Author's notes:

This is the continuation of 'A Long Time from Home' and if you haven't read that, I advise you to do so.

The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

Some of the chapters will take place in the ancient past and while I have done a lot of research for that, there might be small errors here and there. If you think you found such an error in the story, please double check to be sure that you're correct and then PM me about it, so I can fix it. :)

Due to its length, I placed ALTFH under the 'Novels and Novellas' section, but as you can see, ALTFH II is placed in the 'Sci-fi and Fantasy' section, which fits it better due to the elements of magic that's in it. At least in my opinion :)

Have fun and while you're at it, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

I have stated that I would upload chapters of 'Into the Chaos' (my Star Wars: The Old Republic story) every other time and that is still the case.

About the notation:

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

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Chapter 2 -- Flashback: Trouble in Kemet

Men-nefer, Kemet (Egypt)

Despite the disappearance of human magic, caused by Baylon's return to its home dimension, life in Kemet was the same as ever. At least here in Men-nefer, where I was currently living. Originally, I had planned on living in my dad's house in Pi-Ramesses, but there were too many memories there to make it comfortable, so I had emptied it of everything from Baylon before I had sold it and moved to the smaller townhouse in Men-nefer.

Another reason for the sale was that after Ramesses II had died from old age, his successor Pharaoh Merneptah, had decided to use Men-nefer as his capital. Consequently, Pi-Ramesses had become less popular and when a rich merchant had given me an offer, I had immediately accepted, since I suspected that in a few years, the house would be worth a lot less.

The sale of the house also gave me money to live on, while I pondered my future here in the human world. Fortunately, Vis and self-affecting Ars Mentalis was still working, while ranged use of Power, be it Ars Mentalis or Ars Magica, either failed or went horribly wrong, while ranged Vis Vitae had become unstable and rarely yielded the same result two times in a row.

Since I used mostly self-affecting powers, it wasn't too bad for me, but after almost frying myself a few times, I had inserted an Ars Mentalis condition in my mind, that prevented me from using ranged powers without consciously overriding the condition.

All in all, the change caused by The Return was mostly an inconvenience to me, but it was an outright catastrophe for the human power users, such as mages, priests, shamans, and warlocks.

According to stories I had heard from the merchants in Men-nefer, many of the human power users across this part of the world had suffered horrible casualties as their, mostly ranged, magic backfired on them. The same went for potion creators, as any distance from the power user to the target could create catastrophic results and potions creators rarely touched the boiling liquids they were trying to enchant.

For most countries, the loss of their power users was a disaster, as it affected how well their armies defended the homeland and its people. It was something that had become extremely important, as war was brewing all over the area.

Judging from what I've heard from the traders, there was no doubt in my mind that most of it was due to the disappearance of Baylon, the resettlement of the former slaves and the cursed swords of the Pulcher family. The Securitas Externa had done their best to locate and destroy or remove the cursed swords, but Baylon had returned to its home dimension before all of them could be found and as a result, kings and warlords had gathered armies as they took their people to war, promising new land, and riches.

As many of the warring tribes travelled by ship, it was especially the coastal areas and nations that suffered, as the raiders fell upon them.

In that respect, Kemet was fortunate. It might have a long coastline up towards the Hittite Empire, but Kemet itself was well protected against attacks from the Middle Sea area, with the desert on two sides and half the upper part occupied by the Nile Delta, which was not ideal terrain for any approaching army.

All in all, that meant that the only 'easy' way into Kemet was from Tjehenu, the area located to the west of Lower Kemet, and home of the Libu-tribes.

It was also the reason why I was walking through the streets of Men-Nefer going to the palace, responding to a summons from Pharaoh Merneptah. The summons hadn't come with an explanation, but when the living embodiment of Ra asked you to come, you dropped whatever you were doing and went to see him. Everything else would be insulting. However, the courier that brought the summons had told me that it was about an invasion from Tjehenu and to make matters worse, only half the army stationed in Kemet itself was in Lower Kemet. The other half was in upper Kemet, fending off a Nubian raid.

On the bright side, Merneptah was one of the better persons to have on the throne during an invasion as he had been Overseer of the Army for a couple of decades before he was promoted to Crown Prince, and thus knew warfare.

The biggest question in my mind was why he had summoned me, but my best guess was that it was in my capacity as a Royal Healer. A title that had been bestowed on me by Merneptah's father, Ramesses the Great, after I had healed his stiff and inflamed joints, giving him at least five more years to live.

Traditionally the Pharaoh led the army personally whenever he could and as far as I remembered, Merneptah had to be around seventy by now, which was very old for most humans, and unless I missed my guess, I was supposed to go along as his personal healer, since the Kemetian healers had been severely handicapped by the loss of their potion magic.

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The palace at Pi-Ramesses was as impressive as always, but I didn't see much of it as I was ushered into a beautifully decorated audience chamber, where Pharaoh Merneptah was sitting, attended only by a couple of extremely good-looking women.

Looking somewhat like his father, Mernepath was tall and though old, it was clear to see that he had once been a powerful warrior. The biggest difference was that where Ramesses had red hair, Mernepath was almost completely bald.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he suffered the same stiffening of the joints as his father, and as he drank from a golden cup, the small movement alone looked like it caused him pain.

The courier ignored them and walked towards the throne, going to one knee as he came nearer.

"My king, Embodiment of Ra, I present to you Ivah the Healer, Grandson of Horemheb. By the grace of Ra, Ptah, and Sekhmet, he is here to heal your physical body that holds the immortal glory of Ra."

It was almost word for word the same introduction Tia had given, when I had been introduced to Ramesses II, proving that while the world around us was changing, court etiquette remained the same.

Merneptah looked at me in disbelief. "You look too young to be the one that healed my father more than a decade ago. Tell me, who else was present that day and where it happened?"

"Yes, your Majesty. The healing took place at Prince Khaemweset house, and he was present most of the time." I took off the signet ring Ramesses had given me and handed it to the courier. "This is the signet ring I was given as a reward."

The courier studied the ring carefully, before handing it back to me. "It is the ring, your Majesty."

Merneptah looked intensely at me, causing me to meet his gaze openly. It was a gamble, as some rulers would feel threatened by it, but I trusted my instincts. Mernepath had been at the court of Ramesses the Great for most of his life and Ramesses had valued the truth.

A little smile crept onto the Pharoah's face. "My father left me a note, stating that if I ever wanted serious aid, medical or otherwise, the family and offspring of Horemheb were the ones to ask as they were blessed by Bastet: Skilled in both healing and combat, but with as all cats, one should not expect humility." The smile widened. "It seems like he was right."

There wasn't much I could say to that, so I nodded politely without saying anything, causing him to continue. "Anyway, the Libyans are invading us and according to our scouts, they are not alone. Several Sea People tribes have joined them and so far, they have already taken the Field of Threes oasis and are moving towards the Nile Delta. Thus, I will go out and defeat them, but this mortal body is frail and any healing you can do, will help."

I bowed deeply. "It shall be as you wish, my King."

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Like his father before him, Merneptah sighed with relief when I used acupuncture to block the pain and became very talkative, telling me of the battles he had led as Overseer of the Army and Crown Prince, before his thoughts turned to the coming battle and how he intended to beat the Liby invaders.

He had fought them in the past and like last time, his tactics were primarily centred around the war chariots, using them to break up the enemy supported by the foot soldiers and the archers, which was the same tactics that both the Kemetians and Hittites had been using for centuries.

There was, however, one piece of information that caught my attention. Unlike what I had thought, it wasn't just the Libu tribe that was invading. Somehow, most likely by paying them, they had gotten the help of no less than five of the raiding tribes, which not only added a lot of warriors to the Libyan army, but also posed a problem for the Kemetian army in another way.

"Excuse me, my King." I said as I looked up from the needles I was inserting in a joint. "I know it's not my place to..."

"If you have any thoughts, give them to me, Grandson of Horemheb." He commanded, showing his worn-down teeth in a smile. "I've been an army commander too long to not take advice."

"As you wish, my King." I gathered my thoughts, drawing on the countless hours I had spent studying tactics as part of my education. "If you use that tactic against the Sea People, you will lose the battle. As far as the merchants tell me, that tactic is exactly what the Tinayuan (Kemetian: The Greeks) used, and many of their northern cities are now in ruins. The Sea People know how to counter war chariots, so leading with them is a loss waiting to happen, and I suspect that it's the very reason the Libyans have hired them."

Merneptah was silent for a moment, but then nodded. "You might be right. If that is the case, what do you suggest?"

"Well, your Highness, our footmen are lighter armored than the Sea Peoples warriors, so that won't work either, which leaves only the archers."

The Kemetians had adopted the recurve bow during the time of my grandfather and had many well-trained archers, though those were usually used to defend their fortresses.

"Ra is, as always, your ally, my King," I said, referring to Ra as the Sun God. "The Sea People is not used to the sun here and the longer the battle takes, the more Sea People will be at a disadvantage, as Ra heats up their armor. Bait them into attacking your position with the chariots, pelt them with arrows as they charge, stop them with footmen and force them to withdraw, and then pelt them with arrows again. Hold your ground and then do it again. Once the Sea People are broken, the chariots will run over the Libyans."

The Pharaoh fell silent, and I started a new Vis Meditation. As always, that made me unable to react to my surroundings, but being in the palace of one of the most powerful men in the world, I doubted that anything unfortunate would happen.

Merneptah stayed silent and thoughtful for the rest of my healing, which I was grateful for. Inflammation in the joints required me to heal each joint at a time, using the familiar combination of Vis and herbs, and it required a lot of concentration.

The spine was even more inflamed than the rest and I spent all my remaining energy to heal what I could and lessen the pain in the areas that I couldn't heal without the use of Ars Mentalis, which I simply didn't dare use.

Without healing potions, the inflammation would return in some years, but there wasn't anything I could do about that. At least it wasn't as bad as Ramesses' had been, but then again, Ramesses had been quite a few years older when I was called on to heal him, and the younger age worked in favour of Merneptah.

He looked on, as I slowly removed the needles. "Is the healing finished?"

"Yes, your Highness." I removed the last needle. "There isn't much more I can do. I will give the court healer a recipe for an herb-mixture for a tea that will help with both the pain and the inflammation, but that will not help now."

The Pharaoh hesitantly stood and like his father, it was with a shocked expression in the face as if he had expected pain and didn't feel any. He was smiling as he looked at me. "It seems like my father's tale about your healing powers wasn't as fantastic as I thought it was, Ivah, Grandson of Horemheb."

I bowed. "Thank you, your Majesty, but as I told your father, the inflammation is still there and will start to spread again in about four or five years. Drinking the tea will postpone that but not indefinitely."

"It's the will of the Gods, that mortal bodies don't last forever." He said in a resigned tone of voice and sent me a speculative look. "Are you as good at healing combat wounds as you are with ailments from old age?"

Knowing where it was going, I swallowed a sigh and nodded. "Yes, your Majesty, but I cannot heal that many people. My skills are limited to single persons."

"Perfect." He declared. "I have need of a healer in case one of my sons are wounded, so you will accompany me on this expedition." He smiled. "Don't worry, besides the fifty deben of gold you have already earned for your excellent work here, you'll be richly awarded."

For a moment I was close to refuse but as I was living in his country and had my house here, that was flat out impossible, so I just bowed. "I'm honoured, my King."

*********************************

The Battle of Perire

Kemet, 1208 BC

As usual in Kemet, the sun was merciless as it beat down on the two armies that had gathered outside a little town called Perire. One was the relatively small Kemetian army, while the other was the larger Libyan army along with their Sea People allies.

The size wasn't the only difference between the two armies. The Libyan army was separated into loosely coherent groups that serves as companies and the same went for the Sea People. The Kemetian, on the other hand, were professional soldiers and not raiders, which showed in the sharp disciplined way their companies stood.

The equipment of the two armies were also vastly different. Armed with spears and axes, the Kemetian were lightly armored, using mostly padded cloth armor, with strips of leather or bronze attached for added protection. The shield added even more protection, especially when standing in formation.

The Libu army was even lighter armored, but the Sea People were using metal armor, carrying shields and long swords, that would become a problem, should they come into close combat with the lighter Kemetian soldiers.

The battleground hadn't been chosen at random. Due to the landscape, it was one of the few places in northern Kemet where it was possible to make a stand without the other army being able to go around. So, if the Libu and their allies wanted to take more land in Kemet, or just keep what they had already taken, they had to attack the Kemetian army.

I adjusted my hat to cover the eyes a bit more, thankful that I was standing in the shade of the palm trees and not out there in the burning sun. On the other hand, the Kemetians were used to it and their troops were well supplied with water from the many runners that carried jugs between the companies.

Trumpets blared in the mid-morning air and as I watched, the Kemetian companies stepped several paces to the side, creating holes in their formation to let the war chariots through. The colourful plumes on top of the horse's head swaying in the breeze along with the blankets covering the horses, creating rivers of colours against the rough desert ground, while the hooves on the ground sounded like thunder.

Like the Nile itself, they spread out like a river delta until they were advancing towards the enemy line as one long front.

There was movement in the Libyan formations as spearmen were brought to the front, but before the two lines crashed, the chariots suddenly took a turn and drove along the length of the enemy lines, the archers behind the driver on each chariot letting arrows fly into the enemy ranks as fast as they could.

Cries went out from the Libyan lines, but they stayed where they were, shields up to deflect as many arrows as possible.

Trumpets sounded once more and as one, the chariots tuned and drove the other way. They were a little closer to the Libyan lines this time, resulting in more hits from the archers. Libyan archers began returning fire, but without hitting much.

Finally, someone had enough and with a shout, some of the Sea People charged the chariots, correctly assuming the mounted archers couldn't get them all, before they reached them.

I grimaced. Unless those chariots did something, they were going to be slaughtered.

The thought had barely run through my mind, before the trumpets sounded the third time, causing the chariots to turn and drive back towards the Kemetian lines, the archers shooting arrows against the pursuing horde.

Another trumpet sounded. From the sound of it, it was a lighter trumpet this time and as one the row of archers behind the soldiers raised their recurve bow towards the cloudless sky. Another note and several thousand archers let their arrows fly.

The arrows flew over the retreating chariots like a giant cloud of birds and descended on the enemy, causing havoc as they missed, wounded, or killed indiscriminately, while the chariots drove into the passages between the soldiers. A moment later the footmen closed the holes behind the chariots, presenting a solid front to the enemy, with some of the companies kneeling on the ground to allow the archers behind them to fire their arrows directly at the enemy.

The pursuing Libyans and Sea People stopped abruptly as their targets disappeared. A moment later a flight of arrows hammered into the ones closest to the Kemetian lines. This time it wasn't indirect volley fire, but arrows fired directly at the attackers, cutting them down like wheat before a sickle.

The Libyans and Sea People hastily retreated, holding their shield up as they retreated through the hail of arrows. As the range increased, the archers went back to indirect volley fire, causing the retreating forces to hold their shields over their heads instead. Some made it back to their own lines, but most lay slain on the ground, pierced by volleys of arrows.

I shook my head in wonder. It looked like Merneptah had taken my advice and made the archers the centre of his tactics this time, which meant that there was hope that we might win this. While that was good news for me and the rest of the Kumetians, it wasn't good for the Libyans.

The Sea People could run back to their ships, but the Libyans had been so convinced that they would win, that they had brought their families and belongings along, or at least enough of it to make their life comfortable once they had taken the land they were planning to. While that wasn't unusual for an invading army, it was also incredibly arrogant. In theory it would make the soldiers fight harder, because if they lost the battle their families would be captured by the enemy, but unfortunately, that wasn't how it had worked in the battles I had read about.

Once an army had its moral degraded to the point where the warriors ran away from the battle, there wasn't much rational thought left in them. They would ditch weapons and shields just to be able to run a little faster, even if that made them unable to protect themselves, and any thought of family was gone from their minds.

If I were them, I would be praying to whatever Gods they had, I determined and looked up as the trumpets sounded again. The battle had just started, and it was way too early to think about the fate of the enemy's family.

-----------------

The two lines of footmen clashed with the sound of metal meeting metal and the screams of the wounded. This close, the Kemetian archers couldn't hit the enemy lines and had to resort to launching arrows at any reinforcements.

That hadn't stopped the Sea People from utilizing their heavier armor and shields to cause a lot of trouble, as they fought more disciplined than I had thought possible. The Kemetian line were pressed backwards, giving ground to the amassed people in front of them slowly but surely, causing some of the Sea People to howl with glee and throw themselves into the combat with renewed energy.

From my position less than two hundred cubits away, but on higher ground, the situation didn't look as good for the Sea People as they thought. Instead of winning, the Sea People were falling into a trap. The centre of the Kemetian line did give ground, but at the same time the edges moved slower, and the end of the formation stood their ground, essentially tempting the Sea People into a pocket where they would be surrounded on three sides. Already a reserve was moving up from behind to reinforce our lines and...

A flash of colour caught my eye and as I looked an Kemetian officer stumbled away from the line, blood running from a deep cut in his weapon arm and another in his leg. That by itself wasn't anything special, but this officer was wearing the colours of the Pharaoh on top of his armor, meaning that he was part of the royal family.

With a sigh, I commanded the two armsmen Merneptah had given to me as protection to stay by the tent and started running towards the wounded officer. I had almost covered the distance, when a small group of Sea People broke through the Kemetian line, going after him. That was the trouble of wearing distinctive colours. It might tell your own troops that you were in command, but it also told any half-competent enemy whom they needed to kill to handicap the enemy.

Two Kemetian soldiers discovered what was going on and hastened to help their officer, but while they succeeded in slowing down the group of Sea People, they were soon cut down and the group fell upon the wounded officer, a pair with heavy armor and shields leading the assault. The officer managed to parry a blow with his shield, but his movements were sluggish, and I doubted that he would last long against five determined warriors.

Still running I activated an Ars Mentalis power that made me stronger and then threw a bronze dagger with each hand before I drew my sword. The two warriors fighting the wounded officer fell backwards as the daggers pierced first their leather armors and then their chests, but at the same time, the officer fell to the ground.

Sliding the last few meters on the rubble, I dodged under a sword attack, taking the warrior's leg off with my own sword, while I parried an attack against the wounded officer with the scabbard, and ended up between the officer and the remaining three warriors.

Their eyes widened, as they suddenly found themselves facing a tall, blue-eyed man, wielding a sword that looked nothing like the Kemetian Khopesh.

Instinctively I entered the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind.") without even thinking about it. My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl, including the warriors in front of me as they overcame their initial surprise and went on the attack.

Driven by Ars Mentalis enhanced muscles and a technique that had been honed by decades of training and combat, the razor-sharp Adamant blade of my sword went through shields, leather armor, flesh, and bone with ease, as I cut them down before they had a chance to come near the wounded officer.

A quick look around told me that there were no more people attacking me, so I quickly examined the wounded officer. To my relief he was still alive and had just passed out, so I hurriedly bandaged his two major wounds. They didn't seem serious enough to cause him to pass out and I suspected that he had more wounds under the armor. Unfortunately, it was a leather tunic reinforced with bronze lamellar, and while it was quite effective in stopping attacks, it also stopped me from examining the body under the armor.

Fortunately, the trick I had used to enhance my muscles was still working, and with a sigh, I placed the sword in the belt again, lifted the officer up on my shoulder and walked back to my tent.

The guards were looking at me wide-eyed as I returned, but one of them, a middle-aged soldier named Ramose, had the presence of mind to hold the tent door open, so I could get inside easier.

I nodded a thanks to him and looked at the other as I walked past. "Kheti, get one of the assistant healers from the main tent over here as fast as possible."

Being given an order seemed to wake him up and he set off in a run, while I walked to the table and placed the wounded officer on it.

"Can I do anything, sir?" Asked Ramose, causing me to nod. "Help me get his armor off. I suspect it hides a wound."

He came over to help and together we got the heavy bronze armor off, revealing a wound into the side of the stomach, where a dagger or something similar had penetrated both armor and flesh.

That made me curse. Stab wounds in that area were always difficult to treat, especially if the gut was ruptured. Placing my hand on his stomach, I sent my senses into his body. To my pleasant surprise the wound had not hit any major organs and it seemed mostly superficial in nature. That still left the mystery of what had made him pass out, but a quick search through the body showed that it was a combination of heat exhaustion and blood loss.

Retracting my senses, I breathed a sigh of relief. With just a little ordinary healing, the wounded officer was going to be alright.

The sight that met me when I opened my eyes was extremely pleasant, as I was looking directly down the cleavage of two well-shaped breasts, only covered by cotton so thin that it was transparent and framed by the strap of a dress that also covered the nipples.

I let my gaze slide upwards, over the smooth olive skin, encountering an elegant neck, a well-formed mouth, a cute little nose, and large almond-shaped brown eyes in a face that was pretty, without being beautiful. The most surprising part was that the face was framed by dark red hair that fell to her shoulders, curling as it did so.

In short, she looked a lot like Tia Magnus and with that red hair, I had no doubt that Ramesses was her father. Of course being a person with a healthy sexual appetite and access to a harem of good-looking women that lived only to serve him, Ramesses had fathered more than a hundred children and many of the oldest ones, like Khaemweset, had died from old age before Ramesses.

However, there was nothing old about the woman standing on the other side of the wounded officer and unless I missed my guess, I was looking at Neferure (Kemetian: Beauty of Re), the last daughter of Ramesses to be born in the Royal Palace at Pi-Ramesses. Her mother had been one of the many princesses sent to the court of Ramesses as part of trade- or peace agreements.

Not being a child of one of the Great Royal Wives, she had little influence in the complex hierarchy that was Kemetian court politics and according to Tia Magnus, who had been a member of the same court, it was for that reason, she had become an acolyte. A quick look at the jewellery she wore confirmed that, as it depicted a lion headed goddess. However, it wasn't Bastet, but Sekhmet. Another lion headed and a sister of Bastet, Sekhmet was, as all feline gods and goddesses, a warrior goddess, but where Bastet was the Goddess of sex and everything connected to that, like pregnancy and childbirth, Sekhmet was the Goddess of medicine.

I bowed slightly. "Greetings, acolyte. I hope that you're here to help."

"I am, healer. Your armsman said that you needed help."

I nodded and explained that I needed somebody to hold together the edges of the wounds, while I sewed them together, after I had washed them with the usual honey-and-alcohol mix, that would kill off any infections.

Just as I had finished the explanation, a female voice said. "Do as he says, acolyte. He's blessed by Maahes, Bastet and Sekhmet, and knows what he is doing."

Blinking in surprise, I looked in the direction of the voice and discovered that Neferure hadn't come alone. Near the entrance to the tent stood a Priestess of Bastet, easily recognized by her loose fitting and revealing clothes, that resembled an embroidered version of a traditional dance costume. The body beneath the cloth was toned and muscular without being bulky and she had the spectacular legs of a dancer.

She looked familiar but took me a few heartbeats to realize that it was Nofret. The acolyte of Bastet that I had bought off a slave trader in Alashiya and later freed. Apparently, she had become a Priestess since then.

I bowed again. "Hello again, Nofret... or should I say Priestess?"

Her face split in a wide smile, and I noticed that while she was older now, she was just as good-looking as she had been fourteen years ago.

"For you, Nofret will do just fine."

I smiled at her and nodded, before I looked at the redheaded beauty in front of me. "Oh, by the way, do you have any idea who we're healing?"

She nodded shortly. "Yes, that's Prince Userpehti."

I shrugged slightly. A pharaoh as old as Merneptah had a dozen princes, with many of them being in the army as commanders and the name didn't tell me anything, as it wasn't one of those in line for the throne. "Thank you. Now give me the green bottle over there on the table and let's get this done."

As always, cleaning and sewing the wounds together took a lot longer than causing them, but by the time I had placed the last bandages, the sun was still up and it had become even warmer than it was when I started.

"Will he live?" Asked Neferure with a slight edge to her voice.

"Yes, he will." I said firmly. "It was just superficial wounds. The armor took most of it."

"Including the stomach wound?"

"Yes, also that." I looked at Ramose. "Water, please."

He nodded and handed me a jug of water. It was lukewarm, but with the heat it felt wonderfully refreshing.

"How's the battle going?"

"We're winning." He answered and from the side, Nofret added. "Our bowmen are slaughtering them, and the footmen stop them whenever they advance."

"Good." I said as I placed the jug back on the table. "Then perhaps we will have peace for the next thirty years or so."

"You think they'll be back then?" Asked Nofret, as she rose from the pillow she had been sitting on.

"If, or rather when, they lose here, they'll remember it for about a generation." I said with a shrug of the shoulders. "When the next generation grow up, they will have forgotten it and attack again. Especially if the kingdom is weakened in some way."

Neferure snorted. "Kemet is never going to be weak."

Laughing, I looked over at Nofret. "It seems like your acolyte is in need of some history lessons."

"I think you're right." Nofret agreed and walked gracefully towards me. Her clothes doing little to disguise the fact that her dancer's body was as trim as it had been fourteen years ago. Then she hugged me, followed by a sizzling kiss so filled with lust, that it gave me a hard-on even under these circumstances.

She felt it and pressed her body against mine for a moment before she broke the kiss and whispered. "I've missed you, Avatar of Maahes. Can I see you tonight?"

"If the Pharaoh wills." I whispered back. "Otherwise, come visit me in my home in Men-nefer."

"Deal." She said with a grin and let go of me just as the tent was opened and two men with a stretcher between them came in, followed by a small group of soldiers.

Looking at the wounded man on the stretcher, I sighed. It was Prince Senusret and from the look of it, he was gravely wounded.

"No rest for the healers." I told Neferure and ordered the soldiers to take Prince Userpehti to the Royal Camp, so we could focus on Prince Senusret, who was still conscious and moaning in pain. As it looked like he had been hit by arrows hard enough to throw him off his chariot and subsequently dragged over the rough ground behind it, that was quite understandable.

I fed him some poppy juice to ease his pain and then looked at Neferure. "Let's go to work."

She looked at me in surprise. "You think we can save him?"

"Yes."

She nodded, but her facial expression was doubtful as she said. "I'll get some slaves in here with fans. It'll only get warmer from now on."

--------------------------

So, while the battle raged outside, Neferure and I fought our own battle against the Goddess of Death or Anubis as the God of Death was named in Kemet, removing broken arrows, setting broken bones, and sewing wounds together, trying to save the prince's life. In the end, we were successful, but for a long time it was touch and go, and I had to restart his heart twice with rhythmic pressure to his chest before he became stable enough to survive.

Closing the last bandage, I looked up at Neferure, who was standing to one side of the stretcher, enjoying the flow of air provided by three fan-wielding slaves, while she looked at me closing the bandage.

When we had started operation, she had looked calm and collected, but after hours of healing her curly red hair was wet, her smooth olive skin had taken on a glistening sheen of sweat and the thin cotton dress clung to her body revealing the graceful curves and contours beneath the fabric. In short, she looked both sexy and alluring.

When Neferure saw me looking at her, she bowed slightly. "Well done, Healer Ivah. I am sorry I doubted your ability to heal Prince Senusret."

"Not a problem." I replied and accepted the jug of water Ramose handed me. I also realized that the distant sound of combat had disappeared and smiled. "From the lack of combat noises, I assume that we won."

"Yes, sir." He said with a wide smile. "While you were healing, our infantry held them off while our bowmen killed the majority of them. Then the King in his wisdom ordered a final great charge of the chariots, supported by the infantry, and succeeded in routing the enemy."

"Good." I looked over as a group of Royal Guards entered the tent, followed by the Captain of the Amen army group, easily identifiable by his armor and helmet.

I bowed slightly. "Greetings, Captain. What can I do for you?"

He nodded to me. "Greetings, healer. I'm here to transport Prince Senusret to the royal camp."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but that is not a good idea. Prince Senusret is not stable enough to be moved yet. If you try, he might die."

For a moment, I was sure he would object, but he surprised me by nodding and saying, "Then we shall wait." He saw my expression and smiled. "I was a Royal Guard during Ramesses and I was there when you healed him. He was carried into Prince Khaemweset's house a cripple and walked out on his own two feet. I'm not going to argue against any medical judgement you make."

"Thank you." I said with a chuckle and looked at Ramose again. "Could you find something to eat for the acolyte and I?"

"Yes, sir."

So, we waited, while I checked the prince from time to time. It was boring, but the Guard Captain filled us in on the aftermath of the battle. No less than six thousand of the enemy had been killed, while nine thousand had been captured, and the rest were on the run pursued by the Kemetian Chariots and light Infantry.

As I had expected, the Libu had abandoned their baggage and dependents, as they ran for their lives. Those had been captured as well and would be brought back to Kemet as slaves. Not exactly a great life, but better than getting killed on the spot as so many others would have done.

-------------------------

As it turned out, the Pharaoh's will did come in the way between Nofret and me, but mostly because when it was time to move the prince to the royal camp, the Captain insisted that I came along, so I could join the victory feast.

Since that was considered an honour, there was no way I could avoid going, so I spent the rest of the evening and half the night eating, drinking, and listening to the officers telling stories about their heroic acts in the battle.

I was talking with Huy, the Captain that had visited me in the tent, when a Royal Servant approached us, bowing as he said. "I'm sorry to interrupt the pleasant evening, but are these... " He held out two bronze throwing knives. "... yours by any chance?"

"Ah... yes." I said with a smile, as I recognized the two knives, I had used against the Sea people warriors. In the hurry to get Prince Userpehti back to the tent for healing, I had forgotten all about them. Not that they were indispensable, since I could make new ones, but having them back saved me a lot of work.

The Royal Servant handed me the knives and I accepted them, placing them in the empty scabbards in my belt.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure, sir." He said with another bow and walked away again.

"May I ask how a healer lost two knives during a battle?" Asked Captain Huy with a drunk grin.

Looking around, I lowered my voice. "Only if you promise not to tell others."

"That I can promise."

Drinking from my cup, I said. "I was watching the combat from outside the tent, when I spotted Prince Userpehti stagger away from the line, so I ran to get him. However, a group of Sea People soldiers came after him, so I had to kill them before I could get the prince back to the tent." I shrugged. "The two first were a little too close to the prince and as he fell down, I took them down with my throwing knives, and the rest with my sword. Unfortunately, I forgot the knives in my hurry to get the Prince to the tent."

He laughed drunkenly but kept his voice low as he chuckled. "One of the Priestesses of Bastet claim that you're an avatar of Maahes. I can understand why now." He paused and then asked. "Did the prince see it?"

I shrugged lightly. "I don't know. I was occupied by the Sea People at the time, but when I went to examine him, he had passed out."

"Why haven't you told anybody about this?"

"Politics." I simply said. "I'm from the line of Horemheb and Merneptah is old. I have no wish to become involved in some dynastic feud once the mortal shell of Ra leaves us. As most other people in this country I value stability and security, especially with the Sea People running rampant and burning down cities left and right."

"Ahhh... and a descendent of Horemheb who's a healer is no threat, while a descendent of Horemheb, who's a warrior might be."

"Exactly." I confirmed with a nod. "I will leave Kemet if people try to play politics with me. I really want no part of it."

"And go where?" He asked, genuine interest in his voice.

"Dilmun, I think." I drank from the cup again. "Away from the Sea People."

"Understandable." He chuckled. "Well, enough talk of bad times." He lifted his cup. "Cheers!"

"Cheers."

We started to chat about less important things, but as he turned to talk with another captain, I felt my mind speed up. Strange as it sounded, the problem for Kemet was that Ramesses II had been so old when he died. While Merneptah was an able ruler, he had been almost seventy when he took the throne and despite my healing, I doubted that he would live more than five to ten years.

Unfortunately, the crown prince was old as well, since he was the eldest of the still living children.

That would cascade down through the next generations, meaning that for the next thirty or forty years there would be a period, where anyone who took the throne of Kemet, would die of old age within a decade of being crowned. In other words, the time of stability for the Kemetian Empire was at an end and it couldn't have come at a worse time, with unrest or war all over this part of the world.

To make matters worse, the Sea People had already disrupted most of the trade in the Middle Sea area, and that trade was what had brought peace to the area for hundreds of years. Sure, there had been wars, but those had been localized wars for land or resources, and with a few exceptions, they haven't included the total annihilation of entire cities, that the merchant had told was happening now.

However, if trade in the Middle Sea was about to disappear, every single empire that relied on that trade would have problems in years or centuries to come.

The more I thought about it, the clearer it became that I needed to move away from Kemet. Not only due to the political situation, but also because of my age. People already thought that I was too young to be the person that had healed Ramesses II and that was only going to get worse as time went by. The only thing that worked as an advantage for me right now was the white hair, since humans tended to equalize that with old age, but anyone that saw my face up close would quickly realize that I wasn't nearly as old as the hair would suggest.

I sighed to myself. Unless I just dumped many of the items from my childhood, that meant that I would have to pack a lot of stuff, so it could be transported to my new home, wherever that was going to be.

As I had said to the captain, Dilmun was the most obvious choice, as I knew both the area and the language, but it was not the only choice. Travelling further would bring me to Bhārata, which was just as obvious and for the same reasons. So was Lescare for that matter, but without magical transport, that was very far away. In contrast, the relatively new kingdom of Sheba was closer than even Dilmun and as a prime exporter of spices, especially frankincense and myrrh, they had plenty of rich merchants that were willing to pay for a healer.

The more I thought about it, the better a choice Sheba seemed to be. One huge advantage was that I had never been there before and therefore nobody knew me or what age I was supposed to have.

Fortunately, it wasn't a decision that I had to take now, so I pushed the thought away and turned my attention back to the party. If it was going to be one of the last parties I had here, I might as well enjoy it while it happened.

---------------------------------

One of the huge advantages with being an Ars Mentalis Healer, is that most of the healing tricks were controlled by the subconsciousness. That meant that as long as I had mental energy, I would heal myself, which included the effect of alcohol on the body and I woke up early the next morning a little sleepy from lack of sleep and slightly bloated from eating too much meat, but without the hangover that seemed to plague most others. Especially after a party as lavish as the one I had attended the night before.

I was immensely grateful for that, as the Royal Servant that had woken me up didn't look like he cared that he had disturbed my much-needed sleep. He just wanted to do what he had been told to and right now, that was to get me to Overseer Aswad.

As the title suggested, the Overseer was in charge of many different aspects of the court and I had no idea why he wanted to see me this early in the morning, but as I was just here as a healer, I walked over to see him.

"A bright good morning to you, Healer Ivah." He greeted when I arrived by his tent.

"May Ra bless your day." I said with a slight bow, glancing around. The tent was a picture of organized chaos, as there were papyri on all flat surfaces and two scribes were busy noting things down.

"If you wonder why I have brought you here so early, I can assure you, that I was not by my own choice, but his highness insisted that you should be one of the first to receive your reward for the battle and as we have a busy day in front of us, we need to start early." He explained in a crisp voice and looked at a list. "According to this, you're rewarded a weapon and four slaves in addition to whatever else you're getting." He gestured in the direction of a servant. "Please go with my assistant and choose that from the spoils."

Wordlessly, I bowed again and walked with the assistant. The spoils of war were distributed according to custom and it was considered an honour to be able to choose as one of the first ones. Apparently, the King was very satisfied with my healing.

Someone had organized the weapons in different groups according to quality and my heart almost skipped a beat, when I recognized one of them. It was one of the cursed swords that the Pulcher family had distributed among the humans. Masterfully crafted and with precious stones inlaid in the guard and pommel, it was a beautiful sword and most likely worth the ransom of a minor king. More to the point, it would cause anyone carrying it to gradually become more and more warlike in their attitude, ensuring or at least increasing the possibility that the wielder would lead the tribe to war.

Fortunately, it was also a style of sword that the Kemetians didn't use and I guessed that was why it was still here. I might be one of the first to choose today, but the army commanders had their pick yesterday and if the sword had been a Khopesh, it would have been long gone.

So, I told the assistant that the Pulcher sword was the one I wanted, and he noted it down, before he led me over to the captured Libu people.

In general, I dislike owning slaves and avoided it whenever I could, but I had discovered that if I just treated them as servants, it tended to work out just fine. Then I could set them free once we were out of Kemet, whenever that was.

"I'm not familiar with the rules about this." I told the assistant as we walked. "Could you explain it to me?"

"Certainly, sir. You cannot separate a child from its mother or siblings, but small children don't count against the number of slaves that you can have. As usual all slaves are to be treated according to the law of the land with no unnecessary punishments."

I nodded absently. That meant that I had to clothe, feed them, and give them a place to live. Even with me living in the smaller townhouse, that wasn't a problem.

The Libu women, children and household slaves were gathered in several tents to keep them out of the sun, and the adults looked at us with a mixture of fear and resignation on their faces.

I took my time looking them over. If I had to have slaves, I might as well choose some with useful skills that weren't limited to cooking and cleaning, as I already had servants to do that.

A tall and wide dark man caught my eyes. Mostly because he was nearly my height, towering over the woman next to him, which was unusual among humans. He was also darker than most of the Libu people and I guessed that his ancestry was from somewhere below the great desert. Not that it mattered, except for the language.

"What's your name and where do you come from?" I asked in the Libu language.

"I'm Hori from Punt." He answered shortly in Kemetian, making me blink in surprise. Located south-east of Kemet and even more south of Kush, Punt was so far away from the routed most often chosen by merchants that it was rare to encounter a Puntian up here.

I nodded towards the woman by his side. Just as dark as he was, she was otherwise unremarkable. "Is that your wife?"

"Yes." He said with a nod.

"Profession?"

"I'm a shipbuilder and a smith." He gestured towards his wife. "Tiye is a cook."

I pondered that for a moment. He was not telling the truth, or at least not all of it, but on the other hand shipbuilders were good with almost all kinds of woods, making it a very versatile profession, and while I already had a cook, she could clean and serve.

Looking at the overseer's assistant. "I want these two for starters."

"Yes, sir."

Looking back at Hori, I asked. "Anyone you can recommend? You will be treated as servants, and I generally treat my people well."

He looked at me for a moment and there was a thoughtful expression in his voice, as he asked. "You're one of the Herysesta, right?"

Literally meaning 'Masters of Secrets', it was one of the Kemetian names for the Baylon race, so I nodded. With my skin- and hair colour, there was no reason to deny it. "Yes."

Before he could say more, a young woman stepped up beside Hori, dragging an even younger girl after her. "Me and my sister would like to come with you."

Aside from being of different ages, the two looked similar, with long, dark, and curly hair, big brown eyes in a rounded face. They also had the olive skin of people from the Middle Sea area, and they reminded me a lot of the women from Alashiya (Cyprus), though the one speaking had used heavily accented Kemetian.

"And who're you?"

"I'm Merit and this is my sister Tutu. I'm a midwife and Tutu can do pottery." She said, looking pleading at me. "We can work hard."

Her eagerness took me a little aback. "Why me?"

"I say you in Alashiya when I was little." She answered. "At least if you're Tazkul of Dilmun."

"That was me, though I use another name now." I said, slightly amused that people from my past kept showing up. First Nofret and now this young lady. "But that doesn't explain why you want to come with me."

"Because my father traded with you several times and he told me that you treated people fairly."

There was a sense of pain and longing in her voice that told me that her father probably wasn't alive anymore and while I was curious to the identity of her father, I decided that it could wait, so instead I just nodded and turned towards the Overseer's assistant. "I need those two as well."

He nodded and dutifully noted it down, before looking them over. "As young siblings, those will count as one, sir, so you still have a choice left."

With a sigh, I turned back to Hori. "Did you have a suggestion?"

"I do," he said. "Man or woman?"

"Woman." I answered. If they were to accompany me when I travelled, a woman was less of a threat than a man, since most men had at least some weapon training.

He nodded and pointed at another dark-skinned and curly-haired woman. "Kiya over there. She's a weaver but can also sing and play music. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak Kemetian."

"Fine, I'll take her as well." I said and informed the assistant about it. He noted it down. "Very well, sir. Good luck with your new property. I'll have them brought to your estate."

"Thank you."

*********************************

Visiting the temple of Bastet

Men-nefer, Kemet (Egypt)

Getting back to Men-nefer took three weeks, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I walked through the door and was greeted by Renef, the elderly chief of the household. "Welcome home, Master."

Renef had been Chief of the Household of my father's house in Pi-Ramesses as long as I remember and when I had moved to this house, I had brought him with me along with his wife, Henut, who was the cook, and one of their sons, Nakth, who took care of the garden. They had another grown son, he was still living in Pi-Ramesses along with his wife, where he worked as a scribe. Nakth was also educated as a scribe, but preferred gardening to writing.

"Thank you, Renef. I've gotten some more staff since His Highness in his wisdom decided to give me five slaves. You'll be glad to know that one of them is a cook."

He smiled widely. "Sounds good, Master. Henut could use some help in the kitchen."

"Yes, we can sort the rest out later. Right now, I just want a bath before relaxing in the shade with a cup of palm wine."

"Do you want something to eat as well?"

I considered it for a moment. I wasn't hungry, but on the other hand, it was getting dark, and I suspected that the lack of hunger was weariness from all the travelling, which meant that I would be hungry after the bath.

"Just some meat and cheese, please."

"I'll have it ready along with the palm wine, Master."

"Thank you."

-------------------------

The sun had set before I walked into the garden, feeling fresher after having bathed and changed into more relaxing clothes, which was a simple belted skirt that just about everyone in Kemet used, from the pharaohs to farmers working in the field. Called a shendyt or a schenti depending on where in Kemet you were, it was the single piece of clothing best suited for the climate and I breathed a sigh of relief when I felt the cool evening air against my skin.

The meat and cheese were tasty and unlike the bread it was blessedly free of the ever-present grains of sand, while the palm wine was pleasantly cool.

The idea of moving from Kemet that had started during the campaign, still roamed in my head, becoming more and more real for every passing day, evolving into a plan.

Since the major problem was that I don't age, I needed to go to an area where they didn't know me and for that reason I had settled on Sheba as my next place to live. It was close, but out of the reach of the Sea People due to its location on the southern tip of Oram Aromatum (Baylon: Spice Coast. Present day Arabian Peninsula), and while most trade with Assyria and Babylonia happened by caravan, there were several harbours in the area. I had even visited two of them when I sailed from Dilmun to Kemet almost twenty years ago, and then again, when I had escorted the beautiful Yakshini Vibhrama from Kemet to Baharat.

However, back then we had only stopped to load water and food, while sheltering for the night, and it would be something different living there.

Moving there would also take some planning. Just for starters, I needed to sell the house and arrange for transport of the things I wanted to take with me. Since I was travelling anyway, it would be wise to get some trade goods I could sell when we arrived in Sheba, and I needed to talk with the merchants to hear more about the area and the culture. There were bound to be some cultural taboos that I needed to know to stay out of trouble.

The arrival of Renef brought me out of my thoughts. "Master, I'm sorry to disturb, but there's a runner from the Bastet temple here. It sounded urgent."

"Show her in, then."

He walked out of the garden, giving me time to think. Runners after nightfall was a rarity for the simple reason that it was dark in the streets. If you really wanted a message delivered after dark, you would send a small group with torches or other sources of light.

Not that robberies were frequent, but Men-nefer was still a huge city with lots of people and this far away from the palace area, guards were far in-between.

Renef came back quickly, along with a young boy bearing the sign of Bastet. The boy wasted no time as he kneeled before me. "Honoured healer, Priestess Nofret of Bastet humbly requires your assistance as soon as possible."

"Do you have a token or other signs of proof?"

The boy shook his head. "No, sir, but the priestess told me to say 'Your cook passed out. I took over.' to assure you that the message was from her."

I chuckled and nodded, as I stood up. "How urgent is it?"

"Very urgent. The priestess also told me to tell you to remember your holy items."

That puzzled me for a moment, until I remembered that Nofret still thought that I was the personification of Maahes, which meant that the holy items she was referring to had to be my knives, which again meant that there was danger involved.

"I'll go get them." I said with a sigh. Going into danger the same evening as I returned home from a long journey which included a war, wasn't exactly my idea of a good homecoming, but Nofret wouldn't have asked me for help if she didn't find it serious and if a priestess of Bastet found it serious, then chances were that it was.

Consequently, I was wearing my Iron Silks clothes and carried two long knives, when we left the house a little while later. Thankfully, I didn't have to use them on our trip to the temple quarter and we arrived at the temple complex of Bastet, Maahes and Sekhmet without any incidents. Men-nefer wasn't the home city of any of the three cults and thus they shared a big temple, instead of having three separate ones, and a little while later I was at Nofret's quarters.

"Welcome," said the priestess with a smile when I walked into the room. "And thank you for coming so fast."

"You're welcome," I said, as I returned the smile. She had looked good last time I saw her, but standing in the dim light of the room, with sparkling eyes highlighted by the make-up, she looked even better now. "But the messenger didn't tell me what it was all about. What's the rush?"

She shrugged slightly. "I don't know yet. I got a message from my acolyte Neferure, that she needed my help as she was in danger. She is coming to visit me here as soon as she can, but that might take a while, considering the length of dinners in the palace."

I nodded slowly. "I think I have a suggestion for what we can do, instead of just being bored here waiting."

With graceful movements, Nofret walked towards me and there was a seductiveness in her steps and voice that hadn't been there a moment before. "Exactly what I was hoping for."

"One moment." I said and turned to bolt the door, so it couldn't be opened from the outside. I don't mind company, but there're moments where I don't want to be disturbed. Then I turned back to Nofret, took her by the neck and dragged her in for a kiss, enjoying her soft lips, the way she melted into my arms and her hands on my back.

It didn't take long for the kiss to turn lustful and as our tongues duelled, one of her hands was sliding in between us, massaging my rapidly growing cock outside my clothes.

Returning the favour, I let a hand slide inside her loose dancers costume, finding one of her beautifully rounded breasts, groping it. While not big, the breast filled out my hand nicely and the stiff nipple felt arousing as it slid against the palm of my hand.

Moaning into my mouth, Nofret brought the other hand into play, as she began undressing me while we kissed. Sliding my hand downwards over her taut stomach, I reached between her legs. She wasn't wearing a loincloth and she gasped as my fingers found her shaved pussy. She must have been thinking about sex because she was dripping wet.

Nofret spread her legs to give me more room to work, and without breaking our kiss, I started exploring her pussy with my fore and middle fingers, gently massaging her love-pearl with my thumb.

She shivered against me but continued to open my pants and a moment later they hit the floor, along with the belt and the two long knives in their scabbards. My loincloth followed a few heartbeats later and then I felt her cool hands around my stiff dick.

Wetting my fingers in her juice, I pressed two of them into her, curling them slight inside her to make sure I hit the internal pleasure point. Nofret moaned into my mouth, squeezing me with her surprisingly tight pussy muscles, riding my fingers as I fucked them into her and massaged her internal pleasure point.

"Oh fuck." Nofret gasped, breaking the kiss. "You... are... just...as...good...as...I...remembered!"

Smiling slightly by the compliment, I changed the position of my thumb ever so slightly, making it connect with her love-pearl every time my fingers went into her.

One of her hands reached behind my head to drag me into another kiss, while the other continued to gently stroke my dick, and her hips pressed against my hand, urging me to finger her harder as she shuddered and moaned.

I was more than happy to oblige and picked up the pace a little, finger massaging her internal pleasure point, while the walls of her pussy clenched delightfully and my thumb focussed on the love-pearl. The shivers in her body gradually increased and when I sensed that she was ready to come, I suddenly increased the speed even more.

Nofret's eyes flew open with shock and she was still for a few heartbeats, until she cried out in a wordless howl of pleasure, holding on to me for leverage as her orgasm powered through her, making her juices run down my hand, dripping unto the floor.

I held on to her with my free hand, keeping her upright, while still pleasuring her through the climax, going slower than before, but still fast enough to prolong the orgasm as much as possible. Nofret moaned, whimpered, and shook as the ecstasy slowly faded, leaving her standing on shaky legs, breathing heavily as she clung to me. I carefully removed my hand from her and held her in a hug, giving her time to recover.

It took her a while, but finally she looked up at me with a huge smile on her sweaty face. "That was the most divine experience I've ever had. I think I was possessed by Bastet for a moment."

She shifted her shoulders a little, making me release her from the hug, before she simply sank to her knees and without warning started to lick up and down my cock, swirling her tongue around the head before going back down to the shaft.

As I was moaning, she dropped a hand between her legs for a few heartbeats and then used the now wet hand to gently stimulate the head of my cock, spreading her juices on it, while she licked the shaft.

Since my hands were free, I took the opportunity to take off the rest of my clothes, though the feeling of her massaging and licking my cock made that a lot more difficult than usual. I made it just as she licked her way to the top, moved her hand to the shaft, and took the head between her lips, tongue swirling on the underside.

I have no idea what they were teaching the Bastet priests in the temple, but at some point during the last fourteen years Nofret had become an expert in oral sex, using her tongue, lips and hands just right, applying the right pressure at the right time and stopping before it became too much. Then she did it again and again, eagerly and with an expression of worship on her face. It was pure pleasure and I groaned and shivered as she worked her magic on my dick.

I wouldn't say that she enjoyed it as much as I did, because that was nearly impossible, but she clearly loved the feeling of me in her mouth and the effect it had on me.

In fact, it was too good, and it didn't take long before I was hoovering on the edge of coming.

"If you don't stop that, I'm going to come." I warned her.

She removed her moth from the head of my dick and smiled up at me. "Good. I don't know how long we have, and I want you to come." She was still stroking the shaft with a wet hand. "If we have time, I'll get you up again, so you can fuck me into the heavens."

I just nodded. Mostly because she had gone back to the blowjob, which took my breath away with intense pleasure. It didn't take her more than a few heartbeats to bring me back to the state I was in before she removed her mouth to talk and as she hurried her pace, I could feel my balls boiling and my dick twitching in her hand and mouth. Knowing what was going to happen, I placed a hand on a nearby chair for support.

She must have felt it as well because she took me further into her mouth and licked the underside of the head as she increased the pace of her stroking and as a final touch, I suddenly felt her other hand on my balls, gently caressing them.

With a groan, my balls boiled over, and I came in a white lightning of intense pleasure, shooting stream after stream into her mouth. Nofret just kept her rhythm, swallowing everything as she focussed on me.

It was only with great difficulty and sheer willpower that I managed to stay upright during that orgasm and if the chair hadn't been there to lean against, I would have fallen over. It was simply that good and intense.

I did manage to stay on my feet. "Wow... that was awesome!"

She removed her mouth from my dick and smiled up at me. "Thank you."

"Get naked." I ordered with a grin. "I want to taste you."

She jumped to her feet. "Nice. I rarely hear men say that."

I didn't comment on that as I was busy watching her undress. It might have been fourteen years since we were together on Alashiya, but years of dancing had kept her body in superb condition. Her breasts weren't big, but they were still beautifully rounded and perky, her stomach was flat, her buttocks firm and the long, toned legs were gorgeously shaped.

"You're gorgeous!" I told her, making her smile and ask. "Where do you want me?"

That caused me to think for a moment. In my opinion, Kemetian furniture was horrible for sex, being hard with very little padding on them. Even their beds had headrests made from wood or ivory.

Their chairs were better and the big chairs in the room had a wide seat, making them acceptable for what I had in mind.

"The chair over there." I answered with a nod in the direction of a solid looking chair.

With yet another smile she sauntered over to the chair I had indicated, turned around and sat down, placing her legs on the chairs arms, giving me an unobstructed view of her shaven pussy.

Enjoying the view, I walked over to her and knelt between her parted legs and used my tongue to lick up the drops of her juices that had run down her thighs. The skin was soft as silk and I savoured the texture, as I kissed and licked my way to her pussy.

Nofret gasped when my tongue finally made contact with the wet lips of her pussy, moaning as I licked first one and then the other side. Her taste and scent, at once savoury and sweet, filled my senses and added to my lust. I wanted this beautiful woman to come like she had never come before.

That demanded some warm-up, so I took my time, licking and playing with every fold of her sex, sensing her lust build, while listening to groans and moans to figure out, what worked best.

I was tempted to insert a couple of fingers in her wet pussy but didn't. I had no doubt that I could make her come that way, but somehow it didn't feel right.

Instead, I licked my way up to her love-pearl and sucked it into my mouth, while flicking the tip of my tongue over it.

Nofret jumped a little in the chair, moaning a "Oh fuck!" as her hands wandered to my head, pressing it into her crotch.

Taking the cue, I firmed up my tongue and gave her love-pearl a treatment, going in swift, firm circles over it.

Her lust began to build faster and I moved a hand from her leg to her pussy, letting my fingers slide up and down her slippery pussy, the wet lips going in between my fingers and fingertips teasing the opening and the sensitive skin between the holes.

Nofret gasped when I accidentally went too far down and ran my fingertips over her second hole, so I did it again, getting the same reaction. The third time, I didn't remove the fingers, but pressed a slick fingertip into the tight hole, causing Nofret to breathe heavier.

I pressed on, gently, but firmly inserting the finger in her ass, enjoying the way her muscles clenched my finger. Slowing down my licking, I let my tongue rest for a moment, while using my lips on her love-pearl and simultaneously inserted two fingers in her soaked pussy.

Her hands gripped my head tighter and she gave off a high-pitched moan, as I began sliding my fingers in and out of her holes at a leisurely pace, while working my lips on her love-pearl, guiding her towards the waiting climax.

Nofret happily obliged, gasping, groaning, and moaning, trying to wriggle her hips as she slowly, but surely came closer to an orgasm with each stroke, each touch of my lips.

I kept the same pace, until I felt that she was ready. Then I started to use my tongue again, firming it up and licking directly on her love-pearl, while I suddenly upped the pace of my hand, fingers moving in and out of her rapidly, the two in her pussy curling slightly to hit her internal pleasure point.

It took only a dozen strokes, then Nofret's body stiffened for a few heartbeats before she let out a surprisingly muted howl and exploded in an orgasm that made her thrash and jerk on the chair. Her inner muscles contracted around my pumping fingers, squeezing them tightly and I could feel a warm wave of her juices leaking around them and down my hand, ending on the floor.

Lifting my head, I looked at her. The beautiful face was contorted in pleasure and to my surprise, her eyes had rolled over, showing only the whites. The rest of her body was shaking and shivering, making her breasts wriggle as waves of pleasure ran through her. Smiling at the enticing sight, I kept fucking her with my hand, going in and out of her in a rapid pace.

A few heartbeats later, she came again, bucking on the chair and screaming in pleasure. Her strong dancer's legs snapped shut, preventing me from moving my hand, but the jerking of her hips still made my fingers move inside of her, prolonging the orgasm.

"By Bastet." She exclaimed a while later when she had gotten her breath and senses back. "That was divine!" She flashed me a smile. "And now we're taking this to the bedroom. I want that stiff dick inside me."

The sight, feel and scent of her coming, coupled with the time that had passed, had had its effect on me and I was hard as a rock again.

Once inside the bedroom, Nofret didn't waste any time. She had me lay down on the hard mattress, climbed onto me and with an expectant look on her face, reached back to grab my cock and guided it between her legs, pressing the tip against her moist pussy. Groaning, she rubbed the head against her wet lips, sending tendrils of pleasure through my body.

Good as it was, it was nothing compared to how it felt a heartbeat later, when she let her weight go and drove my cock deep inside her, impaling herself on it, and I groaned when she started grinding her hips, sliding herself back and forth on my lap, while her inner muscles twisted around my dick with every move.

Nofret kept the tempo relaxed, clearly just enjoying the position and the feeling it gave her. I wasn't about to complain as it felt fantastic. Reaching up, I took hold of her breasts, fondling them, while Nofret used her hips to drive my dick in and out of her tight, wet pussy. With what we had already done, she was so wet, I could feel her juices running down my balls, as she writhed on my lap.

"Oh fuck, this feels good." She declared. "You feel so good inside me."

I wanted to reply to her, but ended up groaning instead, as Nofret chose that exact time to lift herself up and then sat back down, moving slowly to give her muscles time to massage the entire length of my cock, and finishing off by rhythmically clenching her pussy around my cock when she finally had it all the way inside her.

Groaning, I managed to say. "Well, you feel fantastic around me."

She sent me a wicked smile. "Good... Then you're going to love this."

For lack of better words, she started to dance while sitting on top of me, hips swaying around, making my cock move in circles inside her clenching pussy. She kept doing that as she slowly rose, massaging my dick with her pussy until only the head was inside her. The she stopped rising and swirled her hips, making the lips of her pussy fondle the head.

Moaning, I kept fondling her breasts, while she caressed the head of my cock with her pussy, before she started going down again. I had expected her to go slow, but as soon as the head was inside her again, she sat down taking all of me inside her. Then she began riding me hard, bouncing up and down with so much force that the bed moved under us, sliding over the stone tiled floor.

"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" She chanted, as she started swinging her hips in a circular motion as she drove down repeatedly on my cock.

I squeezed her tits and started fucking her back, using my legs on the hard mattress as leverage. That worked very well and I was slowly reconsidering my opinion of Kemetian furniture, when Nofret suddenly picked up the pace even more.

It was a fantastic sensation and I began to groan with pleasure, but when my enjoyment threatened to be too great, Nofret slowed down for a while, giving me time to recover before she went all in yet again. Still, even with the pauses she made, I came closer and closer to an orgasm. As it turned out, Nofret came before I did, slamming down onto my hips and screaming quietly while her body spasmed in an orgasm.

She sat still for a moment with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Then she opened her eyes and looked at me. "Goddess, that was good. Are you close."

"Very," I said. Normally, I can last for a long time, but I use rhythm and breathing to do that, and with her in control, that simply wasn't possible.

"Good." The smile turned wider. "Do you mind if we finish in the other hole? I don't want to risk getting pregnant again."

There was no chance of that. One of the drawbacks of the Peaches of Immortality, that kept me young, was that it also made you sterile. However, no woman ever believed me when I told them that, so I just nodded and said, "Fine with me."

Still smiling, she lifted completely off me and crawled over to the side of the bed to take a jar from the table there. Then she crawled back, opened the jar and poured a slick, oil-like substance over my dick, before placing the jar back on the table. With a wink, she grabbed my cock with both hands and began massaging me, warming the oil at the same time.

I could feel the oil getting slicked as it warmed and with Nofret's hands massaging my stiff dick, it was pleasant experience, that only became better as Nofret finished warming the oil and applied it to her back side as well.

"Could you move to the edge of the bed and sit up?"

"Sure."

Without hesitation, Nofret positioned herself so her back was towards me, used a hand to place my stiff cock at the entrance to her round ass, and began to press down. Nothing happened right away, but as Nofret applied more pressure, her ass began to open up for me and with a careful push from her, the head of my cock went inside her. It was incredibly tight and even with the oil, Nofret had trouble getting more inside her.

On the positive side, she was moaning as she started the circular movements again, so it didn't hurt. To help her along, I reached around her, found her love-pearl with one hand and began playing with it, while the other hand found a breast and caressed it.

"Fuck, yes." Groaned Nofret. "Keep doing that."

"You know, we don't have to do this." I said, but Nofret turned her head, looking over her shoulder at me with a needy, lustful expression on her face. "I want that big dick in my ass."

As she finished the sentence, she pushed down again, taking more of me inside her. Her inner muscles contracted with the rhythm of my fingers on her love-pearl, and I discovered that the brief pause hadn't cooled me off as much as I thought it had. The feeling of Nofret's tight ass pulsing around my dick had almost brought me back to where we had stopped to change position.

"Fuuuuck." Breathed Nofret, pushing down on my dick and forcing the rest inside her. A feat that I suspected was only possible because of the slippery oil she had applied to my dick and her ass.

She moaned and shivered for a moment but as soon as her buttocks touched my lap, she started bouncing up and down. Slowly and carefully at first, but it didn't take long before she picked up the speed, groaning every time she got it all inside.

So did I. The feeling of sliding into that tight ass, with the head gliding her insides, the muscles massaging the dick and the clenching against the root of the shaft, was nothing short of fantastic. Some women have asked me what feels the best, mouth, pussy or ass, and the truth is that they can all be good and they can all be the best, but they all feel different. It's not even a difference that's easily explained, at least not when it comes to the difference between ass and pussy, where there's no tongue.

Nofret straightened her back, changing the angle. That caused her hair to be in my face and as I turned my head to shake it away, I caught sight of the two of us reflected in a large bronze mirror. The vision of Nofret's amazing body going up and down as she fucked me added to the sensation of my dick sliding in and out of her ass.

Then Nofret leaned even further back and proved just how nimble she was, by reaching my head, pulling it forward. Turning her head, she caught my mouth in a deep kiss as she continued riding me.

It was the kiss that overloaded my senses and broke my self-control. With her around me, my hands on her breasts and in her pussy, the feeling of her soft lips against mine was just too much. I could feel my balls boil and it was just a matter of time before they boiled over. There was no stopping it now.

"Too good." I groaned into her mouth. "I'm coming."

"Me too." She answered, but my senses told me that it would take longer than I would last. A few heartbeats later, that was confirmed as I came, spraying her insides with my semen with a groan.

"Uhhh." Nofret said as she felt it, but it didn't set her off.

Knowing that I had little time before my dick went soft, I stood from the bed and somehow managed to keep buried in her ass as I turned around and bent her over the bed. Moving my hands to her flaring hips, I took a firm hold and then started to fuck her as hard and fast as I could, savagely pounding her tight, sweet ass.

"Oh shit!" Nofret exclaimed, as she started to shake and a moment later she came with a shriek in another body shaking orgasm. I tried to keep fucking her through her orgasm, but she threw herself forward onto the bed, moaning and shaking from the sensory overload.

Feeling much the same way, I lay down on the bed next to her, idly letting a hand run over her body, enjoying the sensation of her curves against my palm.

It took a while before Nofret opened her eyes and looked at me, smiling as she said. "If you ever fuck me better, I swear I'll die and go straight to the afterlife."

"Well, I'll try to make you come less next time." I said with a lazy grin, making her grin back and shake her head. "No, if I have to go to Osiris, that is the best way to go."

"You have a point." I said and stretched. "Goddess, that was good."

"Yes," she agreed, "but we need to get out of the bed before we fall asleep."

"What's the hurry?"

"Neferure can be here any moment now and I would like to wash and clean up the living room before she arrives."

With a sigh, I sat up. "Let's wash first, then."

"Good idea."

------------------------------------

Neferure arrived later than any of us expected, but it gave us time to wash, get dressed and clean up the living room. It also gave me time to catch up on what she had been doing for the last decade or so.

Aside from being a priestess, she had two kids, a boy and a girl, and had spent some time raising them, but now they lived with her sister. Normally, it wasn't well-seen for a priestess to have children, but besides being a protector Goddess, Bastet was also the Goddess of love, pregnancy, and childbirth, and it was not uncommon for her priestesses to have children.

Nofret had just finished talking about her hopes for her children's future, when there was a soft knock on the door and a moment later Neferure came in, stopping as soon as she saw us. "Oh, Thank Bastet for you being here."

Last time I saw her, she had been in a very good mood, but right now she looked scared. That I could see two guards taking up position on each side of the door before it was closed behind her only confirmed that this was serious.

Nofret hurried over to her, hugging her. "What's the matter?"

"Earlier today I overheard that Amenmesse wants to marry me." She said in a shaking voice. "I hate him... I'm sure he was behind the death of Sekhemkare."

That caused me to blink in surprise. Amenmesse was the son of Merneptah by Queen Takhat and thus the half-brother of the current crown prince, Seti. The Sekhemkare she was talking about was a younger brother of Seti, who had died from an illness two years earlier.

I sighed. This smelled to high heavens of court intrigues. Besides her good looks, one reason Amenmesse might want to both marry Neferure and have Sekhemkare killed was to get closer to the line of succession when Merneptah died, since being married to a daughter of Ramesses the Great would strengthen a claim to the throne.

Of course as was so often the case with court intrigues, it might not even be Amenmesse himself that was pulling strings. It could just as easily be his mother, Queen Takhat, that wanted her son on the throne.

Nofret looked like she was about to say something, but Neferure beat her to it, as she looked at me. "He has also taken your holy sword, Healer. That is why I've asked the priestess for your help."

"What holy sword?" I asked, slightly puzzled. "I don't ha..." My voice trailed off as I suddenly remembered the cursed Pulcher sword I had gotten after the Battle of Perire. Like all weapons taken from the Libu, it had been carried back to Men-nefer with the caravan, and I had expected to get it in a few days. "That's not a holy sword."

Nofret looked just as puzzled as I had been a moment ago. "What sword?"

"After the Battle of Perire I was rewarded with five slaves and a choice of a captured weapon. "I explained. "It must be the one mentioned but is not a holy sword... It's a cursed sword."

They both looked at me. "Cursed?"

"It carries with it the Curse of Set." I said with yet another sigh, translating the curse into something they were familiar with. "Anyone wielding it will cause disorder and violence, and I chose it with the intent of throwing it into the Nile, so nobody could use it. If Amenmesse had taken that sword from the caravan, he will stop at nothing to become Pharaoh. After that, he'll throw Kemet into as many wars of conquests as he possibly can."

Neferure looked terrified, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said as two sudden bursts of negative Vis ran over me. Somebody had died just outside and that there were two of them, most likely meant that Neferure's two guards weren't alive to protect her anymore. The lack of combat noise was strange, but it might be something as simple as the attackers using bow and arrows, or other distance weapons and not missing.

"Into the bedroom." I ordered. "They're coming here."

They both looked at me open-mouthed, so I quickly took hold of them and dragged them into the next room as fast as I could.

"Do you have a back door?" I asked Nofret, who shook her head. "Not to the outside. The back door leads into the temple, but it's bolted from this side."

There was the sound of the front door being opened and closed again and then somebody said in a loud voice. "Neferure! By the order of Prince Amenmesse, you need to come with us!"

I sighed. When I had arrived, I had bolted the door after me, but apparently Neferure haven't done that, so they had been able to walk right in.

"Never." Whispered Neferure as an answer to the call, mostly to herself, but there was no mistaking the steel in her voice.

Nofret looked at me and I noticed that she had drawn her knives. "What do you suggest, Avatar of Maahes? Fight or flight?"

"We can't flee. In all likelihood, they will have the back door covered and are hoping for us to try exactly that." I said slowly as I thought it over. The efficient and silent way they had taken the guards spoke of highly trained warriors, so it wasn't going to be an easy fight. On the other hand, what they were doing was extremely risky, even for a prince.

The priests had enormous power here in Kemet and violating the peace of a temple was something the pharaoh had to react to and harshly at that. That, however, was only possible if there were any witnesses to the crime, so chances were that they would kill anybody that could identify them later. Which meant that if they won, Nofret and I would be dead.

So, we would need to fight, but Nofret calling me an Avatar of Maahes gave me an idea that could give me a small advantage.

"Don't panic." I told the two women and used Ars Mentalis to create a small illusion around my head. As the energy was still unstable, it was a chance I took, but I didn't feel like anything went wrong and when I looked into the bedroom's bronze mirror, a snarling lionhead looked back at me.

Behind me, I heard Nofret hissing. "I knew it!"

That caused me to smile and, in the mirror, the lionhead bared its teeth.

Time to dance with the Goddess of Death again.

Mental Power surged through my body, making me stronger and faster. Needing to know what the opposition was, I ripped the bronze mirror from the wall, walked the few steps to the doorway and held it out.

The reflection showed seven men, with a large man dressed in a hooded cape that covered his head and hid his facial features standing in the middle and three warriors on each side of him.

All seven of them were wearing some sort of cloth armor I hadn't seen before, and two of them were armed with bows, while the rest wielded richly decorated Khopesh swords.

Then the archers released their arrows, hitting the bronze mirror, and nailed it to the door.

"Stay here," I told the two women, as I drew the two Diucultro (Baylon: Long Knife), their long, recurved blades glittered in the light from the brazier. As soon as I felt the handle in my palm habit took over and without even thinking, I entered the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind.").

My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl, as I activated the adrenaline in my body, and exploded into action, rushing into the room, going directly for the man on the far right. He was closest to the wall and by going there, they couldn't surround me. The long knives flashed as I took off the arm holding the bow with one knife. A heartbeat later the other knife slashed through the archer's throat.

Whirling to avoid an attack with a Khopesh, I destroyed the ribcage of the next attacker with a double strike that cut through the ribs from both sides.

He should have fallen to the floor after that, but instead he counter-attacked, the Khopesh hitting my shoulder. The Iron Silk armor did its job. Impossible to cut through, it stiffened and spread the force from the impact over a much larger area, turning the potential deadly attack into a hard slap.

Surprised, I kicked him in the destroyed chest, sending him flying into the wall. That's when I realised that the first one was still standing and was drawing a Khopesh with the remaining arm. He also wasn't bleeding, and I noticed the bandages that were wrapped tightly around his body as well as the negative Vis inside him.

Vis Vitae is life force and is generated by living beings, especially when they do something that delight others, like playing music or sharing pleasure. However, it also has a negative side, called Vis Mortem, which can be manipulated in almost the same way as Vis and it's by doing that that undeads are created. Normally by human magic, but Vis Mortem using dark rituals also existed, and I was pretty sure that I was fighting a group of mummies, that someone had managed to activate despite the destruction of human magic that the disappearance of Baylon had caused.

Preserved dead people, mummies had been part of Kemet since time immemorial and while most mummies were truly dead, some of them had been turned into undead by negative Vis. Incredibly tough, they had very few weaknesses, but as far as I remembered from the lectures at Arcem Discendi, fire and decapitation would take them out for good. Otherwise, they would just regenerate any damage don't to them.

The good part was that when you kill something, the Vis is released with reverse polarity: Killing living beings is not positive and thus negative Vis is released, while destroying undeads is a positive thing to do and thus positive Vis is released. It also meant that every time I killed one of them, they would release positive Vis, which I could absorb and use.

The knives flashed again, hitting the mummy with the cut throat again, taking off its head. This time it did fall, turning into dust as it hit the tiles on the floor.

Narrowly dodging another attack, I swept the attacker's arm away, making it impossible for it to block the slash that took off its head. Two gone, five to go.

The next followed a heartbeat later, as the mummy with the shattered chest attacked me, but due to the damage it had taken, it was moving slowly, and it turned into dust as soon as the Diucultro hit its neck and cut through it. Three down, four to go.

A cross between a scream and an enraged roar ripped through the room. So loud that I was deaf for a few heartbeats, it also made me freeze for just a moment and before I could move again, a large Khopesh hit me in the side. The Iron silk took the blunt of the attack, but there was so much force behind it that it threw me through the room and into the far wall.

The force from the impact drew the air from my lungs, but I hurriedly staggered got back on my feet, as staying on the ground was certain death. Thankfully, internal Ars Mentalis still worked and I could feel the healing start by itself, immediately relieving some of the pain and enabled me to move just as fast as before.

Looking over at the attackers, I discovered that the largest of them had thrown off his hooded cape, revealing yet another mummy. By itself, that wasn't a great surprise, but this one was adorned with jewellery and the linen bandages looked thicker and more plentiful.

While I had never met one before, it had to be a royal mummy and according to the lessons, royal mummies were a lot more dangerous than the soldier mummies. Most of them were former priests and had retained the ability to cast spells even after death. A feat that, while impressive, didn't matter anymore, as human magic had disappeared along with Baylon. What was worse, was that they didn't turn to dust when taking off their heads. It took a ritual to completely destroy them.

Slipping into Vis-meditation for a few heartbeats, I activated Pugna Promptu (Baylon: "Combat Readiness") which allowed me to parry or dodge attacks that I couldn't even see coming. Getting hit by the royal mummy had been like being hit by a battering ram, and I had no intention of letting it happen again.

The royal mummy rushed towards me, swinging the sword in a downward attack, but I dodged under the swing and used the opportunity to hammer one of the long knives into its right knee. The strike would have cut off the leg of a normal person, but whatever magic that had taken to animate it, stopped the knife before it had reached even halfway.

The move took me behind it where it couldn't hit me easily but the thought of attacking it from behind disappeared when I saw the remaining three soldier mummies getting ready to charge me. Not wanting to be caught between them and the royal mummy, I counter charged, again going for the one on the flank to avoid getting surrounded.

My first attack was blocked, but the force of my swing forced its sword to the left and away from the guard position, allowing me to deliver a lightning-fast strike to its neck, and a moment later it was dust on the ground. Vis energy swept through the room and I absorbed it without even thinking about it. Four down, three to go.

Sidestepping, I got into a position where only one of the two remaining soldier mummies could attack me and risked a sideway glance at the royal mummy. It was coming my way, but the strike at the knee had hindered its moments somewhat and it was limping.

Pressing the attack, I took off the weapon arm of the mummy in front of me and then used a simple, but powerful front kick to send it backwards into the second soldier-mummy. They collapsed in a heap on the floor just as I turned to meet the royal mummy.

Like before, it attacked with a two-handed downwards swing, but this time I didn't have any room to dodge away, so I parried the sword, using both knives to do so, guiding the strike to the floor on my left. There was a loud 'clang' as the metal hit the stone tiles.

Using the opening, I danced away from the corner, hitting it in the side as I passed it. Again, the strike was stopped before it penetrated deeply, but I did manage to cut through some of the bandages.

With a roar, it whirled around, trying to strike me with the sword, but warned of the attack by Pugna Promptu I was already gone, and the mighty strike hit nothing but air.

The soldier with a missing weapon arm got to its feet, but it moved clumsily and I had no problem hitting its neck before it could do anything, turning that one into dust as well.

The last soldier mummy was in a perfect position for a strike, but with the royal mummy after me, I moved away from it as the sword of the royal mummy cleaved the air where I had just been.

I abruptly changed direction, taking the royal mummy by surprise and its follow-up attack went in the completely different direction, causing it to present the unprotected side to me. Adding Vis to the attack, I hit it so hard that it lost its balance and stumbled sideways, hitting the wall. More bandages fell to the ground, revealing golden hieroglyphs on the layer of bandages beneath it.

The last soldier mummy had gotten to its feet again, but before it could present a danger to me, I went all out on it, a flurry of strikes removing first its arms and then its head.

That left 'only' the royal mummy and I whirled around just in time to parry a diagonal strike so hard that my hands ached just from parrying it. Backing away, I studied the royal mummy as it walked after me, no longer limping and readying a new attack. Most of the bandages on the torso had peeled off due to the strikes I had delivered on both sides and by now I could see that all the bandages beneath were inscribed with golden hieroglyphs, some of them glowing dimly in the limited light of the room, spelling "I shall not decay", "I shall not rot" and "I shall not putrefy."

The royal mummy attacked again but being in the slow secure world of Mutatur Tempus Mente, I dodged it and slashed the mummy's side and back four times, before dancing away. Still, it was only due to the mental boost to my speed, that I was faster. If I hadn't used that trick, the royal mummy would have been faster than me.

Bandages fell to the floor, like leaves from a tree in fall, revealing the text on its back. This time it read " I keep captive your soul, I ward your shadow, barring the way to the day of judgement."

It slowly dawned on me that the golden hieroglyphs on the bandages was at least part of what animated the otherwise dead body, and that by removing them, there was a chance that removing them would kill or at least lessen its powers.

The next attack started out as one of the downward strikes, but it changed direction half-way, causing me to throw myself backwards to avoid getting hit, and ruining any chance of a counterattack. It seemed that there were some intelligences left behind the slightly glowing eyes.

Still, while it had speed and strength behind the strikes, they weren't the attacks of a highly trained swordsman, making me confident that I had a chance.

Going on the attack, I dodged under its counter and slashed into the left knee followed by a slash across the glowing hieroglyphs on its back. Two of them were separated and another attack made them fall to the ground.

Taking the time to cut them off completely was risky and the royal mummy responded by letting go of the sword with one hand, lashing out at me with a backward swing of his hand and forcing me to roll away to avoid getting hit.

Fortunately, the cut to its knee had limited its mobility and while it did limp after me, it wasn't nearly fast enough to press its advantage.

Suddenly, I heard chanting from the doorway to the next room. It was Neferure, who was singing. "Hear ye this judgment: The heart of Osiris hath in very truth been weighed, and his soul hath stood as a witness for him; it hath been found true by trial in the Great Balance."

With a roar of anger, the mummy turned towards the door. I had no idea what was going on, but in Kemetian mythology the dead had their heart weighted and if they had been good, they were allowed to pass on to the realm of the dead. That made it likely that Neferure was chanting part of the funeral rites and that might be the missing part of the mummies burial, that had made him an undead to begin with.

Moving in a sprint, I attacked from behind, hammering the two blades into its back as hard as I could. They penetrated a little more this time and bandages fell to the ground when I pulled the knives out again.

One part of my brain heard Neferure keeping the chant up."There hath not been found any wickedness in him. He hath not wasted the offerings in the temples."

The mummy spun towards me, the Khopesh glinting in the light. I ducked under the swing, causing it to pass over my head, and before it could reverse the stroke, I slashed it across the chest, making more inscribed bandages fall to the ground. Backing away, I grinned at it, daring it to come after me.

"He hath not done harm by his deeds; and he spread no evil reports about men while he was upon earth." Neferure chanted on and then started to clap a rhythm.

The royal mummy turned to look at her, but a slash across its arms turned its attention back to me and it stepped towards me, sword raised for the attack.

Behind it, Nofret danced into the room, her body moving gracefully in a ritual dance, as Neferure chanted. "To this speech the gods reply: That which cometh forth from thy mouth is confirmed. Osiris, the scribe Ani, is holy and righteous. He hath not sinned, neither hath he done evil against us."

That made the mummy turn towards her, but before it could take a step, I moved forward and down on my knees, slashing the backside of its knees. Either the losing of inscribed bandages or the ritual the two women were reciting had made it weaker, because unlike before, the knives bit deeply into the dried ligaments, severing them. It roared and went to its knees.

"The devourer Amemet shall not be allowed to prevail over him, and meat-offerings and entrance into the presence of the god Osiris shall be granted unto him, together with a homestead for ever in Sekhet-hetepu, as unto the followers of Horus" Neferure sang, as Nofret ended the dance and I got ready for a new attack.

It wasn't needed. As we watched, the golden hieroglyphs on the royal mummy lit up in a flash of light and then faded away, causing the mummy to crumble as they gradually disappeared to the sound of its jewellery hitting the stone tile as their foundation became dust.

For a moment, there was silence in the room. A silence I used to cancel the illusion that covered my head. That was a mistake. Creating the illusion had gone smoothly, but when I cancelled it, the release of energy went back into me, giving me a thundering headache and a nosebleed.

"Blood and aches." I cursed, holding a hand to my nose.

Nofret handed me a piece of cloth with a worried expression on his face. "Are you hurt, Avatar of Maahes?"

I accepted the cloth, holding it to my nose, feeling the Ars Mentalis kick in again to heal it. "Yes, but please don't call me that. That'll cause so many problems, I wouldn't know where to begin to explain it."

To my relief, she nodded and I looked at Neferure. "How in the name of Set, did Amenmesse or someone else get hold of a royal mummy?"

"I don't know." She said in a shaking voice. "In theory only the Pharaoh and the crown prince have the authority to activate those and as far as the story goes, they cannot be used against any of them." She paused and then continued. "And don't worry about there being more mummies outside. The soldier mummies are linked to the royal mummy and when it dies, so do they."

"Good to know." I said and removed the cloth from my nose. "And thank you for the ritual."

"No problem. All Bastet acolytes dance to funerals, so I know it by heart by now."

"You forgot to mention, that only someone of royal blood can finish the creation ritual outside their sarcophagi," said Nofret drily. "If you hadn't been here to chant from the Book of the Dead, we would have been in real trouble."

"I still am." Sighed Neferure. "Amenmesse wants me and I would rather die, than lay with that creep and give birth to his cursed offspring. If it wasn't him that sent those mummies after me, it had to be the Pharaoh or Seti and while I haven't got a clue why they would do something like that, it's an even bigger problem."

She wasn't wrong about that, but it was also highly unlikely. If Merneptah or Seti wanted her captured or dead, they could do that without any trouble when Neferure was in the palace. There was no reason for them to send a team of mummies after her. Especially not now it was impossible to make new mummies. I didn't even know how they had avoided being destroyed when Baylon disappeared, but they clearly had.

Neferure's problem with Amenmesse was harder to get around. As a son of Merneptah, Amenmesse wasn't far from the throne and when Merneptah died, he could expect to be appointed to some important position, like Overseer of the Army or Viceroy of Kush. Both positions came with a lot of power and if Amenmesse managed to marry a daughter of Ramesses the Great, he might be able to overthrow Seti. More to the point, if he had the cursed Pulcher sword, that was almost certainly what he would try to do, with the off chance that he would try to make Kush a nation of its own if he became Viceroy there.

"Anybody else who can activate a royal mummy?" I asked. "There's no reason for his Highness or Crown Prince Seti to use those to get you, and yet they were here, so there has to be another way."

Neferure was silent for a moment as she thought, but then shook her head and said, "These mummies were created long before I was born, during my father's reign and I'm afraid that I don't know much about their creation."

That surprised me a little, since I had expected them to be centuries older, but I accepted her knowledge with a nod, just as Nofret said. "All that aside, what do we do now?"

"I can't go back to the palace." Sighed Neferure. "Amenmesse is there and even if it wasn't him that sent the mummies, he still wants to marry me." She looked thoughtfully for a moment and then added. "It's strange. I've been prepared to marry some high noble or royalty my whole life and when it finally happens, it's my disgusting nephew!"

Nofret raised her eyebrows at that. "Would you be fine with marrying somebody else?"

"Anyone but him."

Nofret looked thoughtful, prompting me to ask. "What's on your mind, Nofret?"

She looked at me. "I'm trying to think of some royalty that could use a wife."

Neferure snorted. "Forget it. That only happens as part of trade- or peace agreements and there're none of those at the moment."

"Then spend a little time thinking about what you're going to do, while we clean this place up a little." I said and sheathed the Diucultro as I turned towards Nofret. "Do you have a sack or large bag?"

"Sure." She said and walked into the bedroom, only to return a moment later with two large bags. "Are those big enough?"

I nodded and started to collect the items the mummies had left behind when they turned to dust. It was mostly swords and jewellery, but there were a few gemstones between them as well, and they might be useful at some point.

"I need to leave Kemet." Neferure suddenly declared., taking me by surprise. To hear an Kemetian say that was about as rare as rain. Most of them are convinced that they live in the greatest nation in the world and for the most part they're even right.

Nofret looked stunned. "And go where?"

"I don't know yet, but I will rather be a merchant or a merchant's wife, than married to Amenmesse."

A knock on the door made all three of us look in that direction.

"It's most likely the guards." Said Nofret and walked over to the door. "Neferure, go hide in the bedroom."

"Yes, priestess." The redhaired princess said and did as she was told.

Nofret waited until she was gone, before inquiring who it was and apparently, she recognized the voice answering, because a moment later she opened the door, revealing a pair of guards.

The one in front bowed. "Sorry to disturb you, honoured Priestess, but have you talked with some royal guards? A group came by a little while ago, looking for your quarters, but we haven't heard from them since."

"No, we haven't seen or heard a living soul here. We were... busy."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the expression on the guard's face was priceless. A mix between envy and curiosity, I had no doubt that he wished that he had been the one to be 'busy' with Nofret.

"Yes, Priestess." He said with a smile. "We will take a look around and see where they have gone."

"Yes, do that. Have a nice evening."

"Likewise."

They walked away and Nofret closed the door.

I waited a few heartbeats, before I chuckled. "That was genius."

Nofret bolted the door and turned around. "What was genius?"

"The 'we haven't seen or heard a living soul here' comment."

She smiled. "Well, it was the truth."

"Yes, it was." I looked over as Neferure entered from the bedroom, still looking thoughtful. "This might be a foolish question, but what do I need to leave Kemet?"

"Valuables." I said and lifted the bag in my hand. "And more than there is in here."

She nodded slowly. "If I get more valuables, will you help me?"

"I'll need more than you have valuables." I said as I thought it over. Considering that I was preparing to leave Kemet as well, it wasn't a bad idea, though it gave me less time than I would like. "How much time do we have?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't want to return to the palace, so how long can you stay here without anybody sending people out to get you?"

She shrugged. "If I send a runner explaining that I have priestly stuff to attend to, I'll have about thirty days. That's how long I'm usually gone. It helps that His Highness is busy planning a stele to celebrate the victory over the Sea People."

That was longer than I had dared hope for, but then again, her status as an acolyte wasn't just for show and they did have a lot of things to attend to.

"I'll think it over," I told her. "But there's a few things you'll need to be aware of. First of all, you'll no longer be a princess, which means that you'll have to work for a living."

Neferure smiled a little. "I do that now."

"No, you're a priestess... or rather an acolyte in a religion that does not exist outside Kemet. That means, that you'll have to work as a healer."

"Oh..."

"Secondly, you'll have no power." I continued. "People won't automatically do what you say, unless you're the one paying them... and while we're on that subject, unless you can get some valuables from somewhere, you won't have servants." I sent her a smile. "Granted, if you're travelling with me, you'll have a few, as I generally don't cook or wash clothes. You'll have to do almost everything else by yourself."

She nodded. "No worries. I've done all of that as an acolyte." She sent Nofret a smile. "Though I'll have to say that I didn't enjoy it."

"No, that was pretty clear." Replied Nofret drily. "But in all fairness, you did get to do a lot of manual labour just because you're a princess and we wanted to test if you really meant it."

Neferure looked shocked, but it caused me to laugh. "Good thing you did, or she would be helpless now." Turning my attention back to the redheaded princess, I said. "You'll need to give Nofret a huge 'thank you' later, because that training is a major part of me agreeing to help you... and I will help you, if you're willing to go where I'm going."

She looked both confused and happy. "Where're you going?"

"Sabah or Dilmun, I think. I haven't decided yet." I told her. "I didn't plan on moving this soon."

"But you are willing to help, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, I am, so I'll plan it, while you figure out if you have any valuables, you can take along with you. I don't want somebody chasing us, so whatever you do, be sure you don't accidently take anything that doesn't strictly belong to you."

She looked somewhat insulted but managed to keep quiet and just nodded.

Satisfied, I asked Nofret. "Can we leave through the temple? I don't want to leave the obvious way."

She nodded, walked over to the back door, and removed the bolt. "Here you go. When you get into the temple, turn right. That will take you past the lions and very few people take that path."

"Thank you." Looking over at Neferure, I added, "You're coming with me for a few days, just in case Amenmesse sends out more people."

She nodded eagerly and after checking for enemies, we said goodbye to Nofret and walked quietly through the dimly lit temple.

The unusual surroundings set me enough on edge to use Vis Meditation to activate Oculos Cati (Baylon: Eyes of the Cat), a Vis power that enabled me to see as well in the dark as a cat. It helped, but just to be on the safe side, I drew a knife and held it hidden by my side.

Neferure saw and whispered. "Don't worry. The lions are locked in."

"It's not the lions I'm worried about. I'm worried about the soldiers that should have been covering the back door. I haven't seen anybody out here or anything resembling mummy remains."

Nofret looked stunned. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, but they might be in a place I can't see." I shrugged lightly. "Let's get home."

"Just like that?"

"Not much else we can do."

"I guess you're right," she sighed. "Lead the way."

Placing a hand on her back, I led her through the darkness of the city to my house.

*********************************

Leaving Kemet

The harbour of Vicus, Kemet

A month later, I was standing on the quay at the harbour of Vicus (Baylon: Quartz Harbour. Modern day El Qoseir) looking at the ship getting loaded. Fortunately, it was a ship from Dilmun, which was exactly what I had hoped for. For all their talents, Kemetians weren't good sailors and the ships from Dilmun was much better than the Kemetians.

It had taken almost two weeks for Neferure to get ready. Mostly because she had heard rumours.

that Amenmesse's people were looking for her, so she couldn't get to the palace and get the things she wanted to take with her.

I didn't mind, as it had given me time to look through everything I owned and select the few things that really meant something to me. I had already done that once, when I had moved from Pi-Ramesses to Men-nefer, but this time it was final. I could feel that whatever I left behind would be gone forever. I could try to hide some items in various places, but chances were that they would be gone when I came to retrieve them. If it had been before Baylon and the energy node disappeared, I could simply had hidden them inside rock, but considering how erratic the use of both Ars Mentalis and Ars Magica was, I simply didn't dare. I might fry my brain, blow myself up or something like that, and the value of the items simply wasn't worth the risk.

I had also traded most of my gold for precious stones that were far easier to store and transport than the much heavier metal, while losing nothing of their value. There were some cultural differences in what types of precious stones were considered the most valuable, but all in all, having gems were far better than gold, though I did keep some gold and silver handy since I could use that for less expensive things.

My house had been a bigger problem, since it would have taken time to sell, so after having considered the situation, I had decided to simply let Renef, the Chief of the Household, and his wife Henut take care of it for ten years. If I weren't back by then, the house would be theirs to keep and eventually it would pass on to their sons, which was far better than just letting it decay.

In the end, I had just enough belongings to fill two camels and as soon as Neferure came back with a few belongings as well, we took off, joining a caravan heading towards Vicus, disguised as a foreign merchant and his wife and slaves.

The trip had been uneventful to the point of being boring, but at least we reached the harbour without having to fight, which was always good.

Something moving at the corner of my eye made me look in that direction and I smiled to myself, when I saw Hori come walking towards me. In the last two weeks I had come to like his calm presence and I would have preferred to take him and his wife with us on the journey, but I had other plans for the two of them.

"We're done loading it all, sir." He reported in his low, almost rumbling, voice as he came up to me.

"Good." I said with a smile and handed him a small bag. "Here this is for you."

With a confused look on his face, he accepted the bag and opened it, blinking in surprise when he saw the blue Lazika gemstones in the bag. Closing the bag again, he looked at me. "Sir?"

"The ship over there is departing for Punt with the evening tide." I told him calmly. "I want you and your wife on it when it departs. It's time that the two of you went home."

He was still for a moment and then blinked again, this time to remove the tears from his eyes. "You're setting us free?"

"Yes. The transport has already been paid for, so collect your wife and board the ship. The bag of gems should ensure that the two of you can get a place to live."

The Lazika gemstones would be vastly more valuable in Punt than where I was going, so I didn't lose much by giving him the stones, but he would gain a lot by having them.

Trying to comprehend it, he shook his head in wonder and then surprised me, by kneeling before me. "You're a kind person, Herysesta. May the Gods watch over you on your travels. I know that my family shall remember this as long as we exist."

"Live in peace, Hori." I replied. "And for the sake of the Goddesses, get up before people start to think I some kind of noble."

He stood, looking like he didn't know what to say, so I sent him a smile. "Get moving. The tide is coming in and they won't wait."

"Thank you, sir." He said and hurriedly walked away, heading toward the camels, where his wife, Merit, Tutu, Kiya and Neferure were standing.

I followed him at a slower pace, arriving just in time to get a deep bow from Tiye along with a "May your generosity be repaid a thousandfold, Master.", before they both collected their meagre belongings and walked towards the other ship.

Neferure looked after them and then turned to look at me. "You set them free?"

"Yes."

She nodded, while Merit, Tutu and Kiya looked surprised, with Tutu asking, "Why them, sir? Why not us?"

I shrugged lightly. "You're all women and in most parts of the world, women simply do not travel alone. At least not over long distances without armsmen to protect them. Hori can protect his wife and his belongings. The four of you are not that fortunate, so you'll stay with me for the time being."

I didn't add that I planned to find suitable husbands for them later, but that was exactly what I had in mind. Since I would stay young, I would need to move again in a decade or so and by then I wanted to be sure that they were protected and cared for.

Kiya opened her mouth to say something, but the arrival of a group of horsemen interrupted her. Looking at the group, I cursed silently. They were wearing the King's livery, making them part of the royal guard.

"Go to the ship." I told the women and walked towards the incoming horsemen.

Kiya, Merit and Tutu did as they were told, but Neferure placed a hand on my arm, stopping me. "There's something you need to know."

I stopped and looked at her. "You did something I had told you not to do, didn't you?"

She nodded and handed me a small staff in the form of a flail with three separate and highly decorated heads. I immediately recognized it as a Nekhekh, one of the ancient symbols of the Pharaoh along with the Shepherd's crook. "While I was in the palace to get my things, Amenmesse and His Highness were attending some royal affair and I looked through Amenmesse's room." She smiled a little. "I was raised in that palace and I knew that there was a secret compartment in that room. So, I opened it and found this. As far as I remember from the stories from my childhood, this sceptre can be used to control royal mummies."

I sighed. I understood that she had taken it to prevent Amenmesse from sending more mummies after us, but at the same time she had made us even more of a target than we already were.

Accepting the sceptre, I said, "Go to the ship" and turned towards the incoming riders. By now, they had dismounted some twenty cubits away and were advancing with their weapons drawn, looking like they were begging for a fight. I breathed a sigh of relief when I recognized the man leading them. It was Captain Huy, the captain that had not only been there when I had healed both Ramesses and lately the two princes.

He had proven to be a reasonable guy and with him being here, there was a chance that this could end without bloodshed.

Bowing slightly, I said. "Greetings, Captain Huy. What brings you here?"

He wasn't smiling, as he said. "You, Princess Neferure and the heirloom she took from the palace."

"Yes, I thought that. How did you find us?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

"I remembered what you said about leaving Kemet and this is the nearest harbour." The Captain said with a slight shrug. "So, why're you taking a princess out of Kemet? It made both His Highness and Prince Amenmesse angry. Especially after Amenmesse discovered that some of his jewels were missing."

"I honestly don't think you'll believe me, but I'm trying to save Kemet."

"You better explain that." He suggested. "Otherwise, I will have to kill you for abducting a princess."

"That is fair, I guess. Have some water. You'll need it before I'm finished with the explanation."

I told him the truth... or at least most of it, as I left out how exactly the sword had been cursed. Everything else, from Amenmesse taking the sword, over the attack from the mummies and why Amenmesse needed Neferure, was completely true.

When I was done, Captain Huy looked thoughtful, which I quite understand since in essence I was predicting a civil war in Kemet in the near future and as a captain in the royal guards, that was something that would affect him greatly.

"I don't know what to say about all this." He admitted after a while. "As you said, it's hard to believe."

"It always is." I said with a sigh. "Look, Captain Huy, despite my looks, I was born in Pi-Ramesses and I really like this country. If Amenmesse gets his hands on Neferure, he'll be in a position to contest Crownprince Seti when he takes the throne and with the cursed sword in hand, it's a certainty that he will do exactly that. I don't know what titles Amenmesse is going to get in the near future, but since Seti is Overseer of the Army, my guess is Viceroy of Kush, which will allow him to build a powerbase in upper Kemet. Bad as that is, it's still better than having him as Overseer of the Army, because that would be a written invitation for overthrowing the throne as soon as His Highness dies. This way, at least you have time to prepare."

Captain Huy sighed. "You make a compelling case."

"I hope so because the future of Kemet depends on it. Or rather, it depends on Amenmesse not being able to marry a daughter of Ramesses, since such a union will be seen as a sign from the gods, that he is chosen to lead Kemet into a new golden age."

He nodded slowly. "That might be true, but it leaves me with a problem, since His Highness ordered me to bring Neferure back."

Looking him in the eyes, I saw only steel-like determination to follow his orders.

I smiled as I used the Ars Mentalis trick that made me stronger and faster. "Not really. Nobody can blame you for being overpowered by a foe."

That made him smile, while the rest of the men laughed merrily, while I casually placed my hands on the handles of my long knives, entering the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente (Baylon: "Time shall be changed in the mind."). My brain accelerated and everything else slowed to a crawl.

Adrenaline hit my system and drawing the long knives, I hit the Captain straight in the jaw with the pommel, knocking him out. Then I dashed in between the soldiers, hitting the first one on the side of the neck making him pass out, and the next one in the chest with a kick that sent him flying into yet another soldier, before any of them even had time to react.

Whirling to avoid a badly aimed arrow, I hit the arm of the next one with the flat of the blade, breaking the bone before I sent him to the ground with a sweep that also enabled to dodge a slash from another soldier. Throwing myself into the air, I hit both him and the next one with a split kick, landing right in front of the last two. They did have time to swing their axes, but I parried their blows, forcing their weapons away from me before I counter-attacked. An elbow to the jaw threw the first one to the ground, while a snap kick took out the other one.

Looking around, I sheathed one of the knives as I looked at the downed soldiers. They were down, but at least they were still alive. With a sigh, I dropped the Nekhekh on Captain Huy and walked towards the ship. There was no doubt in my mind that a civil war would break the moment Mernepath died. It wasn't something I could prevent, but I could and would prevent Amenmesse from having a daughter of Ramesses as his royal wife he could use to get more political allies. However, taking things from the royal palace would just make the court send assassins after us to reclaim the magical amulet and I really didn't need that in my life.

I suddenly noticed the crew of the ship, along with Merit, Tutu, Kiya and Neferure, was watching me with expressions of disbelief on their faces. However, I also noticed that the other ship had already set sails and was on its way towards Punt, meaning that evening tide had arrived.

As soon as I had boarded the ship, the captain shouted orders and the crew got to work. Then he looked over at me with a little smile. "Welcome on board. It's been a while since I've sailed with one of your kind, but I'm honoured to do that again."

I bowed slightly. "And I'm happy to be on a ship from Dilmun again."

He returned the bow and turned to focus on getting the ship out, while I walked to the bow of the ship to watch the tide take us out. Another chapter of my life had ended, and I was about to begin a new one.

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