Called to Duty (Adventures Through Time) (7 page)

“Okay, we go now,” Inka agreed on the command. Alex was sure he was going to anyway; he just wanted to be the one to utter the command.

They mounted their horses, ready to ride into battle. This was the turning point, this was now the point of no return. He looked to his own team and nodded.

“Let’s go get them,” Ian gave a high fist in the air. If Alex didn’t know better he would say his guys were having fun with this whole ancient warfare scene as if it were some high-tech computer game.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he reminded them.

The moment they reached the army he knew he had to up his game. He got knocked off his horse, but fortunately he didn’t get trapped beneath it when it fell. That bastard had killed his horse. He liked that horse. He fought hard; he fought fast, but he also fought with the skills Nefertari had tried to instill in him. She had taught him avoidance moves he didn’t know before and because of that he had outsmarted a few of the enemy’s moves.

He wasn’t the kind of man to dwell on skills while fighting. Instead, he kept his head in the game. It was a good thing he kept his wits about him because he saw Nefertari about to take a weapon in the back from a soldier on a horse behind her. He lunged into her, knocking her down and rolling her out of the path. She landed on top of him and the position was arousing; he couldn’t deny that, but he also didn’t have time to dwell on it either. “Second round,” he said as he got to his feet. She was already on her feet and he wondered what she thought she was doing. That man was aiming for her like he wanted to kill her, not like he wanted to take her back to Pharaoh. Within seconds he watched in awe as she caught hold of the sword in a way that he would have thought would have sliced her hand off, but it hadn’t. She used it as leverage, hoisting herself up onto the horse and getting behind the soldier. Within seconds she had her knife at his throat relieving him of his life before dismounting his rapidly running horse.

He saw Helos and his command joining the fight and then he saw Nefertari running off toward Pharaoh’s encampment. He couldn’t stop her. He didn’t have time because another man was there to fight him. He knew what she was doing, what she planned to do, but he wished she hadn’t gone in alone. He had to work his way toward her and pray that she was still alive when he got there.

Chapter Four

N
efertari saw him standing there so smug, so evil and so sure of himself. She wanted to take his head right now. Why was he inside these tents instead of out there fighting with his men? That’s what leaders did. They fought.

“You came. I knew you would. I have been waiting for you.” He wielded his khopesh. She could fight perfectly against him no matter what weapon he selected. If he planned to intimidate her it wasn’t working. Then he pulled a second from behind him. She had one sword so she quickly pulled her dagger just in time to block his moves as he came at her. She hadn’t expected him to fight fair so she planned for the possible dirty tactics, even his attempt to throw the urn of sand in her face.

A few expertly planned attacks of her own and she thought she had him but then one of his men came in and she found herself fighting them both. Well, she’s had worse odds—or maybe she hadn’t, but she would deal with it. One swift move of her sword took out one attacker, but in the process Ramathes disarmed first her sword from her, then her dagger. He stood there, looking smug and so sure of himself.

“You can beg me for mercy…in my bed,” he grinned.

“I’m sure your wife would prefer it if you didn’t take another.”

“You come to me and my wife will vanish,” he snapped his finger, “just like that.”

“Well then I feel it’s my duty to keep that from happening to her.” She used an avoidance move Alex had taught her during their fighting as Ramathes lunged at her. She got behind him, took hold of his neck the way Alex had shown her and gave one solid thrust upward. She heard the noise behind her before she could get to her weapon.

“You,” the slender Egyptian queen stood behind her, with her son beside her.

“He had you here,” Nefertari kept her vigilance about her, ready to grab the blade from her sandal strapped leg if she had to.

“He planned to say the enemy killed me in battle. It would have been the only way for us to be…apart,” she looked to her son. “He was going to raise my son to be like him. I was opposed and so we were both liabilities. Difference is, my son can be retrained; I cannot.”

Nefertari nodded. “And now, now what do you think of your father?”

The boy shrugged. “I did not want him to kill my mother. Now that he is dead she will live.”

“And you will become ruler.”

“I will help him in the process. He will not be alone and your people will no longer be bothered.”

“Then as your first act you should command your armies to halt their attack.”

He nodded and exited the tent with his mother.

Nefertari watched as he took the arrow and the bow and shot the arrow into the air, demanding the attention of his warriors as his mother sounded their horn.

“The battle is over. My father is dead and now I rule you. You will stop fighting now!”

Nefertari knew the men had to listen. It was the rule to follow their leader into battle and into the underworld should it come to that.

“Nubia is free!” He had the same stoic look as his father. “Nubia is free!”

Nubia was never captive; a fact the little one should have known, but she wouldn’t worry about educating him on the way things were. She was just happy that her people could end this battle.

His warriors removed their dead, ready to take them back to their territories for burial. The Nubians removed theirs as well. The walk back would be long, but they would make it on foot for those who had no horse and on horse for those who still sat atop theirs. The warriors would stand guard the entire way. She would not put her complete faith in that of a young boy. His mother seemed to want peace, but trust was not something Nefertari was willing to extend in completeness.

“Please don’t ever do that again,” Alex said.

“I won.”

“You could have been killed.”

“So could you.” She patted his arm. “Thank you for saving me back there.”

“Thank you for not getting yourself killed.” She could tell he wanted to kiss her yet he refrained. She wanted to kiss him too, but it would not have been appropriate. The war was over now. Now she would have to marry and he would have to leave. The sadness made her heart feel heavy, and the victory seem dark.

Two days passed full of celebrations and still she could not enjoy them. Mareket had gone, leaving Koi without family and so one of the servants in the royal court took her as her own child. Nefertari was thankful for that because Koi deserved the best of families and she could find it in her home. Hex had been killed when the young Pharaoh returned him to Nubia and Dakara had killed herself because the man she loved had died in the fight. But the hint of joy that came with the end of the war and all the resolutions to their problems hadn’t lasted long. When would the goddess take Alexander and his men away? She knew it would be soon. The battle was over; there was no reason for them to be here now. No reason that would allow the imbalance of time to exist that is.

She went to her favorite place and there is where she met the goddess herself. “You came to me?”

“Yes my warrior. I came to you. Did you think when you pledged your devotion to me, when I let you wear my mark, that I would abandon you?”

She smiled. “No. I just never thought you would show yourself to me. You look much like my mother. The smoothness of your skin, the richness of your color and the shape of your eyes.”

“I take on the appearance needed. This one seemed fitting. Now, you seem laden with sorrow, but this is a victory celebration.”

“I know. We have won thanks to you. Will this peace last?”

“All things come to an end, but this peace will not end in your lifetime or that of your child. But is that what is really bothering you?”

She shook her head no. “The war is over now. I guess they will have to return to their time,” she looked back toward the direction of the festivities. She could hear the sound of music and laughter yet she felt no desire to be a part of it.

“You will miss him.”

“Yes,” she sunk to her knees, crying. “I know it is weak of me. I know it is wrong, but I care for him. He is in my heart and to lose him is like losing my heart.”

The goddess smiled at her. “I saw the two of you connect. I was pleased with your love for each other. The passion you shared.”

“I wish I could go with him, or that he could stay here…but…I cannot leave.”

“And he cannot stay, is that it?”

She nodded affirmatively. “I love him. I wish for him to stay, but what if he wishes to go? I cannot ask him to leave his time. And even if I could I don’t know that it will be allowed.”

“Nefertari? Are you okay,” Alex looked between the women. She hadn’t even heard him approaching, which was highly unusual for her. The distraction of heart could have been deadly had he been the enemy. Nefertari smiled at him. “I shall miss you Alexander.”

“Is it time for us to go? Your tears tell me that maybe you know we are set to leave.”

“Would you like to stay?” Amesemi asked.

“Of course,” he didn’t hesitate. “I just don’t know if it’s possible. None of us have anybody back home. They’re all kids who grew up in the system. My father was killed in battle last year and my mother went not long after that—heart attack, although I think she may have helped herself along with her depression pills. Staying here wouldn’t be so bad for me, but the men…I don’t know.”

“They have already suggested their desire to stay. I heard them talking after the battle ended. I just hadn’t heard you say it yet.”

“I don’t remember seeing you on the field.”

“I was there,” she smiled. “I am always there.” She pointed behind them. “Your friends are coming. Now that you all have agreed you shall all stay.”

“Who are you?”

“The one who brought you here,” she said smoothly before vanishing from before them.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously,” Nefertari smiled at him.

“Whoa! What just happened to the chick that was standing here?” Ian’s youthful voice held the hint of confusion she was sure they all must have felt. A vanishing goddess was not something they were accustomed to—nor was she for that matter, but at least she already believed in the goddesses; they were still learning to believe.

“Goddess,” Alex said. “The one who brought us here and she said we can stay if we want.”

“We want,” they said in unison. “But seriously…that was the goddess?” Greg looked at the statue as if he could bring her back just by looking at the inanimate object.