascinated by her 猬Mako eyes猬. In fact, almost all the people who had discovered her unusual eye colour had been fascinated. It was creepy, because she was sure that it was important in some way. Her inquiries with Akhu or Heni had been fruitless so far. The best she had received was a vague rumour of a hypothetical story told during a drama played by the temple of Bastet. Egyptians were simple people firmly anchored in the comfortable. The funny fact was the profound belief that gods and other supernatural entities existed and lived along the mortals.

 

The days she wasn猬t helping the old physician, Iridia worked everywhere she could received an instruction or was simply needed. She worked as a labourer with the back-breaking jobs of tending the land. She worked as a hunter of games or birds, a fisherman, a papyrus stripper and she even played the role of a mourner when she accompanied the sarcophagus of a minor member of the clergy when he was escorted for his last travel on the Nile before his entombing.

 

All those works only covered her basic subsistence, although she was learning some very useful skills. The jobs which could also enable her to repay the kind family who continued to host her were scarce. She managed to find a few as an apprentice with some artisans: Her dexterous fingers were great for many trades where she worked wood, textiles, clay, stones or metals.

 

However, her natural kindness pushed her to refuse to be paid when she did three things, generally in the evenings. Apart for her healer formation, she was an accomplished artist: She used this advantage for entertaining the slave population by performing acrobatics, dances and music.

 

Unfortunately for her, it had also the side-effect to draw the attention of the supervisors of the slaves.

 

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Bahati (Wise Soul), the old physician, was facing a little dilemma. His current apprentice, the mysterious girl known as Tamit (Lady Cat) for her strange eyes, was definitively more advanced in the arts of healing than she currently displayed. Worse, although his mastery of magic was a little rusted, he was sure that she had at least the 猬spark猬 of magic in her: a sure sign of the attention of the gods.

 

But she was a slave, and he wasn猬t sure if the remaining years he had in his old body would be sufficient to educate her properly. However, he had rarely encountered someone as dedicated as learning everything in her vicinity. There was also the fact that he suspected her to be fully literate and thus to be of a higher extraction than he thought.

 

If she was literate AND possessing the gift of Magic, then she was, at the very least, the daughter of a literate professional liked himself. And of course, apart for beginning her formation, he had the duty to signal her to the government and the clerical authorities.

 

He shrugged. She had certainly enough faith in her heart: He had rarely seen someone so dedicated to help those in needs. He had witnessed her, one time, giving a treatment to a very poor labourer who couldn猬t give her even a grain of wheat. He said nothing because she had used the medicinal plants she gathered herself and none of the allotment he gave to her. When the labourer asked her why she was helping him for nothing in return, she simply replied: 猬Because it猬s my duty.猬 She then smiled and continued. 猬Besides, your smile is payment enough.猬

 

He nodded to himself. Truly, Tamit followed the path of Ma猬at like a good Egyptian. He couldn猬t do less but to ask her next time to accompany him to the Per-Ankh (the 猬House of Life猬) where she could be tested and taught.

 

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î…How come I always find myself into such situations?!î… Iridia suppressed a sigh and a groan as she continued to copy the medical text of a cure for warts on a papyrus, taking great care to properly scribe the hieroglyphs. She was sitting in the classic scribe pose with a wooden tablet used as a portable desk for the papyrus. She used a wood pen to inscribe the ideograms.

 

Months had passed since Heni and Akhu had found her near the Nile. Months passed to learn any trade she could and to adapt to the Egyptian culture and now猬 The most frustrating thing was that she still didn猬t know precisely at which time period she was. The only clues she had gathered indicated that she was 猬some when猬 during the New Kingdom period, probably between 1570 B.C. to 1070 B.C.

 

î…Thank you Bahati for 猬helping me猬.î… She didn猬t know if she should compliment the old physician or cursed his name. She was now receiving an education, and what education.

 

When Bahati had escorted her to the House of Life in Memphis, she had almost panicked. The term 猬House猬 was also a misnomer: The 猬House猬 was a big temple structure with multiples stories and wings and was where physicians were formed.

 

It had been better than what she feared once she was inside. The old physician had presented her as 猬a worthy apprentice猬 and had asked that she be tested. And what a test.

 

She smiled as she remembered when she had answered theology questions from priests and priestesses from the temples of Amun, Ra, Ausare (Osiris), Anup (Anubis), Eset (Isis) and Bastet. Her knowledge of Ancient Egyptian mythology came directly from her knowledge of role-playing games. She had sensed that she had duly impressed them. The only trouble was that she didn猬t like the almost wicked light that she thought she saw in the eyes of the old priest of Amun.

 

Of course, her literacy and the depth of her medical knowledge had achieved to open for her a place in the prestigious school. In fact, most of the physicians that tested her looked like they didn猬t want to let her go back to the fields even if she wasn猬t from middle-class. It was then that it hit her: She was deliberately exposing herself to more scrutiny. She was still an illegal foreigner, hiding her pale skin by an artificial tan and in risk to being killed if discovered.

 

She couldn猬t do a thing about that for now. In fact, at her waist was a small wooden tablet that identify her as Tamit of Men-Nefer and apprentice of the Per-Ankh. It was a second step to secure her position in this land. She frowned as she considered that she had postponed her experiments to get back home.

 

She weighed the small dodecahedron hanging safely under her new white linen shirt with skin-tight short sleeves. She smiled as she considered the modest room she was currently living in: A wood pallet with linen sheets, a few shelves with some scrolls and medical supplies, some jars, an oil lamp and a very small window.

 

The reason why she stayed here was the first lesson she received from Inuheni (Music of the Waters), a priestess of Eset: Magic.

 

A simple word and yet猬 She had prepared herself for learning and tolerating what she had dubbed superstition from the Egyptians and she had almost lost her cool when Inuheni had demonstrated a simple spell before her. She smiled as she considered the source of light in her room. It was the early night and she didn猬t light her oil lamp. Nope. She proudly gazed on the small ball of light hovering near her shoulder.

 

Magic. Real Magic. It was an old dream came true. Yeah, she certainly didn猬t want to go back too early, even if the presence of real magic cast a shadow on her certitude that she had travelled back in time. Oh, well, such an occasion wouldn猬t present itself to her in a lifetime. If she had been a vacuum cleaner before, she had been a veritable black hole for Heka (Magic).

 

The basic of Egyptian spellcasting was that every word had inherent power. By speaking or writing properly crafted sentences, one could bring changes in the nature of things. Curiously, even the power of the clerical spellcasters didn猬t come from the gods but from their own energy. The gods had simply more power and a better understanding of reality. In fact, the true goal of any sorcerer was to attain a state of consciousness in which one saw the true nature of the universe and could change the universe through sheer will.

 

The term Sekhem referred to the life energy that every living creature contained. A magician used this life energy to power his spells. There were also spells and magical items devised to focus, gather or safeguard this source of power. She suspected that mind or Psi energy, the fabled Ki from martial arts and the Sekhem were deeply intertwined.

 

It didn猬t take much more for her to unseal her magical potential. Inuheni had pronounced her 猬gifted猬 and she had learned quite a bit since. Once again, her modern background and her knowledge of the martial arts had prepared her better than most by opening beforehand her mind to the nature of the universe and knowing that Ki was real. Even if Magic still stay something mysterious for now, her understanding of the laws of Physics and her physical preparation had come very handy.

 

The spells she had mastered so far were very basic. Almost any physicians or priests would have known them. What separated her from the rest was the fact that she learned all of them in record time. A physician had remarked that it was as if she 猬remembered them猬.

 

A small mew drew her attention to the window. She smiled as she greeted her nocturnal visitor. 猬Hello Luna. How have you been?猬

 

A small female Mau cat entered her bedroom. It was something else that she liked in this time period: Many of her favourite animals were considered as sacred. Come to think of it, now that she knew that gods truly roamed the mortal plane, maybe Luna was a Sacred Animal of Bastet.

 

She withdrew the jar of milk that she had preserved by a spell from this morning and let the cat happily drank from it as she caressed it. She had named the cat from one of her anime. Since the Mau was welcomed anywhere, no one seemed to have bothered to name it. She sighed a little as she pet the animal. She couldn猬t but felt guilty about her own cat that had been left alone in her studio. Oh, sure, there was a chance that it could open the door of the bathroom, gained the small garden under her balcony and live here happily, but nonetheless she felt she had abandoned it. She then firmly clamped on the surge of emotions that came whenever she thought of her original time period. Her family must have been devastated by her disappearance.

 

Well, now that Luna was here, it was time for her own little ritual of the night. 猬I猬m going now, Luna.猬 She winked to the Mau. 猬And don猬t go out with a tomcat you don猬t know, okay?猬

 

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The young man was riding his white horse at a brisk pace, seemingly unmindful that the night was around him and that he risked to break something. Behind another young man on another horse was thinking along those lines and cringed in anticipation

 

He was a tall man with a light tan, piercing eyes of dark obsidian and long black hair. He wasn猬t dressed like his rank entitled him tonight, because he wanted a little freedom from the straps of his position. So he had lost his armed escort, dressed in a simple unadorned white linen loincloth and taken only his one trusted bodyguard and his sword.

 

He was born as Nekhti (mighty), eldest and last survivor of the sons of Pharaoh Setiemhat (Set had walked away from the child) and had received the throne of the two kingdoms of Egypt two years ago. Now at 20 years, he was the uncontested living god and king of the mightiest empire of the Middle-East: A very prosperous and peaceful kingdom.

 

Although there was rumour of movements from his frontiers, so far he had been rather bored and frustrated at the status quo of his land. He was born to be a king. He possessed most, if not all of the qualities of a great ancient ruler: He was wise, quick-witted, strong, and careful and a good military commander.

 

Unfortunately one of his royal names was Siaseti (Set is the honorary parent of the child). He had received it because sometimes, the wrath of Sutekh (Set) overwhelmed him. When he let Ma猬at spoke in his heart, he recognized, only to himself, that he ruled the country without many advices from his advisors due to their fear of offending the ruthless crown prince he was.

 

Of course, there was a reason to his ruthlessness. He had been crowned Peraya (Pharaoh) at the age of not yet 18 after his father had been poisoned by the current Queen in an attempt to seize the throne. Worse, when he was young, he received the full instructions and trainings to be a great pharaoh that would lead Egypt to its peak and it exposed him to the sordid games of influence that everybody at the court enjoyed to obtain a measure of power, of any power.

 

Even his other and more commonly known royal name of Horimerit (Beloved of Horus) hadn猬t helped. Only the presence and unconditional love of his dear and only elder sister Ayath (Mist) had bolstered him. The Heqt (Queen) of Lower Egypt and High Priestess of Eset had thrown her entire and considerable power behind him from the very beginning. She was also the only being that could endure his wrath when he was roused.

 

He stopped as he arrived near the Eastern bank of the Nile. He let his bodyguard Utshepit (Bronze Hand) took his horse and gazed on the tranquil river. He had a hidden rare true smile at the thought of the young man behind him. He choose him when he was only six years old after wounding him with his bronze dagger to see if the young slave could endure the pain. Satisfied, he had attached him at his personal service and since, he had been utterly loyal.

 

He sighed as he remembered what his older sister had advised him to do. He snorted. Him, the great king of Tawi, taking a royal spouse? Ha! Utter nonsense: he couldn猬t afford such a weakness for him and his sister. With her accord, he had the firm intention to wed her as rulers of the Two Lands. He shook his head. Although it was the most treasured desire for her, she had postponed her answer until he found a certain girl.

 

He sighed again as he thought about the strange prophecy that her sister, initiated to all the mysteries of Eset had revealed. She had said that his future wife and Queen would be a foreigner and was already in his kingdom, but so far, all the girls that the neighbouring countries, his advisors and the clergy had gathered for him didn猬t strike him as appropriate in any sense. At best, some among them would be good for a purely political marriage.

 

In frustration he kicked a pebble at his feet. He frowned as he heard a mew from the vegetation around him. He blinked as a cat exited from the bushes, then another and another猬

 

Nekhtiî…s eyes widened when he saw at least two dozens of cats calmly observing him from the bushes, their eyes were shining green under the light of a clouded full moon. Behind him, he heard Utshepit gulping. 猬Your Majesty猬猬

 

î…Quiet, Utshepit. I think they want us to see something.猬

 

The young slave wasn猬t very reassured. 猬May Bastet protect us.猬

 

Nekhti smiled at that. 猬Yes. Bastet. I think that exactly that.猬 Gingerly, he followed the path along the ford marked by the luminescent green eyes. He was now sure that the Goddess herself wanted him to see something or猬

 

He stopped as he heard sounds ahead of the path: Sounds easily recognizable as someone bathing in the Yor. He made a few steps, emerging from the cover of the vegetation upon the bank of the river and was paralyzed by the scene in front of him.

 

It was a sheer vision of beauty. The young woman was back to him and was bathing. Clothes lay scattered on the bank next to a frayed blanket and a small clay bowl with a dark mixture. Only her shoulders and arms were visible to Nekhtiî…s sight. Her head was thrown back as she washed the long black hair that trailed out behind her, floating like a dark cobweb on the darker pool. The young Peraya held his breath, watching her. He knew he should do something, anything, but he was held fast, entranced.

 

And then, the clouds parted. The silvery full moon, burned in the night sky with a cold brilliance. The water in the river reflected the celestial body under the young woman. Iridia rose up out of the Nile. The water glistened on her pale white skin, gleamed and highlighted her raven black hair, ran in shining rivulets down her body that was painted in moonlight. The only ornament she wore was a shiny dark crystal around her slender neck that hung just above her cleavage, highlighting the curve of her breasts. Her raw beauty struck Nekhti's heart with such intense pain that he gasped.

 

Iridia started, looking around her, terrified that someone had approached her when she was washing away the artificial tan of her skin before applying a fresh layer. Her lethal grace, born from her martial art training, added so much to her loveliness that, for the first time, Nekhti was struck speechless. And two pairs of eyes gazed into each other.

 

Iridia swore internally as she looked up to the young man on the river bank near her clothes. Damn it! She had the habitude to wash off in the night before reapplying her disguise because she couldn猬t afford the risk to do it in the House of Life. And now, how could she pass the rather handsome man without making too much ruckus and leaving clues for the authorities. A part of her mind asked her why was she thinking about the beauty of this man instead of searching for an escape. Well, at least he didn猬t look like a bandit.

 

Nekhti smiled in anticipation. His blood was burning in his veins. He must have this wonderful creature for him. He couldn猬t support the idea to not possess her. He blinked as he registered the fact that she was an exotic beauty, a foreigner. Her pale skin, Greek features, long black raven hair and her luminescent green eyes under the light of the moon made her look like a cornered feline: graceful and lethally beautiful. The notion that someone would resist him made him raised an eyebrow. He was Peraya, all of the creation bowed to him.

 

Iridia read his attitude and frowned. Here was someone so sure of himself that it bordered on arrogance. The trouble was that he seemed very capable and was taller than her. The sword at his side suggested a soldier, probably an officer if she took into account his simple but highly cut loincloth. The material seemed much more refined than hers. She had two choices here: she could confront him and fight to neutralize and escape him or she could simply flee. She was certainly a good enough swimmer to pull it off and the night would help her.

 

Nekhti drank the sight of the young woman with her green eyes blazing in contained irritation or anger. Her raven locks flowed down her body and highlighted her beauty by the erotic concealment of her secrets. 猬By Hathor the Golden One, who are you, woman?!猬

 

Iridia blinked. 猬Well, he猬s certainly in the habit of having his orders answered, isn猬t he?î… çŒ¬I am Iridia Sunheart.猬 She could afford to give her real name since she wasn猬t using it under her alternate identity. 猬Don猬t you know that it猬s not very polite to stare at a thesas (Lady or Lord) and shouldn猬t you present yourself first before asking names?猬

 

So he was right, she was a foreigner, but not a Greek: Interesting, although he didn猬t recognize the origin of her strange tone. He didn猬t know anyone not of noble or royal blood who used a second name. Even the name 猬Sunheart猬 was charged with potential: After all himself was known as Sa-Re (Son of Re). What was amusing to his eyes, was the righteous anger emanating from her, she certainly wasn猬t a servant or a slave to be able to look straight in his eyes without fear. He made an imperious gesture. 猬Come out!猬

 

Iridia猬s eyes widened then narrowed. The audacity of that man nearly suffocated her in indignation. She managed to control herself and glared at him.

 

Nekhti frowned. Why was she resisting his orders? 猬Didn猬t you hear me, woman! I said come out!猬

 

Steel entered the voice of the French girl. 猬And I still don猬t know your name.猬

 

Nekhti scowled. It was pure disobedience and insolence now. 猬I am Nekhti! Now COME OUT!猬 He briefly asked himself why he gave her his birth name.

 

The name 猬Nekhti猬 didn猬t faze the young woman, mainly because she knew only the reign name of the Pharaoh as Horimerit. 猬No.猬

 

The calm syllable was like thunder to the ears of Nekhti. She was deliberately defying him! He blinked then smirked and crossed his arms. She was naked and her clothes were near him. She didn猬t have really any choice in that matter: He just had to be patient. The reward would be even more delightful like that. He looked down the woman like a predator looked at a prey. 猬Now or later, it makes no difference. You will come out.猬

 

Iridia smirked. 猬Wanna bet?猬 She let herself submerged under the water, disappearing from the sight of the young man.

 

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Luna was calmly waiting for her charge to come back from her encounter with her Destiny. She liked the young woman a lot, mainly because she could amazingly well pet her properly and because she always let her some milk. She had been rarely pampered like that before.

 

As a Mau, she was a Sacred Cat of Bastet and she had no problem with her current mission. Her sensitive ears captured the sounds of a human trying to be stealthy. She had to hand it to Tamit, she made a real effort to be silent as a cat. She internally snickered. Well, she just needed more experience.

 

However, she actually blinked when the young woman entered her small bedroom by the window. First, she was naked. Nothing weird under the Egyptian standards but she knew that Tamit came from a rather prudish background with a taboo against nudity. Although she recognized that the human was making a real effort to overcome this detail.

 

Second, Tamit was back to her original appearance of pale white skin that displayed her foreign nature. With her artificial tan and a bit of clothes, she could easily hide her outsider features. What in the name of Bastet happened?

 

Iridia sighed in relief. She had been able to reach her room in the House of Life without being seen: A must, considering that she had been forced to go back without her clothes. She grumbled at the nerve of that man to steal her clothes in retaliation for her justified disobedience. She shook her head and sniffed. Who the hell did he think he was? A god?

 

She then remarked her guest and kneeled before it. 猬Hello again Luna.猬 She giggled as the cat seemed rather curious about her new appearance. 猬I met a real jerk tonight.猬 She sighed as she pet the Mau. 猬I have almost been captured by an officer of the army, I think.猬 She snorted. 猬Actually, he猬s lucky I didn猬t want to catch too much attention. It would have been so easy to practice impromptu plastic surgery to his face.猬 She reddened a little. 猬Well猬, actually it would have been a real pity: He is very handsome.猬 She raised an eyebrow to Luna. 猬Don猬t look at me like that. You never drooled at a handsome tomcat, girl?猬 She thought about the encounter: She couldn猬t deny that her hormones had kicked up when she saw the prime example of male. Oh well, a little fantasy couldn猬t hurt. 猬Nekhti, hey? Well, he was more a tiger than a tomcat, but he was very easy on the eyes.猬 She frowned. 猬It猬s too bad that his personality doesn猬t match his appearance.猬

 

Luna rolled her eyes. As if the young woman was fooling anyone with the obvious smell of arousing emanating from her. She obviously had been smitten by this impromptu encounter. Why, even the name of猬 Nekhti�!

 

As her charge prepared another mixture of her artificial tan, Luna internally groaned. Dear Bastet, she knew that something was supposed to happen this night, but not something like this. 猬By all the Gods! Nekhti! She had drawn the attention of Peraya Horimerit himself!î…

 

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Ayath looked flabbergasted to her younger brother in the throes of the most violent bout of anger she had ever witnessed. She was the same height as her brother with long black hair past her waist and the same obsidian eyes as Nekhti. She shone with a physical beauty worthy of the idealized representations of all the Queens of Egypt.

 

The Peraya had returned from an impromptu escapade with his trusted bodyguard Utshepit and was wrecking all the furniture in his rooms in an attempt to calm himself. She had promptly sent back all the servants and slaves to prevent a bloodbath. She could only wait for his uncontrolled anger to abate.

 

Nekhti finally sat down on a battered cushion that he had only slashed once or two with his sword. As his breathing returned to normal, he held a pale smile to his dear sister who was presenting him a cup of Greek wine. He eagerly drank the rich red liquid and leaned onto his sister who gently held him. 猬Another one, please sister.猬

 

Ayath smiled gently. She was the only one to see this vulnerable side of Nekhti. 猬Not until you tell me what angered you.猬

 

Nekhti sighed. 猬猬a woman.猬

 

Ayath blinked. Now that was new. She waited a little to see if Nekhti would continue then prompted again. 猬And猬?猬

 

Nekhti snarled. 猬She refused me.猬 He stood up and began to pace among the destruction. 猬She refused ME! The Peraya!猬 The young man promptly described his nocturnal encounter with the mysterious foreign girl, including the cats and his little revenge of having taken her clothes with him.

 

He plumped down into another relatively intact cushion and frowned to his sister. Ayath was staying still, a very thoughtful look on her beautiful face. 猬Sister?猬

 

Ayath blinked back in the reality. 猬Hum猬? Oh, sorry my Peraya, I was just猬 thinking about something.猬 She stood up. 猬Come with me to my chambers, Nekhti. I have a scroll to show you.猬 She looked around. 猬Beside, it would allow your servants to do a little redecoration.猬

 

Nekhti snorted. Her sister was now the only one who could call him by his birth name since their father died. 猬Ah! I never like that decoration anyway!猬

 

Once in her richly decorated rooms, Ayath extracted from a bronze chest a scroll of papyrus. 猬This is an amalgam of all the ancient texts my clergy has been able to found on the prophecy of the 猬Lady of Time猬. Most of those texts are now dust and this copy lacked several key passages. She presented it to Nekhti. 猬Now read it and I think you猬ll understand why I seem so perturbed.猬

 

Nekhti frowned then began to read. His eyebrows raised more and more as he silently deciphered the hieroglyphs.

 

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Iridia smiled as she visited Akhu and Heni. Although she had moved up in the social ladder, she certainly didn猬t want to forget the two slaves who kindly help her during the rough days of her arrival. It was an attitude that her sponsor, the old Bahati, encouraged. He said that all plants shared the same soil regarding of their beauty or importance.

 

So each time she could despite her charged schedule, she descended into the slave猬s quarters and brought some things that she could share with those she had made acquaintance with. Unfortunately, today had been ill-timed for her.

 

The time-displaced French girl grumbled in petto as she accompanied the mass of slaves to Memphis under the harsh orders and the snap of the whips of the slave supervisors. Pharaoh had commanded a statue of a sphinx with his features to commemorate his ascension to the throne and the statue was just finished. So he summoned thousands of slaves to move the gigantic statue to its proper place near his palace.

 

Iridia hid her disbelief to the fact that the face of the statue was the face of the Pharaoh Horimerit. It was a faintly familiar face but she didn猬t linger on it because she knew that all the Pharaohs had had their face sculpted or painted in an idealised version. Only Akhenaton had himself and his family depicted realistically.

 

The spectacle of those thousands of men moving the giant sphinx was grandiose. Iridia shook her head: she really had the impression to be in a Hollywoodian super production. In fact, her task was almost like the task of the mother of Moses in 猬The Ten Commandments猬. She was bringing water to those who were thirsty and she was ready to help those in need of medical help.

 

Manipulating something weighing tens of tons was a very risky business. The inertia of the statue was too great to enable precise and short movements. She understood perfectly why, in the film, the supervisor didn猬t stop the moving. It was simply because he could not stop it in time.

 

So far, she had treated some fractures, fingers and toes smashed and she had been forced to amputate the feet of a poor worker who had been caught under one of the trunks used to move the sphinx. It had been only after the fact that she remarked that she had used modern knowledge to save the life of the slave. Egyptians didn猬t suture blood vessels with threads, nor did they finish cutting off the mangled part which would have been a future source of complications.

 

It was a fault. Perhaps, even a deadly one, but she couldn猬t remember if someone had remarked her non-standard healing knowledge as she was too focused on her task. She hoped that the shawl she wore had been sufficient to protect her identity.

 

It was then that Murphy猬s Law struck: Heni had accompanied her son and was also distributing water to the workers. She just finished to give a ration to a worker near the sphinx when the fringe of her dress get caught under the moving mass and began to pull her under. Her scream of help caught the attention and then paralyzed one instant Iridia. The vision of the crushed and mangled body of the gentle woman who saved her life danced behind her eyes. And then, she reacted.

 

Iridia rushed through the crowd. It was something of a gift she had developed in her childhood: the ability to move around people like an eel. Nearing the moving statue she reached for a bronze sword at the belt of a man nearby. Still running and ignoring the calls around her she dived under the statue and swung down the sword on the dress of Heni.

 

It was a good sword: The linen was cut instantly and Iridia grabbed the arm of the woman. Using the adrenalin flooding in her veins, the young woman managed to pull both of them out of the way of the inexorable mass just in time.

 

It was only after she caught her breathing that she remarked that she was surrounded by armed guards which didn猬t seem very happy of her rescue. She was seized and threw down on her knees at the feet of the same man from she borrowed the sword. She cringed as she remarked that he was richly clothed. 猬Oh shit!î…

 

A soldier gave back the sword to the man. 猬Here is your sword, General Maaukepu (Lion Hunter).猬

 

Iridia blanched. 猬A General?! Oh double-shit!î…

 

The same soldier turned to Iridia and drew his sword. 猬How dare you steal from our General, woman. Such a crime could only be punished by death!猬

 

Iridia almost loose the control of her bladder at that. She was going to die! Her luminescent green eyes flooded with tears and she began to tremble in the clutches of the guards.

 

The General was an Egyptian with a fair height, wavy long black hair and a very solid built. Here and there, war scars were visible under his cloak. Imperiously, he stopped the soldier and leaned to the trembling prostrated young woman. He caught her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. 猬Do not fear woman. I hold no ill thoughts for your actions.猬

 

Another soldier blinked. 猬But, my General, surely you have seen that猬猬

 

î…I have only seen a courageous woman risking her life to save someone from being crushed under the moving statue.猬

 

The soldier who had drawn his sword shrugged. 猬So猬 If we have to stop the moving for every slave in danger, Peraya Horimerit would never receive proper homage.猬

 

î…Blood is a very bad mortar for a royal foundation.猬 He made another imperious gesture. 猬Enough! Let her go!猬

 

Liberated, Iridia sighed in profound relief and gathered her wits back by taking deep breaths. She blinked when the General took the small wooden tablet at her waist. 猬Tamit from the Per-Ankh?猬

 

Iridia swallowed then bowed to the high-ranking officer. 猬Yes, Thesas.猬

 

Maaukepu smiled and in an almost negligent gesture threw his sword in her direction. The reflexes of Iridia did their duty and she caught it by the handle effortlessly before rolling it around her hand to a secure position to avoid wounding her or someone else. She blanched under her artificial tan as she had just demonstrated her knowledge of the sword.

 

Maaukepu smiled as he recuperated his sword. 猬I will remember you, Tamit.猬 He then walked away with his armed escort.

 

As she went to Heni to check her state, Iridia could only think one thing. 猬Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it猬!î…

 

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At the palace, Nekhti and his sister Ayath were admiring the newly placed sphinx.

 

Ayath smiled to her brother. 猬The gods are smiling on you, my brother.猬

 

Nekhti chuckled. 猬Only because your dances charmed them, my sister.猬

 

A man approached the royal couple. 猬It is nonetheless a good omen, your majesties. There hasn猬t been even a death among the slaves during the moving. Surely, this is a sign of the gods themselves.猬

 

Nekhti shrugged. 猬With you supervising the operation? It was a given, Maaukepu.猬

 

Maaukepu chuckled then sighed. 猬I wish I could take credit, my Peraya, but in the end, I own my success to a courageous young woman.猬

 

Nekhti and Ayath laughed. 猬Why, my dear General. Ousted by a woman? That猬s not a good performance for a general of the Peraya.猬

 

Ayath giggled. 猬And can we know the name of this young girl so that we can reward her for saving the reputation of our favoured soldier?猬

 

î…It was an apprentice of the Per-Ankh. She fearlessly borrowed my sword to liberate a slave caught under the sphinx. Her name is Tamit: A fitting name for someone with those unforgettable green eyes like those of a cat.猬

 

Nekhti whirled to him. 猬Green eyes like a cat?! Tell me! Was she a foreigner with pale skin?!猬

 

Maaukepu blinked, taken aback by the reaction of his Pharaoh. 猬Huh猬? No, my Peraya. She has tanned skin.猬 He frowned as he conjured the image of the young woman in his mind. 猬Although, apart of her skin colour and black hair, she seemed to have Greek or Hittite features.猬

 

Ayath and Nekhti eyed each other and Nekhti nodded. 猬It猬s her! I猬m sure of it! It can only be her!猬 He gestured imperiously with his sceptre to Maaukepu. 猬Find her and bring her to me!猬

 

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Iridia was running. After the incident with the sphinx, she had checked a final time on Heni and Akhu before trying to go back to the House of Life. It was on the outskirt of Memphis that she had been ambushed by a man who tried to kill her with a bronze dagger. She had been able to save her life only because of her martial art knowledge. A simple shoulder projection and a violent torsion of the captured arm and she had let her assassin screaming in pain in the bushes.

 

Later, she had used her social status to send a servant checking on the House of Life. The young girl had reported that soldiers were searching the temple for her. The child had been helped before by the green-eyed woman and had sworn that she won猬t betray her. Iridia had nonetheless ordered her to report her position if they asked her. After all, she had no intention to stay where she was.

 

As she waited for the night, she cursed as she observed that too many soldiers were now checking everybody moving out of Memphis. Her last hope was a remake of the escape she performed when she had been discovered by Nekhti. She blinked. Why was she thinking of that jerk when her life was on the line. Donning her hooded cloak, she walked to the banks of the Nile to wait for the night under the shelter of the luxuriant vegetation. She grimly realised that her near future was bleaker than before and nervously touched the metallic d20 around her neck. She didn猬t want to try and use it for now, but it was another way of escape if need be.

 

Nekhti was riding his horse by the Nile. His soldiers had found nothing so far, but he had more information on the subject of the elusive She-Cat. Tamit of Men-Nefer was of course an alias. However, he had been impressed by the reputation of the young woman he knew as Iridia Sunheart in the Per-Ankh, even if he would never acknowledge it. She was indeed a rare treasure and he had every intention to seize it for himself.

 

He stopped his horse as he remarked something curious: A lone woman hidden under a hooded cloak walking to the Yor. She didn猬t have anything in hands that could be a reason to go there: No basket, any tools or even weapons for hunting or a net for fishing. Beside, the vegetation was very dense where she was going. Could it be猬?

 

He nudged his horse in her direction. The woman started when she heard him, turned her hidden face to see who he was and began to run. He smiled: That was her! He was now sure of it. 猬Halt woman!猬

 

She didn猬t obey and he swore she ran more rapidly. He snorted and launched his mount to her pursuit. He caught her hooded cloak and pulled, revealing long raven locks. The woman turned her scarred visage to him and he saw the familiar luminescent green eyes. He caught her arm and managed to immobilize her.

 

Iridia was almost incoherent in her terror: The rider had caught her and they were now rolling on the ground after he launched himself from his mount. She managed to use her science of leverage to surprise him and did a kipup to be on her feet before he stood up. Her eyes widened as she recognized the man. 猬NEKHTI!?猬

 

Nekhti used her hesitation to capture her anew. She wasn猬t very strong but she seemed as intangible as the wind. 猬I have you, Iridia! Or should I say Tamit!猬 He tore apart her shirt to see if all her skin was the same colour as her face. 猬Not the colour I saw that night, I wonder why.猬 He began to bring her to the Yor.

 

Iridia was powerless. Although she knew hand-to-hand, the strength of this man was enormous and he knew how to use it even without a martial art background. She struggled to loosen his grip and then gasped as she suddenly recognized his garb and more exactly the stripped cloth covering his head which was also called the Nemes headdress and that only the Pharaoh was entitled to wear. 猬Oh NO! It can猬t be! You猬 You猬re the Peraya HORIMERIT!猬

 

Nekhti smirked. The woman had finally begun to understand in what deep water she was. And speaking of water猬 He reached the Yor and plunged her under the stream. Without taking in account her frenetic efforts to escape and the fact that he was almost drowning her, he washed out the artificial tan of her skin, revealing the superb pale colour he remembered when she had taken her bath this night under the full moon.

 

He smiled in victory as he pulled her up coughing from the water. Around him, his soldiers arrived, drawn by the ruckus and observed the scene. The water seemed to have put off the fire of resistance from Iridia. Nekhti observed that although she was dressed in tattered clothes and with wild hair, something in this state of vulnerability was irradiating a form of beauty he had seen only in his sister so far. His eyes lighted as he could now better see the shiny crystal around her neck. 猬The Star of Ptah! It IS you!猬

 

He laughed as he took her in his arms and walked back to his mount. Iridia tried to summon enough energy to break his embrace. 猬Wha猬 What are you talking about?! Release me!猬

 

î…Oh no! Lady of Time! You are mine, now! I猬m claiming you as MY captive!猬 His laugh rang as he mounted back with her secured in his strong arms. He promptly galloped in the direction of his palace with his precious prize. 猬Welcome Iridia! Welcome in Tawi, Adopted Daughter of Bastet! Welcome in my palace, Foreign Living Goddess!猬

 

As the horse galloped, Iridia could only let herself taken away. She felt too weak to do anything for now. Then the statement of Nekhtiî… No! The statement of the Peraya Horimerit hit her: A Goddess?! Captive?! The words of Sam Becket from Code Quantum seemed to be the right ones for such a situation. 猬Oh Boy!î…

 

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Notes: Well, it seems that Iridia has managed to find herself into deep shit.

 

Although I have been inspired by the manga 猬Ouke no Monshou猬, I have changed all the names for true Egyptians ones. It seemed appropriate.

 

The problems of our heroine are not finished. Iridia is going to discover the pleasure to be the captive of Nekhti. Although Ayath will be her ally, she猬s going to have to work hard to be accepted by and accepted the young man so full of anger.

There are also numerous dangers lurking around the time-displaced woman: Intrigues from the clergy, problems with the foreign princesses who wants to marry the Pharaoh. Iridia will also have to fend off assassins send against her or those she wants to protect. She will have to adapt to the culture of Egypt and compromise with her upbringing.

And, of course, there is also the mysterious prophecy about her and the metallic dodecahedron around her neck.

 

Next chapter is 猬You can never know too much.猬

 

Read and review, please.

 

Character sheet with the rules of Time Lords (at the very beginning):

 

Name: Iridia Sunheart. Age: 34 years. Height: 1m59. Weight: 62 kg. Race: human.

Background: born in a normal and loving family. Eldest of a family of four: 2 sisters and 1 brother. She is single at the moment. Her school and work path is particular and torturous but she is now working as a helping-paramedic in a military hospital.

 

Strength: level 9, apt 2. Dexterity: level 12, apt 3. Intelligence: level 17, apt 5 (QI of 153).

Constitution: level 12, apt 3 (above average). Willpower: level 16, apt 4. Bravado: level 14, apt 4. Appearance: level 14, apt 4. Perception: level 14 (level 10 without glasses), apt 4 (apt 3 without glasses). Stamina: level 14, apt 3. Power: 7, apt 2.

 

Max load without penalty: 8.1 kg. Max load: 81 kg.

 

Physical speed: 10; phase 1-2-5-8-10. Mental speed: 17; phase 1-2-4-5-6-7-8-9-10.

Body points: 26. Matrix lag: 3 seconds.

 

Skills/level:

Automatic weapons (10). Pistol (10). Heavy machine gun (4). Light rocket (4). Grenade launcher (4). Bow (5). Shuriken (4). Sword (10). Shield (3). Martial art (12). Demolitions (6). Automobile (12). Beast riding (8). Small sailboat (8). Power boat (8). Fishing (8). Navigation (8). Running (10). Swimming (12). Survival (6). Camping (6). Other languages (French natal, English 14, Spanish 7, Japanese 7). Music (12). Philosophy (10). First aid (16). Acting (14). Cat-fall (12). Climbing (8). Searching (8). Stealth (8).

 

Advantages: immunity (Polio, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Smallpox, Influenza, common cold, rabies and other viral diseases), magical aptitude.

 

Disadvantages: minor phobia for flying dangerous bugs (like wasps or hornets) and minor physical weakness on right knee (failed to properly work after intense and prolonged effort).